U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BUREAU FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE (BHR)
OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA)
AFGHANISTAN - Complex Emergency
Information Bulletin #2, Fiscal Year (FY) 2001	May 4, 200


Note: this Information Bulletin updates Information Bulletin #1, dated
December 27, 2000.

Background

Two decades of war in Afghanistan, including a decade-long Soviet
occupation and ensuing civil strife, have left Afghanistan impoverished
and mired in an extended humanitarian crisis.  Government infrastructure,
including the ability to deliver the most basic health, education, and
other social services, has completely collapsed.  Most resources are
directed to the war effort.  Severe restrictions by the Taliban, including
a restriction on women working outside the home, have added to the impact
of poverty, particularly on the many households lacking able-bodied adult
men.  The Taliban now controls about 90 percent of Afghanistan’s
territory.

Over the last year, two key factors have deepened Afghanistan’s
humanitarian crisis.  The Taliban made substantial new territorial gains
in August and September 2000, including the September 6 capture of
Taloqan, which had been a Northern Alliance stronghold as well as the
provincial capital of Takhar.  Afghanistan has also suffered the effects
of a debilitating drought that followed two successive years of inadequate
rainfall.  These developments have led to major new population
displacements.


Numbers Affected

Afghanistan’s total population is estimated at nearly 26 million.  Since
September 2000, civil strife and drought have driven an estimated 170,000
new refugees into Pakistan.  Recent drought and conflict-displaced
internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan number at least
500,000.  Longer-term conflict-displaced estimates are as high as one
million countrywide.  Drought has affected at least 12 million Afghans.  
An estimated 2.6 million old caseload refugees remain outside
Afghanistan’s borders in Iran and Pakistan, according to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).


Current Situation

Drought

As the epicenter of a regional drought affecting vast areas of Central and
South Asia, Afghanistan has suffered tremendous losses to crops and
livestock that have severely affected the estimated 85 percent of the
population that directly depends on agriculture.  Drought-related food
price increases have severely affected urban dwellers as well.  The
western Afghan city of Herat has become a focal point for families in
neighboring regions displaced by drought.  Drought-displaced IDPs in Herat
number some 140,000 as of April 27, mostly from Ghor and Badghis
Provinces.  Efforts by relief agencies to provide assistance in areas of
origin initially reduced the rate of influx to Herat, but the displaced
population has continued to grow and IDPs are currently arriving at a rate
of up to 1,000 per day.  Despite international assistance including
airlifts of relief commodities by USAID/OFDA as well as the governments of
Norway and Japan, the influx has continued to stretch available relief
assistance.  In particular, shelter and sanitation facilities are in short
supply, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (UNOCHA).  A recent U.N. World Food Program (WFP) assessment
mission to Badghis found that many of the remaining families had exhausted
food supplies and livestock, and lacked sufficient assets to remain in
their homes.  WFP has warned that the IDP population in Herat could reach
200,000 by June 2001.  This figure is a 53 percent increase over the
permanent population of the city and surrounding areas, estimated at
375,000.

The drought has also affected northeastern Afghanistan, where the
situation has been aggravated by conflict and a Taliban-imposed food
blockade (The Taliban lifted a five year food blockade of the Panjshir
Valley in March, but the blockade of Badakshan Province remained in
force).  On March 18, an assessment team of U.N. and non- governmental
organization (NGO) personnel traveled to Shar-e-Bozorg and Ragh Districts
in Badakshan to investigate Northern Alliance claims of famine-related
deaths.  The two districts depend heavily on rain-fed cereal cultivation
and were hard hit by the drought.  The team found no starvation, but found
that 70 percent of livestock have been lost, and that existing food stocks
were dwindling. The team also found high levels of infant mortality
related to measles and acute respiratory infection as well as varying
levels of chronic malnutrition.  During the winter, WFP and NGOs provided
food assistance in areas where weather permitted; as a result,
displacement from these areas has reportedly been relatively low.  WFP is
now re-commencing food distributions in areas that had been inaccessible
during the winter.  UNOCHA reported that medical teams were sent to
Shar-e-Bozorg and Ragh to respond to the measles outbreak.

Regardless of the weather outlook for 2001, severe repercussions from the
drought will continue.  WFP reported that a seed shortage combined with
the displacement of thousands of farmers to urban areas would likely lead
to severe crop shortfalls.  Lighter-than-normal snowfall during the winter
means that snowmelt that feeds rivers and irrigation channels will be
lacking.  Extensive livestock losses have severely curtailed coping and
recovery options.  WFP has predicted that food aid will be necessary
through at least July 2002.


