Tony Blair insists that Afghanistan is not a "forgotten country". He said this in reponse to statements from members of a Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs who presented a grim picture of conditions in that country upon their return from a fact finding mission.
They said Nato had failed to keep its promise of restoring democracy, and that warlords were still in charge of vast areas of land, with private militias numbering up to 10,000.Mr Blair conceded that there were problems but insisted that it was a mistake to say that no progress has been made.
"There are five and a half million kids in school including over two million girls who were banned from school. The economy has grown by 30 per cent this year and is expected to grow by 20 per cent. The most telling statistic is that two and a half million refugees have returned to Afghanistan," he said.Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected in Washington next month for discussions with President Bush on combat efforts against the "Taliban-led insurgents" who threaten upcoming elections and reconstruction in the country.Donald Anderson, chairman of the select committee, issued a statement challenging his own committee members. "The Independent report is more newspaper spin than any considered view of the committee as a whole," he said. "There are quotes in the story from individual committee members but the committee has not even begun to discuss what to put in its report."
Comments