Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmad Zai. Economic Programs

Transcription

1 Afghanistan Presidential Candidates Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmad Zai Economic Programs Economic Revival and Creation of Employment Opportunities In our war-torn country, there are 3 majorities who are considered as minorities from political and economical views. These numerical minorities are: 1-Youth: The dominant majority of our society is youth whose number is ever increasing but receiving few employment opportunities. 2- Poor: Poverty doesn t deal with the language, locality and region, but threatens the public welfare. 3- Women: This class is a silent majority who bear the toughest house chorus but most of them don t receive financial income directly and the society doesn t give importance to their work. From economical point of view these three political and economical minorities should be transformed in a potential majority and every youth, poor and woman of this society should consider themselves the owners of Afghanistan and should be assured that the future of this country is in their hands. To accomplish these goals, fundamental changes should be brought in our government, economic and social/people related structures through which a prestigious life will be achieved for the citizens of Afghanistan. This chapter (portion) is linked like a chain to my previous portion because I believe that without having a modern and effective government, we can t have a booming economy. Therefore, I will discuss the principles in relation to a dynamic economy that was indicated in my previous chapter. Essential sectors of a booming economy are discussed as follow: a) role of the government In order to achieve our national goals, the government must perform well at least in four of the following sectors: Providing favorable environment: the most important duty of the government is to protect the law. Free market (open economy) in dynamic economies always deals under protection of the law because in human deals small and big problems are always expected. Therefore, the government as a fair judge should create a sound environment. Whenever an investor invests in a country, his first concern will be that how much benefit he will receive in coming 5, 15 or 20 years. 1

2 If the enforced laws don t change as the government change, the investor will be assured that there will be no loss but when a governor or president change, the laws and regulations also get change. In this case, the investors will try to build a relationship with the governor or president and will overlook the qualifications. Then, instead of having a sound and booming economy, we will have a corrupted and black market economy. Protection of private ownerships is another important part of the rule of law that directly affects the economy. Protection of ownerships: house, farm, banking account and intellectual rights related to inventions are considered significant parts of the ownerships. The less and weak protection from these rights and manipulation of people by corruption will slowdown the economic growth. In current situation, a live example is the Kabul city where the right of ownership for citizens is not secured. Commonly, people have built houses in various places that are not in conformity with the Master Plan and don t have letter of deeds as well and its related deals people face problems. Those letters of deeds that are fake or falsified leads to hot claims and some of the influential people are also involved in this regard like judges who earn thousands of dollars as bribe. By taking bribes, the citizens can t get to their rights but some of the incumbents earned lots of money and got rich and wealthy. If the rights of people have been protected well, on one hand the corruption have been controlled and on the other hand people could have invested on their lands and government could have attained millions of Afghani as income for the economical growth. In Afghanistan, tens of Afghans have sold their hundreds of houses and thousands of lands and have transferred the money outside the country. These people not only pay taxes to the government but also not providing employment opportunities to the people. In order to determine the right of ownership, an authorized judicial structure that includes the civil society and people should be created. To abate or remove the debates, disputes and to prevent the bribery a transparent monitoring of the documentations should be implemented and these issues should be discussed clearly. Therefore, a computerized system should be developed for the registration of the documents so; our citizens will be familiar with the legal value of their documents and will not be required to pay more bribe and money for the registration of their documents. In order to overcome these maladies, before the Bonn process, it was better if the government provided the legal documents to those poor people who built houses in different parts of Kabul city. In this regard, the residents of Dashta Barchi, Chehlsotoon and other parts of Kabul city had proposed the same issue several times to the related authorities that could solved the problems of these residents and had the facilities like electricity and road but no one listened to them. The governmental properties and lands which were usurped from the people by force require a special array to be considered legally. But those people who don t have shelter have the right of ownership or the right to have property over government. The government should act on legally and provide people with shelter that could be considered as the first step toward the removal of this problem. 2

