Afghanistan-unrest-military-aid-development,FOCUS by Charlotte McDonald-Gibson Afghan labourers take part in the construction of a bridge at Barikowt, in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on April 3, 2009. Barikowt bridge in isolated northeastern Afghanistan is only a few miles from a coalition military base, but it takes a convoy of army vehicles more than an hour to reach it. New armoured vehicles brought in by the US military to deal with roadside bombs and ambushes in this area of Kunar province crawl along the mud-and-rock track, jolting violently over potholes. The huge trucks barely fit the narrow road traversing mountains near the Pakistan border, the body work almost scrapes the rock face and the tyres grind perilously close to the cliff plunging down to the Kunar river. This is the level of security needed to travel in this volatile district to check on the construction of the bridge, one of the development projects funded by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
