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First Lady Laura Bush Arrives In Afghanistan
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ShareJune 08, 2008 6:25 AM
ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: Bamiyan, Afghanistan -- Urging the world to "stand more strongly with Afghanistan," First Lady Laura Bush visited remote Bamiyan province, where the Taliban regime prompted international outrage by destroying two giant Buddhist statues in 2001.
"We have seen a resurgence of Taliban and Al Qaeda killings and kidnappings in Afghanistan," Mrs. Bush told ABC News in an exclusive interview aboard the Air Force jet she flew from Washington to Afghanistan: "I don't want people to think it means we need to give up. I think it just means we really need to stand more strongly with Afghanistan."
Mrs. Bush has made support for Afghanistan's women -- who endured brutal repression under the Taliban regime -- one of her signature issues. This is her third trip here, the second traveling alone, without the President. Previously, no First Lady had ever stepped foot in Afghanistan.
The First Lady's trip to Bamiyan Province is rich in symbolism. Dirt poor and remote, Bamiyan became a symbol of the Taliban’s backwardness and senseless brutality when two enormous Buddhist statues were blown up in March 2001 by Taliban militiamen. They were destroyed under an edict to remove the "gods of the infidels." The statues had stood for more than 1500 years and were considered among the world’s greatest ancient cultural treasures.
"It's a destruction of historical magnitude," Mrs. Bush said. "I see it as a symbol of what the Taliban did and what Al Qaeda does. [It was] a way of destroying the past, a way of destroying what people before you thought or what they believed or what they liked and I think it really is representatives of a sort of destruction of civil life, cultural life, civil society that they represented."
Today Bamiyan is a different kind of symbol: Governor Habiba Sarabi is the first woman governor in Afghanistan's history. Bamiyan remains one of Afghanistan's poorest provinces - underdeveloped even by Afghanistan's standards, but there has been progress her. Under the Taliban in 2001, there were few schools here and virtually no female students. Now government officials say 38,000 girls attending Bamiyan's schools, 45 percent of the total.
Mrs. Bush is in Afghanistan at a time when President Hamid Karzai is facing criticism for not taking strong enough action against drug lords, war lords and government corruption. Former NATO commander General James Jones (ret), for example, expressed a widely held view when he recently told the New York Times, "The Karzai government, which is benefiting so much from the sacrifice, in both treasure and lives, by so many countries, needs to show more willingness to meet the expectations of the international community."
For her part, Mrs. Bush defended Karzai as "very popular" in Afghanistan.
"I think its undermining, frankly, to blame him for a lot of things that may or may not be his fault. He inherited, just by becoming president, a country that had been totally devastated, " Mrs. Bush said. "It's very, very difficult when you when you have Al Qaeda and the Taliban all on your border and making incursions."
Due to security concerns, Mrs. Bush's trip was shrouded with secrecy. President Karzai wasn't even told of her plans until about 24 hours before her arrival, and the small group of reporters traveling with her were sworn to secrecy until she landed.
June 8, 2008 in Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (34)
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Jimbo - Michelle will be the best first lady ever. Laura Bush is the unthinkable - and it already happened!
Posted by: Karl Hungus | Jun 8, 2008 5:28:57 PM
I can see it
8 years from now Laura Bush will run for the White House and will talk how they landed in Afghanistan under Sniper Fire :)
Posted by: TEH | Jun 8, 2008 5:33:06 PM
Why are the taxpayers funding Laura's latest exotic shopping expedition?
Posted by: ReaganWasRight! | Jun 8, 2008 5:33:36 PM
To Karl.
Too many years in college? Get in the real word. Ever employ people for a profit? I didn't think so.... No idea how our world works!!
Posted by: Jimbo | Jun 8, 2008 8:16:31 PM
Troy Street.!
Ever hear of Abdu Musabul Zarqawi. He was the commander of the forces against the US in Afghanistan. Just before he got that job he was training terrorists for al Queda..... in Iraq - THAT WAS BEFORE OUR INVASION - CHECK YOUR FACTS!! Guess where he went after being wounded and chased out of Afganistan.... BACK TO IRAQ!!!!! You guys have spent too many years in college and too many hours watching the evening (Democrat( news!!!!
Posted by: Jimbo | Jun 8, 2008 8:46:26 PM
Absolutely absurd. No need to go there Laura. Waste of time and money.
Obama 08!
Posted by: traci | Jun 8, 2008 11:13:29 PM
Laura is a classy wonderful lady.Her support of oppressed females in Afghanistan is wonderful .
Posted by: Dennis D | Jun 9, 2008 9:24:46 AM
Come ON people! I've been to Afghanistan! She probably did some good there...so leave it alone.
I mean, if you want to compare usage of jet fuel, we can always look at others who use it a LOT more than her. I could SPECIFICALLY give names of Senators, Representatives, and other government officials who waste a LOT more fuel than she does...so if that's your ONLY beef, you got nothing.
Afghanistan needs all the help it can get!
Posted by: chiefpayne | Jun 9, 2008 12:05:23 PM
Bravo to Mrs. Bush! I'm not surprised that all of the Obama supporters who didn't vote for a woman for the Democratic nomimation don't care about the women in Afghanistan.
Posted by: annareid | Jun 9, 2008 12:13:20 PM
ANDERS SCOOPER...NO such LUCK..We are stuck with her until 20 January..Along with the NUT CASE..
Posted by: Saber Jet | Jun 9, 2008 1:48:43 PM
Troy Street, Yes the report was released by the Pentagon during the week of March 10th - 14th of this year.This was provided by the U.S.Joint forces command containing over 2,000 pages of supporting documents. It was co-authored by Lt. Col.Kevin Woods and James Lacey. It is a 94 page summary. Also, there are I think about over 600,000 documents that have yet to be translated. I also recommend the Harmony documents that contains one letter written on Jan. 18, 1993 from Saddam that said, "to hunt the Americans that are in Arab lands, especially in Somalia, by using Arab elements or Asian(Muslims) or friends." The study noted that Saddam's Iraq was "a long standing suporter of international terrorism" and that the particular documents provided 'detailed evidence of that support' (I may remind you that on 6/27/93 Clinton launched a missle attack against Iraq.) It also details that Saddam provided "training Arab fighters (non-Iraqi) in Iraqi training camps more than a decade prior" to 2003. There is also a letter dated Jan. 11, 1995 that Saddam personally authorized his General Director of Intell to establish ties with Bin Laden in Sudan. The Duefler and Kay report extensively on WMD's and the Senate Intell report also discusses this in 2006. Amazing this stuff didn't get reported by the mainstream media. What a shocker?! I rely on intell that is released to give debate and do not tell lies just because I support Bush. One can criticize the way the war was handled but you can't say Saddam didn't have WMD's. Simply isn't true.
Posted by: trueconserv | Jun 9, 2008 4:40:17 PM
40 years ago the Democrats would have run Obama out of town for his ideas of "change". But then, 40 years ago the Democrats were still anti-communist.
Posted by: pwhited | Jun 9, 2008 6:33:18 PM
You people are so lame. She is over there doing something good but you couldn't give two sh1ts about anyone that needs help unless you can score some political points from it. What a sick bunch of pathetic fools.You should be ashamed of yourselves for bashing someone who is trying to help the poor.
Posted by: Stan | Jun 10, 2008 2:25:17 AM
Kudos to Laura Bush for being a graceful strong wife, without feeling the need to be a screeching harpy like Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama
Posted by: Matthew Rand | Jun 12, 2008 10:41:49 PM
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