Textbooks for Afghanistan: Not yet history

The Economist:

THE international community's perception of Afghanistan over the past 12 years may be in for a bracing shot of reality when the foreign troops leave in 2014. Political agendas back home are shifting in ways that are likely to change the long-distance view of this country. In particular, the effects of the past decade of Western intervention will need no longer be viewed through rose-coloured glasses.

Meanwhile Afghan children's perception of their own history over the past four decades is being subjected to a surreal bit of air-brushing, thanks to a few departing American agencies. The new edition of textbooks for Afghanistan's high schools were paid for partly by the American forces' foreign-aid arm, the Commander's Emergency Response Programme. Cultural advisers to the American army revised these books with an eye to eliminating any inappropriate material such as might, for instance, incite religious intolerance or violence.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 1, 2012 3:37 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas