Taliban regime was ousted from power in late 2001 and with that a new window of hope and prosperity opened for Afghanistan and its people. One of the areas under international focus was boosting up Afghan economy by encouraging investments. Encouraging the private sector was deemed vital for reaching this purpose. Attracting the foreign and domestic investment – in agriculture, industries (including mining), education, telecommunication, transportation and etc. - fell among the key plans of the government and its foreign backers, although plans remained plans only. From 2002 to 2006, the way investments were made in Afghanistan was promising. After 2006, however, large investments have continued to dwindle with increasing insecurity.

The long-term conflicts have kept investors away from Afghanistan. This factor is majorly responsible for the concerning economic condition we have today. Afghanistan can be an attractive market for investors but due to lowest security level here, investment has gone decreasing over the last years – specially the foreign direct investments. It is not only investment and economy; insecurity has negatively impacted all fields of life. If the condition persist as is, it is far difficult for Afghanistan to become self-reliant in economy.

Investment can play a very positive role in moving Afghanistan towards prosperity. However, all the efforts of international community and Afghan government aimed at boosting investment in Afghanistan and encouraging foreign investments have borne little fruit. When Afghan businessmen themselves are moving their capitals out their country, how come people from other countries can be motivated to invest in Afghanistan?

At current, most of the business activities are confined to Kabul city only, even not to its districts. That is the very reason for why the population of this city has been so rapidly growing over the past decade. The government has failed to make environment feasible for living a terror-free life, let alone for doing business in many other provinces that hold much capability to develop fast. Definitely, large business firms will not invest in a country where they can only operate in its capital city. Additionally, unskilled labor force, deep-rooted corruption, destructed infrastructures, drug trafficking, political instability, lack of proper electric power supply and several other such factors contribute to keeping investors away from Afghanistan.

The planned withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan has put the future economic stability of the country in complete uncertainty and uncertainties are damaging for any business. From Bonn and Chicago summits to Tokyo conference, the international community pledged to support Afghanistan for a long term after withdrawal of NATO forces in 2014. For such a support there is need for a legal framework and the crucial Bilateral Security Agreement has been prepared for the same purpose. Nevertheless, the fate of BSA and also of Afghanistan’s economic stability remains opaque.