7 August 2006

Talking Points

Welcome to all of you. Good morning. Let me first of all put some subjects on the table, but the main focus of today is your questions as we have this session every four weeks.

First of all, the ongoing conflict in Lebanon remains a source of serious concern to all the United Nations and also UNAMA.

As the Secretary-General of the United Nations has rightly said, this tragedy has provoked outrage throughout the world. The death and suffering of so many civilians on both sides is wholly unacceptable.

The Secretary-General has implored from the very first day both sides to agree to a ceasefire, so far without success.

Let me repeat the Secretary-General’s condemnation of all actions that target civilians and his call that there is a need to bring this fighting to a halt without further delay.

Quite a number of Afghan citizens I have spoken with are alarmed about the situation for several reasons.

One, for the situation in Lebanon, but also because the international attention might be distracted from Afghanistan.

Two weeks ago I met the Secretary-General and he assured me that he continues to remain committed and engaged with Afghanistan’s priorities during these conflicting and difficult times.

I briefed the Security Council on 26 July about the difficult situation in the south of Afghanistan and in the southeast and have given the details of developments.

Each of the delegations of the Security Council, each of the fifteen members, have assured me and have assured the Ambassador of Afghanistan who was present that they continue to stay engaged with Afghanistan.

They are aware that a lot has been achieved, but continued support is needed for Afghanistan and even increased support.

In this respect, my meeting with the Security Council, and also quite a number of the Ambassadors in New York, was positive because they stay very well informed, very concerned and very committed.

Facing the security situation in the south, some Afghans asked us, particularly in these regions, whether we cut back our presence or whether we reduce our presence - and the answer is clearly no.

President Karzai has already made it clear that plans are on the way to deal with the insurgency in the south and southeastern provinces to deliver increased security and more development.
UNAMA is playing an important co-ordination role in some of these efforts and as part of this will be expanding our presence in the south and southeast of Afghanistan.

This is in support of the local population and in the support of those who want to deliver development to this population.

Very shortly we will be opening two more UNAMA offices – one in Qalat in the province of Zabul and the other in Asadabad in Kunar province.

These new offices will closely cooperate with the local government and local governors and with all the administration to strengthen the good governance and the rule of law, as well as monitor human rights and support the local population to ensure that more development reaches these areas.

We will continue to open more offices in the whole country, beginning at the end of this year and continuing in the spring next year because we think that our presence can help contribute to the stabilization of the country.

These offices are also meant to listen more closely to the needs of the people and to the interventions of the elders and the local authorities and to get a better understanding about what can be done to help stabilize Afghanistan.

Let me finish these initial remarks by focusing your attention on this year’s biggest organized convoy of refugee returns last week of one thousand Afghans who returned from Pakistan.

These returns of refugees give us hope and optimism for the future and we share this optimism with those who return.

You know that this year more than 113,00 Afghans have returned home under the voluntary assisted returns programme.

Just to remind you, since the UN High Commissioner for Refugees started facilitating returns to Afghanistan in 2002, more than 2.85 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan and more than 1.4 million from Iran. An estimated 2.5 million remain in Pakistan and over 900,000 in Iran.

I’ll now take your questions.

Questions and Answers

Question: Could you give us more details on the means that your offices are going to have in the south and the southeast? And also, could you tell us when you think you could move into Uruzgan, Kandahar and Helmand provinces, into the hotspots. And the last thing, I think there was an assessment recently of your actions in the south and what you’re doing there right now. I just wondered if you could talk about that.

Answer: One thing to clarify, we don’t have development funds on our own because the UNAMA mission doesn’t live from the funds dedicated to the development of Afghanistan. We live from the assessed contributions of the UN.

Our function is to cooperate with the donors on one side, be it the bilateral donors, or the UN agencies. This opening of offices should reinforce and inspire these agencies to come to these provinces, to use the knowledge and the contacts of UNAMA to implement their programmes because some of the programmes have been hampered by the perception of insecurity in these provinces.

We have an office, the regional office in Kandahar, which has been there for a long time, practically since 2002. We will keep that office, and from there we serve Helmand and Uruzgan. There are plans to open an office in these provinces, a separate office, but we cannot tell you when this will be possible because it depends on how fast ISAF is able to guarantee a range of action in these places.

