Still, no one in the Administration foresaw the scale or intensity of the Kurdish crisis, which has left thousands dead.

In scenes reminiscent of the Kurdish crisis, Muslim refugees crossed wooded hills on foot, by tractor and in lorries to escape the region's latest flashpoints along the River Drina.

If the Kurdish crisis does not meet that legal test, the doctrine has lost its meaning.

Officials point out that the anarchic situation also makes it difficult for the United Nations to mount an effective humanitarian relief effort unless its workers get the kind of military protection they had during the Kurdish crisis in northern Iraq last year.

Tom Getman, director of government relations for World Vision, said that, unlike past calamities, the Kurdish crisis and the African famine were not generating any special response.

"The progress that has been made in a very short period of time is incredible," said Col. Bill Tangney, the commander of Special Forces troops, better known as Green Berets, who were brought in for the Kurdish crisis.

"The Kurdish crisis is just a blip on the screen compared to what we're facing in Bangladesh," said Tom Getman, director of government relations at World Vision, a private relief organization.

The 11-nation humanitarian effort that resolved the Kurdish crisis in Turkey is being hailed here as a model of cooperation among governments, armies and private relief agencies.

If it goes into effect, the agreement should end the Kurdish crisis and lead to the return home of all the Kurds who fled after their rebellion against the Government was crushed by the Iraqi Army.

While the world responded, albeit somewhat belatedly, to the Kurdish crisis, it has been more difficult to drum up enthusiasm for Bangladesh, whose history has been cursed by natural disasters.