Afghan

UN in race against time to provide food for 600,000 Afghans before winter cuts them off

29 November 2006
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is racing against the clock to deliver food for some 600,000 impoverished Afghans who will be cut off once winter’s bitter cold arrives and heavy snows set in, while at the same time seeking urgent donations now to prevent a shortfall with the approach of next spring.

General Assembly puts its weight behind Afghan reconstruction plan, stresses security

29 November 2006
The 192-member General Assembly has fully backed a five-year reconstruction plan for strife-torn Afghanistan agreed with the international community earlier this year, stressing in particular the need to improve security in the country and also deal with the widespread drug trade.

Record Afghan opium crop is massive source of corruption, UN report warns

28 November 2006
Efforts to combat opium production in Afghanistan, a $3-billion-a-year trade accounting for more than 90 per cent of the world’s illegal output, have been marred by high-level corruption, with this year registering a record increase of some 50 per cent, according to a United Nations report released today.

Afghanistan: UN agencies call on all sides in conflict to facilitate polio vaccination

22 November 2006
United Nations agencies today called on the Afghan Government, military groups and anti-government forces to agree to “Days of Tranquility” for all upcoming anti-polio campaigns, especially in the strife-torn south, where violence has significantly curtailed vaccinators’ mobility, leading to a seven-fold rise in cases this year.
Kenzo Oshima

Afghanistan could return to being a ‘failed State,’ warns Security Council mission chief

22 November 2006
Painting a grim picture of increased Taliban violence, growing illegal drug production and fragile State institutions in Afghanistan, the head of last week’s Security Council mission to the strife-torn country warned today it faced becoming a failed State unless the international community fully supports the Afghan recovery effort.

Afghanistan: UN airlifts aid to flood victims, faces severe shortfall for drought relief

20 November 2006
United Nations agencies in Afghanistan moved on three fronts today, airlifting emergency aid to nearly 6,000 flood victims, staging the latest phase of a polio vaccination campaign targeting 7.2 million children, and warning that 2 to 3 million people will be “severely affected” if a $48 million shortfall in food assistance is not met.
Amb. Kenzo Oshima (R) at press conference, Kabul

Taliban insurgency tops list of concerns as Security Council team arrives in Afghanistan

12 November 2006
With the Taliban insurgency posing a major problem for Afghanistan, the head of a Security Council mission there today pledged that the international community will stand by the country as it works to rebuild.

Afghanistan: UN-backed panel voices alarm at surge in opium cultivation

3 November 2006
A United Nations-backed panel on narcotics control today expressed alarm at the rise in illicit opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, by far the world’s largest supplier, and called on its neighbours to crack down on the apparent smuggling of a chemical needed for the manufacture of heroin within the country.

Afghanistan: UN helps Government draw up national strategy to tackle drought

2 November 2006
With over 2 million people facing the effects of drought in Afghanistan, the United Nations has teamed up with the Government to run a two-day workshop to tackle water scarcity, a vital factor in a country where agriculture accounts for 52 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 66 per cent of the work force.