Political Quotes

“the rights of women in Afghanistan will not be secure if there is no law and order in Afghanistan. Afghanistan's new government does not have the resources, no matter what their will, to combat warlord infighting, banditry, and lawlessness while trying to reestablish institutions of a civil society that were destroyed by the Taliban. Interim President Karzai has requested international troops to help maintain order across the country. We have countries that are willing to come in and help. They have been told by our country that they should not come. Afghan women say they feel safer when international peacekeeping troops are present. That is obvious. United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan has called for more peacekeepers, and there has been a call by both parties for more peacekeepers in Afghanistan. Yet the Bush administration has not yet committed to increasing the number of troops engaged--in fact, they have pushed against it--in peacekeeping, and they also refuse to allow the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, to operate outside Kabul. We need these troops. We need this presence outside Kabul. Afghan is more than Kabul. It is a country that has great traditions and has a tradition of peace, except for the past 20 years. It can be reestablished. When President Bush began military operations in Afghanistan, he promised Afghanistan would have a stable, democratically elected government that can govern in peace.”