Topic: Sustainable Economic Policy
Country: Afghanistan
Delegate Name: Abby Foss
School: Williamston High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Afghanistan position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
In recent years Afghanistan’s economy has started another decline after the collapse in 2002. The economy never fully recovered after the control of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s. Now the Afghan government is dealing with many issues such as high levels of the population unemployment, higher levels of import than export, disagreements in the government, and thirty-six percent of the population below the poverty line.
Unemployment is at thirty-five percent, and is so high because the main industry is farming and agriculture. Only ten percent of the land is available for farming because a large portion of the land was damaged during warfare in the 1980’s-‘90’s. The few agricultural jobs there are go towards mainly harvesting and processing opium poppy and hashish, both grown for the illegal drug trade. Other jobs include oil refineries, mining, and livestock. Since the economic collapse there has not been much improvement in the unemployment rate and job market.
Thirty-six percent of Afghanistan’s population is below the poverty line. Afghanistan is one of the poorest and most impoverished nations in Asia second to only Bangladesh. Poverty is most concentrated in rural areas with only twenty-nine percent of households with accessible electricity. Illiteracy is also another big issue. In the province of Pakita (rural, located on the southern border) illiteracy is at seventy-three percent, a seventy-one unemployment rate, and a seventy-six percent poverty rate. Poverty rates are lower in urban areas but are still high. Another contributing factor to the high poverty rate is the low rates of female attendance in school. In seven of the thirty-four provinces the literacy rate for women is one percent.
In conclusion the Afghan government needs to focus more on creating more jobs, distribution of wealth, more education and electricity options for rural areas, and equal education opportunities for males and females. The government could do this by not using their time together more wisely, instead of focusing on their own personal problems, they could focus more on the greater issues at hand. To create more jobs, the government could find more areas of untapped oil, and create more refineries. In the past the Afghan government has said that they have found many areas of untapped oil. To help with financing, the government could ask other countries for financial aid as a loan and then when the country is back on its feet it can pay the loaner back.
