The UN warned on Monday that Afghanistan was plunging into a crisis of "stunning proportions" after the country's Taliban rulers crippled UN humanitarian relief operations there.
"We urge a world wounded by the horrific and deplorable terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 to be mindful of the principles of international humanitarian law and to take all measures to protect the civilian populations, especially the millions of children and women," six UN agencies with aid programs in Afghanistan said in a joint written statement.
"A humanitarian crisis of stunning proportions is unfolding in Afghanistan," the agencies said, estimating that more than 5 million of Afghanistan's 26 million people were dependent on international aid to survive.
PHOTO: AFP
The statement was issued after the Taliban, fearing UN military action after hijack attacks that left nearly 7,000 people reported missing or dead, shut down the UN communications network in Afghanistan, took over the world body's office in Kandahar and seized 1,400 tonnes of UN food aid.
Washington accuses the Taliban of hiding Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, whom the US considers the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The agencies are the UN children's arm UNICEF, the World Food Program, the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the UN Development Program, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
While most foreign aid workers, including all UN expatriate staff, left Afghanistan last week for security reasons, the agencies said they were still able to provide some food and other services inside the country through Afghan nationals who continued to operate the programs in their absence.
But no more food can be delivered at this time, and the World Food Program predicted reserve supplies would be exhausted in two to three weeks.
The agencies offered special thanks to Pakistan and Iran, neighboring nations that together have taken in some 3.5 million Afghans in recent years -- refugees fleeing decades of war, three years of severe drought and a collapsed economy.
They also appealed to the international community for help in funding and carrying out efforts to supply needed food, water, medical and sanitation supplies, tents, and other emergency goods.
In the Pakistan capital, Islamabad, World Food Program spokesman Khaled Mansour told Reuters the Taliban moves against UN operations in Afghanistan threatened to "disrupt, if not completely stop, our food distribution."
While some 700 Afghan staffers have carried on with much of the world body's work since last week's departure of foreign workers, that activity too now appears to have stopped, UN spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker told a news conference in Islamabad.
She said the UN office in Kandahar, spiritual capital of the Taliban, had been seized on Monday and the Taliban had also taken over some offices of nongovernmental organizations that provide relief services.
Communications equipment was shut down in both Kandahar and the capital, Kabul, on Friday. The UN has since asked for permission to use at least one high-frequency radio so that its representatives can stay in contact with the outside world, but it has had no reply.
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