U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)
28 February 2002


AFGHANISTAN: UN says more than a billion dollars needed this year

KABUL, 28 February (IRIN) - The United Nations and NGOs need US $1.18
billion immediately for the humanitarian and transitional assistance
programme for Afghanistan, where an estimated nine million people require
aid, a senior UN official said on Thursday.

Kenzo Oshima, Emergency Relief Coordinator for the Office for the
Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the UN and the NGOs were
seeking these funds for the Immediate and Transitional Assistance
Programme (ITAP) for Afghanistan 2002.

ITAP was formally launched in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday at
the Presidential Palace. The launch was chaired by Sima Simar, Minister of
Women’s Affairs and Vice Chair of Afghanistan’s interim authority.

"Now is the time to deliver on the substantial promises made in Tokyo for
the year 2002," Oshima said, who arrived in an overcast Kabul on
Wednesday. He is due to leave for the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on
Friday.

"We will only be able to achieve this goal if we help the Interim
Authority build national capacity – an aim that will be at the core of our
assistance programme," he added.

Oshima said the UN was firmly committed to the reconstruction process
promised by the international community at the Tokyo Conference five weeks
ago, pledging up to US $4.5 billion.

"The true test is whether we can make good on those pledges – whether we
provide the aid that is desperately needed now, and whether we stay
engaged for the long haul," he noted.

A UN statement issued after Thursday's launch quoted Ashraf Ghani,
Director, Afghanistan Assistance Coordination Authority (AACA), as saying
that government ownership of the reconstruction process was imperative and
that a "joint partnership" between the Interim Authority and the aid
community was essential.

UN spokesperson Stephanie Bunker said ITAP offered a comprehensive
approach to relief, recovery, reconstruction and reintegration needs for
Afghans in Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries.

"Its important to act fast both because of the level of humanitarian needs
and also to assist the interim authority to build its capacity," Bunker
told IRIN in Kabul.

The areas that require funding are food assistance, food security,
agriculture, nutrition, health, water and sanitation, housing, mine
action, education, refugees, returnees and reintegration assistance,
governance and employment.



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