Pentagon Forced to Withdraw Leaflet Linking Aid to Information on Taliban

[Q]

Published on Thursday, May 6, 2004 by the Guardian/UK

Pentagon Forced to Withdraw Leaflet Linking Aid to Information on Taliban

by Ewen MacAskill

 
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has distributed leaflets calling on people to provide information on al-Qaida and the Taliban or face losing humanitarian aid.

The move has outraged aid organizations who said their work is independent of the military and it was despicable to pretend otherwise.

Medécins Sans Frontières, the international medical charity which passed the leaflets to the Guardian, said the threat endangered aid workers. Fourteen aid workers were killed in Afghanistan last year and 11 so far this year.

The Taliban claimed responsibility yesterday for the murder of two British security staff and their Afghan translator from the London-based crisis management company Global Risk Strategies, which is employed by the UN to help prepare for national elections scheduled for September.

After examining the leaflets yesterday Britain and the US said they had been a mistake and it was not their policy to link aid with military operations in that way. The decision to distribute the leaflets had been made at a local level, they said.

Last night the Pentagon said it would instruct forces in the field and those on future training courses not to repeat the mistake. Joseph Collins, deputy assistant secretary at the Pentagon, said: "I have seen the leaflets in question. While they were no doubt well-intentioned, they do not reflect US policy. The United States does not condition humanitarian assistance on the provision of intelligence.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0506-01.htm

[reprehensor]

1. Psy-Ops, it's not just for kids anymore!

Winning hearts and minds, etc...

[Q]

2. Have they 'withdrawn'...

...or simply covered up their activities so it's not so obvious? Strange that they didn't see the need to withdraw this 'food for information' crap before they were caught.