U.S. Government Humanitarian Assessment

A U.S. Government (USG) humanitarian assessment team traveled to
Afghanistan from April 11 to April 19, 2001.  The team, the first official
U.S. visit to Afghanistan since 1998, consisted of a
nutritionist/contingency planner and a water/sanitation specialist from
USAID/OFDA, the Pakistan-based Refugee Coordinator from the Department of
State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM), and
personnel from WFP.  In the west, the team visited Herat Province,
including Herat's largest IDP camp; and Farah Province, including areas
close to Ghor.  In the north, the team traveled to Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh
Province, from where they visited Samangan Province and Faryab Province.  
The team found that all villages visited had been devastated by drought,
although the team was not able to travel to Afghanistan's worst hit areas
in Ghor and Badghis due to security concerns.  In Herat's IDP camps,
shelter, water, sanitation, and health care are inadequate for the rapidly
growing population.


Conflict

Milder-than-normal winter weather allowed the continuation of military
activities through what has traditionally been a lull period.  In early
January 2001, the Taliban seized control of Yakawlang District in Bamiyan
Province from the Hezb-e-Wahdat, a faction aligned with the Northern
Alliance.  The Hezb-e-Wahdat regained control of Yakawlang in February.  
There were also reports of fighting near Bamiyan City in February and
March; Bamiyan City reportedly briefly fell to opposition forces in
February before being recaptured by the Taliban.

In the northeast, a group of persons displaced by fighting and Taliban
gains in September 2000 moved to islands on the Pyandj River along the
Afghan-Tajik border.  UNHCR assessed this population in February 2001.  
According to the report, the island IDP population, widely reported as an
estimated 10,000 IDPs, consisted of an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 Northern
Alliance fighters.  Many of the other residents are families of
combatants.  The assessment also found that population numbers appeared
overstated.  Citing concerns about the inability to ensure that
humanitarian aid did not reach combatants, UNHCR announced on March 13
that it had suspended assistance to the island population.  The Taliban
shelled the islands on several occasions in March and April.


Refugees

In September 2000, large numbers of new refugees displaced by conflict and
drought began streaming across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.  In
November 2000, the Government of Pakistan (GOP) announced that it would no
longer accept new refugees, citing its inability to cope with the influx.  
Most of the new arrivals have gathered at a makeshift camp at Jalozai,
near Peshawar, where the population is currently an estimated 70,000.
UNHCR moved 50,000 refugees to New Shamshatoo, also near Peshawar, to
relieve crowding.  In order to discourage new arrivals and encourage the
current population to return home, the GOP has refused to let
international organizations provide more than a minimum of assistance.  
As a result, conditions at Jalozai have remained poor.


U.N. Sanctions

On December 19, in response to the Taliban’s continued harboring of
indicted terrorist Usama Bin Laden, the U.N.  Security Council adopted a
resolution imposing new sanctions against the Taliban.  The sanctions,
which reinforce earlier sanctions imposed in 1999, specifically exempt
humanitarian activities, as well as religious hajj travel.  Some U.N.
staff withdrew in anticipation of a possible backlash similar to the
violent protests that occurred when the first round of sanctions was
imposed; no violence occurred, however, and staff soon returned.  A March
20 U.N. Security Council report found that the new sanctions had not
adversely affected the humanitarian situation.


U.S. Government Assistance FY 2001

On September 22, 2000, Assistant Secretary Karl F. Inderfurth re-declared
a complex humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan for FY 2001.  In addition,
U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan William B. Milam issued a disaster declaration
for Afghan refugees in Pakistan on February 2, 2001.  To date, FY 2001 USG
humanitarian assistance provided by USAID/OFDA, USAID/Food for Peace
(FFP), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of
State's Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM), the
joint Department of State/Department of Defense Demining Program, and the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) totals $78,480,417, including both
assistance inside Afghanistan and to Afghan refugees in neighboring
countries.

In western Afghanistan, USAID/OFDA provided 30,000 blankets from its
stockpile to ICRC at a cost of $250,841 including transport to assist
drought-affected families in Ghor.  USAID/OFDA also chartered two planes
to airlift emergency relief commodities from USAID/OFDA stockpiles into
Herat on February 9 and February 16.  The relief commodities for
Afghanistan included 610 tents, 17,500 blankets, 4,800 five-gallon water
jugs, four metric tons of high-protein biscuits, and three modified World
Health Organization kits, each with sufficient supplies to treat 1,000
people for one month.  The total cost of the airlift to Herat was $650,850
including transport.

