09 June 2008
First Lady Urges Redoubled Effort in Afghanistan
Visit shows signs of progress, continuing needs ahead of donor conference
Washington -- Urging the world to “stand more strongly” with Afghanistan, first lady Laura Bush visited the South Asian nation to highlight signs of progress as well as continuing challenges ahead of an aid donors conference in Paris.
“It’s very important for the international community to redouble their efforts so that the word gets out to the people of Afghanistan that the rest of the world is with you,” Mrs. Bush said June 8.
Mrs. Bush’s visit comes ahead of the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan, where representatives from more than 80 nations, international institutions and nongovernmental organizations will take stock of the country’s progress and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will present the Afghanistan National Development Strategy -- a detailed review of Afghanistan’s continuing development needs.
Since 2001, Mrs. Bush has been an active advocate on behalf of health and education programs for Afghan women. She co-chairs the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, a body created by President Bush and Karzai to help Afghan women get the skills and education denied them by the Taliban, allowing them to join in the country’s efforts to emerge from decades of war and oppressive rule. (See “U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council Investing in Afghanistan’s Future.”)
Mrs. Bush visited Bamiyan province, where the Taliban regime’s demolition of two massive Buddhas carved into sandstone cliffs along the historic Silk Road prompted widespread international outrage in the months before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“It's a destruction of historical magnitude,” Mrs. Bush said. “I see it as a symbol of what the Taliban did and what al-Qaida does. I think it really is representative of a sort of destruction of civil life, cultural life, civil society that they represented.”
While still among the poorest of the country’s 34 provinces, Bamiyan ranks among its most secure regions under the leadership of Habiba Sarabi, Afghanistan’s first woman governor.
Mrs. Bush also met with women police cadets training in Bamiyan to serve and protect fellow citizens, as well as a provincial reconstruction team operated by New Zealand personnel. The team is partnering with local authorities in a series of development projects, including a recently completed U.S.-funded road linking the provincial capital with the regional airport.
Visiting Bamiyan’s new Ayenda Learning Center, one of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council latest projects, Mrs. Bush was greeted by dozens of Afghan girls, many orphaned by years of conflict, whose presence she said was another symbol of Afghanistan’s rebirth. “We want more girls in school,” Mrs. Bush said. “I think that's really key to the success of Afghanistan.”
More than 3,500 new schools have been built since 2001, with enrollment skyrocketing from 1 million to 5.7 million students, including 2.6 million Afghan girls previously barred from schools by the Taliban. According to the United Nations, the number of girls enrolled in Afghan schools today exceeds the total number of boys attending schools during the final years of Taliban rule.
Meeting with Karzai later in the day, Mrs. Bush announced $80 million in new education assistance: $40 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development toward scholarships and construction of the American University of Afghanistan -- one of 16 Afghan colleges supported by U.S. financial assistance -- as well as $40 million to fund a five-year national literacy program. This is the latest contribution in more than $26 billion in U.S.-provided recovery aid since 2001.
“From computer sciences to basic skills, education is the key to empowering the men, the women and the children of Afghanistan,” Mrs. Bush said.
Mrs. Bush flew to Slovenia, where she will join President Bush in appealing to European leaders for more Afghan aid on the sidelines of the U.S.-European Union Summit ahead of her address to the Paris conference, which sponsors hope will raise funding for additional reconstruction projects through 2014.
“The international community can’t drop Afghanistan at this very crucial time,” Mrs. Bush said.
