Afghan

Afghan opium cultivation dropping, according to preliminary UN survey

28 March 2005
Farmers in Afghanistan, which accounts for 87 per cent of the world's opium and heroin products, are growing fewer opium poppies this year than last and overall output is expected to drop for the first time since 2001, according to the latest United Nations survey released ahead of a detailed annual report in the autumn.
Security Council

Security Council extends UN mission in Afghanistan for another year

24 March 2005
Stressing the urgent need to tackle ongoing challenges in Afghanistan including the fight against narcotics, terrorist threats and timely preparation for elections, the Security Council today unanimously extended the mandate of the United Nations mission in the country for another 12 months through 24 March 2006.
Afghans

After feeding snowbound Afghans, UN agency shifts gear to aid flood-stricken

23 March 2005
After weeks of struggling to provide food to more than 100,000 snowbound Afghans, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is shifting gear in step with the weather to help tens of thousands of people now facing floods from melting snow and torrential rains.
SRSG Jean Arnault briefs the Council

Afghanistan will need international help to build future beyond elections, Security Council told

22 March 2005
Afghanistan will need sustained international help way beyond September’s legislative elections marking the completion of the Bonn accord that set up the country’s transitional phase after the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in his latest report delivered today.
An Afghan school girl

UNICEF helps Afghanistan get ready for new school year

18 March 2005
As more than 4 million Afghan children prepare to return to school from next week after a particularly harsh winter, the United Nations Children’s (UNICEF) has been helping the Ministry of Education to provide basic classroom stationery and materials to schools nationwide.

$148 million needed to run Afghan parliamentary elections, UN tells donors

17 March 2005
Afghanistan's electoral authorities need some $148 million in funding to ensure that national and local parliamentary elections scheduled for later this year are conducted fairly and transparently, the United Nations has told a donor conference in the capital Kabul.

Departing UN spokesman highlights Afghanistan's progress, remaining challenges

13 March 2005
United Nations spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva gave his final briefing in Afghanistan today after more than three tumultuous years, highlighting some of the country's successes during his tenure there but also pointing out the remaining challenges in the rebuilding process.

After heaviest snowfalls in years in Afghanistan, UN agencies prepare for floods

10 March 2005
After the harshest winter and heaviest snowfalls in years cut off tens of thousands of Afghans from food supplies, requiring helicopter drops, United Nations agencies are now taking precautionary measures against a new threat – potential flooding from the spring thaw.
These Afghan refugees were provided temporary shelter

UN refugee agency distributes tents to thousands of flood-hit Afghans in Pakistan

8 March 2005
The United Nations refugee agency has distributed 1,000 tents to 7,300 Afghan refugees made homeless by flooding in Pakistan's Balochistan region following weeks of snow and heavy rains that sent water and mud rushing down the barren mountainsides.

UN announces end of heavy weapons collection in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley

6 March 2005
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today announced the completion of heavy weapons collection in the Panjshir Valley, declaring the area free of all known working or repairable forms of those arms.