Castles in the air: Afghans pay a heavy price for uncertainty

By Jeremy Laurence and Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - A bored security guard, a Kalashnikov rifle over his shoulder, stands guard alone outside an idle construction site for a 10-storey building in downtown Kabul, one of more than a dozen concrete shells with not a single construction worker in sight. It was meant to be boom-time after decades of war and privation, with shiny new shopping malls springing up around the Afghan capital and construction cranes dotting Kabul's spectacular, snow-capped horizon over the past few years. However, business has now ground to a halt across much of Afghanistan. Political uncertainty abounds before another presidential vote and security fears are growing as the last foreign combat troops prepare to leave.

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