- Tajikistan, Afghan call for aid
DUSHANBE - Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and the leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance opposition called on the world on Friday to provide humanitarian aid to the Afghan people. "The presidents called on the world community to urgently provide humanitarian aid during these difficult days for the Afghan people, who are suffering from military instability and drought," a statement issued by the Tajik foreign ministry said. The statement said Rakhmonov and Afghan opposition leader Burnahuddin Rabbani, who spoke by telephone, had expressed serious concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan. The two men underlined the need for the international community and non-governmental organisations to coordinate relief efforts, the statement added. Afghanistan's aid distribution network has been virtually shut down since aid agencies left the country following suicide attacks on New York and Washington, fearing retaliatory U.S. strikes. Afghanistan's hardline Taliban regime has refused to hand over the man the United States suspects of masterminding the attack - Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden. He has been living as a "guest" of the Taliban. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed on Thursday for $584 million in fresh emergency aid for Afghans facing what the U.N. is already calling the world's worst humanitarian crisis. After decades of war and three years of severe drought in the Central Asian nation, some five million Afghans are already dependent on outside aid for survival, a U.N. donor alert circulated on Thursday said. -Reuters
