<no line in the budget for aid to Afghanistan>
All the talk about "nation-building" was, it's clear now, just PR, at least as far as Afghanistan is concerned. Once the "regime-change" is done, we're outta there, on to the next one down the AxisOfEvil list.
Not true at all. Straight from the mouth of the Deputy National Security Advisor:
cfr.org
With the help of the international community, a humanitarian crisis has been averted. The actions of the Taliban had cut off relief supplies to large parts of the country, exacerbating the threat of famine for millions of people as winter approached in 2001. The defeat of the Taliban by the United States and coalition forces opened the way to large-scale relief operations. As its part, the United States devoted $200 million worth of emergency food assistance to Afghanistan in fiscal 2002. The United States has helped vaccinate 4.3 million children against measles, treat 700,000 cases of malaria, and provide basic health services for more than two million people since last summer. This is just part of an improving picture in the country. More than two million Afghan refugees have returned home since the Taliban's fall -- demonstrating their confidence in Afghanistan's future.
At the Tokyo Conference over a year ago, the international community pledged $4.5 billion to help rebuild Afghanistan. For its part, the United States pledged nearly $300 million -- and has delivered nearly twice that amount. Since October 2001, the United States has provided over $840 million towards Afghanistan's humanitarian aid and reconstruction.
Reconstruction and security are mutually reinforcing -- progress in both areas is crucial to rebuilding Afghanistan. The United States is leading the effort to build an Afghan national army that will provide the foundation for Afghanistan's security. In addition to the $84 million already disbursed and another $150 million authorized for training and equipping the Afghan national army, the United States is providing another $60 million in support for police training and counter-narcotics. And we must remember perhaps our greatest contribution to security -- over $17 billion spent to date liberating Afghanistan from Taliban and al-Qaida forces and combating their remnants.
On infrastructure, the United States is contributing $80 million to a $160 million effort by the United States, Japan, and Saudi Arabia to rebuild the ring road linking Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. This will promote trade and commerce and help unify the country. The United States is also helping with other infrastructure projects, including efforts to rebuild more than six thousand wells, springs, and irrigation canals, and to restore the water supply to Kabul, Kandahar, and Kunduz.
The United States is also strongly committed to helping Afghanistan provide an education to all its children -- boys and girls alike. The United States has printed and distributed more than 15 million textbooks in Dari and Pashto. And it is training thousands of teachers -- male and female -- and refurbishing hundreds of schools throughout the country.
Of course, Afghanistan is also wrestling with fundamental issues of political reconstruction. Through two decades of conflict, Afghans have seen the tragic consequences of communism, factionalism, and extremism. Today, they seek the same freedom for which people the world over have hoped and fought. The United States is helping Afghans to write a new constitution, establish a new human rights commission, and organize new elections -- even as we recognize that political reform must ultimately be the work of the Afghans themselves. |
