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Humanitarian Mission Averts Afghan Starvation
Thursday, January 24, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

"We helped to establish a security environment in which various international relief organizations have been able to conduct operations," Rumsfeld said.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
While combat still happens in Afghanistan, the international humanitarian relief effort has averted a disaster in that country, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Jan. 24.

When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, millions of people were in danger of starvation. Millions of Afghans voted with their feet by fleeing to surrounding countries to escape war, drought and persecution, he said to reporters in a midday press briefing.

Even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, he said, Americans were the largest contributors to the international efforts to feed millions of Afghans. Since that time, even as America brings the Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists to justice, U.S. efforts have been aimed to bring humanitarian aid to the Afghan people.

Rumsfeld said the Afghan humanitarian assistance program is possibly the largest in history. He said it would not have been possible without the military action to attack the Al Qaeda and depose the Taliban regime that sheltered the terrorists.

Aid deliveries also would not have been possible without government and nongovernmental relief agencies, he noted.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan