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
Situation Report #22, Fiscal Year (FY) 2002    March 1, 2002


Note: this Situation Report updates previous Central Asia Task Force
Situation Reports and Fact Sheets.

BACKGROUND

Prior to September 2001, two decades of war in Afghanistan, including a
decade-long Soviet occupation and ensuing civil strife, 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, collapsed. Significant local and
national resources were directed to the war effort. Severe restrictions by
the Taliban, which controlled as much as 90 percent of the country,
including a restriction on women working outside the home, added to the
impact of poverty, particularly on the many households lacking able-bodied
adult men.

After September 11, 2001, fears of a reprisal to terrorist attacks against
the United States triggered population movements in Afghanistan, as well
as a complete exodus of international relief staff, greatly complicating
humanitarian assistance.  Nonetheless, assistance programs continued even
after October 7, when the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban and Al
Qaeda began.  The Taliban began to collapse in November, abandoning
Mazar-e-Sharif on November 9, Kabul on November 13, and finally their
Kandahar stronghold on December 7.  The new Afghan Interim Administration
(AIA) was sworn in on December 22.  The demise of the Taliban has allowed
increased humanitarian access to Afghanistan, and relief agencies
re-established operations within the country. USAID/DART Islamabad, from
December 30 - January 7, 2002, made the first of an ongoing series of
trips into Kabul to assess the situation and meet with implementing
partners.


Afghanistan:  Numbers Affected
Total population (CIA Factbook)	26,813,057

Refugees Since September 11, 2001 (UNHCR)
   Pakistan   250,000
   Iran       Unknown

Old Caseload Refugees (UNHCR)
   Pakistan   2,000,000
   Iran       1,500,000

Internally Displaced (UN/WFP)
   Since September 11, 2001     300,000
   Old caseload               1,000,000


Refugee Returns Since January 1, 2002 (UNHCR)
   Pakistan   113,000
   Iran        30,000

Internally Displaced Returns (UNHCR)
   To Kabul            30,000
   To Shomali Plain     8,300
   To northeast       117,000

Total FY 2001/2002 U.S. Government (USG) Assistance to Afghanistan**
$422,383,113

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




CURRENT SITUATION

Overview.  The Afghan National Guard and police officers began training.
Coalition forces came under fire, and children were injured during a
mortar attack.  A recent USAID-funded survey concluded that the drought
will continue for 12-18 months and exacerbate food insecurity in southern
Afghanistan. The first United Nations (U.N.) flight landed at Kandahar
International Airport.  The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
opened its first voluntary repatriation center as aid agencies prepared
for refugee returns.  The rate of new arrivals to Maslakh Camp in
Afghanistan and the Killi Faizo transit camp in Pakistan slowed.  A
measles vaccination campaign has immunized approximately 1.5 million
Afghan children since the beginning of the year.

Political/Military.  The United States and United Kingdom began training
the first group of some 200 Afghan men, representing various ethnic
groups, to become professional soldiers.  Another 400 men will join this
group to become the first battalion of the Afghan National Guard.  The
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is also training police
officers.

Security.  There were two shooting incidents this week involving Coalition
forces.  On February 25, U.S. Marines outside of Kandahar came under fire
while on patrol.  On February 27, British security forces returned fire
after an unidentified man shot at their observation post in Kabul.

At least 30 children were injured and one killed when a mortar shell
struck a boys' school 40 miles from Kabul.  The school was located in
Sarobi, an area where former Taliban fighters and rival warlords remain
active.  Tension continued to build between rival ethnic Tajik and Uzbek
forces in northern Afghanistan, despite the recent disarmament of some 200
ethnic Tajik fighters in Khulm, Samangan Province, and a peace agreement
between their leaders.

According to the U.N., the crime rate in Kabul has fallen, a decrease that
seems in part attributable to the presence of the ISAF.

Food Aid and Logistics.  A consultant hired by USAID to conduct a survey
in southern Afghanistan concluded that the drought is not over and will
continue to impact the southern region for another 12-18 months.  The
continuation of the drought is expected to make food security markedly
worse in the coming months, especially in the summer.  The survey found
that water scarcity in the southern region has contributed to food
insecurity.

