Afghan Postal Workers Lick Stamps for Customers

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan Tom A. Peter, correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, pens, " Ten years ago, the Afghan postal service lay in near total ruin, undone by the nation's civil war. Sending a letter usually meant having to find someone traveling in the direction of the recipient willing to carry a note and hoping for the best."

"Yet as the government struggles to develop despite an excess of foreign aid," Peter continues, "the post office has quietly managed to become one of the most efficient national institutions – and with extremely limited international assistance."

According to Peter, "The US Agency for International Development and the International Security Assistance Force contributed delivery trucks, China provided 100 mail-delivery bicycles, and Iran sent postal bags. International postal organizations have also provided some equipment. Otherwise, the organization has had to be largely self-sufficient compared with other development projects."

He goes on to say, " 'Friendly customer service' is not a phrase often heard in reference to government projects in Afghanistan, but, sure enough, post office workers in Kabul even go so far as to lick stamps for patrons."

Shown above,  postal worker sells stamps at a post office in Kabul, Afghanistan.

For more on this story, click here.