| By
AMIR ZIA, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan - As many as one million Afghans could starve to
death this winter unless the international community quickly
provides aid to cope with the country's worst drought in
decades, World Food Program officials said Friday.
The
WFP is feeding about 2.3 million Afghans but is running
out of funds, Gerard van Dijk, the food program's director
for Afghanistan, told reporters in the Pakistani capital.
"If
we don't act fast, there will be a Somalia-like situation
in Afghanistan," Dijk said. He was referring to the
perennial famine in the African nation that has claimed
thousands of lives.
Unless
there are more contributions, the WFP will run out of food
by February, when Afghanistan's bitter winter is at its
worst, Dijk said. He said the WFP has asked for $53 million
in emergency aid but that donations have only trickled in.
"We
have received some donations and pledges over the last few
months, but they fell short of our appeals," he said.
"The devastating drought has forced us to accelerate
deliveries of food, and our resources are quickly depleting."
Months
of relentless drought have devastated fields and orchards
in the south and central regions of Afghanistan, an impoverished
country devastated by a civil war and controlled by a militia
that practices a fundamentalist brand of Islam. Entire herds
have been killed and nomadic tribes have been relocated
to towns and villages.
The
WFP estimates that the drought has severely hit as many
as 4 million Afghans, and affected as many as 12 million.
The
Taliban religious army, which rules 95 percent of Afghanistan,
has ferried water and food supplies to some of the remotest
villages but has requested more outside aid, Dijk said.
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