PRESS BRIEFING BY THE U.N. OFFICES FOR PAKISTAN AND
AFGHANISTAN ( 14 January 2002)

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s briefing in Kabul by U.N. Spokesperson Ahmad Fawzi (including question and answer session).

** Ahmad Fawzi, Spokesman for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan

First a number of housekeeping matters. In order to serve you better, I would like to create a roster of the media in Kabul. For this purpose we have created a media registration form which Vicky will leave on the counter to my left, please pick up a copy and fill it in and return it to us at the briefing tomorrow. This will enable us to contact you in case of a breaking story, but also if you have an email address you will receive a transcript of this briefing everyday and any other announcements or information
from the UN Special Representative’s Office. Secondly, as promised, we have copies for you of the Bonn Agreement. Everything is in short supply in Kabul, including paper. We have only been able to provide 50 copies, so please share with one another.

Special Representative for the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, continued his meetings over the weekend with members of Afghan civil society, the Interim Administration and the diplomatic community in Kabul. Let me give you some highlights in chronological order.

On Saturday (12 January) he had a working lunch with the US Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan, Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad. He met the Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Mr. Sultan Ayub Khan, and the minister for International Development Cooperation and Migration of Sweden, Mr. Jan Karlsson with whom he had dinner at the residence of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.

On Sunday he met with a delegation from the National Democratic Institute, a Washington based think-tank. Mr. Brahimi also received the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kazakstan, Mr. Abuseitov and the Afghan Minister of Education, Mr. Abdoul Rassoul Amin. The Minister and Mr. Brahimi discussed the imminent opening of the school year and the work the Ministry was undertaking in cooperation with UNICEF to prepare for this important event, as well as the role of UNESCO following the Director-General’s visit. He also met Mr. Wali Masood.

Today, Monday, Mr. Brahimi visited the Chairman of the Interim Administration of Afghanistan, Mr. Hamid Karzai, at 9.00am at the Presidential Palace. Back at the UN office he received representatives of Mr. Karim Khalili, of the Hizbi Waahdit Party.

At 2.30pm he attended the inauguration of the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul and the hoisting of the Pakistan flag on the premises. The Director-General of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Mr. Sultan Ayub Khan was present and said he looked forward to a strengthening of relations between the two countries. He announced a contribution of 100 million dollars towards the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Mr. Brahimi said he was delighted to see that Pakistan was “resuming business in Afghanistan”; that the peoples of the two nations were brothers and neighbours and shared a common culture and a common future. He said he looked forward to Pakistan playing its role among the growing diplomatic community in Kabul and helping Afghanistan, which had suffered the ills of war and destruction, turn a new page in their history, one of progress, reconstruction and peace.

Later this afternoon he met a group of Afghan women who had organized the Afghan Women Peace and Solidarity Jirga in Peshawar, in December 2001, at which there were 800 participants – all Afghan women. He then met the Coordinator of Afghanistan of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Ambassador Aydemir Erman.

Before I take your questions I would like to say a few words about the focus of Mr. Brahimi’s efforts over the past few days. One of the main priorities that Mr. Brahimi has been working on, with members of the Interim Administration, is the Special Commission for the Convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga, and he has been consulting widely with members of civil society
in this regard. Remember this is a Commission of 21 members who will determine the procedures for the number of people who will participate in the Emergency Loya Jirga. They will draft rules and procedures specifying criteria for allocation of seats for
various groups, bearing in mind that this Loya Jirga should be all-inclusive, broad-based and should be geographically and ethnically balanced, and should have a significant number of women participating. We have less than a week to go, Tokyo is coming up and a lot of people are saying is Mr. Brahimi going to Tokyo. He does not know if he is going to Tokyo because his priority at this stage is the formation of the Commission and he will not leave until it is formed.

There is also the question of the Afghan Civil Service and the payment of arrears. As we have said before this new Administration needs to pay salaries to its employees, they have not been paid for the past 6 months and salaries are also needed for the next 6 months. To pay salaries you need cash. You will recall I spoke about the ‘Start-Up Fund’ we created after Bonn. Pledges were made but very little cash was forthcoming. It is time for the international community to stop talking and to start delivering help; in particular the Afghan Authority is counting on the international community to help pay salaries, and that help is not coming as fast as it should be.

I will now take your questions.