In northern Afghanistan, USAID/OFDA provided Save the Children/US (SCF/US)
with $1.5 million for drought-related relief activities in a range of
sectors, including health with a focus on maternal and child care;
winterization for IDPs; and cash-for-work drought response activities
including well and kareze repair and digging; and wheat seed distribution.  
The SCF/US program benefits populations in Andkhoi in Faryab Province and
Mazar-e-Sharif in Balkh Province, as well as IDPs in Kabul.  USAID/OFDA
provided Shelter Now International (SNI) with $320,400 for food and
nonfood assistance to support host families sheltering war-affected IDPs
in the Rostaq area of Takhar.  In addition, USAID/OFDA modified an FY 2000
Taloqan shelter grant to SNI to redirect $77,000 in unspent funds to meet
critical new relief needs in the northeast.  USAID/OFDA also modified an
FY 2000 heating and shelter grant to the Agency for Technical Cooperation
and Development (ACTED) with $100,000 in unspent funds to support food and
nonfood distributions for IDPs in the Rostaq area.  USAID/OFDA provided
$50,000 to ACTED via USAID/Almaty to provide shelter and nonfood
assistance to IDPs.  USAID/OFDA provided Mercy Corps International (MCI)
with $760,000 to assist 3,000 war-affected IDPs with nonfood relief
commodities to meet basic heating, lighting, and cooking needs in Takhar
and Badakshan.

In Kabul, USAID/OFDA is providing $1,483,000 to Action Contre la Faim
(ACF) for health, nutrition, water, and sanitation activities.  
Countrywide, USAID/OFDA provided UNOCHA with $600,000, including $200,000
to support the purchase of nonfood relief commodities for IDPs; $300,000
to support WFP-managed food programs and implementing partners; and
$100,000 in support of continued air transport services for humanitarian
goods and cargo in Afghanistan.  In Peshawar, Pakistan, USAID/OFDA
airlifted 500 tents, 5,000 blankets and 100 rolls of plastic sheeting from
USAID/OFDA’s stockpile for consignment to the International Rescue
Committee (IRC), which transported the supplies from Peshawar to the
Jalozai and Shamshatoo camps for Afghan refugees.  USAID/OFDA also
provided two health kits.  The total cost of the airlift to Peshawar was
$239,000 including transport.  USAID/OFDA provided $50,000 to IRC via the
U.S. Embassy in Islamabad to support relief efforts associated with the
airlift.

Additional humanitarian assistance for FY 2001 is being provided by
USAID/Food For Peace (FFP), which is providing 30,000 MT of P.L. 480 Title
II wheat valued at $12.1 million in support of WFP’s Emergency Operation
(EMOP) to meet the urgent food needs of drought-affected Afghans, in
addition to 6,310 MT of complementary commodities valued at $5 million.  
In addition, USAID/FFP is providing 17,280 MT of assorted food commodities
in support of WFP’s Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) for
Afghanistan valued at $3.7 million.  USAID/FFP is also providing 3,500 MT
of wheat and 500 MT of vegetable oil, at a combined value of $1.9 million,
to support WFP’s EMOP to feed newly arrived Afghan refugees in Pakistan.  
USDA has pledged an additional 75,200 MT of 416 (b) wheat for WFP’s EMOP,
valued at $32.8 million.

State/PRM is providing $4.5 million in support of ICRC’s South Asia
activities, including support for victims of conflict in Afghanistan, and
is providing UNHCR with $5.2 million in support of South Asia programs, a
portion of which goes to programs benefiting Afghans.  Additionally,
$850,000 of State/PRM's $4.5 million global contribution to UNHCR supports
children’s programs for Afghan refugees in Pakistan.  The U.S.
Humanitarian Demining Program (HDP) provided $2.8 million for demining
activities in Afghanistan during FY 2001.  Of this, $1.1 million supports
HALO Trust, a British demining organization, and $1.7 million in financial
and in-kind contributions supports the Mine Action Program for
Afghanistan.  HDP also provided 83 trucks for demining, valued at $3.3
million.  The Centers for Disease Control is providing $569,525 to UNICEF
to support polio eradication.

USAID/BHR/OFDA     $  5,904,092
USAID/BHR/FFP      $ 22,556,800
USDA               $ 32,800,000
State/PRM          $ 10,550,000
State/HDP          $  6,100,000
CDC                $    569,525
Total USG Assistance FY 2001 (to date)  $ 78,480,417

NOTE: USAID/OFDA bulletins can be obtained from the USAID web site at
http://www.usaid.gov/hum_response/ofda/situation.htm


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