3 The security is considered the first requirement for the protection of the property. If there is no security, no property will be secured. The powerful people and those who have guns with them usurp the lands from the weak people. If the lands of the weak people go to the powerful ones in exchange of a less price, it is a sign of insecurity that our society after decades of war is still facing. The security of a country is not provided by increasing the numbers of the guards, leaders and with barbed wires around the buildings. Standard for security is that people should be cooperative with the security authorities in the cities, provinces and Kabul as a capital city and the people should feel secure in these environments. In this way, people will feel responsibility to take part in the security in their residential areas. To achieve this goal, the government must involve people in the monitoring of the governmental institutions. When people do monitor and observe the performances of the heads of the civil and military institutions, police stations and local courts in a regular base every week and have access to the media and the principle of punishments and rewards (reward for good deeds and punishment for bad deeds) implemented, then the people will defend from their government enthusiastically. Access to information will be a factor for the motivation of the economy and protection of law. In the past, gathering of the information was considered a difficult task, but today this mission is easy with the introduction of the modern technology. Unfortunately, the employees and workers of the government don t perform their duties without taking bribes. The one who wants to pay the bills of electricity to the government must wait for hours in queue and also give an amount of money as bribe to the related officers and if someone wants to get the driving license that is considered his right can t get his license without paying bribes but in exchange of 2500 afs driving license is given to a person who even don t know how to drive and in this way lives of others have put in danger. If the government want to know about the export and import data of one of the companies, the government goes to the custom department but unfortunately because of the corruption it is not able to gather the required the information. As long as in the economical transactions are not much transparent that people could have faith in and trust on and as a result the economic growth get weak and put obstructions in employment regeneration. Without any economical infrastructure no motivation is created but social organizations and private sectors can provide a number of facilities. For example, small power dams in the villages created by the NSP (National Solidarity Program) and the local residents can lead to economical growth. If we want the three majorities: (poor, women and youth) should have a good economical life is considered impossible without any infrastructural projects. Electricity and transportation are considered the basic parts of the infrastructures. It is difficult to find such a country that these two basic infrastructures shouldn t be provided by the government. It is clear that without the accessibility of the basic infrastructure no comprehensive economical growth is possible. Beside, our country has great potential in creation of electrical dams that is not only considered as self sufficiency in the production of electricity but also its surplus can be traded to the other countries. 3

4 Particularly, there are other four sectors also that have direct impact on the policies and governmental decisions in the economical system as follow: 1. Effective use of the international aid Naturally, International aids in not useful neither harmful. In the eastern Asia, international aids have been used in an effective way unlike the Southern Asia where it has not been proved useful. Therefore, the efficiency of the international aid relates to the competence of the government and society. If a competent government is in power, it can use the best from international aids but if the government is weak so it can t use best of international aids. Mid-term markets in accordance to the international aids are considered more effective. For example, we can search the midterm market for the product of raisin. If the rate per kilo is increased from 150 afs to 600, the income of the farmers will also be increased. We should emphasize on the quality control of the goods and also consider the principles of the marketing because the value and price of the raisin is related to its quality from one side and is also related to the international treaties from other side. Some years ago, India paid attention and gave value to our raisin production so through these years the export of raisin to India has been increased. As long as, our raisin can t compete with other countries of the region from quality perspectives is not sold in a good price. Instead of selling it in 150, it should be sold in 600 afs. Our farmers didn t make to dry well the raisins with the needed equipments and merchants also didn t make to work on the quality improvement, implementation of norms and standards and assurance. If this process is done jointly and stridently, our raisins can be traded to the markets of china, gulf area, Europe and America. The more our markets expand the more we will have facilities and the more employment opportunities will be created. Therefore, we claim that the government has lost is efficiency and stability in marketing. In order to create an esteemed employment or job the investment and professional knowledge are required. So, the backward countries in order to achieve these goals should attract and absorb the foreign investments. This can only be implemented if we have an effective and efficient government with a good legal and social framework. Natural capital can be transformed to financial capitals but if there is no good procedures to handle this capital can be stolen. More frequently, it has been witnessed in Africa that big companies by giving one million dollar to the corrupted leaders of the government have stolen billions of its natural capital. Unlike, in Singapore that has no natural resources, billions of dollars foreign investments has been attracted and are working effectively. But if a government is involved in corruption, a small decision can create a great loss. Decisions and direct policies of the government about taxes and customs have great influence on economical motivation. On one hand, collection of taxes in a transparent way helps the government to provide more needed services to the citizens and on the other hand the custom incomes are considered as a supplementary factor to the governmental policies. 4

