U.S. WARNED OF HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE IN WAKE OF AIR ASSAULT. Grim evidence of widespread hunger and the migration of refugees in Afghanistan emerged this week to underscore the urgent need for the restoration of conventional food and medical aid supplies, reports the Financial Times (p.2). As US officials reviewed daunting immediate and long-term needs in light of this week's interruption of supplies because of the air raids, the controversy over the delivery of individual rations in air-dropped "flutter" packages receded.
But it was replaced by warnings of the danger of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in a country the size of Texas, in which, the UN claims, 1.5 million Afghans face starvation this winter, as many as 7.5 million risk severe food shortages, three million refugees live in exile, while another one million have been internally displaced. No assessments have yet been made of the impact on civilians of this week's air attacks, says the story.
Meanwhile, US Senator Paul Wellstone told a Senate foreign relations committee that the US-led international coalition assembled by President George W. Bush could be pulled apart if a "humanitarian catastrophe is attributed to our military operations". Andrew Natsios of USAID warned that there was worse to come. Deaths attributable to malnutrition would increase, he said, so that people tempted to leave home to avoid the armed conflict had to be persuaded to stay.
"We do not want population movements. Fifty percent of the people will either die during the movements or when they arrive in the camps they will be so debilitated they cannot be revived," Natsios said.
On Wednesday, notes the story, Natsios held a lengthy discussion with Lord Robertson, NATO secretary general, in which the sole topic was, "What we do after we win." While there is little doubt about the ability of Western countries and allies to provide funds, there are growing questions about shipping and storing crucial supplies before the onset of Afghanistan's bitter winter.
The air campaign launched last Sunday has compounded the accumulated effects of 20 years of conflict and four years of devastating drought. Barely a month remained for farmers to plant winter wheat crops, and they needed seed to replace their own reserves which had been used for food, aid officials warned.
Wellstone said that in addition to halting the cycle of drought and famine, the coalition had a duty to help restore social, economic and political order and renew shattered infrastructure. Without such aid, a vacuum would be created for radical extremist groups to exploit, and "may even make the American people more vulnerable in the end," he warned.
The news comes as the Wall Street Journal Europe (p.2) reports that Europeans in several major countries are preparing to launch what could be the biggest anti-war protests since the Gulf War. More than two dozen buses are set to carry German protesters across the country tomorrow to converge on Berlin and protest against the US air strikes against Afghanistan's Taliban regime. On Sunday, adds the story, thousands in Italy will march from Perugia to Assisi.
The demonstrations reflect deep-seated reservations that many Europeans have about allowing the terrorist attacks in the US last month to drag the world into a protracted war. Europe's political leaders stand firmly behind the US military reprisals, but must work hard to convince their citizens of the necessity of the action.
Meanwhile, Bush yesterday set the fall of the Taliban as an aim of the war on terrorism, reports the FT (p.1). In a speech at the Pentagon yesterday, he said the Taliban had brought "nothing but fear and misery to the people of Afghanistan. These rulers call themselves holy men, even with their record of drawing money from heroin trafficking. They consider themselves pious and devout, while subjecting women to brutality. The Taliban has allied itself with murderers and given them shelter."