On February 28, the first U.N. aid flights landed at Kandahar
International Airport.  The airport is accessible to small and mid-sized
transport planes, not large commercial aircraft, due to the poor condition
of the runway.

Through USAID/OFDA funding, the Ministry of Public Works and the Agency
for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) established a traffic
control system for the Salang Tunnel.  There had been no system directing
traffic from either end of the tunnel through the single lane road, until
now.

IDPs and Refugees.  Some 150 Afghan refugees repatriated on March 1 as
UNHCR opened its first voluntary repatriation center in Pakistan at
Takhtabaig, just outside Peshawar.  UNHCR expects the numbers of returning
refugees to increase rapidly in the coming weeks. The center, the first of
seven to open, was established to accommodate the anticipated rise in
returns to Afghanistan, and can process up to 5,000 people a day.
Registered returnees will receive transportation expenses, three month's
supply of food from the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), and other
assistance items.

As part of the preparation for potential refugee returns, UNHCR
pre-positioned relief supplies throughout Afghanistan.  UNHCR dispatched
20,000 tarpaulins, 40,000 blankets, 30,000 jerry cans, 16,000 plastic
mats, and 10,000 buckets to Jalalabad from stockpiles in Dubai and
Peshawar.  UNHCR dispatched additional relief supplies to Kandahar and
Herat.  UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the
U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) compiled various relief commodity packages
for IDPs returning from Mazar-e-Sharif to their home villages.  IOM
prepared for the return of some 2,500 IDP families to the Shomali Plain
next week.  An IOM convoy departed for Badghis Province on February 28
with 269 IDP returnees from Maslakh Camp.  The convoy was the first to
return IDPs from that camp.

A USAID/Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) visit to Maslakh Camp
found a considerable reduction in the rate of new arrivals.  During the
week of February 10-16, only 163 IDPs arrived, compared to 600 per day at
peak times.  The drop in arrivals has been attributed to increased
assistance to rural districts in the region, though recent rains and the
beginning of the planting season could have also been factors.

UNHCR reported fewer crossings of Afghans into Pakistan in recent days,
though people continued to gather on the Afghanistan side of the border
over the Eid holiday.  In recent weeks, up to 20,000 people gathered
outside the Killi Faizo transit camp in Pakistan, where 10,000 Afghans are
still awaiting registration.

UNHCR expressed concern about the deportation of some 900 Afghans from
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Kabul on February 23.  The deportees
were among 2,500 Afghans imprisoned in Dubai for illegal presence in the
UAE.  UNHCR officials were not allowed access to the Afghans prior to
their deportation.  Despite UNHCR protests, the UAE deported an additional
215 Afghans this week.  Some 1,000 Afghans have been deported from Iran
and Pakistan this year, and UNHCR has called for the suspension of further
deportations.

Health.  Since January 1, 2002, the joint UNICEF/World Health Organization
(WHO) measles campaign, funded in part by USAID/OFDA, immunized
approximately 1.5 million children between the ages of 6 months and 12
years old.  This was in addition to the 1.1 million immunizations that
both organizations provided between July and December 2001.

WHO and UNICEF, with assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, have created a disease surveillance system.  NGOs are the
primary participants in the surveillance system, which is operational in
some 300 locations throughout Afghanistan.



USG HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

Background.  On October 4, President George W. Bush announced a $320
million assistance program for Afghanistan.  Funding will support
assistance to Afghans both inside and outside Afghanistan's borders, with
support for food and a variety of other relief needs.

On October 4, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs
Christina B. Rocca redeclared a complex humanitarian disaster in
Afghanistan for FY 2002.  To date, FY 2001 and FY 2002 USG humanitarian
assistance for Afghans is provided by USAID/OFDA, Food for Peace
(USAID/FFP), Democracy & Governance (USAID/DG), Office of Transition
Initiatives (USAID/OTI), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
(State/PRM), Department of State's Demining Program, the Department of
State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
(State/INL), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).  The assistance is for displaced persons
inside Afghanistan and Afghan refugees in neighboring countries.

