Haunted by backwardness, Nuristanis swell rebel ranks

Monitoring Desk

PARON: The Provincial Council (PC) head for eastern Nuristan province says some people have swollen militant ranks due to the central government’s inattention to their problems.

Eng. Saeedullah Paendazoy also hit out at the provincial administration for not connecting Paron, the Nuristan capital, with the districts and failing to asphalt even a one-kilometre road in the past 15 years.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, the public representative urged the government to pay adequate attention to lifting Nuristan out of the backwardness it had been in.

Insecurity, lack of health and education facilities, unemployment and transportation problems in different parts of the province were some of the issues Nuristan residents had been facing, said Paendazoy.

He complained even a one kilometre road had not been asphalted in the province, where several eastern and western districts remained disconnected from Paron.

“If people from western parts of the country want to come to Paron, they will have to travel through Laghman, Nangarhar and Kunar before reach their destination. They have to cover 300-kilometre journey,” he added.

Regarding the security situation, he said only Wama district and Paron were under total government control. At least 70 percent of remaining districts were under rebels’ sway, he explained.

Paendazoy continued the residents of Nuristan faced serious health issues as there was no modern hospital in the entire province. The scarcity of education facilities is reflected in the fact that 90 percent schools in Nuristan have no buildings.

“All these problems have people to join militant groups,” the public representatives argued.

People of this mountainous province, located east of Kabul, have been faced with multiple problems. Long plagued by the Taliban insurgency, Nuristan is situated close to the Durand Line.