First post for Afghanistan in over two decades

By David Fox

KABUL, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's postal service resumed operations in the capital on Saturday for the first time in more than two decades with a promise to deliver mail anywhere, any time.

"We are trying to provide a good service and deliver letters on time for anyone who pays -- inside and outside the country," said postmaster Mohammad Gulam Safi.

Hundreds of customers queued up at 18 post offices which opened in the capital to buy stamps or make international telephone calls from new booths erected by authorities.

Letter writers did brisk business on the pavements outside, while vendors selling pens and paper quickly staked out their patches.

Safi said the postal service was likely to face problems at the start because it was so short of equipment.

"We are facing some problems during the 23 years of war in this country nobody helped us," he said.

He said the office did not even have a scale to weigh letters or a rubber stamp to validate postage.

"International post offices should cooperate with us and help us because we are a member of the international post offices group," he said.

Post offices in Afghanistan have existed in name only for the last two decades, with letters trusted instead to truckers and other long-distance drivers.

The absence of letters might also have something to do with the fact that after 24 years of conflict, 80 percent or more of Afghanistan's 20 million people are estimated by the United Nations to be illiterate.

The former ruling Taliban's insistence on trying to create a purist Islamic state modelled on a fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran further undermined Afghanistan's communications.

Television was banned, the Internet outlawed and there were very few telephones -- and hardly any with international access.

On Saturday, customers said they were delighted the service had resumed.

"My son lives in Iran and I want to send him a letter," beamed Ahmad Gan. "I want to ask him to come back to Afghanistan and work here."