WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters): In concert with airstrikes on Taliban targets, U.S.
military planes headed into Afghanistan to drop food packages yesterday, even though defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged that this was not an ideal way to deliver aid.
Rumsfeld said the food drops were a key component of the new war on terrorism declared after suicide hijackers rammed passenger jets into the Pentagon and New Yorks World Trade Center on Sept.
"Let me emphasize that these are strikes against the Taliban and the foreign terrorists that theyve invited into their country,not the people of Afghanistan," Rumsfeld said at a briefing.
To that end, he said, food drops are continuing even as U.S.
Warplanes and missiles pound territory where the ruling Taliban hold control.
Saudi-born fugitive Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda organization, believed to be behind the Sept.
11 attacks, have found safe haven in Afghanistan.
Rumsfeld said the daily drop of some 37,000 humanitarian dailyrations over Afghanistan continued on Tuesday, though the delivery of medical supplies which must be dropped from a differentaltitude than food parcels will be done "Using different methods." Humanitarian daily rations are the civilian equivalent of the militarys meals ready to eat.
Defense officials said U.S.
Military C-17 cargo planes, flying from Ramstein air base in Germany, were again scheduled to drop 37, 500 humanitarian food packages into remote areas of Afghanistan on Tuesday to help feed thousands of displaced refugees.