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Besides an official U.S. one billion dollar, four-year aid program, private American donations to Afghanistan’s citizens have been flowing in. Here, a U.S. Army engineer officer presents a new jacket to a young girl – one of many donated by the officer's hometown in North Carolina for needy Afghan children.

Admiral Blair summarized his views on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region at the 11 February 2002 Pacific Area Special Operations Conference in Honolulu:

"In the Asia-Pacific region, the worldwide coalition against terrorism has gone on the offensive. Our objective is to identify and root out terrorists and their support in the region and make our region inhospitable for terrorists.

"It was welcome news to hear of the terrorist arrests in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines — terrorists who traveled back and forth to Afghanistan, and who were working on plans to attack American ships and embassies and other targets in Asia. These arrests were due to good intelligence, law-enforcement work, and exchanges of intelligence and coordination of actions by the governments involved. The success lay in expanded rapid cooperation among these nations to identify and engage a mutual threat.