In this bulletin:

• Afghan aid money spent on high salaries
• Afghan peace hurt by failed aid pledges: agencies
• Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan to bolster economic, cultural ties
• Afghan president congratulates new Pakistani PM 
• 4 police, 2 others killed in Afghanistan
• France: No decision yet on Afghan forces
• Turkish PM: Cheney Didn't Ask For Help In Afghanistan
• We can't just extend the mission
• Tribal animosity drawing Taliban recruits
• The Haqqani Network and Cross-Border Terrorism in Afghanistan
• Top WFP Official in Canada to highlight food price rise crisis
• ADB initiative to revive TAP gas pipeline project
• Communities 'stand up to violence' as the new school year begins
• Challenges in girls' education
• Supporting teachers and students
• NMSU receives grant to help Afghanistan restore its water, agriculture infrastructure
• Dehrawut Road Of Urozgan To Asphalt Soon

Afghan aid money spent on high salaries

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - Too much money meant for Afghanistan aid is wasted, with a vast amount spent on foreign workers' high salaries, security and living arrangements, according to a report from humanitarian groups published Tuesday.

The prospects for peace in Afghanistan are being undermined because Western countries are failing to deliver on aid promises — and because much of the aid money they do send is going to expatriate workers, according to the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an alliance of 94 international aid agencies.

Since 2001, the international community has pledged $25 billion in help but has delivered only $15 billion, the alliance said. Of that $15 billion, some 40 percent of it — or $6 billion — goes back to donor countries in corporate profits and consultant salaries, the report found.

"A vast amount of aid is absorbed by high salaries, living, security, transport and accommodation costs for expatriates working for consulting firms or contractors," the report said. The costs are increasing with a recent deterioration in security, it said.

The cost of a full-time expatriate consultant working in Afghanistan is around $250,000, according to the group.

This is some 200 times the average annual salary of an Afghan civil servant, who is paid less than $1,000" per year, the report said.

Amy Frumin, an international affairs fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations who spent a year in Afghanistan as an officer on a U.S. Agency for International Development reconstruction team, said blaming high expat salaries is unfair.

"You have to pay them good money to do that. They're still having trouble finding people to fill these positions. It's a dangerous place. Not many people are willing to risk their limbs," she said.

The report said that Afghanistan' s biggest donor, USAID, the U.S. government's aid arm, allocates close to half of its funds to five large U.S. contractors and that "it is clear that substantial amounts of aid continue to be absorbed in corporate profits."

The five companies are KBR, the Louis Berger Group, Chemonics International, Bearing Point and Dyncorp International, the report said.

Donors, especially the United States, should ensure the primary objective of aid programs is poverty reduction and that they address genuine Afghan needs and build Afghan capacity, it said.

The report also said the United States has not delivered $5 billion worth of aid it pledged to help rebuild Afghanistan, and other donors have fallen short by about that same amount.

Jim Kunder, acting deputy administrator of USAID, said he recognized there are always concerns about the speed in which aid is delivered but he said the envisioned work is being done.

"The U.S. government is on track to provide the aid to Afghanistan that it pledged," Kunder said in a telephone interview from Washington.

He said the report didn't recognize that often much of the cash earmarked for projects isn't spent until the work is completed. Roads and schools are being built and the Afghans are being helped to create democratic institutions even though the final bills haven't come in, he said.

USAID said it had pledged $25.8 billion, and of that $17.4 billion has been spent or is in the pipeline. Kunder said the money has gone to a broad variety of projects, including "supporting the national elections, constructing roads, reducing infant mortality by 22 percent, putting more than four million Afghan children in schools."

Previous reports by aid groups have said the international community is spending far less aid money in Afghanistan per capita — and putting far fewer soldiers on the ground — than it has in previous conflicts.

In the two years following the U.S.-led invasion, Afghanistan received $57 per capita in aid, while Bosnia and East Timor received $679 and $233 per capita respectively, the ACBAR report said.

Afghan peace hurt by failed aid pledges: agencies

By Jon Hemming March 25, 2008

KABUL (Reuters) - Peace in Afghanistan is being undermined by the failure of Western nations to deliver promised assistance, aid agencies said on Tuesday.

Afghanistan relies on international aid for 90 percent of its spending as it tries to rebuild state institutions shattered by nearly 30 years of war and at the same time fight off a renewed Taliban insurgency that killed 6,000 people last year.

Foreign spending on aid and development is dwarfed by that spent on international military operations in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military alone now spends some $100 million a day fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, but spending on aid by all donors since 2001 amounts to only $7 million a day.

"Given the links between development and security, the effectiveness of aid also has a major impact on peace and stability," the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) said in a report.

"Yet thus far aid has been insufficient and in many cases wasteful and ineffective," said ACBAR, an umbrella group for non-governmental organizations working in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan received just $57 per capita in aid in the two years after international intervention, compared with $679 a head in Bosnia and $233 in East Timor, it said.

The international community has pledged to spend some $25 billion on reconstruction and development in Afghanistan.

But, the report said, "just $15 billion in aid has so far been spent, of which it is estimated a staggering 40 percent has returned to donor countries in corporate profits and salaries."

While there are problems delivering development due to poor security, government corruption and the ability of the country to absorb aid, major donors have fallen far behind on their pledges, ACBAR said.

The United States, by far the biggest donor, has paid out only half of the $10 billion it committed in aid to Afghanistan for the period 2002-2008, the Asia Development Bank and India only a third of their pledged assistance for the same period.

Two-thirds of international assistance to Afghanistan bypasses the Afghan government, undermining the rebuilding of its state institutions. Donors also do not coordinate well among themselves and with the Afghan government, the report said.

Afghanistan called for funds to be channeled through government coffers.

"The Afghan government has always said that implementing and funding projects through non-governmental resources costs much more and relying on international experts does not lead to money coming into the country but in fact the money is sent out," said Afghan presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada.

Fears of Afghan official corruption soaking up donor funds may be misplaced, analysts say, as countries such as Britain and Japan that support the government directly, channel assistance through an independently audited World Bank trust fund.

