Crises-ridden Afghanistan needs new humanitarian plan: UN

UNITED NATIONS- The UN coordinator of relief efforts called Tuesday for a new international plan for Afghanistan, warning that humanitarian problems there were getting worse as a result of soaring food prices, declining security and increasing civilian deaths.

“It’s becoming clearer and clearer that the humanitarian situation is not only serious but deteriorating,” John Holmes, UN under secretary general and relief coordinator, told reports in Geneva, according to a report available in New York.

Holmes had just returned from a four-day trip to Afghanistan. “I think we need to put together a new humanitarian action plan there. We need to mobilize more resources.”