Food will run out 'within a month'

War against terrorism: Aid

Aid agencies said on Tuesday night that food and medicine supplies to millions of Afghans will run out within a month despite a partial resumption of cross-border deliveries halted by the air strikes.

Oxfam and the British Red Cross said that around six million people who are reliant on hand-outs face starvation unless convoys are massively increased before the onset of winter next month.

Bulk convoys by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) from neighbouring Pakistan resumed from Iran and Pakistan last night, carrying around 800 tons of food.

Up to 1.5 million people are feared to have fled their homes in Afghanistan since the 11 September attacks despite the looming cold weather, forcing some refugees to live off wild berries and plants.

Prior to the military action, aid agencies had been delivering around 900 tons of supplies a day to Afghanistan – less than half the 2,000 tons considered a bare minimum to feed the population.

Alex Renton, an Oxfam worker in Peshawar, said yesterday: "We're completely stuck and we feel very frustrated. We cannot do this prime job, which is the delivery of food before the onset of winter."

Officials at the WFP's headquarters in Rome said it was still distributing 5,000 tons of food that were stockpiled in Kabul before the attacks on Sunday, but said supplies would not last into November.

Concerns have already been raised that tribes in remote mountain regions could be cut off from normal road routes within days.