Afghanistan will receive $166 million in interest-free credits from the World Bank to reconstruct post-war communities, strengthen local governance, provide water to farms and aid the Government in increasing the efficiency of its customs and transit regime.

The senior United Nations envoy to Afghanistan has called for greater female participation in the country's electoral process after early results from voter registration show that six men are signing up for every woman.

The senior United Nations official concerned with children’s welfare during war expressed deep concern today about a second killing of children over the weekend by US-led Coalition forces in Afghanistan and urged the Coalition to “take measures to ensure fuller protection of children and prevent the occurrence of this kind of tragedies in the future.”