Afghan hunger could exacerbate insecurity - UN

KABUL, May 25 (Reuters) Hunger could haunt millions of Afghans in coming months, with serious implications for security, unless donor countries provide help, the World Food Programme (WFP) today.

The UN agency has already cut some food-for-work programmes and rations for hundreds of thousands of school children. Without more funds, the millions could soon be going hungry.

''Hunger, real hunger, could become a serious issue in coming months,'' the WFP's Asia director, Anthony Banbury, told a news conference.

''On a humanitarian level, the need for this assistance is very compelling, but there's also a vital strategic consideration ...

Real hunger for millions of people could become a source of insecurity.'' International forces and the Afghan government are struggling against resurgent Taliban guerrillas nearly five years after the hardline Islamists were forced from power.

The WFP was concerned that hungry people might be much more susceptible to the message of those fighting the government and its international backers, Banbury said.

''This is a real risk to the Afghan people, the Afghan government and those trying to assist the Afghan people,'' he said.

The WFP, which is helping 3.5 million Afghans, needed 31 million dollars for all Afghan operations for the rest of the year and it was making an urgent appeal to donors to come up with the help, he said.

About half of that amount is needed for a plan to pre-position 25,000 tonnes of food near remote mountain communities that get cut off in the winter.

Some 2.5 million of the war-torn country's most needy people benefit from the so-called winterisation programme but this year the WFP has no money to fund it, and time is running out.

The food must be put in place between August and October, before a harsh winter sets in and cuts off transport.

Afghanistan and those trying to help it were partly victims of their own success, he said.

Programmes to help had worked well over recent years and hunger had not become a crisis, so donors had turned to emergencies elsewhere, such as in Africa.

''There is a real risk that if they walk away from the sector that is going well, it all of a sudden won't be going well, with very serious implications,'' Banbury said.

The amount of money the WFP was seeking was modest compared with what Afghanistan's allies were already spending to help the country, Banbury said.

''It's very clear, without the resources we won't be able to provide assistance,'' he said.

Afghanistan is expecting a good harvest this year, with wheat production seen at 4.4 million tonnes compared with 4.27 million tonnes last year, but it will still face a shortfall of 500,000 tonnes of cereals.

REUTERS DKS VV1415