US first lady makes surprise trip to Afghanistan

Kabul: US First Lady Laura Bush is in Afghanistan to highlight signs of rebirth in the embattled Country on Sunday ahead of a donors conference in Paris, where the US hopes billions of dollars in international aid will be pledged.

It is Mrs. Bush's third trip to Afghanistan, where the repressive Taliban ruled until US forces invaded following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Mrs. Bush told reporters on her plane, "The people of Afghanistan don't want to go back and live like that." She added, "They know what it was like. The international community can't drop Afghanistan now, at this very crucial time."

US President George W. Bush, in an interview in Washington on Friday with RAI TV of Italy, said bluntly, "Afghanistan is broke."

Mrs. Bush also is visiting Bamiyan Province, where two colossal statues of Buddha that were carved into sandstone cliffs more than 2,000 years ago were demolished by the Taliban in March 2001.

The first lady is spending several hours on the ground to meet with President Hamid Karzai, visit US troops and see a police training academy that is training female recruits.

She is also going to a new learning centre that will double as an orphanage; celebrating the construction of a road; and meeting with university students and members of the US-Afghan Women's Council.

The council was set up to help women gain the skills and education deprived them under years of the Taliban.