HIGHLIGHTS: UN Statement Made at a 15-Donor Countries Meeting in Geneva||Afghan Minister: Reformists in Afghanistan Face Environment of Risk||Kabul Wants ISAF Mandate Extended|| STORY: Afghanistan could slide back under the control of warlords if it fails to receive the aid it urgently needs, a top U.N. official said on Thursday. Kenzo Oshima, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said 777 U.S. million dollars was needed to such as police and army salaries. (Read photo caption)

He was speaking to a meeting in Geneva of U.N. officials and representatives from 15 donor countries less than a week after Vice-President Haji Abdul Qadir, a warlord businessman, was shot dead after his first morning's work as public works minister.

Nigel Fisher, deputy to the U.N. special representative to Afghanistan, said: "Afghanistan is at a critical juncture in its transition and it is important that we continue to help it meet ongoing humanitarian needs and its efforts toward recovery."
"Afghans do not deserve to slip back into the control of warlords," Fisher told the one-day meeting of donor countries, including the United States, in a text obtained by

Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan finance minister who took part in the talks, noted Qadir's death followed that of tourism minister Dr. Abdul Rehman, gunned down at Kabul Airport in February.

"Many of us are likely to loose our lives in this process -- these two are not going to be the only people -- we are facing an environment of risk," Ghani told a news briefing.

"We should recall that a scant seven months ago, Afghanistan was under occupation of a terrorist regime. We have enemies," he added.

Ghani said there was "near universal consensus" among Afghans on extending and expanding the Turkish-led International Security Assistance Force in the capital. But this was up to the U.N. Security Council, he said.

"We are still in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis. More than one million refugees have returned, drought conditions prevail, there is food deprivation in parts of the country and people are exhausted," Ghani said.

Despite a massive influx of 1.2 million Afghan refugees returning home from Pakistan and Iran, there has been a relative slowdown in donor assistance in most key sectors during the second quarter of 2002, a U.N. document said.

The U.N. appealed in February for 1.6 billion U.S. dollars for Afghanistan, emerging from decades of war compounded by several years of drought. The crisis has left almost one-third of the population dependent on emergency aid and resulted in "high rates of chronic malnutrition among children," the U.N. said.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Afghan trader displays one of 'thousands and thousands' of Victorian-era weapons, the spoils of three wars against the British, in Kabul July 11, 2002. A top U.N. official warned Afghanistan could slide back under the control of warlords if it fails to receive the aid it urgently needs. (Beawiharta/Reuters)