Nevertheless, there are programmes delivered in these provinces already, which are from our side, attended from the Kandahar office. And particularly the National Solidarity Programme, with a great number of projects, is active. Our plans are to co-locate with other UN agencies and open our compound to other actors, to co-locate, and by that to create a focus of development and project activities.

This is in harmony with the strategy of the military forces, particularly ISAF, to guarantee in certain security zones the working conditions for NGOs and international agencies for support and development.

Question: (translated from Dari) You had mentioned the return of refugees. We have heard about refugees who returned to Afghanistan who faced unemployment and lack of shelter, and they had to go to other countries. What plans are underway for those who return to the country?

Answer: We cooperate with the authorities and with the ministries. We say to UNHCR to give support programmes to those refugees who return. This will certainly not touch all refugees, and those who come share the fate and share the situation the rest of the Afghans have here. Quite a number of refugees have returned to the urban centres and they have equal opportunities with the others, which sometimes are poor. There is only limited support in this country possible, and nevertheless, it is encouraging that people return because they have contributed a lot to the economy of Afghanistan so far.

UNHCR plans to build 1,000 shelter units over the course of this year. We know that this is little, but we know too that most of the refugees return to their families or to family members. Overall, the returned refugees, economically, have not done that badly in this country compared with the average, the population overall. We have to take into consideration that this is a very poor country.

Question: My question is about the current security situation in the south. I heard that the United States will send about 11,000 more troops to Afghanistan by the end of this year. And there are reports that Britain will also send more troops to Afghanistan. Could you please tell us whether this is just to fight the Taliban in a limited term, or are we facing a new and fresh war that might continue for a long time?

Answer: I cannot confirm your numbers, but what I can confirm is that with the buildup of ISAF in the south and in the southeast, we will have 9,000 troops more than we had at the beginning of this year in Afghanistan. They are fighting an insurgency in the south and in the southeast, which has increased its activity over the year. The international community has reacted not only with sending more soldiers but also with granting more support, particularly from the US side, for the police and the Afghan National Army.

They have to do everything to deliver security. But I have repeatedly said here, and I will repeat it today again, the solution to the situation in the south and the southeast, the quelling of the insurgency, is not only a military question. There are other elements which are equally important. One is governance. The government has to build up in these provinces to a larger extent, to fight corruption and be present with the institutions in each of the districts, and to deliver services to all of the population.

The third element is increased efforts of the government and the international community to deliver development. And the fourth element is increased and improved diplomacy for stability in the region. We all know that stability in the south is closely linked to stability in the region, and so not only in Afghanistan but also in the neighbouring countries, there is activity needed to fight for stability.

The fifth element is the counter-narcotics strategy, where we haven’t been very successful so far. The counter-narcotics strategy is a regional concern too. And we have to make sure that the strategies here were well coordinated with the neighbouring countries.

So I repeat it again, the security issue is not only a military and police issue, but has five different elements: military, development, governance, diplomacy and counter-narcotics. In each of these fields, we need to be successful. Otherwise, we will not be able to stabilize Afghanistan. That’s why I so strongly advocate an increase in efforts in all these five fields.

Question: (translated from Dari) His question has two parts. First, he would like to get the details of the briefing you gave to the Security Council regarding Afghanistan. The second question has to do with the statement by Francesc Vendrell, the representative of the European Union, who said that by ignoring the Northern Alliance and the Taliban, we have made a great mistake.

Answer: To the first, I won’t give you the details because it was a closed session, but I will give you the outline. The Security Council is generally well informed about what is happening in Afghanistan because quite a lot of the members have embassies here, experts here or soldiers here. So they get their information. The Secretariat at the UN is informing the Security Council regularly and there are nearly three monthly briefings on the subject of Afghanistan. This was one of these three-monthly briefings.

The main point of my presentation was the concern about the increased insecurity and increased activity of the insurgency in the south and in the southeast since the beginning of this year. Because, if you recall, the analysis at the beginning of this year was completely different to the one now.

Both elements of the insecurity, one that we face an insurgency and not remnants of small local groups fighting there, with an increase of activities of anti-government elements and apparently a coherent leadership, with a clear intention to overthrow the government and take over government structures. So this is an insurgency and should be called an insurgency.

This was the analysis which has been presented here by the different, engaged agencies, national and international, to the President – that this is an insurgency and that the response must be multi-faceted and not just military.

