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Afghanistan Now
January 2007
"One of the messages I want to say to the people of Afghanistan is it's our country's pleasure and honor to be involved with the future of this country. We like stories of young girls going to school for the first time... a free press... people are able to work and realize their dreams... We're impressed by the progress that your country is making." President George W. Bush
Speaking with President Hamid Karzai
March 1, 2006
Kabul, Afghanistan |
Kabul, Afghanistan: Driving around this bustling city, one sees dozens of apartment and office buildings built over the past two years. People walk briskly along the streets, shopping for a few oranges, firewood or a kilo of flour amid thousands of small shops.
Out on the roads linking the provinces, thousands of trucks deliver building materials, finished goods, agricultural produce and other items of commerce.
In cities and towns across this Asian nation of more than 31 million people, freshly-painted schools are packed with students--attendance has jumped from 900,000 to five million since 2001. That's when -- after the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon -- U.S. and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban, which had sheltered terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and Al Qaida.
Since then, Afghanistan underwent a rebirth -- after 22 years of war and Taliban repression. Although security was disrupted in some regions by the Taliban and other militant groups, in 2006 most of Afghanistan was at peace. The country elected its own president and parliament, and it opened up trade with the outside world. It ended theocratic tyranny and put women and girls back into schools and teachers and students; into hospitals as nurses and doctors; into ministries and private companies as staff and leaders.
With the assistance of U.S. and other international aid programs, the pace has noticeably picked up in the past two years.
Read the full publication here (PDF,3.1mb)
Contents
Afghanistan Grows: New schools, clinics, shops and homes grow on top of the vanishing ruins of war as U.S. and other donors help the Afghans rebuild and rebound.
Democracy and Civil Society
First Parliament Rules: Men and women from the first democratically-elected Afghan Parliament met in Kabul in 2006 to begin to govern.
Education
Schools for 5 Million Children: Hundreds of schools have been built and millions of textbooks distributed as highly motivated students seek education
Catching Up: More than 170,000 students, barred from years from studies under the Taliban, catch up in a few months of accelerated learning under U.S. aid programs.
Improving Health
Midwives Save Lives: Dozens of young Afghan women train as midwives for 18 months in Kabul and Badakshan to reducat the appallingly high maternal death rate in childbirth.
Clinics, Caregivers and Medicine: U.S. aid programs replace or repair hospitals and clinics, train nurses and doctors and provide medicine.
Agriculture and Roads
Backbone of a Nation: Building roads to link Afghan villages and cities to each other, and helping farmers grow more and reach markets, is raising the overall economy.
Countrywide Assistance
Afghan Aid Map: This map of Afghanistan displays the array and location of the projects Afghans are completing with U.S. and other donor support.
Roundup
Ten Major Accomplishments: Major accomplishments of the Afghan people and government, along with U.S. and other donor assistance, since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban regime and especially the last two years.
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