ACBAR called on donors to increase spending on development and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, fulfill their pledges of aid, coordinate spending more effectively and channel more funds through the Afghan government.

But the European Commission said the ACBAR report miscalculated the aid commitment and distribution figures.

"We are delivering at the moment, there is no backlog, there is no delay, shortfall or lagging behind," EC spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann told a regular news briefing in Brussels.

She said criticisms of aid efficiency were already being addressed: "We know there is always room for improvement and donors are working on that," she said, adding that one of the problems was the low absorption capacity of the government.

The maximum figure for Commission spending on technical assistance through NGOs that did not stay in the country was 30 percent, Hohmann said.

"If you go to a country that needs to be rebuilt from scratch, you need to import that knowledge and the expertise, and of course that doesn't come free of charge," she said.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi in Kabul and David Brunnstrom in Brussels; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan to bolster economic, cultural ties

Dushanbe, March 25, IRNA

The three Persian speaking neighboring countries of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan here on Tuesday issued a joint communique for expansion of trilateral economic and cultural relations.

The statement, including a prelude and 12 clauses, was endorsed by Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Tajik and Afghan counterparts Khan Zarifi and Rangin Dadfar Sepanta respectively.

The document states that the three foreign ministers had in their meeting discussed issues of trilateral interest as well as regional and international issues in a friendly atmosphere, reaching the agreement to hold regular consultation on political issues and enhancing cooperation for promotion of regional stability and security.

The three sides will take joint efforts against such phenomena as terrorism, extremism, internationally organized crimes, smuggle of drugs and other new challenges and threats.

The three sides will implement a June 2003 trilateral protocol for passenger and cargo transfer on the international level and they will follow up a project for laying railway track stretching from Iran's Sangan to Afghan Herat and Shirkhan and from there to Tajikistan's Dushanbe.

They also stressed implementation of a 2005 energy project which foresees setting up a 500 kilovolt high voltage power transmission line from Iran to Afghan cities of Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif and from there to Tajikistan's border.

The Tajik party too has suggested establishment of a hydraulic power plant on a Tajik domestic river.

The three sides agreed on formation of a joint investment company based on their laws and international standards to run with domestic and foreign financial resources.

The three neighbors will based on the agreement cooperate in providing skilled manpower for recruitment in due projects.

Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan will facilitate their nationals' visit to their territories and to this end they will open up onsulate officials in the cities they agreed to.

They will based on the agreement have cooperation in the fields of education, science, health, cultural heritage and tourism and set up a TV network in Dushanbe to prepare and broadcast Farsi, Tajik, Dari and Pashtun programs.

The three foreign ministers also agreed on holding a ceremony in commemoration of the great Farsi poet Abu Abdullah Rudaki in Dushanbe, Tus, Tehran and Balkh.

They also stressed trilateral cooperation within framework of the UN, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and other international and regional organizations.

The three parties also agreed on formation a follow up council at the level of their deputies foreign minister to follow up implementation of agreements regarding expansion of trilateral political, economic and cultural ties. The first meeting of such a council would be held in Kabul this year.

Foreign Ministers of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan have termed outcome of their Dushanbe meeting "positive" and stressed continuation of such meetings in the future.

Afghan president congratulates new Pakistani PM 
www.chinaview. cn  2008-03-25 20:30:05
KABUL, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday congratulates new Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Riza Gilani on assuming office and hoped that the new government will overcome extremism.

"Terrorism and extremism are the problems of the region and we are hopeful that the new government of Pakistan will overcome the menace," a statement issued by the Presidential Palace said.

Riza Gilani, a loyalist to slain Benazir Bhutto, the late chairperson of Pakistan People's Party, was sworn in as Pakistani prime minister on Tuesday.

The Afghan president in the message also hoped that relations between Kabul and Islamabad would improve further during the new government of Pakistan.

4 police, 2 others killed in Afghanistan

Associated Press, Tue Mar 25, 3:09 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - Gunmen have attacked a group of police along Afghanistan's border with Iran, killing four police and two civilians.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary blamed the Tuesday attack near Kalata Nazar in Herat Province on the "enemy" of Afghanistan. But it wasn't clear if that meant Taliban fighters, drug runners or criminals.

Smugglers carry tons of heroin made in Afghanistan over the border into Iran each year.

Bashery said four police from the country's border force were killed along with two civilians. The gunmen fled the scene. 

Afghan troops kill Taliban rebels after ambush

KABUL March 25 (Reuters) - Afghan forces killed and wounded a number of Taliban militants after fighting off an ambush in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan Defence Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Taliban insurgents have vowed to intensify attacks on Afghan and foreign troops countrywide, launch a wave of suicide bombings and attack supply lines from Pakistan this year in their campaign to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government.

Taliban fighters ambushed an Afghan army patrol in the Mizan district of Zabul province on Monday, the Defence Ministry said.

"The operation is still going on and we are assessing information about the precise figure of enemy casualties," said Defence Ministry spokesman Zahir Murad.

Also in Zabul province, the Taliban killed an Afghan civilian accused of spying for NATO troops, a spokesman for the hardline Islamist movement said.

Elsewhere, four Afghan policemen and two civilians were killed when the Taliban ambushed their vehicle in the Ghoryan district of Herat province close to western border with Iran on Monday, a senior police official said.

Some 6,000 people, around a third of them civilians, were killed in fighting in Afghanistan last year. (Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Alex Richardson)

France: No decision yet on Afghan forces

By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press / March 25, 2008

PARIS - France's defense minister said Tuesday that military strength alone won't bring stability to Afghanistan, even as France considers increasing the number of troops there.

France has not yet decided how it will boost its contribution to NATO's Afghan mission beyond the 1,500 troops it has there already, Defense Minister Herve Morin told The Associated Press. Most operate in the capital, Kabul, and its northern suburbs.

The decision is expected at a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, next week.

Any enhanced French role must be considered as part of a "global approach" in Afghanistan, Morin said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has said as much in a letter to counterparts, he said.

"Even if you have military control, it's not enough," Morin said. "There has to be an accompanying plan that allows the Afghans to progressively create the conditions of their own development — and thus their own autonomy — and to take their destiny in their hands."

