2001 Press Releases

Nine U.S. C-17s to Arrive in Ashgabat Carrying Humanitarian Aid for Afghanistan

Nov. 6, 2001

Two American military planes arrived in Ashgabat today, November 6, carrying blankets, sugar, high-energy biscuits, and plastic sheeting for tents for the people of Afghanistan. At least seven more such flights will arrive later this week. The U.S. Government's Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding this latest assistance and consigning it to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for distribution. IOM staff will transport the material across the border to points in Northern Afghanistan.

This assistance is part of a new $8.2 million U.S. assistance effort for the people of Afghanistan unveiled at a November 2nd ceremony in Washington. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Andrew S. Natsios, the head of USAID, pointed to this latest humanitarian operation as a prime example of the commitment and determination of the United States to protect and assist the long-suffering people of Afghanistan, while bringing the terrorists in Afghanistan and their Taliban supporters to justice. The aid includes $5 million to purchase 160 trucks to support the delivery of emergency food aid into Afghanistan, increasingly important as winter approaches, and $3.2 million for shelter, food and water, to be distributed via agencies such as Mercy Corps International and World Food Program.

This assistance is in addition to humanitarian aid airdropped by U.S. aircraft and to the substantial aid previously supplied by the U.S. government to the United Nations. As of November 1, American planes had airdropped a total of 1,099,800 humanitarian daily rations into Afghanistan. Total direct United States Government humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan since September 2000 has been over $293 million.