U.S. Pledges $43 Million to Ease Afghanistan Famine

Warning of a “terrible tragedy” in Afghanistan, the United States announced a new aid package Thursday to help the drought-stricken country as a U.N. team warned that the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the worst famine in decades is worsening by the day.

“After more than 20 years of war and now the third year of a devastating drought, the country is on the verge of a widespread famine. Nearly 4 million Afghans are at risk,” Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told a news conference called to announce the aid.

The Bush administration pledged $43 million in assistance, including 65,000 tons of wheat and $5 million in food commodities, to help alleviate a famine that has claimed thousands of lives. Other aid for refugees will be announced soon, Powell said.

The U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Afghanistan and has imposed several layers of economic, political and military sanctions on the Taliban, the nation’s strict Islamic government. Powell also charged Thursday that the regime, which gained power in 1996 after defeating a coalition once supported by Washington, has only exacerbated the suffering.

Nevertheless, Powell called on the outside world to do more, “with energy and with dispatch,” to help Afghanistan. “If the international community does not take immediate action, countless deaths and terrible tragedy are certain to follow,” he said.

At least $250 million is urgently needed to alleviate the chronic suffering in Afghanistan, but only $88 million has been raised, according to the United Nations. More than 700,000 people have fled drought-stricken areas in recent months.

U.S. officials said Thursday that an average of 1,200 refugees a day are added to already overwhelmed camps around the Afghan city of Herat, while thousands others have walked across the border to Iran and Pakistan.

The U.S. will continue to look for ways to aid Afghans, particularly farmers who have complied with a new Taliban ban on poppy cultivation, “a decision by the Taliban that we welcome,” Powell said. Poppies are used to make heroin.

Washington is already the largest aid donor to the troubled Central Asian nation, providing $114 million last year and $124 million so far this year, including the new package. All U.S. funds and goods are channeled through the United Nations and international agencies.

U.S.-Afghan relations have deteriorated because of Taliban support for Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, who is linked to alleged perpetrators of the 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and other acts of anti-American extremism. This week, the U.S. issued another warning to Americans traveling abroad because of intelligence about plans by Bin Laden’s allies. Only three countries--Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates--recognize the Taliban.

Meanwhile, the Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights on Thursday released a poll of Afghan citizens showing that an overwhelming majority oppose restrictive policies imposed on women by the Taliban leadership, which controls almost all of Afghanistan. The survey included more than 200,000 respondents, 53% of them women.

More than 90% of respondents “strongly support” the rights of women in education, employment and public life, the survey found. The poll, conducted last year in urban and rural areas, also found that between 94% and 98% of female respondents believe that the Taliban was responsible for making their lives “much worse.”

Yet Physicians for Human Rights also appealed for greater international aid for one of the world’s most destitute countries. “Afghanistan is in the midst of a desperate humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions,” the group warned.