27 September 2001
Excerpt: U.S. Preparing More Humanitarian Assistance for Afghan People
(U.S. works with Pakistan to prepare for more refugees) (1860)
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the U.S. government is
preparing to announce a contribution to a United Nations appeal for
more humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people.
At his September 27 daily briefing in Washington, Boucher said the
announcement could well be made next week in Geneva at a meeting of
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
The United Nations estimates that $580 million worth of assistance
will potentially be required for the needs of Afghan people inside and
outside their country.
The United States has contributed $180 million in humanitarian aid to
the Afghan people in fiscal year 2001 that ends September 30, Boucher
said.
The assistance demonstrates that U.S. policy is not against the Afghan
people but rather against a terrorist group that operates out of
Afghanistan with the tolerance of the Taliban regime, Boucher said.
"We all believe that Afghanistan needs a truly representative
government," he added.
The State Department spokesman said the United States is discussing
with the Pakistani government how the international community needs to
prepare for as many as 1.5 million Afghan refugees in the coming
months.
Following is an excerpt from Boucher's September 27 briefing with his
comments about the Afghan humanitarian situation:
(begin excerpt)
Another development of importance to us today is there is a meeting in
Berlin. The United Nations is meeting with the donor countries for
Afghanistan in Berlin today. They will unveil their plan to respond to
the current and projected refugee needs in all the neighboring
countries of Afghanistan. We know that Afghanistan already is facing a
humanitarian crisis. Winter is coming on, food distribution systems
have broken down, sometimes because of the actions of the government,
and we are looking at possible refugee needs as we go forward.
The body that is meeting in Berlin is a standing group. It is the
Afghan support group, and it meets annually to set policy on Afghan
political issues as well as humanitarian ones. Today's meeting is an
extraordinary meeting to address the humanitarian crisis. It will be
at the sub-ministerial level and our delegation will be led by Acting
Assistant Secretary Alan Kreczko, who handles population, refugees and
migration for us.
The international assistance to the Taliban controlled areas of
Afghanistan has largely been suspended at this point. The expatriate
relief personnel have left, transportation delivery systems, as I have
said, have broken down. Food stocks for an estimated 2 million people
may run out in two to three weeks.
The international community therefore is preparing for a contingency
outflow that is estimated by the UN to be up to 1.5 million people
that we have to prepare for, who might try to go to Pakistan and other
neighboring countries. The UN is going to launch an appeal that
estimates the potential requirement for six months to be about $580
million for the needs both inside and outside Afghanistan.
The Afghan forum, this discussion, will assess the current
humanitarian situation inside Afghanistan and address the need of the
five bordering states to provide temporary protection and open
borders. We strongly support the efforts by the United Nations to
prepare for the refugee outflow, and indeed we have looked at this
question carefully ourselves to make sure that we do everything
possible to help in the situation.
We are urging neighboring countries to develop or review plans for
dealing with the refugee outflow. The international community wants to
assure Afghanistan's neighbors that the UN-led effort will provide the
support necessary to meet the needs of incoming refugees.
We would expect to formulate our response to this specific appeal, and
we would hope to announce a contribution at next week's meetings of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Executive Committee meeting
next week in Geneva.
So that's what's going on in Berlin today with the other donors, and
we are planning ahead, preparing for the humanitarian crisis that
looks like it's starting to occur in Afghanistan and could be
exacerbated by the troubles, by whatever may come.
QUESTION: Richard, can you say how much this crisis is affecting the
coalition, and how quickly or not quickly you are moving ahead in your
plan to address the terrorism threat?
And does the fact that --
MR. BOUCHER: There's two aspects to it. I don't think it directly
affects the coalition and the planning and all the efforts around the
world to coordinate on information, on law enforcement, on financial
cooperation, isolation of the Taliban and other kind of steps that you
see being taken all over the world right now.
At the same time, the efforts of the international community, whether
it's what we've done over past years, the $180 million the United
States alone is spending this year to help the Afghan people, and the
planning that we're doing now to try to further assist the Afghan
people as they face the hardship of winter and any other disruptions
that might occur. We are, I think, showing -- and many people in the
coalition care about this -- we are showing that this is not against
Afghan people; it's against a particular group that operates out of
Afghanistan with the tolerance of the Taliban regime. It's against the
terrorism and not against the Afghan people.
