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09 Oct 01 - 06:40 PM (#568537) Subject: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: GUEST,A Friend American Friends Service Committee has just announced it is beginning a campaign to aid Afghan refugees. Anyone know of any other campaigns to aid refugees and victims of American bombing? |
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09 Oct 01 - 06:45 PM (#568543) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Sorcha U.S. Gov't has OK'd 40 billion, I think.........which seems very weird to me...........not wrong, just weird. |
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09 Oct 01 - 07:11 PM (#568552) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: GUEST,A Friend That isn't the sort of aid I meant. I was talking about relief work in Afghanistan by NGOs and relief organizations committed to peace, not the butter and bomb campaigns of the U.S. government (which is now being widely criticized by relief workers from around the world who have been working in Afghanistan for decades). It isn't wierd though Sorcha. Its U.S. propaganda. |
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09 Oct 01 - 07:24 PM (#568564) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: wysiwyg Red Cross. Always. With neutrality. ~S~
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09 Oct 01 - 08:03 PM (#568587) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: GUEST Doctors Without Borders is in Afghanistan I believe. Their website is: www.doctorswithoutborders.org/ |
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10 Oct 01 - 01:10 AM (#568735) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Troll " the butter and bomb campaigns of the U.S. government (which is now being widely criticized by relief workers from around the world who have been working in Afghanistan for decades). " Why is it being criticized? It would seem to me that ANY form of relief would be welcome to people who are starving and be welcomed by those trying to prevent that starvation. Why would an air-drop of 37,000 emergency food packages be grounds for criticizm? troll |
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10 Oct 01 - 09:22 AM (#568888) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: GUEST,Clara Barton I was under the impression that the U.S. was the leading provider of aid to Afghanistan long before this crisis. Also, it might be best to describe the refugees as victims of their own maniacal government rather than the U.S., just as Iraqui's are the victims of Saddam's squandering of his country's wealth rather than U.S. sanctions. |
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10 Oct 01 - 09:23 AM (#568891) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Alice Deni of Mad Rush and I have both donated song tracks to an mp3 station that pays 100% of the proceeds from plays to The Afghan Women's Mission, an organization that has been helping Afghan Women and children refugees long before this event happened. Right now they are in need of blankets. The hospital had been closed, and many are suffering from diseases and malnutrition. Go here Afghan Women Relief to play the music for free, and mp3.com will donate all payback to the charity. This link http://afghanwomensmission.org/index.shtml will take you to the homepage of the Afghan Women's Mission."... Malalai Hospital was opened in 1986 in Quetta, Pakistan for the purposes of providing health care to a large Afghan refugee population. It served some 400 patients per day and developed a reputation of being one of the best hospitals in the area. Sadly the doors of Malalai hospital closed after 10 years due to lack of financial support. It was in response to this that the The Afghan Women's Mission was founded. One of the primary goals of the AWM is to raise the funds required to reopen and run the Malalai Hospital..."
Alice Flynn |
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10 Oct 01 - 09:52 AM (#568922) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Wolfgang Why would an air-drop of 37,000 emergency food packages be grounds for criticizm? FYI, In my newspaper from today Oxfam is named as a source of that critique. Presumably this press release is meant. Except from 'not enough' there is not much critique in that article. The only hard arguments against that action come in the last paragraph, if you do not want to read all. Wolfgang |
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10 Oct 01 - 11:30 AM (#569005) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Wolfgang Another organisation said (in the short paragraph I read it was unclear whether as a mere possibility or as something that they know has happened) that part of the US-Aid from high-flying planes lands in minefields. Wolfgang |
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10 Oct 01 - 12:42 PM (#569055) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Paul from Hull Hmmmm..I'd heard that criticism attributed to 'Doctors Without Borders/Medicines Sans Frontieres' but read the article on their site & nothing of Minefields was said. I certainly heard that 'criticism' on the BBC, but as Wofgang says, whether it has HAPPENED, or was just a cause for concern, I dunno.... Certainly there are an ENORMOUS number of Mines in Afghanistan (I cant recall any of the quotes of numbers, sorry) but apparently the only country with more is Angola. |
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10 Oct 01 - 01:00 PM (#569074) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: GUEST,Alice I heard that most people in Afghanistan would be hesitant to pick up something that has been dropped by a plane, considering the number of years the country has been at war, it would not be considered safe. Also, today it was reported that many of the dropped packages have been gathered by the Taliban and its supporters and burned. |
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10 Oct 01 - 01:01 PM (#569075) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Troll The OXFAM article sounds to me like a turf war. They want to drop the food to keep the war and the humanitarian effort separate. We want to drop the food to let the Afghan people know it's just the Taliban we are after. Donald Rumsfeld has admitted that air drops ane the lesat desirable method to use but they are what we have available at this time. Wehe we are able to secure territory and keep it safe, we, too, will use trucks. Wolfgang, thanks for the link. troll |
