JALALABAD, Afghanistan/KABUL (Reuters) - Twelve days ahead of the pine-nut harvest season, the governor of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province received a letter from village elders in the Wazir Tangi area about their plans to recruit 200 labourers and children to pluck the dry fruit.
The letter, seen by Reuters and dated Sept. 7, was sent in an effort to help protect labourers from getting caught in clashes between U.S.-backed Afghan forces and Islamic State fighters in the mountainous terrain largely controlled by the jihadists.