Rumsfeld makes surprise Afghan visit

[Dover]

Rumsfeld makes surprise Afghan visit
He views efforts to prepare for a presidential vote and end instability

New York Times

JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made an unannounced trip Wednesday to a provincial reconstruction headquarters here to view preparations for October's presidential election and to review efforts to curb insurgents and the narcotics trade.

"It is so clear that the Afghan people are winning the struggle to rebuild this nation," Rumsfeld said during his seventh visit to Afghanistan since a U.S.-led coalition routed al-Qaida and its Taliban hosts in late 2001. His return, made with Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was meant to show that the Bush administration has not forgotten its first front in the campaign against terror, even as more troops and money are devoted to Iraq.

During his visit to a provincial reconstruction team, one of 16 in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld was shown examples of progress in the effort by the new government in Kabul and its American allies to end decades of war and political instability.

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During his daylong visit to Afghanistan, Rumsfeld also toured the U.N. election headquarters in Kabul, where young Afghans entered voter registration information into computers in a warehouse-size room.

At a news conference with Rumsfeld in Kabul, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan leader who is seeking the presidency by popular vote, said 9.4 million people had registered, more than 40 percent of them women.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/2731218