Afghanistan's most desolate region mired in obscurity

By Maria Golovnina

CHEKHCHERAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Severed from the world by the austere mountains of central Afghanistan, Abdullah, his two wives, 15 children and a herd of goats lead a life that has changed little for centuries.

"There is nothing here. We have no roads, no electricity, no water, no power," said a black-turbaned Abdullah, rows of parched sunflowers drooping sadly in his dust-colored compound.

"That's the hardest thing about life here right now."

Hemmed-in by mountains peaking sharply into the sky, central Ghor province is home to about a million people.

Once at the heart of the mediaeval Ghorid empire stretching between present-day Iran and South Asia, Ghor is now poor and desolate even by Afghanistan's standard, with no proper roads, hospitals and schools.

Because of its isolation, it is peaceful, untouched by a rise in violence that has rocked other parts of Afghanistan and serving as a mountainous buffer zone against the Taliban.

Like other calm provinces, Ghor rarely features in the news and people here feel that because of that the government and foreign agencies ignore their plight.

"People live here like 300 years ago," said governor of Ghor, Sayed Iqbal Munib. "We need more attention. People are good and patient but they suffer from all sorts of problems."

The tiny Lithuanian-run local provincial reconstruction team -- one in a network of NATO units through which Western nations deliver assistance -- stands in a sharp contrast to the sprawling British-sponsored operation in neighboring Helmand in the south.

Millions of dollars of aid are pumped into provinces such as Helmand every year as part of efforts to turn Afghans against the Taliban. But provinces like Ghor were left behind.

Only about a quarter of adults here can read and write, child mortality is among the highest in the country, and life expectancy is below the countrywide average of 44.

Chekhcheran, a band of mud houses battered by dust storms that serve as the provincial center, is a sleepy place.

Sitting in the dust and trying to breast-feed their screaming babies outside Ghor's only big hospital, women clad in layers of scarves said there were not enough doctors to treat their children.

Gulbadan Halifazada, 42, says only two members of her household work, earning 200 Afghanis ($4) a day. She says life has not improved -- or indeed changed at all -- for years.

"We don't have enough good land for farming and grazing cattle," said Halifazada, her wrinkled forehead covered by an elaborate tattoo. "The government doesn't help. Nothing has improved in the last five years."