5 In a country where financial policies change more frequently and are treated on the basis of personal perspectives disappoint the investors and as a result the investor will transfer their capital to the other country or it will be evident to the world that this country is not able to do its transactions in a good way. Today in the world, no country is considered as a separate island. All the countries should regulate their financial and custom policies relating to their national benefits in accordance with competitive standards/norms and treaties. Hence, the country that has opened its borders for a low quality product of its neighboring country in fact has done wrong to its people. a) Regulations: In the past centuries, governments put limitations. In Europe, in the 17 th century all the jeweler and iron maker society was in full control of gold and that structure prevented others to learn this technique. Gold had the authority to appoint a number of workers and through regulations could enhance once capability into specialist. The term free market first developed when removal of these limitations were claimed and based on that people could work in the market according to the regulations. Free market should be run parallel to the civil and political rights of the individuals. It should not be misunderstood with mess up and a field of unfairness. One of the parts of Afghanistan s economical history was the preparation of rules and regulations and their implementation. When the government of King Amanullah collapsed and King Nadir Khan got in power, the government treasury was empty. From the time of King Abdul Rehman Khan till King Amanullah Khan, taxes covered most of the incomes of the government but when King Nadir Khan got in power, it was not possible to take taxes from lands instead he focused on the custom taxes. On that time, Abdul Majeed Zabuli who was familiar with policies of Russia and Germany proposed new concepts to the government of the time and were accepted. Mr. Zabuli agreed to pay all the expenses of the government from the incomes generated from customs and in exchange the government should provide opportunities for the investors. For example, monopolies of the time can be stated. Mr. Zabuli and other investors got the monopoly over some types of items like; oil, tea, sugar, etc. to procure these items from the world markets and fulfill the inner needs of Afghanistan. Mr. Zabuli in a good way regulated the business of sheep skin and directly exported it to the markets of London and New York. After the business of sheep skin, he did the business of cotton and he started its cultivation in the Northern provinces of Afghanistan. The first impact of these businesses was that the small merchant changed into investors because incomes generated from these businesses who were first decentralized and were focused in small businesses got centralized. It was not something unexpected but it was Mr. Zabuli aim to centralize the capital. One of the important examples of his gains was the establishment of the National Bank in which the Herati merchants had a great role. It enabled our government to take part directly to huge economical deals of the world. Another achievement was the creation of the first fabric factory in Pule Khumri that was done toward industrialist. Simultaneously, he 5

6 used to generate electricity from the same factory. From 1317 to 1327, as an economy Minister, he tried toward the economical growth of the country but after the World War I his concepts and plans were not implemented practically because some of the political groups of the time opposed to give more privileges to the merchant and his relations with the king s family also got disrupted. Afghanistan has experienced the different economical concepts but still no concept has been used effectively that could change the economical course of Afghanistan. Currently, the motto of free market has created some kind of disorder and we are required to refer to the principle of responsibilities and authorities based on the basis of a free market. Some of these principles are explained as follow: Licensing: Regulation of big economical affairs and deals requires all the small capitals to be centralized and transformed to a big capital. Before I reminded that a good coordination in licensing resulted in creation of 7.5 million telephones along with their regulations. It was first regulated that 2 companies will start work and then license will be issued for another 4 companies. If license was issued for 20 companies at the same time, we would face with some disorder and if it was issued only for 1 company, it would be like monopoly. The licensing process to the 4 companies has been done through a transparent process according to the accepted principles of free market. so, now they can provide their services to people in a good way and the government can also collect the taxes and customs from these companies. Sometimes for the protection of national benefit, it is required that one sector should be monopolized for short or mid terms. In 1374, when the Afghan government was observing the air transportation or aviation, I thought that for the improvement of this sector all flights from Kabul to Dubai, Delhi to Kabul and Kabul-Frankfurt should be monopolized by Ariana and fundamental changes should be brought to the company and the company should be changed into a famous company. On that time, the company had a great capital of millions of dollar and if a change was brought into its management and administration system and if the government invested more money in that company. According to my assessments, this company could generate an amount of 1 billion dollar as an income and the government later could sell it to private sector in good price and could retrieve the money for the pensions of the retired people. This proposal was refused by the government and today Ariana is recognized as a weak and ineffective company. However, more aviation companies have been created and got good fame but the principles which were observed in Tele-communication process has been ignored here. Currently, lots of companies are willing to get the license based on their relations and want to take all privileges on presidential decree. For example, a decree was issued that for airplanes gave a privilege to put the stairs when the planes land. When the plane lands in airport, it will charge one thousand dollar. 6

