Jack Gruber | Photojournalist Workers dig through the deep snow along the muddy dirt road searching for large rocks using shovels and picks in order to shore up the sides of the deteriorating mountain path just before the Shatoo Pass. Road repair projects sponsored by foreign aid groups providing money or food for work, pay for local men and boys equipped with pick axes and shovels attempting to manage snow and ice covered roads from 8000 feet up and over the Shatoo Pass at 13,500 feet. Workers from neighboring villages walk for hours to work along the road leading from the central highlands of the Afghanistan village of Yawkalang--nearly 80 km west of Bamiyan--to the top of the 13,500 foot Shatoo Pass and work in the snow attempting to keep the primitive dirt/mud road open though the winter for the first time in recorded history. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has promised the country that road improvements are a main priority but with limited funding to repair and maintain roads--nearly all unpaved--that have been destroyed by years of war, progress could take years. © 2002 USA TODAY