Reuters
November 17
he United Nations said on Saturday it was boosting aid to northern Afghanistan via ex-Soviet Uzbekistan, but the efficiency of the relief effort was hampered by Uzbek reluctance to open a vital bridge.
``We can say that from now on aid will be sent to northern Afghanistan on a regular, daily basis,'' Michael Huggins, spokesman for the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP), told Reuters.
``Food is on its way to Termez from neighboring Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.''
A barge with 230 tonnes of wheat flour left the Uzbek garrison town of Termez on Saturday, bound for the Afghan port of Hairaton 11 mile up the Amu Darya river.
It was the fourth and largest bargeload of aid to northern Afghanistan the United Nations has sent this week.
``We are going to increase aid. Tomorrow it is going to be two barges -- one from the WFP and another from (U.N. refugee agency) UNHCR and (children's fund) UNICEF ,'' Huggins said.
According to the WFP, at least three million Afghans suffer from hunger and live in squalor in northern Afghanistan, where anti-Taliban forces, backed by massive U.S. airstrikes, have captured the regional capital, Mazar-i-Sharif.
Huggins said the humanitarian aid operation through the Uzbek corridor ``would last as long as there is a need to supply northern Afghanistan with food.''
FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE
Uzbekistan has lent its port facilities and cargo fleet to the aid operation, but U.N. officials say the efficiency of the relief effort might be much greater if the authorities opened the Friendship Bridge linking Termez and Hairaton.
The imposing concrete and steel structure, which can accommodate both rail and road traffic, was built in 1982 during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Soviet troops withdrew across it after their inglorious campaign ended in 1989.
``It is true it would be much more efficient to move food into Afghanistan via the bridge,'' Huggins said. ``We could be easily moving thousands of tonnes there every day. It would be no problem at all.''
``But the problem is the bridge is closed. The bridge is also quite blocked. It is a political decision that has to be taken by the government.''
The Uzbek authorities cite ``security reasons'' and decline to say when they might unseal the bridge, guarded by armored vehicles and blocked by concrete slabs.
Huggins said that even when the humanitarian operation reaches its peak of three barges a day, only just over 600 tonnes of food would be sent to the Afghan side daily due to low water in the Amu Darya.
Aid might reach a maximum of over 1,000 tonnes a day if the water rises, but even in this case it takes up to three hours for tug boats to drag the clumsy barges to Hairaton.