7 Another defect is that it has been 9 months from the inauguration of the new terminal but still it has not provided any kind of services. If we want our planes to perform their flights to the famous airports and our luggage should not be checked again, we have to implement international audit principles in our airports. A new terminal has been built with the cooperation of Japan but because of the frequent changes of the transport Ministers, no one has still regulated or arranged the new terminal. In this case, instead of delay, it should be contracted to one of the security companies and the company would proceed accordingly. If we look at 9 months of useless delay, from one side it is considered a loss and from another side it has addressed our people with psychological tensions and it shows incompetence of the government that it cannot provide on-time services. The importance of the regulations is not only the issuance of licenses but the government is also obligated to control the quality of import/export and services. We have discussed about the low quality of oil and now I want to talk about the medicines. When Afghanistan was suffering from the war and there was fighting everywhere, no low quality medicine has been brought to the country but today we are witnessing a huge amount of low quality medicines that pose financial and physical harm to our people. This case is true about other goods too. Today Afghanistan is full of low quality goods which pose harm to our coming generation. If there was no control, it doesn t mean that we don t have enough equipments and capacity for this work. School of pharmacy of Kabul University is capable and has the required capacity and knowledge to do any kind of inspection and control from the quality of milk, oil and other goods. But the incompetent government doesn t have the capacity to use best of these facilities in an effective way to protect the lives of people and to prevent the expected loss to the government. Consequently, about the free market the government should use from all its legal powers if the government want a booming and effective economy instead of a market controlled by economical Mafia. Some limitations are required to be regulated and should be implemented accordingly. C) direct control by the government: In every society, some parts of the economy is control and administered directly by the government but this process is not always stable. The economy and technology are in mode of frequent change. When private sector could provide good services, all the opportunities should be provided to them. In current situation, the following sector can t be done without any management, control and interference of the government: 7

8 1. Infrastructure: National economic growth of the future of Afghanistan is not possible without any investment. It is required to use from the gratuitous credits and cheap loans in infrastructural projects of Afghanistan. Before all Afghanistan is in need investment in these sectors: power, water supply, road, railway tracks and airports. If there is no power, all the educational, economical and governmental affairs will get slow. Therefore, the government should make best use of present water in generating of power and also should generate power from wind and sun. in the next steps, investments should be done in terms of management for the distribution of power to have an enhanced capacity. The world bank has allocated a huge amount of fund for the distribution of power but due to lack of capacity and ignorance that has not been spent yet. People have accepted their lives without electricity or have spent more than millions of dollar to have power through running generators. Regarding infrastructures three types of capacity are considered important and are as follow: 1) Preparing plans and design of large projects: this skill and knowledge requires a comprehensive investment but Afghanistan can easily procure this capacity from the market in an effective way. I want to propose that instead of procuring the capacity individually Afghanistan should procure a large and fame international company along with its management because this money will not be spent individually on capacity and will not be spent on a building of a large project. Afghanistan as modern country will procure the plans and designs from an international company in once and will not put international specialists to work on its management and the government will take its ownership through which government can get lots of benefit? If we get succeed in doing so. Then, we can centralize the global aids and can remove the present disorder. 2) The government should protect the infrastructural structures and for doing this important job enterprises should be set up to do continuous monitoring and protection from these infrastructural structures. If investments have been done in the creation of such enterprises, from one side we can protect these infrastructural structures and from other side we can transfer these infrastructures to the villages through which we can implement small projects. 3) Afghanistan is a landlocked country and its rebuilding mostly depends on its trade. There is a continuous need to create strategic reserves (storage) for its principle goods and also for private sector. 4) Not only major ports like: Hairatan and Sherkhan Bandar should be equipped well but also regarding the landlocked trading points such as; Torghondi, from Aqina to Herat, Farah, Kandahar, Paktika, Khost, Nangarhar, Badakhshan to Konar required measures should be taken for the protection and provision of National benefit of the country. The people of Afghanistan due to having incompetent government particularly in production of cement have brought millions of dollars of benefit to the cement factories of Pakistan. Our incompetent government not only got succeed to attract international aid for the cement factories but also didn t succeed to stop monopolization of this sector. Potential evidences are present to show that the cement factories or suppliers of cement have decided between themselves in contrary to the international principles to increase the rate of cement products for Afghans and make them to buy cement from these companies with high rates. Regarding the tar of Iran, the USA has put limitations that no American country can buy this Iranian product. 8

