Afghanistan's good news: seeds of economic progress

According to World Bank estimates, Afghanistan needs a minimum of $4 billion a year in aid to implement the comprehensive state building and reform plan (including counternarcotics) agreed to at the London Conference on Afghanistan in January, attended by more than 60 countries and international organizations.

The US should make a commitment to provide half that amount during the next five years with the second half provided by our European, Japanese, and other partners.

But economic progress in Afghanistan goes beyond reconstruction and development aid. It also means greater efforts to promote economic progress through trade and investment. Fortunately, Coca-Cola is not alone in taking on both the challenges and opportunities that exist in Afghanistan.

MCT is a US corporation that owns part of Roshan, the largest telecommunications firm in Afghanistan. Roshan just made another $60 million investment to expand its operations in the country. Roshan has been operating there for three years, demonstrating that companies with a long-term commitment in Afghanistan are making profits.

Ford Motor Co. has identified Afghanistan as a new market opportunity and is seeking local companies for a Ford distributorship. 3M corporation has selected exporters to distribute its products in Afghanistan. Boeing has entered into a partnership with Ariana, Afghanistan's national airline. Land O'Lakes dairy company is at work training in the agricultural sector.

During his visit to Washington, Karzai met with a group of leading US CEOs. In Kabul, the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency has been set up as a one-stop-shop for the promotion, registration, and licensing of new investments – making Afghanistan, according to a 2005 World Bank survey, one of the world's leaders in the speed needed for business ventures to get started.

Next month, the Afghan government will sponsor its second annual business promotion road show in the US and Canada.

There will be visits to Des Moines, Iowa, to talk about agroprocessing; to Los Angeles to explore information-technology (IT) and telecommunication ventures; to Toronto for exchanges on energy and mining; and to New York to see what's possible in the construction, finance, and insurance sectors.

The road show will be kicked off with a business matchmaking conference in Washington, sponsored by the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce, bringing companies and financial and government contacts together.

By working with local companies, says the Afghan government, American investors, "can both contribute to the overall economic prosperity of Afghanistan and enjoy opportunities to profit from this emerging market." They will also be investing in a stable, prosperous, and democratic Afghanistan – and the long-term national security interests of the United States.

• Karl F. Inderfurth, assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs from 1997 to 2001, is a professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

Page: 1 | 2