MARCH 2014
ing business in Afghanistan is simply too
high. In addition, Afghanistan, which has
received nearly $17 billion dollars from
USAID strictly for development over
the past decade, has seen little investment in basic infrastructure and utilities.
While this by no means discredits the
leaps and bounds of progress made in
education and basic healthcare through receipt of aid money, Afghanistan has been
plagued by chronic unemployment at levels near 40-50% and the resurgence of a lucrative drug trade—threats that could undermine the progress that has been made.
Most notably, last year saw the highest
levels of opium cultivation and production
in Afghan history, generating nearly a billion dollars in illicit revenues and supply
90% of the global market. Both the causes
and ramifications of this burgeoning trade
ultimately come back to the political stability of Afghanistan. Agriculture, which
traditionally has formed the basis of the
Afghan economy, has become an increasingly unrewarding endeavor. Low crop
prices coupled with violence have pushed
farmers into growing opium, a far more
lucrative crop. More important, however,
is where the money goes. As Jean-Luc Lemahieu, head of the UN Office on Drugs
and Crime in Afghanistan, states, while
the Taliban are increasingly reliant on the
opium trade as a source of financing insurgent effort, this same drug trade also
lines the pockets of many high-ranking
officials in the central government. With
powerful interests vested in continuing
the opium trade and the reuslting violence
at the cost of Afghanistan’s economic
future, it is understandable why international governments—and private investors—have balked at pumping money into
a country set on perpetuating civil war.
Ending the opium trade will require
not only political pressure, but also economic opportunity. With a young population and hundreds of thousands of workers entering the workforce each year, the
opium market is increasingly fueled by
individuals seeing no legitimate alternative to working the poppy fields. As such,
the process of uprooting the opium mar-
INTERNATIONAL
ket will require a multi-faceted approach
focused on investments in education and
the creation of jobs in other industries.
While education investments have begun
to bear fruit, the development of alternative industries has been sorely lacking.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan sits on a gold
mine of opportunity—literally. The U.S.
Geological Survey has determined that
there is nearly $1 trillion dollars worth of
minerals in Afghanistan, with huge deposits of tin, copper, gold, and lithium. What
is lacking, however, is the infrastructure
necessary to extract or process these ores.
Although venture capitalists have attempted to begin extracting these minerals, their efforts have been foiled in large
part due to this lack of infrastructure along
with security concerns. While it may take
years to begin extracting these minerals in
profitable quantities, the underlying problem remains that neither the United States
nor Afghanistan has made infrastructure
a priority. Without basic infrastructure, )