The second element, which was new and not reflected in earlier reports, was the cross-border nature of this insurgency. That the leadership and certain segments of the fighters come over the border. And for that the importance of regional stability and not only provincial stability.

To the remarks of Francesc Vendrell, you’ll have to ask him because I don’t know exactly what was referred to. I can only tell you about one element which might be relevant to this reply. In an interview some weeks ago, my pre-predecessor, Mr. Brahimi, said that if they had done something wrong in the beginning of the Bonn process it was not to try harder to involve the Taliban more in that agreement, to make them part of the negotiations and the outcome, and not to sideline them as the enemy.

It certainly will not be possible to re-integrate Mullah Omar or the terrorist part of the Taliban, but it certainly is necessary to focus more on the efforts for reconciliation than we have done so far, particularly in the beginning of the process.

This is not a comment on what Francesc might have said, because I have not heard it. But it is my own comment. I am sure he is right because I appreciate his analysis very much

Question: I have a question about the DIAG process …(inaudible). And my other question is about the resumption of UN activities in the south. What is your message to the local population? How will you coordinate your activities with others in those areas?

Answer: To the first question, again I cannot comment on what Francesc Vendrell told you because I don’t know it. But I can comment on the DIAG process. I have told you here that I think DIAG is a very important instrument to bring peace to Afghanistan. That’s why we cooperate closely with the Japanese Government, who is generous enough to fund this programme, among others.

I think the debate over the resurgence of militias or renaissance of militias has been very detrimental to DIAG. We have taken a clear position against militias and against creating anything like it in Afghanistan again. Afghanistan has a very negative history with militias and we should not forget that. Every intention to re-create militias weakens the central government, weakens the efforts we have made to create a legal police and to create a functioning army. Disbandment of illegal armed groups is necessary and paramount to get over the factional fighting we still have in some areas. And it’s every week that people die from these factional fighting between “un-DIAGed” local commanders. So we will continue to push in favour of DIAG and engage the local governors.

We expect from the government as a whole and from the local governors to engage on this because only by the disbandment of illegal armed groups can we come to a monopoly of force by the legal state institutions. That’s what’s needed for peace in the country.

To the second question, it’s not a resumption of UN activity but it is an enlargement of UN activity. We have operated in the region through the Kandahar and Jalalabad offices and we will increase our operations, increase our outreach by opening additional offices. And the mandate of these offices is as it is for the regional offices we have so far, to coordinate just these major or minor donors, all the actors on the ground, and to support them to help the local community in cooperation with the local government.

We support and strengthen local actors, local organizations and link them together with international donors and with local government to strengthen the legal structures of governance in these areas.

Question - NY Times: This is the eighth day of ISAF activity in the south and starting from last Monday they have had casualties on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday they had a traffic accident and yesterday they had another casualty, so I wanted to ask what you think is the reason of all these increased casualties. Is it because these troops are new there and they are so weak they cannot battle the insurgents there? And don’t you think that the international community will not get demoralized and they will not send more soldiers there?

Answer: To the first question, I regret very much the casualties and that can only inspire the troops not to lose their morale because of that because the casualties are due to an increased activity.

There might be an additional element in that the insurgents try to test the new forces. The troops there are not so new on the ground because the Canadians and the Brits have been there before and they are only now under new command and they do everything to get control over the ground and get control over the territory and so they have an increased level of warfare there.

I know that in the capitals of those countries who send troops the debate in Parliament is increasing in intensity when these countries lose soldiers. This is the case in the United States, Canada, and Britain and will continue to be the case.

First of all I would say this is very good because every person, every life counts and every life counts for these nations and that is new that hasn’t been like that all over the history. Nevertheless the mandate of NATO and ISAF and all of those 37 nations who send soldiers, have agreed to that mandate and that is to fight the insurgency, to fight the instability and to deliver stability to Afghanistan. And this mandate is implemented with high risk even to the lives of the soldiers.

Each of these nations and each of the unit commanders and each of the soldiers know that it’s not only the international community who is losing lives - the major number of lives lost in this conflict are Afghan civilians. I would just remind you of one incident we have seen in the last week which was the Kandahar suicide attack where 21 civilians were killed and more than 30 injured.