In Tajikistan, on October 10, 2001, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires James A.
Boughner declared a disaster due to drought, and requested funds for a
seed and fertilizer distribution program.  USAID/OFDA responded by
providing $998,180 through the U.S. Embassy to Cooperative for American
Relief Everywhere (CARE) for the purchase and distribution of winter wheat
seeds and fertilizer. USAID/OFDA ASSISTANCE

Personnel.  USAID/OFDA currently has one Disaster Assistance Response Team
(DART) deployed to Pakistan to assess humanitarian activities and
logistical capacity in the region.  USAID/DART members are traveling into
Kabul to coordinate with the humanitarian relief community and assess the
humanitarian situation.





USG HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO CENTRAL ASIA

USG AGENCY
IMPLEMENTING PARTNER
ACTIVITY
REGION
AMOUNT


AFGHANISTAN - COMPLEX EMERGENCY FY 2002

USAID/OFDA

Airlift - Turkmenistan
20,000 blankets, 100 rolls plastic sheeting, 20 MT BP-5 High Energy
   biscuits, 1 MT sugar
$743,543

Airlift - Turkmenistan
1,000 rolls of plastic sheeting for UNICEF
$403,200

Airlift - Islamabad
35,400 blankets
$312,350

Airlift - Pakistan
5 health kits
$29,415

Airlift - Turkmenabad
5 health kits
$33,923

Airlift - Uzbekistan
350,000 wheat bags
$67,000

Airlift - Turkmenistan
10,000 kitchen sets and 20,000 blankets
$473,400

Airlift - Turkmenistan
1,000 winterized tents
$167,000

ACTED
Food, non-food items
Northeast
$5,500,000

ACTED
IDP camp management
Baghlan
$630,000

ACTED
Livelihoods, agriculture, emergency rehab
Takhar, Baghlan, Shamali, Kabul, and Faryab.
$750,000

CARE
Water/sanitation, agricultural rehabilitation, shelter
All
$3,537,035

Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
Non-Food Items for 200,000 people
Central Highlands
$988,087

Church World Service
Transport of non-food items
$49,902

Concern Worldwide
Shelter/repair 5,000 homes
Northeast
$1,203,343

Concern Worldwide
Distribution of seeds & tools, rehabilitation of agricultural
  infrastructure, income generation activities
Badakshan, Baghlan, Takhar, Bamiyan provinces
$1,737,318

Field Support
Operational support for DARTs in
Central Asia Region
$1,339,456

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Seed multiplication, procurement, and distribution
$1,095,000

FAO
Agriculture, seed multiplication
$300,000

FAO
Security surveillance, water resource management, farm power, & spring
  seed distribution
All
$2,500,000

FOCUS / Aga Khan
Seed multiplication, water supply rehabilitation, and complementary food
  distribution
Bamiyan, Baghlan, and Balkh
$1,436,134

GOAL
Food, shelter, water, sanitation, winterization
Samangan and Jowzjan provinces
$5,500,000

GOAL
Emergency agricultural, potable water and sanitation rehabilitation, and
  shelter repair
Samangan and Jowzjan provinces
$1,000,000

International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA)
Seed multiplication, technical assistance for see procurement and
  regulation
All
$2,525,000

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Food, non-food items
All
$2,500,000

International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Food, non-food items
Badghis, Faryab, Balkh provinces
$562,313

IOM
Distribution of charcoal for cooking and heating fuel
Herat, Kunduz, and Faryab
$1,069,760

International Medical Corps (IMC)
Primary health care
Herat
$735,000

IMC
Primary health care
Bamiyan, Wardak, Parwan
$3,500,000

International Rescue Committee  (IRC)
Food, potable water, well rehabilitation
North
$3,650,000

IRC
Medical, public health, education & self-help programs in camps and urban
  settings
Balkh, Ghor
$3,250,104

