Opium and aid top Afghan talks

Afghan farmers are battling a three-year drought

A six-monthly donor meeting for Afghanistan has begun in the Pakistan capital, Islamabad.

The two-day meeting is to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan amid mounting tensions between aid workers and the ruling Taleban militia.

How are we going to work in the wake of the Taleban's restrictive actions, which are increasing day by day?

Hans-Joachim Daerr
ASG Chief

The 16-member Afghan Support Group (ASG) will review the aid response to the emergency in Afghanistan, where more than 800,000 people have become homeless since mid-2000 due to war and drought.

High on the agenda will also be relief for farmers who have lost their main source of income in the wake the Taleban's ban on opium growing.

Growing harassment

The United Nations has lodged strong protests with the fundamentalist Islamic militia over growing incidents of abuse and harassment of aid workers in the troubled country.

It is also understood to be seeking legal advice on a new code of conduct, which the Taleban will require all foreigners to sign.

The code is designed to make foreigners abide by the Taleban's strict version of Islamic law, but aid workers are concerned its vague provisions could be used for political reasons.

"How are we going to work in the wake of the Taleban's restrictive actions, which are increasing day by day?" said German ambassador to Pakistan, Hans-Joachim Daerr, who is the current chief of the ASG.

Aid at risk

He said the ASG, including two European Commission bodies and 14 countries, had provided $200m to Afghanistan so far this year, but future assistance was at risk unless the Taleban co-operated with the relief community.

Afghanistan has been blighted by years of civil war

UN country co-ordinator Erick de Mul has also warned the world body may have no choice but to close its humanitarian projects unless the Taleban creates a secure operational environment.

"In many parts of the country, aid personnel, especially national staff, face sporadic harassment including detention on spurious charges," a UN document presented to the meeting said.

Famine fears

The UN estimates more than a million Afghans could face famine this year unless massive international assistance is forthcoming.

But efforts to raise funds from the international community have been stymied by the Taleban's record of human rights abuses and the ongoing war between the militia and opposition forces.

The Taleban want international recognition for their opium poppy ban

"The international and regional solidarity that supported Afghans for so long has steadily eroded," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a briefing paper presented at the meeting.

The BBC's correspondent Kate Clark says that the Taleban's ban on opium cultivation last year is likely to be another topic of discussion at the meeting.

Before the ban it was estimated that Afghanistan produced three quarters of the world's supply, and farmers have now lost their major industry.

Afghan poppy farmers have lost four fifths of their income by switching to other crops. Many have been left indebted - some have had to sell land.

Angry

Apart from the US, no other country has yet pledged any assistance.

The lack of response so far from the international community has left the Taleban disillusioned and angry.

They felt it was one issue where their efforts should have been acknowledged because many countries had complained so vociferously when poppy was being grown.

Many drug enforcement officials say it is vital to support Afghan farmers if the ban is to become sustainable. They say that if nothing is done it will be the world's fault if Afghans go back to growing opium.