AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan takes one giant step on the road to recovery today. Paul Cullen reports from Islamabad, Pakistan
In what is probably the largest exercise ever undertaken in the field of education, almost two million Afghan children will today return to school for the first time in years.
After the years of conflict, and the wilful destruction of schools by the country's former Taliban rulers, this morning will be the first day in six years that most have been able to freely access education.
The Back to School programme co-ordinated by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) is a massive logistical operation. For three weeks, a UN assembly has worked non-stop to churn out 7,000 tonnes of packed school kits for thousands of schools.
Aircraft, helicopters, donkeys and porters have been drafted in to ferry education materials to distant villages in harsh mid-winter.
But beyond the statistics, today's development represents a crucial act of faith by the international community.
If the West's new-found interest in Afghanistan is going to be about more than military containment, then the citizens of the world's poorest country must be given hope of a better life.
And what better way than in the classroom?
"The Back to School scheme is about bringing hope to the people of Afghanistan," says Sharad Sapra of Unicef in Kabul.
"It is about a social contract with the people of Afghanistan. It is about a declaration that if we believe in something, no matter what the obstacles, we can make it happen."
A poster and radio campaign urging families to send their children to school preceded the distribution of blackboards, books and other materials. The promoters were pushing an open door and, by all accounts, the thirst for education is massive among both boys and girls.
The return to school will make the biggest difference for girls, just 8 per cent of whom attended primary school under the Taliban (participation for boys was 32 per cent).
Many of these received some form of instruction in clandestine "hedge schools" but it is estimated that only 4 per cent of women are literate.
As in Ireland, the main source of dispute centred on the issue of teachers' pay.
Several schools refused to reopen, fearing that teachers would not receive their salaries and would have to work on a voluntary basis. Administrators demanded confirmation of teacher salaries before committing themselves to registering new staff.
Their fears are not without foundation. The long-term funding scenario for such projects is still uncertain. There was talk of the West committing $10 billion to Afghanistan over the coming decade, but those promises are beginning to look ropy as interest declines and the costs of the military campaign continue to rise.
In the event, the 50,000 teachers were placated by a pledge that their first month's salary would be paid.
The UN Development Programme, which is responsible for all civil service salaries, has said it will continue paying for another two months - if the funding becomes available.