WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The UPI Think Tank Wrap-Up is a daily digest covering brief opinion pieces, reactions to recent news events, and position statements released by various think tanks.
Institute for Public Accuracy
(The IPA is a nationwide consortium of policy researchers that seeks to broaden public discourse by gaining media access for experts whose perspectives are often overshadowed by major think tanks and other influential institutions.)
WASHINGTON--Afghanistan: What's Happening?
-New Report on Civilian Death Toll
*Marc Herold, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, is the author of the just-released report "A Dossier on Civilian Victims of United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan: A Comprehensive Accounting."
"More than 3,700 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan directly from U.S. bombs since Oct. 7. For example, on Oct. 11, two U.S. jets bombed the mountain village of Karam, comprised of 60 mud houses, during dinner and evening prayer time, killing 100 to 160 people. On Dec. 1, as part of the intense bombing campaign of Tora Bora, B-52s bombed the villages Kama Ado and Khan-e-Mairjuddin, killing at least 100 people in each village, yet the Pentagon that night claimed 'It just did not happen.' The U.S. military has hit electrical and telephone facilities, news outlets, fuel supplies, hospitals, religious schools and mosques."
-Food Aid: "Time is Running Out..."
*Sarah Zaidi, research director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights, recently returned from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
"Time is running out for thousands of civilians facing starvation due to violations of the right to food by all parties to the Afghanistan conflict. The collapse of the Taliban was expected to ease the food crisis. But instead, a deadly combination of lawlessness among Northern Alliance factions and closed borders by neighboring states is continuing to block life-saving aid from reaching millions of destitute civilians."
*Roger Normand, CESR's executive director.
"The United States has the means to prevent the impending catastrophe but refuses to act forcefully on the crisis. There is something wrong when our government can pressure Afghanistan and its neighbors to permit the establishment of major new U.S. military bases but not the free passage of humanitarian aid to save the lives of starving civilians."
*Deborah James, a member of a Global Exchange women's delegation that has just returned from Afghanistan.
"As an American in Afghanistan, I was wholly unprepared for the level of poverty and desperation I witnessed among Afghan refugees ... Many Afghans urge the immediate deployment of U.N. peacekeepers, but the U.S. government is still hindering such attempts. Crucially, women must be incorporated into the new government."
*Medea Benjamin, founding director of Global Exchange, was on the same delegation with her daughter Arlen.
"The U.S. bombing campaign, while helping to defeat the oppressive Taliban regime, has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in two ways. First, hundreds of thousands of people, terrified by the bombs, have fled their villages and swelled the ranks of the refugee population. Second ... after the bombing began, humanitarian agencies pulled staff from the country and closed or severely curtailed their operations."