The international community is here to prevent such atrocities and such crimes so there is a good reason to risk the lives of soldiers, to risk one’s life. Then everybody knows that next to the high number of civilians who lost their lives the security forces of Afghanistan are very brave, and are sacrificing a number of lives in these fights. Nevertheless, I realize and know that we have to vigorously and lead this discussion in the capitals over the strategy, over the reasons, over the successes and over the failures of this campaign. We have to foster this debate and not avoid it because the country has to know what their engagement is for, what the risks are and what the achievements are.

Question - NYTimes: In light of fostering your debate, could you give your view of how seven months after the Afghan Compact was signed how the Afghan government is keeping its commitment to the Compact? Could you give a broader view of your opinions over the last seven months?

Answer: I think it’s a bit too early to say if the government or donor side has succeeded or failed and in our monitoring process we will see in the course of the year that the picture will be very mixed.

The structures in consequence of the Afghanistan Compact have been put in place but it is slow to get moving or advancing on the benchmarks. The ministers are still new and it has taken a long time to have them approved by the parliament and some still are not. The international community, under the leadership of the line ministries, is cooperating with the Afghan government on the Afghanistan Compact in a great number of working groups who have met with mixed success. For the most imminent benchmarks we have produced a matrix which gives a red, yellow or green light.

For an overall evaluation of the process I would say ‘blinking yellow light’. I would not say it is ‘red light’ and everything has failed and we will not reach the benchmarks. But we cannot say either, ‘everything is ok and we are excellent’. There is still a lot to be done, of effort necessary on both sides, from the donor sides, and from the government side. That would be a yellow light. But the blinking yellow light is that we are impatient and we should be impatient and the government should be impatient with the donors and the donors impatient with the government.

Question: You were speaking of the interlinkage factors relating to insecurity and you referred to the regional stability. The coalition forces say they are dealing with counter terrorism and ISAF says it is dealing with counter insurgency. Do you think that this is leading to a lack of (inaudible) and send military operations, and the second part is related to regional stability and there is a lot of talk of the need for this, what exactly is being done concretely in terms of bilateral of regional efforts?

Answer: To your first question, counter terrorism or counter insurgency, I think there has been a harmonizing of views in the last months. There is a shared view that we face an insurgency which uses in some areas terrorist methods and which are linked partially with terrorist networks, but the description is not sufficient focusing only on terrorist character, one has to focus also on the great number of fighters who have been recruited in the south and southeast of this country and who fight for different reasons.

The regional effort has been intense on the diplomatic field for some time and has intensified through the visit of the President of the United States and the State Secretary. I think this element has to be increased, one, on the Afghan-Pakistan side, where I see encouraging signs, first by the very successful visit of the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan in Pakistan and second by the invitation of Musharaf and the announced visit of Musharaf in Kabul.

These diplomatic efforts for the stabilization of the region have to be increased, invigorated, repeated, enhanced and fostered. There is an element of cooperation between the military which is very important, the so-called tri-lateral commission, is meeting and they have to agree upon military strategies of cooperation or else it will be very difficult to quell the insurgency.

Since the instability is regional I think the fight against instability, the stabilization effort, have to be regional too so I focus on cooperation, on diplomatic support, diplomatic visits and not on distance getting the two countries. And I was very happy to listen carefully to the Afghan Ambassador in front of the Security Council who had exactly the same focus.

Question - IRIN News: Despite the spending of millions of dollars by the international community to tackle the insurgency, the situation has not changed on the ground. As well there is some problems tackling the production of opium, can you pinpoint some of the failures and is there the need for new strategies? And the last thing is how long will it take to tackle the insurgency?

Answer: My answers can be very short. To the first one the answer is ‘yes’. To the second on my answer is ‘I don’t know’. Let me be a little more substantial. Nobody can say that we have been successful if the poppy production has increased. And certainly the strategy and the effort have to be rethought. The problem has increased and the remedy has to adjust. In other countries where a counter narcotics strategy has been successful, it has taken between 10 and 20 years. So nobody can expect quick results. That’s why I will raise more problems than quick answers in answering your questions.

We know that if we start eradicating the whole surface of poppy cultivation in Helmand, we will increase the activity of the insurgency and increase the number of insurgents. Because certainly the leading part of the Helmand economy is poppy cultivation. That’s why everybody says ‘alternative livelihoods first’. This is an easy answer because Helmand is one of the poorest provinces in Afghanistan and Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world.

