Several types of steel construction materials including steel bars, sheets and pipes were put on display in a stall drawing attention of visitors at the Industrial Exhibition held in a local hotel here last week.

"Whatever you are seeing in my stall is made in Afghanistan. These steel sheets and steel bars are produced in Maisam Steel factory located in Pul-e-Charkhi locality, Kabul," a staff of the stall, Shafiq Mohammad Khawja told Xinhua.

Khawja's stall was among some four dozen stalls opened in a three-day Industrial Exhibition jointly held by Afghan and Indian governments in a fortified hotel, the Intercontinental Hotel, here last week.

"My objective is to help our country achieve self-sufficiency in the field of steel products and one day could export the construction material steels to Pakistan and other neighboring countries," the ambitious Khawja told Xinhua.

Khawja, in his 30s, said Maisam Steel Factory is the first steel plant in the post-Taliban Afghanistan, established three years ago and features more than 200 workers.

The capacity of the plant is to produce 100 tons of steel materials daily, Khawja said, adding that the factory's production capacity would increase in the future.

"Products of Maisam Steel Factory", the first steel product in Afghanistan was frequented by the visitors asking about its capacity and products with interest.

Expressing his feeling about the plant with pride, Khawja said, "The price of one ton steel sheets and steel bar was 1,300 U.S. dollars three years ago, but today it costs 800 U.S. dollars due to our production and supplying to market," Khawja said.

He also predicted that the price of steel products used in construction field would further drop down in the future and the country's dependency on foreign products in this field would be further reduced.

In spite of continued militancy and conflicts in Afghanistan, the conflict-ridden country has also made considerable progress in several fields including industry, agriculture, communication, art and education.

The post-Taliban Afghanistan has achieved self-sufficiency in many fields over the past 13 years as the country producing soft drink, mineral bottled water and cement, marble, cooking oil and even exports its product.

Another Afghan sitting inside a stall displayed a variety of dry natural fruits.

In talks with Xinhua, he said he works for Ashk Limited, a local export-import company that exports fresh and dry fruits and seeds to Canada, India, Australia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain and Kuwait market. Endi

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