Recently I have participated in a workshop held in Ministry of Interior by an NGO aiming to help ministry leaders to develop strategic thinking and increase their capacity to deal with upcoming challenges in the lack of international community's military involvement. The workshop was for the capacity building to senior leaders of the Ministry and to help them cope with issues when foreign forces withdraw and Afghan security forces accept the entire security responsibility across the country.

There a lot of issues were put down by participants. Each was talking about the ongoing problems and that that Afghan security forces would not be able to accept the responsibility. As one noticed, "We are saying that we are ready for transition of security responsibility and would be prepared for the mission till 2014, scheduled to be the deadline of foreign military presence, but in reality we cannot do so". " From political point of view, we tell foreign allies that do not worry about the country and it would not fall back again to pre-2001 condition, there is no guarantee avoiding such an reversal progress", he continued.

One of the issues which was discussed and has a lot to do with this article was unemployment, which many maintained fuelling crime and directly affects police duties. They were complaining that high unemployment in the country not only enlarges the crime's level but also causing social disorder. The best example is places like the central part of the Kabul city where thousands of people just purposelessly move here and there.

The output is terrible for Kabul residence as well as several other big cities across the country.
There is no day in Kabul to get out and do not remain stuck in traffic jams. It is said that the city was actually designed for only 500 thousand people and now its population has gone beyond three million. Though private and public vehicles have been amplified and Kabul streets are completely filled but meanwhile in the morning as well as in the afternoon people wait for hours to catch a bus, taxi and etc. people run after buses to catch but finally they become filled in a manner that people are asking from drivers, "Do you want to align like bricks?"

Even taxi, whose rent is too expensive for people to pay, when stops in areas, like Sar-e-Zamani, individuals rush towards it and push away others to get in first.
To reach on time on duty, people leave their homes hours before for covering the distance of kilometers.

The question is why urban population increases disproportionate to raising living standard. It is natural that people from rural areas migrate to urban areas seeking prosperity and convenient living standard. See the most recent example is countries like India and China where the urban population has been doubled almost within two decades. The process is largely the output of astonishing economic development of both countries.

The economic development led into establishment of gigantic factories and development of industries which stoke the employment market and enlarged demands for labors. Thus, tens of thousands of rural population left to find jobs with higher salary.

It is hard to compare what goes in Afghanistan with the urbanization occurring around the world due to economic growth and development. Though it is ignored that per capita income has increased in the country in comparison to pre-2001 period, but definitely the economic growth does not match cities' population burst up. Rather demographic change in the country is proving evil. Presently, the prices of property have been multiplied, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

But the population of Kabul has doubled since the fall of Taliban regime in 2001.
This swelling population has consequential impacts on Kabul citizens.
Along with other problematic issues, causing irritation in Kabul city is population. However, there is no authentic statistic about the population, it is said around 2.5 million to 5 million people live in the city.

The population has increased to level which is beyond the capacity of the city. All private and public vehicles are unable to cope with such a level of population. People at the center of the city, sometimes, wait for hours to catch a taxi, bus or any other public vehicles. Even sometimes people walk kilometers due to lack of transportation.

There are various reasons for concentration of population in cities, which are too small to accommodate all. However there are optimistic views about the process, but the ground reality does not show similar things. Living condition in urban areas has not improved to a level to entice people. Higher percentage of people in urban areas are under poverty line, meanwhile we are witnessing population swelling in cities. So, what is the reason behind?

Seemingly, more than any factor, insecurity in the country has been playing a critical role in pushing people towards Kabul. Numbers of provinces are exposed to menace of insurgency. Seeking partly safer places, they leave behind their property and agricultural lands and find refuge in cities where they feel somehow safe.

Another reason is of course an undoing process. During decades of turmoil and civil war, millions escaped to neighboring countries. Now when they return back, they generally accommodate in cities rather than rural areas. Most of these returned refugees are educated and grew up in urban areas. Thus, it is too hard for them to go back where their forefathers used to live.

So, as it looks, it is quite difficult for government to control the process, and government has to seek solutions for the problem which already causes inconvenience to citizens. Afghanistan can imitate countries which have faced similar problems in the process of urbanization, like many developing countries.