U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BUREAU FOR DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE (DCHA)
OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA)
CENTRAL ASIA TASK FORCE
CENTRAL ASIA REGION - Complex Emergency
Fact Sheet #33, Fiscal Year (FY) 2002    December 5, 2001


Note: This Fact Sheet updates previously released Central Asia Region Fact
Sheets and Situation Reports.

Numbers Affected

- According to UNOCHA, 7.5 million Afghans are in urgent need of
humanitarian assistance including food, shelter, health, education, and
demining initiatives.

- On December 3, IRIN reported that approximately 150,000 Afghan refugees
have entered Pakistan since September 11.  Although United Nations (U.N.)
and nongovernmental organization (NGO) sources are reporting increased
population movements since November 12, it is not clear how many new
refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) there are at this time.


Relief Activities

- On December 5, the UN-sponsored conference on the future of Afghan
politics held in Bonn, Germany produced an "Agreement on Provisional
Arrangements in Afghanistan Pending the Re-establishment of Permanent
Government Institutions."

- Islamic Relief is conducting the first distribution of World Food
Program (WFP) food aid to 60,000 displaced persons near Spin Boldak.

- UNHCR has completed distribution of winterization aid, including stoves,
blankets and shelter material, to 1,500 families in Kabul, and today began
assessing the needs of internally displaced people around Kabul.  UNHCR
plans to assist up to 50,000 IDPs in this area.

- The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on December 4 that the
incidence of tuberculosis might increase dramatically due to poor
prevention measures and improper treatment.  Afghanistan normally
experiences 60,000 to 70,000 new cases of tuberculosis each year.

- Residents' purchasing power for wheat is increasing in Jalalabad, Herat
and Faizabad.  Access to wheat continues to decrease, however, in Kabul.
Second-hand reports from Kandahar indicate that food prices there have
increased dramatically, making the situation even more difficult for the
238,000 IDPs that have not been reached by aid agencies for the last three
weeks.


Security

- On December 4, UNHCR staff were fired upon while traveling near
Peshawar, Pakistan.  The staff were traveling in two well-marked UN
vehicles, returning from Kotkai camp where they had escorted a refugee
convoy that day.  No one was injured in the incident. UNHCR suspended
relocation activities today while Pakistani authorities investigate.

- NGOs in Mazar-e-Sharif report that the situation in the city is calm
during the day, but that movement is limited at night and outside of the
city.  The road from Mazar-e-Sharif to Kunduz in particular remains unsafe
as a result of several thousand Taliban forces that are reportedly roaming
the area.

- The UN has not yet allowed international staff to return to Mazar-e
Sharif.  However, WFP is reaching 15,000 of the estimated 250,000
vulnerable people in the area through implementing partners.

- Relief workers returning to Kabul report that the area beyond a
30-kilometer radius of the city is not secure.


Population Movements

- Unofficial estimates indicate that up to 1,000 new IDPs arrive daily
from Ghor province at Maslakh camp outside Herat.  There are currently six
IDP camps near Herat.  Five of these have 40,000 residents and are not
receiving additional IDPs.  New IDPs are being housed at the sixth camp,
Maslakh camp, which is estimated to have between 200,000 and 320,000
residents already.

- UNHCR reported that over Afghani 24,000 refugees in Iran have moved to
the Herat area since November 12, when the Taliban ceded control of the
city to opposition groups.

- UNHCR has identified about 30,000 IDPs in the former Russian compound in
Kabul. UNHCR will assist their return to the Shomali Plains as soon as the
UN demining team clears their home areas.


Logistics

- WFP food deliveries into Hazarajat are moving steadily with 68 percent
of the target amount of 33,000 MT already delivered, as of December 5.
WFP expects to complete delivery of the remaining stocks within ten days,
and will distribute the stocks to implementing partners by December 22.

- Approximately 1,571MT of wheat has been shipped from Termez to the port
city of Hairaton in Afghanistan.  Less than half of this amount has been
distributed to beneficiaries in Mazar-e Sharif, however, due to
insecurity.

- Poor weather conditions forced WFP to suspend flights from Kulyab to
Faizabad from November 30 to December 3.  WFP intends to airlift 2,000MT
through this route, of which only 10% has been delivered to date.

- The road transport of wheat from Osh, Kazakhstan to Faizabad in
northeast Afghanistan continues at a good pace.  Many of the commercial
trucks in the northeast region have moved to Kabul, forcing the long-haul
convoys from Osh to perform local distribution at warehouses in the area.

- WFP has established a goal of dispatching 100,000MT of food aid into
Afghanistan during the month of December.

- WFP is considering options to purchase wheat from Iran, Pakistan and
Kazakhstan to supplement the pipeline over the coming months.

- To date, 6,000MT of the 15,000MT of wheat purchased in Kazakhstan with
USAID/OFDA funds has arrived at Turkmenabad.  The wheat is being bagged in
Turkmenabad and immediately transferred to trucks for onward movement to
Afghanistan.

- The USAID/OFDA-funded airlift of food commodities from Quetta to
Turkmenabad and Osh, made necessary by insecurity along the road from
Quetta to Kandahar, has been completed.  A total of 2,240 MT of wheat was
moved from Quetta.


U.S. Government Activities

New Actions

- USAID/OFDA provided $2 million to WFP to support the logistics
requirements, primarily road maintenance equipment, of its current food
aid distribution program.  The grant supplements the $13.5 million
previously granted to WFP's Afghanistan operation for food commodities and
food transport equipment.

- To date, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has airdropped 2,177,820
Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs)  into Afghanistan. According to DOD, the
cost of the airdrop operations to date, including the rations, transport,
and fuel expenses, total approximately $46.9 million.


Disaster Declarations & Background

- On October 4, 2001, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs
Christina B. Rocca redeclared a complex humanitarian disaster for
Afghanistan for FY 2002.

- On October 10, 2001, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires James A. Boughner declared a
disaster for Tajikistan due to drought.

FY 2002 USG Assistance to Afghanistan
Total USAID/OFDA	$58,313,774
Total USAID/FFP 	$38,555,000
Total USAID/OTI	$1,687,820
Total State/PRM	$32,260,000
Total DOD*	$46,897,769

TOTAL USG Humanitarian Assistance FY 2002	$177,714,363
TOTAL USG Humanitarian Assistance FY 2001**	$183,107,625


TOTAL USG Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan FY 2001/2002
$360,821,988



FY 2002 USG Assistance to Tajikistan
Total USAID/OFDA	$998,180
Total USAID/FFP	$20,000,000

TOTAL USG Humanitarian Assistance to Tajikistan FY 2002	$20,998,180
TOTAL USG Humanitarian Assistance to Tajikistan FY 2001	$67,210,000

TOTAL USG Humanitarian Assistance to Tajikistan FY 2001/2002
$88,208,180

Note: Full details of funding above are available in weekly USAID/OFDA
Central Asia Region Situation Reports.

* Note: DOD funding totals are estimates.

** Note:  Final accounting of USDA contributions in FY01 showed an
additional expense of $4.5 million for transport costs.  This figure has
not been reported previously.


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