KabulPress.org:
Why
not put fighting and illiteracy as a top
priority in the country because when you
fight with illiteracy you can fight with
security problems and ensure the continued
security in the country. You know that the
military actions are not permanent solutions
because in the future we wont have the
assistance of the international community
and troops in the country, so if we fight
with illiteracy in the country we can ensure
the security forever in the country.
Tom Koenigs, Special
Representative of the Secretary-General in
Afghanistan:
I certainly put capacity development in the
first place of the development aid. It has
been one of the main successes of the new
government and the international community
in their support to have so many schools
built and so many classes built. I think the
effort of fighting the illiteracy beyond the
schools are super important. In the south
quite a number of schools are attacked. One
of the threats of the Taliban is to return
to illiteracy and a lack of schools for
girls. That is what people definitely don’t
want and that is why wherever a school is
burnt the international community and the
government try and reestablish it as soon as
possible. If we look at the statistics we
have on average one attack everyday on a
school in Afghanistan. That shows us that we
have to deal with both, the security
situation and the educational situation. I
agree that the role of the community in
defending their school, their institutions
of education is very important. This is one
element of the recommendation that we, the
international community, and the Afghan
government should much more cooperate with
the local authorities, the local Shuras, the
community. So the defense against the
Taliban is not only military but a
multi-faceted, multi-area effort and to
having a long term goal that every Afghan
has a right to be able to write and to read.