From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, this article,http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/terrorism/diplomacy/1009airdrop.html " "My understanding is that they are targeting air drops in mountainous areas that are either cut off now by snow or are difficult to access by land routes," said Nilgun Ogun, former deputy director in Afghanistan for Save the Children, a Connecticut- based aid agency that provides food to 210,000 people in Kabul and areas of northern Afghanistan. "That is great because truck convoys on land will not be able to reach these people. But it's imperative to get the trucks lined up because [the air-dropped food] is a very small amount in terms of need."

The United Nations estimates that years of unrest and drought have left about 5.5 million Afghans impoverished and hungry. The U.N. World Food Program is bracing for that number to rise now that Afghanistan is under military attack and is making contingency plans to feed 7.5 million Afghans.

That number dwarfs the 37,000 who benefit from a U.S. air drop. And that's assuming that all the packets reached those in need. Often, CARE's Laprade said, food is looted, never making it to the hungriest, although he said that is probably not happening in this case because the targeted areas are so remote. "

The report that I heard that rations were being burned was either on TV or NPR news...

Alice