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WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 21, 2008) - The United Nations Office of
Drugs and Crime recently declared Afghanistan's Konar province to
be "nearly poppy-free" in 2006 and 2007.
During a July 6 trip to the province, Afghanistan's minister for
counternarcotics, Gen. Khodaidad, announced that Konar has
qualified for two monetary awards totaling $750,000 from the
Counternarcotics Trust Fund.
Konar Gov. Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi and his provincial council
decided to use $420,000 of that money to upgrade the Konar Teacher
Training College with a 60-room dormitory, dining facility and
meeting hall. A lack of dormitories requires students of either to
commute or to rent local accommodations while attending school.
"This is a great day for Konar and Afghanistan", said Navy Cmdr.
Daniel Dwyer, Konar Provincial Reconstruction Team commander. "When
you see the government of Afghanistan, on its own, bringing
projects to its people that provide for long-term jobs and economic
growth, it shows everyone that progress is well on its way."
After Khodaidad's remarks, Wahidi, members of parliament and the
delegation moved to the site of the future college facilities for
the ceremonial groundbreaking.
"This province is devoted to eliminating poppy in spite of the
many problems facing farmers," said Khudaidaad, who thanked the
province's elders, who have been campaigning against narcotics.
Wahidi and the Provincial Development Council have not yet
decided whether they want to spend the rest of the money on one
large provincial project or distribute it for small, district-level
projects. The governor said that he will spend some of the money to
build irrigation canals and to make educational improvements.
"The people of Konar deserve the credit for the poppy
eradication," Wahidi said. "All the tribal elders and people of
Konar are committed to putting an end to this [poppy] seed, because
the smuggling, trafficking and growing of narcotics is forbidden by
Islam."
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