Haji Abdul Manaf, the district governor for this region of Helmand province, was incensed.
An employee from the agricultural ministry of the provincial government refuses to come to Nawa unless he is assured a desk and a telephone at the district headquarters, where those items are in short supply.
Improving crop yields and persuading farmers to plant wheat rather than the poppies that produce heroin are key points in the U.S.- NATO coalition’s plans to upgrade the standard of living in this farm belt in southern Afghanistan.
But for months, Manaf has been unable to get the support he wants from the provincial government.