Bush says he's sorry medical group left Afghanistan for lack of security
WHITE HOUSE President Bush says he's sorry Doctors Without Borders has left Afghanistan. The France-based group left last week because it said the Afghan government wasn't acting on evidence that warlords were behind the deaths of five of its staff members.
The Nobel Prize-winning group is the first major aid agency to pull out of Afghanistan since coalition forces ousted the Taliban government.
Bush says the group was providing an important function.
Doctors Without Borders says Afghanistan was made difficult for aid workers because the American military has used humanitarian aid for "political and military motives."
Aid groups have been worrying about American and NATO troops wearing civilian clothes and running Provincial Reconstruction Teams across the country.
Aid groups say this blurs the lines between relief work and military intelligence gathering.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|