Aid workers begin return

Following the dramatic gains made by opposition Northern Alliance forces throughout Afghanistan, international aid workers for the first time since evacuating the country show signs of returning to the country.

"Over the next few weeks, we will be sending in a large amount of expatriates, depending on the needs of the operation and how it grows," International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) information delegate for Afghanistan, Bernard Barrett, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Thursday. "Our intention is to move people as quickly as possible into [the western city of] Herat and Mazar [Mazar-e Sharif - in the north]," he added.

Barrett's comments follow the return of three international ICRC staff members to Kabul on Tuesday and Wednesday, the first expatriate aid staff to return since being evacuated from Taliban-held areas of the country on 16 September, following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on the 11th. Another three are working in the northern region. These are in addition to about 1,000 national employees who have continued to work inside the country throughout the crisis.

At the moment, ICRC is involved in the collection of bodies in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif, as well as in visiting hospitals throughout the cities to assess needs for supplies and assistance. ICRC would also be involved in the distribution of food and non-food items, as well as the maintenance of water supplies, Barrett added.

Despite ICRC warehouses in Kabul having been hit twice during the US-led bombing campaign, resulting in the destruction of large quantities of food, as well as of emergency aid material and buildings, Barrett said that to the best of his knowledge all its offices were fully operational.

Another returning relief group is Medecins sans frontieres (MSF). On Tuesday, an international team of four had gone back to Kabul, followed on Wednesday by two teams, which had gone to the northern cities of Taloqan and Mazar-e Sharif, the MSF spokesman in Islamabad, Erwin Van't Land, told IRIN. The team in Kabul comprises a doctor, nurse, an administrator and a logistician. It has already re-established full contact with MSF's national staff and is currently evaluating the population's needs in Kabul.

Prior to 14 September, there were 70 international MSF staff inside Afghanistan, along with some 600 national employees. Most of the Afghan employees continued their work inside Afghanistan, thereby making it possible for MSF projects to continue operating unabated after MSF international staff members were evacuated on 14 September.

Stocks sufficient to last two to three months were then left at the sites of every project to allow them to be maintained. However, the project in the southeastern city of Kandahar had to be suspended after its stocks were seized, Van't Land said.

Regarding the current situation, Van't Land said he believed much of the Afghan population had been cut off from aid for a long time. "We know the situation for many inside Afghanistan was already dire prior to 11 September," he said. "We expect, given the past two months, the situation will have deteriorated.". Of particular concern now were diseases, malnutrition and war wounds, he added.

Security remains a major concern for aid workers interested in returning, and one that has yet to be resolved. "The situation differs from location to location," Van't Land said. "In places where we have sent international staff members back in, the situation seems OK, but we need to continually assess the situation."

It was crucial that the local population understood that MSF was returning independent of any military force. "There could be a blurring of the humanitarian and military operations at the moment," he said.

Asked what MSF's plans were, Van't Land said: "Reaching the big cities is only the first step. We expect the greatest needs to be in the outlying districts."

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the first barge-load of relief supplies was dispatched into Afghanistan through the Termez river crossing from Uzbekistan, a spokeswoman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, Stephanie Bunker, told IRIN. "This is a very important beginning to what we hope will be a sustained effort," she said.

The Termez river crossing is expected to become a major corridor for the dispatch of humanitarian aid into Afghanistan, where an estimated three million people face hunger, displacement and a bitter winter. The supplies, intended for the vulnerable people of northern Afghanistan, comprise wheat, winter clothes and water containers. They had been provided by the World Food Programme, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Children's Fund, Bunker said.