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Laura Bush meets Afghanistan’s Karzai

US first lady Laura Bush poses with children yesterday at the future site of the Ayenda Learning Center in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Bush arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai. PHOTO: AFP

US first lady Laura Bush flew into Afghanistan yesterday on an unannounced visit to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and visit development projects in an affirmation of support for the troubled nation.

Soon after arriving in Kabul, Bush and her entourage headed out to the central town of Bamiyan, home of the ancient and giant statues of the Buddha that were blown up the Taliban regime months before their ouster in 2001.

There she was expected to visit a road construction site, local media said.

Bush, who has supported efforts to help Afghan women, was also due to visit other projects before talks with Karzai at his palace in Kabul in the afternoon.

It is her third trip to Afghanistan since the US led the invasion that toppled the hardline Taliban regime for harboring al-Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

She first visited in 2005 and also accompanied her husband, US President George W. Bush on a visit in March 2006.

War-battered Afghanistan is now on the frontline of the US-led “war on terror,” fighting a resurgent Taliban who are backed by al-Qaeda and carrying out increasingly sophisticated attacks.

The US is the main backer of Karzai’s government, stumping up about half of the 70,000 international soldiers in the US-led and NATO-led coalitions helping the Afghan government battle a Taliban-led insurgency.

Washington has also provided most of the development aid that has flooded into the country since the Taliban were removed.

Despite international efforts worth billions of dollars and the growing strength of the international and Afghan forces, the extremist insurgency has steadily grown over the past two years.

Conflict-related violence left 8,000 people dead last year, 1,500 of them civilians.

Laura Bush’s visit comes days ahead of meeting in Paris where the Afghan government will ask its donors to fund a five-year US$50 billion plan to lay down infrastructure needed to develop the economy.

The Afghanistan National Development Strategy says much work has been done since 2001 but the level of destruction in Afghanistan after three decades of war had been underestimated.

The New York Times meanwhile reported on Saturday that US officials are increasingly frustrated with Karzai, arguing that he is not up to addressing Afghanistan’s many troubles.

“Of course he’s a good guy and therefore as long as he’s president we’ll support him,” the paper quoted a senior US State Department official as saying. “But there’s a lot of talk inside the administration saying maybe there’s a need for some tough love to push him to do the right thing.”

Karzai is expected to stand for re-election next year.
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