Focus on insecurity and access

While the Northern Alliance's takeover of the main Afghan cities has evoked fresh optimism that a solution to the 23 year Afghan conflict is close at hand, insecurity in many parts of the country still poses a threat to ongoing humanitarian operations. Chris Johnson, director of the Strategic Monitoring Unit in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, told IRIN on Monday that the security situation was as bad, if not worse, than a few weeks ago. "Afghans in Peshawar have reported that security along the Jalalabad road is appalling. This is a main access route into the country. If security is really this bad, then I cannot see how access [to vulnerable groups] is improving," she said. Johnson said that, despite the tremendous bureaucracy involved, some aid supplies were crossing from Turkmenistan into northern Afghanistan. But this was a small amount compared to normal trading, she added. There was little access to the southern city of Kandahar, where the Taliban were still under control. However, aid appeared to be arriving in Herat and the surrounding area. Areas along the Pakistan border where sporadic fighting between Northern Alliance factions and the Taliban is reportedly still in progress are among the most insecure parts of the country at present, according to aid workers. A Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) spokesman, Erwin Van't Land, told IRIN on Wednesday that MSF had 30 international staff in the country conducting clinic visits and assessments of displaced groups. So far, the teams had not experienced significant security problems, but remained on high alert. Van't Land said security varied according to region. In large parts of the north and west, security state is reasonable, while the entire region bordering Pakistan is extremely insecure, as illustrated by the murder of four journalists near Jalalabad on Monday. Johnson said not only expatriates were at risk. "Even Afghans are afraid of travelling in now. There's a high level of anarchy, and the amount of looting going on is far worse than when we saw the Taliban flee," she said. While there was credible progress and commitment among Afghan factions towards a broad-based government, many ordinary Afghans were concerned that the jostling for position by Afghan factions and their supporters could cause massive instability, said Johnson. It was hoped that a solution would be found to address the power vacuum on the ground, but Johnson pointed out that a peacekeeping force would be premature as there was no peace to keep right now. "We need some real improvement in security as soon as possible, but this needs a basic agreement among the factions for [neutral forces] to be there. Otherwise, they'll just be shot at," she said. Despite the insecurity, significant efforts are being made to resume humanitarian operations. The World Food Programme (WFP) successfully resumed its trucking operations from Pakistan to Jalalabad on Monday, after a lull of one week. Khaled Mansour, a WFP spokesman, said the food agency planned to send 48 trucks carrying more than 1,300 mt of wheat to Kabul, sufficient to feed 160,000 people for a month. Deliveries to the northern provinces and the "hunger belt" were also under way. Moreover, 18 female Afghan staff members - formerly banned from working by the Taliban - had reported for work on Monday, said Mansour. A senior UN source in New York confirmed on Friday that eight international staff had reinforced its presence in Faizabad (Feyzabad), and that the same was planned in other locations. The safety of international staff remained a paramount concern, however. "We're very mindful of the security situation and are monitoring it very, very closely," said Kevin Kennedy, a senior official at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York. Should the security situation stabilise, the relief effort would widen, he added. The displaced are the most visible section of Afghanistan's vulnerable population. According to latest estimates, there are 763,000 internally displaced people throughout the country. Of these, 245,000 are in the western province of Herat, many of them live in large camps near Herat city. Some 160,000 are in the northern provinces, and 66,800 in the northeast, displaced either by conflict or the effects of the protracted drought. A further 136,000 are displaced in the southern provinces, including the nomadic Kuchis people and an unknown number along the Pakistan border near the town of Spin Boldak. A further 123,000 and 31,000 are displaced in the Eastern and Central provinces respectively. Mike Semple, regional coordinating officer for the central highlands, stressed that although the displaced were likely to be in a poor condition, they were not automatically the most vulnerable. Often those with resources were able to move, he explained, while those without were forced to stay at home, with little means to undertake an invariably arduous journey. The challenge to reach these people, often in isolated parts of the country, remained, he added.