Ordinary poor face additional hardships

As the world waits for possible US reprisals against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement in the wake of week's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the humanitarian community has expressed fear that the poorest of the Afghan people were already paying a high price for the war against terrorism.

"Bombing of Afghanistan is not even necessary. If the present conditions persist, the people of Afghanistan will starve to death in short order," said an aid worker.

The United Nations said on Thursday that its ability to deliver desperately needed relief food and other assistance to over five million Afghans people most in need continued to deteriorate. Closure of the Afghan-Pakistan border has cut off the main source of food purchases. Inside Afghanistan many shops have closed and the price of wheat, the country's basic stable, has soared.

"In Mazar-e Sharif [northern Afghanistan], the price of wheat has increased by 35 percent over the last two days," Khaled Mansour, WFP spokesman, told IRIN on Friday. "Other areas have also seen sharp increases. These prices are beyond the means of the poorest, such as widows." The main daily diet for most Afghans is bread and tea.

While Mansour said that the price increase was partly due to stockpiling by tradesmen, lack of transport to ferry existing stocks around the country was also a factor. "Trucks are now being used to ferry people instead of commodities, and the cost of what transport is available has increased sharply," he said. Many traders are also reported to have left the country.

Abdul Hadi, an Afghan returnee who managed to cross into Pakistan earlier this week, told IRIN that people were trying to make money wherever they could, prompting a 100 percent increase in the transport fare from Kabul to Peshawar.

"Earlier they charged 200 Pakistani rupees, but now the passengers from Kabul have to pay 500, or in some cases even higher," he said.

With large numbers of Afghans continuing to flee their homes for the countryside, or towards Pakistan and other neighbouring countries because of fears of US retaliation against the Taliban - which has been hosting Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident alleged to have been involved in the US terrorist attacks - UN and aid agencies are urging Washington and its allies to adopt special measures to ensure the safety of civilians and refugees.

"The affected innocent village people of Afghanistan are in no way connected with the conflict in Afghanistan, much less terrorism itself," UN Coordinator for Aghanistan Mike Sackett told IRIN in a special interview on Thursday.

"These are village people, who due to circumstances totally beyond their control, now face great difficulty in continuing with their normal livelihoods," he said. "We believe that the situation is so serious for large numbers of people that we urge those drawing up strategic plans in Washington and Brussels to bear in mind the very real needs of Afghans in Afghanistan".

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned on Thursday that an already grave food crisis in Afghanistan could seriously worsen, threatening millions of Afghans with starvation. "The issue of life-saving will pose a serious challenge to the international community in the coming months," the agency warned.

The evacuation of international aid workers from Afghanistan would seriously affect the food security of large numbers of vulnerable people, FAO stated. "Emergency relief operations are likely to come to a virtual halt, even though humanitarian agencies would rely on their local staff to carry out the operations to the extent possible."

In a statement issued on 18 September, the United States Committee for Refugees (USCR) said that the closure of the Pakistan border with Afghanistan had trapped thousands of Afghan civilians - "ordinary men, women and children who cannot be held responsible for the actions of those who rule them" in a place of danger.

"Even before this new crisis, Afghans were fleeing conflict, drought and human rights abuse at the hands of both the Taliban and Afghan opposition forces, including killings, indiscriminate bombing and shelling, the purposeful destruction of homes and entire villages, the detention of civilians, and forced recruitment and rape," said USCR senior policy analyst, Hiram A Ruiz. "Afghan civilians once again risk being the victims of forces beyond their control," he added.

Fourteen British aid agencies also appealed to world leaders not to forget the plight of millions of Afghans facing starvation. In a statement expressing horror at the atrocities against the US, they urged the US and its allies to show restraint in responding to the terrorist attacks.