Afghanistan's Kabul shows economic divide in war-torn country

Published: 2008-01-17

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNS) -- Not more than a 45-minute drive separates two areas illustrating the extremes of wealth and poverty that characterize Afghanistan. In the center of Kabul stand newly constructed wedding halls, mansions and at least one multilevel shopping mall. The city, which officially has a population of 3 million but may have as many as 4.5 million, is one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the world. The mall has amenities -- a coffee bar, camera and computer stores, and cash machines that dispense both Afghan and American currencies -- that would have been unimaginable in the summer of 2001. During that time, Kabul was in its last months under Taliban rule and recovering from years of warfare and Soviet control. It was an exhausted, denuded and dispirited place. Today, poor families live on the outskirts of the city, in the wind-swept hills that make for some of the best of Kabul's famed kite flying. Some Afghans reside in new homes built with funds from U.S.-based churches and humanitarian groups. But for many the amenities in Kabul remain out of reach.

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