Economic development from a policy perspective can be defined as efforts that seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes in a country. Economic development can also be referred to as the quantitative and qualitative changes in the economy, which leads to promote the standard of living and economic health of a country.
Afghanistan is among the group of least developing countries, although it received huge amounts of international assistance during the last decade. The country still remains among the poorest countries in the region. Low infrastructure and the absence of comprehensive economic strategy and administrative capacities to develop and implement policies coupled with widespread corruption are among the key reasons for the wastage of plentiful resources.
In addition, international assistance was not properly integrated to governmental budget and instead was channeled through donors and has not contributed significantly to economic and infrastructure development of the country. Furthermore, the donor driven economy has paved the way for widespread corruption and financial resources have been exploited by a small group of politically linked individuals at the cost of the majority.
During this period, the main domestic income of the country hugely remained dependent on customs tariffs and taxes. The agriculture and industry sectors which are the key sectors for economic development were given less attention by the government. The income from customs and taxes were far less than the country’s annual budget. The development budget and part of the operating budget was financed by international assistance.
The existence of widespread corruption and donor-driver economy failed the country to achieve its economic development in post 2001 era. In 2014, the country faced several challenges. For instance, the security challenge due to the withdrawal of international security forces and financial challenges by falling amounts of the international financial assistance. Despite security and financial problems, the disputed presidential election was another factor which has significantly slowed down the economy of Afghanistan.
The people of Afghanistan were expecting a strong change by the new government. Thus, an upsurge in the investment and economic growth were anticipated. But unfortunately things went wrong and the country faced more problems compare to the pre 2014 era. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and the rate of unemployment rose significantly, as a result, poverty increased and the migration of educated young generation started.
However, the great dependence of Afghan government on foreign financial assistance during the last decade and eventually the significant decline of foreign financial assistance at post 2014 era, posed tremendous problems to the Afghan government. Up to date the economy of the country is declining, by passing each and every day the rate of unemployment is following the upward trend.  
To overcome this problem, the economic policy makers of the country should give close attention to several factors which are vital to the economic development of the country. These factors are basically divided into economic factors and non-economic factors.
For the country’s economic development the role of economic factors is decisive. To develop a self-sufficient economy in long run the policy makers should give close attention to capital formation, which refers to any method of utilizing or mobilizing capital resources for investment purposes. Thus, capital could be "formed" in the sense of "being brought together for investment purposes" in many different ways. Hence, the policy makers must increase financial inclusion and eradicate the means of financial exclusion. By increasing awareness, trust on financial sector and taking care of voluntary self-exclusion of individuals (i.e. for religious reasons such as the existence of interest in conventional banking system) will ultimately fasten the process of financial inclusion and capital formation. For instance, by introducing an efficient Islamic banking system, the policy makers can pave the way for participation of vast majority of population, who do not interact with banks because of religious reasons such as interest. The introduction of Islamic banks will increase the flow of capital to financial sector; which will ultimately increase investment, employment and production in the economy, and finally lead to economic development.
Furthermore, the principal factor affecting the development of an economy is the natural resources. There is a dire need to develop a comprehensive strategy for the extraction and utilization of natural resources and to block the means of mis-utilization of natural resources. Hence, the Afghan government has to provide security for national and international investors who are interested to invest in the mining sector of Afghanistan.
In the same manner, the government has to pay close attention to agriculture development, which has currently provided employment to huge number of people. Moreover, the policy makers have to draw a comprehensive strategy for foreign trade and provide strong support to local infant industries which are welling to start production in Afghanistan.
Most importantly, the economic policy makers must evaluate the economic system currently applicable in Afghanistan. If needed, necessary changes will be introduced to the economic system. This will help the country to have the economic system which is best suitable for the country’s current economic situation. 
However, among the non-economic factors important to economic development are human resources, technical knowledge and the level of education, social organization, corruption and desire to develop.
Afghan Government has to utilize the knowledge of young graduates, who have received professional degrees from local and international universities. The ministry of higher education must establish a directorate, which will create a national database to register all fresh graduates returning from international universities. This directorate will be responsible to keep communication with the ministry of labor, and other government and private organizations, the directorate will help new graduates to find jobs in public and private sectors.
Taking into consideration the social organization is another important fact that has been neglected during the post 2001 era in Afghanistan. People show interest in the development activities only when they feel that the fruits of growth will be fairly distributed. Experiences from a number of countries suggest that when defective social organization allows some elite groups to appropriate the benefits of growth, the general mass of people develop apathy towards State’s development programs. Under the circumstances, it is futile to hope that masses will participate in the development projects undertaken by the State. Hence, the government must try to take into consideration the social organization and make sure that economic development will benefit each and every individual in Afghanistan.
Most importantly, the Afghan government must have strong agenda to eradicate corruption at any level and rank of authorities. The government must develop a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy and keep a strong will to tackle corruption irrespective of any discrimination.
Finally, there is a dire need for a strong desire of government towards economic development and prosperity, having a strong motivation and appointment of highly professional, committed and uncorrupted authorities will make the goal of economic development feasible.