01 October 2001Excerpt: State's Boucher Says U.S. Working Hard to Help Afghan People
(Stresses Taliban is not a representative government) (1660) State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration is working to meet the needs of the Afghan people, both inside and outside the country. "The most urgent needs appear to be to deliver food inside Afghanistan, where millions of people are suffering. And so the United States will provide additional food aid," Boucher said at his October 1 media briefing at the State Department in Washington. He said the U.S. government is preparing to respond to the appeal from the United Nations for help in dealing with as many as 1.5 million Afghan refugees who may flee their homeland in the coming months. Boucher said so far about 30,000 Afghan refugees have turned up on the border with Pakistan. The Taliban, he said, "is not a representative government...and has betrayed the interests of the Afghan people in many ways...the Afghan people deserve a better government." Concerning the impending trial of foreign aid workers detained by the Taliban, Boucher said their Pakistan lawyer visited the workers in Kabul on September 29 with letters and packages from their families and conferred with Taliban officials. Boucher said the charges against the workers have not been identified. He said the lawyer reported that the aid workers were in good spirits when he saw them. Following are excerpts about Afghanistan from the transcript of Boucher's October 1 briefing: (begin excerpt) Q Could you bring us up to date on the status of relief for Afghan refugees? Can you go beyond what you said the other day? MR. BOUCHER: The -- there's a great deal of work going on inside the administration to make sure that we can deal with the needs of the people of Afghanistan, whether they're inside Afghanistan or forced to leave their country. As we know, there's great hardship that's already been suffered out there through drought, with the onset of winter and through the actions of the government in cutting off the ability of relief agencies to supply food to the Afghan people. We are looking at the totality humanitarian assistance needs for Afghanistan and for the neighboring countries. The most urgent needs appears to be to deliver food inside Afghanistan, where millions of people are suffering. And so the United States will provide additional food aid. We're pleased by the report that the World Food Program has begun an effort on Saturday to truck 200 tons of wheat from Pakistan to Kabul. So they are looking for ways, as I think I mentioned, of trying to get food in, managing in some cases to get food into Afghanistan despite the difficulties that have been created by shutting down -- the Taliban shutting down the distribution system. As you know, September 27th, last Thursday, the United Nations launched an appeal for assistance for Afghanistan and neighboring countries. It includes contingency plans for up to 1.5 million refugees. At this point, the number of new refugees arriving at the borders of Pakistan are estimated to be about 30,000 people. We will respond to this appeal. We will respond to the higher number of refugees that are anticipated and the other needs that we see inside Afghanistan, particularly with the onset of winter. We're pleased that other nations have also announced their intentions to contribute generously to the humanitarian response. We've had excellent meetings last week in Berlin with the other donors, and we look forward to getting together again in Geneva on Friday, I think, to go over the specific amounts and quantities that we can provide in more detail. Q Is the money that the White House announced, is that part of this or is that -- MR. BOUCHER: I don't think the White House actually announced any money. There have been -- I know there have been numbers bandied about. There are different programs that are being looked at. But I don't have any total figures for you yet. Betsy? Q Do you have anything on the trial of the detainees? MR. BOUCHER: Let me bring you up to date on what's going on with the detainees. The Pakistani lawyer that was selected by the Shelter Now International detainees met with all of them on Saturday, September 29th. He has told U.S. officials that they are well and that they were glad to see him. He also delivered a package of food, personal items, medicine and money for the detainees. Then on Saturday, he also met with Taliban officials, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular chief, Supreme Court justice, and some of the judges who will participate in the trial. On Sunday, he further reported the Taliban court has convened, and the chief justice read the charges against the detainees. The detainees, on Sunday, remained in good health and spirits. I don't have details for you at this point of the charges or the potential penalties involved. The lawyer has told us he'll keep family members and the U.S. embassy informed as to the progress of the case. The parents of the American detainees remain in Islamabad, and they are in close touch with our embassy. Q There's a British journalist now, isn't there? Is she included in this operation? MR. BOUCHER: I don't know for sure, but I don't think so. I think this trial has to do with the people associated with that one organization. Betsy? Q Do you have any idea approximately how long this process might take? MR. BOUCHER: No, we don't. We have very little information at this point on the trial and the procedures or the charges that are to be followed, given that the lawyers in Kabul were in touch with him, but not in any great detail. So we don't have that kind of information. We'll see if he has it at some point, when he's able to share with us what he understands of the situation. Charlie? Q Richard, just to follow up, it seems a little curious to me that you would be able to hear from the lawyer that they're okay and that he delivered packages, but that he didn't tell you what the charges were. MR. BOUCHER: Once again, Charlie, there's difficulties in communications. He's not necessarily able to read the whole thing and report on it over the telephone when he talks to us. So I think we just have to leave it to him to handle the interests of his clients as best he can. We have continued to make clear, as the president made clear the other day, that the Taliban need to release all the detainees, all the foreign nationals, including American citizens, that they hold. .... Q Perhaps you'll be able to answer this one, as this involves the U.S. government. Over the weekend in Rome, there was a meeting between people from the Hill and the former king. MR. BOUCHER: I could plead separation of powers. Q Exactly. I was wondering if there was -- was there someone from this building there? Mr. Pope perhaps? Or -- and what's the latest status of your conversations with the king and with other Northern Alliance folks and others, the wide range of Afghans that you've talked to? MR. BOUCHER: I don't know for sure. The meeting was principally the one of U.S. congressmen. Frequently our embassy might have somebody who goes along. But our charge met, as you know, last week on September 25th with the king to discussion the situation in Afghanistan. There was a group of congressmen that met in Rome with former King Zahir Shah and with Afghan opposition leaders from other groups as well. As you know, we've had long-standing contacts with Afghan individuals and leaders of significant factions, including regular contacts with the former king and other groups. And we continue to work with all of them on the situation in Afghanistan, as well as with the UN special representative, Mr. Vendrell, who has been leading this effort for quite a while on how to help reach a political settlement in Afghanistan. Q What do you -- just to reiterate, do you support the king's idea of convening this -- I can't pronounce it, the Loi Jirga? MR. BOUCHER: Loi Jirga. Q Do you think that's a good idea? MR. BOUCHER: I think what we would say is we believe and have always believed that Afghanistan needs a broad-based government that's representative of the Afghan people. I'd just leave it at that. Q Well, but -- I mean, so you don't think that this specific idea is -- had merit? MR. BOUCHER: It's not for us to come up with specific ideas -- Q No, no, I didn't -- MR. BOUCHER: -- or to try to design a future government of Afghanistan. Q I realize that. It's not your idea, it was his idea. But do you think it's a good one? MR. BOUCHER: Well, it's up to the Afghan people to decide how they go about this. .... Q Going back to Afghanistan for a moment, over the weekend, the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan, actually, as I'm sure you're aware, said that they've known exactly where bin Laden was for the last two years. And I wondered if you'd care to respond to this rather zig-zaggy representation of the Taliban's awareness of bin Laden's whereabouts? MR. BOUCHER: I think, first of all, that various administration officials responded over the weekend in different ways. I think it's quite clear that, to us, at least, that the Taliban remain -- we remain unconvinced that they are serious about combating terrorism. It's very simple. They know what they have to do, is deliver bin Laden and his organization to justice and dismantle the terrorist networks that operate in their territory. As we've said before, it's up to them to take action to demonstrate whether they support terrorism or whether they are inclined to justice. And so far, everything we've seen would indicate that they're not yet serious. (end excerpt) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
