Massive relief operation begins in Kabul

Thousands of aid workers, including 2,000 women, were beginning emergency relief work in Kabul, Downing Street said.

The World Food Programme (WFP) will provide humanitarian aid to thousands of people in the war–torn city following the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The WFP aid workers include women who have been unable to work during the past five years owing to the strict Taliban regime.

A Downing Street spokesman said it was a "significant" step–up in the international coalition's humanitarian efforts.

About 3,400 workers are set to give households in Kabul tokens which can be exchanged for bags of wheat, distribute food as well as hold house–to–house surveys.

The UN–sponsored conference in Bonn, in which leaders of Afghan ethnic groups are meeting, is progressing, with leaders focusing on establishing an interim administration in the country, a spokesman said.

"There are many areas of common ground although there is still a long way to go."