AFGHANISTAN - Apr. 21 - Exodus Looms As Crisis Deepens.

Special UN co-ordinator on internal displacement Dennis McNamara arrives in Kabul and says deteriorating humanitarian conditions could prompt a flood of refugees to seek entry to neighbouring countries, bringing additional risk to an overstretched region. He says the displacement of Afghans has elevated the country to the "big league", along with such countries as Angola and Congo. "If the humanitarian programmes are not supported and increased you'll have increased population displacement". He heads a UN mission to examine the conditions of Afghanistan's displaced population. Later he goes to Hirat, in western Afghanistan, which relief officials say hosts a large concentration of the country's internally displaced people. Relief officials say humanitarian conditions have worsened in the past year as the result of the prolonged drought, adding to the effect of periodic fighting between the ruling Taliban regime and the main opposition, the Northern Alliance. The decision by Pakistan, which in the past has accommodated millions of Afghan refugees, to ban the entry of new refugees has added to the impoverishment of Afghans fleeing their homes. By some estimates, up to 1m people have been forced to leave their homes in the past 12 months. The Taliban decision to demolish two colossal statues of the Buddha at Bamiyan, dating from Afghanistan's pre-Islamic era, has made some donors like Japan wary of stepping up support for relief programmes. The decision to demolish the statues followed other controversial measures such as a ban on woman from working in most professions. Relief agencies, including the UN, say increased aid flows that cater to the basic needs of the people are the only way to empower ordinary Afghans sufficiently to resist some of the regime's more regressive measures.