Clare Short has told MPs the situation in Afghanistan remains "fragile" but said efforts to ensure the delivery of aid will continue.

Making a statement in the Commons on Wednesday following her recent visit to Pakistan, the international development secretary also rejected suggestions that she should not have cancelled an appearance before a Commons select committee.

Short told MPs that "the humanitarian situation remains fragile" but stressed that the government will do "everything in its power" to keep aid flowing to those who are most in need.

She said that the delivery of food supplies, suspended after September 11, had been resumed with substantial quantities crossing the border into Afghanistan and onward deliveries continuing inside the country. She also said that the number of refugees fleeing the troubled country had so far been smaller than expected.

The minister also criticised the Taliban for hindering the delivery of aid, saying they were harassing aid workers and their restrictions on the use of telephones made the work harder. She said the Taliban had looted aid stocks but that the bravery of aid workers facing "extreme personal danger" meant the operations could continue.

She also disclosed that the World Food Programme was considering airdrops of essential supplies, while the use of new land routes from other countries was also a possibility.

Noting that Pakistan's military regime continued to stand by western governments despite its own difficult position with refugees and a deteriorating economic situation, she urged all governments in the region to open their borders to allow refugees to seek safety.

Responding for the Conservatives, Caroline Spelman criticised Short for her failure to appear before the international development select committee, arguing that MPs would have had an opportunity for more detailed questioning had she done so.

Spelman also called on the government to support a campaign to encourage the public to make donations to the charities helping civilians in Afghanistan. She also questioned whether aid was really reaching those who needed it and whether stockpiles would be sufficient to meet needs through the winter.

Short rejected the criticism over her failure to appear before the select committee, saying it was "impossible" to prepare a special memorandum on Afghanistan for the committee members without diverting her "enormously overworked" staff from their vital aid work.

She also said Spelman "lacked understanding" of the situation where regional stockpiles were held outside Afghanistan, with other supplies held inside.