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02/25/2005:

"The good luck of traumatised Afghanistan"

One woman dies from pregnancy-related causes approximately every 30 minutes. One in five children dies before the age of five from diseases that are 80% preventable.

An estimated one-third of the population suffers from anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress. Annual per capita income is $190 (£100). Average life expectancy is 44.5 years. Its education system is now "the worst in the world".

These are just a few of the findings contained in a United Nations Development Programme report on Afghanistan published this week.

More than three years after the US and Britain declared victory in Kabul and promised to rebuild the country, it paints a disturbing portrait of "a fragile nation still at odds if no longer at war with itself that could easily slip back into chaos and abject poverty".
Full Article: guardian.co.uk