[Friday, Jun 15, the last day the UN's World
          Food Program (WFP) distribution in
          Afghanistan. Read photo caption below.]


Taliban Seek More Talks to Keep U.N. Bread Aid

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghanistan 's ruling Taliban have requested further talks to avert a permanent closure of a U.N. food subsidy program feeding nearly 300,000 people in the capital, the United Nations said on Friday.
Although the U.N. World Food Program said it would not now enforce a Friday deadline for the Taliban to accept U.N. plans for a poverty survey, in practice it remained the last day of bread distribution because no flour was available for bakeries during the period set for talks.
``The Taliban have asked us to continue negotiations for a couple of days,'' WFP spokesman Khaled Mansour told Reuters. ``We agreed to that and our representative, Gerard van Dijk, will remain in Kabul until Tuesday morning and hopefully the negotiations will have a fruitful conclusion.''
Van Dijk had said after negotiations with Taliban officials on Thursday the hard-line movement refused to allow the United Nations to hire women to carry out a survey to ensure the bread was reaching those in need.
The WFP suspects extensive corruption in the distribution list, which has not been revised since the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996.
``We are not officially terminating the bakeries today,'' Mansour said. ``However, they will not be baking tomorrow because they do not have flour. If the negotiations are successful we will move to restore them as soon as possible.''
LAST-MINUTE CALL
Mansour said Taliban authorities contacted the United Nations late on Thursday after it announced the bread program would end. In previous years, the United Nations had withdrawn threats to close.
``They told us they need to conduct negotiations today and maybe for a couple of days,'' Mansour said. ``We saw it as a positive sign if they are ready to conduct talks on a Friday'' (the Muslim holy day).
Taliban officials had said they did not care if the United Nations halts all aid to the country -- devastated by 21 years of war and a three-year drought -- because they were confident Islamic countries would fill the gap.
The confrontation over the bakeries came amid deepening tension between international aid organizations and the Taliban, who are determined to impose their uncompromising interpretation of Islam on the 90 percent of Afghanistan under their control.
The United Nations has complained of harassment of aid workers and said it is no longer safe for personnel to walk on streets in Taliban areas.
In the bakeries dispute, the Taliban had objected to employing women. Under Taliban rules, only women can enter homes to talk to other women but the Taliban also ban most work by women outside the home.
Van Dijk said on Thursday the WFP had proposed women from the Taliban's Public Health Ministry -- one of the few places women can work -- and a group of WFP-selected women conduct the survey to identify the real beneficiaries of the project.
But officials from the Taliban movement insisted that only women recommended by the Taliban be permitted to carry out the survey, he said. Van Dijk had already said a suggestion the WFP hire women from neighboring countries was costly or impractical.
The U.N. official, who is WFP director for Afghanistan, said U.N. agencies in Kabul had taken precautions such as reducing movement in view of possible food riots after the bakeries shut.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghanistan 's ruling Taliban have requested further talks to avert a permanent closure of a U.N. food subsidy program feeding nearly 300,000 people in the capital, the United Nations said on Friday.
Although the U.N. World Food Program said it would not now enforce a Friday deadline for the Taliban to accept U.N. plans for a poverty survey, in practice it remained the last day of bread distribution because no flour was available for bakeries during the period set for talks.
``The Taliban have asked us to continue negotiations for a couple of days,'' WFP spokesman Khaled Mansour told Reuters. ``We agreed to that and our representative, Gerard van Dijk, will remain in Kabul until Tuesday morning and hopefully the negotiations will have a fruitful conclusion.''
Van Dijk had said after negotiations with Taliban officials on Thursday the hard-line movement refused to allow the United Nations to hire women to carry out a survey to ensure the bread was reaching those in need.
The WFP suspects extensive corruption in the distribution list, which has not been revised since the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996.
``We are not officially terminating the bakeries today,'' Mansour said. ``However, they will not be baking tomorrow because they do not have flour. If the negotiations are successful we will move to restore them as soon as possible.''
LAST-MINUTE CALL
Mansour said Taliban authorities contacted the United Nations late on Thursday after it announced the bread program would end. In previous years, the United Nations had withdrawn threats to close.
``They told us they need to conduct negotiations today and maybe for a couple of days,'' Mansour said. ``We saw it as a positive sign if they are ready to conduct talks on a Friday'' (the Muslim holy day).
Taliban officials had said they did not care if the United Nations halts all aid to the country -- devastated by 21 years of war and a three-year drought -- because they were confident Islamic countries would fill the gap.
The confrontation over the bakeries came amid deepening tension between international aid organizations and the Taliban, who are determined to impose their uncompromising interpretation of Islam on the 90 percent of Afghanistan under their control.
The United Nations has complained of harassment of aid workers and said it is no longer safe for personnel to walk on streets in Taliban areas.
In the bakeries dispute, the Taliban had objected to employing women. Under Taliban rules, only women can enter homes to talk to other women but the Taliban also ban most work by women outside the home.
Van Dijk said on Thursday the WFP had proposed women from the Taliban's Public Health Ministry -- one of the few places women can work -- and a group of WFP-selected women conduct the survey to identify the real beneficiaries of the project.
But officials from the Taliban movement insisted that only women recommended by the Taliban be permitted to carry out the survey, he said. Van Dijk had already said a suggestion the WFP hire women from neighboring countries was costly or impractical.
The U.N. official, who is WFP director for Afghanistan, said U.N. agencies in Kabul had taken precautions such as reducing movement in view of possible food riots after the bakeries shut.
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PHOTO CAPTION

An Afghan holds loaves of subsidized bread in Kabul outside a World Food Program bakery in this June 2001 photo. The U.N.'s WFP is holding talks with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban about employment of women for a survey for a food project which it threatens to close, the WFP's chief for Afghanistan said on June 14. (Sayed Salahuddin/Reuters)
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