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

Insecurity Haunts Investment Initiatives

Though insecurity and lawlessness have been influencing almost all the sectors in Afghanistan, one of the most important sectors that is being influenced badly is the economic sector. Finding no opportunities for growth and threatened by consistent rise in terrorist attacks, kidnapping and corruption, the economic system in our country lacks investment initiatives and fruitful prospects. Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) in this regard has observed that investment has dropped to 40% in the country because of insecurity and particularly because of the kidnappings of businessmen.
ACCI deputy head, Khan Jan Alokozai, said in a recent statement, “Investments have decreased by 40 percent this year, this is not only linked to security issues, kidnapping has played a major role in this respect.” As per the information released by ACCI on Wednesday, September 13, more than 30 cases of abduction of businessmen have been recorded; while, the problem has led to investors pulling their money out of the country. ACCI also claimed that kidnappers, in some cases, have abducted businessmen from areas close to police check points. The concerns shown by ACCI are justified and clearly point at the fact that government is not carrying out measures to control growing insecurity and protect the businessmen, which is influencing the overall economic system and pushing it further towards instability. 
Stable economic systems, wherein businesses and investments flourish, guarantee stability within political system, on most of the occasions. As politics is the game of power and authority, in today’s world power and authority are directly linked to wealth; while wealth is the product of an economic system. Therefore, it can be easily observed in contemporary political scenario that the states that have wealth and prosper in their economic life are dominating the international politics. They, as a matter of fact, run and shape the world order. Whereas the countries with weaker economic systems suffer from lack of stability in their political systems and seem to have no tangible influence and authority within the international political scenario. They are mostly on the receiving end. Even their political systems and, in certain cases, their political leaders are chosen by the powerful countries of the world. It can, thus be said without any hesitation that the economic system has a compelling role within the development and stability of political systems within a state and within the international political order.
Afghanistan is one of the countries where economic instability has given birth to political instability. As there is no stable economic infrastructure, the country’s democratic structure has shaky foundations. In Afghanistan insecurity has been influencing the economic life to a large extent. Both national and international businessmen are not readily willing to invest in all the sectors and they do not see positive prospects of their businesses. As insecurity has been overwhelmingly influencing the country, the development in the basic infra-structure has been meager. The doubts and uncertainties of the Afghan market have made the international investors to think thousand times before they take an initiative to start their businesses in the country. Though there are great opportunities in Afghanistan and the country is blessed with different types of mineral and other natural resources, the economic infra-structure has not been able to get enough attention.
Besides that, there are other factors as well that have been influencing the economic system of Afghanistan. The insufficient and unfavorable business environment is also one of the issues affecting Afghan economy. There have to be strong business laws governing the society and controlling the business. The laws should not only safeguard the rights of investors and businessmen but also make sure that the competition within the system is maintained on strong and fair footings. The evils like monopoly based on unfair competition must be tackled with properly and there should be strong bodies that control the prices within the markets, which at the present are non-existent and the businessmen are fixing the rates on their own. This has given rise to a political system that, on the exterior, is called as democratic but in reality is an ad-hoc arrangement that has no strong foundation.
Afghanistan needs to have strong economy so as to support other walks of life and most importantly to survive after the international supports dry. The country has to start from the institutions and basic infra-structure development and has to reach to a stable economy, wherein the businesses are able to function without any fear and inconsistency. The business institutions like ACCI need to develop an environment that can be galvanizing for both the national and international investors. Moreover, the golden opportunities wherein Afghanistan can exert maximum and can get the best outcomes from must be discovered and they should be strengthened so as to push the country towards self-sufficiency.
On the other hand, the businessmen and investors must also keep the national interests in their consideration while they establish their businesses and start getting the outcomes from them. They have to keep this in their minds that the society as a whole has certain rights that have to be fulfilled by them.