Sir, I would like to confirm and emphasise Ian Traynor's report on the looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan (The Irish Times, December 4th).
As Oxfam reported last week to the Oireachtas sub-committee on development co-operation, the urgent need to feed literally millions of starving Afghan civilians has not gone away. The obstacles are:
1. While World Food Programme food shipments have increased since the collapse of the Taliban, they are still far from sufficient.
2. Lawlessness, looting, and banditry have broken out in the areas taken over by the Northern Alliance, making it extremely difficult to distribute food and other supplies.
3. The huge humbers of land-mines and unexploded bombs make movement unsafe in many areas.
4. Neighbouring countries, in particular those to the north, continue to obstruct the movement of supplies.
5. The winter snows have now arrived.
The United Nations, neutral and supported by all, is the obvious party to deal with these difficulties. A UN peacekeeping force is required in Afghanistan as quickly as possible to restore order. Ordnance and land-mine clearance work needs to be dramatically increased. The WFP has to do even more. The work of agencies such as Oxfam needs to be properly co-ordinated. Our government should press hard for effective UN leadership and action. We have the access and credibility to do this.
There is also, of course, the huge issue of rebuilding a country wrecked over 20 years by war, civil strife, earthquakes, prolonged drought, and a narrow-minded tyrannical government. While a start was made by the World Bank and IMF last week in Islamabad, this will be a futile effort for many people if they die now for the simple want of food. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Brian Scott, Executive director, Oxfam Ireland, Burgh Quay, Dublin 2.