9 These companies have concluded contracts with the Pakistani companies and have raised the rates of tar. As a result, the rate of tar or asphalt of one meter cube road has been increased 3 to several times than the rates of surrounding regions. Our government as an independent country through USA could conclude these kinds of contracts and bought tar (asphalt) in a lower rate or price from other countries and could deliver it to the American contractors or could sell it. If the government has done the same, one meter cube of our roads would get these with a less price and we would have more asphalted roads now. There is a saying: forgot things would remain forgot but the government is required to develop capacity in the procurements and should make the best use of every dollar and afghani. d) Labor force: Today, our basic problem is unemployment. Youths, a major part of our population, are jobless and instead of providing service to our society are considered the basic problem makers of our society. Therefore, we can say that our society is not self-sustained. If the infrastructural projects create more employment opportunities for the youth, in order to achieve this goal an effective labor force should developed that should be from the local residents of the provinces and zones and should be employed to those infrastructural projects. By considering the nature of the projects youth should be trained very quickly in order to get the required working capacity in relation to the project. Then, after the completion of the project, training opportunities should be created for the youth to get the skills and get a prestigious life in the framework of a market economy. Labor forces could be employed in different areas like: power, road construction and other projects. Beside this in Afghanistan, a greenery labor force is also needed for rehabilitation of the destructed forests. Another issue is security. Currently, in the southern provinces of our country security is provided by the private security companies and it is said that more than 50% of the project fund is vested in these security companies. The diminished officers should be appointed for the security of these projects. This will show people that these diminished officers are providing security to people as a soldier. Despite that our millions of youth are unemployed or jobless, in many cities foreign workers with huge wages are employed to provide technical and semi-technical works and it is claimed that these foreign workers have more technical skills than the inside or local workers. If the government pays more attention to our youth and regulates the opportunities for them to be trained in: plumber, mason, carpenter, and etc, in short term can provide a skilled person to the society. Therefore, the government should create similar opportunities for the youth. If the government wanted to build an university, school, hospital and other construction, youth can be provided jobs in these projects under a national program framework and after finishing that work, youth should be provided with documentations according to their qualifications. So, they could work in the same field in future and could have appropriate wages based on their qualifications. In this way, we need millions of youth to take lead the management of these projects and administer these projects in a good way. For these skills, 6 months and 2 years courses are available that can be implemented accordingly. The main goal is that the government should develop 10 or 20 years programs to train the human power so the society will be benefited and an independent country will be progressed. e) Sectors: 9

