KABUL, 22 March 2005 — Afghan authorities sent relief goods to the areas hit by devastating floods yesterday. US military helicopters airlifted stranded families to safety and aid agencies distributed vital food, officials said yesterday.
Torrents of snowmelt and fierce rains caused rivers to burst their banks in many parts of the poverty-stricken country, washing away mosques and livestock and leaving thousands of people homeless.
The helicopters also brought water, blankets, shovels and pick axes to a makeshift relief camp set up near the river.
“After the supplies got on the ground, the US forces took a step back,” Capt. John Williams said, adding that the district chief and the provincial governor had then taken charge.
The Afghan Interior Ministry also reported widespread damage in northern Balkh, Jawzjan and Panjshir provinces, eastern Laghman and southern Nimroz.
In western Afghanistan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program have been shipping supplies from the main city of Herat out to the worst affected parts of Farah.
“We sent 25 metric tons of food to Farah from Herat last week, which should cover the needs of 5,000 people for two weeks. Distribution will start Tuesday,” Maarten Roest of the World Food Program told Agence France Presse yesterday.
UNHCR is also distributing blankets, plastic sheeting and ground mats, soap and cooking sets to flood-hit areas across the country, using the US military to ferry supplies in the south, Tim Irwin of the refugee agency said.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people flew kites and danced on the hills outside Kabul yesterday to mark the Afghan New Year, as President Hamid Karzai gave a reminder of the challenges ahead for the devastated nation.
“It is up to us to rebuild Afghanistan with our hard work,” Karzai told farmers from the provinces at a ceremony in the city’s stadium, after planting a tree to mark the greening of Kabul after a quarter-century of war.
The festivities for New Year, or Nawroz, were a chance for people in the world’s fifth poorest country to forget their worries as they struggle along the road to democracy more than three years after the fall of the Taleban.
Afghanistan is making some progress, with last year bringing the country’s first ever presidential election — won convincingly by Karzai — and the year ahead promising historic parliamentary polls.
But US-backed Karzai must persuade millions of farmers, officials and warlords to disentangle themselves from the debilitating opium trade, while remnants of the hard-line Taleban continue their campaign of violence.
Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with around 50 people a month injured or killed by mines laid during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s or the civil war during the 1990s.
However there were scenes of jubilation and optimism in many parts of the capital, with thousands of people visiting the Tapia Maran Jan kite-fighting festival.
Minibuses carrying dancing youths snaked their way up the hill toward the tomb of King Nadir Khan, while women came with their families to picnic and loud music played from parked cars.
“When I see all this enthusiasm and joy, a newly elected government and a rainy winter after years of drought, it makes me think the dark night is over and we are at the dawn of a new age,” said 42-year-old Saeed Rahim, an Afghan visiting his country for the first time after 10 years in exile.
Electrician Mohammed Ismael, 20, who came with his family to picnic on the hill, added: “This place was one of the places where factions fought in Kabul in the civil war, and nobody dared to come here.
“But I can see people who come here are enjoying life and it is a big change.” In the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif huge crowds gathered in the streets to mark the New Year, the local police commander said.
Back in Kabul, Karzai ushered in the New Year by planting a tree to mark the greening of the dusty city, almost denuded of trees by war and drought, before going on to the stadium.