He declined to confirm recent newspaper reports in Britain and France that France's government would contribute about 1,000 more troops, saying "there is no figure."

Speculation has been widespread about whether new French troops would be deployed in southern Afghanistan, a key hub of insurgent violence.

Morin appeared to suggest, however, that Paris would not send troops to the south. A deployment to the eastern part of Afghanistan would be more contiguous with its forces in Kabul.

Canada has warned that it would pull its 2,500 troops from southern Afghanistan's dangerous Kandahar province if other NATO allies do not offer more help. Canada wants 1,000 more troops for anti-Taliban efforts.

More than 8,000 people died in violence in Afghanistan last year — the highest annual toll since the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other senior U.S. officials have appealed to NATO allies to boost what has grown to a 43,000-strong force in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials have repeatedly vented frustration that appeals for more troops have fallen flat. Gates has even warned of a fissure within the NATO alliance over the issue.

Turkish PM: Cheney Didn't Ask For Help In Afghanistan

March 25, 2008 - SARAJEVO, Bosnia (AFP)--Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney didn't ask Turkey to send more troops to Afghanistan.

"We were not asked, in any way, to increase the number of (Turkish) soldiers in Afghanistan, during the talks with Cheney on Monday," Erdogan, in a visit to Bosnia, told journalists.

The request was not made "during the meeting of the two delegations nor during the one-on-one talks," he said.

Cheney met Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul, and chief of general staff, General Yasar Buyukanit Monday in Ankara on the last leg of a nine-day overseas tour.

Washington has been pushing its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, including Turkey, to step up efforts to help rebuild war-wracked Afghanistan and crush the Taliban Islamist militia ahead of an alliance summit in Bucharest next week. Turkish authorities remained split over the issue.

Last week, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Ankara would soon decide whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, a day after Buyukanit opposed the idea, saying that his forces were already busy fighting outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party separatists.

Turkish army chief says sending troops to Afghanistan is state policy
www.chinaview. cn  2008-03-25 07:45:16
ANKARA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Chief of General Staff Yasar Buyukanit said Monday that sending Turkish troops to Afghanistan was not the policy of Turkish Armed Forces, but a state policy, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Buyukanit made the remarks at a reception held on the occasion of Pakistan's National Day in Ankara, capital of Turkey.

Upon a question on the dispatch of Turkish troops to Afghanistan, Buyukanit was quoted as saying that "this is not the policy of Turkish Armed Forces, this is a state policy. I will only say that".

Turkish government and military are at odds over sending more combat troops to Afghanistan, local newspaper Turkish Daily News reported last Thursday.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said the government might consider sending more combat troops to Afghanistan." Turkey has its own terrorism problem but on the other hand it has responsibilities of being a NATO member when fighting against terrorism," Babacan said during a joint press conference with the visiting Afghan FM Rengin Spanta Wednesday.

"The general tendency is to support Afghanistan in all ways, including military ones," he added.

Spanta, for his part, told reporters that he had asked for Turkey's support in fighting against Afghanistan' s terrorism problem. "Their response was positive."

However, Buyukanit had said earlier that the military would not dispatch even a single troop to the southern region of Afghanistan to fight against the Taliban.

"Our troops in Kabul are under the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), which has no mission to fight against terrorism. Our troops are not there for this purpose," said Buyukanit.

NATO and the United States are pressuring allies to do more for the 42,000-strong mission in Afghanistan. NATO will discuss the Afghanistan mission in the upcoming NATO summit that will take place in April in Bucharest, Romania.

We can't just extend the mission

Our panel found that more of the same in Afghanistan was not good enough
JOHN MANLEY From Tuesday's Globe and Mail March 25, 2008 at 6:45 AM EDT

Parliament's recent vote to conditionally extend the mission in Afghanistan sets the table for a historic opportunity to remodel Canada's Afghan mission. It also enables Canada, working with the United Nations and like-minded countries, to significantly influence how the international community deals with failed and failing states. But these achievements will only be realized if the opportunity to do things better is not lost.

Ottawa's bookshelves are full of reports by panels, task forces, special committees and royal commissions. Many of these were forgotten almost as soon as they were published.

From that point of view, the Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan was a roaring success. Embraced by the government, it provided the Official Opposition enough room to be able to reach a consensus with the government. The two major political parties put aside partisanship on this issue (something very rare in this period of minority government) and found room to compromise. To that extent, Canadians should be pleased. An election in which the parties attempted to differentiate themselves on the question of Canada's future in Afghanistan would have made Canadians and our allies very uncomfortable and may have increased threats to Canadian troops in the field.

Of concern, however, is the degree to which the panel's report has been reduced to the simple proposition that Canada should stay in Afghanistan if NATO provides an additional 1,000 troops. A military partner in Kandahar as a condition for Canada's continuing security role was a key recommendation, but, if that is the only aspect that receives attention, our panel's efforts will have been almost as much in vain as those whose reports sit on the bookshelves of Ottawa. (It is worth noting that the condition has served to increase the focus of several NATO countries on the situation in Afghanistan and may have encouraged France to possibly increase its troop commitment, something that was by no means certain when the panel reported in January.) Our panel found that more of the same in Afghanistan was not good enough. Our assessment, overall, was that at the present time, NATO and its allies are failing in the mission in Afghanistan. And the consequences of not reversing this failure would be severe for global security, for NATO, and for the UN and its ability to intervene effectively in failed and failing states.

We need a new and different approach to our mission in Afghanistan. In particular, there must be greater emphasis on diplomacy, reconstruction, development and building Afghan institutions of governance.

To get the needed results, we recommended that the Prime Minister personally lead a diplomatic initiative, making Canada's voice heard to a degree commensurate with our sacrifice. The objective would be not simply additional troops in Kandahar, but a comprehensive political-military plan for NATO, the UN and participating countries. Six years after the collapse of the Taliban government, we were shocked to find so little co-ordination and commonality among key participants in Afghanistan.