(Question on the significance of the opening of the Pakistani Embassy, and request for comment on the security situation in Kabul)

Those are two very big questions. The role of Pakistan is an extremely important one in the future of this region and in the future for peace and stability for Afghanistan and for the region at large. The Bonn Agreement speaks about good relations with the neighbors and that includes the six in the Six Plus Two formula, and one of the most important of the six is Pakistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan have had a turbulent history in the recent past and are coming to terms with that history now, and I know both sides want to turn a new page. Both sides want to put the past behind them and work for harmony in this region, and Pakistan can play a very important part, as I said earlier, in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and they have come with a lot of good will and a lot of good intentions, and we hope they will follow through with these good intentions in the weeks and months and years to come.

On the question of security I have no way of monitoring security in Kabul and neither does the United Nations office. We will soon be conducting a security survey, but as I said earlier, the Interim Administration, the Ministry

of Interior in particular and the police, are responsible for security in the city. They are being assisted by ISAF and I would much rather you asked ISAF and the Interior Ministry that question.

(Question “about cash”, i.e. when Senator Biden was here, he suggested that there maybe a possibility of unfreezing assets. Would this be a substitute to the Trust Fund?)

We have heard reports about the possible unfreezing of funds, both Taliban funds and other funds. They will help immensely if that happens and if it happens soon. This Administration needs several million dollars tomorrow or there will be no country when the billions are ready. They need 100 million dollars within the next few days to pay the back salaries and to have enough cash to pay salaries for the civil service and the police for the next 6 months. If this Administration is going to survive it will has to pay its employees and police. The unfreezing of blocked accounts is a useful step but it will not cover all the arrears and the advance needs.

(Question on sanctions)

There is a Security Council meeting on the 18 January and I believe they will be discussing that matter and as you know sanctions were enforced on the Taliban regime and not on the country of Afghanistan or the people of Afghanistan.

(Question on sanctions “affecting the people anyway”)

I agree with you entirely and I do not want to preempt what the members of the Security Council in New York will decide, but it is quite likely that they will look favorably upon any issue that will affect the well-being and the welfare of the people of
Afghanistan.

(Question on “why we should expect anything out of Tokyo, since the pledges made for the ‘Start-Up’ Fund after Bonn were not met so far?”)

We are hopeful that all the promises that the international community has made before, during and since Bonn will come true in Tokyo. There is a lot of hope in the air about Tokyo, let me remind you that it is a pledging conference, governments will come and make promises. They will not come with bundles of cash. They are going to make promises of help. Then there has to be another stage, a very important stage in this process, which is to put all these promises together, turn them into projects and turn them into cash. That is a process that is going to take some time because the donor countries, who will make the pledges, will want to sit down with the Interim Administration to discuss these commitments that are going to be undertaken by the donors and implemented by the Afghans. They will need to discuss coordination between multilateral assistance on the one hand and bilateral assistance on the other, so there will be a lot of work to be done in the months ahead following Tokyo. Your question is a good one because we have often seen the international community making pledges but not coming up with the cash soon enough, and as I said this country needs cash immediately, not next year, it needs it this year, 2002.

(Question on “where the country’s money is?”)

I do not know, simple answer. I do know that part of the Bonn Agreement is to, (1) reestablish the Central Bank of Afghanistan. (2) to give this Authority the authority to print money and to deal with international institutions and to have international drawing rights. Countries around the world are helping this country recover from the trauma of the past two decades and part of that is to deliver any assets that might have been held by the Taliban to this new Administration. There are assets that have been traceable. Senator Biden spoke about unfreezing some of the assets that exist in the United States, frozen by the United States that belonged to the Taliban, and other possible assets such as cash from over-flying rights (through) the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), so there are a number of avenues that are being pursued to try and get this money for the new Administration.

(Question on the exact figure appealed and pledged after Bonn)

The Start-Up Fund that was created after Bonn appealed for $20 million. Around $17 million were pledged, $8.6 million were committed. You see it comes in stages, you never get a cheque and then cash it. I cannot tell you what is in the kitty exactly, but the figures range from $2 million to $8 million, and the reason I cannot confirm it is that over the weekend the banks were closed, so we could not check the accounts. By the 31 December 2001 we had only received around $2 million. Today is the 14 January
and I really need to check, but it does not exceed 10 million and that money would have been deposited between 4 January and last Friday, so what I am being told is we have about 8 million in the kitty.

(Question about why there was an appeal for $20m if the need is now for $100m?)

