Blair in row with aid group over claim that Taliban are looting food convoys

Tony Blair was embroiled in a dispute with aid agencies yesterday when the World Food Programme (WFP) rejected his claims that Afghanistan's Taliban rulers were severely disrupting food supplies.

Khaled Mansour, the programme's spokesman in the region, said: "We have no problems with the Taliban regime regarding food convoys." He added: "There is no precedent for the Taliban looting any of the WFP food, convoys or warehouses."

Mr Blair has accused the Taliban of "harassing" and "intimidating" food convoys, taxing some of the food as it enters Afghanistan and trying to use some of it for their own purposes. He insisted it was essential to release the Afghan people from the "tyranny" of the regime for humanitarian reasons.

But Mr Mansour, who is based in Islamabad, said there had only been one incident two weeks ago in which the Taliban had tried to impose a tax, which the WFP refused to pay. He confirmed that supplies in two warehouses in Kabul and Kandahar had been taken over by the Taliban, but that the WFP had now regained control of the one in Kabul.

In an attempt to put the recent problems in context, he said: "The WFP has been in Afghanistan way before the Taliban. The relationship has never been easy; it has always been extremely difficult."

Downing Street dismissed Mr Mansour's comments, saying that Mr Blair was sticking to his remarks. "There is a clear difference of view between what one individual is saying and the information we are getting from a variety of sources," said the Prime Minister's spokesman.

Answering questions from Arab journalists at Downing Street, Mr Blair insisted the aid effort was being hampered by the actions of the Taliban themselves. "The main difficulty we have in these circumstances is the refusal of the Taliban regime to co-operate with that process," he said.

Mr Blair told the weekly meeting of the Cabinet that he recognised the "very real concerns" of the six aid charities who have called for a pause in the bombing to allow the humanitarian relief effort to be stepped up.

"A pause would only be a short-term fix," the Prime Minister said. "We recognise and we are addressing the immediate issues but equally we recognise the only way of tackling the humanitarian issue in the medium and long term is to stabilise the situation, and that means clearing the obstacles that the Taliban put in the way. The sooner we make progress militarily, the sooner we can stabilise."

Mr Blair told the Arab journalists: "I believe the next few weeks will be the most testing time but we are on track to achieve the goals we set." His spokesman said: "The coalition remains strong, the military campaign is making substantial progress. It's hitting military targets as well as command and control centres, radar installations and the like."

Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, said during a visit to Pakistan that aid agencies and UN workers on the ground did not believe military operations were blocking their work. She added: "It isn't true to say if the bombing stopped there wouldn't be any problem in moving humanitarian supplies. To say we can't do anything until the bombing stops is not true."

But Nick Roseveare, Oxfam deputy's humanitarian director, said lorry drivers were being frightened off because of the bombing and threats from the Taliban. "Our concern is that the food isn't reaching the people it needs to," he said.