Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a male-dominated society. It is also a society where authority and power mean a lot. I think that the fact that I am a guest in their country, a foreign woman, representing the United Nations – a respected organization – works in my favour. Afghanistan is very different from my own home country, Sweden, but beyond the surface we are all surprisingly alike. Daily life in Kabul is not very comfortable; I lived in one room for more than a year before I found a small flat in a securitycleared compound. The security situation is very worrying and limits your personal life as well as the work of the United Nations. The suicide attack on a UN convoy in Kandahar province in the south of the country on 14 September, which killed two WHO colleagues, was a terrible blow to all of us. It is getting increasingly difficult and dangerous. Half of the country is at least partially out of reach for us because of lack of security. The costs of operations are going up because of the volatile situation.

This report presents an independent evaluation managed by the Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2008. It assesses UNDP’s overall contribution to the development of the country over the most recent programming cycles, as well as the strategy and performance of UNDP-Afghanistan during the last programme cycles and their action plans.

This Assessment of Development Results (ADR) in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is an independent country-level evaluation conducted by the Evaluation Office of UNDP in 2012-2013. It assesses UNDP’s overall performance and contribution to stabilization and development in Afghanistan and covers the period of 2009-2013, corresponding approximately with the programming period from 2010-2014 This is the second ADR to be conducted in Afghanistan. The previous one was undertaken in 2008-2009 and covered the period 2002-2008.

The analysis in this report examines the modalities of illegal methamphetamine manufacture in Afghanistan, highlighting risks to the region. The findings presented here contextualize illegal manufacture of methamphetamine with respect to quantify total methamphetamine production, different input materials. The analysis contained in this report does not seek to evaluate or assess the effectiveness of counternarcotics measures in the country, nor does it consider the effects of the April 2022 announcement of enforcement against the production, trafficking, and consumption of all illicit drugs in Afghanistan. The research shows that common cold medications and industrial-grade bulk precursors offer more efficient, reliable and virtually limitless means to support illegal manufacture compared with naturally occurring sources of ephedrine.

Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2025 decreased by 20 per cent compared to the previous year, according to a new survey from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The sharp contraction, together with market indicators, suggest that opium production and trafficking are undergoing major shifts in the region. The total area under opium poppy cultivation in 2025 was estimated at 10,200 hectares, 20 per cent lower than in 2024 (12,800 hectares) and a fraction of the pre-ban levels recorded in 2022, when an estimated 232,000 hectares were cultivated nationwide. Accordingly, opium production has also declined in 2025, at a rate even greater than that of cultivation, dropping by 32 per cent compared to 2024, to an estimated total of 296 tons. Farmers’ income from opium sales fell by 48 per cent from US$260 million in 2024 to US$134 million in 2025. After the ban, many farmers shifted to growing cereals and other crops. Worsening weather conditions, such as droughts or low rainfall, however, resulted in over 40 per cent of farmland laying barren. Simultaneously, the return of approximately four million Afghans from neighbouring countries, representing by now around 10 per cent of the country’s population, has intensified competition for scarce jobs and resources. All these factors, paired with the reductions in humanitarian aid can possibly make opium poppy cultivation more attractive.

The National Accounts department of the Central Statistics Office in Kabul, Afghanistan is responsible for maintaining the national accounts statistics for Afghanistan. The following tables have been prepared by the Central Statistics Office in Kabul, Afghanistan in reply to the United Nations national accounts questionnaire.

The National Accounts department of the Central Statistics Office in Kabul, Afghanistan is responsible for maintaining the national accounts statistics for Afghanistan. The following tables have been prepared by the Central Statistics Office in Kabul, Afghanistan in reply to the United Nations national accounts questionnaire.

Agreement on the Movement of Goods and Payment Transactions between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of the Kingdom of Afghanistan. Kabul, 31 January 1958

ECONOMIC AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY AND THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN. BONN, 17 JUNE 1952 [United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2960, I-51453.]

Arrangement between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan concerning the protection of the person and property of the experts and the members of their families belonging to their household seconded to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan within the scope of German development cooperation. Kabul, 15 March 2005 and 12 July 2005

PROGRAMME GRANT AGREEMENT (RURAL MICROFINANCE AND LIVESTOCK SUPPORT PROGRAMME) BETWEEN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN AND THE INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. ROME, 7 JULY 2009 [United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2767, I-48736.]

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND AFGHANISTAN FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF UNITED STATES RADIO TRANSMITTING FACILITIES IN AFGHANISTAN. WASHINGTON, 3 OCTOBER 2002 [United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2935, I-51044.]

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY ON COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF HEALTH. KABUL, 20 APRIL 2005 [United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2631, I-46857.]

Despite serious challenges, including the attack in Mazar-i- Sharif, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) contributed to creating a political environment conducive to strengthening the Afghanistan Government.

Since 2001, the Government of Afghanistan has placed significant emphasis on institutionalizing reforms aimed at improving the country's overall business and investment climate, improving supplyside competitiveness of key priority sectors (both goods-and services-based) and strengthening regional integration. The private sector is provided a prominent role to participate in policymaking debates affecting business and investment. However, Afghanistan continues to face security challenges that are inhibiting these promising efforts. These conditions that are exerting downward pressures on the economy are evident by the registered decline in the GDP rate (2.4 per cent in 2018 from 2.7 per cent in 2017)1 and is expected to affect job creation as well as further productive growth. As a post-conflict country in reform, the country faces a multitude of important hurdles to overcome.

Afghanistan wishes to expand its position as an economic link between Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, in addition to providing socioeconomic gains to its citizens through trade led growth. This assessment finds that development of Afghanistan's e-commerce ecosystem will be an essential ingredient in this eventual success story.

The eTrade for all Initiative, launched at the fourteenth Ministerial Conference of UNCTAD in July 2016, is a practical example of how to harness the digital economy in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, notably Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5, 8, 9, and 17. The initiative seeks to raise awareness, enhance synergies, and increase the scale of existing and new efforts by the development community to strengthen the ability of developing countries to engage in and benefit from e-commerce by addressing seven relevant policy areas.

This Rapid eTrade Readiness Assessment for Afghanistan was prepared by Rahul Bhatnagar in close collaboration with a team comprising Cécile Barayre, Marian Pletosu and Dominic Leong, under the overall guidance of Torbjörn Fredriksson. An UNCTAD team comprising of two national consultants Malyar Jabarkhel and Saleem Ahmadzai lent valuable technical and coordination-based support. UNCTAD's ASYCUDA field coordinator in Afghanistan, Reza Mohammadi was instrumental in providing guidance on project management matters.

Three countries of the ECAFE region which are setting out to advance their economic development after centuries of isolation and seclusion are Afghanistan, Laos and Nepal. Their isolation and its consequences for their development are partly due to the fact that they are all entirely land-locked (that is, they have no direct access to the sea). They have, therefore, along with their distinctive individual features, a number of problems in common which invite analysis.

During the year 1954/55 the economy of Afghanistan showed signs of improvement. The crop was better than average and brought about a slight decline in agricultural prices. Government tax receipts increased through improved administration, without however changes in tax rates or introduction of new taxation. The exports of the country improved sharply and the foreign-exchange reserves of the Central Bank (Da Afghanistan Bank) accumulated at a rapid rate. The rising export earnings and developing economic activity were reflected in a sharp rise in the supply of money while the cost of living remained stable. The commercial activities of government enterprises increased and some credit institutions and commercial corporations were established. The year 1955/56 offered the same favourable outlook till the end of the first quarter when the dispute with Pakistan resulted in the closing of the Afghan-Pakistan border. A transit agreement was concluded with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the second quarter of 1955/56 to alleviate the economic difficulties thus created. The 1955/56 crop appeared not unfavourable in spite of the relative lack of snow during the winter of 1954/55.