Agriculture sector is what Afghan economy has been highly dependent on. Nonetheless, at least in the post-Taliban Afghanistan this sector has had no significant development. Let alone self-sufficiency, major portion of our food needs are fulfilled by imports from various countries of the world. This has made Afghanistan a highly consuming country while the local production has been very low. The condition of industrial sector is also the same. Except some factories producing beverages, Afghanistan has no major products. While on the agriculture side, Afghanistan has only one major export which is the dry fruits.

Reasons are quite clear. Government’s lack of willingness to resolve issues facing farmers and factory owners still persists. There have been no efforts aimed at boosting industrial or agricultural sector through strategic short, medium or long term planning. 

It is also feared that after the international forces withdraw from the country, the country would face major economic challenges. One of the biggest challenges would be to create job opportunities for Afghan people. In absence of sufficient job opportunities, it would be really very difficult to maintain peace, tranquility and order. The international community and the Afghan authorities must make sure that they create enough jobs so as to save the country from falling into instability and economic crisis.

In fact, unemployment has done great damage to Afghan society. The people who have not been employed have mostly become the part of terrorist networks or the filthy business of narcotics, or even they have become addicted to drugs. As they do not have any other work to do or any way of making both ends meet they do not have much option but to join insurgency.

Afghanistan stands among the most corrupt countries of the world and over the time this problem has become more severe causing all financial assistance go futile. If the international aid poured in Afghanistan 2001 had been properly utilized, the condition would be much better today.

Keeping in view the current economic standing of Afghanistan, one can easily say that Afghanistan in order to stand on its own feet would need a long term financial and technical support provided its government takes in time measures to remove constraints for economic development.

Currently, the Afghan economy is highly dependent on foreign financial aids. Sooner or later the international community will stop pouring its money into Afghanistan in the way it is doing today. It might set strict conditions for providing financial assistance to Afghanistan. Amid withdrawal plan of NATO troops from Afghanistan, there are concerns not only over the post-2015 security condition of Afghanistan but also it is feared that its economy will reverse. It is expected that with diminishing military and non-military role of the Western countries, fund for development and reconstruction of Afghanistan will also dry up.

At times when the economic stability of Afghanistan highly dependent on aids from international community, experts maintain and emphasized that, one sector that can change the fate of Afghanistan’s economy the untapped mineral resources of this country. Studies have estimated the worth of Afghan minerals in several trillion dollars. This has changed the traditional view of Afghan economy which was majorly related to agriculture. The Afghanistan mineral resources are deemed to change this country’s status from ‘very poor’ to ‘rich.’ This is conceived that, the mining sector will create job opportunities more than the real needs of Afghanistan. Although insecurity is considered the biggest obstacle for extraction of Afghan minerals, efforts are underway for extracting deposits located in comparatively secure provinces of Afghanistan like Bamyan.

Insecure and troubled highways and absence of rail routes form another challenge facing the extraction of mineral resources of Afghanistan. Apart from the security concerns that keep away investors from the mining sector of Afghanistan, unprofessional extraction of minerals and their smuggling to other countries have been a great national loss. Reportedly, the Afghan government is losing of millions of dollars each year because of not being able to prevent illegal transfer of precious stones to other countries.

Although the government has failed to address the hindrances in the economic sector, it is never late to start planning and acting seriously. Afghanistan has vast deposits of natural resources. For centuries, these resources have remained underutilized. Time has come to properly utilize Afghanistan’s own deposits for its development and reconstruction. This is the only way economic prosperity can be achieved in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s mineral resources are the future of hope for Afghanistan and can bring this country out of the severe economic troubles it is facing today. Therefore, not only strict security should be considered to these resources but also they should be extracted in a proper, transparent and effective way.