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Afghan humanitarian crisis likely to worsen in coming months

By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press, 4/23/2001 20:31

UNITED NATIONS (AP) The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has reached ''alarming proportions'' and is likely to deteriorate further as a result of increased fighting and a severe drought, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday.

''The outlook for the next few months remains bleak,'' he said in a report to the Security Council. ''The two warring sides, with no lack of weapons and war material supplied by their external backers, are unmistakably preparing for heavy fighting.''

Thousands of Afghans will be severely affected by drought, and recovery will be difficult because of a significant reduction in planting crops, he said.

Still, Annan said he hoped that after another season of fighting, the combatants will realize the country's 20-year civil war can't be solved on the battlefield and that there is no alternative to a negotiated political settlement.

The Taliban militia, which espouses a harsh brand of Islamic law and rules 95 percent of Afghanistan, are fighting northern-based opposition forces led by ousted defense minister Ahmed Shah Massood and deposed President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

While U.N. sanctions against the Taliban are not responsible for the current humanitarian situation, Annan said the Taliban has blamed the embargoes for the deteriorating situation in the country ''with mixed success.''

The Taliban has also refused to participate in a U.N.-sponsored dialogue aimed at achieving a negotiated solution because of the sanctions, imposed to force it to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, he said.

The secretary-general stressed that while sanctions can be useful in modifying the behavior of ''certain errant regimes, they cannot be an end in themselves or a substitute for a comprehensive policy.''

If the international community wants to restore peace to Afghanistan, he said, it must set clear objectives and develop a strategy to achieve them.

Recent months have seen the biggest influx of Afghan refugees to Pakistan since the 1990s more than 170,000, Annan said. The influx led Pakistan, which hosts 1.2 million Afghan refugees, to close its borders and ban new arrivals.

When Annan visited Pakistan in March, he and Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, agreed the United Nations would seek to raise ''significant resources'' to care for refugees and expand its assistance inside Afghanistan to help the displaced. Pakistan in return would assist in protecting the refugees in compliance with international law.

During recent conversations, Annan said he asked Musharraf to assist in implementing this agreement by allowing U.N. agencies to screen refugees and by providing additional land for refugees in the Jalozai camp, where 80,000 Afghans are packed ''in unacceptably dense conditions.''

The secretary-general accused Pakistan of forcibly returning thousands of Afghans to their homeland without considering their right to asylum, in violation of international law. He expressed ''equal concern'' that thousands of Afghans were being blocked from entering Tajikistan and were stranded on the Panj islands in the Amu Darya River, ''essentially under the control of military forces.''

The secretary-general also accused donor nations providing only $85 million of the $250 million needed to help stem the tide of Afghans fleeing war and drought.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001