In addition, we urged the Prime Minister to demand concerted efforts by the government of Afghanistan to improve governance by tackling corruption and ensuring delivery of basic services to the Afghan people. Many Afghans are lost to the insurgency because they find their government to be corrupt and ineffective. Insurgencies are rarely, if ever, resolved by military means, so Canada should encourage political reconciliation with those who will renounce violence and accept the democratic constitution.

Finally, we called for forceful representations with Afghanistan' s neighbours, especially Pakistan, to reduce risks to regional stability.

In general, our panel found that the civilian effort in Afghanistan has been drastically overshadowed by the military one, imperilling support for the mission. Canada's light civilian engagement (47 people in the country) compared to the military (about 2,500) belies the importance of the civilian component of the mission. Enhancing our civilian content would reflect the priorities of Canadians and the needs of Afghans. Choosing and funding development projects that meet the needs of the Afghan population for roads, irrigation, electricity, schools and health care would contribute significantly to winning the hearts and minds of the people who need to be convinced that their lives will be improved by supporting their government rather than the insurgency.

In adopting our report, Parliament added a definite termination date - an entirely political decision that can be revisited at a later date if Parliament so chooses. We did not recommend a fixed date for the end of the military mission because we could find no operational rationale for any particular date. Our focus was on the task that our military must undertake - to train Afghan forces to take over security responsibility in their country.

If the 2011 date for the withdrawal of Canadian forces is to be met, the government must establish a series of clear milestones to be met between now and then. One thing is certain: Afghanistan' s development and governance challenges will not be fully met by 2011. Let's hope it's not necessary to create another panel in 2010 to advise on Canada's role after 2011.

The world will face more cases of needing to intervene in failed states, and Afghanistan is a test case. Canada's renewed commitment provides us with an opportunity to shape these approaches. Let us not squander the opportunity.

John Manley, a former Liberal foreign minister, was chairman of the Harper government's Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan.

Taliban militants kill Afghan 'US spy' in Pakistan: official
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) — Taliban militants shot dead an Afghan refugee in a Pakistani tribal area, accusing him of spying for US forces operating in neighbouring Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

A note left on the body of 40-year-old Abdullah Jan said he "met his fate because he was spying for the Americans," said an official in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district.

"The man was shot from close range and his body was found near a paramilitary camp five kilometres (around three miles) west of Miranshah," the official said.

Residents said Taliban militants had kidnapped the man last week from Miranshah bazaar.

Militants have killed several tribesmen in recent months, accusing them of spying for the US-led coalition forces across the border.

The rugged tribal region is a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who are accused by US and Afghan governments of using the area to launch cross border attacks on international coalition troops deployed in Afghanistan.

Tribal animosity drawing Taliban recruits

According to The Globe's survey, the majority of insurgents in the south do not come from tribes well-represented in local government

GRAEME SMITH gsmith@globeandmail .com March 25, 2008 Globe and Mail, Canada

Canadian troops and their allies have been drawn into an ancient tribal feud that simmers beneath the conflict in southern Afghanistan.

In a sample of ordinary insurgents, 42 fighters in Kandahar province were asked by The Globe and Mail to identify their own tribe, and the results point to a divide within the Taliban ranks: Only five named themselves as members of the three major tribes most closely associated with the government, suggesting that tribal animosity has become a factor that drives the recruitment of insurgents.

"This government is a family business," said a prominent Afghan aid worker in Kandahar. "The other tribes get angry when a few tribes have all the power."

Afghan tribes often share the same ethnicity, religion, language and culture, but they're divided along ancestral lines that resemble the branches of a huge family tree. Little except bloodlines distinguishes most tribes from each other, but struggles for power among the tribes have been a source of bloodshed for centuries in this harsh land.

The small survey did not include enough interviews to draw firm conclusions about the tribal makeup of the Taliban, and the results may be biased by the tribal identity of the researcher who conducted the interviews since it would have been easier for him to find his fellow tribesmen in Taliban-controlled districts.

But the findings appear to support the impression of many analysts that the Kandahar insurgency draws fighters most heavily from the tribes outside of the Zirak Durrani tribal federation, which dominates the local government.

The Taliban interviewed claimed origins from 19 different tribes, all of them part of the Pashtun ethnic group that occupies most of southern Afghanistan. The largest numbers came from the Noorzai and Eshaqzai tribes, which accounted for 16 of the 42 surveyed. Many members of those two tribes live in the most dangerous parts of the Panjwai valley, where Canadian troops have been fighting for the past two years, and they often complain about being alienated from Kandahar's government, with little representation in the administration.

The Popalzai tribe of President Hamid Karzai, by contrast, had relatively few members in the sample of insurgents. Only two Taliban identified themselves as Popalzai, and they appeared to have personal reasons for participating in the insurgency: One said his family had been bombed by foreign troops and the other said the government repeatedly eradicated his opium fields. There was a similar lack of insurgents from other tribes usually aligned with the government.

"Currently there is war between the tribes," said a former Afghan intelligence officer, whose experience in Kandahar spans three decades.

But another observer said the friction between tribes still hasn't reached that point.

"We don't have a true tribal war here, yet," said Neamat Arghandabi, head of the National Islamic Society of Afghan Youth, who said he remembers such feuding during the period of chaos in the early 1990s that followed the withdrawal of Soviet forces. "It's the worst," he said. "It has no borders, everybody fights each other and you have to hide your roots. But for now, it's like competition among political parties."

The fact that certain tribes are more heavily represented than others within the Taliban appears to be a touchy point with the insurgent leadership, which prefers to describe religion as the group's unifying force. The Globe and Mail's researcher was sharply criticized by Taliban when they learned he had been surveying the tribal background of insurgents.

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, scoffed at the idea of a tribally motivated insurgency as he watched The Globe's videos at his home in Kabul. "Among the Taliban, there is no difference between the tribes," Mr. Zaeef said. "The tribe issue among Taliban is not important."

But academics who monitor Afghanistan are paying increasing attention to the issue. Thomas Johnson, director of the Culture and Conflict Studies program at the Naval Postgraduate School in California, was among the first academics to describe the tribal underpinnings of the war.