What we did not anticipate was the dramatic fall (in the value) of the dollar in Afghanistan which I think was unprecedented. Never before in the history of the US currency has the dollar plummeted by three-quarters of its value in such a short time. As you know in this country it was worth about 80,000 Afghans and a month after Bonn it dropped to 20,000. That meant the rate, of course, by which we would have to pay back salaries, quadrupled and therefore the sum that we needed quadrupled. In order to cover this shortfall Mr. Brahimi has written to donors all over the world in early January, and as a result of his letter more money has come in. That is the difference between the 2 million and, what I believe will be the 8 or 9 million, when I check the figures today.

(Question on how many people are in the Civil Service and the Police?)

Approximately 235,000 civil servants, including 25, 000 in the police force.

(Question on whether there are conditions attached to the money pledged by the donors?)

Read the Bonn Agreement. The Bonn Agreement lays it down very clearly. If the Bonn Agreement is implemented there will be a lot of confidence generated in this Administration. The Bonn Agreement speaks about certain activities that will generate confidence like multi-ethnic, broad-based government, gender sensitive, the all inclusiveness of these commissions, a Commission for Human Rights, a Commission for the Civil Service. The Civil Service Commission draws up a code of conduct that should be respected by all civil servants, and various other activities, which if implemented will bring this nation into the 21st Century and (into) the family of nations, and will generate the confidence of the donors, so they may invest their billions in this country with their minds at rest that this country is indeed progressing with principles of respect for human rights, international law and good neighbourliness, and combating terrorism both nationally and internationally.

(Question on what Mr. Brahimi thinks about how the government should deal with the Taleban? Should they be pursued vigorously?)

I think that you should seek the views of the Interim Administration and the people of Afghanistan on this question. Mr. Brahimi is here to help, with his team of UN international civil servants, to help this country on the road to peace and stability. They have chosen a new life, they have chosen a new administration, which is not the Taliban, and I think that speaks for itself.

(Question on whether Mr. Brahimi’s request for funds is an ‘Emergency Appeal?’)

As I said earlier, Mr. Brahimi wrote to all the donor countries, to all the Foreign Ministers, appealing to them. It was a 3 page letter, an impassioned appeal to explaining the needs of the Interim Administration to them in great detail, at great length, explaining that there were 235,000 civil servants who needed their salaries in arrears, explaining the need of this Administration to show the people of Afghanistan they can deliver on their promises…If you want to call that an emergency appeal, please do. It was an appeal and we are in an emergency.

(Question on the timeframe for paying these salaries?)

As soon as possible. The deadline passed 6 months ago.

(Question on what would happen if salaries are not paid?)

As I explained, this Administration needs to pay salaries tomorrow. It has commitments, it needs to show the people that Bonn is working, that this new Administration is taking its priorities seriously, and one of them is to pay salaries. I do not want to speculate what will happen if whatever we want to happen does not happen, but I want to leave it to you, to think about it seriously. Imagine (what would happen if) your government cannot pay salaries for 6 months. There would be people on the streets and repercussions. This country has suffered over 2 decades of war, conflict and drought. People are starving, some are living in caves and the Civil Service has not been paid. They cannot buy bread. There is an urgency, there is an immediate need for Mr. Karzai and his new team, the new generation of Afghan leaders to fulfill their promises to the people and the international community has a responsibility to help.

(Question on whether there have been any threats by the civil service to walk out?)

No sir, there have been no threats that I know of.

** Jordan Dey, Spokesperson for UN humanitarian activities

Good evening. Winter has truly arrived in Afghanistan. Kabul received its first sprinkling of snow this weekend, three days of rain have moistened Herat and Mazar is reporting high snow-pack and extremely cold temperatures in the outlying regions.

The weather change is, of course, both good news and bad news. The good news is that Afghanistan is desperately in need of precipitation and will be dependent on a goodly amount of rainfall for the Spring planting season. Recall, 85% of Afghans are
subsistence farmers.

The bad news is that rain and snow make the transportation of humanitarian aid not only difficult, but extremely hazardous in some places. Chagcharan - which lies between Herat and Kabul – is currently cut off due to high snow pack. WFP snow clearing teams are working to open it again - which will be a constant winter battle.

The weather has also affected flights to and from Kabul - and the rest of Afghanistan. I know there is a high level of frustration in this room with delayed flights. Three flights have been requested for tomorrow - the Fokker 28 twice (45 seats) and the Beechcraft 19-seats). Weather and mechanics permitting, a number of you will be able to depart tomorrow.

Tonight, I would like to update you on the following issues: First, in Mazar (northern Afghanistan, WFP field monitors are now in Zarah district, in the southern part of Balkh province. They have reported heavy snowfall over the weekend in the area.

