UN set to appeal for halt in the bombing

War on Terrorism: Observer special War in Afghanistan: Observer special Islam and the West: Observer special

Jason Burke, Peshawar Sunday October 21, 2001 The Observer

The United Nations is set to issue an unprecedented appeal to the United States and its coalition allies to halt the war on Afghanistan and allow time for a huge relief operation.

UN sources in Pakistan said growing concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country - in part, they say, caused by the relentless bombing campaign - has forced them to take the radical step. Aid officials estimate that up to 7.5 million Afghans might be threatened with starvation.

'The situation is completely untenable inside Afghanistan. We really need to get our point across here and have to be very bold in doing it. Unless the [US air] strikes stop, there will be a huge number of deaths,' one UN source said.

The move will embarrass Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, who said last week that there was no 'cause and effect' between the bombing and the ability of aid agencies to deliver much-needed food and shelter.

Aid workers yesterday strongly rejected Short's statements. 'Basically the bombing makes it difficult to get enough supplies in. It is as simple as that,' an Islamabad-based aid official told The Observer .

Dominic Nutt, a spokesman for the British charity Christian Aid, called Short's remarks sickening. 'Needy people are being put at risk by government spin-doctors who are showing a callous disregard for life,' he said. 'To say that there is no link is not just misleading but profoundly dangerous.' Christian Aid report 600 people have already died in the Dar-e-Suf region of northern Afghanistan due to starvation, malnutrition and related diseases.

Other agencies confirmed that the sick, the young and the old are already dying in refugee camps around the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

The World Food Programme has calculated that 52,000 tonnes of wheat must be distributed in Afghanistan each month to stave off mass starvation. Since the aid programme was restarted - on 25 September - only 20,000 tonnes have been supplied and 15,000 distributed. The concern is that the coming winter will make relief efforts more difficult. The first snows have already fallen on the Hindu Kush mountains and the isolated highlands of Hazarajat.

But though the WFP is accelerating the supply of food, it says it is unlikely to be able to bring in more than two-thirds of what is required. And it is clear that little aid is reaching the most remote areas where the need is greatest.

A new assessment by aid workers on the ground in Afghanistan will be presented to UN co-ordinators in Islamabad this week. It shows that the effects of the three-year drought that has hit Afghanistan are far worse than previously thought. Areas in the north-east are of particular concern.

In the western city of Herat food deliveries are barely keeping up with demand from the 1,000 people a day who are arriving at refugee camps.

'We are getting a significant amount of food into the country and we are desperately trying to get it to more remote areas. The usual distribution networks are hugely disrupted. At the moment a trickle is getting through,' said Michael Huggins, a spokesman for the WFP.

He said the WFP operation was hampered by a lack of truck drivers willing to carry food through Afghanistan because of the bombing raids, high fuel prices and communication difficulties.

The Taliban have also caused problems for aid agencies. A series of offices have been looted in major cities, prompting French agency Médecins Sans Frontières to shut down its entire Afghan operation. There have been a number of attempts to steal vehicles from aid agencies. The Taliban have also delayed relief convoys by demanding high taxes on their passage.

Although the expected influx of refugees to Pakistan has yet to occur, there are signs of larger shifts of population than before. The last three days have seen more than 10,000 people cross the border from Afghanistan around the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

Refugees report a breakdown in law and order in Kandahar. 'It is impossible to live there now,' one said.

-- (millions@will.die), October 21, 2001

Answers

I wish the situation lent itself to such a black and white solution but it doesn't, sadly.

Why can't the U.N. inform the military of the routes of it's food convoys - so as to avoid the bombs? Surely there are ways in that circumvent the Taliban. Or are there?

Re-quote from the end of this article:

"The Taliban have also caused problems for aid agencies. A series of offices have been looted in major cities, prompting French agency Médecins Sans Frontières to shut down its entire Afghan operation. There have been a number of attempts to steal vehicles from aid agencies. The Taliban have also delayed relief convoys by demanding high taxes on their passage."

-- Debbie (dbspence@pobox.com), October 21, 2001.

The thing I don't get is that the Pentagon has said they have eliminated all fixed targets, so why are they still bombing?

-- (boys@and.toys), October 21, 2001.

For goodness sake, what is the UN saying about governments oppressing their own citizens in Sudan, China, well, Afghanistan....

Let the UN say that, and let the US ignore it. The UN just drives another nail into its ineffectual, politically correct, whining coffin.

Wait until it demands reparations from the US to Afghanistan

-- NoOneCares (ItIs@ToY.awn), October 21, 2001.

It is really unfortunate, but anyone who has died of starvation in the last few weeks is not a result of the "bombing". It is a crying shame, surely, that the country cannot take care of their own. A crying shame that they have mined so much of the country that it makes it difficult to bring in aid.

War is hell. We have to do what we have to do. Do we sacrifice more of our lives so that the folks "over there" can eat? Sorry. Survival of the fittest. I have not felt this way before, but things changes 9/11/2001. The sob stories about the dying pale to the travesty I have seen in my neighborhood and my country. Bomb as often and as wide reaching as you have to. men.

-- Cannot Tell (gone@away.now), October 21, 2001.

I know, let's land troops in Afghanistan but only to feed the starving population like we did in Somalia. Then the starving population can shoot our troops like they did in Somalia.

Better idea: Bomb the Taliban (not the Afghan people) to their knees, form a new government that will accept our humanitarian aid and then aid the people whom we just have just liberated from their corrupt government (just as we have done so many times before). A not so small small bonus would be to kill bin Laden, eliminate Al Qaeda and terrorist buddies.

This would achieve a measure of justice for their hideous crimes and enhance the safety of the Western world they claim to revile (actually I think the terrorists are in it for money and power, an old old story).

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 21, 2001.

Um...why aren't we shooting the Taliban guys who are charging admission to the aid trucks?

-- helen (feed@the.kids.not.the.taliban), October 21, 2001.

The best economic policy for a country is to lose a war with the USA. Ask Germany, Italy and Japan.

The worst economic policy for a country is to win (or draw) a war with the USA (ask N.Vietnam, N.Korea, Iraq).

Citizens of Afghanistan, it is in your own interest for the Taliban to be defeated totally. The sooner, the better.

-- (lars@indy.net), October 22, 2001.

"cannot tell"--

I can't say that I'm "glad" to hear your opinion but I am gratified. If you are who I think, then (except for 6000+ souls) you have seen the worst.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 22, 2001.

Dream on Lar's

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), October 22, 2001.

Is there a poster here named "Lar"?

-- (lars@indy.net), October 22, 2001.

Lars you know al-d is punctuationally challenged.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), October 22, 2001.

JBT--

There is medication now for Al's disability. There is PT. There is nonosurgery.

Al, rejoice, you need no longer be comma-tose!

-- (lars@indy.net), October 22, 2001.

I need some nanosurgery myself.

-- (lars@indy.net), October 22, 2001.

Thanks for the clarification, I was having a hard time with nonosurgery. Commatose, good one.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), October 22, 2001.