DEVELOPMENT IN AFGHANISTAN

The United Nations film board presents the United Nations screen magazine number 16 produced by the Department of public information. Afghanistan moves ahead. This is Afghanistan, a land of barren mountain ranges and wide plains, of lifeless deserts and fertile valleys. Long, long ago, great trade routes crossed these mountains and valleys, linking together the empires of the ancient world. Along them passed silk caravans from China, the Greeks of Alexander the Great, the warrior hordes of Genghis Khan and the emperors of Islam. Afghanistan is a country long isolated by geography and history from what is known as modern science. 12 million people live here, following a way of life that has changed but little in the past thousand years. People of great vitality and independence, all held together by one common bond in religion, Islam. The Afghan government has been making strenuous efforts to develop their country. And in 1950, called upon the United Nations to help by providing technical assistance experts. Working together, Afghan and UN experts have had to face the destruction and inertia of past centuries. Once Afghanistan was rich and fertile, situated at the crossroads of Asia. Cities and towns flourished in the land made fertile with irrigation. Today, the prosperity of ancient times has vanished. Invasion after invasion led by Genghis Khan, Tamerlane the Great and other conquerors ravaged the country. The need for improvement is immense, but the government knows that old customs cannot be changed quickly. By necessity, progress is slow. New ideas have to be introduced gradually. But with United Nations technical assistance, the government achieves startling results, often in the simplest way. Wheat has always been harvested with a small hand sickle. The scythe was unknown. It's a long way from the wheat fields of Austria to the valleys of the Hindu Kush, but two Austrian technicians were brought here to work with the Afghan farmer. Meeting the farmer on his own ground, they introduced him to the scythe. Inexpensive to make and easy to use, the scythe will save labor and time, time for more production from the land. Salt is scarce and valuable. For centuries, it has been laboriously chipped out of these salt mines with a broad pickaxe. Nearly 1/3 of the salt was wasted. Now the experts have suggested one simple improvement. Use a saw in place of the axe, and the waste will be less, work made easier, and more salt produced. Soon there will be more salt for the people and for their animals. In the fertile valley of the river Oxus, two of the most important crops of the country are grown, cotton and rice. But the abundance of water that make the valley so fertile also provides a breeding place for the Anopheles mosquito, carrier of malaria. Two years ago, the government invited a team of specialists from the World Health Organization to come to this valley to help them fight and control the disease. The new scientific approach has already brought about quite a revolution in the lives of the people. Not long ago, over half the people living here had malaria. Now, in the short space of two years, they're well again and prosperity is returning to the land. Hundreds of villages have been visited by the team. The walls and ceilings of every house sprayed with DDT. After a season of spraying, the children in every village are examined to see if the DDT has done its work and the malaria infection reduced. The government is making good use of the doctors of the World Health team. Young Afghans are constantly working with them, sharing in their knowledge and learning the new techniques of malaria control. Soon the team of specialists will leave, their task of instruction done, and the fight against malaria will continue in well-trained hands. With the return of good health to the people come demands for other improvements. The government asked for a cotton expert to show the farmers what can be done with new ways of cultivation. Clean fields and new seed may double the yield of cotton and so increase the production of the looms. To increase production, to make the fullest possible use of resources, and so to raise the standard of living, that is the purpose of the government in requesting technical assistance from the United Nations. For many years, Afghanistan has provided the luxury markets of the world with the finest skins of karakul or Persian lamb. Much of her foreign revenue came from these sheep, but from time to time, the great flocks are decimated by disease, drought, and lack of modern methods. On the ranges of Colorado or the steppes of Central Asia, the problems of the shepherd are the same, breeding, food, and combating disease. The karakul shepherds soon added to their own knowledge the advice of the United Nations expert who came to work amongst them. Their animals were sick and he showed them the cure. In winter, the feed is scarce. Many thousands of sheep die from starvation. Now they can be fed with cotton seed and oil cake from the expanding cotton industry. Careful breeding experiments will improve the quality of the skins. Exports will increase and more foreign exchange will be available for further development. Coal mining, for example. By modern standards, the output of these mines is small and the quality poor, but much can be done with simple machinery and careful planning. United Nations technical assistance sent this Afghan engineer to study mining abroad. Now he's returned to put his new knowledge to use in developing the coal resources of his country. Today, encouraged by the success of her own initiative, Afghanistan looks forward with hope and confidence. Adding the knowledge and skills of United Nations technical assistance experts to its own efforts, the government of Afghanistan has started to lay a secure and prosperous foundation for the future to provide good health and a higher standard of living for all her people. This is the United Nations.