New infrastructure projects in Southeast Afghanistan
New schools, irrigation ditches and local roads will be constructed and drinking water supply improved in the coming months in three under-served districts in southeast Afghanistan , with the help of $500,000 in grants from the German Government.

This development cooperation project, which aims to improve living conditions in these areas, is taking place in three areas of Paktia province – Schwak, Garde Serai, and Waza Zadran – and is one of the biggest of its kind to be implemented in recent years in this region.

The individual projects were selected in close collaboration with local administrations and tribal councils (shuras) who will be responsible for the maintenance of the infrastructure upon completion of the works.

The project has been chosen as one of four priority projects screened by a joint team from the Joint Secretariat of the Disarmament and Reintegration Commission and the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, which will be building the plant. The plant will provide electricity to the main district administrative building, the district police headquarters, a hospital, two high schools, 170 shops and seven villages.

By voluntarily handing over their weapons and disbanding their groups, leaders of illegal armed groups based in Farkhar are contributing to enhanced stability, a more secure environment, and benefits for communities – of which the micro hydropower plant is an example.

SALEH trainers will be using the recently approved UNICEF ‘Literacy for Women' textbook as part of its winter literacy training course, which will be conducted by community-based teachers from late October 2006 to early January 2007.

Adult literacy activities are a key component of SALEH, a four-year project which began in mid-2003 and is funded by the United Kingdom 's Department for International Development (DFID).

Last month the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) held a three-day workshop on the effects of ozone depleting substances in Afghanistan .

One of our staff members attended the workshop and wrote an indepth feature story on the topic. It is available on our website http://www.unama-afg.org/_latestnews/ozone.htm and we encourage newspapers to publish it in its entirety leading up to the day.

This follows the early September visit and subsequent press conference given by UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa, and Habibullah Qaderi, the Minister of Counter Narcotics.

The full report, which will offer a province-by-province breakdown of figures, is being released in Brussels tomorrow. Once it is officially released we will be sending out a media advisory indicating such and also make it available on our website.

The $400,000 project, which is being funded by the UN Office for Project Services, was officially launched last Tuesday (September 5) and will be completed in August 2007.

The Afghanistan Procurement Directory, launched by the NGO Peace Dividend Trust, provides a link between Afghan businesses and institutional buyers operating in Afghanistan . The goal of the site is to provide better access to the Afghan market and to ultimately increase local procurement.

A more advanced course is now being offered in the Wakhan Corridor which will see 17 Afghans, including 3 women, acquire the necessary skills to offer their services as liaison officers to foreign mountaineering expeditions and trekking guides.

The course is also designed to revive and strengthen Afghanistan 's trekking industry.

Killid Radio : (translated from Dari) My question is regarding the 11th tri-partite meeting between the UN, Afghanistan , Pakistan on the voluntary repatriation of refugees. As you know, from 2002 up until now, 3 million Afghans have returned to their country but they are not happy with the conditions in the country due to problems such as lack of shelter and unemployment. And they again go back to those countries. What programmes does the UN have to prevent the returns of these refugees to Iran and Pakistan ?

Spokesman : Let me first just correct a few numbers. We have about 3.5 million people who have come back here with the help of the voluntary repatriation scheme, which the UNHCR has been involved with. In addition, you have another million or so people who have come back of their own accord. So the present total is around 4.6 million.

Yes, some people do choose to leave the country as well. For example, if you go to the departure lounge at the airport, you'll see plenty of people leaving. But you must look at the arrivals too. And arrivals remain very substantial. Just last week, we reported to you that 125,000 people have returned to Afghanistan this year. The refugee return operation in Afghanistan since 2002 is now the biggest in the history of the UNHCR in the world.

Among the 125,000 people who have come back this year, many, have returned to areas where people are telling us there's insecurity, there're other problems. So people are at present returning to all parts of the country. It is, however, our aim that all who come back will have economic and other opportunities to encourage them to remain here and be part of Afghanistan 's rebuilding.

Irin News : As today is the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, how does the UN see the situation in Afghanistan ? How does Afghanistan stand now given the deteriorating security situation in the south…?

Spokesman : 2006 is undoubtedly a year of significant challenges here. We're now into the fourth year of this process, since this Mission was established. And the efforts to speed development, encapsulated in the Afghanistan Compact, certainly remain on track. But I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture of what progress there is. I think we all in this room know pretty well what has happened and what hasn't, and what challenges there are. In our view Afghanistan is a dramatically different country today to what it was before 2001. The challenge now is to meet the demands of this environment and respond accordingly, and ensure development proceeds apace. We must keep this on track.