It has also been extremely cold in the north, with temperatures below zero Celsius in some places. Some remote villages in the mountainous area are snowed in and overland travel is extremely difficult. Not only are trucks unable to access some of the villages, but donkeys, in some cases, have not able to make the trek either.

According to the WFP team on the ground,the hardest hit villages - that they've seen so far - are Armakh, Abdul Gan and Baluj.

The good news is that, according to the 3-member WFP team there, the road from Zarah to Armakh is potentially accessible. Therefore, WFP will move 380 MT of food to Armakh immediately using locally hired trucks. There are only five such trucks in town. WFP has also sent two trucks with 12 metric tons of high-energy biscuits from Mazar to the region.

WFP staff will now assess the food security situation further up the mountains where there are more villages that have not yet been seen. The team's objective will be to determine whether these mountain villages are accessible. They will report back as soon as possible.

WFP staff will also meet with local people to determine the number of animals available for further food distributions up into the mountains. The WFP staff are all traveling by horse. Tomorrow, WFP is sending another three staff to reinforce the team. To further increase transport capacity, WFP will also rent 70-80 donkeys in Zarah to deliver food.

In Herat, UNHCR reports from Herat that people in western Afghanistan rejoiced over the four-day downpour of rain last week, which was the first they had in three years.

UNHCR has begun planning with other agencies to displaced persons in western Afghanistan, which requires an extensive support to rebuild their home communities.

UNHCR's head of Afghan operation, Filippo Grandi, visited Heart this weekend and met with Mr. Ismail Khan, the governor of Herat. The governor agreed to UNHCR's proposal to gradually shift assistance focus from camps for the displaced to return areas, while continuing to ensure assistance for new camp arrivals. The governor emphasized the importance of not only assisting refugees and displaced people to return, but also helping them stay once they're back in their home villages.

UNHCR this year plans to focus on shelter and water assistance to returning refugees and displaced people in Afghanistan and to work closely with development agencies who could engage in larger projects to ensure re-integration of returnees.

As an on-going effort to support aid agencies already working to improve lives in provinces affected by drought, UNHCR provided this weekend 30 mattresses, 25 lanterns and 70 bars of soap to Medecins du Monde for hospitals in the Chaghcharan area in Ghor province.

Still in Herat, the city wide food distribution for the poor in Herat continues to proceed smoothly. WFP has now completed its seventh day of wheat distributions in the local stadium and more than 132,000 people have taken home a 50 kg bag for their
families - which they will use to make bread. In Kandahar, WFP today sent an international staff member to Kandahar for the first time since last September. WFP will resume full operations there as soon as it sets up a new office. WFP's office and warehouse were looted and destroyed during fighting in the city.

In other news, the Ministry of Public Works reports that the Salang Tunnel will officially open on January 19. The 2-mile long tunnel is already being used by cars and trucks, although it is reportedly still muddy, dark and a difficult drive. There is no pavement. WFP enthusiastically welcomes the opening of tunnel.

The tunnel provides four advantages. It will give WFP direct access to vulnerable Afghans in the north. It also decreases the drive time from Kabul to Mazar by three to four hours, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Thirdly, WFP can send in larger trucks through the tunnel, increasing the flow of food. And finally, the tunnel will eventually support two-way traffic, allowing aid to not only move from Peshawar into Mazar but also from Dushanbe in Tajikistan, south Kabul.

In northern Pakistan, the World Health Organization is working with local health authorities in the Northwest Frontier Province to control an outbreak of the skin disease, Lieshmaniasis. A total of 738 cases, mostly in children under the age of 15, have been found in Kurram agency.

These cases are amongst the local population and are in addition to 1,500 cases in Afghan refugee camps. At least 72% of the affected are unable to access medical treatment.

Lieshmaniasis is a disease caused by the sand fly. When the sand fly bites the skin, the organism is transmitted to the blood. It leaves permanent scarring which socially stigmatizes those who contract the disease. Unmarried women may be especially vulnerable to social exclusion.

It is feared that if proper remedial measures are not taken to contain the disease, the situation may lead to a catastrophe.

During the weekend,the number of Afghans massed at the Chaman border post has sharply risen to 13,000. The refugees have been stuck on a desolate, windswept place where temperatures drop below zero at night without proper shelter or adequate assistance for days. They are getting desperate and urgently need assistance. Already, UNHCR has seen children with measles. Last night, two babies were born in the makeshift site, which is temporarily home for the thousands who have gathered there since January 4.

To avert a humanitarian disaster, UNHCR is urging the Pakistani authorities to allow the agency to move the vulnerable - especially women and children - to the refugee camp where they can be assisted.