Depressing Afghan Update:

UN Report Finds Afghan Standard Of Living Among World’s Lowest.
The New York Times (2/22, Gall) reports three years “after the United States drove the Taliban out of Afghanistan and vowed to rebuild, the warshattered country ranked 173rd of 178 countries in the United Nations 2004 Human Development Index, according to a new report from the United Nations.” It was “trailed only by a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Burundi, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone.” In addition to “ranking Afghanistan in the development index for the first time, the report warned that Afghanistan could revert to anarchy if its dire poverty, poor health and insecurity were not improved.”