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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (36013)	1/22/2004 10:49:18 PM
From: coug	Respond to of 89467

Thank you lurqer, You were not one I was ever thinking of.. And thank you for the movie rec. And books, I just love good books and movies, although sometimes we do not have time to watch them. <g>. Here is a thread where good books and movies are discussed. Or used to be <g>. X's thread.. I would hope to revive it again, with X's permission, of course.... Subject 50771 Thank you again, m

To: lurqer who wrote (36013)	1/22/2004 11:16:49 PM
From: lurqer	Respond to of 89467

Aid workers: Afghanistan in jeopardy President Bush, in his State of the Union message Tuesday, touted successes in Afghanistan as putting that nation on the path to "light the way" in transforming a troubled part of the world. But United Nations officials and aid workers say the reality is much less bright. Despite several positive developments — including agreement on a new constitution, completion of a vital highway link and an economic boom in Kabul — deteriorating security puts more of the country off-limits to foreign workers and investment each week, U.N. officials and aid workers say. Outside Kabul, the effort to stomp out remnants of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network and the former Taliban regime, which seemed within reach in January 2002, has morphed into a protracted guerrilla struggle. About 11,500 U.S. troops and a few thousand British and allied troops are chasing Afghan insurgents; there also is a 5,500-strong NATO peacekeeping force in Kabul. Thirty U.S. forces have been killed in combat since the Taliban was ousted. And on Nov. 16, as the nation celebrated the two-year anniversary of its liberation, a U.N. aid worker was killed. It was the first death of a U.N. worker since the Taliban was removed. "Countries that are committed to supporting Afghanistan cannot kid themselves and cannot go on expecting us to work in unacceptable security conditions," Lakhdar Brahimi, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan, said Dec. 3. Security concerns continue to hamper humanitarian efforts and could interfere with national elections planned for June. Registration, campaigning and voting cannot be carried out without security, U.N. and aid officials say. Any delay in the vote would be a major setback for the nation. Only 350,000 of an estimated 10 million voters have been registered. "If we can't get the security, there is not much else we can really do," said Paul O'Brien, Afghan coordinator for CARE, an international relief agency. "They say things are getting better all the time, but that is not the case." Adding to reconstruction challenges: Just 40% of the $5.2 billion in aid pledged to Afghanistan in January 2002 has been released. The funding delays have put reconstruction efforts ranging from school construction to water purification on hold. A quarter of that money has been diverted from long-term reconstruction to short-term emergency needs, such as food. But there also are signs of progress. The U.S. Agency for International Development will triple its Afghan staff to 120 this year. The Salang Tunnel, which links Kabul with the northern parts of the country, reopened last month. And a highway linking Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar was dedicated Dec. 16. But even that highway's completion was compromised. The road had been scheduled to be completed a year earlier. To meet a U.S. deadline, only one thin layer of asphalt was applied. The $190 million cost is more than six times the amount budgeted in 2002. Other signs of trouble: • Opium production is soaring. A U.N. report said poppies, used to make opium and heroin, are being grown on 197,000 acres across 28 of the country's 32 provinces. • Efforts to build an Afghan army have hit snags. Just 6,000 of a planned 70,000 force have been trained. • U.S. military strikes against terrorist positions have resulted in the accidental killing of civilians. The killings have triggered negative publicity. Aid workers say Afghans worry that the United States is more interested in Iraq. Afghanistan has about 26.6 million people, slightly more than Iraq's population. In the recently passed $87.5 billion supplemental bill, Iraq received$18.6 billion for reconstruction while Afghanistan received $1.2 billion. "They fear that we are here for the short term," CARE's O'Brien said. "But we have to stay. It may be the only chance for Afghanistan." usatoday.com lurqer