http://www.nationalreview.com/issue/matalin200503111419.asp
EDITOR'S NOTE: This piece appears in the March 28, 2005, issue of National Review. National Review A Great, and Unreported, Story In Kabul and beyond, three and a half years after invasion MARY MATALIN The first free election in Afghanistan's history was a seminal event for that country and for our own. With their votes, Afghans risked their own personal security and advanced our national security: They implemented the first concrete act of President Bush's transformative foreign-policy strategy to replace tyranny and terrorism with liberty and opportunity. To borrow a phrase, Afghans' first step for individual freedom was a giant leap for world peace. Despite the significance of these events - their potential to transform the Islamic world - both Western and Middle Eastern media have devoted scant coverage to them. My friend Rush Limbaugh and I were both frustrated by - and curious about - this virtual news blackout, and were delighted when USAID gave us an opportunity to join a delegation to see the progress in Afghanistan for ourselves. At 30,000 feet, the appeal of Afghanistan to its many invaders is clear. Flying over the miles of snowcapped mountains and sweeping plateaus positioned in one of the world's most geographically strategic intersections, I thought of the ancient conquerors - Darius, Alexander, Genghis Khan - who swept across this land; of the traders who forged the Silk Road and fused European and Asian cultures; of the British and Russians whose clandestine Great Game left Afghanistan a legacy of institutional bribery; even of the American hippies who invaded in pursuit of the most meditative mountains - and (allegedly) best hashish - in the world. This romantic history receded rapidly with altitude. Closer to the ground, Afghanistan's tragic modern history becomes all too evident. Between the savagery of the Soviets and the Taliban, and the devastating civil war, the once lush land has been reduced to a giant pile of smoky, gray rubble; as we descended into Kabul, the crystalline blue majestic aerial Afghanistan gave way to a muddy, outdated airbase secured by barbed wire, cement roadblocks, and lots of guys with big guns. While Rush and I were trying to digest this forbidding terrain, the USAID folks looked as if they were having a family reunion. All the soldiers seemed similarly pumped. Oddly, everyone was most enthusiastic about all the mud, which covered everything and everyone. Ushering us into "hard cars," each with "shooters" riding shotgun, the locals gave us our first dose of Afghanistan reality: The revered mud was the result of a record snowfall that could reverse the ravages of a seven-year drought. It also tamped down the usual oppressive dust - dust so pervasive it produced the infamous "Kabul cough." The unnatural dust is the upshot of decades of deforestation at the hands of would-be conquerors. It is not easy for a Western mind to comprehend the devastation that occurred in our generation. In addition to the deforestation, the Soviets and Taliban obliterated ancient cities; poisoned wells; mined, mortared, and laid waste to irrigation systems, roads, schools, and entire villages. Historic landmarks, like the Bamiyan Buddhas, were vaporized. Millions fled the country; those who remained were transported culturally to a 12th-century Islamic-extremist world. There is a jarring incongruity between Afghans' attitude and their environment. Despite the terror that defines their recent existence, they display no signs of self-pity or despair, no sense of entitlement. We heard the same refrain everywhere we went, from old and young: "Thank you, America," and "Please do not leave." They want to rebuild their country themselves - but need us to help them with the tools. They admire America, and understand our mutual interest in making Afghanistan a modern country to prevent terrorists from reconstituting. They also have a keen grasp of how their democratic experiment could transform the Muslim world. It is hard not to share their confidence that they will succeed in building a modern Muslim state; physical transformation is in evidence everywhere. One of President Hamid Karzai's highest priorities was to rebuild Afghanistan's transportation infrastructure. Bombed-out roads, collapsed bridges, and blocked tunnels literally closed the country down. Afghans view the road from Kabul to Kandahar as a symbol of Afghanistan's promise: The 300-mile strip of smooth asphalt, along with hundreds of additional miles of newly regraded roads, has dramatically improved quality of life and accelerated economic growth. The roads provided the mobility needed to expedite commerce and to construct canals, sanitation projects, power-generation facilities, housing, and market places. Progress is obvious. Giant cranes and massive scaffolding hover over the bombed-out buildings. Trucks full of construction materials and farm produce speed along beside taxis - and us, in our armored humvees and bulletproof van. (We are told such transportation is necessary for our security, but the people all wave and smile at us from their curbside kiosks full of goods that were unattainable until recently.) The infrastructure improvements are making a dent in some of the worst living conditions in the world. The scourges of mothers' dying in childbirth, infant mortality, and infectious disease are declining steadily as hundreds of health clinics and hospitals go up and millions of children receive vaccinations. The astronomical illiteracy rates, too, are being eroded: Thousands of new schools and tens of thousands of new teachers are meeting the pent-up demand for education. Explosive enrollment has quadrupled the student population from 900,000 to 5 million, 40 percent of which is female. We saw some innovative programs, including a Laura Bush concept: accelerated classes for older girls left illiterate by the Taliban. Keeping pace with the restoration of basic services is the even more difficult process of building institutions that undergird stability and democracy, institutions that are either totally foreign to the Afghans or had been savagely purged from among them: A credible electoral process. Every Afghan tells you a proud story of his or her first vote. A general told me how remote villages overcame logistical nightmares by transporting ballot boxes on the backs of donkeys. Karzai has skillfully managed the potentially disruptive ancient-warlord governing system, getting the local bosses to buy into the concept of running for power in the upcoming parliamentary elections, rather than killing their way in. He is filling the new government with reformers, including women. A free press. We saw fledgling but far-reaching print, radio, and TV operations. A disproportionate number of students we met want to be journalists. We asked one girl why. She replied, "We want to tell the truth." Rule of law. A judiciary is forming, the militias are disarming, and the Afghan National Army is growing. The weapon-demobilization program is succeeding: We saw surreal acres of heavy weaponry collected from the former warriors. Other hallmarks of a modern state are emerging - slowly by Western standards, but Afghans apply their own realistic standards. They are motivated by what they have overcome, rather than discouraged by how much more remains to be done. The over $8 billion in international aid has, obviously, played a significant part in Afghanistan's progress; but there are three other factors that are making it possible. The first is Karzai himself, an exemplar of Afghan courage whose father was assassinated by the Taliban. He told a story of being stranded with eleven of his tribesmen on a mountaintop, with the Taliban in pursuit. Expecting imminent death, he used his little remaining cellphone power to call the BBC and make them air his claim that Afghanistan would never surrender. It is with this moment in mind that he goes about the monumental business of democracy-building. The second factor is U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan American with decades of experience in defense and diplomacy, who knows not only his native country inside out, but the Beltway levers of power as well. And the third is the unsung but enormously effective PRTs - the Provisional Reconstructive Teams of troops and aid workers who go across the country doing the hands-on work of hundreds of democracy-building programs. They feel an electric pride in their work. Security remains difficult in places - the day we were in Kandahar, soldiers under attack shot one bad guy in the neck and captured another - and that slows down reconstruction. But because President Bush has made "development" the third "D" in his national-security strategy, along with defense and diplomacy, the troops have figured out on the ground how to accelerate the stabilization of this former terrorist haven by safeguarding the developers. Their efforts have also forged a bond of trust with the Afghan people. On one of our troop visits we heard how earlier that day they had been called to Medevac vehicular-accident victims hours from base. The husband did not want to leave his injured wife, but gave his toddler son to the soldiers - an unimaginable occurrence in the pre-PRT era. In our four days, we only scratched the surface of Afghanistan's astounding progress, but one thing is clear: This success story is not being told. The Afghans' concern - which Americans should share - is that if the story remains untold, the promise of the democracy-building policy could be undermined. Our homeland security depends on that policy; Americans need their free press to try as hard as the new Afghan free press to get the truth out. --- Mary Matalin is a former assistant to President George W. Bush and former counselor to Vice President Cheney. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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