Lagging Development Means Afghanistan Could Fail Again, U.N. Warns

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBVJ1Q2H5E.html

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan remains one of the world's least-developed countries, the United Nations said Monday, warning that the nation which harbored al-Qaida terrorists until 2001 could fail again unless more is done to lift it from poverty. snip

However, it still has the worst education system in the world, according to the U.N. calculations, which points out that nearly three-quarters of all adult Afghans are illiterate and few girls go to school at all in many provinces. snip

As a result, the average life expectancy for an Afghan is 44.5 years, 20 years less than in neighboring countries; one Afghan woman dies in pregnancy every 30 minutes and the country is the world leader in infant deaths caused by contaminated water. snip

The report was also critical of the U.S.-led military engagement in Afghanistan, saying it helped produce a climate of "fear, intimidation, terror and lawlessness" and neglected the longer-term threat to security posed by inequality and injustice.

It also described reconstruction projects sponsored by the U.S. military as "inadequate and dangerous," echoing concern from some relief groups that they have blurred the lines between soldiers and civilians, and made aid workers into militant targets.

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[sasquatch]

1. The Repugs say: "OIL FOR FOOD, OIL FOR FOOD."

:crazy: