Afghan Women's Mission 
  
 Pasadena, CA 91101 
  
 http://www.afghanwomensmission.org 
  
 fax: (509)756-2236 
  
 For Immediate Release 
  
 

 
  
 Contact: Martha J. Heil, (626) 396-1870 or 
  
 press@afghanwomensmission.org 
  
 

AFGHAN WOMEN'S MISSION TO U.S. GOVERMNENT: HALT BOMBING IMMEDIATELY

Hundreds of thousands will starve if not helped by mid-November

The Afghan Women's Mission calls upon the government of the United States

to immediately suspend military air strikes on Afghanistan in order to

allow convoys to deliver food and medicines to millions of Afghans before

winter sets in.

"Hundreds of thousands of Afghans are on the verge of starving to death.

We cannot look the other way," said Sonali Kolhatkar, Vice President of

the Afghan Women's Mission.

The Mission joins Oxfam International, Islamic Relief, and other

consequences of the bombing if humanitarian deliveries continue to be cut

international relief agencies in warning of the potentially catastrophic

back.

In an October 23 statement, the president of the United Nations Security

Council emphasized the "importance of ensuring that emergency supplies are

delivered to Afghans in need as quickly as possible." The Afghan Women's

Mission welcomes the UN's demand on the Taliban to "stop preventing aid

from reaching the Afghan people and stop threatening the safety and

security of aid workers," but this is not enough, because aid deliveries

are also threatened by air strikes. The safe distribution of materials

and administration of medicines to the vulnerable Afghan people requires

an end to the bombing campaign.

Over 4 million Afghans depend on international aid to survive. In addition

to over two decades of continuous war, the Afghan people are experiencing

a three-year drought, the worst in over three decades. Oxfam estimates

that even before the tragic events of September 11, 5.5 million Afghans

were "already at risk of severe food shortages." After September 11, the

threat of a US attack on Afghanistan caused aid agencies to withdraw their

international staff from the country. The already fragile infrastructure

of aid distribution has begun to break down, and hundreds of thousands of

Afghans teeter on the brink of starvation with borders on all sides of the

country virtually shut down.

After the bombing began on October 7, any remaining aid convoys were

curtailed dramatically, since "truck drivers are...unwilling to take to

the roads to deliver goods...because of fear of US-led bombing or attacks

by one or another of the factions," said Refugees International. This has

been exacerbated, according to Oxfam, by the breakdown of law and order in

some parts of the country where NGOs and the UN operate.

"The missile strikes make our job harder to do," said Stephanie Bunker of

the United Nations, mentioning a "six week race against winter," after

which it will be extremely difficult to get aid into the country.

According to UNICEF, "as many as 100,000 more children will die...this

winter unless food reaches them...in the next six weeks." Two million

people do not have enough food to last the winter, and 500,000 of them

will be unreachable after snow begins to fall in mid November.

"It is evident now that we cannot, in reasonable safety, get food to

hungry Afghan people," said Oxfam director Barbara Stocking.

More information about the plight of Afghan refugees is also available

on the Afghan Women's Mission website,

http://www.afghanwomensmission.org, and the RAWA website,

http://www.rawa.org.

The best way to get aid to the women of Afghanistan is to get the oppressive Taliban regime, which has been disrupting humanitarian aid, to give up power (after all, it is not the legitimate government of Afghanistan, according to the UN), and turn over bin Laden for a military tribunal.

Once that occurs, there will be more care packages in Afghanistan than they'll know what to do with.

I suspect this group is NOT actually concerned with the welfare of the women of Afghanistan, but is a shill for the Taliban.

As we have seen this latest patriotic attack against anyone that does not support the governments line continues here. If you had any sense of Afghanistan and the work that has been going on here for years you would know that far from a schill for the Taliban this organization has been trying to get the word out about the situation of women in Afghanistan. Did you care about the horrific treatment of women in Afghanistan prior to 9/11? They recognize that bombing a country does not help the people of that country. Women in Afghanistan as throughout the world are generally poorer with less mobility and less access to resources. Thus bombing affects them even more than the men of the country. Not to mention the fact that if you are being bombed by a foreign country the move is towards the current government not away from it because whatever else they may have done in the past at least they are opposing the bombing which is killing yoour friends and family. And the idea that the UN recognized government, the Popular Front or Northern Alliance, would be better than the Taliban is absurd. What was better, the rape and murder rampages under the Northern Alliance or the "legal" executions and suppression of women's rights under the Taliban. Neither one of these male-dominated groups has any legitimacy. I'd suggest you check your facts before you smear individuals or organizations, especially right now. This type of accusation is simply unconcionable. We are quickly coming to a point where the accusation of terrorist carries as much or more wait than the reality. Much like the communist witch hunts of the 50's people will take advantage of this if we allow them and we must not.

and as I indicated from my use of the word "suspect", I don't know one way or the other. . .

They are still not doing what would be in the best interest of the women of Afghanistan.

I did NOT suggest that the Northern Alliance is a reasonable alternative.

I noted, correctly, that the Taliban is not the recognized government.

No one should want them to stay in power.

The sooner they are out of power -- the sooner there will be an OPPORTUNITY for real reform in the region.

Whether that opportunity will be siezed upon is a different question. But the plight of women in Afghanistan will not improve as long as the Taliban is in power.

So they are barking up the wrong tree.

MAry Mary quite contrary I dont think so.

I have heard members of this group speak at several universities and they have always been quite critical of both the Taliban and the US policies.

I have read emails from the woman who posted this article for a year now that have always been very critical of the Taliban- that have cried out for help from the west on matters of womens rights, right up through this way when the US gave the Taliban money for there help in the drug war.

Before you go spreading horrible rumors, it would behoove you to do a little research, OK? In a demomocracy we are supposed to support a diversity of opinions.