LONDON: A looming famine in Afghanistan poses a greater threat to international efforts to rebuild the country than the ongoing insurgency there, a leading defence think-tank warned on Friday. According to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a combination of factors -- from rising global food prices to a summer drought -- have created the conditions for a famine in Afghanistan this winter. "While the eyes of the world have focused on violence which is increasingly terrorist in character, an estimated 8.4 million Afghans, perhaps a third of the nation, are now suffering from 'chronic .. food insecurity'," RUSI analyst Paul Smyth said in a briefing note. "Whatever the effect of insurgent violence on the UN-mandated mission in Afghanistan, it is widespread hunger and malnutrition that will place a greater obstacle in its progress." He continued: "To maintain its credibility and moral authority to act in Afghanistan the international community must take timely, concerted and effective action." British charity Oxfam warned earlier this year that around five million Afghans face food shortages, and the UN's special representative in Afghanistan has appealed to insurgent leaders to allow aid workers to distribute food ahead of winter. Since the Taliban were ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001, they have been waging a bloody insurgency against the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) there. Smyth noted that "for all the focus on insurgency, a more serious blow will be dealt to the Afghan government and the UN/ISAF mission if the international community does not prevent a predictable humanitarian disaster."
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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