But deliveries of aid will fall short of needs unless the US and UN work quickly to help relief agencies expand operations in the area.
Approximately 75% of the Afghan people afflicted by famine live in the northern half the country. Winter is closing in on much of this area, so there is literally a race against time and snow to get aid to the vulnerable populations in the higher mountains.
Three steps must be taken to head off a humanitarian disaster.
First, the Northern Alliance must resist looting and plundering. The UN has reported losses from looting in Mazar-i-Sharif and other areas. US advisers working with alliance troops must discourage such lawlessness in the strongest possible terms. To bring more safety, security, and stability to Afghanistan, as the fighting between the Taliban and the alliance winds down, the UN security council should urgently move to send a police and security force into Afghan cities.
Even before the UN acts, British and French troops should proceed with plans to move in. Their absence is having a damaging effect on the relief operation.
When British troops went into Sierra Leone last year, they immediately established secure areas and helped reduce violence. They were a model for what good troops can do on the ground. They could do the same in Afghanistan.
The world continually pays the price for the refusal of the UN and its major donors to establish a standing, well-trained police force that could move quickly to establish rule of law, but the quick deployment of European troops now could fill the same role more quickly.
Second, Afghanistan's northern neighbours - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan - must move quickly to enable an increased flow of aid across their borders. It is crucial that Uzbekistan open the Friendship bridge across the Amu Darya river between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. The US and UN have been trying to secure access to the bridge for weeks. Now that the Taliban have been driven out of Mazar-i-Sharif, 40 miles south of the bridge, Uzbekistan has no excuse to keep the bridge closed.
Andrew Natsios, head of the US agency for international development, has just completed talks with the Uzbek government in Tashkent about increasing the flow of aid, and his efforts should lead to a speedy opening of the bridge.
The World Food Programme says that it should be able to move at least 16,000 tonnes of food a month across the river - almost one-third of the food the WFP needs to move into Afghanistan each month - and much of this would reach the hungriest people.
Finally, donor nations must increase the amount of aid for relief organisations to ensure that all aid needs are met this winter and begin assembling a fund for the eventual reconstruction of Afghanistan.
The US and its allies must work together to give Afghanistan every possible chance to establish a stable government that represents men and women and all ethnic groups. Such a government should allow the country to reach for peace and prosperity.
The British line
"We're looking urgently at all the different ways we can try and secure corridors by which we can get into Afghanistan." October 17
"We are absolutely determined to do everything in our power to get in supplies for the people and get them a better government." October 18
"We need troops on the ground, both bringing order and bringing reassurance to the Afghan people, who are haunted by what happened when the Soviets withdrew. We need to move in days. Speed is of the essence but you can't risk your troops." November 15
"Our message to the people of Afghanistan is this: 'In the past we have let you down. But we will not turn our backs on you again'." October 22
"We were the first country to pledge humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people after 11 September. Our support continues." November 15
· Kenneth Bacon is a former Pentagon spokesman, and the president of Refugees International, a Washington advocacy group