27 September 2001

U.S. Preparing More Humanitarian Assistance for Afghan People

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:

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.