WASHINGTON?The U.S. military strikes Sunday in Afghanistan included airdrops of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said plans called for two C-17 cargo planes to drop 37,500 food packets to starving Afghans on the first day of airstrikes. The humanitarian aid is meant to underscore the Bush administration?s message that the strikes are meant to harm terrorists, not ordinary Afghans.
?To say that these attacks are in any way against Afghanistan or the Afghan people is flat wrong,? Rumsfeld said.
The airdrops are delivering ?humanitarian daily rations,? plastic pouches of food enriched with vitamins and minerals to boost refugees weakened by hunger and travel. The drops will focus on areas inside Afghanistan, not refugee camps border countries, Pentagon officials have said.
The food does not contain any animal products so as not to violate any religious or cultural practices.