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U.N. to Taliban: Stop looting aid
©Associated Press, ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The head of the U.N. refugee agency urged Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on Tuesday to return looted U.N. property and safeguard what is left of U.N. humanitarian operations in that country. Ruud Lubbers, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, made the demands in a meeting Tuesday with the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef. It was the first meeting between the Taliban and a senior international official since the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan started Oct. 7. The meeting was spurred in part by looting and armed attacks on U.N. offices and other international aid operations since the U.S. strikes began. Aid groups blame the Taliban and other armed bands. After local aid workers were beaten, the United Nations directed Afghan staffers last week to give up trying to defend U.N. property. Lubbers ticked off his points to the Taliban in a news conference: "Don't loot our property is the first. Respect our people -- don't threaten them and let them do our work. And thirdly ... don't destroy our network." Lubbers also asked for the return of stolen assets, including vehicles. The Taliban reportedly have been riding in commandeered U.N. vehicles in some cities. In response, Zaeef pledged to do his best to see that U.N. workers and property are protected, said Peter Kessler, spokesman for the refugee agency. The United Nations still has about 170 Afghan workers on the job in Afghanistan after international staffers pulled out. Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, urged that as much as possible be done for displaced Afghans within Afghanistan itself, Lubbers said. Without ruling that out, Lubbers outlined the difficulties of running a U.N. camp in Afghanistan, including guarding male refugees from conscription by combatants and keeping camps from becoming hiding places for fighters. Lubbers declined to back an appeal by Oxfam International and other international aid groups for a pause in bombing so workers can rush winter food supplies to Afghanistan's needy.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
