Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

An opportunity that will never knock our doors again

After the international troops' withdrawal in 2014, indisputably, the security condition in Afghanistan will further deteriorate. But 'bad security' is not the only threat waiting for Afghanistan; an economic downfall is being called as something inevitable. Need to mention, today Afghan government is relying on international aids to fulfill up to 90 percent of its operational and development activities. Once the international troops are out, foreign funds are to shrink fast. This would alone serve as a catastrophe for Afghanistan - where about 40 percent of population lives below the line of poverty – let alone the political condition that would go terrible.

The greatest damage of an economic crisis would reach to the nurturing Afghan security forces. Within the next a year or two the number of Afghan National Army and Police, as planned, will reach 350,000. With that the military expenses of Afghanistan will also double as the soldiers would need more trainings and light to heavy weapons, tanks and aircrafts. But there are doubts and questions if Afghanistan of that time would be able to have enough budgets both for boosting its forces capabilities and funding reconstruction and development projects.

The international community will be leaving behind a feeble government sinking in rampant corruption. The only hope for putting Afghan economy in a safer position, in the long run, is this country's mineral resources, estimated to be one to three trillion dollar. Regretfully, the corruption factor is threatening that hope too. If corruption persists 'as is,' no noteworthy benefit of the huge deposits will reach Afghanistan itself. The bidding process for the two big mines of copper and iron in Logar and Bamiyan provinces respectively were not transparent, critics say. That shows us the picture of future of Afghan mines.

As we move ahead, economic vulnerability of Afghans will increase along with the deteriorating security condition. If we had been able to direct the resources - made available to us in the last decade - towards strengthening our vital national infrastructure such as that of economy, today we would be able to fight challenges ahead of us in a better way. Inefficient government has caused Afghanistan to miss an opportunity that will never knock our doors again.