1/12/2006
UN In Race Against Time to Provide Food for 600,000 Afghans Before Winter
 
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is racing against the clock to deliver food for some 600,000 impoverished Afghans who will be cut off once winter’s bitter cold arrives. At the same time the agency is seeking urgent donations now to prevent a shortfall of supplies next spring.

“Winter is a brutal time in Afghanistan. Hundreds of villages that are remote today will be impossible to reach within the coming weeks,” WFP country representative Rick Corsino said in Kabul, the capital. “Right now our focus is on positioning food in these areas, as well as moving forward with our drought relief efforts in more readily accessible areas.”

WFP is already helping victims of severe floods in other areas of the country, especially the west, north-west and far east.