And what is the alternative livelihood, what should they cultivate? If we say tomatoes, first of all we have to know if tomatoes can grow on the ground where poppy grows. Then do we have a market for the alternative product, and do we get the product quickly to the market, because a tomato needs a very short time to come to the market, while opium can last for years without being brought to the market.

So I think we have to adjust in three respects. First we shouldn’t expect and shouldn’t promise quick results. Second we should carefully rethink the concept of what could be the alternative for the farmers and implemented and supported with the necessary funds will be very difficult and costly, because we cannot say ‘because we have cultivated so much poppy we focus all the development aid on Helmand and nothing to other provinces’.

On the other hand we have to reinvigorate and rethink the interdiction strategy because it is illegal to cultivate poppy. I think it is right to focus first and above all on those who make the real big money and who are the traders, but that is very difficult in the situation of instability where not all the territory is under government control. I will not go into the details of the counter narcotics strategy which has been designed and will be readjusted along the experiences made in Helmand and other places, but again we shouldn’t say that we have been successful.

To the other question, ‘how long’, I’m very reluctant to give a short answer except the one I have given you. We have listened to questions given over the last four years that the problem of the Taliban is over and they are defeated and divided and disappeared and they are no threat for Afghanistan anymore.
This analysis was obviously wrong so we should be a bit more careful if we tell you it will be over in a year. The elements of strategy, I’ve given you five, are all long-term strategies. Even the very important element of governance, to fight corruption of the government, is not done in a couple of days, but I think it is really time to start with it.

Question - Radio Liberty: What do you think, sir, about the new Afghan Foreign Minister, Mr. Spanta, has he been successful until now to bring a full confidence and create a stronger relation between Pakistan and Afghanistan and Afghanistan and Iran, especially the commonwealth countries and the Arabic countries? If he is not so, what do you think he should do to better these relations?

Answer: I am not the person to give advice to the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan. I think he has done extremely well in his start because he has only been in office a couple of months. I’ve only commented on the point of cooperation with Pakistan and he has been very efficient. I think continuing the line he has started will keep Afghanistan in the middle of the international community which is not so easy because the international community is very divided and very diverse.

It will be important to keep at the same time the good neighborhood to Pakistan and the friendly relations with India, the good neighborhood with Iran and keep the friendly relationship with the United States. The four countries are of utmost importance for Afghanistan’s stability and I can only say to the Foreign Minister, “Alles Gute”, that is German for “good luck”.

Other Talking Points

FAO-Afghan Government project launched with EC funding
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food (MAAHF) signed an agreement with the European Commission (EC) for funding a project to enable the collection, analysis and utilization of information in the area of food security, as well as policies for reducing poverty and food insecurity in Afghanistan.

The agreement will fund Phase II of the Support to the Food, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Information Management and Policy Unit (FAAHM) in Developing an Agricultural Statistics and Market Information System Project up to 31 July 2009.

The project will focus on capacity building and developing a sustainable food security information system that has a crop and livestock monitoring component; a Statistics and Economic Analysis Unit; a market information system; and a Database Management Unit.

Click here to read the FAO press release.

Joint UN-Government vaccination campaign starts
The Ministry of Public Health, supported by UNICEF (UN Children’s Fund) and the World Health Organization, has just launched a vaccination campaign against Measles. It will run from 5-10 August 2006.

This will be the first phase of a three-phase campaign that will target the provinces of Bamyan, Daikundi, Ghazni, Nuristan, Kunar, Badakhshan, Samangan, Faryab, and Ghor.
These provinces are often the most difficult to reach during the winter months. During the campaign children between the ages of 9 months to 5 years will be immunized against measles.

The total cost of this phase of the campaign will be $993,792.

In other related news the Ministry of Public Health, supported by UNICEF and WHO, will also launch a Tetanus Toxide (TT) campaign from 5-10 August. The same provinces will be covered by this campaign. During the campaign women of childbearing age from 15 to 45 will be vaccinated against neonatal tetanus.

UNICEF donates vehicles to government
UNICEF has recently donated vehicles to both the Ministries of Public Health and
Education. The vehicles were handed over to the Ministry of Public Health in Daikundi Province. The total cost of the vehicles is $60,638.

Similarly UNICEF donated two coaster buses to the Ministry of Education last week. The buses will be used to transport school children in Bagdhis province. The total cost of both buses is $69,654.

