Focus on Afghan humanitarian pipeline

As conditions slowly improve inside Afghanistan, relief efforts in neighbouring Turkmenistan, a major staging post for humanitarian assistance into the country, are scaling down. Historically one of Central Asia's poorest and least developed nations, Turkmenistan, a country of only 4.5 million people, shares 744 km of border with Afghanistan, giving it a pivotal role following the events of 11 September. "Many people do not realise the significance that Turkmenistan played in the Afghan crisis," Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), Ted Pearn told IRIN from the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat on Friday, calling it an 'untold story'. "Turkmenistan greatly assisted the UN to facilitate aid agencies and selected NGOs in providing and transporting a considerable amount of food and non-food items to pass through its border areas," he explained. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in January, more than half of the humanitarian assistance being shipped into Afghanistan passed through Turkmenistan. While Ashgabat was the first Central Asian country to allow cross border humanitarian operations, given the difficulties NGOs faced in operating in Turkmenistan, much of the responsibility - in terms of coordination - fell upon the UN in Ashgabat. Border officials were not used to the volume of traffic that began flowing through Turkmenistan beginning in September, requiring UNDP to establish new procedures in order to facilitate humanitarian aid activities, as well as to negotiate with government officials and central ministries to deal with delays and streamline the process. But it was in the area of food assistance that Turkmenistan became particularly important in the Afghan crisis. WFP had a well-established food pipeline operating through the country approximately nine months prior to 11 September. In September, 20 percent of all food aid shipped into Afghanistan by the World Food Programme (WFP) passed through Turkmenistan. By the end of the year, that figure had reached 40 percent. In December, more food aid passed through the hub at the eastern city of Turkmenabad than any of the nine other hubs being used by the UN system. "Turkmenistan is currently the second-leading aid corridor to Afghanistan," WFP national consultant on partnership, Baytr Kurbanov told IRIN from Ashgabat on Friday. "Of the total World Food Programme wheat delivered to Afghanistan since 11 September, 50.4 percent has entered via Paksitan; 35.26 percent via Turkmenistan, and 11.18 percent via Uzbekistan," he added. In February and March, 34 percent of all WFP food delivered to Afghanistan was shipped via Turkmenistan - almost 45,000 mt. All Afghanistan-bound wheat aid shipped via Turkmenistan - coming via Kazakhstan or Iran - was processed at WFP warehouses in Turkmenabad. Of the wheat shipped via Kazakhstan, 22.68 percent was US government funded, while that figure coming via Iran was 90.56 percent, he explained. However, according to WFP's regional office in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, of the total amount of food aid since 11 September 201,400 mt of wheat has come via Pakistan, with Turkmenistan a close second, at 195,000 mt. Asked why agencies were scaling down their humanitarian activities throughout Turkmenistan, Pearn maintained a greater emphasis was being placed on the Uzbekistan-Termez route given its better accessibility to northern Afghanistan, coupled with the fact that the main route from Turkmenistan via Imamnazar into Afghanistan had become difficult due to deteriorating road conditions on both sides of the border. "We have been campaigning for some considerable time to have the road refurbished and this is now being done under the direction of WFP," he noted. Regarding other agencies, Turkmenistan was one of four countries where UNICEF had pre-positioning supplies in the event of large numbers of Afghans seeking refuge across national borders. Moreover, it began running humanitarian relief flights to Turkmenistan shortly after 11 September - with the first cargo arriving on 1 October and its first convoy dispatched to Afghanistan on 5 October. UNICEF communications consultant in Turkmenistan, Amor Almagro told IRIN there was a planning assumption in excess of 50,000 Afghan refugees coming into the country, while at the same time, as part of the emergency response to Afghanistan, UNICEF set up a supply and logistics hub in Turkmenabad for cross border deliveries of humanitarian supplies. "Our strategy was the pre-positioning of supplies in Turkmenistan for cross border delivering into Afghanistan," she explained, noting, however, the operation was now in its last phase and UNICEF's emergency programme for Afghanistan operating from Turkmenistan would soon be over. "We have one last convoy for Herat," she said, adding UNICEF had started rerouting remaining supplies to its operation in Uzbekistan. "Termez will serve as UNICEF's main hub of humanitarian supplies for Afghanistan in Central Asia," she explained. But while the UN in Ashgabat can be largely credited with the overall success of the humanitarian effort, the Turkmen government played a key role. UNHCR country representative in Turkmenistan, Ruven Menikdiwela told IRIN from Ashgabat that since the beginning of the crisis, the government played an extremely positive role in facilitating the transport of humanitarian cargo and the establishment of a vital humanitarian corridor to its southern neighbour. A Presidential Decree established commissions at national and local level to assist international humanitarian agencies, with instructions that all humanitarian cargo be granted absolute priority and handled free of charge. Moreover, it called for the sppeding up of visas fo humanitarian workers, and the extension of Turkmen visas upon request of Afghan nationals, including refugees, for the duration of the crisis, she explained. "The aforementioned activities were based on the pride that the country takes in its neutrality, and its eagerness to play a part in the UN efforts in Afghanistan," Menikdiwela maintained. "Unfortunately, they have not been given the publicity they deserve, largely due to the absence of international journalists in Turkmenistan," she added. Pearn concurred that while the government fully cooperated with UN agencies, much of what was achieved went unreported in a global sense due to restrictions in reporting and a strong official policy of guarding its status very closely. Today developments in Afghanistan towards the end of 2001 have necessitated a shift in UNHCR/ Ashgabat's concerns in Turkmenistan - from contingency planning in case of a large-scale influx, to the provision of cross-border assistance and logistics support to UNHCR offices in the western Afghan city of Herat and the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. Since December 2001, UNHCR Ashgabat has been involved in the stockpiling and shipping of non-food related items across the Afghan border, as well as the provision of logistics and administrative support to these two UNHCR offices in Afghanistan, Menikdiwela said.