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10 Oct 01 - 01:23 PM (#569095) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Wolfgang Assuming it's true that the Taliban gather and burn them that is a great argument for continuing this action, in my eyes. I hope they are not as cruel yet as the Nazis in the last years of war when you could be sentenced to death for picking up and reading one of the Allies' propaganda leaflets (or for listening to BBC). Wolfgang |
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10 Oct 01 - 02:38 PM (#569154) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Ferrara "Assuming it's true that the Taliban gather and burn them that is a great argument for continuing this action, in my eyes. " Wolfgang, This is a very good point. In spite of the huge drawbacks of the airlift, if the Taliban hates it, they must think it will accomplish at least some of its purpose. As to drawbacks: 1.Airlifts can't provide for food distribution. Leads to fighting, hoarding, charging others for the food. 2. It smacks of propaganda, far more than real, effective aid. Sorry, that's how I see it given the way it's being carried out. 3. What they said above -- more traditional efforts at humanitarian aid may be endangered. But in fact I don't know how likely this is, in this particular situation. Impossible to judge until after the fact, alas. 4. Air drops can't really provide nutritious food. What's needed are basic vegetarian staples, etc, such as lentils, rice, bulghur wheat, fava beans... Stuff that can be made into food by adding water and fire. But they're heavy. Yesterday's Washington Post described the food being dropped. Forgive me, can't remember precisely, but they said, first, it is targeted for people who are suffering from malnutrition, therefore is easily digestible, etc. Second, it contains no meat in deference to various religious requirement. Third, each package provides 2200 calories, "a day's requirements". Among other things each package has a (I think) green bean and potato mix in vinaigrette sauce, a shortbread cookie, some things I don't remember, and some jelly. I had to wonder about the value of feeding straight sugar to hungry people. Maybe it is the best thing but it goes against everything I know about nutrition.... Anyone got more info? |
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10 Oct 01 - 03:15 PM (#569174) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Alice A quick search of the 'net came up with a CBS news report from Oct 7: "...The yellow plastic packets are about the size and weight of a hardcover book. They have a picture of a smiling person eating from a pouch, a stencil of an American flag, a notation that they were made by Rightaway Foods of McAllen, Texas, and this greeting in English: "This food is a gift from the United States of America." Inside are several smaller packets with food such as peanut butter, strawberry jam, crackers, a fruit pastry, and entrees such as beans with tomato sauce and bean and potato vinaigrette. The packets provide at least 2,200 calories per day. The United States has a stockpile of about 2 million of them.
The packets are also designed to flutter to the ground rather than drop straight down to minimize the possibility that they could hit and injure someone. ..." I wonder who decided on those ingredients? |
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10 Oct 01 - 03:22 PM (#569180) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Alice More from the Air Force website: http://www.af.mil/news/n20011008_1422.shtml The containers -- called the tri-wall air delivery system -- have a static line that tightens and flips the containers once they clear of the aircraft. Once open, the pre-packaged food rations disburse and spread over the drop zone. "We determined our drop zones, taking into account where the people who needed the aid are located, potential threats in the area, and existing wind conditions to maximize accuracy to the best of our ability," Allardice said. "Our goal was to get the aid to the right people, without putting them at undue risk." Each of the 2,200-calorie ready-to-eat food rations contains two main vegetarian meals based heavily on lentils, beans and/or rice. It also has complementary items such as bread, a fruit bar, a fortified biscuit, peanut butter and spices. "One meal provides enough nutrition for an entire day for one person, but needs to be supplemented with liquids," said Capt. Dana Whelan, a registered dietician with Ramstein's 86th Medical Group. "The meals are a good source of protein, fortified with vitamins and minerals and are appropriate for someone in a poor state of nutrition." |
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10 Oct 01 - 03:28 PM (#569184) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: Alice 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 |
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10 Oct 01 - 05:02 PM (#569256) Subject: RE: BS: Aid for Afghan Refugees From: GUEST,A Friend It isn't about turf wars, Troll. It is about the efforts which are going on the ground being disrupted by the bombings. It is about the belief of many in the West (those who often donate the most relief and dollars) that the air drops will be sufficient, and that no further aid will be necessary because the US government is "taking care of it" which they aren't. As others have said, there are many landmines in the areas where the food is being dropped, and it is in hard to reach places. It comes from the sky in strange packages, and is more often than not, food that is unfamiliar and unknown. It can easily be hoarded and resold for profit. The numbers of people on the brink of starvation in the coming three months will be some of the highest we've seen anywhere in quite some time. The US food drops won't be much more than a drop in the bucket, even if they do reach the people for whom they are intended. And because we have no way of confirming what is happening to the food, the urban legend that the Taliban is stealing the food is taking on a life of it's own. This is complex stuff. I asked the question originally because I have students interested in doing fundraising for the Afghan relief effort, and so was looking for reputable organizations that have been there a long time, and know the politics on the ground, so the most food and aid possible reaches those in need. Thanks for those who made good suggestions, I'll check out the websites. |