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Taliban Food Seizure Harms Civilians
Wednesday, October 17, 2001
(Time)
CBS

"We've run out of food, the borders are closed, we can't reach our staff and time's almost run out."
Barbara Stocking, Oxfam International

• U.N. Officials Say Taliban Seizes Food Aid In Afghanistan
• At Least 50,000 Tons Of Food Needed By Next Month
• Relief Organizations Searching For Alternative Distribution Methods

Taliban late Tuesday night seized two United Nations warehouses filled with food for drought-stricken Afghanistan children, seriously hindering international efforts to ease hunger in the region, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

The two facilities in Kabul and Kandahar are among six major food warehouses that the organization operates in Afghanistan. The seizures Tuesday night left the World Food Program with about 5,000 tons of wheat in the country. About 7,000 tons of wheat was taken.

"Armed men came in, told our staff to leave and took over the warehouses," said Catherine Bertini, executive director of the World Food Program. No U.N. staff workers were injured or arrested.

Her agency has about 48,000 tons of wheat in Pakistan and other neighboring countries and hopes to truck about 16,000 tons into Afghanistan over the next 10 days. When possible, the trucks will bypass warehouses and deliver grain direct to communities, Bertini said.
(More: CBSNews.com News Source)
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Dan