Nine UN vehicles missing

The UN is increasingly concerned over its operations in Afghanistan after at least nine agency vehicles went missing this week in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. Meanwhile, the status of UN offices seized by the Taliban in the eastern city of Jalalabad is still unknown, according to a UN source.

"As far as we know these offices have not been looted. They are no longer available to us, and are being guarded by the Taliban, and we have no information about the assets," the spokeswoman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, Stephanie Bunker, told IRIN on Friday.

Six of the vehicles, she said, belonged to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and three to the mine-clearing operations. She said the Taliban had been seen "driving around" in the de-mining vehicles, but it was still unclear who had taken the other vehicles.

The Taliban seized UN offices in Kandahar and stopped communications on its operations late last month, following the 11 September terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, after which the US vowed to fight against terrorism. The main suspect behind the attacks is the Saudi-born dissident, Osama bin Laden, who is thought to be in hiding in Afghanistan. All international aid workers were pulled out of Afghanistan following these events.

Bunker added that there had been looting of UN offices in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, but it was unclear which offices were ransacked. On the question of whether the Taliban was behind the looting, she said: "We have not been able to ascertain who did it, and we simply don't know what is missing."

She explained that UN officials were "talking to the Taliban frequently on this matter". A main concern was the lack of communication with staff inside Afghanistan, and the overall situation on their ability to deliver UN assistance, given the restrictions. There had also been reports that NGO guesthouses were being guarded by the Taliban, but it was still unclear which aid agencies had been affected, she said.

The last time UN offices were looted in Afghanistan was in August 1998, when WFP and UNHCR buildings were attacked and damaged in the northern province of Kunduz and the city of Jalalabad. UN officials said then that vehicles, office furniture and radio equipment had been taken.