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Afghans to get $320 million aid package
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WASHINGTON – As his global coalition against terror firmed up Thursday, President Bush announced a $320 million plan to aid the suffering people of Afghanistan even as he prepared for war against their leaders. Bush’s efforts to rally the world against terror while reassuring Muslims that they are not the enemy seemed to be jelling. The government of Pakistan, a crucial Muslim neighbor to Afghanistan, said it was convinced by U.S. evidence that Osama bin Laden was behind the Sept. 11 attacks on America. On the Arabian peninsula, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld seemed to be making progress in shoring up America’s sometimes shaky Muslim allies, from Saudi Arabia to Oman. Some of them fear their citizens might react to a U.S. strike against Muslim Afghanistan with mob violence, and had hedged their support for American military efforts.
In Europe, the NATO alliance pledged full military help. “This is a strong coalition,” Bush said in Washington. “It’s a strong coalition because we’ve made it clear this is not a war between Christianity or Judaism and Islam. . . . This is not a war between our world and their world. It is a war to save the world.” The $320 million in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan is intended to provide food and medicine to innocent victims of drought and famine who are facing a brutal winter. It also will help the flood of Afghan refugees fleeing in fear of an imminent U.S. bombardment, who are streaming into neighboring Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It will be distributed through the United Nations, the Red Cross and other nongovernment organizations. U.S. military planes will help with air drops.
U.S. officials see the aid program as a way to drive a wedge between the Afghan people and the Taliban government, which has failed to address widespread hunger and create conditions for a healthy economy. In yet another effort to strengthen the coalition, British Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed in London parts of the case against bin Laden in general terms, and said military strikes are imminent. “We are now approaching the difficult time when action is taken. It will be difficult; there are no easy options,” he told the Parliament. His government released a report stating flatly that bin Laden and al-Qaida “planned and carried out” the Sept. 11 attacks. The information was gleaned from intelligence sources, the report said. In the days leading up to the attacks, the British report said, bin Laden asserted that he was preparing a “major attack” on America. In August and early September, his associates around the world were warned to return to Afghanistan by Sept. 10.
Steven Thomma, Knight Ridder Newspapers