Key challenges

Economy

Afghanistan’s economy was seriously damaged by decades of war, and despite recent growth, is still one of the poorest country in Asia.

The country has been badly hit by the global upward trend in food prices, which saw wheat prices increasing by 150% across Afghanistan between January 2007 and June 2008, leaving many people hungry.

Refugee return and homelessness

More than 3.5 million former Afghan refugees have moved back to Afghanistan since 2001, and the influx of returning refugees together with an increasing number of people moving from the countryside into Afghanistan’s cities, means that the urban population is due to double to approximately 13 million by 2015.

This is putting increasing pressure on devastated infrastructure; and unemployment and high living costs are making city dwellers increasingly vulnerable.

In the capital alone, an estimated 500,000 people are homeless or living in makeshift accommodation

Drugs

The drugs trade has boomed since the fall of the Taliban. Afghanistan is now the world's leading producer of opium (the raw ingredient of heroin).

Despite a ban on drug use by the Afghan authorities, the use of opium and heroin is on the increase due to easier access coupled with demand fuelled by unemployment, poverty, and war-related trauma.

Security

Insecurity is a growing concern. Military action continues in some parts of the country in an attempt to root out elements opposed to the fledgling Afghan government, and in rural areas reconstruction is slow and the humanitarian situation remains dire.

Few Afghans outside the cities have access to clean water, employment, healthcare or schools; and work has been severely hampered by the ongoing conflict.

Environmental degradation

War, uncontrolled grazing, pastureland encroachment and illegal logging have reduced vegetation, contributing to land degradation and a reduction in agricultural productivity. The loss of forest and grass cover has also contributed to worsening drought conditions.

Health

Many of Afghanistan’s health indicators are alarming. Along with a high infant mortality rate, Afghanistan suffers from one of the highest levels of maternal mortality in the world.

More than half of children under the age of five are stunted, while micronutrient deficiencies are widespread.

Education

The education sector is slowly improving but progress is hampered by a shortage of qualified teachers, poor quality facilities and threats to formal education posed by insurgents.

Banned from school under the Taliban regime, girls are gradually returning to the classroom but 70 percent are still not enrolled.

In some areas only 1-2 percent of girls go to school, and adult literacy rates are also low, at 43 percent for men and 14 percent for women.

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