|
ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan--The situation in Taliban-controlled
Afghanistan is dire and getting worse,
according to Knut Ostby the deputy head
of the UN Development Programme in that
country, but a lot of development work
continues anyway.
People
are eating grass, " he said in an interview
with Earth Times, " and others aren't
eating at all."
But,
he said, "a large portion" of
the United Nation's and NGO work continues
despite the closing the borders and the threats
of attack by the United States.
Ostby,
addressing published concerns that the work
had stopped
the day Washington targeted
Osama bin Laden as prime suspect for the September
11 attacks, and threatened the Taliban if they
don't produce him, said, "A lot of work
has stopped, specifically the ones dependant
on injections of foreign money."
"Afghan society has stopped, " he
said, "and more specifically some work
has stopped because we can't get the money
in to pay the contractors." But others
projects continue.
"Community based projects already underway
continue to be underway," he said, " for
instance school projects. In school projects
the teachers themselves are supervising and
we don't have to go to schools every day to
see that that work continues.
"Equally,
in communities, and in villages, the running
costs are paid by the community
and that work goes on as long as there are
people in the villages.
"Some training courses in the large cities
have stopped and some projects where the donors
made specific requests for constant monitoring,
that has stopped. "I wont' get into percentages,
but I'd say a large portion of our work is
not dependant on foreign supplies and not dependant
on constant vigilance," he said.
Asked
about reports that a seed project had been
stopped
by the war atmosphere, and foreign
flight, mostly American, he said " the
seed (projects) are going on as we speak."
He said that special wheat and other grain
seeds, developed for the Afghan conditions
had been produced, and re-produced for about
eight years, and that each year a greater amount
of seeds is produced, by a multiplying effect.
He said the Afghans themselves now can produce
between five and eight thousand tons of wheat
seed alone. That doesn't mean the situation
is good.
"The situation is dire, and has been
dire for years," he said. "The world
Food program has been supplying all the food
for three million people and now they have
had a three year drought.
"Some 75 per cent of the people depend
on imported food" which has been cut down
drastically since September 11. "The situation
has gone from bad, to worse," he said.
|
