7/7/2006
Afghanistan:  Violence and Shortages Continue to Impede Development

The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan has expressed his horror at a recent ash of explosions apparently directed against government institutions or personnel in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
 
“These have served no purpose other than to terrorize the population, and to kill or maim ordinary citizens going about their every day business,” Tom Koenigs said.

“I am appalled by these callous and cruel acts. The people of Kabul and of Afghanistan as a whole have endured great suffering during the past decades. It is an outrage that anyone should attempt to inflict new pain and loss upon the people of this country at a time when its wounds are
still not healed.”

He noted that the UN has been present in Afghanistan for more than half a century and has witnessed much suffering in the country. “We know of no good that comes from it,” he said. “My thoughts, and those of the entire United Nations family in Afghanistan, are with all those who have been affected by these attacks.”

Meanwhile the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced this week that it was facing a shortfall of more than a third in its requested aid for Afghanistan. The agency has renewed its urgent appeal to donors to come up with “critical” additional funding to finance its activities for the rest of the year.

“Without new donations, WFP will be forced to cancel plans to pre-position 40,000 tons of food ahead of Afghanistan’s winter months,” United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Kabul.

“This will leave many of the most remote and food insecure communities in northern, north-eastern, central, western and southern provinces without assistance until spring,” he added, noting that WFP needs $25 million to make up for a shortfall of 39,000 tons out of a total requirement of 110,000 tons until the end of the year.

Also in Afghanistan, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported that the adult literacy programme it launched earlier this year in western Afghanistan is now being expanded
into the three eastern provinces of Nuristan, Kunar and Nangarhar. Over 5,600 women will benefit from literacy classes across the three provinces.

To date over 27,000 people have already enrolled and it is hoped that the programme will reach over 160,000 adults across Afghanistan this year, the majority of them women. With adult literacy rates estimated at just 43 percent, and just 14 per cent for women, the “programme is vital for improving social and economic circumstances for thousands of families,” Mr.
Edwards said.

There are an estimated 8 million illiterate adults in Afghanistan. The joint programme has set itself the goal of increasing literacy levels by 50 per cent over the next three years.