International Resource Group (IRG)
Food Augmentation Team
$614,820

Mercy Corps
Food, water, non-food items
South, Central
$2,000,000

Mercy Corps
Rehabilitation of wells & agriculture infrastructure, seed multiplication
Nimroz, Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Takhar, Kunduz & Baghlan
$3,000,308

UNOCHA
Coordination
All
$2,500,000

UNICEF
Water, sanitation
All
$2,500,000

UNICEF
Nutrition, health, water, sanitation
All
$1,650,000

Save the Children (SC)/US
Nutrition
North
$206,488

SC/US
Food, health
Central and North
$2,000,000

SC/US
Spot reconstruction, cash-for-work, and medical clinic rehabilitation
Faryab, Sar-e-Pul
$3,262,312

Shelter for Life
Cash-for-work road reconstruction & emergency home repair for returning
  IDPs
Kunduz & Takhar
$1,294,550

Solidarites
Rehabilitation, agricultural revitalization
Balkh, Bamiyan, Samangan
$1,739,115

World Food Program (WFP)
Food - 15,000 MT, processing, transport
$6,000,000

WFP
Purchase of trucks for food delivery
$5,000,000

WFP
Joint Logistics Center
$2,000,000

WFP
Logistics support equipment and services
All
$2,500,000

Total FY 2002 USAID/OFDA   $83,855,876



USAID/FFP

WFP
Airlift from Quetta, Pakistan to Osh, Kyrgyzstan
$2,000,000

WFP
72,700 MT Food commodities
$38,555,000

Total FY 2002 USAID/FFP	$40,555,000


USAID/OTI

Voice of America

Radio program
All
$187,820

IOM
HEAR Bulletin and Radios
All
$1,500,000

UNDP
UNDP Trust Fund in support of the interim Afghan administration
All
$500,000

Total FY 2002 USAID/OTI	$2,187,820



STATE/PRM

ICRC
Emergency Appeal
$13,500,000

IFRC
Emergency Appeal
$5,000,000

IOM
Emergency Appeal
$2,000,000

IRC
Operational Support
$231,248

Mercy Corps
Operational support
$162,775

United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Project Management Information System
$160,000

UNOCHA
Donor Alert for Afghans Program
$2,125,000

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Special Program for Afghanistan
$600,000

WFP
Operations/Logistics Support
$4,000,000

UNHCR
Emergency Appeal
$30,000,000

UNICEF
Emergency Relief
$4,000,000

Total FY 2002 State/PRM 	$61,779,023
DOD
Airdrop of 2,423,700 Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs)
$50,897,769

Total FY 2002 DOD **   $50,897,769
Total FY 2002 USG Assistance to Afghanistan**   $239,275,488




TAJIKISTAN - DROUGHT FY 2002

USAID/OFDA

CARE
Purchase and distribution of winter wheat to 36,000 people
$998,180

Total FY 2002 USAID/OFDA   $998,180



USAID/FFP

WFP
35,000 MT wheat flour
$20,000,000
Total FY 2002 USAID/FFP   $20,000,000

Total FY 2002 USG Assistance to Tajikistan   $20,998,180


FY 2001/ FY 2002 SUMMARY

Total USG Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan for FY 2001*
$183,107,625

Total USG Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan for FY 2002
$239,275,488

Total USG Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan for FY 2002/2001
$422,383,113

Total USG Assistance to Tajikistan FY 2001
$67,210,000


Note:  FY 2001 USG assistance to Tajikistan included assistance through
USAID/OFDA, USAID/FFP, USDA, the Department of State, and Freedom Support
Act funds administered through a variety of agencies.

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

*Note: detailed breakdowns of FY 2001 and FY 2002 assistance are available
in previous Central Asia Region situation reports.  USDA estimates for FY
2001 donations increased by approximately $4.5 million due to unforeseen
costs for transport.

**Note: DOD funding totals are estimates.  The previously reported total
of more than $120 million reflects the estimated total cost of the entire
four to five month airdrop operation.



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