A trip that would take a few hours on a proper road was days of torture, the speedometer straining to break 10 mph as the vehicle crawled over shell craters and pond-sized potholes.This time, I would be leaving from Kabul with interpreter Wesal Zaman and driver Zyarat Gul.
The ministry also writes that until August 2014, ECCI-METAG had carried out only 14.16 per cent of the project while, according to the project contract, they should have completed 61.14 per cent. Suggesting that it, as a country, acted in unison on September 11th under Al Qaeda, is like saying that the acts of the Mafia of 1950 were acts of the U.S. Two, it is important to note that half of the people who are suffering in Afghanistan are children – really suffering. I’m here in Kabul right now and small arms fire can heard close by. or signs of their government. It ruled against the ministry, asking it to pay a ten million dollar fine to the company. Japan, Saudi Arabia and Iran are responsible for repairing other sections, a rare case in which Washington and Tehran are working toward the same goal. It would not only feed into the end-of-days propheices as foretold in the Hadiths but mobilise support at grass roots levels across continents. The Baghlan-Balkh highway, which forms part of the important Ring Road connecting the north to the west of the country, is a vital transit route between Pul-e Khumri and the northwestern provinces of Samangan, Balkh, Jawzjan, Sar-e Pul and Faryab. But the situation did not improve, mostly because staff still seemed less than capable for the task, and money for the necessary works was lacking. The highway abruptly ends, and the journey must continue on dirt roads and mud tracks. Excellent point.Great article and I am glad that there is finally some attention in the U.S. media to the problem – I hope it is sustained. The USAID project established a Road Maintenance Unit (RMU) and in 2012 handed it over to the ministry. It’s been 17 years. The Taliban make and enforce the rules; they collect taxes and decide how much of a presence the government can retain.”Copyright @ 2007 - 2020, Public Multimedia Inc . Though not a Taliban released map, still it shows who’s the winner on the ground. But this time a pickup carrying half a dozen Afghan national army troops happened by. Andkhoi’s carpet traders say they are regularly fleeced by gunmen demanding illegal road taxes.After a night of comfort in Mazar, it was an easy drive to the Salang Tunnel, a 1.7-mile passage at 11,034 feet built by the Soviets through the Hindu Kush mountains on the route south to Kabul.In winter, howling blizzards pummel the Salang’s peaks. The ministry of public works told AAN that the company was “incapable of handling the project.”According to the contract between the ministry and ECCI-METAG, any dispute over the project will be referred to a “dispute board,” consisting of an international lawyer as well as representatives of the Afghan government and the company. He who controls the countryside controls food, opium (which is probably the biggest part of the Afghan economy), most of the population, the natural resources and transportation/powerline links.The map above, along with the Taliban’s propaganda showing off their state-building efforts, clearly proves that their Islamic Emirate is now less of an insurgency and more or less a government-in-waiting. Image courtesy of Afghan Ministry of Finance. If you accept the US military’s data on its face (keep in mind it is outdated, it’s assessment is from May), it still looks pretty bad, no?As far as the peace activists go, it isn’t in the Taliban’s interests to harm them.
Afghanistan became the world’s largest exporter of dried grapes, apples and other fruit.