WHOOPS! I fergot to amember to be Presdient!

[mburbank]

18 April 2002
Bush Emphasizes Long Term Commitment in Afghanistan

Cites the life and legacy of George Marshall as example
President Bush said the United States will remain engaged in Afghanistan as long as needed in order to assist the Afghan people in developing a stable government and an effective economy.

Speaking at the Virginia Military Institute April 17, Bush recalled the legacy of General George C. Marshall, a former secretary of state and the creator of the Marshall Plan to rebuild war-torn Europe and prevent the spread of communism.

"As George Marshall so clearly understood, it will not be enough to make the world safer. We must make the world better," said Bush, in reference to the war against terrorism.
-U.S. State epartment website



"The United States Congress has stepped in to find nearly $300m in humanitarian and reconstruction funds for Afghanistan after the Bush administration failed to request any money in the latest budget.

One mantra from the Bush administration since it launched its military campaign in Afghanistan 16 months ago has been that the US will not walk away from the Afghan people.

President Bush has even suggested a Marshall plan for the country, and the Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, will visit Washington later this month.

Washington has pledged not to forget Afghanistan
But in its budget proposals for 2003, the White House did not explicitly ask for any money to aid humanitarian and reconstruction costs in the impoverished country.

The chairman of the committee that distributes foreign aid, Jim Kolbe(R. Arizona), says that when he asked administration officials why they had not requested any funds, he was given no satisfactory explanation, but did get a pledge that it would not happen again.
-BBC



"The size of the opium harvest in 2002 makes Afghanistan the world's leading opium producer... the area of land used to cultivate opium poppies reached 30,750 hectares, compared with 1,685 hectares in 2001. "
US Sate Department



Maybe we are giving them agricultural assistance instead of money.
-Max