WFP condemns Taliban seizure of food aid

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday confirmed that officials of the ruling Taliban Islamic Movement of Afghanistan had seized WFP food stocks in the southern city of Kandahar, following the regime's closure of some UN offices at the weekend.

With more than five million Afghans in dire need of food aid, WFP expressed concern at the seizure, and warned that the action could disrupt, if not halt, aid work in some southern provinces.

"We strongly condemn this serious violation, and call on the Taliban to ensure the safety of our staff and our stocks, and to allow aid workers to continue their humanitarian mission," WFP spokesman Khaled Mansour said in a statement sent to IRIN on Tuesday, 25 September.

"We have problems in communication with our staff on the ground as the Taliban have occupied our offices too. This is a serious development that could disrupt - if not completely stop - our aid work in some of the southern provinces of Afghanistan, which is helping hundreds of thousands of people," he added.

Some 1,400 mt of food was seized in Kandahar - the Taliban movement's main base - which represented about 10 percent of WFP stocks currently in Afghanistan. At the weekend, WFP came under fire from some aid agencies for halting the delivery of food aid into Afghanistan.

In an interview with IRIN on Monday, Mansour explained that WFP decided to put deliveries on hold because there was a serious shortage of trucks to move food from warehouses inside Afghanistan, difficulties over ensuring that food aid would reach those in need, and because food stocks currently inside Afghanistan were sufficient for about three weeks of normal operations. WFP's normal policy was not to keep more than one month's stock in-country, he said.

He went on to point out that about 2,500 mt of food had been distributed by WFP inside Afghanistan since 11 September.

"More than one million people are still benefiting from WFP food aid inside Afghanistan, despite the very difficult circumstances," said Mansour, adding that food shipments would resume when WFP was able to provide for the distribution of food, and when there was reasonable assurance of getting it to those who needed it most.

Both the food security situation and the decision to temporarily halt food shipments into the country were under continuous review, he said.

Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) to Afghanistan, said at a press briefing in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Monday that Taliban officials had entered UN offices in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan over the weekend and sealed all communications equipment. [for further details, see separate IRIN story of 25 September headlined: "AFGHANISTAN: Communications clampdown threatens aid programmes"]

The Taliban has also taken over UN and NGO offices in Kandahar.

Humanitarian workers based in Islamabad since their relocation from Afghanistan for security reasons have also reported the looting of the offices of a number of international NGOs in different parts of Afghanistan, amid a deteriorating security situation in urban centres.

An exodus of people from major urban centres was continuing, while some people who had assets worth protecting had reportedly returned to their home areas to guard them against looting, UNOCHA reported on Sunday.