Acerbic Politics

Winning the War on Terror? President Bush has messed up virtually everything he touches. The following is from "The Progress Report" from the Center for American Progress...

AFGHANISTAN -- EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK: Progress in education "has slowed dramatically" as the Taliban increasingly target schools in Afghanistan, "especially those teaching girls." Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the United Nations that "about 200,000 Afghan children had been forced out of school this year by threats and physical attacks." Human Rights Watch has found "found entire districts where attacks had closed all schools." In the southern province of Kandahar, attackers threw hand grenades through windows and "threatened to throw acid on girls who attend school." In a neighboring province, "a high school principal was beheaded" and half a dozen schools were burned. Since Jan. 2005, there have been "204 documented incidents" against teachers and students. More attacks have occurred in the "first six months of 2006 than in all of the previous year." Women's education took another step backwards recently when a leading Afghan official, Safia Ahmed-jan, was slain outside her home "in apparent retribution for her efforts to help educate women."