- Title: Afghanistan struggles with transition away from aid economy
- Date: 3rd December 2015
- Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (NOVEMBER 29, 2015) (REUTERS) BUSY STREET IN KABUL WITH PEOPLE AND TRAFFIC PEOPLE WALKING DOWN STREET VARIOUS OF WORKERS STANDING ON ROAD CORNER WAITING FOR JOBS (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) LABOURER AND KABUL RESIDENT, MEYA JAN, SAYING: "There are no jobs in this country so some youths will join the Taliban or Islamic State groups. Our people voted for (President
- Embargoed: 18th December 2015 11:07
- Keywords: Afghanistan jobs employment unemployment economy foreign aid transition construction military
- Location: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- City: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0013CASXTZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On the corner of a street in the Afghan capital Kabul, Afghan labourers wait for work.
In an economy that generated less than $21 billion in annual output in 2014, according to World Bank data, the loss of billions of dollars in foreign aid and military spending has had a dramatic impact -- jobs are scarce, and security is fragile.
"There are no jobs in this country so some youths will join the Taliban or Islamic State groups. Our people voted for (President) Ashraf Ghani and some have lost their fingers while voting, but today nobody listens to our problems and nobody cares about this nation," said labourer Meya Jan.
"We ask the government to provide job opportunities for the people. The government has to build factories where we can work because we are tired of being jobless. When some people want to leave the country, the government stops them not to go. What should we do in this country?" said mason Mohammad Yaqub.
The Omid Gardizi construction company on the outskirts of Kabul is at the sharp end of the painful transformation Afghanistan now faces.
Standing in a yard crammed with 50 pieces of hulking machinery, company owner Sayed Dilagha Mossavi said for years his work depended on NATO-led forces. Now most of them have gone.
"Right now the business is in a bad shape. Our business depends on foreign companies and foreign troops but since foreigners left Afghanistan, our business has been getting worse," he said.
"If the business situation remains like this then we may sell our machinery to other countries," he added.
The company employed 25 people in 2012, the year after NATO forces in Afghanistan peaked at about 140,000 troops. Today it has just three people on the payroll.
About 13,000 foreign soldiers remain, leaving Afghan government forces to battle the Taliban largely on their own.
When NATO combat troops were around, many businesses in Kabul could thrive, offering jobs to thousands of Afghans. The forces operated under an "Afghan First" policy, requiring them to buy where possible from local companies, boosting the economy and employment while underpinning anti-insurgent strategies.
Some companies have already gone under and others struggling -- and construction sites with half-built buildings have been left abandoned.
The government does not have an estimate for the drop in off-budget military spending and aid in 2015 from levels a few years ago, but says it is billions of dollars.
Reconstruction funding from the U.S., Afghanistan's biggest foreign donor, has fallen from a peak of $16.7 billion in 2010 to $6.3 billion, according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, an oversight body.
Economic growth is expected to be 1.9 percent this year compared with an annual average of 9.2 percent from 2001 to 2011. Domestic revenues will be equivalent to just 9.8 percent of gross domestic product, the World Bank says.
Security has also worsened since NATO ended combat operations, with attacks on foreign citizens common.
In September, the insurgency spread to a point where the Taliban briefly seized the northern city of Kunduz, seriously rattled confidence in an uneasy national unity government formed after disputed 2014 elections.
Making matters worse, more than 150,000 Afghans have fled to Europe since the beginning of the year to escape rising unemployment and violence, while the rich have stashed billions of dollars overseas.
Ahmad Shah Salehi, the Deputy Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, says they don't want them to leave.
"The government is introducing extraordinary programs towards job creation, we must have hope and believe our government. The younger generation will witness job opportunities in the future so my message for the youth is not to leave the country, leaving the country is not the solution," he said.
The country is partly counting on big mining projects, but also has a plan for a self-sustaining economy based on 22 programmes including infrastructure and agriculture, though officials concede it is underfunded and behind schedule.
But the assumed 10-year time frame for transition is considered unrealistic by some, a senior Finance Ministry official has said, who acknowledged the need for more revenues, and said President Ashraf Ghani was tackling corruption and supporting the private sector.
Still, some businessmen scoff, saying insecurity, along with graft, red tape and government inaction, are compounding the problems of those trying to break away from the aid economy. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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