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Work begins on Afghanistan's highway
By Diana Muriel
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Repairs on the war-torn highway linking Afghanistan's western city of Herat with Kabul in the east via Kandahar are set to begin this week after a groundbreaking ceremony Sunday attended by Afghan and U.S. officials. Work on the 1,200 kilometer (746-mile) Kabul-Kandahar-Herat Highway will get underway Monday about 43 kilometers (27 miles) outside of Kabul and is expected to take at least three years to complete. Afghan President Hamid Karzai told reporters he was "satisfied" at the amount of international financial assistance his country had received. U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Robert P. Finn also attended the groundbreaking ceremony. The United States will provide $80 million, Japan $50 million and Saudi Arabia another $50 million. The United States' contribution, to be made through the U.S. Agency for International Development, will include funding for de-mining efforts along the highway to be carried out by the United Nations' mine action center. Security for the highway repair and construction project workers is a concern: the highway covers areas of ongoing military operations. An outside company, Louis Berger Co., will do most of the engineering design and supervision, however a local Afghan group will be responsible for the first 43 kilometers outside Kabul. The original highway was built in the 1960s with U.S. funds, but devastated during the 1980s Soviet occupation and the civil war that followed. A non-stop journey by car now takes about 24 hours, but the project will halve that when completed in three years' time. Thousands of Afghans are expected to find work rebuilding the route, among the first major infrastructure projects undertaken with donor funds since the U.S.-led military campaign toppled the Islamic Taliban regime. Reuters contributed to this report.
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