September 4, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 6, 1424

SHEKHABAD (Afghanistan): Before President George W. Bush decides to boost US aid to Afghanistan, he might want to take a ride along the Kabul-Kandahar highway to get an idea of the risks and rewards at stake.

The largest reconstruction project yet attempted in post-Taliban Afghanistan, the road is a key to convincing Afghans they have not been abandoned by the West in the wake of war in Iraq, and to consolidating central power outside Kabul.

Little wonder President Hamid Karzai makes it a top priority.

There is one major snag. Taliban guerrillas or fighters with links to the ousted regime have launched a series of hit-and-run raids along the highway in an apparent bid to interrupt work.

US firm Louis Berger Group Inc said its Indian contractors came under fire after a police checkpoint was attacked and four policemen killed early on Monday. Four were wounded and four went missing. Two of the firm’s security guards were also shot dead.

Mine clearance work resumed along the road last month despite a series of attacks on deminers in May and June, that left one dead and several wounded.

Afghanistan is one of the few places in the world where such a threat level is deemed acceptable to workers and foreign engineers who continue to toil along the 480 kms route.

At Shekhabad, a small, picturesque village in Wardak province some 60 kms southwest of the capital, steamrollers crawl along the flattened gravel road bed while bulldozers and trucks bounce along bone-jarring tracks to either side.

“Even if these kinds of incidents do happen, it will not stop us working here,” shrugged Wali Jan, a bearded labourer wearing grimy clothes and an orange skull cap.

This is considered the “safe” end of the highway, despite a rocket attack three weeks ago and the discovery of two anti-tank mines by the roadside on Monday that were either missed by deminers, or planted recently by saboteurs.

BUMPY RIDE: It is at Shekhabad that the asphalted surface ends and the more familiar bumpy ride begins, for more than 12 uncomfortable hours to Kandahar.

For 150 afghanis ($3) a day, local workers wearing turbans, skull caps or baseball caps to shelter them from the sun, toil with shovels and picks, aware of but seemingly unfazed by the deadly attacks further down the road.

Security has been beefed up along the highway, but there was little evidence of it near Kabul. Between the capital and Shekhabad there were three tiny checkpoints and one group of 10 poorly equipped policemen in operation.

Around 700 policemen have been deployed in total.

The Kabul-Kandahar road is the first half of a $250 million project that includes refurbishment of the main ring road around the country all the way to the western city of Herat near the Iranian border.

The United States, Japan and Saudi Arabia are providing the bulk of the funding.

India has pledged a further $70 million to link landlocked Afghanistan to a port in Iran and Washington is reported to be considering doubling aid to $1.8 billion a year.

Karzai needs only look at Iraq to understand the risks; sabotage of energy pipelines is relatively easy and has worsened an already desperate economic situation there.—Reuters