KABUL, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Afghanistan's economy saw a marvelous growth of 30 percent in the first year after the Taliban's ouster, mainly due to the return of refugees and an end of lingering drought, a spokesman said on Monday.

　　"According to reports by the Finance Ministry and the central bank, the economic growth in last fiscal year was over 30 percent," presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin told reporters at a routine press conference here.

　　The British weekly Economist has also reported a similar growthof the Afghan economy based on its independent estimates, he said.

　　Afghan officials and economists earlier estimated that the post-war country would achieve an economic growth of about 10 percent in the 2002 fiscal year ending on March 20.

　　The spokesman cited the repatriation of nearly 2 million Afghanrefugees, end of a four-year-drought across the country and start of the reconstruction process as main reasons for the economic achievement of the country.

　　But he denied that such a staggering growth was only a result of the flow of foreign assistance into the country after the former ruling Taliban collapsed in late 2001.

　　Donor countries have pledged about 4.5 billion US dollars for Afghanistan's reconstruction over five years at the Tokyo conference in January 2002.

　　However, Afghan officials said that much of the amount has yet to reach the country or have been used for humanitarian projects.

　　Meanwhile, the spokesman said President Hamid Karzai on Monday sent a delegation to a southeastern border province to investigateinto two security incidents on Sunday, in which 11 government soldiers were killed by suspected Taliban attackers.

　　About 200 to 300 Taliban gunmen early Sunday attacked the administrative office of Barmel district in Paktika province, killing eight government soldiers and injuring one.

　　Later in the day, three government soldiers were killed in a similar attack by some 200 gunmen on the administrative office of Tarwi district in the same province, which borders Pakistan.

　　There were also casualties on the enemy side and several assailants were arrested in the two clashes, according to the spokesman.

　　"There are still elements in some parts of the country making terrorist activities," he said. "They are targeting the country's reconstruction process."

　　"The terrorism is not a problem only in Afghanistan, it is a regional problem," he said. Enditem