Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Development

Development

A child makes bricks in a mould at a brick kiln in Kandahar. For the families in our study from Sar-e Pul, working in the brick kilns in Mazar-e Sharif was a last resort, but by 2016, 70 per cent of households were migrating there seasonally, with men, women and children working. Households could easily fall into debt-bondage. Photo: Javed Tanveer/AFP, November 2021

Living With Radical Uncertainty in Rural Afghanistan: The work of survival

Adam Pain •

Yet again, Afghanistan is experiencing a moment of rupture, the latest in a long series of upheavals that have marked the lives of most Afghans over the age of 55. For those living in rural areas, unpredictability is created not only by regime change or violent conflict, but also drought, flooding and other natural disasters. […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

The Cost of Support to Afghanistan: New special report considers the reasons for inequality, poverty and a failing democracy

Kate Clark •

In a new AAN special report, Kate Clark considers the apparent paradox that despite almost two decades of international support to Afghanistan, poverty for most Afghans has deepened. She also explores the gap between the promise of the 2002 Bonn Agreement and 2004 constitution, a multi-ethnic, fully representative government, a democracy with strong checks and […]

Special Reports Read more

Placating Ghor, For Now: 10-days protest pushed the government to respond

S Reza Kazemi •

Frustrated by the exclusion of their primary development needs from Afghanistan’s budget for the coming year, a growing number of residents in the neglected and isolated central province of Ghor brought the local administration to a standstill by staging a sit-in for around ten days (21-31 January 2020). They only agreed to end their demonstration […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

AAN contributes to book on “Education and Development in Afghanistan”

Thomas Ruttig •

After years of military interventions, the current situation in Afghanistan is highly ambivalent and partially contradictory – especially regarding the interplay of development, peace, security, education, and economy. Despite numerous initiatives, Afghanistan is still confronted with a poor security and economic condition. This volume investigates the tension between these ambivalent developments. Sociologists, political and cultural […]

External publications Read more

One Land, Two Rules (2): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Obeh district of Herat province

S Reza Kazemi •

The matter of who governs the district of Obeh in the east of Herat province is complicated: control of the district is divided between the Afghan government and the Taleban, and shifts in unpredictable ways. The inhabitants of the district, usually via the mediation of elders, have had to learn how to deal with both […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

AAN Q&A: An established industry – Basic facts about Afghanistan’s opium-driven economy

Jelena Bjelica •

Afghanistan’s unflattering label – the world’s leading producer of opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin – has proved hard to remove. Over the last ten years, opium cultivation has increased steadily reaching unprecedented highs, whilst eradication levels have been decreasing and the country has slowly slid into more severe poverty. To see where Afghanistan […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more
Daily wage labourers chatting with each other while waiting for jobs. As the number of returnees from Pakistan has increased, the chances of getting work has gone down. Some labourers told AAN that they had been waiting for weeks to get a single day’s work.

Resettling Nearly Half a Million Afghans in Nangrahar: The consequences of the mass return of refugees

Fazl Rahman Muzhary •

Most of the 600,000 Afghans who returned from Pakistan last year chose to settle in the eastern border province of Nangrahar. This has put considerable strain on both health and education services. There has also been a boom in property prices, which has exacerbated land grabbing, already a major source of conflict in the province. […]

Migration Read more
National Cricket Stadium, Kabul. Photo: US Embassy Kabul (2010). Licensed under CC BY 2.0

The Great Game: The rise of Afghan cricket from exodus and war

Kate Clark • Sudhansu Verma •

Afghanistan continues to make inroads into the world of cricket. The men’s team has progressed from being a disorganised band of reckless hitters of the ball in the early 2000s to a well-balanced team. Two Afghans recently got contracts to play in the biggest cricket league in the world, the Indian Premier League, with deals […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more
Confusion over what tax individuals, businesses and non-profits should be paying has, at times, overwhelmed Afghanistan’s tax offices and tax payers. (Photo: Tolo)

How much do I need to pay? Changes to Afghanistan’s Tax Law cause chaos and confusion

Chantal Grut •

What are the tax obligations of citizens, residents and investors in Afghanistan? This question is much harder to answer today than it was 18 months ago. Then, the 2009 Income Tax Law, a remarkably well-written and detailed piece of legislation, had gone a long way in establishing a path towards clarity, stability and integrity for […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more
Girls actually in the classroom. Getting Afghan children, especially girls, to school, has been considered a major success story for post-Taleban Afghanistan, but how many children appearing in the statistics are ‘ghosts'? (Photo: Christine-Felice Roehrs)

A Success Story Marred by Ghost Numbers: Afghanistan’s inconsistent education statistics

Ali Yawar Adili •

For years, the Afghan government and donors have cited the growing number of children going to school in Afghanistan as an important post-Taleban success, despite closer scrutiny showing that numbers may have been inflated. The issue came to a head when the newly appointed education minister in the National Unity Government, Asadullah Hanif Balkhi, said […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more
Baghe-Babur in the snow, January 2017. Photo: Martine van Bijlert

What to Watch? Key issues to follow in Afghanistan in 2017

AAN Team •

As in most years, the feeling in January 2017 is that this will be another crucial year for Afghanistan. The AAN team has identified several key themes that we think it important to follow this year. They range from crises in the Afghan government and how changes in global politics, particularly the change of administration […]

Political Landscape Read more
KABUL, Aug 15, 2015: A view of a large shop which sells items wholesale in Mandawi market in Kabul. Photo: PAJHWOK/Bais

Afghanistan’s Government Revenue: Continuing robust growth in the face of economic weakness

Bill Byrd • M Khalid Payenda •

The Afghan government has continued to increase the amount it collects in revenue – by 22 per cent last year and 33 per cent in the first six months of this year. This revenue growth well exceeded expectations and projections. Thirty-seven per cent of the total revenue increase in the first half of 2016 was […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

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