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Cruel Facts of Afghan Redevelopment

A meeting of international donors in Paris last week revealed many disconcerting facts related to the redevelopment in Afghanistan, after the Bush Administration promised a Marshall Plan for the country. The country continues to face corruption and violence disrupting the rebuilding process, and creating a hostile environment for women and children.

Washington Post reports that Afghanistan maintains one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world: 16 deaths per 1,000 live births. Half of Afghanistan’s children do not attend school, and Afghan girls make up only 35% of those that do.

“So far international aid to Afghanistan has not gone far enough to alleviate the poverty and suffering of the Afghan people. The amount of international aid has been wholly insufficient given the huge job of reconstruction in Afghanistan. Of the aid that has been given too much has been driven by the priorities of the international community and its security concerns rather meeting the needs of the people and building a more effective state,” said Matt Waldman, Afghanistan policy advisor for Oxfam International in a press release.

Sources:

Washington Post 6/13/08; Feminist Daily Newswire; Oxfam International press release 6/11/08; Feminist Majority Foundation

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