Efforts to Rebuild Afghanistan

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2004-8-22

This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Development
Report.

Efforts are being made to educate people in Afghanistan about the
political process before their first presidential election. The vote
is set for October ninth. Parliamentary and local elections are
planned for next April. Voters will have their finger marked with
ink so they cannot vote more than once.

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs is a
non-profit organization based in Washington. This group has opened
six offices in Afghanistan to teach the public about political
campaigns and fair elections. Another group, Internews, is working
with local media and Internet providers to help guarantee freedom of
expression.

The United Nations said last week that nearly ten million people
have received voting papers. The number who signed up to vote,
especially women, is higher than expected. More than forty percent
are women. Females had few rights under the Taliban government.

Five years of Taliban rule ended in late two thousand one after
American-led forces went to war in Afghanistan. The action against
al-Qaida and its Taliban supporters followed the September eleventh
terrorist attacks on the United States.

American officials say the Taliban and al-Qaida continue to
operate along the Afghan borders. Fighting has increased recently.
Election workers have been killed. The aid group Doctors Without
Borders left the country.

But there are examples of other aid efforts in Afghanistan. The
World Health Organization has launched an emergency campaign against
leishmaniasis. This disease is spread by sand flies.

The World Bank has approved thirty-five million dollars for
education. The U.N. refugee agency has launched a program to assist
more than three million Afghans. And the Asia Development Bank has
approved technical assistance to help rebuild roads.

But there is another problem. The U.N. says Afghanistan has again
become the world's largest producer of heroin. Farming of opium
poppy to make the illegal drug has increased since the fall of the
Taliban. Europe gets most of its heroin from Afghanistan.

In Kabul earlier this month, American Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld told the Afghans they are winning in their effort to
rebuild their country. But he warned that the drug trade threatens
the future of their democracy and way of life.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill
Moss. This is Gwen Outen.