US TO HELP AFGHAN FARMING

WASHINGTON (Agencies): American officials outlined a program to help
Afghanistan produce 772,000 metric tons of food within two years and
restore the country to its status as South Asia's "bread basket."That goal
is one-third of the country's food requirements, said Andrew Natsios,
administrator of the Agency for International Development.

He said the target is within reach because of high-yield seeds that will
produce between 80 percent and 100 percent more wheat than the seed now used.

"This will stimulate local markets.

It will get people back to their farms doing something constructive.

It will draw employment out of the militias and out of the poppy growing
areas to something that we think is constructive," Natsios said.

He said agriculture outside opium poppy farming traditionally has been the
only legitimate economy of Afghanistan.

"It was a very productive agricultural system at one point.

We need to restore that system," Natsios said.

He also discussed an education initiative that includes the printing of 10
million school textbooks, half of which were distributed as of three weeks ago.

In addition, he said a U.S.-backed program is helping to train 4,000
teachers across the country, 50 percent of whom are women.

It is a deliberate attempt to create opportunities for women after five
years under Taliban rule in which women were barred from working, Natsios said.

Natsios said the comments were part of "the natural frustration" that comes
when reconstruction projects get started.

State Department official James Dobbins offered a generally optimistic
overall view of the situation in Afghanistan since last fall of Taliban
from power.