I don't know who the Pakistani official was on Fox earlier but he said several times that we needed to be giving the Afghans rice and meat (mutton or goat, he specified) and we needed to have Mulsims, perhaps from other countries, handing it out because there might be too much suspicion if white Christians handed it out. At the time I thought, that's bullshit, the Pakistanis either want a bigger role or they don't want the Afghans to associate us with the food--or both. And now I see this article:

SFGate

American food supplies a hit at Afghan market

Tuesday, November 20, 2001 Breaking News Sections

(11-20) 08:13 PST HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) --

Excited crowds at Herat's main bazar jostled for a chance Tuesday to buy bright yellow packets of U.S. food aid, proving that "American" is a powerful brand name in western Afghanistan.

"I'm very curious to buy this because they are so good for the body, very healthful and fresh," said Haidi, a 13-year-old who uses only one name.

Hundreds of packets labeled "food gift from the people of the United States of America" and decorated with U.S. flags appeared at the bazar around noon. Sellers said they had been dropped near a village on the outskirts of Herat overnight.

The packets, slightly smaller than a bread box and containing foods such as stew, rice, fruit pastries and peanut butter, are meant as humanitarian aid. But local entrepreneurs are taking advantage.

Amid shouting and pushing crowds, each packet was selling for about 50,000 Afghanis -- the cost of 10 loaves of the region's traditional flat bread and equal to $1 on the fluctuating Herat exchange.

Other goods are plentiful in Herat. A variety of fruits, cereals, even Coke is available, much of it from just across the border in Iran.

The United States has dropped more than 1.5 million food packets on Afghanistan since Oct. 7, when it also began a bombing campaign directed at the Taliban leadership and the suspected terrorists it is accused of harboring.

Some international aid groups have criticized the food drops, in part because it is impossible to ensure the aid reaches the needy.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Answers

Regarding where the recipients think the food comes from, I can speak to that issue, because I worked in A.I.D. for years including with the folks in Food For Peace. It is the policy of the U.S. Government, and I'm 99.99% certain it's written into law, that recipients must be made aware of the fact that the food comes from the U.S. Hence the American insignia on all food aid packaging, etc.

(Also, and this is a question I don't have thae answer to, but I don't know if these MRE's contain any meat. I think there's peanut butter for protein.)

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Peter, they're vegetarian meals. As for the insignia on the sacks of rice and so on, I guess most Afghans, even illiterate peasants, might know what it means, but if the job is given to anyone else there will be the implicit assumption that the home country of the giver has more to do with it than the originating country. After hearing the Pakistani official this morning, I hope some way can be found for American aid workers to hand it out.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

OG, I totally agree that the job of distributing the food should not be handed over to another country. This would be contrary to the intention of what I'm sure is the law.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

How hard would it be for someone to do a mock up of the packet and then poison it so that the people start dying or getting really sick, and thus begin to not trust the US?

I think we need to be doing the handling out. At least we can do it for free.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2001

Barefoot, you raise an excellent point. Not hard at all, I would say. Remember, these are people who can produce high quality false ID material - passports and the like.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2001