DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Efforts to Rebuild Afghanistan

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Efforts to Rebuild Afghanistan
By Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: Monday, August 23, 2004

This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Development Report.

Efforts are being made to educate people in Afghanistan about the political process before their first presidential election. The vote is set for October ninth. Parliamentary and local elections are planned for next April. Voters will have their finger marked with ink so they cannot vote more than once.

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs is a non-profit organization based in Washington. This group has opened six offices in Afghanistan to teach the public about political campaigns and fair elections. Another group, Internews, is working with local media and Internet providers to help guarantee freedom of expression.

The United Nations said last week that nearly ten million people have received voting papers. The number who signed up to vote, especially women, is higher than expected. More than forty percent are women. Females had few rights under the Taliban government.

Five years of Taliban rule ended in late two thousand one after American-led forces went to war in Afghanistan. The action against al-Qaida and its Taliban supporters followed the September eleventh terrorist attacks on the United States.

American officials say the Taliban and al-Qaida continue to operate along the Afghan borders. Fighting has increased recently. Election workers have been killed. The aid group Doctors Without Borders left the country.

But there are examples of other aid efforts in Afghanistan. The World Health Organization has launched an emergency campaign against leishmaniasis. This disease is spread by sand flies.

The World Bank has approved thirty-five million dollars for education. The U.N. refugee agency has launched a program to assist more than three million Afghans. And the Asia Development Bank has approved technical assistance to help rebuild roads.

But there is another problem. The U.N. says Afghanistan has again become the world's largest producer of heroin². Farming of opium³ poppy to make the illegal drug has increased since the fall of the Taliban. Europe gets most of its heroin from Afghanistan.

In Kabul earlier this month, American Defense⁴ Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the Afghans they are winning in their effort to rebuild their country. But he warned that the drug trade threatens the future of their democracy and way of life.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Gwen Outen.

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

3 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。