Demobilization in northern Afghanistan about half way finished, UN says

About half the 1,000 ex-soldiers voluntarily disarmed in the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz have completed the multi-step demobilization programme there, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said today.

A spokesman for UNAMA said in the capital Kabul that in the four-day programme at Afghanistan's New Beginnings Programme (ANBP), the ex-combatants are shown motivational films about life as a civilian, briefed on their responsibilities as civilians, and encouraged to participate in interviews in which they talk about their background, skills and education and what they would like to do next.

They are also given identity cards and receive a cash benefit, a food package and a shalwar kamiz, one of the traditional suits of Afghanistan.

They have all sworn a seven-point oath promising not to take up arms and to obey the laws of the country, spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said. The oath also calls on the ex-soldiers not to get involved in drug trafficking or production, and not to take part in criminal activities.

Of the different opportunities available through the demobilization programme, the most popular so far is agricultural work. Very few ex-combatants had opted to join either the Afghan National Army or the police, UNAMA said.