AFGHANISTAN'S BIGGEST PROBLEM - POVERTY - CAN BE SOLVED - 2001-10-16

WASHINGTON (The Christian Science Monitor via COMTEX). 'Can mountain poverty really be alleviated? Or is economic and social development under such onerous conditions a quixotic dream? A 20-year project in Pakistan's northern Karakorum Mountains adjoining Afghanistan provides living proof that sustainable development is possible, even under the most daunting physical circumstances. There, the Aga Khan Development Network has worked at the most local level to enable people to feed themselves, set up their own small businesses, establish communal institutions, and build schools. What was once a hotbed of drug trafficking and conflict is now a peaceful and developing region. ' Writes Frederick Starr of the Christian Science Monitor.