December 13, 2001	Thursday	Ramazan 27, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The flight operations from Islamabad to Mazar-i-Sharif started on Wednesday as the first UN flight left Islamabad International airport.

Speaking at a news conference, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan spokesperson, Einar Holtet, said there would be two flights a week to Mazar, except for the coming week. Due to the Eid holiday there will be no flights until Monday, December 24, he said.

The spokesperson said the flights would facilitate UN agencies activities in the area and the return of international staff to Mazar. The UN would have a greater capacity to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid as winter is on, making extreme living conditions even worse day by day.

Describing the UN activities, the spokesperson said the security in Mazar was relatively fine as UN staff started travelling from Termez to Mazar.

From Wednesday, the spokesperson said, up to five UN staff members would be based in Mazar to cover areas in the North where an estimated three million people depend on humanitarian assistance.