WASHINGTON – President Bush says the United States will send food, medicine and supplies to the people of Afghanistan even as Washington strikes military targets in their country.
In a speech to the nation Sunday, Mr. Bush said the United states is a friend of the Afghan people and wants to help the “suffering men, women and children of Afghanistan.”
Appearing shortly afterward, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that drops of relief supplies have already begun.
On Thursday, Mr. Bush announced the United States would send $320 million in humanitarian aid to the people in Afghanistan. The sum was in addition to more than $150 million in Afghan aid already pledged by the U.S. government.
The U.S. strike in Afghanistan comes as the U.N. World Food Program calls for the urgent delivery of food and other relief supplies to Afghanistan to avert starvation.
In a statement Sunday, the WFP says supplies must be delivered to areas inside Afghanistan before the onset of winter, when roads become impassable. The organization says hundreds of tons of food are being sent overland from Pakistan and other neighboring countries.
The WFP is also considering airdrops into remote places inside Afghanistan, but says that method of delivering supplies would be a last resort because of the expense and security considerations.
The organization is firming up plans for additional food aid after a United Nations donors’ conference in Geneva ended Saturday with pledges of $600 million in aid.
U.N. officials say more than 1.5 million Afghans could flee to Iran and Pakistan in the face of the U.S. military strikes in response to last month’s terrorist attacks. More than three million displaced Afghans already live in the two countries. (voa)
