Press Release 2005

Last Week’s Murder at The School in Malek Kaber, Kandahar Province

May 9, 2005

For more than 20 years, under cruel regimes, Afghan’s youth were denied the opportunity to learn. The despots who ruled this proud nation knew that an educated man very rarely becomes a slave to a twisted ideology.

During the past three years much progress has been made in providing educational opportunities to the new generation of Afghan children. Their now bright future scares the forces of evil who wish to keep people ignorant.

Last week in Kandhar that evil surfaced when a man was allegedly murdered because his uncle had allowed his land to be used for a school. This murder is a tragedy both for his family and for the people of Afghanistan who desire a better life for their children.

As Nobel laureate in economics, Gary Becker said, “The only investment with the possibility of an infinite return to a nation is the investment in its young people.” My colleagues and I at the US Mission to Afghanistan are appalled at this attack on the future of this country. We are hopeful that the perpetrator of this murder be brought to swift justice.