UN work continues

The UN plans to continue to provide the people of Afghanistan with "as much essential, life-saving assistance" as possible, a statement from the office of the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan said on Friday. "We have set up a crisis task force in Islamabad, which will be making decisions about how to move forward, and will provide direction on deciding what action can be taken," Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the office of the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan in Islamabad, told IRIN. The statement came a day after the UN and aid agencies pulled international staff out of Afghanistan in fear of US retaliation after Tuesday's devastating terrorist attacks on targets in Washington and New York. The main suspect is the Saudi dissident, Usama bin Ladin, who has been living in Afghanistan since 1996. Bin Ladin is also accused of masterminding the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The US then retaliated by launching missile attacks on Afghanistan, and it is feared could do the same again. The pullout comes at a time when Afghanistan is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis. The ongoing civil war and continuing drought have left six million people in desperate need of aid, with 900,000 people internally displaced. Bunker said that WFP still had food inside the war-torn country and would continue to distribute it. The hundreds of Afghans working with the UN and aid agencies were initially told to stay at home. "We are now drawing up guidelines for them, and it would be up to them to decide whether they want to continue working," Bunker added. The statement also said that any reduction of assistance would inevitably increase the overall number of vulnerable Afghan civilians. On the question of how long the UN would be pulling out for, Bunker said: "We simply don't know how long we will be out of Afghanistan." The crisis task force will comprise representatives from the office of the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan, UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP, who would be meeting regularly. An aid worker in Islamabad who left Afghanistan this week expressed concern over the impact the pullout could have on humanitarian assistance. "The continuation of assistance is crucial for many of our projects," Sebastian Trives, Afghanistan coordinator for the French NGO, ACTED, told IRIN. "We want to be out of Afghanistan for as little time as possible," he added. ACTED is operating in northern and northeastern Afghanistan. It has 10 international staff working there, of whom eight have left, and the remaining two are in non-Taliban held territory in the eastern city of Faizabad. Meanwhile, Afghans in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province are becoming increasingly concerned for relatives stuck in Afghanistan following the pullout. "Successive governments in Afghanistan have not been providing any employment or support to the people, and they are largely dependent on aid agencies for whatever little employment and food aid they offer," Babri, a 35 year-old Afghan told IRIN. He said some of his family members had managed to get across the border from Afghanistan, and that over the past two days he had seen at least 20 families related to him arriving in Pakistan. There are fears that if aid dries up in Afghanistan it may fuel a new exodus of refugees into Pakistan and Iran. "WFP is currently helping to feed three million people in Afghanistan's rural areas alone. If this support cannot be continued, massive displacement cannot be ruled out," Friday's statement said. Samina Bibi, a teacher in a refugee school in Peshawar, is also worried about her family in the Afghan capital, Kabul. "After the events of the past few days, we fear for our family." She was also worried that any attacks on Afghanistan would have greatest impact on the common people. "If they attack, it will hurt innocent people," she added.