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You will be amazed and pleased to hear that
things are going extraordinarily well in Afghanistan. Contrary to what
you hear in our press, our Bush administration plus our armed forces
plus NATO plus the Afghan administration and congress are doing
spectacularly well.
There is good security in 90% of the country and
the country is economically booming in all areas. Much of the initial
success has been due to Afghan smugglers and profiteers who make a lot
of money transporting commodities both ways across the border; this
money is being plowed back into Afghan homes, salaries, and the
economy. There are tens of thousands of new projects and this means
new jobs for young men. Also, repatriates are bringing skills, money
and projects back to Afghanistan to increase employment. This continues to cause the demise of the Taliban since more
young men can get jobs.
The U.S. sponsored dams, electrical projects and
road projects are progressing well. Two out of the three Helmond Dam
generators are either new or fixed and running, and the last one will
be running in 4 months. The road from Kandahar to Kabul is fixed and
paved. The road is now being fixed and paved from Kabul to the Solang
Pass and to Peshawar.
Hundreds of girl’s schools and clinics are up
and running, as this has been a priority of Mrs. Bush.
The NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are now
really coming up to speed after two years of research, studies, and
red tape. They are starting to really do some good. For instance, the
IMC (International Medical Corps) is setting up medical clinics and
maternity wards in many areas. Their efficiency is excellent and the
monies well spent. 17% is spent on US and Afghan overhead and 83% is
spent directly on the Afghans. Other NGO’s are starting also to do
very well.
In the 50’s and 60’s the country was run on a
parliamentary monarchy system and did well. It was being modernized
rapidly until the communists took over. When things fell apart, the
Russians invaded and you know the story from there. Nine years later:
one million Afghans dead, and millions displaced. However, the
Russians did not destroy the infrastructure; in fact, they built small
mosques in each neighborhood to try and win over the Afghans.
It was the five years of Taliban fighting and
rule that really destroyed the place: schools, hospitals, roads, and
infrastructure. The Taliban were made up of thugs, non-educated,
irreligious peoples led by extremist mullahs and Al-Qaeda.
Unfortunately, about 25% of the Taliban were Kuchies (the nomads).
There were thousands of beatings and murders. It was carnage.
The American’s changed all that in a few months
and now the Afghans are happier and have something to look forward to.
Remember, their democracy won’t be perfect for a long time. Also,
remember it took England 300 years after the Magna Carta was signed to
become a democracy. But,
during our three visits to Afghanistan over the past one and a half
years we have witnessed profound improvements and positive changes for
the women, children and young men.
“It’s as though they are awakening out of a bad
nightmare”, said one young Afghan man to us.
For every bad news story coming out of Afghanistan, there are
thousands of good stories. Of course, you don’t hear about these
because of politics and our mostly liberal press. One tiny good story
is about the urology program in the Ali Abad Hospital in Kabul. This
is the only urology training program in the country of 30 million
people. The Taliban had completely destroyed their 750 bed hospital,
and when Norma and I first went back to Kabul a year and a half ago,
they were half-way finished building a small 30 bed urology unit next
to an old maternity hospital. They had no lab or x-ray and still
don’t. The adjacent female hospital does have an ultrasound machine.
Dr. Hassan Manawi, 74, was the only foreign trained urologist there,
and he has trained 4 teaching staff and is currently training 8 four
year residents. He is also teaching the medical students across town
in the medical school.
With rusted, archaic surgical instruments they
are able to do amazing surgery, about 20 a week. With the help of the
Karl Storz Company in Germany, and Dr. Samir Rai in Amritsar, we have
been able to start an endoscopic urology teaching center (the only one
in Afghanistan) with donations from our patients and friends in
Ventura. The residents are learning how to do cystoscopies and
prostate resections.
What is needed from people like you, however, is
about $40,000 more in donations to keep the teaching program viable
long-term. Each resident is sent to Amritsar for 4 months to further
their surgical and endoscopic training. Most of these surgeons are
committed to stay with this program for over 20 years, although they
make only a $30 per month salary which is not really enough to sustain
a couple of two.
We have now made it possible for you and/or
others to donate money “tax-free” to this endeavor through the
“Kathleen Rhodes Foundation, Attention:
Ali Abad Hospital Urology”. Information about all this can be
found on the website: www.helpafghanistan.org.
Information about Cedric Emery, MD, can be found on:
www.venturaurology.com.
There are many people in America and in the World
crying outrage against the U.S., but as you know America has the most
tolerant, kind and gentlest foreign policy in world history. A quick
review of the past 100 years will prove this fact. Of course, we have
not always been right, but then consider the results from the War of
Independence, WWI, WWII, The Korean War, Grenada, Bosnia, the Cold
War, and Afghanistan, all concluded without subjugation.
All these areas deeply benefited from our help and investment
in their recovery and all have become Democracies.
We have indeed let our American morals slide
because of some decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court going over-board
on “personal rights and freedoms” to the detriment of society’s
rights. This is one of the reasons the Islamic fundamentalists have
disdain for us. They look at some of our magazines, TV shows and
movies with disgust, because our increased personal freedoms have
allowed behavior to exceed common decency. But they hate us also
because we have freedom: economic
freedom, political freedom, religious freedom, and freedom of speech.
These virtues along with the American ideas of social order, national
unity, prosperity, merit, morality and responsibility are the
antithesis of their ideas.
I see America as doing far more than its fair
share in helping the world move toward freedom and Democracy. In
Afghanistan we are doing a fine job; over-all, even with some mistakes
along the way you can and should be proud of our successes.
Cedric Emery, MD
www.VenturaUrology.com
Click here to find out how you can help!
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