10 Every country is required to prioritize its sectors for the development and growth because the human capital and national potentials require the sectors to be determined and regulated well. From my point of view, there are 6 sectors that should be considered as priorities in the current situations: 1. Agriculture 2. Animal husbandry 3. Mines 4. Construction 5. Communications (ICT) 6. Civil services 1. Agriculture: This sector has importance in two ways. First that most of the people are farmers and are providing the people of the city with food but they are very poor. In order remove the poverty of the farmers, the agriculture should be equipped with modern tools so they could have more product and facilities. Poppy that is cultivated in our country has three characteristic: 1- it needs less water and can be cultivated in the places where crops are less and requires lots of hardship. If we want to eradicate this crop, we have to raise the daily income of a farmer from 50 afs to 200 afs. If such a kind of situation has been created that a farmer could fulfill his daily needs legally. Consequently, the farmers will give up the cultivation of poppy because it requires hardships and also because of their religious beliefs. If we want to raise the daily income of a farmer to 4 dollars per day, investments are required in this sector. As we mentioned before, Mr. Zabuli has invested in cotton in Kondoz and Baghlan provinces and as a result these provinces changed into an industrialist area but unlike today there is no cotton in the Northern provinces because its productive sources and its export market has been paralyzed. If this sector gets active, the production of cotton will boom. Rehabilitation of agriculture initially relates to the regional and global markets. The agriculture should be transformed into science from its traditional way because currently from eradication of weeds till harvest all the steps are done on scientific basis. If we want to harvest the expected output from our lands, we should have agricultural maps of each district and place that are prepared according to the global experience that which crop is compatible with which kind of soil and weather and the farmer should be aware of the market that when a crop has more benefit. Modern agriculture will not be effective without a regular financial system through which a farmer can have financial possibilities. If we want to regulate the credit system for farmers, we should solve the ownership problems and the earning rates should be estimated well that will enable the farmers to pay their debts and credits. As long as a pivotal agriculture can be equipped only with modern tools, until these productions and facilities has not been brought to our country, it is impossible to have developments in this sector. Agriculture is always in mode of change and the research centers relating to the agricultural sector is also considered important in this regard. In order to attend all the needs in this sector, a national program is required. 10

11 2. Animal husbandry: Animal husbandry is another important part of our economy. Firstly, people were not aware of fishery and were bound to get their needed protein from the meat of sheep and cow. Also, other dairy products such as; milk, yogurt, butter and other products are preserved from the family stocks but years of war, drought and plant diseases harmed our livestock. According to some of the specialists, we have lost 80% of our livestock. One of the best examples that can prove our claim is that we import a large portion of our dairy and meat from outside the country. Modern animal husbandry like agriculture is a kind of art. If more attentions are focused in this regard, more employment opportunities will be created and also the money paid for the imported products can be invested in productive activities inside the country. 1- Livestock: animal husbandry is done by our sisters and brothers in the villages. Beside agriculture the government should do more effective works in this regard. 2- Livestock and nomads (kochi): another part of livestock is done by our kochi sisters and brothers. Generally, currently Kochis is from the poorest groups of our country because a large part of this group s livelihood is done through livestock that has been lost after years of war and drought and most of them has been transformed to a market labor. Other parts of Kochis were both herder and landlord who also lost most of their livestock in the years of war but have increased their number of animals after this process. But those Kochis who want increase their number of livestock or animals are facing lots of problems. Having no water for their animals is considered their first problem. When Kochis want to move their animals and livestock from posture to another or they move seasonally and are faced with different problems in their ways. In Baghlan province, Kochis are having problems regarding water that can be solved by digging of 150 wells but the government hasn t done anything yet. If enough numbers of wells are dig for their animals, more livestock deaths will be prevented. Disputes and conflicts over usage of postures is another major problem faced by Kochis. In the 19 th century, due to less population, widespread lands and developed rural areas and villages we had large numbers of postures in our country. Due to drought from one side and usurpation of lands from another side has resulted in war. Because of warlords lands got less and postures got limited. In order to overcome this problem, the government should do a comprehensive survey about the postures of the country and should pass the laws that could finish the disputes between Kochis and inhabitant people. When they do their seasonal movements and trespass the lands of people, disputes arise between them and the indigenous people (landlords) that can be solved by the present transportation facilities. If the goods are carried by transport, the fields and lands of people will be secured and the deaths of their animals will be prevented. By providing them with transportation, the government can provide security to kochis in their movements. In the terms of livestock, problems are the same both with kochis and local inhabitants. They cant take their dairy products to the market easily. In order to improve the livestock and animal husbandry, marketing is really required both for kochis and local inhabitants. 3- Modern animal husbandry: like for the agricultural improvement, mechanized fields are needed, animal husbandry also needs modern tools and technology. For the first time in Afghanistan in the time of Daud Khan a slaughter house has been built in Herat and a milk processing factory in Baghlan for 11

