Naive
27th March 2002, 04:27
Afghan army will march on nation's empty stomach
By David Stout and Barbara Crossette, in Washington
March 27 2002
The people of Afghanistan may be facing starvation, but they will soon be the proud owners of a well trained national army.
The United States is about to begin training an army to give Afghanistan "a better chance for peace and security", the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has announced.
The training will be done by Special Forces troops, but Mr Rumsfeld declined to estimate the size of the new Afghan force or how much the US or its allies would spend on training it.
The US money for training comes as the World Food Program struggles to feed
9 million Afghans with no food source for the coming months.
Despite pledges from many governments, the program had received barely 5 per cent of the $US285 million ($538 million) in emergency aid it needed to feed people there for the rest of the year, said its director, Catherine Bertini. After her assessment on Friday, the US said it would allocate $US44.5 million for the fund, but agency officials said that would still leave them three-quarters short of what they needed.
The Bush Administration's intention to help train an Afghan army has been known for some time. Mr Rumsfeld emphasised on Monday that "America will actively prepare other nations for the battles ahead".
British and German members of the international security force have begun basic training for about 600 Afghans in Kabul. Thousands of other potential recruits are waiting.
The Pentagon is anxious for the new force to maintain stability in the power vacuum created by the collapse of the ruling Taliban.
Neither Mr Rumsfeld nor the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, would predict when US military involvement in Afghanistan would end.
"We don't want to leave abruptly, in a way that could inject instability," Mr Rumsfeld said.
The World Food Program estimates that 9 million Afghans need food aid until the end of July, and more than 5 million need help to the end of the year. Agency assistance is provided through donations of food or money from governments.
Afghanistan has presented a number of crises for Ms Bertini, who steps down this week after 10 years as the program's executive director.
During the US attacks on Afghanistan the agency's workers had to pick their way through battlefields to reach people with no food in their homes and fields, or with no homes at all because of fighting. Britain's International Development Secretary, Clare Short, described the World Food Program as the "unsung hero" of that period.
Now that peace has brought more opportunity to distribute basic necessities like flour, cooking oil, salt and beans, money is in short supply - partly because governments are overwhelmed by the world's needs.
Between 1994 and 2000 the number of people in need of emergency food nearly doubled. Now 83 million people in more than 80 countries rely on the program.
"There are a lot of Afghanistans in the world," Ms Bertini said.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the program's parent agency, estimates there are 777 million people in the world who are "desperately hungry," Ms Bertini said.
The New York Times
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/26/...7089535048.html (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/26/1017089535048.html)
Glad to see they have their priorities straight, after all, who cares about a bunch of starving people when you can have so much more fun building an army!
By David Stout and Barbara Crossette, in Washington
March 27 2002
The people of Afghanistan may be facing starvation, but they will soon be the proud owners of a well trained national army.
The United States is about to begin training an army to give Afghanistan "a better chance for peace and security", the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has announced.
The training will be done by Special Forces troops, but Mr Rumsfeld declined to estimate the size of the new Afghan force or how much the US or its allies would spend on training it.
The US money for training comes as the World Food Program struggles to feed
9 million Afghans with no food source for the coming months.
Despite pledges from many governments, the program had received barely 5 per cent of the $US285 million ($538 million) in emergency aid it needed to feed people there for the rest of the year, said its director, Catherine Bertini. After her assessment on Friday, the US said it would allocate $US44.5 million for the fund, but agency officials said that would still leave them three-quarters short of what they needed.
The Bush Administration's intention to help train an Afghan army has been known for some time. Mr Rumsfeld emphasised on Monday that "America will actively prepare other nations for the battles ahead".
British and German members of the international security force have begun basic training for about 600 Afghans in Kabul. Thousands of other potential recruits are waiting.
The Pentagon is anxious for the new force to maintain stability in the power vacuum created by the collapse of the ruling Taliban.
Neither Mr Rumsfeld nor the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, would predict when US military involvement in Afghanistan would end.
"We don't want to leave abruptly, in a way that could inject instability," Mr Rumsfeld said.
The World Food Program estimates that 9 million Afghans need food aid until the end of July, and more than 5 million need help to the end of the year. Agency assistance is provided through donations of food or money from governments.
Afghanistan has presented a number of crises for Ms Bertini, who steps down this week after 10 years as the program's executive director.
During the US attacks on Afghanistan the agency's workers had to pick their way through battlefields to reach people with no food in their homes and fields, or with no homes at all because of fighting. Britain's International Development Secretary, Clare Short, described the World Food Program as the "unsung hero" of that period.
Now that peace has brought more opportunity to distribute basic necessities like flour, cooking oil, salt and beans, money is in short supply - partly because governments are overwhelmed by the world's needs.
Between 1994 and 2000 the number of people in need of emergency food nearly doubled. Now 83 million people in more than 80 countries rely on the program.
"There are a lot of Afghanistans in the world," Ms Bertini said.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the program's parent agency, estimates there are 777 million people in the world who are "desperately hungry," Ms Bertini said.
The New York Times
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/26/...7089535048.html (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/26/1017089535048.html)
Glad to see they have their priorities straight, after all, who cares about a bunch of starving people when you can have so much more fun building an army!