Britain pledges US $22 million in crisis aid

British Secretary of State for International Development (DFID) Clare Short has announced a US $22 million package for Pakistan towards continuing reforms and helping the country cope with an influx of Afghan refugees. "The humanitarian situation in the whole region is very serious, and the next few weeks are critical if we are to avoid a disaster," Short said at a joint news conference in Islamabad with Pakistan's finance minister, Shaukat Aziz, on Friday. The $22 million is in addition to the UK's pledge of $16 million following the events of 11 September - also in respect of the refugee situation. Pakistan says it is home to almost three million Afghans, but has agreed to take in more temporarily, providing it receives financial backing. During her brief stay, Short also met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, with whom she discussed ways by which the UK could support his government in implementing its economic and social reform programmes and preparations for the 2002 elections. "We have committed relief, and support for the decentralisation programme," she said. Short added that the DFID would increase its bilateral programme for Pakistan to $65 million per year for the next two years, and that she had discussed writing off service payments on Pakistan's $29 million debt to the Commonwealth Development Corporation, and possibly the cancellation of the debt, "subject to continued economic and political progress". While speaking to reporters on the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, Short said she had visited a World Food Programme (WFP) distribution warehouse in the North West Frontier Province, and asked about how much aid was being sent over the border. "The WFP is now trucking in 200 mt a day, which meets the target set for providing enough food for Afghanistan to carry those in need through the winter," Short explained. On the question of whether US-led air strikes should be suspended to allow food to be trucked in safely, as requested by NGOs, Short said she did not believe such a pause could impact on the fact that people were facing starvation. "It is a false dichotomy to think that if the bombing ends they [Afghans] would be OK." She added that she believed military action would end only when a broad-based government had been decided on for Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the British High Commission in Islamabad has confirmed that it has received a suspect package containing powder, and that a Pakistani employee had tested negative for anthrax after coming into contact with it. "Measures are being taken to make the package safe," Rachel Jamieson, the high commission's press officer, told IRIN on Friday. She said an investigation was being instituted, and that in the meantime they were not speculating as to where the package might have come from. This incident follows confirmation that six people in the US have been infected with the disease, after receiving packages containing anthrax spores through the post. Outside the US, the first case of anthrax was reported in Kenya, where four people had been exposed to the bacteria, a BBC report said. In a separate incident, a letter posted from the US to Argentina was also suspected to be carrying anthrax spores. The US government has said it has not ruled out the possibility of Saudi-born dissident Osama Bin Laden being linked to these incidents, the report said.