UN
Armed groups give up their weapons
1 July 2009 - The beautiful district of Jabulsaraj, located at the foot of the Hindu Kush mountains was today announced as a peace district.
A total of 30 light weapons, belonging to six illegal armed groups were handed over to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) authorities.
With Jabulsaraj, the number of peace districts, a term used for districts that are free of illegal weaponry, is now at 77 districts.
“In exchange for your AK-47s we will now build primary schools ... and in exchange for the rockets we will build high schools in the district,” promised General Abdul Baseer Salangi, the Governor of Parwan province.
ANBP awards peace districts with various development projects. Six such projects have been completed while the work on 26 other projects is currently underway across the country.
62 illegal armed groups have been disbanded in June alone – while the total number of disbanded illegal armed groups has now reached 626 since the start of the DIAG programme in 2004.
“Illegal weapons create insecurity. If we want a peaceful country then we need to collect all the weapons and people should cooperate with this process,” said Haji Mohammad Kabir, a resident of the Abed Khil village in Jabulsaraj.
DIAG is implemented by the Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP), a project of the United Nations Development Programme.
By Homayon Khoram, UNAMA
