Afghanistan: aid flight delayed

The first British humanitarian aid flight to Afghanistan was tonight delayed as Government officials awaited clearance for the plane to land.

A DC8, chartered by the Department for International Development, was prevented from flying from London Manston Airport in Kent to Mashhad in Iran, close to the Afghan border.

It is expected the cargo plane, loaded with more than 400 tents capable of sheltering 15 to 20 people each, will tomorrow gain permission from the Iranian authorities to land.

A spokesman for the Department of International Development said: ‘‘The delay is because of clearance from the Iranian authorities.

‘‘As soon as we have clearance, the plane will be ready to leave.’’

The shipment of 408 family-size tents weighing over 40 tonnes represents the first consignment of a £25 million aid package promised by Britain for the region, which is facing a looming refugee crisis.

With hundreds of thousands of Afghans fleeing their homes amid fears of US-led military strikes, the United Nations has warned that up to 7.5 million displaced people will need assistance both inside Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries.

Earlier, the first international food convoy to Afghanistan since the September 11 attacks arrived in the capital Kabul.

Eight trucks carrying 218 tons of wheat made the arduous two-day journey from Pakistan to the city, the World Food Programme said. The WFP normally feeds nearly two-thirds of Kabul’s one million people.

At the same time, Downing Street was repeating its warning to the ruling Taliban regime that it must hand over Osama bin Laden and close down his terrorist training camps or face military strikes.

‘‘Hopefully, the Taliban understand the seriousness of the situation they are facing,’’ the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.

In Pakistan - the last country to retain diplomatic links with the Taliban - the President, General Pervez Musharraf, said he believed the regime’s days were numbered.

Speaking to BBC News 24’s Hardtalk programme tonight, he said: ‘‘It appears that the United States will take action in Afghanistan and we have conveyed this to the Taliban and that was the reason we were interacting with them so that some moderation takes place and maybe this kind of action is averted.

‘‘But it appears, because of the stand that the Taliban have taken, that confrontation will take place.’’

Meanwhile, Downing Street disclosed that ministers were considering taking retrospective powers to detain in this country asylum seekers whose claims have failed when the authorities are unable to find a country to which to deport them.

The measures form part of the draconian anti-terrorism package unveiled on Sunday by the Prime Minister in an attempt prevent Britain becoming a ‘‘safe haven’’ for international terrorists.

‘‘We are talking about people who are a threat to national security,’’ the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.

Mr Blair has said he intends to bring forward an emergency package of legislation within the next four to six weeks.

It is expected to include measures to tackle unlicensed bureaux de change, which ministers believe are used by terrorists and criminal racketeers to ‘‘launder’’ billions of pounds a year of illicit funds.

At the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Chancellor Gordon Brown confirmed that funds worth more than 88 million (£61 million) had been frozen in Britain in response to the crackdown on terrorism.

He said ready access to finance was the ‘‘lifeblood’’ of terrorism and called on all nations to implement the internationally agreed sanctions.

‘‘No institution, no bank, no finance house anywhere in the world should be harbouring or processing funds for terrorists,’’ he said.