Three tribes that dominated Kandahar in the years after the Soviet withdrawal, the Popalzai, Barakzai and Alokozai, all from the Zirak Durrani group, lost significant power when the Taliban swept the country from 1994 to 1996, Mr. Johnson said. In their place, the tribal groups aligned with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar installed themselves in the seats of government. The Taliban leader's own tribe, the Hotak branch of the Ghilzai federation, occupied seven of the senior positions in Mullah Omar's regime, according to Mr. Johnson's analysis.

The latest government in Kandahar has largely returned the Zirak Durranis to power, Mr. Johnson said, which reflects a tribal struggle that goes back hundreds of years.

Afghan government officials vigorously disagree with emphasizing the tribal element of the conflict, framing the war as a struggle against terrorism, but Mr. Johnson said they are playing down the role of the tribes.

"[They] can't face reality, and it is a recognition that the real conflict runs much deeper and will be much more difficult to resolve," Mr. Johnson said.

But many experts say it's wrong to view the tribal aspect of the war as a reason for despair, because the notion that the tribes always fight each other is false. Afghanistan has enjoyed decades of peace among the tribes, as recently as the 1960s and 1970s.

"Power dynamics have something to do with it; there were relatively more Ghilzai in the Taliban government, and that gave the current Durrani leadership an excuse to under-represent them in government," said Sarah Chayes, an American author who lives in Kandahar. "But I think it is wrong to characterize this conflict as a manifestation of age-old tribal conflicts, or as a kind of fight for the spoils among groups eagerly trying to loot Afghanistan. Treating it that way will be a self-fulfilling prophesy."

The tribes have gained power as an alternative political force only because the central government is weak, Ms. Chayes said, and bringing a clean and responsible government to the province would likely dampen Afghans' enthusiasm for the tribal system.

"Tribes that feel themselves to be mistreated by the government may act in a concerted way, like the Alokozais in Khakrez district deserting en masse to the Taliban, but this has been a reaction to the very tribal dimension of the actions of certain Kandahar leaders," Ms. Chayes said.

But a wealthy member of the Noorzai tribe, a group that often complains of being disenfranchised, said he thinks the cycle of tribes squabbling for power has already gained its own momentum and will be difficult to stop.

"Some warlords were against our tribes, and they wanted revenge against them," said Din Mohammed, a grey-bearded elder who owns a construction company. "They wanted to push these tribes out of the new government, put pressure on them, so these people went to Pakistan. And Pakistan supported them and sent them back to Afghanistan, and now the fighting is more and more."

Tribes of Kandahar

The Kandahar insurgency draws fighters most heavily from the tribes outside the Zirak Durrani tribal federation, which dominates the local government.

PASHTUN

An estimated 13 million Pashtuns live in Afghanistan, mostly in the south and east. In Kandahar, they have two main branches: The Durrani and Ghilzai.

DURRANI

ZIRAK DURRANI and PANJPAI DURRANI

Tribal identity often influences a person's politics, and whether he or she supports or opposes the government of President Hamid Karzai. Zirak Durranis tend to favour the government, while Panjpai Durranis and Ghilzais often feel disenfranchised.

Government-aligned tribes

POPALZAI

President Hamid Karzai rules in the capital, while his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, plays a major role in Kandahar as chairman of the provincial council.

ALOKOZAI

The late Mullah Naqib was the President's biggest ally in the south, and his tribesmen remain an important bulwark around the city.

BARAKZAI

Former Kandahar governor Gul Aga Shirzai retains influence and business ties to the province through his tribe.

ACHAKZAI

Abdul Razik, a flamboyant young police chief who controls the road crossing to Pakistan, is among this tribe's leading members.

Non-government- aligned tribes

NOORZAI

The politician Arif Noorzai may lead this tribe officially, but arguably its most influential member is Hafz Majid, a senior Taliban leader. The Noorzai are heavily represented west of Kandahar city.

ALIZAI

A bitter conflict between this tribe's leader in Kandahar, Habibullah Jan, and Ahmed Wali Karzai was a source of instability in the province until the two men reached a negotiated truce.

ESHAQZAI

With many of their home villages in the conflict zones of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, they are reportedly fighting to defend their opium business.

GHILZAI, HOTAK, TOKHI, NASIR, TARAKI,

The Haqqani Network and Cross-Border Terrorism in Afghanistan

The Jamestown Foundation

03/24/2008 - By Imtiaz Ali (from Terrorism Monitor, March 24) - There has been an increase recently in alleged missile strikes inside Pakistani territory by U.S. forces operating across the border in Afghanistan. The attacks come at a time when there is a growing call in the United States for strikes on Pakistani territory to take out al-Qaeda safe havens believed to exist in the tribal agencies along the Afghan border. NATO military commanders in Kabul have time and again expressed their dissatisfaction with the performance of Pakistani security agencies in stopping the infiltration of armed Taliban groups like the “Haqqani Network” from Pakistan’s tribal areas into Afghanistan. Despite the fact that U.S. authorities have consistently expressed their respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty, they are simultaneously growing impatient with the growing strength of the militants on the Pakistani side of the border. According to U.S. officials, the cross-border activities of these militants have a direct impact on U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

