Posted on 12/18/2003 1:17:50 PM PST by bdeaner
Kabul-to-Kandahar Road Completed; Other Successes Noted in Afghanistan
By Richard Brownell
Talon News
December 18, 2003
NEW YORK (Talon News) -- A paved road stretching 300 miles and connecting the Afghan city of Kandahar with the nation's capital of Kabul completed this week is just one of many improvements Afghanistan has seen in the past year, according to State Department officials in Washington Wednesday.
"The Afghans ... are an inconceivably resilient and resourceful and hardworking people," said USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator James Kunder. "They have provided many of the laborers and subcontractors for the Kabul-to-Kandahar highways."
The original highway from Kandahar to Kabul was built in the 1950s with money from the U.S. Agency for International Development and was one section of a "ring road" that ran as a sort of beltway connecting the major populated areas of Afghanistan. The last 23 years of near-constant war had reduced it to rubble.
"When we looked last year at what are some of the critical foundations we needed to rebuild the economy in Afghanistan, one of the first things that hit us in the face was the need to rebuild the ring road," Kunder told reporters.
Construction, which was accelerated by direct order of President Bush, was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
"I am grateful for the enormous efforts of engineers and laborers from many countries who worked tirelessly, and often in the face of hardship and danger, to finish this leg of the road on time," President Bush said in a separate statement Tuesday.
Kunder noted that 35% of Afghanistan's population lives within 30 miles of the road, making it a "critical communications and transportation link that goes through the heart of the country."
USAID is looking for the road to increase commerce, allow farmers to get their crops to market more quickly, and allow people quicker access to health care.
Japan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to provide further resources for the construction of the next section of road which will run from Kandahar to Herat. The goal is to have the entire southern stretch of the ring road functioning by the end of next year.
"The road is a visible 'bricks and mortar,' if you will, project that's going on," Kunder said. "And there are a lot of those kind of projects going on."
For a nation that didn't have a single functioning commercial bank, Afghanistan now has an admirably stable currency, according to Kunder. There is also a new investment law encouraging Afghan and foreign private investment.
A telecommunications infrastructure has been established, allowing the government in Kabul to speak with officials around the country.
"The president has pledged that we will deliver 1,000 schools for Afghan children over the next three years," Kunder added. "We'll deliver hundreds of health clinics."
There has been a concentration on village schools and primary education because that is where there is little resistance to girls' participation.
Kunder acknowledged that women in Afghanistan "still have it tough," but specific assistance has come from the Ministry of Women's Affairs. Women's participation in the Loya Jirga, which is currently meeting to lay out Afghanistan's constitution, has also been encouraged.
"Throughout the whole design of our program, we have tried to pay attention to the awful conditions in which many Afghan women find themselves," Kunder said.
Asked about the threat of Taliban remnants and the al Qaeda presence, Kunder admitted that "security is a significant issue, but it has not dramatically reduced the pace of the reconstruction effort."
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