KABUL, 15 September 2003 — Afghanistan has approved a total of 5,000 investment projects worth some $4.5 billion since 2002, the Commerce Ministry said yesterday.
“We’re glad to say that over 25 percent of these projects are in place or in the process of being implemented,” Commerce Minister Sayed Mustafa Kazemi said on his return from a trip to Iran for the inauguration of Chabahar port.
“We’re hopeful of creating an environment that will see implementation of all these projects,” he said.
When implemented, the 5,000 projects are expected to employ more than 400,000 people.
Kazemi stressed that private sector involvement was crucial to the rebuilding of Afghanistan after 23 years of war.
“Reconstruction will be pretty much led by these type of projects,” he said.
Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani has said Afghanistan needs $30 billion in aid and investment over the next five years to escape poverty and violence.
Meanwhile, an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman said yesterday rocket attacks against foreign peacekeepers in Afghanistan will not deter them from helping to maintain security in the capital. “This incident will not deter ISAF from its mission in continuing to assist the Afghan transitional authority in creating a secure and stable environment in Kabul and its surrounding areas,” German Lt. Col. Manfred Wittig told reporters.
“We will continue to take measures to deny terrorists the opportunity to carry out such attacks,” he said after rocket attacks late Thursday against two ISAF bases.
The main ISAF base east of Kabul, known as Camp Warehouse, was hit by a rocket which damaged shipping containers and slightly injured a Canadian civilian contractor.
Another rocket landed near the Canadian ISAF Camp Julien base southwest of the city center.
Wittig said there had also been two explosions near Kabul international airport late Thursday and early Friday after which the airport was closed for two hours. ISAF troops are also based at the airport. A 122mm rocket also landed in the new city area of Kabul but did not explode.
Rights Charges Rejected: Governor of Afghanistan’s central bank Anwarul-Haq Ahadi and Education Minister Younis Qanooni yesterday rejected charges of violating human rights made against them by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). On Saturday, the AIHRC published a list of 29 people who it claimed had violated human rights or illegally grabbed land. The list named high-ranking Afghan ministers including the defense minister, planning minister, education minister, women affairs minister, the mayor of Kabul and his deputies.
“I strongly condemn the relation between my name and human rights violations or violation of law,” said Ahadi, adding that his land had been given to him according to the order of President Hamid Karzai. “Relating my name with human rights violations is political terrorism,” Ahadi said.
Qanooni also denied the allegations saying: “For 23 years I have struggled for the independence of Afghanistan and human rights. The report provided by the AIHRC is completely baseless and aims to terrorize the political figures of Afghanistan.”
