BRUSSELS, Nov 29: European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Poul Nielson said on Thursday he would go to Pakistan and Afghanistan next week to inspect EU aid projects and prepare for the opening of an aid office in Kabul.
Briefing reporters on the trip, he said he would go to Islamabad on Monday for meetings with Pakistani officials, including Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, then to Kabul via Peshawar on Tuesday.
“I hope to meet members of the Northern Alliance,” he said, including de-facto president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, and foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
“The main objective of this trip is to get a clear, direct picture of the situation and humanitarian needs on the ground...” and “to help identify the guidelines for future humanitarian action...for some years to come,” said Nielson.
“The real long-term development and reconstruction phase can only start once a real government is in place. Hopefully this should not take too long a time, but we never really know.”
In Kabul, said Nielson, “I will re-establish the commission’s presence and open an Echo office there,” referring to the commission’s office for humanitarian aid distribution.
“It is clear that further work on rehabilitation and reconstruction will be enhanced by our presence in Kabul and this will be a top priority of the commission.”
In his meetings with both Afghan and Pakistani officials, Nielson said he would be stressing “the impartiality and neutrality of humanitarian aid and the need for all parties to respect humanitarian space for delivering aid.
“Relief agencies need to have secure and unhindered access to those in need...the most vulnerable and weakest people in the world...who need this support.”
He said the security of Echo’s local partners delivering food aid on the ground in Afghanistan was a major concern of the commission.
“We have to accept the fact that the security situation still is not stable and the war phase is not over yet,” he said. “We have seen cases of new fighting in places where we had hoped it was over, so there is no basis for complacency.
“We have to be careful and we are not pushing our implementing partners...When they decide to, they move into areas that are problematic, but we are never pushing them to do so...We need to have a very clear on-going dialogue” with them, he said.
Nielson was critical of the US method of airdrop delivery of food aid, saying delivery by convoy and warehouse stocking was more effective, despite drawbacks.
He said there were valid arguments against having hundreds of tons of wheat stored in distribution centres.
“Some of it has been looted by the Taliban,” he said. “We know this. But in terms of volume, and the practical value of having it in there, it is clearly better than dropping rations here and there.”
On his way back to Pakistan, Nielson will inspect Afghan refugee camps in Peshawar and have further meetings with officials in Islamabad.
His tour had been planned for mid-September but was postponed after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The commission has allocated more than 100 million euros (91 million dollars) in aid to Afghanistan this year.—AFP
