Lionel Rosenblatt is President Emeritus of Refugees International.
11/13/2001

A month into the war against terrorism the humanitarian dimension is looming larger with the growing danger of widespread starvation and increasing numbers of civilians displaced from their homes. Unless these trends are reversed, there will be a humanitarian catastrophe and a concomitant destructive effect on the U.S.-led war coalition.

There are several elements of the crisis:

Even before this war began, there was a food emergency in Afghanistan owing to a serious drought putting millions of Afghans at risk. Now even greater numbers of civilians are threatened.

Relief efforts are hampered by Taliban interference including a ban on radio communication by aid organizations and some looting of their offices. The UN World Food Programme has is only been able to deliver about one half of the food needed to avert famine, although WFP food deliveries are steadily increasing. Law and order is breaking down in some regions and the civil war is expanding. Winter snows will soon cut off hundreds of thousands of hungry people from food shipments by land.

The bombing is also having a negative impact. Two accidental bombings of international Red Cross warehouses were was not helpful. Increasingly the Taliban are operating in closer proximity to civilians and, perhaps, aid organizations. Nevertheless, the implication that Taliban elements may have been near-by is not extenuating. There can be no justification for bombing international Red Cross or other international aid facilities.

More importantly, the bombing is the last straw for a growing number of civilians who are leaving Kabul and Kandahar, and other cities and villages. By one recent refugee account, Kabul may be half empty. Afghans continue to flee to neighboring countries.

What can be done by the U.S. and the international community?

Above all, food must be flooded into Afghanistan. The Administration is doing a good job in pushing for this by all possible means including the possibility of using commercial channels that would also have a wider economic impact. Refugees International has proposed the immediate opening of relief zones in Afghanistan. The zones--under the aegis of international aid agencies-- would serve as logistical hubs for distributing food and other vital relief supplies such as blankets, both in the zones and in surrounding areas. Delivery of food must be doubled by increasing trucking volume and by airlift. Airlifts and air drops should only be used as a last resort as they are more easily diverted by the Taliban and are far less cost-effective than other measures.

A bombing pause has been widely touted, especially abroad. A pause would only make sense if the Taliban concurrently agree to facilitate the work of the relief agencies, including their monitoring to assure that the aid is not being diverted by the Taliban. Unfortunately, the Taliban are unlikely to cooperate.

While a bombing pause may not make sense, the use of cluster bombs and other ordnance which especially endanger civilians should be ended immediately. At least five percent of the bomblets released by cluster bomb are duds littering the ground with very unstable explosives--the unintended equivalent of indiscriminately sowing landmines by air. The bomblets are yellow--the same color as the food packets originally dropped by the air force and particularly likely to attract children. The U.S. military changed this, but cluster bombs will apparently continue in use.U.S. warnings to Afghan civilians will not eliminate the danger.

As long as refugees are forced to flee, they should be admitted for UN protection and care in the neighboring countries as required by international law. Pakistan and Iran have each been hosting two million refugees for many years, so they are understandably reluctant to admit more. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) needs diplomatic help from the U.S. and the international community to open neighboring borders to refugees.

The U.S. is properly exercising its right of self-defense in launching this war. This is an extraordinarily difficult and complicated crisis and the humanitarian factors will have a significant impact on the overall political outcome. For this reason, as well as for humanitarian reasons, President Bush should immediately appoint a humanitarian affairs coordinator of cabinet rank who would participate with the other top-level U.S. government decision-makers as a co-equal. Otherwise the war will continue to have negative repercussions for the people of Afghanistan and the international support for the coalition.