As a fiscal year ends, there comes a severe criticism against different ministries for not exhausting their allocated budgets. This is not the only reason to criticize the ministries of the country. Massive corruption, nepotism, administrative lapses, and many other reasons combine together to bring a horrible image of all the government ministries. There are also some ministries that only exist in paper and have hardly done any activity to justify their existence.

However, telecom and information technology sector of the country is an exception in this case and has showed unprecedented success and growth in last 14 years of democracy. It emerged as the sector to expand rapidly, adding millions of dollar into the economy in the form of tax revenues. The indirect contribution of this field to the economy spans in billions of dollars. The credit of this unbelievable success goes to the ministry of communication and information technology. It was the good luck of this ministry that it had talented and skilled ministers and present minister of Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Abdul Razaq Wahidi, is regarded as the perfect man of his field. While working for the ministries of education and finance, he brought remarkable changes. While working in the ministry of education, he improvised new methods to improve the system of KANKOR (university entrance examinations in Afghanistan). His vision to bring latest technology and ideas into the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology will definitely bring an era of new change and advancement not only in this ministry but also in the whole country as this sector has become the backbone of the economy of Afghanistan.  When we come to the achievements of telecommunication sector in Afghanistan, it was so impressive that GSM Association awarded the Global Leadership Award to Afghanistan in 2011, in recognition of the achievements of the country in the telecom sector. It was surprising for many foreigners to see that Afghanistan was not much developed in different fields and sectors but they were really astonished to find and experience that telecom sector in the country was so advanced and well-established that it could have been easily compared to the telecom sector of any developed country. The achievement also makes much sense keeping in view the fact that when Taliban were ousted of power in 2001, there was hardly anything on the name of infrastructure in the sector. More or less was the case with other sectors of the country but after 14 years of democratic government, other sectors also improved but it was not as brilliant as was the case with the telecom sector. Let us have a brief look at the achievements of this sector.

At present, there are five GSM companies working in the country, which makes the competition quite tough in the sector. The fair and healthy competition between these companies has made possible a market driven by the natural forces of supply and demand and sets the choices and preferences of end users on top. It is the reason why, the mobile phone users have a wide variety to choose from for their mobile phone and internet needs. At present, there are more than 18 million mobile users in the country. As per the statistics of 2012, the mobile, fixed line and CDMA services cover the 85% of the population and it is the reason that, the communication between people in different parts of the country has considerably increased. These numbers have considerably increased in the following years. All the mobile companies are also providing the international standard services of 3G and 4G. These services are unique in a sense that these services are not easily available in a number of developing countries of the world and Afghanistan has astonished the world with heavy investment in the field. Starting in 2006, the project of optical fiber cable network is also in progress. After the completion of this project, all the areas of the country will be connected to each other.  The telecom sector also adds annual revenues of more than 140 million dollars to the economy, becoming one of the major contributors to the total government revenues. This contribution is critical in a sense that there is no established trend of paying taxes in the country and government suffers a lot to collect taxes. It is the reason why, our government still depends on its international donors to meet its expenses. It is hoped that with the expansion of this sector, the contributions will further increase and we might gradually reach to the stage of financial independence and sustainability. Until now, billions of dollars have been invested in the sector and it has become one of the most attractive sectors for the internal and external investors. Moreover, the telecom sector has generated more than 120,000 direct and indirect job opportunities throughout the country. This is remarkable in a sense that unemployment is the major reason of pessimism in the country and our youngsters leaving the country. With further expansion in the sector, there would be opportunities of thousand more jobs in the country that might release pressure for the jobs in the country.  It would be unfair not to mention here the facilities of internet in the country. Internet is the most essential requirement of present day businesses and organizations in advanced world of communication. When large numbers of organizations started functioning in the country after the establishment of democracy in the country, the internet facilities were almost invisible. However, there came a rapid development in this field and now, the facility of internet is available in every corner of the country. It is the reason why, almost all the Afghans have access to internet and different social and news sites of the world. All these achievements have been made despite a number of difficulties in the country. The biggest challenge to the sector has come in form of insecurity, as mobile towers are located at all the corners of the country. The engineers and staff of telecom companies have worked at different dangerous sites to establish the network of communication in the country and they have ignored all the dangers in doing so.

Though Afghanistan is passing through its crucial stage when its democratic existence is fighting the challenges of insecurity and militancy but we are hopeful that these days would be over and with our commitment and perseverance, we will be able to witness the dawn of a new and peaceful day in our country.