Aid workers from the United Nations refugee agency travelled from Kabul up to the Panjshir Valley today to check on some 12,000 Afghans who fled the Shomali Plains, north of the capital.
Relief efforts for Afghanistan received a boost today as the United Nations and the Government of Uzbekistan agreed on measures to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to northern Afghanistan by UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations.
Reports of people being displaced from their homes in a number of areas around Afghanistan are rising, and access for humanitarian workers still remains difficult in parts of the country, United Nations relief officials said today.
The pace of United Nations relief efforts has quickened in recent days, as security and access problems are gradually being overcome, UN officials on the ground said today.
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today announced a major drive against measles in Afghanistan, where the relatively benign disease kills thousands of the country's most vulnerable children.
With the rapidly changing situation on the ground in Afghanistan, United Nations relief officials were beginning the slow process of re-establishing humanitarian aid facilities, including in the western city of Herat.
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan remains critical despite the political agreement reached in Bonn, while lack of security continues to pose the most daunting challenge for the aid agencies, a top United Nations relief official said today.
Hamstrung by overall insecurity and the resulting problems of access, United Nations relief agencies continued to scramble to deliver humanitarian aid throughout Afghanistan, UN officials said today.
The United Nations today reported four recent demining casualties resulting from ongoing efforts to rid Kabul of the deadly threat posed by unexploded ordnance.