A March 12 missile attack targeted a home in the town of Lwara Mundi in North Waziristan, killing two women and two children. Pakistan quickly registered a protest with the Coalition forces in Afghanistan, deploring what an official called “the killing of innocent people.” However, U.S.-led Coalition officials in Kabul said that the target of the precision-guided missile was a safe house of the Haqqani Network based in the border region of the North Waziristan agency (Daily Nation [Lahore], March 14). Just a day after Pakistan lodged its protest over the attack in Lwara Mundi, another missile attack on March 16 left as many as 20 killed, including a number of foreign fighters, when a house was targeted in Shahnawaz Kheil Doog village near Wana, the regional headquarters of South Waziristan. It is believed that the missiles were fired from two U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the belief that the house was being used as a training camp for terrorists (Daily Post [Lahore], March 14). Though a U.S. Central Command spokesman would only say the missiles were not fired by any military aircraft—Predator UAVs are operated by the CIA—U.S. forces took responsibility for the earlier “precision-guided ammunition strike” on Lwara Mundi but made it clear that the target was the Haqqani Network (Daily Mail [Islamabad], March 14; AFP, March 13; Reuters, March 17). A spokesman for Coalition forces in Afghanistan said that Pakistan was informed after the attack, not before. The spokesman made it clear that U.S. forces will respond in the future as well if they identify a threat from across the border in Pakistan’s tribal belt (Daily Times [Lahore], March 14). Though the Pakistani tribal region has been a center of concern since late 2001 when hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters took refuge there, the lawless belt between Pakistan and Afghanistan is now receiving attention for the growing activities of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban group which has been spearheading the insurgency against U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The “Haqqani Network” is a group of militants led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani. Jalaluddin, who is said to be in his late 70s, is a noted Taliban commander with a bounty on his head and a place on the U.S. most-wanted list. Jalaluddin Haqqani is considered to be the closest aide of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and was a noted mujahideen commander in the 1980s resistance against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. He rose to prominence after playing a leading role in the defeat of Muhammad Najibullah’s communist forces in Khost in March 1991. After the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 1995, the senior Haqqani joined the Taliban movement and rose to the top echelon of power in the regime. He remained a minister during the Taliban government and a top consultant to Mullah Omar. The senior Haqqani has rarely been seen in public since the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001, when he is believed to have crossed into Pakistan’s Waziristan Tribal Agency to evade the advance of Coalition forces. There are continuous rumors that he is seriously ill or has even died. However, his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, alias Khalifa, has not only filled the void created by the absence of his veteran jihadi father, but his well-organized group, known as the Haqqani Network, has emerged as the most dangerous and challenging foe for the Coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The Haqqani Network is based in the Dande Darpa Khel village near Miramshah, headquarters of the North Waziristan Tribal Agency. The town is about 10 miles from the Afghan border. Sirajuddin, believed to be in his early thirties, has a $200,000 bounty on his head. He belongs to the Zadran tribe of Afghanistan, which also has roots on the Pakistani side of the border. Residents in Dande Darpa Khel say that the junior Haqqani grew up in this small and remote town of North Waziristan, once the operational headquarters of his father’s jihadist activities. It is said that he attended the now defunct religious seminary which his father founded in the early 1980s in the town of Bande Darpa Khel. Though he could not be considered a religious scholar, Sirajuddin certainly sharpened his jihad skills under the guidance of his father. Considered to be the leader of a new generation of Taliban militants on both sides of the border and a bridge between the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, NATO officials have recently declared him as one of the most dangerous Taliban commanders in the ongoing insurgency in Afghanistan (Los Angeles Times, March 14). He is suspected as the mastermind behind the deadly attack on Kabul's only five-star hotel last January, which left eight people killed, including three foreigners (Daily Times, March 4). A U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base described Sirajuddin’s role in a series of devastating suicide bombings: “We believe him to be much more brutal and much more interested in attacking and killing civilians. He has no regard for human life, even those of his Afghan compatriots” (AP, February 21). The United States has offered a $200,000 bounty for Sirajuddin, who is expanding his operations from east Afghanistan into the central and southern regions.

Sirajuddin has evaded capture several times despite attempts by Pakistani security forces to arrest him at his house and seminary in Miramshah in North Waziristan. In 2005 Pakistani officials raided his headquarters in Dande Darpa Khel, the religious seminary and residential compound used by his network. The raiding party seized huge caches of weapons and ammunitions but Sirajuddin again escaped arrest (Dawn [Karachi], September 15, 2005).

Sirajuddin is also reported to have taken credit for a suicide-truck bombing in Khost on March 3 that killed two NATO soldiers and two Afghan civilians (Xinhua, March 13). The attack on a government building involved a truck loaded with explosives, drums of petrol, mines and gas cylinders. A Taliban videotape of the bombing was released on March 20, including a statement from the German-born suicide bomber, Cuneyt Ciftci—also known as Saad Abu Furkan—“The time has arrived to give sacrifices to Islam. Since we lack resources to fight the enemy, we will have to turn our bodies into bombs” (Newkerala.com, March 20).

On the Pakistani side of the border, Sirajuddin’s influence has been growing as a “revered jihadist commander.” He strongly opposed Maulvi Nazir’s campaign against Uzbek and other foreign militants waged earlier this year by the militant tribal leader in South Waziristan (see Terrorism Monitor, January 11). He is reported to have played an important role in stopping the fighting between Maulvi Nazir’s tribal militia and Uzbek militants in Wana and the surrounding area in March last year. Sirajuddin took part in a tribal jirga, attempting to sort out differences between combatant foreigners and local militants, but the talks collapsed when Maulvi Nazir asked for the surrender of all foreign militants residing in the region bordering Afghanistan (Dawn, March 24, 2007). In late January, two arrested members of the Haqqani Network revealed that up to 200 suicide bombers had infiltrated into Pakistan’s cities in preparation for the current wave of bombings (Khabrain [Lahore], January 28).

Two months ago, one of Sirajuddin’s most important commanders, Darim Sedgai, was reported killed after being ambushed by unknown gunmen in Pakistan, though spokesmen for the Haqqani Network claim that Sedgai is recovering from his wounds (The News [Karachi], January 28). Coalition forces in Kabul confirmed the killing of Sedgai, who was known as a powerful commander of the Haqqani Network, overseeing the manufacture and smuggling of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) into Afghanistan. These activities led U.S. forces to post a $50,000 reward for information leading to his death or arrest. A native of the North Waziristan agency, Sedgai was a follower of Jalaluddin Haqqani and fought under his command with the mujahideen in Afghanistan. Until his reported death in January, Sedgai was an important leader of the Haqqani Network and was considered to be a close friend of Sirajuddin Haqqani (Pajhwok Afghan News, January 28).

