28 November 2001

U.S. Looks to Afghan Talks to Generate Security Proposals

The United States believes that talks in Bonn among Afghan factions offer the best means of generating proposals on internal security arrangements as well as the steps needed to ensure a board-based political structure for post-Taliban Afghanistan, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington November 28.

"As the Afghan parties begin to reach understandings about how they want to organize the political future of Afghanistan, we'll also be discussing with them in more detail which of these various possibilities for security arrangements might or might not be helpful," he said when asked what message the United States had given to the Northern Alliance regarding security.

Turning to the issue of humanitarian food relief in Afghanistan, Boucher underscored the difficulties of distributing food aid in parts of Afghanistan still plagued by remnants of the Taliban. He said United States will make every effort to see that food reaches people in greatest need through a variety of delivery modes.

"We've been working for many months on trying to bring food in, even while the Taliban was running the place, and have worked very hard to try to provision -- make sure that the supplies are there. But this continued interference by the Taliban, the continued insecurity in some places and continued harsh conditions mean that final distribution to people who need it is going to -- is still hard," Boucher said.

Question: Officials in this building say that, very quickly, the Afghans need to spread out security, the provision of security amongst more than one party. Is that something that at least the United States is pressing at these meetings?

Mr. Boucher: That fits with the concept of a broad-based arrangement of having whatever security arrangements there are need to support the idea of a broad-based arrangement.

Question: Well, do you see the Northern Alliance welcoming that, if not any other force from outside?

Mr. Boucher: I am not speaking for the Northern Alliance. So I am not going to try to characterize their view from 5,000 miles away.

Question: Have you told the Northern Alliance that they can't be an interim government's army, they can't be the security force alone?

Mr. Boucher: We have told all the parties that we look to them to reach agreement on broad-based arrangements for Afghanistan's political future, that we've discussed the security arrangements with various parties out there. But as the Afghan parties begin to reach understandings about how they want to organize the political future of Afghanistan, we will also be discussing with them in more detail which of these various possibilities for security arrangements might or might not be helpful.

Question: Humanitarian aid. The President acknowledged today that it was a very difficult job trying to get humanitarian aid in. Can you tell us the status of the Friendship Bridge that -- when is it going to open? That is a major --

Mr. Boucher: I don't think I have an exact date on the Friendship Bridge. This is obviously a subject of continuing discussion. We understand that there is movement towards opening the bridge. But what sort of physical repairs need to be made, what security conditions need to be obtained for that to happen, with all those factors in play, I can't give you a precise date. That would be up to the Uzbek Government in any case.

What I would say is that, as the President said, as I think the Secretary General said, that we have been moving a lot of food into Afghanistan. The difficulties arise mostly when you get to the detailed distribution, because you have continuing security problems in some parts of the country. You have continued interference by the Taliban or remnants of the Taliban in various places. And you have the drought, the harsh winter that have already created very, very difficult conditions for many people in Afghanistan.

We have taken steps, such as flying food in in bulk, and you had the first flights in a day or two ago to areas of Afghanistan, directly into areas of the country. In November, the World Food Program has been able to move almost 50,000 metric tons of food into Afghanistan. The monthly goal is about 52,000 metric tons, and if you start counting sort of mid-October to mid-November, they actually exceeded that goal.

There is food in central Asian region, approximate 88,523 metric tons in Central Asia, including in Afghanistan. So there is a need in central Afghanistan for about 51,000 tons of food for the next three months, and at present, we have been able to distribute about 33,000 metric tons in that region. So there is distribution going on. There is a lot of food in the region, and more food getting into the region. The problem has been that detailed retail level sort of distribution, because of security situations and the harsh conditions.

Clearly, we know that Afghanistan was facing an awful tough time this winter. We have been working for many months on trying to bring food in, even while the Taliban was running the place, and have worked very hard to try to provision, make sure that the supplies are there. But this continued interference by the Taliban, the continued insecurity in some places and the continued harsh conditions mean that that final distribution to people who need it is still hard.

The other things going on, there is food going down to Termez. There are 20,000 metric tons there. There's wheat being offloaded at the port -- U.S. wheat being offloaded at the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran, 65,000 metric tons have arrived there, and I guess 25,000 of that has been offloaded already. That will be sent by road and rail up more directly towards these places in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, surrounding areas.

The World Food Program is feeding something like 360,000 people living in six camps in and around Herat City. There are 18,000 mothers and children who continue to receive a hot meal of corn-soya porridge every day. And as I said, some 33,000 metric tons have been distributed in the Kabul area. So it is a mixed picture, depending on parts of the country and the difficulty of doing that final distribution.