LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Afghanistan
built 655 days ago
Afghanistan is currently led by President Hamid Karzai, who was elected in October 2004. The current parliament was elected in 2005. Among the elected officials were former mujahadeen, Taliban members, communists, reformists, and Islamic fundamentalists. 28% of the delegates elected were women, 3 points more than the 25% minimum guaranteed under the constitution. This made Afghanistan, long known under the Taliban for its oppression of women, one of the leading countries in terms of female representation. Construction for a new parliament building began on August 29, 2005.
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Afghanistan's power grid has been severely damaged by years of war, and less than 10 percent of its population currently has access to electricity, with Kabul suffering power shortages. Transmission lines from the Kajaki Dam in Helmand province near Kandahar were hit by an airstike in November 2001, but were repaired in early 2002. On several occasions since then... power to Kandahar has been cut off by attacks on the transmission lines. Three hydro-electric power dams provide baseload power to Kabul: the 100 MW Naghlu dam, the 66-MW Mahi Par dam, and the 22-MW Sarobi dam, with the latter two facilities slated to be rehabilitated, possibly by 2005, under a $16.9 million contract let to Voith Siemens in early 2004. Due to a lack of water flow on the Kabul River, only the Naghlu Dam, which has a sizable reservoir capacity, is operational all-year round to meet the needs of Kabul. The dams are located about 50 miles from Kabul and are linked by a 110-kV, double-circuit transmission line.
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Governor Tim Pawlenty has ordered flags at the Capitol to fly at half staff on Saturday in honor of a Minnesota soldier killed in Afghanistan. Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Ryan Kahler was killed January 26 while on duty, apparently by friendly fi
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This week Afghanistan signed an agreement with the Russian Federation which provides substantial debt relief to Afghanistan for debts accumulated over a number of years. Afghanistan has made no payments on these loans in recent years.
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The leaders of a House panel that oversees military spending say they are drafting legislation that would pay for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through the rest of the year. Reps. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the
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VoteVets.org, a political advocacy group founded and funded by veterans, released the first-ever poll today of Iraq and Afghanistan vets. Respondents, most of whom were conservatives, delivered a shocking assessment of the equipment shortages and other hardships facing soldiers on the battlefield. Here are some key findings:
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