Afghan officials as well as Coalition forces in Kabul have cited Sirajuddin’s use of North Waziristan as operational headquarter for his alleged cross-border terrorist activities as one example of Pakistan’s inability to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries in its tribal areas. Though the Pakistan government regards these claims as baseless, it is known that two years ago Sirajuddin issued a circular urging militants to continue their “jihad” against the United States and the Karzai government “till the last drop of blood.” But in the same statement he pointed out that “fighting Pakistan does not conform to Taliban policy… those who [continue to wage] an undeclared war against Pakistan are neither our friends nor shall we allow them in our ranks” (Dawn, June 23, 2006). There are signs that this is no longer the policy of the Haqqani faction of the Taliban.

As the Haqqani Network has risen to the first rank of the Taliban insurgency it can be expected that U.S.-led Coalition forces in Afghanistan will continue to target Sirajuddin Haqqani and the rest of the network leadership. With such strikes now occurring on Pakistani soil the Haqqanis are emerging as a serious domestic problem for Islamabad. How it chooses to deal with the Haqqani Network threat will provide a test case for Pakistan’s role in the ongoing war on terror.

Imtiaz Ali is a Pakistan-based journalist working as a special correspondent for the Washington Post.

Top WFP Official in Canada to highlight food price rise crisis

Source: United Nations World Food Programme

March 25, 2008

Ottawa – Following the United Nations World Food Programme's extraordinary emergency appeal last week to world government leaders for critical funds to address soaring food and fuel prices, the agency's Deputy Executive Director for Hunger Solutions, Sheila Sisulu, starts meetings today with Canadian officials.

During her three-day trip to Canada, Sisulu will discuss the devastating impact of record-high food prices on millions of poor and hungry people. On 25 February, WFP – which plans to feed more than 70 million people this year -- announced a US$500 million budget shortfall. In the three weeks since, food prices have increased a further 20 percent. High commodity prices show no sign of abating any time soon.

"We are seeing a new face of hunger – people who suddenly can no longer afford the food they see on store shelves. Prices have soared beyond their reach," said Sisulu. "The world must respond to help the new hungry as well as the world's 'bottom billion' – those already struggling on less than dollar a day.. That same dollar today buys much less food."

Rising food and fuel prices, competition between biofuels and food, increased demand for food by countries with emerging economies and erratic weather are hitting hardest those on the poverty line.

In 2007, Canada was WFP's third largest donor, providing 176 million Canadian dollars to help feed the world's hungry.

Canada was also one of the first countries to contribute when the Afghan Government and the UN appealed in January this year for help to feed an additional 2.5 million people hit by rising food costs. WFP requested US$77 million to deliver 89,000 metric tons of food to the poorest Afghans and Canada responded with 10 million Canadian dollars.

The urgent plea came after wheat prices in Afghanistan increased by 67 percent in less than a year. On average, Afghans who are not engaged in agriculture now spend three quarters of their income on food.

During her meetings this week, Sisulu will urge Canada to contribute additional funding by 1 May to avoid the need to cut rations or to dramatically reduce the number of people WFP feeds.

WFP is working closely with donor governments, UN partners and experts, as well as governments in beneficiary countries, on long-term solutions while simultaneously tackling these emergency needs.

Note to editors: Ms. Sisulu is available for media interviews during her trip. Contact Julie Julie Marshall, WFP/Canada, Tel. +1-905-664 2005, Cell. +1-905-818 2664

ADB initiative to revive TAP gas pipeline project

By Ihtasham ul Haque, Dawn (Pakistan) March 25, 2008 issue

ISLAMABAD, March 24: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is "regrouping" officials of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the third week of April to revive the TAP gas pipeline project in view of the energy shortage in the region.

Sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told Dawn on Monday that India was willing to attend a meeting of steering committee of the $6 billion, 2,000km-long project in which it has the status of an observer.

However, the sources said there were still challenges to the project.

They said that the security situation in Afghanistan and relations between Pakistan and India needed to be improved and fuel subsidies in the two countries would have to be phased out.

Above all, the long-term competitive advantage of the TAP over the option of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) has to be determined.

The TAP pipeline of 56-inch diameter needs at least 30 billion cubic metre (BCM) of gas per year from Turkmenistan to reach Pakistan via Afghanistan.

The sources said that an earlier steering committee meeting of the TAP project, scheduled for Nov 27-28 last year, did not take place after Turkmenistan signed an agreement with Russia � s gas giant Gazprom to increase gas supplies to Europe at enhanced rates.

The sources said that senior Pakistani officials had been informed by Iran that it had sorted out 40 to 50 per cent "logistic issues" to undertake the work on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.

Pakistan asked Iran earlier this month to finalise the project by April because of its rising gas requirements. And Iran said it was holding final talks with India to persuade it to join the project. Iran has told Pakistan that if India continued to show its reluctance under the US pressure to join the project, Iran will invite China to join the project.

"Chinese have told us that they are ready to join it," a source said. Pakistan has asked Iran to enhance the volume of gas to be supplied by 50 per cent if India opts out of the deal.

And in that case Pakistan will be making a formal request to the Iranian side to allocate an additional volume of 1.05 BCFD (billion cubic feet of gas per day).

Pakistan is to get a total of 2.1 BCFD of gas from the IPI project and India 3.2 BCFD. If India stays away, the pipeline length will come down to about 1600km, reducing the project cost. The volume of gas that Pakistan will get will increase to about 3.2 BCFD.

The sources said that the government was working on yet another project to meet its growing gas requirements. The Sui Southern Gas Company was accelerating work on developing an LNG terminal in Karachi. Next month, the sources said, a contract would be awarded for developing the terminal for which "floating storages" were being procured for fast-track import of gas from Qatar and other countries. Korea and Japan have developed this system and Pakistan wanted to follow suit by acquiring special vessels. Instead of exporting raw gas, Qatar will be adding value and export LNG to get a better price.

Communities 'stand up to violence' as the new school year begins

Source: United Nations Children's Fund - By Roshan Khadivi

KABUL, Afghanistan, 24 March 2008 – Afganistan continues to progress in the field of education, as more than six million children attended the first day of school last week – including approximately 800,000 children who are now enrolled for the first time in their lives.

