SECRETARY OF State’s John Kerry’s op-ed article yesterday left out a vital part of our Iraq-Syria strategy: feeding starving war victims (‘Under US leadership, world will defeat ISIS,” Op-ed, Sept. 26).
More than 11 million people there are suffering. The UN World Food Program, because of low funding, has been forced to reduce rations for Syrians. We are going to need a bigger humanitarian aid plan.
António Guterres, the UN Refugee Agency director, says international aid to this point “falls far short of what’s needed.” The United States ought to build a strong coalition to keep a massive pipeline of food, medicine, and other aid flowing.
Advertisement
Where there is war, there will also be hunger and extreme poverty. The future of millions of Iraqi and Syrian children is being shaped under these dreadful conditions. We cannot build a peace with malnourished children, stunted in growth, across the Middle East. The global community needs to respond with food to save a generation.