KABUL. May 4: There is growing frustration among many of the Defence Ministry frontline soldiers in Kabul, not because of the regular ceasefire violations, but because they haven't been paid for three months, reports AFP.

"1 should not complain because I am a Mujahideen and I have endurance and I can tolerate any difficulty, said Said Ahmad, a group commander stationed on the front at Jangalak tn south Kabul

"In the Jehad (holy struggle) we fought In the name of God, not for rewards." he went

on, "but now that we have achieved our Islamic victory— why are we not looked after'?'

"1 have a wife and three children. I have the responsibility to support them, but I am stuck here. Even If 1 got leave I can t afford the bus fare back to my home village." Said Ahmad said.

Said Ahmad comes from the area north of Kabul known as Shamali. where he fought the former Soviet army as member of the Hezb-I-Islam! faction.

After the Mujahideen vanquished the Moocow-backed

Afghan communist regime In April 1992 Said Ahmad quit Hezb and joined the fledgling army of the Islamic State of Afghanistan.

Like the others in his group, some of whom admitted to being as young as 15, Said Ahmad comes from a poor family, without the land necessary for means of support, so even the small wage offered by the government is an Incentive to stay on In face of the constant danger.

The soldier's baste pay is the equivalent of 15 US dollars

a month, plus an additional 30 dollars In lieu of ration coupons which the government does not have the supplies with which to honour.

"If they paid us our salary I would feel confident about the fate of my family." the commander said.

The Defence Ministry soldiers here live in the abandoned ruins of the neighbourhood behind the deserted Jangalak Engineering Factory, facing the Hezb frontline Just 20 metres (yards) up the road.