Following is the opening statement by Mrs Emma BONINO, European Commissioner in charge of humanitarian aid, at a press conference held today in Islamabad, Pakistan :

"I have come at the end of a 3-day mission to Afghanistan, during which I had the opportunity to visit humanitarian projects financed by the European Commission both in Kabul, in Taliban-controlled territory, and in the Faizabad area, controlled by the "Northern Alliance". Let me just remind those of you who do not follow European affairs on a daily basis, that the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) is currently the single largest donor of humanitarian aid world-wide (with an annual budget outlay of nearly 900 million dollars in the past few years); and that if finances relief efforts in more than 60 countries around the world, without political conditionality and on a strictly neutral and non-discriminatory basis.

I greatly admire and respect all the people of Afghanistan, for their endurance, and their capacity to survive and even develop their skills in a country ravaged by war for almost 20 years. They - the people of Afghanistan - never chose to be at war in the first place, and deserve much better than the miserable conditions in which they live.

This is why, after this short but very instructive field mission, I feel that there is a real need to keep international humanitarian assistance for the people of Afghanistan at least at the current level, and I take the commitment that this will be the case as far as ECHO is concerned provided, of course, that this aid can be administrated freely, without harassment, and in accordance with international humanitarian conventions.

The European Union is by far the largest donor for Afghanistan. The concerted effort of the Community budget and of member States' bilateral assistance adds up to roughly 200 millions dollars for the last two years alone. And you are no doubt aware of the reality that even in prosperous countries like ours, especially with the ambitious prospects of Economic and Monetary Union in sight, the capacity to finance humanitarian and development assistance is not unlimited; and neither is the enthusiasm of European citizens, who feel the domestic repercussions of budget austerity.

Representatives of the media, who usually follow our humanitarian missions, allow me, through their reporting, to be accountable to European citizens for the aid we provide in the name of Europe, and for the money we all contribute, as taxpayers, to the common budget. I am firmly convinced that public opinion's support is of paramount importance in keeping up with the difficult task of helping people in many remote areas of the world, and in preventing "donors' fatigue" from spreading further.

The incident which occurred yesterday in the Kabul Polyclinic, and which led to the detention of my delegation in forced custody by the religious police for more than 3 hours, had its origin in a misunderstanding between our press people and local religious authorities. The incident was closed with the apologies of two members of the Taliban administration, and I do not wish to dramatise or dwell further on it.

What I wish to underline instead, is that I had the dubious privilege of experiencing, firsthand, the kind of harassment which is part of the daily life of the people of Kabul, and sometimes even of our expatriate staff - who are there to help them in the first place. Random checks and arbitrary arrests are a fact of life in the capital; and so are public beatings for non-compliance, as an example, with Taliban's dress codes or "bears standards".

There is no doubt in my mind that the code of conduct and the style of life imposed by the Taliban is resented by all those Afghans who do not share Pushtun culture and traditions, as abusive and oppressive. And this includes the majority of Kabul's population.

Let me stress, once and for all, that Islam is not at issue here; nor is Koran, or the Sunna. What is at issue is that gross violations of human rights and humanitarian conventions are taking place in the country, and that the international community cannot simply look elsewhere while this happens. I am confident that the European Union will never acquiesce in this reality, and I do hope that the whole UN system will remain committed to upholding the basic principles which are written in stone in all international instruments on human rights.

I wish to add here a special thought for the women of Kabul, who were not long ago part of an urban and educated community which took an active part in the public life of their city. I met some of them in private, and it was one of the most moving encounters of my life.

Is it not sad, that this should be the very place in the world where people dream about past communist rule? As a woman, and as a politician, I can only say that September 27th was an ominous anniversary not only for women of Kabul, but for women around the world.

Let me now turn to the northern leg of our trip, where we visited a limited number of projects in the Faizabad area, given the security situation affecting other provinces, such as Mazar-I-Sharif, where fierce fighting continues.

In that area as well, humanitarian needs are huge, and our collective resources hardly adequate to meet them. Implementation of projects by European NGOs around Faizabad proceeds smoothly, and effectively. At some point, I was offered the possibility to visit - by helicopter - General Massoud, or Professor Rabbani, or both, but I declined the offer as the limited time available was barely sufficient to carry out the planned humanitarian survey.

The fact that this part of the trip proceeded without upsets of any sort, and that we could observe a very satisfactory implementation of ECHO-financed projects does not mean that I regard the Northern Alliance as a better interlocutor than the Taliban. I am fully aware that serious problems - such as looting, and theft, - have affected and continue to affect humanitarian operations in Alliance-held territories. And that the warlords now temporarily reunited under the Alliance umbrella are, by and large, responsible for the devastation of Kabul and the rest of the country that took place after the Soviet withdrawal. By the same toke, I know that there are moderate minds and forces within the Taliban, who attempt, against all odds, to impress on the whole movement the need for a more reasonable and internationally acceptable stance. They face a task of gargantuan proportions. But it is worth the effort, because the rehabilitation and the reconstruction of a united Afghanistan will need all the energies of the

various ethnic components of the population : the Pushtuns, and the non-Pushtuns.

For this to happen, Afghanistan must get back on the top of the agenda of the international community. Peace will not come by itself; and no military solution will bring lasting peace. The roots of Afghanistan's problems are political, and they need a political solution, involving all interested regional and outer powers. This is the main message I will bring back to the EU Ministers, upon my return to Europe."