06 October

Afghan Forum: Donors Promise $600 Million in New Aid

By Wendy Lubetkin
Washington File European Correspondent

Geneva -- The United States joined United Nations agencies October 6 in expressing satisfaction with the outcome of a two day meeting on humanitarian aid for Afghanistan during which donors announced some $600 million in new funds.

The October 5-6 "Afghan Forum" brought together U.N. and other humanitarian agencies, major donor countries, and "host countries," including Pakistan and Iran, which neighbor Afghanistan, and have for many years supported large Afghan refugee populations on their soil.

"We believe the forum was successful," Douglas Hunter, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, said at an October 6 press conference following the meeting. All participants agreed that the highest priority must be given to providing assistance inside Afghanistan and getting food into the country now, he said.

The World Food Program told the meeting that the already alarming food crisis inside Afghanistan is bound to worsen. WFP estimates that the number at risk could rise to 6 million inside the country. Mohamed Zejjari, WFP's Assistant Executive Director, said the main challenge remains access to the most vulnerable populations. The WFP is planning to launch an enormous operation to transport 52,000 tons of food overland into Afghanistan each day, but Zejjari said he believes that airdrops will be "absolutely necessary for some areas."

The purpose of the Afghan Forum was threefold, according to Hunter, who led the U.S. government delegation at the meeting. A first objective was to draw world attention to the humanitarian crisis and show the concern of the international community for the Afghan people.

Another primary goal of the meeting was to bring Afghanistan's neighboring countries -- Pakistan, Tajikistan and Iran -- to the table so that they could tell the international community directly about their concerns. And a third was to urge those countries to allow Afghans to enter their territory where they can be provided protection and assistance.

Asked whether it was new for the United States to be involved in direct discussions of this nature with Iran, Hunter responded, "I think what is different today is that we've sat at the table with Iran, and asked them explicitly to present to the international donor community their assessment, their policies, their concerns, so that as the international community works out the planning and the policy responses we've had a direct dialogue with them."

Both Pakistan and Iran sought and were given assurances by the Afghan Forum that if they opened their borders to new refugees, the refugees would only stay temporarily and would not have the same refugee status as groups that have been there for 20 years.

Speaking the same day at a separate news conference, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers also emphasized that "durable solutions" need to be found inside Afghanistan which will allow refugee populations to return home.

Lubbers said he had made a plea to Pakistan and Iran to provide temporary protection and assistance for the most vulnerable, and had received "positive reactions" from them.

"I am glad to report that although the borders are formally closed, they are open for the most vulnerable, and they will be open if there are bigger numbers and a real necessity, but with the intention to make this temporary."

The UNHCR is preparing for the possible outflow of up to 1.5 million refugees, but the U.N. refugee agency emphasizes that that is a scenario it hopes will not materialize.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan recently launched a $584 million Donor Alert to meet the needs of possible new refugee populations and to assist up to 7.5 vulnerable people inside Afghanistan.

Although Afghan Forum was not a formal pledging conference, participating donor states used the opportunity to announce $600 million in new funding for aid programs for Afghanistan.

Kenzo Oshima, United Nations Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, explained that not all of the new funds would be for United Nations programs.

Oshima said that during the meeting $180 million dollars was specifically pledged to the United Nations, and an additional $28 million dollars was pledged to aid agencies outside the U.N. system, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Donor States have also announced their intention to allocate a little over $400 million dollars in additional support for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan. This figure includes the $320 million in aid for Afghanistan announced by President Bush on October 4.

Oshima noted that over 50 percent of the total $600 million in new funding has been pledged by the United States. He also said the Afghan Forum agreed that the group should continue to act as a "humanitarian coalition" in responding to the crisis in Afghanistan.

"This coalition is about protection and assistance to Afghan populations and it is also about supporting political solutions and good governance that the people of Afghanistan deserve and desperately need," he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) NNNN