Afghanistan

Tell ‘em Joe sent you


Dec 9th, 2011 1:23 PM UTC
By Guest Blogger

We absolutely love this video from the Truman National Security Project‘s Make US Strong campaign. Truman Project Vice President Michael Breen gives ONE some context behind their brilliant new ad, “Tell ‘em Joe sent you.”

A few years ago in Jordan, I sat down with a teenage Iraqi refugee named Ahmad to talk about his future. Having served as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, I knew what he and his friends had survived. Caught in the crossfire of a sectarian conflict, without even the chance to go to school or land an honest job, Ahmad and his friends were prime recruiting targets for insurgent groups and terrorists. They had been offered a simple but brutal choice: pay and protection if they joined the fighting against their neighbors, violent retribution if they did not.

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Sakila the life-saver


Dec 7th, 2011 9:57 AM UTC
By ONE Partners

Rachel Maranto of Save the Children shares some good news for maternal health from an unlikely place: Afghanistan.

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Sakila. Photo credit: Rachel Maranto/Save the Children

This is Sakila. Fourteen years ago she nearly died giving birth to her son.

“I was giving birth at home, there were complications and I fell unconscious. Eventually my family found a way to get me to a doctor. I was lucky I survived.”

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Optimistic in Afghanistan


Apr 12th, 2011 4:02 PM UTC
By ONE Partners

Raj Kumar of GAVI tells ONE why he’s looking on the bright side in terms of child health in Afghanistan.

Synchronized Polio NID April 2007

My recent trip to Afghanistan is one of the most satisfying trips I have done for GAVI. Security remains difficult, but the sense of optimism is palpable. We’re supporting immunization in Afghanistan, working with our partners in-country who are bursting with innovation and enthusiasm.

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The women and girls of Afghanistan


the-women-and-girls-of-afghanistan

Feb 24th, 2010 1:45 PM UTC
By Chris Scott

Yesterday Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues in the State Department, testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to discuss the role of women in Afghanistan, touting Afghan women as “agents of democracy and change” (a term she used at least a couple times).

In her testimony, Verveer said:

To combat barriers to women’s political empowerment, the United States has launched a broad grassroots effort to train women at local levels and to build their capacity to take on leadership roles. We are also working with women and men in law enforcement and in the judicial system to diminish the impunity that allows the threats, intimidation and violence to continue that keep women out of public life.

Freeing women to participate in public life also frees them to participate in the economic activity of their nation. Jobs creation is among our most urgent goals, and agricultural development in Afghanistan is a top U.S. priority. The key to increasing agricultural productivity is to increase skilled human capital – and an efficient way to accomplish that is by training women.

To further build Afghanistan’s skilled workforce, as well as to extend the many other benefits of education, the United States has promoted programs that rebuild the education infrastructure to enable more girls to go to school and women to achieve literacy. We are also working to rebuild Afghanistan’s healthcare services, and particularly to change its maternal mortality rate, which is one of the worst in the world.

Here’s the video:

Kristof: 30,000 more troops or 30,000 more schools


kristof-30000-more-troops-or-30000-more-schools

Dec 3rd, 2009 10:31 AM UTC
By Chris Scott

Nicholas Kristof has a column in today’s New York Times with commentary regarding President Obama’s recent announcement to deploy 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. In the column he builds a case for the need to expand education opportunities in the region.

You can read the full piece here, excerpts below:

For the cost of deploying one soldier for one year, it is possible to build about 20 schools.

Another program that is enjoying great success in undermining the Taliban is the National Solidarity Program, or N.S.P., which helps villages build projects that they choose — typically schools, clinics, irrigation projects, bridges. This is widely regarded as one of the most successful and least corrupt initiatives in Afghanistan.

“It’s a terrific program,” said George Rupp, the president of the International Rescue Committee. “But it’s underfunded. And it takes very little: for the cost of one U.S. soldier for a year, you could have the N.S.P. in 20 more villages.”

These kinds of projects — including girls’ schools — are often possible even in Taliban areas. One aid group says that the Taliban allowed it to build a girls’ school as long as the teachers were women and as long as the textbooks did not include photos of President Hamid Karzai. And the Taliban usually don’t mess with projects that have strong local support. (That’s why they haven’t burned any of Mr. Mortenson’s schools.)