Question : (translated from Dari) How is the level of support of the international community in comparison to five years ago? Has there been any change?

Spokesman : The support of the international community to this country is solid. We're not many months away from the enormous political and financial commitments that were made at the London Conference. With the international military, for example, what you're seeing in the south represents a substantial commitment to dealing with the [insurgency] problems being encountered there. We all have to see this through. Afghanistan deserves better progress, and that's what we're working towards.

Radio Liberty : (translated from Dari) This is five years now that the fight against terrorism has been going on. Pakistan also says it is committed to fighting terrorism, but currently we see that the number of terrorist attacks has increased, not decreased. And we see that public officials are being killed. My question is why these commitments and activities do not lead to positive results and do not decrease the number of terrorist attacks.

Spokesman : That's probably a question that ought to be put to those who make such commitments in the first place. However, let me say this. It is worth looking at what has happened just in the past week here - the visit by President Musharraf. This is his third such visit in the last few years. I believe that since 2001 President Karzai has visited Pakistan five times. Accompanying him on this latest trip was the biggest delegation ever to accompany a Pakistani leader. We see positive signs in this, including the fact there was acknowledgement all around of the cross-border dimension to the insecurity we're seeing. I will reiterate that we see cooperation as the way forward. If this visit marks the start of improved cooperation, then it is something we can look towards with hope.

Question : You said that the year 2006 is a challenging year. Can you comment on some of those challenges?

Spokesman : From our assessments of the situation a year ago, even six months ago, we didn't expect to see quite the situation we do today. And I'm talking primarily about insecurity. Since 2002, we've stated repeatedly that improved security is the way to facilitate improved development. I think the other challenges are well known. The drugs situation, for example, which we all heard the news about a couple of weeks ago here. The figure that you heard from [UNODC Executive Director] Mr. Costa, the 59 per cent increase in the area under cultivation, is certainly disappointing.

Within the UN family, we have to look constantly at the environment we're working in, how to deal with it, how to operate, how to make sure we can deliver. And this is, I think it is fair to say, a bigger challenge today than it was a year ago. The aim is to deliver results, to look ahead, and to keep on track. The plans for Afghanistan 's future have been very well elaborated in the ANDS, the Afghanistan Compact, and in the Millennium Development Goals. It's important that we don't forget that these goals are there and continue to work toward them, even in an environment like this.

Question : How have these challenges hampered UN activities in the country?

Spokesman : Well maybe let's talk about how we do manage to work in this environment. We work with implementing partners in pretty much every area of the country, including the troubled areas of the south and southeast. For example, last week we had teams out there in some of the most troubled districts of the southern provinces delivering polio vaccine, aimed at reaching some 129,000 children. With other partners we are also working to help displaced people in the south and in other areas.

If you care to look around, you'll see that in many areas there is real progress happening, including in these last weeks. You see, for example, the legislative work going on in Parliament, which is significant. You can look at the drought appeal, that's making progress. You can look at any number of areas where similar progress is happening. I think this is very important to understand. In difficult environments like this, we don't stop and say it's too difficult to work. We continue the work we're doing. Everything is being done to ensure that development and relief and assistance is being delivered.

Tolo TV : (translated from Dari) The United Nations and some others have spoken about those who have violated human rights and those involved in drugs, who are present in high positions in the Government. They are the elements that caused the increase in the poppy cultivation and insecurity. Did you talk in this regard with the Government, and did you explain your concerns in this regard with the Government?

Spokesman : In any country after conflict, the people who are generally in power tend to be those that have risen to the fore in that conflict. But one of the positive trends we've seen, especially in the past 18 months or so with the parliamentary and provincial council elections, is the emergence of a significant group of people who aren't directly associated with the kinds of past history you are referring to.

You know well that UNAMA has a human rights mandate, and one of the things we are engaged in is transitional justice for Afghanistan . Transitional justice is about dealing with the past. Initiatives on transitional justice are contained in the Afghanistan Compact, but we are also working on this on a daily basis, and working quite closely with the International Center for Transitional Justice. Ultimately, it is for the Afghan people to decide how they want to deal with their past history, including questions related to human rights abuses, war crimes and other issues. However, it is something that UNAMA supports strongly. We believe that dealing with the past, through transitional justice processes, is very much a way to dealing with impunity today.

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