Leaders urged to help Afghan charities

Mr Swinney says the relief effort is "faltering"

John Swinney has called for a cross-party campaign to encourage Scots to donate more to charities delivering humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

The Scottish National Party leader said political opponents should "sign-up" for the initiative in a bid to boost the relief effort, which he believed was "faltering badly".

Although he stopped short of condemning the military action being taken by US and British forces, Mr Swinney said there was a need for a "balanced conflict".

He called on the Prime Minister Tony Blair to publish a strategy which explains how humanitarian aid can be delivered effectively in tandem with military action.

John Swinney: "Balanced conflict"

Speaking on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland Programme, Mr Swinney said: "I'm becoming increasingly concerned about the balance within this conflict between military and humanitarian assistance.

"The prime minister said on the first night of the bombing that there had to be military, humanitarian and diplomatic measures of equal significance within the conflict.

"We've quite clearly seen a tremendous energy in the military campaign, but from all the evidence we can see the humanitarian aid effort is faltering, and faltering badly.

"I don't see why the military effort can't be configured in a way that actually supports the delivery of humanitarian aid into Afghanistan.

"We're in a situation where 50,000 tonnes of food is required in Afghanistan to feed the population on a monthly basis and in the last month we've managed to get 15,000 tonnes into Afghanistan.

Military strategy

"That means that the humanitarian aid effort is not being given the support and the resources it requires."

Mr Swinney said there was more "vigour" being put into the war than humanitarian aid and he called on Mr Blair to address this.

"If we get to a point where it is impossible for the humanitarian aid effort to be compatible with the military strategy, then the prime minister will have failed in the commitment he gave us to produce a balanced conflict," he said.

"At the present moment the military strategy is obviously being pursued with vigour, but the humanitarian aid strategy is not being pursued with equal vigour and that is what the government has got to address now."