Afghan civilians commute on the "Kabul highway," linking the Afghan capital to the north of the country, on a rainy day near Charikar, 50 km north of Kabul, on November 1, 2001. Afghanistan has a total of 21,000 km of highways but only 2,793 km are paved. Economic considerations have played second fiddle to political and military upheavals during two decades of war, including the nearly 10-year Soviet military occupation. —REUTERS