Bloomberg.com
Afghanistan's progress on security and
stability, made since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, is
threatened by poverty and inequality, the United Nations
Development Program said. ``The fragile nation could easily tumble back into chaos,''
the Development Program said in the first report on living
conditions it's done in the country. ``The basic human needs and
genuine grievances of the people, lack of jobs, health, education,
income, dignity and opportunities for participation must be met.'' Security, education and women's rights have improved, the UN
agency said. The country of 28.5 million people has undergone more
than two decades of civil conflict and natural disasters including
years of drought. Afghanistan is ranked 173 out of 178 nations on the UNDP's
2004 Human Development Index with only a few countries in Africa's
sub-Saharan region listed lower, the agency said. Life expectancy
in Afghanistan is 44.5 years, at least 20 years lower than in
neighboring countries, the organization said. The country will take another step toward democracy this year
when parliamentary and local elections are held. Afghanistan held
its first direct presidential poll on Oct. 9, which was won by
Hamid Karzai, 46, who has led the government since the Taliban
were overthrown in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. ``The considerable vote of confidence that the government
received through landmark elections should encourage
accountability toward the Afghan people first,'' said Shahrbanou
Tadjbakhsh, the editor-in-chief of the report, according to a UN
statement. ``Human security cannot take a back seat to the
national and international security interests of other nations.'' Militia Control The U.S. has 18,000 soldiers in the country hunting fugitives
from the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The North Atlantic Treaty
Organization has 8,500 soldiers in the UN-authorized International
Security Assistance Force responsible for security in Kabul. U.S. troops operating in the country have been accused of
abusing suspects in Afghanistan. Documents obtained by the
American Civil Liberties Union describe instances of prisoner
abuse by U.S. forces in Afghanistan that were investigated only
briefly, the New York Times reported on Feb. 18. Militias also remain in control of many areas of Afghanistan
and people are subjected to violence by militiamen, torture by
security forces and attacks by Taliban fighters, the agency said. Afghanistan has disarmed 80 percent of its estimated 50,000
militiamen under a joint program with the United Nations, the UN
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said last week. Handing in Weapons A total of 40,104 militiamen have handed in their weapons
under the program that provides training to help find jobs in
civil society, the UN said. The northern region of Mazar-e-Sharif
was declared disarmed in December and Jalalabad in the east
earlier this week, according to the UN. Afghanistan has created a national army of more than 21,000
soldiers since the Taliban regime was ousted. Women, who were kept out of society under the rule of the
Taliban, are protected under the country's new constitution that
outlaws gender discrimination, the UN Development Program said. ``Traditional mentalities still hold women back,'' the agency
said. ``Poverty, malnutrition, exclusion from public life, rape,
violence, poor health care, illiteracy and forced marriage are
among the many human security concerns.'' The ``Back to School'' campaign carried out in Afghanistan
has seen about 3 million children and 70,000 teachers return to
schools. The years of fighting destroyed 80 percent of the
country's 6,900 schools, according to the report. Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer, is taking
steps with the help of the international community to combat the
drugs trade. Poppy cultivation, the main engine of economic growth
in Afghanistan, increased 64 percent in 2004, the UN said in a
report in November. The opium poppy is the raw ingredient in
producing heroin. Growing Economy Over the next decade, the country's non-drug gross domestic
product is estimated to grow by between 10 and 12 percent, the
Development Program said. Afghanistan's civil conflict helped create the world's
biggest refugee population with where more than 6 million people
fled their homes, most of them moving to Pakistan and Iran. More
than 1.8 million refugees have returned from Pakistan and 600,000
from Iran under a UN program started in 2002. An estimated 3.4 million Afghan refugees are still living
outside the country, the UN said. The majority of an estimated 1 million people displaced
inside Afghanistan in 2002 have now returned to their homes, the
Development Program said. To contact the reporter on this story:
Paul Tighe in Sydney at
ptighe@bloomberg.net
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