U.S. To Buy Asian
Wheat For Afghans

WASHINGTON —(AP)— Concerned about the food shortage in Afghanistan, the United States has decided to fund some purchases of wheat from central Asian sources, rather than U.S. farmers.

The administration has been divided over whether to insist that U.S.-funded food purchases continue to come from American suppliers. The U.S. Agency for International Development feared that the grain couldn't get to Afghanistan in time.

AID Administrator Andrew Natsios said last week his agency is giving $6 million to the U.N. World Food Program to buy 15,000 metric tons of wheat in Kazakstan. Another $5.2 million will be given to other organizations for local purchases of 13,495 tons of wheat and other commodities.

Some 165,000 tons of U.S. wheat is en route to the region.

``We're using every available means and every available route to get food to needy Afghans before the winter sets in,'' Natsios said.

Some in the U.S. wheat industry had expressed concern that the aid programs would stop buying U.S. wheat.

But Alan Tracy, president of U.S. Wheat Associates, the export arm of the wheat industry, supported the administration's decision.

``The needs of starving people and support for our efforts in Afghanistan come before any parochial concerns,'' he said.

Money for the Asian wheat purchases will come from AID's disaster assistance budget, rather than the $320 million aid package that President George W. Bush announced for Afghanistan in early October. Some $72 million of that has already been earmarked for buying U.S. food.