Interview Transcript of US First Lady Laura Bush by VOA’s Afghan Service

VOA: From your point of view, how has life changed for the people of Afghanistan in the last six years?

Mrs. Bush: Well, I think there have been many dramatic changes in the past six years. So many, many changes in obviously, the government changes: where there has been an election, two elections in fact, and so many people have voted including many, many women. The new government, the Constitution, I mean all of those steps that Afghanistan has taken are huge steps. It’s amazing that a Constitution has been written, that government have been elected, that schools have been built, that children are back in school, really all over Afghanistan. I mean those are very, very dramatic changes.

I mean, are there still things Left to do? Of course and the world is watched of course. And I think the world had stood with Afghanistan while we watched.

VOA: Why did you decide to go to Afghanistan in 2005 and what were your impressions of the country?

Mrs. Bush: Well, of course, I had been really watching Afghanistan on television, just like everyone else in the United States, since right after September 11^th. I gave the President’s radio address shortly after September 11^th to talk about the plight of women in Afghanistan, I wanted American women and American men and women both to know the challenges that Afghan women were facing. And really, after that, I watched it and longed to go to Afghanistan. I really wanted to have the chance to visit and then finally I did in 2005 and then I went back again with the President when we opened our Embassy there.

VOA: What are the greatest needs of Afghan women and children and how can the international community provide these needs?

Mrs. Bush: Well, of course since I’m a teacher myself and a librarian, and that’s what I did for my career, I think education is the single most important function that the government can provide, if it can, provide because it will make all the difference for the next generations of Afghanis. But also, there is a huge need for basic infrastructure: for roads, so that remote areas of Afghanistan can be joined to the rest of the country, clean water, food, shelter… all of those are basic necessities that the international community can help and has helped.

Roads have been built. Many, many roads since of course in the last five years. A health center, a basic health center is necessary. There is a lot of ways that the international community can help (COUGH) and have helped. But I think there is a lot of ways the people of Afghanistan can work together and put differences aside and really stand up and say, “we don’t want terrorism anymore. And we want to take this chance, this opportunity that our country has, to build a good, safe and decent country in Afghanistan, so that everyone can feel safe and can be secure and people can be educated again.”

VOA: Can you share with me some of the success stories of Afghan women?

Mrs. Bush: Well, there are so many terriffic success stories of Afghan women, one that comes immediately to my mind, because we were just here together at Georgetown University and one of the women that was here around the table, was a woman that started a company called “Arzu,” which I understand means hope, and she wanted to make sure that Afghan women could support themselves and also make sure that many of the special crafts and Afghan arts that Afghan women know how to do, rug weaving for instance, are not lost.

And so she helps Afghan women be able to export those carpets and in fact, we have bought some for the White House and I am proud that we have these two rugs made by women in Afghanistan at the White House.

But that’s just one single example of a way that an American women works with people in Afghanistan to make sure these woman are doing what they already knew how to do, which is weaving rugs, but also get the life skills to help their whole families and their lives have changed and they have changed for the better.

VOA: What can be done to protect Afghan women who take risks to go to their jobs?

Mrs. Bush: Well, it’s very important all of the security concerns that the United States military and the United States government are involved in are very, very important. And it’s important for at the same time, for Afghanistan to build up its own police force and its own military and cooperation with all of the countries in the international community that they are on the ground in Afghanistan to protect women, and children obviously, and teachers and to make sure that children are educated.

But it’s also very important that civic society increase in Afghanistan, so that people feel free to say, “I want my child to be educated. And my child has a right to be educated.” And to speak up to the forces that want to deny the education to the children of Afghanistan. I’m proud of all the ways the United States government has been involved with education there.

I got to visit when I went to Afghanistan, to Kabul in 2005, the Training Institute that’s there and that is a dorm. It’s a safe place for the people of the provinces to come in and live while they are trained to be teachers. With the idea that when they go back to their village, they can train other teachers in a cascading effect to try to get as many teachers and as many schools opened all across Afghanistan and I’ve met teachers there.

And I’ve met teachers that come to the United States and live with families here and study here just for a semester or for a short time, so that they can learn as many teaching methods as possible, so that they can go back and become quality teachers. But I understand the fear that particularly women, but women and men, have, in Afghanistan when they talk about education: something that was denied before during the Taliban. And I urge the people of Afghanistan to stand together and say it’s so important for our children to better lives, so that they can be educated.

VOA: What should be done to give Afghanistan the doctors that they need?

Mrs. Bush: Well, that’s also very important and there are a lot of ways that the international community can help and has helped in fact, one of the reasons that children mortality rate has decreased by a large percentage in Afghanistan is because healthcare has gotten out to many parts of Afghanistan because of NGO’s, like you said, and the international community coming in. It’s also very important for healthcare workers to be trained. One of the things that was mentioned here today was that adult literacy classes for woman especially who, because they grew up in the time of the Taliban, missed the chance to become educated.

