Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Economy

Economy

Iran Sanctions Take Toll on Afghans

admin •

Wall Street Journal, 22 July 2012 ‘The U.S.’s effort to wield economic pressure to influence Iranian leaders is having the unintended consequence of hurting Afghanistan, which relies on remittances from millions of migrants living in the country to its west’, writes the Journal. ‘On the Iranian side of the border, authorities have been forcing Afghan […]

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Jumble of Figures: How much money came out of Tokyo?

Thomas Ruttig •

The Tokyo conference on Afghanistan is over. The participating donors came up with pledges of US$16 billion in development aid (1) – but pledges not always translate into money transfers (and aid effectiveness is another issue). My AAN colleague, Kate Clark, has already rightly pointed out in her 8 July blog that money alone cannot […]

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Flash from the Past: the 2002 Tokyo conference – the world’s most difficult story

Kate Clark •

Today’s conference on aid in Tokyo (8 July 2012) has come ten years after international donors first pledged money to post-Taleban Afghanistan. In January 2002, they promised $3 billion (over varying numbers of years, depending on the donor) which was then an enormous sum, although it turned out to be a small drop compared to […]

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Beyond the Tokyo Centre-Court: Civil Society Concerns

Gran Hewad •

Today’s Tokyo Conference is the third such event in a month, following the second ‘Afghanistan: Heart of Asia’ conference in Kabul on 14 June and the Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan on 28 June. There have also been three other events in Tokyo, involving the UN, aid agencies and civil society organisations in the run-up […]

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The Tokyo Conference and the Decade of Déjà Vu

Martine van Bijlert •

Another conference, another set of promises, proposals and agreements. Tomorrow, representatives over 70 countries, international organisations and the Afghan government will meet in Tokyo to discuss aid post-2014. Anyone feeling confused about yet another conference with its claims of impact and importance will find AAN’s new e-book (Snapshots of an Intervention: The Unlearned Lessons of […]

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Renewal of the Vows: The Tokyo conference between ritual and necessity

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Tomorrow in Tokyo an international conference on Afghanistan is set to start, a little over a decade after the first donor conference on Afghanistan of the post-Taleban era took place in Japan’s capital. Between then and now many of such conference have been held, in many different places and in increasing frequency; on average once […]

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U.S. Awards Afghan Contract to Dubai Firm

admin •

Wall Street Journal, 24 June 2012 The Pentagon signed a contract with Dubai-based company Anham FZCO for food-supplies to their military bases. The contract value is estimated at $8.1 billion but could reach up to $24 billion over 5.5 years. A separate interim contract was awarded to current, controversial supplier Supreme at an estimated worth […]

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China’s Afghan oil deal on the skids

admin •

Asia Times online, 13 June 2012 An analysis of China’s problems with an oilfield concession in Sarepul province and what it has to do with the role of the famous Watan company owned by the Popal brothers.

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Guest blog: Working in Aid: donor rule, funding flows, and awkward ‘no’s

Sarah Han •

Criticism of top-down development approaches find common cause in Afghanistan, where projects are often envisioned and implemented without due attention paid to realities on the ground. Here, AAN guest blogger SARAH HAN shares some of her personal experience of the oft-frustrating world of donor-NGO relations. Her paper ‘Legal Aid in Afghanistan: Context and Challenges,’ released […]

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Profiting in Afghanistan

admin •

The Washington Post, 14 April 2012 Another interesting contractor: The US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) on Feb. 1 approved a $330 million five-month extension on a five-year contract that now totals $2.3 billion: It provides more than 8,000 interpreters working for US forces at 200 sites in Afghanistan. The company’s name is Mission […]

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Amount of dollars flown out of Kabul doubled last year

admin •

Financial Times, 18 March 2012 Some interesting figures: Afghanistan’s central bank found that the amount of declared dollars flown out of Kabul doubled to $4.6bn last year; this was almost equivalent to Afghanistan’s 2010-11 state budget of $4.8bn. The sum amounts to more than $150 for each Afghan citizen, in a country with average per […]

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The Many Owners of Ashab Baba: Land conflict at the Ainak copper mine

Obaid Ali • Thomas Ruttig •

So far, after the (re-)discovery of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, interest has concentrated on the macro-level – how to access and to market it, who won the tenders (and why not American companies*) – or on the cultural heritage aspect, how the Buddhist relics found at the Ainak copper mine can be protected. Now, micro conflicts […]

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