According to the experts, unemployment issue is the second most fundamental problem of Afghanistan after insecurity but there is no effective strategy to come with the increasing challenges. Even there is no accurate assessment to show the exact unemployment status in the country. Based on Democracy International studies around 82% of the youths are suffering from joblessness but the National Labor Union of Afghanistan estimated 60% of eligible workers are suffering from unemployment crisis. On the other side, the recent figures released by the Central Statistics Organization (CSO), indicates nearly 39.5 % people are unemployed which accounts for about two million jobless in the country but others believe that the rate of unemployment has increased from two million eligible workers to nearly three million since 2013 and 2014. However, the common point is that Unemployment increase has caused lots of social and political instabilities in the country. As a result, there is no optimistic outlook for the future of the current trend while thousands of newly graduated youths also enter to the labor market by end of each year.
There are different factors behind the unemployment issue such as insecurity, capital flight, hiring foreign workers, lack of rule of law and more importantly lack of efficient employment strategy. Though it was promised by national unity government to create one million new jobs, conversely thousands of former jobs have been reduced. Accordingly, the internal and external displacement, social disorders, addition, and poverty has increased in a larger scale comparing to previous government. Thousands of job seekers are leaving their hometown or country for the purpose of getting job and a peaceful life.Thus, thousand others either increasing the number of the addiction or preyed by terrorists or mafia groups for destructive and criminal activities.
In addition to mentioned factors, the low quality of educational system is another issue that cannot produce qualified graduate to satiate the needs of the country.Most of the fresh graduates do not have required skills and eligibility to fulfil the technical and professional needsof the local companies. Thus, they do not have the creativity to initiate new jobs through opening new entrepreneurs instead of searching to work for others. That is why a large number of foreigners are hired both in private and public sectors. Overall, these issues from one hand increase the crime rates because people cannot solve their financial problems, on the other hand, pave the way for terrorist groups to misuse from the gap. Unemployment is also associated with elevated rates of mental and physical health problems. It increases morbidity and mortality rates, and can cause detrimental changes in family relationships and in the psychological well-being of families. Scientific studies have already pointed out that unemployment can contribute to increased rates of suicide and reduced life expectancy.
As aforementioned, unemployment is the second important problem which causes continuous insurgency in the country. There are many examples that young unemployed Afghans joined the anti-government armed groups; In fact, they are not joining the extremists or insurgents to follow their ideology, and sometimes they are against their ideology but they joined them to earn money to buy a loaf of bread for themselves and for their families.Unemployed youths are used as suicide attackers, battle forces, or laborers for implanting Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).  In some provinces unemployment has also led people to grow opium and take part in its smuggling; as a result, nearly five million has been addicted in the country.So, the killing of insurgents and imprisoning of economic criminals neither weaken them and nor prevent from the illegal trends.
The key solution is to create effective employment strategy otherwise, there is no hope for social security and political stability.Imprisonment of poverty criminals is not a real solution to solve the problem of crime; it does nothing for the victims of crime, but perpetuates the idea of retribution, thus maintaining the endless cycle of violence in our culture. It is a cruel and useless substitute for the elimination of those conditions--poverty, unemployment, homelessness, desperation, racism, greed--which are at the root of most punished crime. While the crimes of the rich and powerful go unpunished.
Other point is to underline is that unemployment lies in active support of private sectors and domestic products. Government is responsible to pave the way for multi-lateral national and international trades to create jobs and ensure economic stability. We need to eliminate corruption and simplify the paperwork process. the easier to run the businesses, the easier to create more jobs in a functioning economy. We have to encourage the new start ups and creativities through cultivating the culture of giving rewards and company to use the national products. In modern society, government are not at doing the business rather they are monitoring, supporting and ensuring their security. That is why, it is said that the governments of the world are not good at doing business and should stay out. Instead, they should ensure security, fight against corruption and remove the barriers for private sectorsto do their job easily.
As a last point it is suggested to look for foreign labor market who are thirsty for labor force. There are many nations in the region who earn billions by sending their skilled workers to other countries through mutual state protocol. for instance, India annually make 86 billion dollars, Indonesia 46 million dollar and Philippine 12 milliard dollar. But due to lack of such agreement, millions of Afghan workers are suffering from working in illegal labor markets. Sometimes they are not paid while cannot raise their voice due to lack of that formal contract. As Afghans are hardworking and reliable, they can be easily attracted if our government seriously looks for such markets.