09635

01/09/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09635

HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

The war against terrorism is being fought on many fronts: military, economic, diplomatic. And humanitarian.

According to the United Nations, seven and a half million Afghans are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. But help has been on the way since September 11^th. In fact, as Andrew Natsios, Administrator for the U-S Agency for International Development, said, it appears that "we have averted widespread famine."

In December alone, the people of Afghanistan received more than one-hundred thousand tons of food -- much of it from the United States. Since October 1^st, the U-S has provided nearly two-hundred million dollars in assistance. The U-S is providing more than sixty percent of all food aid to Afghanistan from the United Nations World Food Program. The goal is to deliver three-hundred thousand tons of food aid to the people of Afghanistan through the spring. Fifty-two thousand tons of food a month will feed approximately six million people.

To protect people from the cold, the United States is providing wool blankets, quilts, and winterized tents. Medical kits are being given to health centers and mobile clinics.

Through the International Organization for Migration, the U-S has distributed over twenty-thousand radios that allow Afghans to hear special broadcast bulletins concerning food distribution, security, health care, and other information relevant to displaced people. Another ten-thousand radios are to be distributed in coming weeks.

The U-S is providing training in agricultural techniques and animal husbandry. Seeds are being given to Afghan farmers to plant during the winter months. This should help revive the agricultural sector as the country recovers from years of neglect under the now defeated Taleban regime.

The United States has been and continues to be the main supplier of humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan. Now the Taleban government has been replaced and the al-Qaida terrorists are being kicked out. Afghanistan and its people are on the road to recovery.