FACT CHECK: BUSH PLAIN WRONG ON AFGHANISTAN,
FACT CHECK: BUSH PLAIN WRONG ON AFGHANISTAN,
01.29.2008
Washington, DC
FACT CHECK: BUSH PLAIN WRONG ON AFGHANISTAN, HOPE STILL DISTANT
Washington, D.C.-A fact check from the National Security Network on President Bush's State of the Union comments regarding Afghanistan show the country is still in a state of disrepair. Bush claimed that:
A nation that was once a safe haven for al Qaida is now a young democracy where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built, and people are looking to the future with new hope.
On each point, Bush is absolutely wrong:
Young Afghans still face a perilous road towards a good, safe education:
This week, David Ignatius wrote in The Washington Post that "A reality check for me was to talk in Kabul with Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the country's bright young minister of education. He said that Taliban terrorist attacks killed 147 students and teachers over the past 10 months and seriously injured another 200. This campaign of intimidation closed 590 schools last year, up from 350 the year before. In areas where students are too scared to go to school, stability and security are still distant goals. You can see in Jalalabad what success would look like; the challenge is to make that picture real across Afghanistan."
(Washington Post January 27, 2007 )
"Afghanistan's main highway "bedeviled by danger":
"Highway 1 is the country's main road, the route between Kabul and Kandahar, the country's second largest city...The highway, which has been rebuilt with $250 million from the United States and other nations, accommodates a daily flow of automobiles, buses and ornately decorated cargo carriers, which the soldiers call jingle trucks. The Afghan and American governments say the road's restored condition is a tangible step toward a self-sufficient Afghanistan. But Highway 1 remains bedeviled by danger, extortion and treachery. Police corruption and insurgent attacks sow fear and make traveling many sections of the road a lottery. The risks limit its contribution to the economy and underscore the government's weakness beyond Kabul."
(New York Times, December 3, 2007 )
Afghans Criticism of U.S. Efforts Rises; In the Southwest, Taliban Support Grows
In an ABC poll, "Afghans have grown sharply more critical of U.S. efforts in their country and in the beleaguered southwest, support for the Taliban, ousted from power six years ago, is on the rise. Overall, 42 percent of Afghans rate U.S. efforts in Afghanistan positively, down steeply from 68 percent in 2005, and 57 percent last year. For the first time, this national ABC News/BBC/ARD survey finds that more than half of Afghans disapprove of U.S. efforts."
"Two-thirds of Afghans say they can't afford basic fuel supplies and 54 percent say they can't afford food."
"Lack of jobs, electricity and medical care and poor roads, bridges and other infrastructure are other broad and persistent concerns. Nearly half the population is illiterate; six in 10 Afghans have household incomes under $100 a month."
(ABC News, Dec. 3, 2007 )