UNICEF alarmed as attacks on schools rise
UNICEF warned today that schools in Afghanistan are the targets of increasingly dramatic attacks, noting that reported incidents have spread from the south and southeastern region to all of the provinces and include one missile attack, 11 explosions, 50 school burnings and 37 threats against schools and communities.

As of July 2006, the UNICEF School Incident Database – a UNICEF-run monitoring system – had 99 cases, particularly alarming because this is more than six times the number of incidents from the same period in 2005. Six children have died as a result of violence.

In response, UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and other partners have set up a special task force to protect students, teachers, school officials and schools, as well as to provide a rapid response when incidents arise.

When incidents do occur, UNICEF, if security allows, is on-site within 72 hours providing support within five days with the provision of classroom tents, teaching-learning stationary materials, blackboard, chalks, and floor mats so as to restore the normal functioning of schools and having teachers and children return as soon as possible.

UNICEF has already allocated some emergency rehabilitation funds to each of its zone offices for the repair of burnt or damaged schools, with rehabilitation support coming from within the communities.

Click here for more information.

First ever landmine victim workshop taking place in Kabul
Although Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily contaminated countries in the world with an average of 60 Afghans either killed or injured by mines and unexploded ordnance each month, the Government of Afghanistan is doing something about it.
As we speak the First National Workshop on Landmine Victim Assistance in Afghanistan (6-8 August) is taking place in the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.

The workshop will examine the state of assistance to landmine victims and other people with disabilities in Afghanistan and will be used to develop a nationwide plan of action for 2006 to 2009.

As a member of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, the Government of Afghanistan is committed to eradicating mines and providing support to victims of the deadly devices.

The workshop, which is being supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, will be attended by 100 people and will be held in Dari and English. Translation services will be provided to participants.

Students show off artistic talents in WFP art competition
An international children's art competition has just announced the winners for 2006. This is an annual event organized by the United Nations World Food Programme. The winners were presented with $50 for themselves and $100 for their schools to purchase stationery and art materials.

Two Afghan children joined the other 29 finalists who were selected from a short-list of 180 drawings by primary school children in 36 different countries.

The two Afghans, Palwasha and Sooma, aged twelve and thirteen years old, were selected from more than 4,300 designs sketched by students from 430 schools across Afghanistan.

The theme of this year’s competition, involving a drawing and an accompanying explanatory text, was “The difference WFP school meals make to my life”.

All students who participated in the competition attend schools where WFP has ongoing school feeding programmes. These are designed to both fortify the health of primary school children and to encourage their continued attendance in school. Participating students receive a daily, mid-morning snack of biscuits enriched by 13 essential vitamins and minerals.

“These children are their country’s future and it’s important to invest in them,” said Rick Corsino, WFP Representative in Afghanistan. All of us at WFP congratulate these young artists for creating such unique and inspiring works,” said Corsino.

The designs from WFP’s global competition are currently being incorporated into greeting cards, calendars and agendas, all of which will soon be available for sale on WFP’s website.

WFP receives new $17 million contribution
Days after the Afghan Government and the United Nations warned that Afghanistan is facing an imminent food crisis brought on by drought conditions in much of the country, donor countries have responded to the World Food Programme with donations totaling $17 million for the purchase of food for the most vulnerable.
The United States of America has donated 25,010 tonnes of wheat and 2,000 tonnes of vegetable oil valued at $15 million; Switzerland has donated $800,000 in cash; Belgium over $600,000 and Japan $500,000.

On 25 July the Government of Afghanistan and the United Nations launched a joint drought appeal to provide additional food, as well as drinking water, seed, fertilizer and feed for livestock. As part of this appeal WFP had requested an additional 81,500 tonnes of food, valued at $49.9 million, for an initial period of six months.

WFP estimates that, beyond the 3.3 million people it plans to assist through its regular programme in 2006 with 170,000 tonnes of mixed commodities, an average of 1.7 million people will need assistance each month until the next harvest because of the drought.

WFP’s current shortfall for all Afghanistan activities is 66,000 tonnes of wheat and other commodities valued at $45 million.

In addition to the recent contributions earmarked for winterization and drought relief, WFP has also received donations from the United States ($38.9 million), India ($21.9 million), Japan ($5.7 million), Switzerland ($2.5 million), Italy ($2.3 million) and the Netherlands ($1.2 million). Contributions have also been received from Australia, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and the United Kingdom, as well as from private sources.