assignment

The historical/political context

Afghanistan gained independence on August 19, 1919, under King Amanullah Khan. It faced the wrath of Alexander and then Mughal ruler Babar tried to commence Afghanistan under the Mughal Dynasty. The clashes between Afghanistan and the Mughal Dynasty in sub-continent (India) continued until 1919 when Afghanistan became an independent state. Afghanistan is called a school of militancy and jihad because of the long civil war between the Taliban and government of Afghanistan since 1994. It is one of most bombers, corrupted, crushed and mined state of world Afghanistan is isolated and barren landscape landlocked by Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Afghanistan was a politically stable country under Kind Zahir Shah from 1933 to 1973 but this regime ended in 1973 by cop of Sardar Dawood. Sardar Dawood’s’ government was overthrown by the Saur revolution of a communist group led by Noor Muhammad Tarakai in 1978. Noor Muhammad Tarakai was ousted in 1979 just one year of his regime by Hafiz-ul-Amin. This same year on Dec 27, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Resistance against Russian invasion came from Mujahedeen which were armed by US, KSA, and Pakistan. Truce happened between Mujahedeen and Soviet Union after Geneva accord. Russian troops withdrew and Najeeb’s government prevailed Afghanistan. Ahmed Shah Masood took over Najeeb in 1992. In 1994 the situation in Afghanistan again started deteriorating when the fighting started between Mujahedeen and sitting government. 1994-1996 is the era of civil war in Afghanistan. Previously mujahedeen were now called Taliban and they took over three big provinces of Qandahar, Herat, and Kabul in two years and subsequently took over the whole country with popular support from masses. From 1996-2001 Taliban ruled Afghanistan. After the 9/11 incident, America accused previous partners in war as harboring terrorism and bomber Afghanistan and ousted Taliban in one month. On December r2001, “Bonn agreement” took place between Afghan participants and America. United nation Security Council passed resolution 1983 to establish ISAF force to administer law and order situation in the country (Ball, 2019). The newly appointed president was Hamid Karzai who remained president from 2001 to 2015. After him, Ashraf Ghani became president in 2015 and he is the current president of Afghanistan. The government is run by a union of elders, equivalent to a parliament

Resources and distribution of wealth

Afghanistan has a number of natural resources and yet it is one of a least developed country. Its natural resources include natural gas, barites, coal, copper petroleum, chromite, sulfur, talc, lead iron ore, zinc, salt, cultivatable land precious and semiprecious stones (Index, 2019). Even after the presence of all these resources Afghanistan has an economy of mere 20.8$ billion. The major reason for the mismanagement of these resources and prevailing poverty lies in law and order situation of the country. Afghanistan has not seen stability or peace for the last 40 years. The already existing infrastructure was destroyed by a Russian invasion, civil war, and the American invasion. The economy has been shatters and its only reason for a little stability lies in international support. Even the basic functioning of the country has been supported and sponsored by other countries. Amon population of 35 million, the employment rate is 49.5%. The two major sectors employing people are agriculture and services sector with 62.2% and 31.1% respectively. There are no manufacturing or industry base in the country to produce any employment opportunities. Wealth is very unevenly distributed in the country. The middle class moved out of the country after continuous invasions and civil war. The rich stayed to rule the country and the poor did not have resources to move out so they are still struggling against all odds (UNDP, 2019). (Index, Economy of Afghanistan , 2019). Is two resource here?

Economic and non-economic indicators of well-being

Economic Factors:

1. GDP:

As per the report of United Nation development program, the Gross domestic product of Afghanistan for the year 2017 was 64.1 billion dollars which have been progressing from 28.5 billion dollars in 2008 but for a country with a population of 35.5 million, this GPA is not enough (Ball, 2019).

2. Unemployment rate:

The unemployment rate has dropped down from 12.1 % in 1991 to 8.8% in 2017. The record minimum of unemployment in recent year was 7.8% in 2010 (WB, 2012).

3. GINI coefficient:

Gross national income /per capita for Afghanistan has been increasing since 2002 from 1061 to 184 in 2017. In recent year the highest GNI was in the year 2013 with 1875 dollars.

4. Poverty Gap:

Although GDP has been growing from in recent years and the study shows that from 207 to 2012 the DGP has grown 6.9% yet36% Afghans still remained below the poverty line (WB, 2012).

