The economy of Afghanistan is not creating adequate job opportunities to address the growing needs of masses. Based on the data from Ministry of Labor, the number of unemployed Afghans is now over a million. A big portion of that figure is formed by youths. The condition is so despite the billions of dollars of aid that has been poured in Afghanistan by international community in the last decade. The process of aid inflow still continues but no change in the situation is observable.

At such an important juncture where Afghanistan is standing today one can ask if Afghanistan is failing to provide job opportunities at present, what will be its condition after 2014 when the international community will complete its troops’ withdrawal process and international fund will diminish. Bad security and massive corruption are major reasons for low employment rate in Afghanistan. Relatively good security prevails only in capital and a few major cities of Afghanistan like Mazara e Sharif and Hirat. And those are the cities where the population is growing rapidly giving birth to numerous social and economic problems.

Corruption and nepotism continue to remain high in the country discouraging its masses about their future. The present administration has had no significant achievement in fight against corruption. Meanwhile, lives of the people of Afghanistan remain greatly at risk due to deteriorating security condition. This causes thousands of Afghans to travel illegally to other countries of the world, mostly at the risk of their lives. Afghans form a big portion of people who have applied for asylum in Europe and Australia.

Lack of employment opportunities and bad security is hindering repatriation of millions of Afghanistan refugees from out neighboring countries, especially Iran and Pakistan. More than 5.7 million Afghan refugees -- 4.6 million of them with UNHCR assistance -- have returned to Afghanistan since 2002, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Nevertheless, statistics of the same organization show that some three million Afghan refugees are still living outside homeland due to more than three decades of conflicts and continuing insurgency in Afghanistan, with around 1.7 million in Pakistan and more than one million in Iran, waiting for a favorable environment to return home and reintegrate in their communities.

As the future continues to remain uncertain, bad security persists and employment opportunities are not being created, the hope of Afghan people are fading. It is high time for the government to take some serious measures for improving living standard of the people by providing them with jobs and safer and more peaceful environment.