07/22/2004

 The construction business in Kabul is booming as people rebuild their homes and businesses destroyed during the civil war of the mid-1990s. The city is also expanding as more than 800,000 refugees from abroad have returned to Kabul during the last two years. A refugee recently returned from Europe was helped by IOM to start a carpentry shop and is now contracted to do the woodwork in one of these new houses. Narcodollars and the large international aid presence in Kabul have also contributed to the construction boom.