America’s military spending in Afghanistan alone next year will now exceed the entire official military budget of every other country in the world.

Over time, education has been the single greatest force to stabilize societies. It’s no magic bullet, but it reduces birth rates, raises living standards and subdues civil conflict and terrorism. That’s why as a candidate Mr. Obama proposed a $2 billion global education fund — a promise he seems to have forgot.

Securing our Future – not just a talking point


Jun 16th, 2008 10:47 AM UTC
By annisa.wanat

A post from former ONE regional field organizer Annisa Wanat, who’s now in Afghanistan

When I was in high school, every April the principal would get on the PA and give his annual speech about “rams butting heads” – which was his way of telling the boys to keep their tempers under control. Fights always seemed to peak in the springtime. Fifteen years after I first heard the speech, I found myself living in the Balkans. The speech would always be in the back of my head when I spoke with my colleagues about how we hoped for a late winter thaw to minimize the potential for springtime fighting. Today, I find myself in Afghanistan.

Right after I arrived – just around the time that Josh Peck started sending emails about the global food crisis and ONE members could help – the demonstrations began in Afghanistan about the skyrocketing food prices. At the time, I was admittedly too busy trying to get used to a new job, making new friends, and adjusting to the altitude to do more research about how extreme poverty affects the Afghan people. But over the last couple months, I have talked to more people and a picture has begun to form.

25 years of war. Landlocked country with extreme summers and extreme winters. Low water tables. Dilapidated, bombed out, under-funded, or non-existent schools. Ditto for health clinics. 70% illiteracy rate – as a population – female literacy rates are the lowest in the world. TB. 40% of the population has access to clean water. Malaria. 53% of the population lives below the poverty line. Highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Unexploded land mines. 40% official unemployment. Life expectancy of 43. The opium trade and the resulting crime. Internally displaced persons.

Afghanistan is a country full of vulnerable groups – widows, orphans, victims of war, IDPs, youth, woman. But there is one vulnerable group that doesn’t get mentioned enough – military-aged males. Boys who are just becoming men and about to make pivotal decisions about their futures. Do they choose the “straight and narrow” path – full of the struggles outlined above – unemployment, food insecurity, lack of access to health care and education for their families? Or do they choose the “easy” way out and join with one of the criminal and anti-government elements so prevalent through the country?

ONE members know the OV08 tag-line – “Saving lives, securing our future” – but increased funding for international development is not just a talking point. Although I see examples of the positive impacts of international development daily in Kabul, I have been thinking about the “securing our future” portion a lot of the last couple days as international news sources carried stories of the prison break in Kandahar. Many of them began with a phrase like “the summer violence in Afghanistan starts with a bang.” Again, I was reminded of my high school principal and his springtime speech. And then I thought of all the military-aged males here who are trying to decide what to do with their futures.

Poverty breeds instability.

As ONE members step up their engagements with presidential candidates this summer and fall – keep these boys in mind when you band the candidates. The “saving lives” part is easy to remember – providing basic medicines, increasing access to education, supplying clean water. But remember that its not just securing Americans’ futures. Giving choices to teenage boys is securing everyone’s future – so the boys then don’t have to resort to “butting heads” every spring to provide for their families.

-Annisa Wanat

News Round-Up – March 26


Mar 26th, 2008 12:40 PM UTC
By Steve Wilson

  • The U.S. scientific community is rethinking its approach to developing an AIDS vaccine after a much-touted vaccine that was tested in half a dozen countries not only failed to benefit people who received it, but also may have actually increased their chance of becoming infected with HIV.

    Washington Post: AIDS Vaccine Testing at Crossroads

  • Forty aid agencies urged the world today to focus attention on Somalia’s catastrophic humanitarian crisis where hundreds of thousands of people are suffering from war, drought and food shortages.

    Reuters: Aid agencies urge world not to forget Somali crisis

  • Western countries have failed to deliver $10 billion of nonmilitary assistance pledged to Afghanistan over the last six years, and two-thirds that has been delivered has bypassed the Afghan government and failed to do enough to relieve the poverty of the Afghan people, a new report claims.

    NY Times: Afghans Lack $10 Billion in Aid, Report Says

-Steve Wilson

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