Taliban orders infringe on relief programmes

The ruling Taliban Islamic movement in Afghanistan has cut off almost all communications between United Nations field offices in Afghanistan and programme staff outside the country, Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (OCHA) told a press briefing on Tuesday.

Taliban officials entered UN offices in the capital, Kabul, and in a number of other locations around the country between Friday and Monday, 22-24 September, locking and sealing radio rooms and communications equipment, Bunker said.

These actions prohibited UN national staff inside the country from communicating about their security situation or about developments in the humanitarian situation on the ground, which was disrupting relief efforts in certain areas and halting them in others, she added.

Afghan staff have been sustaining what UN activities they could in Afghanistan, including the delivery of food aid and assistance to displaced people, since expatriate staff were relocated for security reasons on 12/13 September.

The Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who has received sanctuary from the Taliban in Afghanistan, has been linked by Washington to the 11 September terrorist attacks on that country, and military attacks are anticipated by the US on terrorist targets inside Afghanistan.

When international UN staff withdrew, national staff were advised to continue working at their discretion but to put their safety and that of their families ahead of their profound commitment to duty. With communication now prohibited, it was not surprising that more of them had decided to stop working or leave their duty stations, further diminishing the UN's already low capacity to operate, according to Bunker.

"Although we do not yet have accurate figures on the number of national staff remaining, who are trying to continue their duties in Afghanistan, latest reports are that very few - or even no - UN national staff are currently working in some locations," she told journalists in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday evening.

It was possible that any attempt to communicate with the outside world could put staff at risk of their lives and UN Coordinator for Afghanistan, Mike Sackett, had told field staff to comply with the directive and cease communication entirely and immediately, both within and outside Afghanistan, OCHA had earlier reported.

The UN later asked the Taliban to allow one high-frequency radio to operate in each office in each location, so that some form of communication would be possible and relief efforts maintained.

A meeting between Sackett and the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeff, on Tuesday to determine when communications could be resumed was inconclusive, "a fact that would greatly hamper assistance activities there," Bunker told IRIN on Tuesday evening.

"We are extremely concerned," she said. "There are now going to be more people needing help and less capacity to provide it," she added.

In another development over the weekend, local [Taliban] authorities took over UN offices in the southern city of Kandahar, as well as some NGO offices, and asked security staff and local staff to leave. "The premises and equipment are not available to UN staff for the time being," Bunker said on Tuesday.

Taliban officials have also occupied the offices of two NGOs working under the umbrella of the UN Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan, in which equipment worth several million dollars - including vehicles, metal detectors and communication equipment - was located.

All de-mining activity in Afghanistan has now been suspended, and this interruption could have serious consequences for the civilian population. Afghanistan has one of the world's most serious land mine and unexploded ordnance problems, with over 724 square km known to be affected. And, as fear of US military strikes has increased in Afghanistan, the movement of hundreds of thousands of people has significantly increased the risk of mine- and bomb-related injuries.

OCHA has warned that people are moving towards rural areas, international borders and both in
and out of major cities such as Herat, Kandahar and the Afghan capital, Kabul - all of which have significant mined areas in their outskirts, very few of which are marked.

Migrating populations, travelling through unfamiliar territories, will certainly venture off main roads in search of food, water, shelter and places for prayer and grazing, it said. These movements will undoubtedly increase the likelihood of greater injuries and deaths.

"As official crossing points leading out of Afghanistan are difficult to get through, ever increasing numbers of people are attempting to cross into Iran and Pakistan through areas which are also heavily mined, still further increasing the threat to life," it added.