Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Economy

Economy

U.S. Winds Down Afghanistan Aid Program

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Wall Street Journal, 10 October 2012 The closure of already five of over two dozen NATO PRTs ‘is effectively turning off the money flow to Afghanistan’s provinces’, the Journal reports. Of the once millions-strong Commander’s Emergency Response Program funds for PRT commanders (the Nangarhar PRT spent $24 million on projects in the province in 2010) […]

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Doubt Cast on Afghan Mining

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Wall Street Journal, 3 October 2012 According to this report, ‘researchers working for the U.S. military have concluded [in a draft report] that it could cost more than $54 billion to build and run a railway network across Afghanistan, a price [that] could make some large-scale mining economically unviable’. ‘Because of the daunting terrain between […]

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Afghan gold fever heats up


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The Independent, 29 September 2012 An interesting story about a man who was called to ‘help build an Afghanistan economy on the foundations of trillions of dollars-worth of copper and gold buried beneath its war-torn surface’ by a US State Department official and ‘a Wellington College-educated former SAS commander who is now chief executive at […]

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Records Missing on Afghan Army Fuel Costs

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New York Times, 10 September 2012 It is about 475 million USD, by the way. And now imagine what happens if an NGO cannot account for 0.001 per cent of it…

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Lack of Capacity and Capital: Is Afghanistan Under-Selling the Ainak Copper?

Gran Hewad •

Containing 240 million metric tons of ore at 2.3 per cent copper content, the Ainak mine is considered one of the largest deposits of this metal in the world. It is located in Muhammad Agha district of Logar province, about 30 kilometres south-east of the Afghan capital, and was contracted to a Chinese consortium in […]

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Guest Blog: Big Bucks for Big Players – Logistic fortunes of the Afghan war

Mohammad Jawad •

The logistics business is one of the most lucrative yet murkiest aspects of international security operations in Afghanistan. Involving backroom dealings and hundreds of millions of dollars, the stakes are high, as is the alleged involvement of the Afghan political elite. So who’s running the show, what are the scams, and what will happen as […]

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Latest Mining Discovery in Afghanistan: Information from EITI

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Revenue Watch blog, 17 August 2012 No, no new mines discovered, but data from the first GoA reports to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: ‘The report reveals a reality that contrasts with the headlines: anemic sector contribution to public revenues and government challenges in overseeing oil, gas and mining sector payment.’ And it transpired that […]

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Rising kidnap cases spark strike in Herat City

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Pajhwok News Agency (Kabul), 8 August 2012 Workers of industrial companies, moneychangers, doctors, jewellers and traders went on strike in protest against rising kidnappings in western Herat province.

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Afghan Cabinet Raises Concern About Mining Legislation, to West’s Unease

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Afghan Cabinet Raises Concern About Mining Legislation, to West’s Unease New York Times, 23 July 2012 A group of Afghan cabinet ministers and senior officials last week objected to the draft legislation as kowtowing to foreign mining interests, reports the Times. And Ashraf Ghani is quoted on a crucial point: ‘Will the advisers [who helped […]

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Iran Sanctions Take Toll on Afghans

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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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