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Afghanistan
SNAPSHOT
Date of independence: 2001
Capital: Kabul
Population: 26.8 million
GDP per person (1994 est): $521
UPDATES
General Activity Update
12/27/05: Inside this issue: Community Radio Inaugurated in Kunduz Province - Increasing the Capabilities of Legal Professionals - Training and Resources Improve Community-Based Healthcare for Women
Road Report (PDF)
12/27/05: The Kandahar-Herat Highway connects the southern and western parts
of Afghanistan. This 557 km stretch of highway is part of the “Ring Road”, which
interlinks the main cities of Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. USAID is funding 326
km of the Kandahar-Herat Highway.
Alternative Livelihoods Program
Update (PDF)
10/30/05: USAID has launched a national plan in Afghanistan to
create meaningful livelihoods for Afghan citizens as an alternative to poppy
and opium production.
View the update
archive.
Download the free Adobe Reader to view PDF files.
This new highway, connecting Kabul and Kandahar, means the rural population
can reach jobs, schools, health clinics, and markets for their produce more
easily. More than two decades of war left the original highway devastated, like
much of country’s infrastructure. USAID, working with the Japanese and
Afghan governments and the Louis Berger Group, demined and paved the 389-kilometer
road. This is part of a multi-national effort to rebuild the entire Ring Road,
which links Afghanistan’s four major cities. Photo: USAID/Afghanistan
CONTACTS
Mission Director
Alonzo Fulgham
USAID/Kabul
6180 Kabul Place
Dulles, VA 20189-6180
Tel: 873-762-311955
Desk Officer
Sepideh Keyvanshad
Tel: (202) 712-0324
Email: skeyvanshad@usaid.gov
www.usaid.gov/afghanistan
Overview
Years of civil war, compounded by Taliban rule and the worst
drought in memory, have devastated Afghanistan. At the time
the Taliban was forced out of power, half of Afghanistan’s
people lived in absolute poverty and were unemployed. Virtually
all the country’s institutions and much of its infrastructure
were destroyed. To support the war on terrorism and to keep
with America’s tradition of assisting those in need,
USAID is working to build a safe, stable society that meets
the needs of its people and eliminates an environment that
breeds terrorism.
Programs
Agricultural Production Nearly Doubled
Agriculture is a way of life for 80 percent of Afghanistan’s
people. However, instability, coupled with the region’s
four-year drought, devastated the country’s farms. USAID
renovates irrigation systems, provides fertilizer and seeds
and builds roads to markets. Over the past few years, agricultural
production has nearly doubled, increasing farmers’ incomes.
To stop the illegal drug trade that has been a major source
of income for the country when there were few alternatives,
USAID works with farmers to create alternatives to poppy cultivation.
USAID also provides training, demonstration centers, and farm-related
business training to farmers to help them increase their income
from legitimate crops.
Girls Go Back to School and More Afghans Get Basic Health
Care
In 2002, only about 32 percent of school-age children were
enrolled. Ninety-seven percent of the country’s girls
did not attend school. Eighty percent of existing schools
were either severely damaged or destroyed at the end of the
Taliban rule. USAID has distributed textbooks, school supplies
and training materials and has built or refurbished 477 schools.
USAID has also trained 65,000 teachers, built a women’s
dormitory at Kabul University and provided food rations as
an incentive for families to send their daughters to school.
The health status of Afghans is among the worst in the world.
Roughly one out of every five Afghan children dies before
the age of five, and about the number of mothers who die due
to pregnancy complications is one of the highest rates in
the world. USAID provides health services to more than two
million people, 90 percent of whom are women and children.
USAID has funded the treatment malaria and assisted in polio
vaccinations for 9.9 million children.
Afghan Government and Economy Strengthened
Years of corruption, brutality and tyranny imposed by
the Taliban reduced Afghanistan to political, economic and
social ruin. USAID has supported the new democracy by registering
10 million Afghans to vote in the September 2004 presidential
elections and the September 2005 Parliamentary elections.
Our programs provided constitutional and legal experts to
work with the committees drafting the constitution and new
laws. USAID also funded a radio network to connect the central
government with the remote provinces, so they can communicate
reliably for the first time.
For years, Afghanistan had a dysfunctional economy based
on illegal drug trading and war. USAID creates jobs to enable
the Afghans to support their families and rebuild their country.
USAID created short-term jobs for three million people and
provided $7 million in small to medium size loans to help
Afghans start their own businesses, giving people jobs and
incomes. USAID also helped convert the old currency to a new
one by training staff, transporting money and providing counting
machines.
All parts of the economy struggle when poor roads prevent
the transport of goods or a shortage of clean water affects
a community’s health. USAID has rebuilt roads to clinics
and markets and reopened the Salang Tunnel, high in the mountains,
which has reduced travel time by two and half days for common
trips. The reconstruction of 389 kilometers of the major Kabul-Kandahar
highway has revitalized entire villages.
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