Kabul, May 1:

Many Afghans are still mired in poverty and lacking access even to safe drinking water four years after the fundamentalist Taliban regime was toppled, a national rights group said today.

The independent Human Rights Commission said a survey in 29 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces found that most people still face problems in terms of their social and economic rights.

The problems that the war-battered nation faces include a lack of access to proper health care, housing, education, drinking water and the rights to property as well as to justice, said commissioner and spokesman Nader Naderi.

“Half of all interviewees do not have access to safe drinking water and more than a quarter use a water source that is shared with animals,” he said, “More than 8,000 people were interviwed during the survey.”

“Although health care facilities are available for 75.4 per cent of interviewees, more than half do not use the facilities because of difficulties with access and concerns over quality,” Naderi said. He said nearly half those interiewed said their homes are largely unfit to live in and over 10 per cent had disputes over tenure. Others said they were struggling with poverty and had to send their children to work.

“Almost half of all interviewees have at least one child under 15 years who works; in almost 20 per cent of the chidren work.” Naderi said the situation plaguing Afgha-nistan, despite the US-led invasion in late 2001.