The above-mentioned economic factors indicate the poor condition of the economy in Afghanistan. Economies are built with inclusive policies and such inclusive policies are created and regulated by pluralistic political institutions. Afghanistan lacks pluralistic institutions. The government institutions have been able to insert their power since ages. Due to the absence of institutions, there are no proper policies to support the declining economy and even after a large amount of foreign aid, Afghanistan has not been able to stand at its feet economically. These Economic factors also put into light the governmental policies for eradicating poverty. Although so many donors are putting their money into war torn Afghanistan the poverty is escalating and people are living miserable lives primary because of civil war, terrorism and secondly because of lack of infrastructure, unemployment, poverty and illiteracy. The freighting aspect is that there is no apparent hope that this condition is going to end anytime soon. The economic condition will be become well unless political situation become better and the political atmosphere does not seem to improve because of involvement of so many factors and stakeholders. (Summer, 2010).

Non-economic Factors

1. Mortality and morbidity rates:

The adult mortality rate in males is higher than in females. The adult mortality rate in males is 245 per 1000 people whereas in females it is 202 per 1000 people. The mortality rate in infants is 53.2 per 1000 live births. It is higher in kids under the age of five which is 70.4 per 1000 live births.

2. Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the primary source of measuring health standards in a country. It provides insight on how much a normal healthy newborn infant will live in the current situation of a country. The life expectancy rate in Afghanistan has increased from 49.9 in 1991 to 64.0 years in 2017.

3. HIV/AIDS

The HIV prevalence in adults from age 15-49 has stayed the same. 0.1 % of the population has been living with HIV in 1990 and even today. The number has remained consistent in records because based on the poor condition of country people don’t get themselves cheeked and a large number of patients don’t even know that they have HIV because it is not diagnosed.

4. Literacy rates

Literacy rate in Afghanistan is very low. Only 31.7% of the population with age 15 or older can read and write. Men have a higher literacy rate than women as only 24% of women of age 24 or above can read or write.

The non-economic condition of Afghanistan is not very soothing as indicated by the above indicators. Education and health are two important and basic necessities of life and even they are at stake due to poor economic and law and order situation of the country. Afghanistan is going through governance crisis as the country lacks proper institutions for policy making and policy implementation. There are governing bodies to monitor the deteriorating condition of life in the country. Standards of living is getting lower and lower with every passing day. Majority of people do not access to clean drinking water, food supply, health care facilities or education for their children. These are rights of every citizen and every government is obliged and responsible to provide these basic facilities but not Afghanistan. It is a country where politics of elites is causing the existential crisis for poor. Even when there are no relief programs form government, citizens of Afghanistan can try to make their own life better but there are employment opportunities (Summer, 2010).

Differences in poverty

Afghanistan is among the poorest countries in the world. The widespread poverty in the country has roots embedded in law and order situation along with the absence of an industrial base. The poor governmental policies failed to regulate consistent means to ensure the availability of basic necessities for their war crushed citizens. The economy was destroyed by war and poor governance. According to the government of Afghanistan, 42% of people live below the poverty line and 23% have a close chance of falling into the lap of poverty by a single stroke.

Women are more exposed to poverty than men. Afghanistan is a traditionalist country where women are encouraged to stay indoors and become homemakers. They are not allowed to learn skills or participate in economic spheres of life. During the war, if men of family die there is no one to support their families as women are not equipped to earn.

Although poverty hits all ages equally research shows that older people are more prone to poverty than younger people. There are no retirement plans to support older people or provide basic necessities without them working in their old age. Even if they want to work, they don’t get enough opportunities. Afghanistan has two sectors providing employment opportunities: services sector and agriculture sector. Skills needed for both sectors are physical in nature. Older people cannot work as hard and as efficiently as younger people can. So, they do not get employed in the first place or if they are employed, they get paid less.

Poverty is prevailing in urban and rural areas of Afghanistan but rural areas are more poverty stricken because there are low education and employment chances. Recent studies suggest that four of five people living in rural areas live beneath the poverty line. East, Northeast and West-central provinces are among the poorest region of the country (Clarke & McGillivary, 2007).

Poverty relief efforts

Afghanistan’s economy cannot sustain at its own due to the absence of an industrial base or a strong well-developed agricultural sector or service sector. That is why their recent budget was based on 66% aid and rest of 34% was supported by internal GDP. Just like budget’s dependence on foreign aid, poverty relief programs are also dependent on foreign aid. According to a recent study by Oxfam and Swedish committee for Afghanistan, there are ambiguities and discrepancies in foreign aid distributed from years 2002-2008. It was revealed that among all the foreign aid distributed in Afghanistan, two-thirds of foreign aid bypassed government and was distributed directly to people with help of national and international agencies. The foreign donors defended it by stating that the Afghan government is corrupt and incompetent. The incompetence and corruption are evident in other one-third of aid distribution as there are record discrepancies there too (Bjelica & Ruttig, 2018).

