Oxfam warns of humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan

Aid agency Oxfam warned Thursday of the risk of a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan unless Western countries make a "major change of direction" in their strategy in the violence-scarred country.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the group said progress in improving ordinary Afghans' lives was being held back by increasing insecurity.

The flourishing drug trade and related criminality was among major factors threatening progress in the country, where NATO-led forces are struggling against a still-fierce insurgency some six years after the Taliban was ousted.

"As an NGO which has had operations and supported partners in the country for nearly 20 years, we urge you to support a major change of direction in order to reduce suffering and avert a humanitarian disaster," it said.

"There has been undoubted social and economic progress in Afghanistan, but it has been slow and is being undermined by increasing insecurity," wrote Oxfam International's director Barbara Stocking.

Setting out five key recommendations, she underlined the importance of reducing Afghan poverty, which she said was a major element fueling the insurgency.

"Afghans turn to narcotics, criminality, or even militancy, if they cannot feed their families. Military action addresses symptoms, not the underlying causes or conditions," she wrote.

Targetting aid more on rural areas was also important, she said, lamenting that "only a fraction" of international assistance supports agriculture and rural development.

She also singled out lack of coordination as a problem -- an issue highlighted by the withdrawal of diplomat Paddy Ashdown's bid for a new job as the UN's special envoy in the country, after Kabul blocked the move.

"Too much aid is slow, wasteful, ineffective or uncoordinated.

"In light of the spreading insurgency and increasing Afghan dissatisfaction with the rate of progress, urgent action is required to achieve greater donor coherence and aid effectiveness," said the Oxfam chief.

The Oxfam warning came after two US reports said that insurgency-wracked Afghanistan will become a failed state if urgent steps are not taken to tackle worsening security and lacklustre reconstruction and governance efforts.

The Atlantic Council of the United States warned that civil sector reform "is in serious trouble," while the Afghanistan Study Group called for a new special envoy to coordinate all aspects of US policy there.

Southern Afghanistan has seen the worst violence since the Taliban were ousted from power in the US-led invasion in 2001 after the September 11 attacks masterminded by Al-Qaeda, whose leaders were given sanctuary by the Taliban.AFP