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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Afghanistan Disarms 80 Percent of Country's 50,000 Militiamen |
| 2005-02-18 |
| 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. ``This is another milestone in the disarmament process,'' Ariane Quentier, senior public information officer for the Mission, said at a briefing yesterday in the capital, Kabul, according to the UN Web site. The program ``has kept gaining momentum since it was initiated last year.'' 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 in December 2001. The country is preparing to hold parliamentary and local elections this year, the second stage of its move toward democracy that began with last October's first direct presidential election won by Hamid Karzai. The U.S. has 18,000 soldiers in Afghanistan hunting fugitives from the Taliban and the al-Qaeda terrorist network. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has 8,500 soldiers in the UN-authorized International Security Assistance Force responsible for security in Kabul. NATO said last week it will expand its peacekeeping force in Afghanistan by about 900 soldiers to boost security for the parliamentary and local elections by allowing the force to extend control beyond the area surrounding Kabul. Election Date The polls were scheduled to take place between April 21 and May 21, the UN said last month. The date will be 120 days after Karzai issues a decree establishing the boundaries of electoral districts, Quentier said last week. Karzai, 46, has made security and the fight against drug traffickers the priorities of his government. Afghanistan is the world's biggest opium producer. Poppy cultivation increased 64 percent in 2004, the UN said in November. The opium poppy is the raw ingredient in producing heroin. The UN is helping Afghanistan cope with winter storms that have hit the country in the past three weeks, Quentier said at yesterday's briefing. More than 260 people have died, many of them children, as result of the cold weather, Agence France- Presse reported. The World Food Program airlifted food and medical supplies for more than 28,000 people in the southern province of Zabul to cover their needs for the next two months, Quentier said. ``The WFP has faced major difficulties in reaching Saghar and Tulak districts in Ghor province to provide assistance to some 15,000 people,'' she said. Two convoys carrying food were unable to reach the areas because of snowfalls, she added. Many of the deaths are among children under the age of five who suffered respiratory infections, pneumonia and whooping cough, AFP cited Afghanistan's Public Health Minister Mohammad Amid Fatimie as saying yesterday in Kabul. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 I hear Rush is heading out there to plant the EIB golden microphone and set up another Attila the Hun chair? |
| Posted by: Mac Suirtain 2005-02-18 2:35:18 PM |