There are no resilient policies for providing relief to poor people and help them become self-reliant by teaching them a life skill. Rather all these aid programs are temporary with hidden agendas without any vision for future outcomes. People are becoming dependent on this aid. These aid programs are not equally focused on all parts of the counties. Some areas receive more aid, some areas are ignored. The selection of area depends on the objectives of donor. The government also provides aid according to their interest. Generally, the aid is provided on a community basis. Individual and families do not focus on these relief programs. These programs generally follow the top-down approach while devising their strategies.

Among different relief programs by a non-governmental organization, World Bank, save the children and Aryana Aid are most active. They have joint programs with the government of Afghanistan for poverty reduction as well as their own programs for providing relief to war-crushed and poverty-stricken Afghan people. Save the children is primarily focused on saving the children of a lesser god in Afghanistan. Their efforts have yielded some positive outcome but unless there are a grass-roots level relief and reform policy by the government, the poor will keep on suffering.

Poverty alleviation efforts to those in the US

The United States of America is the biggest economy in the world with 19 trillion dollars. It is the world richest country but even in the United States there is poverty and many people suffer from poverty and cannot meet their basic needs. The government of USA is very concerned about all its citizens and it is the duty of government to ensure basic necessities for all its citizens that is why the US government has introduced many programs to support poor people to get over their poverty through relief and reform program. Some of these programs are Temporary assistance Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid (TANF), Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC), Children’s Health Insurance Program, Section 8 Housing Voucher Program, Earned Income Tax Credit, Unemployment insurance , Early Head Start, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and National School Lunch Program (Motiff, 2008).

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

TANF or temporary assistance for needy families was incorporated in 1997 to support such families which have children dependent on their parents. It is a federal program where the federal government provides aid to states so that they can customize the program according to the needs of their state. This program is usually 2-5 years where a family needing help will be provided with cash assistance called “welfare” for 2 years along with strict restriction that individuals getting it will find jobs to support themselves. This program ensures that the families supporting their children get some help forms ate while at the same time striving to gain their own financial independence.

WIC (Women, Infants and Children Program)

A special supplement nutrition program for women, infants and children are designed to support single mothers primarily breastfeeding women, pregnant women, and children below the age of 5. It is a federal program designed with the help of the United States Department of agriculture to provide relief for better nutrition and health care of mother and children.

Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program

Food stamp program or supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) is a federal program run under the department of agriculture to provide support and help to families having low or no income. This program ensures to provide relief to such families in their food-purchasing. Although it is a federal program, it is implemented through states according to the needs of every state.

The poverty relief programs in the United States are way more organized and well planned as compare to poverty reduction programs in Afghanistan. The programs in the US have a vision to not let any US citizen sleep hungry or any child without care whereas in Afghanistan many children die due to hunger, malnutrition and draught d government simply do not care. Otherwise, they would have implemented plans like SNAP or WIC. Plans like TANF not only provide relief but also focuses on reform by making it compulsory for aid receiver to work and become responsible. There are no such programs in Afghanistan. The USA does not need to learn anything from Afghanistan in their poverty relief programs but Afghanistan definitely needs to learn a big deal form the United States otherwise their citizens will keep on dying from war, hunger and bad governance (Papanicolas, 2018).

References Bjelica, J., & Ruttig, T. (2018). The State of Aid and Poverty in 2018: A new look at aid effectiveness in Afghanistan. Oxfam and Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. Clarke, M., & McGillivary, M. (2007). Understanding Human Well-Being. Tokyo: United Nations University Press. Index. (2019, Jan). The economy of Afghanistan. Retrieved from Index Mundi: https://www.indexmundi.com/afghanistan/economy_overview.html Index. (2019). Natural Resources of Afghanistan. Retrieved from Index Mundi: https://www.indexmundi.com/afghanistan/natural_resources.html Motiff, R. (2008). A primer on U.S. welfare reform. Institute for Research on Poverty. Papanicolas, I. (2018). Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries. Jama Network, 1024-1039. Summer, A. (2010). Economic Well-being and Non-economic Well-being: A Review of the Meaning and Measurement of Poverty. Working press. UNDP. (2019). Human Development Reports. Retrieved from United Nations Development Program: http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/AFG WB. (2012). Poverty Reduction in Afghanistan: Despite Economic Growth, Widening Inequality. World Bank.