[This seems like a good point to mention that I've read the derisory remarks from aid agencies about these food drops and they sounded a bit petulant to me, like a turf battle]

Sunday, October 14, 2001 - 12:09 a.m. Pacific

ATTACK ON TERRORISM:

Food drops puzzled over, appreciated: Peanut butter a bit of a mystery

By Dexter Filkins The New York Times

KHWAJA-BAHAUDDIN, Afghanistan — U.S. cargo planes swooped over this desert village near the Tajikistan border and blanketed its plains with packets of food yesterday, prompting hundreds of people to race from their homes and gather the bounty.

The airdrop, intended to help convince the Afghans of America's good intentions, appeared to be among the first relief missions by the U.S. military in areas held by the Northern Alliance, whose forces have been fighting the country's Taliban rulers. While the results of the drops into Taliban-held areas have so far been unclear, the villagers of this impoverished hamlet gathered the packets with enthusiasm.

"It is very delicious," said Rajaballi, a withered man dressed in a turban who was carrying several of the U.S. food packets from the field where they had been dropped. "This is the first time I have had a full stomach in a long time."

Rajaballi was roused from his sleep by the low hum of the planes, and he said his first thought, like that of many in the village, was that Taliban planes had come to drop bombs. But as the day broke over the parched fields near his home, Rajaballi and hundreds of other villagers saw the planes had instead dropped thousands of packets of food.

By midmorning, villagers were piling the packets of Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDR) on the backs of donkeys or carrying them off on bicycles. Children, many with thin hair and patchy skin suggesting malnutrition, toted packets toward home. By midafternoon, the desert plain was littered with packets of crackers and bread that had been broken open and eaten on the spot.

"Thank you! Thank you!" called a villager in English as he carried away an armful of the U.S. food.

The contents of the packets, however, struck some of villagers as strange. Standard Afghan fare consists mainly of bread, meat and rice; the packets, assembled by Right Away Foods in McAllen, Texas, contained such American favorites as peanut butter and jelly and spicy beans and rice.

While most Afghans eat with their hands, each American kit contained plastic cutlery and salt and pepper. The directions on each packet were printed in English, French and Spanish; the language spoken in these parts is Dari.

Some of the confusion was alleviated by illustrated instructions showing a smiling figure squeezing peanut butter out of the package onto a cracker. "What's this?" asked one villager, as he tore open a packet of beans and rice.

The sweetest touch in the kit, the most American thing of all, is the moist towelette. "Here is your Moist Towelette," it says in English on the back. "It will clean and refresh your hands and face without soap and water. Self-dries in seconds, leaving skin smooth and soft."

Many villagers, while expressing appreciation for the U.S. aid, said they would have been better served by gifts of wheat and rice.

"It's not enough," said Mahabullah, an 18-year-old who came to gather some of the U.S. aid packets. "We need wheat, rice, sugar and meat. And shoes and clothing."

The airdrops are meant in part to alleviate the severe food shortage faced by millions of Afghans. A four-year drought, aggravated by 20 years of war, has driven an estimated million Afghans from their homes in search of food. Some 5 million are said to be vulnerable to starvation.

The U.S. military campaign has disrupted conventional food-relief efforts.

While the U.S. food drop appeared to be a hit with the people, the local head of a French aid organization appeared unimpressed. Cyril Dupre, who oversees food distribution here for Acted, said airdrops sometimes fail because the food does not reach the people it is intended for, either because it falls into the wrong hands or is dropped too far away.

"Everyone has their method," Dupre said after the airdrops. "It is not our method."

The entrees taste basically like Rice-A-Roni. The "Rice with Beans" has a little kick to it, from chili, cayenne and jalapeño powder, while the "Bean Salad" is sweeter. Be it "Rice with Vegetables" or "Lentil Stew," they all taste rather similar, and not bad at all.

Plus, they are augmented with extra vitamins and preservatives. An HDR has a shelf life of up to three years.

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2001

Answers

At least someone is eating the stuff.

Why couldn't they drop one pound packages of rice and wheat?

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2001

I thnk they wanted to drop things that didn't need cooking or water to fix. But, on the other hand, lack of knowledge about foreign diets is one of the reasons I refused to see a dietitian, which is the usual next step when diabetes is diagnosed. I knew the average dietitian around here wouldn't know much about a vegetarian diet, let alone a non-traditional SU foods diet.

In any event, these packages are meant only to hold the recipients until the bags of flour and rice arrive from the aid agencies.

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2001

Oct. 14, 2001, 11:37AM

Some Afghans watch U.S. aid go to market, not camps

Reuters News Service

KHOJA BAHAWUDDIN, Afghanistan - Dozens of Afghans strain their eyes to see if the truck driving down a nearby hill will bring what has become a much sought-after item -- bright yellow bags of U.S. food aid.

But once again they are out of luck, having also missed out on Saturday's nightly air drop of jam, peanut butter and beans into fields outside the town of Khoja Bahawuddin in northern Afghanistan.

"We couldn't get any of the food because the soldiers took it and they have guns," said Delaver, 23.

"If I get work at the market in town I can get five pieces of bread a day to feed my five children ... otherwise we have nothing," said Delaver, dressed in a stained, padded jacket covered with holes.

Delaver is one of hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have been uprooted from their homes because of a combination of fighting between the ruling Taliban and opposition Northern Alliance and withering drought.

He arrived at Khoja Bahawuddin -- in the less than 10 percent of the country controlled by the opposition -- about a month ago, and set up home in a sprawling tented camp on the outskirts of town.

Since then, it has been a struggle for survival.

Hundreds of Afghans, many of whom have had to walk for days through frontlines and minefields, tell the same story.

"It's terrible here, all we've got are our clothes," Safar Mohammad, 65, says, adding that his journey from Takhar was dangerous because of Taliban bullets.

Kandagal, a 10-year-old girl who fled the capital Kabul eight days ago, says the camp is at least safe from the U.S. air attacks against her city.

"There was war there," she says, poking her head around a ruined wall. "I'm scared for our cows and sheep that are left there. I hope they are all right."

Their hopes were raised when the U.S. began dropping food parcels as part of an humanitarian aid effort being carried out at the same time warplanes are bombing Taliban targets in pursuit of Osama bin Laden.

But the food aid came and then disappeared. The yellow bags of food are now being sold at the town's market.

Aid agencies had said the U.S. air drops would be misguided, saying food could fall into the wrong hands or destabilize delicate humanitarian operations already in place, yet it is still sought after.

Gurlnazar, 45, says they heard about the food aid too late.

"I didn't get any food, no one brought it to us -- the people it could have helped. It fell miles away," he said, surrounded by his six children.

Their homes are now shacks, with walls made of mud and dried grass and thorns forming a roof, sandwiched between aid agency tents.

One man said it took him a day to make his tent -- a pole dug into the ground with two tree branches supporting bits and pices of fabric, which gape open and provide little protection from the cold night air.

"I sleep here and the children sleep in there (the mud shack). They need the warmth," said Mulla Abdurakaman. "Donkeys live longer than children here."

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2001