Afghans made up the largest percentage of the more than half a million people who applied for asylum last year in 27 industrialized countries, according to a new report released today by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Kandahar, a city in the troubled southern region of Afghanistan, has seen modest improvements in its security situation, United Nations relief officials said today.
Addressing an open meeting of the United Nations Security Council for the first time, the new interim leader of Afghanistan today called on the 15-member body to extend and expand the mandate of multinational forces in the country.
Extending a warm welcome to the new Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, the United Nations Security Council today voiced its “unqualified and unreserved support” to his quest for peace, justice and stability in Afghanistan and pledged to help in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.
Seeking to express their solidarity with the women of Afghanistan, a United Nations committee will adopt a formal statement on the important role they should play in the country's reconstruction, the body's chairperson said today.
The United Nations top envoy in Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, today addressed the first session of the special panel in charge of preparations for convening the Emergency Loya Jirga, which will decide on a transitional government until democratic elections can be held.
The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) arrived in Kabul today for a three-day visit to Afghanistan to review the agency's relief operations in a country devastated by years of war and drought.
While security in the Afghan capital of Kabul has improved, other regions continue to experience crime and lawlessness, impeding the delivery of badly needed aid, a United Nations spokesperson said today.
The head of the Afghan Interim Administration, Hamid Karzai, is expected to visit United Nations headquarters on Wednesday to attend a formal meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan, a UN spokesman said today.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today arrived in Vienna following a weekend of talks with the leaders of Iran and Qatar on topics ranging from support for Afghanistan's new interim administration to the worsening situation in the Middle East.
