'Operation Salam': to build a future.

• Author: Sadruddin Aga Khan, Prince
• Position: Humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghanistan

With the Afghan winter now over, "Operation Salam" the United Nations office set up ill 1988 to co-ordinate humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghanistan-is gearing up for a large increase in its activities. Despite the volatile political and military situation in the country, massive assistance can and should be provided to the Afghan people in 1990. Operation Salam's new plan of action foresees a commitment of funds amounting to more than US $650 million, even though a number of contributions pledged have not vet been received.

The main areas of activity in 1990 will be agriculture and health, although work in most sectors will depend on the removal of mines and other unexploded ordnance. Nearly, 20,000 Afghans have so far received UN training in mine clearance and awareness programmes. Actual mine clearance by the UN inside Afghanstan started in the eastern provinces of Hunar and Paktika earlier this year and, once the ground has thawed properly, it will take place on a far larger scale. Every one of Afghanistan's 20 provinces received UN assistance during 1989 in the form of pilot projects, and there is a regular UN presence in the provinces of Badghis, Balkh, Herat, Kabul, Kunar and Paktika. Funds have so far been used to promote 201 projects inside the country through UN agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Until recently, UN teams had seen little evidence of widespread malnutrition or emergency food needs. But the current situation in several northern provinces, where last year's harvest was ravaged by locusts and sunn pest, is continuing to deteriorate. Three-fold response

The UN response to this emergency is three-fold: food and other essential items are being distributed in the worst-hit areas to prevent starvation and the migration of further refugees to Iran; insecticides are to be provided to ensure that the next harvest is not destroyed in a similar way; and seeds and fertilizer will be allocated later to revitalize the agricultural sector in the north.

In the autumn of 1989, the UN organized a series of "train convoys" known as "Salam Expresses", originating in Finland and Italy laden with over 35,000 tonnes of wheat donated by several countries for delivery to stricken areas. By April, the first 7,500 tonnes had been delivered to the northern provinces.

Kabul and other cities, traditionally dependent...