Afghanistan's Future

Afghanistan's immediate future will be difficult, but it can be one of hope, if only because the Taliban and al Qaeda will soon be consigned to the past.

On the humanitarian front, the United States and other nations, working as part of an international coalition with the UN World Food Program and other international relief organizations, continue to take steps to avert the human tragedy brought on by the Taliban.

Even before the September 11 tragedy, the United States had long been the largest single donor of humanitarian supplies to the Afghan people, donating some $180 million in humanitarian assistance last year.

President Bush recently announced that the United States will contribute another $320 million in Afghan aid. U.S. planes have airdropped hundreds of thousands of individual rations to needy areas inside the country. Approximately 85 percent of the more than 200,000 metric tons of food aid - either in transit or stored in the region - comes from the United States.

Recently, the United States announced a five-point strategy to meet Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis:

• Reduce death rates by opening every possible pipeline to move food, seed, blankets, and health kits into the country before winter.

• Minimize population movements by moving as much food as possible to villages and rural areas.

• Lower and stabilize food prices by selling significant amounts of food to local merchants.

• Ensure that aid reaches the needy and prevent the Taliban from looting or manipulating aid.

• Begin developmental relief programs that will encourage Afghans to start rebuilding homes, villages, farms, and markets where possible.

Afghans, not outsiders, must determine the future of their country. Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "We want to see eventually arise a government that represents all the people of Afghanistan, that is prepared to take care of the needs of its people, not repress its people. And so we are in touch with all of the different factions to see how such a government could arise if the Taliban were to collapse and go out of power."

In addition to the strategy for assistance inside Afghanistan, the United States is providing assistance, through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other international organizations, to the millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and other neighboring countries.

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