American planes started dropping yellow food packets in Afghanistan within two hours after the first bombs hit. President Bush said that through the food deliveries, “The oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of Americans and our allies.”

But aid groups – many of whom have worked in the region for years – see the effort as, at best, a “drop in the bucket” and confusing to the populace. The $320 million effort has been described by one U.N. official as “totally catastrophic for humanitarian aid” as it is directly linked with military operations.

The problem of how to separate help for the people from justice to the terrorists may not be solvable from high in the sky. The humanitarian challenge is one of massive proportions:

• There were 3.6 million refugees when the bombing began; 8,000 new refugees have fled to Pakistan.
  
  
• Due to years of drought and war, 7.5 million people will need food to survive the winter.
  
  
• The U.S. attacks have halted ground-based food shipments and forced many relief groups to leave.
  
  
• The food drops – 35,000 packets a day – have supplied less than 1% of what is needed, and include foods unfamiliar to the Afghan people, like peanut butter and pastries resembling Pop Tarts.
  
  
• Indiscriminate food drops are deadly lure, sending hungry children and adults into mine fields. U.S. cluster bombs look like soda cans.

Can the U.S. wage war against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden without endangering the lives of innocent Afghan civilians? What are the conditions that people are facing? What would a concerted relief and development effort that also serves to undermine terrorism look like?