QUESTION: Richard, is this meeting, though -- you said that when it
regularly meets, it talks about -- it sets political and humanitarian
policy; but this one is extraordinary to deal with humanitarian. Are
they going to talk about politics at all, too?
MR. BOUCHER: Not as a primary topic that I'm aware of. This is
principally the people -- there are some representatives, for example,
on our team from the bureau that's concerned with South Asia. But it's
being led, and the principal discussion of everybody is going to be on
the subject of humanitarian assistance.
QUESTION: The reason I ask is that Mr. Vendrell is in Islamabad, and
he's come out once again with some statements that appear to indicate
that the coalition, or that the international community would like to
see, if not the Taliban out, a new government that perhaps could
include the Taliban, but something new, something different than what
is there now. Is that a US goal?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to add to that discussion. We've had that
discussion over the last several days. I think we've made our position
quite clear. Mr. Vendrell is charged and has been charged by the UN
with a mission, and we've worked with him; we've worked with him over
a long period of time, and he is trying to work out a peaceful
solution to the problems of Afghanistan.
We all believe that Afghanistan needs a truly representative
government. But in terms of the immediate goals that we might have, I
don't think I have anything to add to that discussion today.
QUESTION: Could you talk about the possibility of a visit by Jesse
Jackson to the region? QUESTION: One more humanitarian -- or two?
MR. BOUCHER: Speaking of humanitarian --
QUESTION: Did you ever find out or care to look into reports that the
Taliban had stolen or confiscated a large amount -- many tons of food
that was left inside the country when the humanitarian aid workers
left? And I don't know if that's even important. But also could you
address whether this is something -- the refugee problem is something
that the US is bringing up in its bilateral talks with neighboring
countries? Or are you leaving that to the international community and
UN representatives?
MR. BOUCHER: On the question of whether the Taliban grabbed a bunch of
food, I'll have to see. I haven't seen anything on that yet.
On the issue of how we are raising this and discussing it, we are
clearly discussing it with neighboring countries like Pakistan, the
potential refugee flows, assuring them that we will help, that the
international community will help. But we are also talking to other
donors. When the European Union representatives came to town last
week, the Secretary had quite a discussion with them on the need to
support the international effort for the Afghan people, whether they
are in Afghanistan or forced to leave their country. So it is a matter
that we have discussed with other donors and now getting together in
Berlin on this issue offers the international community a chance to
plan together, to prepare for any possible contingencies.
QUESTION: But along with that, are we asking them to open their
borders when Pakistan says, we're expecting hundreds of thousands of
more people? Are we urging them to let these people in, if it's only
temporary, and saying we will help you take care of them?
MR. BOUCHER: At this point, the numbers are hard to judge. The UN has
only talked a couple tens of thousands that have fled their homes and
who may be on the border. But, as you know, they have said we need to
prepare for as many as one-and-a-half million. So there is a potential
there.
We are certainly discussing these issues closely with Pakistan and how
they handle the border will matter. But also getting prepared and
showing that the international community will be there to help them
deal with the people who might come out, that's an important aspect
too.
QUESTION: I assume that the countries at this meeting in Berlin would
prefer that the Afghans stay inside Afghanistan. Do you know what
measures they are looking at for getting relief food into the country?
And is anybody looking at a possible role for the US military in this,
for example, through airdrops or whatever?
Is Iran taking part in this?
MR. BOUCHER: First of all, airdrops of food, I don't think that is
considered a very efficient or useful way of delivering food, frankly.
On as to what can be done to get the food into the country, clearly we
would all prefer to be able to take care of Afghan people inside
Afghanistan. We have been doing that for years. We have been spending
hundreds of millions of dollars doing that for many years, and we are
willing to continue to do that. It is because of the Taliban not
letting the foreign workers stay, it is because of Taliban
restrictions on their ability to operate that makes it impossible to
maintain that kind of distribution network.
But there are parts, small parts, of Afghanistan that are not
Taliban-controlled, where there is food distribution. And I think some
of the agencies involved, the World Food Program, are looking at how
they might be able to maintain this, even given the difficulty of
doing it. But, clearly, the Taliban have made it very difficult to
take care of the Afghan people inside the country.
QUESTION: Is Iran taking part in this meeting in Berlin?
MR. BOUCHER: I am not sure of the full list of countries that go
there. It is largely donor countries. But some of the assistance does
go to refugees who are in Iran, through UN agencies and NGOs.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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