Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Katie Weaver.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower and we use

words and phrases especially written for people learning English.

Coming up on the show, our everyday grammar Report from Jonathan Evans and Jill Robbins.

Andrew Smith presents Ask a Teacher.

And we close the show with the Learning English program, American Stories.

Today we hear Chicken Little.

But first, John Russell brings us this report.

The capital city of Kabul, Afghanistan, has seen big changes in its high-end housing market.

Peace, it seems, is driving up property prices.

Omidullah, a real estate agent, is selling a white and gold house with nine bedrooms and nine bathrooms in the Afghan capital.

The house is on the market for $450,000.

A surprising number in a country where more than half of the population depends on humanitarian aid to survive.

Most Afghans do not have bank accounts, and it is rare to borrow money from banks to buy property.

Yet the offers are coming in. It's a myth that Afghans don't have money,

Omidullah said. We have very big businessmen who have big businesses abroad. There are houses here

worth millions of dollars.

People who spent years living and working abroad are returning home.

They are drawn by the country's much improved security and stability after years of war and destruction.

Those returning include Afghans escaping deportation campaigns in Iran and Pakistan.

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