AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 4 - UN Asks Taliban To Permit Emergency Food Drops.

The UN asks the Taliban to guarantee air corridors to allow wheat to be flown into the country, where about 600,000 people face starvation. The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) Catherine Bertini says only a concerted airdrop, using commercially hired Ilyushin and Hercules aircraft, can now reach communities in the north and central highlands, where roads and passes will become snowbound by mid-November. Launching an appeal for $230m to deliver up to 52,000 tonnes of wheat a month, Ms Bertini says highland regions in 10 Afghan provinces need at least 30,000 tonnes of wheat. It is vital to deliver as much food as possible as swiftly as possible, to avert outright famine and to prevent more Afghanis joining the estimated 1.1m displaced people within the country. UN officials say the programme of airdrops could begin within two weeks, but it depends upon solid guarantees from the Taliban that they will not attack the planes and will allow workers on the ground to collect the food. UN officials hold frequent talks with the Taliban through the regime's embassy in Pakistan. Meanwhile, US Pres. Bush says the US will spend an extra $320m in expanding emergency aid to Afghanistan to provide "more food, more medicine, to help the innocent people of Afghanistan deal with the coming winter". The money will be on top of $184m of aid already announced for the current fiscal year. The total includes $25m announced last month for neighbouring countries which are expected to have to accommodate a flood of refugees, and $295m through UN agencies, the Red Cross, non-governmental groups and through direct aid. The Japanese government is to send six Self Defence Force C-130H transport aircraft carrying tents and blankets to Pakistan on Oct. 6. Japan also says it will contribute up to $120m in direct aid for the refugees.