Communities in war-torn Afghanistan have been working to overcome violence and other obstacles which can hinder children from attending school. Despite the often difficult environment, student enrolment in the country continues to rise.

'I salute the courage of the communities who are standing up to violence,' said UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan Catherine Mbengue, during an opening day ceremony at the Hawa School in the northern town of Puli Khumri. 'Communities recognize the value of learning and that is underlined by the millions of children who are returning to school or will start school for the first time today.'

At the Hawa school, Ms. Mbengue was joined by Counsellor and Head of Office for the Swedish Embassy in Afghanistan Ann Marie Fallenius. The ceremony emphasized a long-standing partnership and commitment to education.

'We are thrilled to have this partnership with UNICEF in support of education in Afghanistan,' said Ms. Fallenius.

Challenges in girls' education

Despite success in sending children to school, gender disparity trends in education remain worrisome. The literacy rate for young women between the ages of 15 and 24 is only 18 per cent, compared to 51 per cent for boys.

Primary school completion rates are also higher for boys, indicating the need to target other key issues faced by Afghan families.

For example, estimates suggest a large proportion of primary school-age girls have to work to support their families. Early marriages are quite common in rural areas, preventing many from receiving an education. And in some communities, the lack of female teachers presents a hindrance to girls' education, as their families can be reluctant to enrol them.

Supporting teachers and students

In response, UNICEF and partners have been working with the Ministry of Education on the Teacher Education Project – an initiative providing technical education for teachers as well as training in child-participatory approaches in the classroom.

This year, UNICEF and it partners, in coordination with Afghanistan's education authorities, plan to encourage and support the enrollment of an additional 330,000 female students by building cost-effective schools. In addition, over 90,000 women will be encouraged to learn how to read and write for the first time through 3,500 new literacy centres around the country.

Other key activities will include the training of 48,000 teachers, as well as developing textbooks and syllabi. The hope is that encouraging and promoting education from within the community will give the next generation of children the tools they need to shape their futures.

NMSU receives grant to help Afghanistan restore its water, agriculture infrastructure

El Paso Times (Texas) - March 24, 2008

A $20 million grant has been awarded to New Mexico State University and other university partners to research and develop the best means to restore Afghanistan's war-torn water systems so it can sustain an agriculture economy, according to an NMSU news release.

AWATT, or Afghanistan Water, Agriculture and Technology Transfer, is a three-year project that will involve a consortium of universities in the United States as well as universities and ministries in Afghanistan.

NMSU's College of Agriculture and Home Economics will lead the project along with Colorado State University, University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University researchers.

"The nature of this project is identifying issues, information and making policy recommendations for changes as well as demonstrating and building up institutional capacities. The whole thrust of the project implies that there will need to be a follow-up," said Terry L. Crawford, professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business at NMSU.

The seemingly daunting task will have to deal with many factors affecting Afghanistan today, such as the political atmosphere and the long-established tribal and cultural mores. The country's many years of turmoil have left much of its infrastructure in shambles and transformed Afghanistan into a country with few economy-stimulating choices.

"Afghanistan is a country that has been ravaged by war for at least 30 years. This country has been in turmoil for a long period of time as the communists took over and then the Russians and then our differences with them as they sheltered al-Qaida. As a result of these internal and external warring parties, much of the country's infrastructure has been destroyed, including water facilities and processing plants for their products. In a nutshell, their economy has been in a shamble," Crawford said.

AWATT is specifically designed to develop a water-management plan, best use of technologies for water management and the steps to use the technologies to increase the agricultural potential for the area. The project will also develop a structure for agriculture research systems and recommend policy reforms that will provide the mechanisms for security in land tenure and ownership.

Other factors researchers will have to surmount are getting the Afghan people, faculty and government officials to buy into the project's goals. For example, many faculty members moonlight to make ends meet. They teach and leave for other jobs, Crawford explained.

"My experience in Iraq, Jordan and other countries is that there are a majority of the universities' faculty who are demoralized. They teach their class and do something else. But there is a core of people that are really committed to a cause and they are trying to work hard and do have a perspective on research. They see how research has an impact in helping the people and their communities. The challenge will be to identify these individuals," said Octavio Ramirez, professor and head of the department of Agriculture Economics and Agricultural Business and Extension Economics at NMSU.

And if working in a dangerous, war-torn country was not enough, another of the biggest challenges facing researchers who will be based in Afghanistan will be in involving the women of the country. The grant hopes to incorporate all walks of Afghan life to provide the most thorough picture of their needs. But the cultural customs in an Islamic world makes it difficult to approach women without the permission of the male influence, Crawford said.

Despite the challenges, some of the research has already been done since much of Afghanistan's terrain is so similar to the area around Las Cruces, Crawford said. The consortium will be drawing from many of the water and agricultural research projects that have been done in the area and hopes to use this knowledge and apply it to some of the situations in Afghanistan, Crawford and Ramirez said.

The $20 million grant is sponsored by the United States Aid for International Development, an arm of the U.S. State Department, Crawford said.

Dehrawut Road Of Urozgan To Asphalt Soon

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan - Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, No: 317 - Press Release

Kabul (Tuesday, March 25, 2008): Construction work of 4km road in Dehrawut district of Urozgan province is soon to be inaugurated through National Area Based Development Progamme (NABDP) of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.

Besides its ongoing development projects in Dehrawut district, the construction of districts road is vitally important in improving the lives of the residents of Dehrawut District.

Engineer Mohammad Hashim, the MRRD director of Urozgan said “the total cost of this project, funded by the government of Netherland, raise up to US$702396 (Afs35119800) and will be completed in 3 months. “Implemented by MRRD engineers and members of Community Development Councils (CDCs), this project will yield benefits for many thousands of district’s residents”, he added.

Haji Mohammad Sabir, a vendor in Dehrawut bazaar says we are happy to see that the roads to our district are being asphalted; this will not only rid us off dusts but also provides job opportunities for the local residents.

Its worth mentioning that up to 71 uplift projects are in different stages of implementation through NABDP programme of MRRD in Urozgan since January 2007 totaling US$6948196.

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]