Work under way for Afghan hearts and minds

The Washington Post and the Associated Press

America is battling terrorism with meals and messages as well as might — dropping rations and leaflets, and filling radio airwaves with words urging Afghans to shun the ruling Taliban and back the war on terrorism.

U.S. warplanes dropped another 37,000 rations over Afghanistan on Monday.

The rations will feed only a fraction of the 7.5 million Afghans believed to be in danger of serious hunger or starvation as cold weather approaches. Relief officials estimate that one-third of the country’s population will need international aid programs for food this winter.

The American airdrops were made from a previously untried altitude using two U.S. C-17 cargo planes, military officials in Germany said. The food was dropped in rural areas in large cardboard boxes without parachutes that are designed to break open on impact without destroying the contents.

The two-pound food packages are designed to be religiously and culturally acceptable to all people. They include rice, vegetables and fruit but no animal products.

Some have raised pointed questions about whether the airdrops are more public relations and psychological warfare than actual food relief. That’s because the drops are expected to include messages explaining American actions and encouraging people to abandon the Taliban and turn in Osama Bin Laden, the suspected force behind the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Medecins Sans Frontieres condemned the humanitarian operation accompanying the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan as "military propaganda" designed to justify the strikes.

In a statement, the French humanitarian group known in English as Doctors Without Borders said the operation "isn’t in any way a humanitarian aid operation, but more a military propaganda operation, destined to make international opinion accept the U.S.-led military operation."

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld defended airdrops Monday. "It is quite true that 37,000 rations in a day do not feed millions of human beings," he said. "On the other hand, if you were one of the starving people who got one of the rations, you’d be appreciative."

Leaflets and other messages are also being distributed separately from the food drops.

The Pentagon is saying little about how U.S. forces are trying to fill the eyes and ears of the Afghans with pro-American words, but the goal is clear: sway the minds of the people to help weaken the Taliban’s hold on the nation.

Psychological Operations Group soldiers have planes to scatter leaflets, mobile print shops that can be dropped by parachute and loudspeaker systems to blare messages. The soldiers use local languages to reach people on the ground. Their motto: "Persuade, Change and Influence."

The Defense Department has not yet released any copies of the leaflets being dispersed but has confirmed the drops.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Monday that the United States would use all forms of communication, including the Voice of America radio network, to reach citizens in the region.