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

Unemployment, Dreadful Outcomes

Afghanistan stands among the poorest countries of world with more than 60 percent of its population living below or slightly above the line of poverty. The three decades of war have left economic infrastructures completely destructed and backward. No significant progress has been made albeit there have been international efforts to make Afghanistan's economy stand on its own feet, improve the living standard of people and create more job opportunities. The reason behind the failure to strengthen the backbone of Afghan economy is the severe security problems and deep-rooted corruption. The former has deteriorated with each passing year while to counter the later Karzai administration has completely failed as it is believed that the government itself is engaged in corruption. As the problem of security and corruption persist, there seems to be very few people thinking about bringing prosperity in the life of a common man.

The ten-year international effort has failed to create job opportunities and millions of Afghans, today, are suffering the negative impacts of unemployment. The consistency of unemployment in the country is doing much to widen the gap between people and the government. Among the several problems given birth by joblessness, three seem to be very concerning. First, it is firmly believed that desperate youths join the insurgents groups who promise them attractive rewards. This can be conceived a major reason for soaring number of insurgents and insecurity graph in Afghanistan. Second, people giving up hope after continuous failure to get a job and are getting addicted to drugs. The number of drug addicts in the country has crossed the figure of 1.5 million. This figure includes teenagers and women. Third, Afghans, at the risk of their lives, travel to other countries of the world. In this way the work force of Afghanistan is utilized by other countries of the world while the Afghanistan itself is in dire need of reconstruction and development works.

Although it is difficult to address social and economic issues without bringing the security condition under thumb, the government needs to address the problem of employment within the means available to it. The first thing it can do is to root out corruption that seems to be aiding all sorts of crimes including insurgency.