Laura Bush visits Afghanistan

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan, June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. first lady Laura Bush met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday and visited Bamiyan, home of the giant statues of Buddha destroyed by the Taliban.

Bush's half-day visit was meant to highlight social progress in the country since U.S. and NATO forces overthrew the Taliban-led government in 2001, CNN reported, adding the First Lady also met with female police trainees and toured the construction site of an orphanage being built by the Afghan-U.S. Women's Council.

Bush has long been associated with efforts to restore human rights to Afghan women and to promote education and training for them, CNN said.

At Bamiyan, the first lady marveled at what remained of the colossal, 6th-century twin Buddha statues carved into the face of a sandstone cliff. The Taliban government partially destroyed them in 2001. UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency, is attempting to restore one of the statues, CNN reported.

"It's more important than ever for the international community to support Afghanistan, certainly for the United States to support Afghanistan … because we don't want it to be the way it was when the Buddhas were destroyed," Bush said.