A lot of their textbooks that they are using to learn to read, they are Readers, really, are also health-education books, so that mothers can be educated and they know how to help their own children, but it’s also a very important job for people to seek and that is to try to get training for people in healthcare, so that they can healthcare and service healthcare workers there.

VOA: Why is advanced education so important to young Afghans?

Mrs. Bush: Well, I hope that as many of the young Afghans as possible will graduate from high school and then will seek higher education. One of the really important things for people in Afghanistan to know is this capacity-building. If there are people who are educated that can be good managers, that can be good leaders, then when these donations come in from the international community, there is way to very successfully manage that money so that it reaches everyone in Afghanistan. And building capacity like that takes time.

And one of the things it takes is education, and in many cases, higher education, which is why I want to urge Afghan students to finish high school and to seek a scholarship, so they can go on to higher education.

VOA: What are your thoughts on the drug trade?

Mrs. Bush: Well, I hope that people who are involved in the drug trade will see if there are some other legitimate crops that they could grow. The farmers that are growing poppies, see if there is any way that you could grow an agricultural crop other than poppies that you could grow money on, and in some parts of Afghanistan that is happening. In the parts where there is more security, people are stopping growing poppies and starting to grow pomegranates for instance, or tulips, or other crops that are legitimate crops and are also high-dollar crops.

And I know that the United States government is joining with the government of Afghanistan to try to eradicate the drug trade, to do what we can to help find farmers find a legitimate crop to grow, so that they can support their families. But this also requires the will of the people of Afghanistan to say, “we don’t really want to be part of the drug trade.” We don’t want our country to be associated with that. And we urge people, all of our fellow citizens to find a legitimate way to make money.

VOA: What is your message to the brave men and women of Pakistan who are trying to carry on Bhutto’s message?

Mrs. Bush: Well, I stand behind all those who are reaching out for democracy, and also I grieve for the life of Benazir Bhutto, and I send my condolences to the people of Pakistan. It’s very important for people to reach out for democracy in both Pakistan and in Afghanistan. Afghanistan and Pakistan share such a very long border, that the relations between the two countries should be strong. And as one country wants to reach out for democracy, and the other country, Afghanistan, is building its democracy, there is a lot of ways I think the two countries can help each other and can be really good friends.

I’m proud that President Bush hosted President Karzai and Musharraf together, so there are ways that both Pakistan and Afghanistan can reach out to each other.

VOA: What do you think of Hollywood’s portrayal of Afghanistan and do you think these films will raise awareness to the situation in Afghanistan?

Mrs. Bush: Absolutely, and I want to say that the book by Khalid Hosseini, which the Kite Runner is taken from, was a huge best-seller in the United States. I think it’s still on the best-seller list, along with his second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is also on the best-seller list. And I think both of those books give an idea to the American people what life was like in Afghanistan before the Soviet Invasion in the years of war and what life is like during the Taliban and coming up to now. And I think they are important because I think they give Americans a chance to really understand Afghanistan.

And now of course the movie is out and a lot of people will see it and I want Americans to know about Afghanistan and I want Afghanis to know about Americans. I want the people of Afghanistan to know how invested the American people are the success of Afghanistan. And how we want to make sure that Afghanistan succeeds and builds a democracy and builds a place of rule of law and where the rights of women and men are protected.

VOA: When you leave the White House in one year, will you continue your commitment for Afghanistan? What do you want your legacy to be? What are your best years in the White House and why?

Mrs. Bush: I certainly hope to continue my commitment to Afghanistan, I hope for the rest of my life. I think it’s sort of ironic when I look back on my childhood in 1957 when I was 11 years old and in the 6^th grade in Midland, Texas, I wrote my school report on Afghanistan. And of course when I wrote that report, I saw Afghanistan as this very exotic country, that was a long way away, and I would never guessed that I would have gotten to Afghanistan or that I would have such a strong feeling of affection for Afghanistan as an adult.

When we leave a year from now, we will build a presidential library and I hope that Afghanistan will be a big part of library and I hope that I can continue to serve on the US Afghan Women’s Council, the meeting that you just saw today, because it will not just be government sponsored, but hopefully be a part of Georgetown University.

So I look forward to those years in hosting Afghan women and men at the Bush library and to continue my support to Afghanistan and I also hope to visit Afghanistan as a citizen.

VOA: And your best memories?

Mrs. Bush: And certainly my best memories, many of them have to do with Afghanistan. To see the dramatic… changes there and to see girls in school in Afghanistan, I mean, that’s really an incredible chance for me—to have the chance to see the country change so dramatically because of help and intervention of the United States.