"With tuition barred, Afghan colleges struggle for funds; USAID helps, but war takes priority over education" March 06, 2011|Josh Boak, Washington Post
KABUL, Afghanistan — Funds come from the US Agency for International Development, which has paid for the construction of dormitories and teacher training.
AID = CIA
And not that I don't want the Afghans to be educated (I'm sure the bombs, missile, and midnight raids have been quite an education), but aren't your bankrupt budgets for schools being slashed, America?
Couldn't we have done the school bit with them without the invasion, killing, and environmental degradation accompanying it all?
In its budget request for this year, USAID asked for $249 million to cover higher-education projects worldwide, including $20 million for Afghanistan. The greatest share of the request, $70 million, was for Pakistan.
And your tuition went up how much, kiddo?
Btw, same goes for Pakistan.
The agency spends close to $3 billion a year in Afghanistan. It has financed projects for health care, farming, and infrastructure, all of which can have a broader and more immediate impact than bolstering universities....
Oh, Americans, this as your country crumbles (and after your government has spent trillions to wreck Afghanistan. Who benefit$, 'eh?)!!!!!
And it WASN'T EVEN WELL SPENT!
As part of a fraud investigation, USAID recently suspended its lead contractor, the Academy for Educational Development, on a project to improve professors’ classroom skills. The project closed down as scheduled Jan. 31, though the agency said it is looking for ways to keep things “moving forward.’’
Yes, sometimes FRAUD NEVER MATTERS!
Edward Friedman, who directed a Cold War-era USAID program that established an engineering school at Kabul University.
The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused faculty and students at that school to find refuge abroad. Some now hold prominent academic positions at Kansas State, Ohio, and Purdue universities.
Access to a college education could surface as a broader security issue that overlaps with President Obama’s 2014 deadline for ending the US combat mission.
About 600,000 Afghans are expected to graduate from high school that year, many of them without avenues for employment or further studies, according to the Ministry of Higher Education.
Out of frustration, they may join factions of the Taliban, a concern that has been shared with the US government, according to Afghan officials and a former staff member of the US National Security Council.
Related: Afghans Despise AmeriKan Detention Dungeons
“We hope that’s not the case, but it’s a logical consequence,’’ said Amiryar, who advises the higher education ministry.
Then we can never really leave, huh?
During a recent visit to Kabul University’s engineering school, cobwebs blackened by dust hung across the ceiling. Broken equipment sat in bare labs. The most visible sign of foreign assistance was a room of desktop computers.
Where did all your hard-earned tax loot go, set-upon Americans?
Fraidoon Alkozai, chairman of the civil engineering department, knocked on the door of his colleagues’ shared office but no one answered. He said they were probably away working second jobs for aid organizations and contractors at eight times their monthly teaching salary of $400.
Yup, EVERYONE GOE$ where the MONEY I$!
It costs $5,500 a year to attend the American University of Afghanistan, which was founded in part with grants from USAID. About 70 percent of the students receive some form of financial aid.
Has to be from the U.S.
A November report by the USAID inspector general called the “financial sustainability’’ of that university “questionable.’’ The school is embarking on an $80 million fund-raising campaign, said its president, C. Michael Smith.
The university’s emphasis on teaching business management and accounting is critical for Afghanistan’s future, Smith said.
“When we started the program, we were told there was one certified accountant who was Afghan,’’ Smith said. “Here you’ve got a country where corruption is talked about a lot. You’ve got to have trained accountants.’’
Yeah, to cook the books for the Enrons and Goldman Sachs' of the world.
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I'll say one thing for the AmeriKan newspapers. It sure is an education reading them.
