TOKYO, Oct 11: The World Food Programme (WFP) does not have nearly enough aid in place in Afghanistan to feed the seven million people it fears are in dire need of help, the organization’s number two said on Thursday.

WFP deputy executive director Jean-Jacques Graisse told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents Club here that the organization was far from “the level we will have to reach”.

“Our present capacities indicate we can move 15,000 to 20,000 metric tons in the immediate future,” he said.

“But to meet the necessities it would mean distributing over 50,000 metric tons mostly inside Afghanistan, because with winter coming people will go hungry and cold,” he said. “They will need to get food.”

Graisse, a Belgian, added the WFP had initially envisaged providing enough aid for six million people inside Afghanistan this winter, as well as a further 1.5 million refugees who could flood into Pakistan and Iran.

“Now we think we would have to reach more than seven million people inside Afghanistan,” he said. The World Food Programme is considering increasing its deliveries to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan.

One convoy of 40 trucks with 1,000 tons of food aid left Peshawar on Wednesday and should reach Kabul on Friday, he added.—AFP