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13 September 2004

Afghanistan Makes Progress on Many Fronts

Reconstruction, elections, disarmament, education, refugees

Following is a fact sheet from the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan September 12 detailing the progress accomplished in Afghanistan during the past month on a variety of fronts:

(begin fact sheet)

U.S. Embassy, Afghanistan
September 12, 2004

Update

The focus of the United States and its coalition partners continues to be reconstruction, elections and Disarmament, Demobilization, and Re-integration (DDR). The facts below list progress made in Afghanistan on several fronts over the last month.

Elections & Voter Registration

-- To date over 10.6 million Afghans have registered to vote -- 41 percent of them are women.

-- The presidential election campaign season officially opened September 7.

Education

-- More than 4.8 million children are enrolled in schools throughout the country, the largest number in the history of Afghanistan.

-- 500,000 children are expected to return to the warm-weather school locations this September in the south and east.

Afghan National Army (ANA)

-- The ANA has 13,500 soldiers. There are another 3,000 currently being trained.

Afghan National Police

-- The Afghan National Police has 29,275 police officers (trained by the United States and Germany).

Disarmament, Demobilization, and Re-integration (DDR)

-- 14,665 Afghan Militia Forces have been disarmed since April.

-- 12,720 of those soldiers are about to begin the reintegration program.

Heavy Weapons Cantonment

-- Heavy weapons are now completely cantoned in Kabul.

-- Cantonment continues in Gardez, Mazar, and Jalalabad and will begin in Konduz today (September 12).

Infrastructure

-- Work began on the Kandahar to Tirin Kowt Road. The road will be complete at the end of 2005.


Refugee & IDP return

-- Over 600,000 refugees and internally displaced persons have returned to their homes since January 2004.

(end fact sheet)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)