PRESS BRIEFING ON AFGHANISTAN BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

PRESS BRIEFING ON AFGHANISTAN BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan remains critical despite the political agreement reached in Bonn, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Carolyn McAskie told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Ms. McAskie said insecurity was the most important constraint facing the humanitarian agencies, especially in the south, but also around Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz in the north.  Those regions were in for a period of volatility over the next few weeks until the situation stabilized. 

However, there had been reasonable success in increasing the humanitarian presence in certain key areas, she said.  A good working relationship had been established with the authorities in Kabul, and negotiations had been held for the return of internally displaced persons from the capital to areas outside the city.

Noting that one of the Kabul airstrips could be opened in the next day or two, she hoped the isolated Bamiyan region could also be opened up shortly.  A security assessment team was expected there and much depended on access by air, she added.

Ms. McAskie said there were serious problems in and around the western city of Herat.  Some 300 to 400 people in bad shape were arriving daily from provinces to the south and east.  However, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and World Food Programme (WFP) were reasonably confident that enough food and shelter were available to look after them over the next few days, if not few weeks.

She said unsettling reports of anti-foreigner sentiment in the eastern city of Jalalabad would make the Peshawar-Kabul supply route increasingly difficult.  While that route was still open, it remained to be seen whether the Kandahar supply route would open up following news of the potential surrender of the Taliban in the southern region.

The north had been the most under-supplied region during the present crisis and had been vulnerable for a considerable time, she said.  It had received only 17 per cent of its estimated food requirements in the last two weeks of November, mainly due to insecurity and lack of access.  A security assessment team was expected in Mazar-i-Sharif tomorrow.

Asked about the feasibility of using military escorts once international peacekeepers arrived, Ms. McAskie said she would not rule out that option.  The agencies would also be willing to work with a credible Afghan police force, she added.

Replying to another question, she told the same journalist she was not sure who was causing the problems in the north.  It could be elements, including unidentified bandits, who were roaming freely since the end of Taliban rule, stopping and attacking convoys and workers.

On reported difficulties crossing the border from Iran into Afghanistan, she told the same correspondent that while the Tehran authorities had been helpful on the surface, crossing had been hampered until the last two days by a long and complicated bureaucratic process.

She added that relations with the authorities in Tajikistan had improved.  Humanitarian convoys could now cross the Tajik-Afghan border at any time as long as they gave 48 hours notice and had multiple-entry visas.

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