The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service has resumed flights to Kabul, enabling humanitarian workers and badly needed relief items to reach desperate Afghans across the country in a "turning point", the UN World Food Programme said on Tuesday.
“The restarting of flights into Kabul marks a turning point,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP Afghanistan Country Director.
“Getting aid workers and relief cargo into and around Afghanistan is vital if we have any hope of preventing a total catastrophe.”
A total 30 million dollars is required from donors to keep the vital air services going – this on top of the 200 million dollars WFP urgently requires to replenish its food pipeline and transport supplies into the country before the winter sets in.
Over 90 percent of families struggling to eat enough, and amid growing humanitarian crisis across the country, aid agencies are scrambling to meet massive needs before it is too late, with the approaching winter likely to cut off parts of the country entirely, leaving millions of vulnerable Afghans with little to survive on.
WFP said it needs to reach nine million people a month by November if it is to meet its planned target of 14 million by the end of 2021 and avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
The vital UNHAS flights – which are led by WFP, have been up and running since 29 August, connecting Islamabad, Pakistan to the Afghan towns of Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat.
The air link to Kabul restarted on 12 September after a temporary halt following the Taliban takeover on 15 August, according to the WFP statement.
UNHAS is also transporting non-food items, such as medical and other emergency supplies. Three cargo flights have been completed, bringing in medical supplies on behalf of WHO, the statement said.
WFP has been stepping up its operations through its six field offices in Afghanistan. Food convoys are moving across the country and in August alone more than 400,000 people received assistance.
From 15 August to 7 September, WFP provided food and nutrition assistance to nearly 600,000 people, including 13,500 children under the school meals programme, and 105,000 mothers and young children, the statement added.
