Afghan authorities scramble to reach earthquake zone, toll at 1,000 dead

By Mohamad Yunus Tawar KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan authorities struggled on Thursday to reach a remote area hit by an earthquake that killed 1,000 people but poor communications and a lack of proper roads hampered their efforts, officials said. The magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck early on Wednesday about 160 km, (100 miles) southeast of Kabul, in arid mountains doted with small settlments near the border with Pakistan. "We can't reach the area, the networks are too week, we trying to get updates," Mohammad Ismail Muawiyah, a spokesman for the top Taliban military commander in hardest-hit Paktika ...