Housing Plan for Top Aides in Afghanistan Draws Rebuke

[Khephra]

Outrage over a plan to build high-end residences in central Kabul for government officials is threatening to discredit the 20-month-old administration of President Hamid Karzai.

The accusations come as Mr. Karzai enters the last year of his current term and he prepares for another foreign tour to raise money to rebuild. His government has already been losing support because of perceived injustices and the government's slowness in its reconstruction efforts.

To build the new housing, which would be for Afghan cabinet ministers, government officials and mujahedeen commanders, a crew of 100 armed police officers with bulldozers started demolishing the modest mud-walled houses of about 30 families two weeks ago.

The crew broke down walls of 12 houses, injuring at least two children who were inside, residents said. In scuffles with the residents, the police beat several with rifle butts, residents said, leaving at least two men with cuts on their heads.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/international/asia/21KABU.html