By: Hogai Safi

Afghanistan is rich land but with poor people. The country is a crossroad of many imposed wars by different superpowers throughout its history. Because of these imposed conflicts, people could not focus to build their economy. Rather they were busy dealing with conflicts.

As a result Afghanistan’s economy was always dependable, which is unfortunate. A country which, has rich minerals, vast fertile agricultural land, and trade crossroad between six countries does not deserve to be poor.

The long time dependable economic system of Afghanistan needs security in the country, persistence hard work by its people in order to gain sustainable and prospers economy.

What is current economic problems?

As you know in Afghanistan new changes occurred after August 15, 2021, in which old government officials escaped and Taliban took control of the country. I wish the transition was smooth without interrupting banking system. Unfortunately, some corrupt Afghan government officials looted banks and stole people’s assets. On top of that $9.5 billion of Afghan people’s asset has also been frozen abroad in this difficult time by the human rights defenders! that pushed the country into huge economic crisis and now people live under very difficult economic situation.

According to New York Times on December, 4th 2021 “ An estimated 22.8 million people-more than half the country’s people population- are expected to face potentially life threatening food insecurity this winter”. I can’t mention all the economic problems, but these are some of the major problems that I mentioned here.

How did other countries do to solve similar problems?
As we look at the history, many other nations face similar problems especially after long wars. For example, after Vietnam war Vietnamese government focused mainly on Five-Year Plans in agriculture and industry aiming to recover their economy. They were able to conduct foreign trades only limited to former Soviet Union and its allies. Many other countries such as Germany and Japan are also good examples to look for.

How can we solve the current economic problem in Afghanistan?

Based on the experiences of other nations after war, we can built Afghanistan’s economy easily. First, Afghan people’s unity is very important. It is not necessary to burry nation under debts to grow economy. Instead, implementing simple economic ideas can solve many economic problems. For example, professor Muhammad Yunus (First Bangladeshi Nobel Prize winner) established the Grameen bank of Bangladesh in 1983. He started to help people from his share in mid 1970s. His objective was to give small amount of personal loan (micro-lending) to poor people to run small businesses. He also was teaching them few main financial principles so they could help themselves. His idea worked and made positive economic changes in life of many people.

Similarly, if main Afghan investors who are living inside or outside Afghanistan invest in providing micro-lending to needy people, it will create everlasting better ecnomic situation, especially for poor people. The benefits will be doubled. First, people will not be dependable on donations, which is not preferred in our religion, because our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: Upper hand is better than the lower hand.
Second, people will be active, rather than passive in society. It will help increase their self esteem, which contributes positively in prosperity of a nation. Most importantly, when we bring smile and happiness on these faces, we will be rewarded by Almighty Allah.
Although, Afghanistan has immediate economic difficulties, we can at least minimize poverty if our investors provide micro-lending to needy people until main economic revenues such as mining will begin.

*The writer is Afghan women 

** Opinions expressed in this article are the writer 's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of The South Asia Times