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Afghan Paper Claims Forest Fires Caused By Coalition Forces

Posted on: Friday, 2 December 2005, 12:00 CST

Text of editorial titled "Are the forest fires related to the security situation?", published by Afghan newspaper Cheragh on 30 November

In Konar Province afire struck forests covering 25,000 hectares. It lasted for days. According to some reports, the jungles in Konar have been set on fire by the coalition forces stationed in the province. Though they had some airborne equipment, they did not take any action to put out the fire. They [coalition forces] think the enemy uses those forests for organizing attacks on their forces and other terrorist activities.

Though the forests were misused for smuggling timber to the other side of the border over wartime, fires rarely broke out there, and that begs the question, why there are repeated cases of fire in those areas now that the government has expanded its rule to those areas and the coalition forces have been assigned to restore security there.

The preservation of the Konar forests, which are national wealth and the property of all Afghans, is more important than security. Little attention is paid to this. The protection of the environment and the preservation of trees is an important issue in the world today. But those precious resources are unfortunately destroyed.

The protection of the environment that becomes more and more important is a must for all relevant government organs. They should not spare any effort in protecting them. Unfortunately, neither the national wealth nor the natural resources and historical heritage of the country are protected.

Now that peace and security have been restored in Afghanistan and the grounds is prepared for the activities of foreigners, some opportunist people, in collaboration with the brokers and smugglers of historical relics, set out to plunder our historical heritage and natural resources.

Therefore, the Afghan government must exert efforts through the relevant organs to protect natural resources. The forest fires that inflict huge losses on the nation are, in fact, burn the property of the whole nation. It should be investigated by the government and the perpetrators should be brought to justice.

Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

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