KABUL, Afghanistan — The United Nations will not be involved in NATO's reconstruction plans for Marjah, the target of an ongoing military offensive, U.N. officials said Wednesday, expressing concerns about the military's expanding role in humanitarian assistance.

"We ... are not part of that process. We do not wish to be part of that process because we would not want to have the humanitarian activities we deliver to be linked with military activity," said Robert Watkins, the deputy special representative of the secretary-general.

Last week, NATO launched an offensive involving 15,000 allied and Afghan troops in the southern Afghan town of Marjah, which was the largest base under Taliban control in southern Helmand province and a key hub for opium trafficking.

NATO officials have unveiled a strategy to rush in development aid and government services as soon as the town is secured in a bid to win over the loyalty of Afghan residents.

However, U.N. officials say the increasing "militarization of aid" puts at risk the work of humanitarian agencies - whose activities in Afghanistan are already constrained by poor security, particularly in the volatile south and east of the country. [Full Story...]