For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 19, 2001
The U.S. Commitment to the Afghan People
Summary
The U.S. is committed to helping alleviate the suffering of the
innocent Afghan people affected by the long-standing dire humanitarian
situation in Afghanistan.
The U.S. has provided more aid than any other
country. In fact, the U.S. has supported the Afghan people
for decades, providing over $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to
Afghanistan since 1979.
According to U.N. estimates, there were over a million displaced
people in Afghanistan prior to September 11. The U.S. and its partners
in the Central Asia region are working around the clock to move food
and relief supplies into Afghanistan from surrounding countries,
positioning it directly where it will be needed most as harsh winter
weather approaches.
With U.S. support, the U.N. World Food Program delivered over
30,000 metric tons of food into Afghanistan in the first half of
November, exceeding records for food delivery into the
country The more than 29,000 metric tons that WFP moved in
October had been the most food ever moved in an entire month in
Afghanistan.
USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios Returns from Review of U.S.
Humanitarian
Operations Into Afghanistan
Andrew S. Natsios, Administrator for the U.S. Agency for
International Development, just returned from a week (Nov. 10-17) in
Central Asia. He was in the region to review the U.S.
humanitarian operations into Afghanistan.
Natsios visited a camp for internally displaced Afghans in Khwaja
Bahawudin, Afghanistan, that receives funding from
USAID. There, he visited a school for girls, an
income-generating project for women, a site for winter housing of
10,000 families, and a warehouse stocked with supplies funded by
USAID.
On his mission, Natsios visited several Central Asia countries
including:
- Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
- Tashkent and Termez, Uzbekistan
- Dushanbe, Tajikistan
- Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
- Almaty, Kazakhstan
Natsios also met with U.N. and government officials and members of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs); religious leaders; human rights,
media and civil society advocates; and Afghan refugees -- many of whom
were women.
Throughout the trip, Natsios pushed to accelerate the delivery of
aid. In Turkmenistan, he reviewed aid from a USAID warehouse
in Pisa, Italy, en route to Afghanistan, and discussed improving roads
to speed more deliveries. In Termez, he visited the
humanitarian barges, which moved the next day, and the Friendship
Bridge, which still remains closed. Natsios urged officials
to open it as soon as security permits because as much as 40 percent of
humanitarian assistance could enter Afghanistan via this route.
USAID is also currently reviewing opportunities for small-scale,
spot reconstruction for roads, wells and irrigation systems in northern
Afghanistan where nearly 80 percent of the people in the most critical
need of humanitarian assistance are located.
A Long History of Support for the Afghan People
According to U.N. estimates, there were over a million displaced
people in Afghanistan prior to September 11. Over the past
three months, 180,000 people have been displaced in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has suffered two decades of war, an ongoing and
debilitating three-year drought, and the collapse of government
infrastructure and access to basic social services. As the
Taliban directed national resources toward war and imposed severe
restrictions on its people, including a restriction on women working
outside the home, the situation of the Afghan people worsened:
- Six million people in Afghanistan and 1.5
million Afghan refugees depend on international relief programs for
food aid. - Afghanistan has the world's fourth
worst child mortality rate, with about a quarter of Afghan children
dying before age five. - Afghanistan ranks
number one worldwide in maternal mortality.
- As many as 50,000 widows lost husbands and
other male relatives in the course of Afghanistan's long civil war.
- The average life expectancy in Afghanistan is
46 years.
The United States has long been the leading donor of humanitarian
assistance to Afghanistan:
- The U.S. has supplied more than 80 percent
of all food aid to vulnerable Afghans through the United Nations' World
Food Program (WFP). - Last year, the U.S.
Government provided over $178 million in humanitarian aid to the Afghan
people. - The U.S. Government has provided over
$237 million in aid to Afghanistan thus far in FY 2002.
Preparation for Winter in Afghanistan
Afghanistan experiences extreme winter weather, with heavy snow in
the mountains and the high plateaus. Even low-lying areas like Kabul
can have up to 25 inches of snow on the ground in late
winter. In preparation for the harsh winter weather, the
U.N. World Food Program has stepped up its food deliveries into
Afghanistan. At any given moment over the past few days, WFP
had more than 2,000 trucks moving inside Afghanistan delivering food to
various parts of the country, particularly rural areas.
With U.S. support, WFP delivered over 30,000 metric tons of food
into Afghanistan in the first half of November, exceeding records for
food delivery into the country. The more than 29,000 metric
tons that WFP moved in October had been the most food ever moved in a
whole month in Afghanistan.
In the Central Highlands of Afghanistan, where snow fall is heavy,
WFP has already moved 13,000 metric tons of food, which is almost half
the amount needed to help the people of that region make it through the
winter. The U.S. and its partners are working to move food
and other relief items into the region from a variety of routes.
The U.S. airlifted 20,000 wool blankets, 100 rolls of plastic
sheeting, 200 metric tons of High Energy Biscuits, and one metric ton
of sugar to Turkmenistan for distribution in Afghanistan.
As of November 14, humanitarian relief commodities from the
international community began to move into Afghanistan from Uzbekistan
by barge. The first shipment contained 50 metric tons of
wheat flour as well as nonfood relief commodities such as blankets and
winter clothing. A second shipment of commodities, including
200 metric tons of wheat flour departed for Hairantan, Afghanistan on
November 15.
The U.S. purchased 15,000 metric tons of wheat in Kazakstan, which
is due to arrive by rail in Turkmenabad later in
November. Thereafter, rail shipments should arrive in
Turkmenabad on a daily basis, at the rate of 1,000 ? 1,500 metric tons
per day. The U.S. Department of Defense has airdropped over
1.5 million Humanitarian Daily Rations into Afghanistan. Each ration
is enough to sustain a person with a day's worth of calories. (Note:
One bag of wheat flour will feed about four adults or a family of 6-8
people. There are 20, 50 kg bags in one metric ton).
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