Monday, September 11 2006 14:21 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kabul: Five years after the Sep 11 terrorist attacks in New York, which sparked off the US-led Afghan war toppling the former Taliban regime, life in Afghanistan is still very hard.

Even Kabul, which enjoys relative calmness due to tight security measures, has been witnessing a rise of insurgence in the past weeks.

"A very worrying issue is the worsening security situation in this city," said Khali Haider, owner of a pharmacy here.

A suicide car bombing killed 15 people including two US soldiers just 50 metres from the pharmacy recently.

Afghanistan is still suffering from numerous thorny problems, such as poverty, corruption and narcotics.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the production of opium, the raw material for making heroine, will reach 6,100 tonnes this year in Afghanistan, a sharp rise of 49 percent over last year.

The production accounts for a staggering 92 percent of the total world supply.

There are 920,000 drug users in Afghanistan, accounting for 3.8 percent of the whole population, the UNODC said.

However, terrorism, insurgence and destabilisation are the most serious troubles for Afghanistan, as President Hamid Karzai has said repeatedly.

Afghanistan is suffering from the most severe spate of bloodshed after the Taliban regime's collapse in 2001. More than 2,200 people have been killed in Taliban-linked violence so far this year.

Around 2,000 NATO and Afghan soldiers are carrying out a major offensive under Operation Medusa in Panjwai and Zhari districts in Kandahar province.

Over 340 Taliban militants have been killed in the first eight days of the operation, during which over 20 NATO troops have also lost their lives.

In between, presidential and parliamentary elections were held in 2004 and 2005, respectively and a new constitution has been framed and put into practice.

Bazaars are piled up with Coca Cola, Pepsi, cans, boxes of milk, and shops sell digital cameras, colourful movie discs and fashionable clothes.

In the past five years, nearly 5 million Afghan refugees have returned home from abroad, mostly from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran.

Kabul, which is estimated to harbour 4 million dwellers, has seen frequent traffic jams as more and more cars are on the road in recent years.

Matiullah, a young peddler pushing a handcart for selling tomatoes and onions, said, "Life is a little better than before, and now I can earn $4 everyday."