US reaffirms humanitarian commitment

As the United Nations prepares for a humanitarian emergency of stunning proportions in and around Afghanistan, a US diplomat in Pakistan on Friday reaffirmed America's continued commitment to providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people.

"If there is a major influx of refugees, I am confident we will be able to step in where necessary with the funding needed to assist the relief effort for the refugees," the American official told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

"We know there are a lot more vulnerable people than before and we are preparing for just that," he added.

This follows an appeal by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to donor countries on Thursday for US $584 million to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the region.

The UN said on Thursday it needed that funding to help an estimated 7.5 million Afghans survive for the next six months, given massive population displacement in Afghanistan and a potential flow of 1.5 million refugees to neighbouring countries arising from the deepening of the Afghan crisis that has followed the 11 September terrorist attacks on the US.

"We stand ready to help," the US diplomat stated at a joint planning meeting between UN agencies, the Pakistani government and the aid community in Islamabad on Friday.

US President George W Bush has repeatedly emphasised that America's war is on terrorism, not on the Afghan people or Islam, and that his administration would do what it could to minimise any negative impact on the civilian population.

In this tax year, as the largest donor to the Afghan people, the American government had already donated US $183 million (up from US $113 the year before), the official, who declined to be named told IRIN.

Food security was one of the most serious problems inside Afghanistan because existing stocks within the country were low, the official said. There was 65,000 mt of American wheat set to arrive in Afghanistan, with another 100,000 mt pledged, he said.

Yet restricted access to certain areas, as well as the recent Taliban edict against the use of communication equipment within the country, would undoubtedly hamper relief efforts, he added.

"This Taliban edict on communication equipment is a huge impediment and we are currently looking at places where we can still deliver some aid," the diplomat said. "We recognise that there are Afghan people who have incredible humanitarian needs. We know it's going to be difficult, but we'll keep trying."

Since there was still uncertainty over what may happen next [in the military, political and humanitarian arenas], he said, he was unable to provide exact details of American humanitarian assistance plans for Afghanistan or the neighbouring countries who may be subject to refugee flows.

"Our government is considering a sizeable aid programme to respond to such an influx, as are other governments," he added.

In addition to Annan's public announcement of the donor alert, the UN presented the US $584 million plan for Afghanistan and surrounding countries at a specially convened meeting of the Afghan Support Group (ASG), comprising 16 donor countries, in the German capital, Berlin, on Thursday.

"As soon as the plan is in front of us, you will have our commitment," the US diplomat said at the joint planning meeting in Islamabad.

Such commitment was undoubtedly welcome news to Pakistan. "From the perspective of the possible strike against Afghanistan in retaliation to the terrorists attacks in the United States on 11 September, Pakistan apprehends a mass influx of fresh Afghan refugees," Abbas Safraz Khan, its Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Northern Areas, and States and Frontier Regions, told reporters on Friday.

Despite its own limited resources, Pakistan had hosted over three million refugees over the past two decades, and feared another 1.5 million to two million new Afghan refugees might soon enter, he said.

"If the donor community does not rise to the occasion suitably and sufficiently, it may become responsible for writing the most pathetic and miserable chapter of human history," he added, while affirming that Pakistan would make all possible efforts to host the expected influx.

Pakistan's official policy is that its borders remain closed - with only the holders of valid visas and travel documents to be allowed across the country's 1,600 km border with Afghanistan - but senior officials have said it would be disposed to letting in refugees if the crisis situation inside Afghanistan became untenable.

Meanwhile, just hours after the UN made its funding appeal on Thursday, Britain pledged an additional US $16 million to help Pakistan deal with the crisis, bringing its total aid package to the nation to US $53 million (in addition to the US $22 million annual programme for poverty reduction there), the BBC reported.

The assistance would focus mainly on Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan, both of which border Afghanistan and bear the brunt of the refugee caseload, it added.