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Covid-19 and its Impacts on Economic Relations between Afghanistan and India (part 1)

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Covid-19 and its Impacts on Economic Relations  between Afghanistan and India (part 1)

According to one of Wikipedia’s most authoritative scientific and research sources, the coronavirus was discovered in the 1960s, but the formal libertine of the Covid-19 outbreak commenced in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and then radically spread throughout the world as fast as wildfire. Without doubt, the impact of Covid-19 on and health have been so wide and multi-dimensional that may take decades to be studied in the future.  Not demurring anywhere, it left behind huge economic, political, and health implications from north to south including Asia, Europe, American, and African countries and even to the farthest corners of the world. Hereon, the economic relation of Afghanistan with its close friends India has been severely damaged and needs to be examined.  Nonetheless, it is too soon to provide a comprehensive scientific work due to several reasons: first of all, the corona-virus crisis is not over yet, and we may see new mutations with more destructive implications in the future. Secondly, there is still insufficient research and not enough methodic information about Covid-19 and its Impact on economic relations between Afghanistan and India. Therefore, this article will try to take a very first step presenting theoretical and objective analysis in the framework of international relations and economic theories, on one hand; and providing comparative figures and statistics provided by the involved institutions, on the other hand. 
When the Coronavirus broke out in late 2019 and then spread around the world in 2020, the most fundamental issue at the national and international level was how to fight this phenomenon. Both school and university students faced with a new type of distant education referred to, in Afghanistan, online or e-learning and it was extremely challenging in the context of this country. The health official and personnel had also faced a kind of disorder and lack of planning in combating this phenomenon due to the lack of facilities, health personnel in Afghanistan. However, it should be noted that in regard to the public health concept, most countries faced similar confusion and crisis, and this crisis was not confined to Afghanistan or third world countries. In the area of economy, it has not only changed the ways goods exchanges but also changed the needs and demand of different goods due to new requirements. For example, online and electronic goods exchanges increased significantly. Similarly, the demand for medical goods, antiseptic liquid, certain food items, and masks had sharply increased and subsequently, the prices have sharply increased. In most cases, the prices have never reverted  yet. In this context, the lack of an anti-monopolistic mechanism in the free market of Afghanistan has negatively paved the way for dangerous economic behaviors such as hoarding and economic monopolies which not only increased the prices but also inflation, widespread injustice, and class distances within the country. In addition, the stoppage of aerial activities including passengers’ flights and even banning land travel was among the challenges that reduced exports and imports and thus affected the economy. As aforementioned, this article is going to discuss the Covid-19 and its Impact on economic relations between Afghanistan and India with two formats; firstly the international relations and economic theories, and secondly we will need to make some comparative analysis between the reports and statistics presented by the local institutions so as to show the impact of covid-19 on economic relation in different years.
In regard to the first point, we need to know a bit about globalization theory that how the process of interaction and integration of people, companies, and governments affect one and other around the world. Globalization has grown due to the advancement of communication and transportation technology. The Increasing global interaction led to the growth of international trade, ideas, and culture. While globalization primarily is an economic process in the form of economic interaction, it is also associated with cultural and social aspects of human life. Nevertheless, conflict and diplomacy have always been part of the history of globalization - especially modern globalization. In fact, globalization is one of the consequences of the renaissance of industrial civilization and the technological revolution and the expansion of capitalism, which, if realized far from corruption and imperfection, can replace civil societies with traditional city-states through complex processes which can lead to universal development in a balanced interaction. If we deeply look at the definition of globalization, we find that countries are in a close and interconnected relationship and so many international relation thinkers and political scholars believe that economy is a basic element of relation both at the national and international level. Similarly, many thinkers and experts, in the field of international relations, stress that globalization is an economic phenomenon. Therefore, we can conclude that the impact, role, and influence of the economy are more tangible in relation amongst/ between the countries in the world. Subsequently, we can also conclude that the outbreak of the coronavirus has had a negative impact on economic relations between Afghanistan and India and this implication would be more highlighted in the following paragraphs with the help of providing comparative statistics and evidence released in a different year. 
Geo-economically, Afghanistan is considered as a land-linked country connecting South Asia to Central Asia and vice versa. Also, it is bridging the Middle East and the Far East with the lowest cost and time indicators for trade, transit, and connection of these countries in the region. Even, if we do not consider land transportation, and assume that South Asian countries act for air trade; Again, Afghanistan is important and deserves the right of transit due to the passage of aircraft through its airspace.

Translated by: Mohammad Zahir Akbari

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