SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Bilow who wrote (8176)10/30/2001 5:26:16 AM
From: Raymond Duray  Read Replies (3) of 281500
 
Hi Carl,

Re: My suspicion is that the food aid is being dropped more for military reasons than humanitarian ones:

I nonconcur. Not for military purposes, but for domestic propaganda purposes here in the U.S. We are dropping about 37,000 meals per day, last I heard. Medicins Sans Frontieres has estimated that the relief requirement at present is about 1.5 million meals per day. Shortly after 9/11 the Afghani borders were closed to the 20 ton trucks needed to bring in useful quantities of wheat. We've bombed Red Cross caches in Kabul repeatedly.

It would not be unreasonable to conclude that the cute yellow packages of one days provisions and the heroic crews in the C-5s that the DoD provided footage on were more suitable for show on American television than they are for feeding a starving people. Especially in light of the prevalence of uncleared minefields surrounding Masar-i-Sharif, and generally whereever the airdropped foodstuffs would be sent.

By mid-winter, some NGO estimates run as high as 7.5 million Afghanis on too restricted a diet. I.e. starving. Generally these estimates have been high in the past, but even a figure 50% smaller would be significant.

Some of the trucks are now rolling into Afghanistan again, but the NGOs are in disarray, and it is anticipated that much of the food will end up in the hands of combatants.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2026 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News