| Taken Questions Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC June 14, 2001 Taken Question at the June 14, 2001 Daily Press Briefing Afghanistan: World Food Program Closure of Bakeries in KabulQuestion: Comment on reports that the World Food Program has stopped distribution of bread in Afghanistan because of the Taliban’s refusal to allow it to employ women. Answer: The people of Afghanistan are facing a humanitarian catastrophe of major proportions. The international community has responded to this crisis with massive assistance. The Taliban will not allow the World Food Program to carry out surveys to determine the real needs of these aid recipients, leading to suspicions that food is being diverted. For over a year, the Taliban have rejected all World Food Program proposals for obtaining accurate information, demanding instead that their own personnel conduct the surveys. The Taliban, are, in effect, trying to take control of the bakery program, which the World Food Program cannot allow. We understand the World Food Program’s concerns about potential diversion of its assistance and believe that it has made a reasonable effort to insure the uninterrupted supply of food to the people who need it. It is the Taliban who are preventing this and, in blaming the World Food Program, are playing politics with food and with the lives of Afghans. We call on the Taliban to allow the World Food Program to keep its bakeries open in Kabul. |
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