12 the improvement of livestock but in the years of not only it was improved but also was not protected well. Afghanistan has good weather condition for the improvement of this sector but it can only be useful when government develops a national program under the framework of the government and implements it. All the aspects of this program should be observed well and investments should be done also in this sector. 3. Mines: the large portion of Afghanistan s capital is natural resources that can provide opportunities for sustainable development because mines are available in every part of Afghanistan. As I discussed before as well that after a geological has been done in Paktika, there are possibilities of gas mines. If this survey and assessment has been proved, a major economical development and growth is possible in the central and southern regions. However, the canyons of this country shows the hardship but the latest geological surveys shows that these canyons are full of natural resources and according to our constitution are part of our national capital and the government is obligated to take appropriate measures toward exploitation of these mines. Mines contracts should be considered very deeply and in this regard we pointed out some of the examples from African countries that as a result of corruption and their corrupted leaders how they lost their national capitals. The usage from these natural resources for the betterment of public welfare is required to take certain measures as follow: a. Transparent principles and rules should be enacted for the conclusion of such big contracts regarding the exploitation of mines and accountability should be considered too. For achievement of this goal, we can use from the global experience. There are certain numbers of international companies that contains the full information of contractors. They know that the investment companies are how much famous in these kinds of deals. b. A contract has a legal base. Some of terms can brought hundreds of dollars as benefit but also can create damage of millions of dollars. Therefore, the writing of a contract differs from other writings. More observation and research is needed in the writing of such contracts. For the protection of mines in Afghanistan, some international companies should be employed by the government to provide continuous services. According to the international principles, these companies can t work for those countries who want to invest on our mines. However, appointing of such companies is difficult and needs lots of funding but without these companies we should lose millions of dollars in our contracts. We also should train special cadres (technical and professional people) in relation to the legal aspects of the mines and investments should be done on human capacity also. c. Government incomes should be kept in a special account according to the article 42 of the constitution. Based on this article, all the contracts should be concluded in a very transparent and accurate way and all the related incomes generated from these mines should be deposited in a special account of the government. The earnings of the company should also be monitored deeply because they may show their income less in their balance sheets and pay less tax to the government. 12

13 Estimation of the earnings of a company is related to the available technical capacity of the company. In order to build such capacity, our youth should be trained so they could protect our national benefits. d. Whenever we want to create employment opportunities in terms of our mines, the raw materials should not be exported to the other countries. If the iron, copper, marble and other natural resources get transformed to a regular chain like they should get changed into second and third material in our country. From one side, it can fulfill our needs and from other side can raise our incomes and can create more employment opportunities for our citizens. If these outputs were exported to the countries as raw materials, we will not get more benefits. For example, our marble is sold to the neighboring countries at a price of ordinary stones and are polished and shaped in those countries. All these steps from polishing till exporting can create employment opportunities. Then, this product could be sold on a high price to the other countries. Even we have bought these marbles (our marbles after polishing and shaping) on a high price from those countries. From economical point of view, countries with good regulated management have developed a chain of benefit from their natural resources and this chain or ring will create employments and generate income. If the copper of Ainak is exported as raw materials, it is considered that a raw material has been sold but if we make best use of this mine, more employment opportunities will be created and more income will be generated. If we want to transform our natural resources into a chain of benefit (benefit cycle), again we are required to pay more attention to the infrastructures like: power, water, roads and railway tracks because the exported goods of Afghanistan are heavy in weight and the rate of fuels is very high and for more benefit we have to build railway tracks for our transportations. The importance of our mines are not only related to the large mines but also rules and regulations should be passed for small and medium mines in order to make the best use of our national capital and it will create appropriate working conditions. By exploitation of azure, emerald, gold, ruby and etc we can improve the jewelry industry. In European commission, they have developed some privileges in relation to the jewelry industry and this industry pays low taxes that are considered a good chance for our precious stones industry. Some experts believe that our country has the capacity to create employment opportunities for one million in goldsmith and jewelry sector. Since this sector doesn t require large factories, and huge capital investment, some measure can be taken to make busy many of youth in different parts of the country. This sector is now a good sector for women in many countries and we also can provide training facilities for women. Investments on mines are for medium and long runs, so legislative sequences have to be considered. Investors have to become confident that changes in the systems will not affect rules and regulations, so continued principles are protective of their legitimate benefits. If state lacks capacity, rule of law is not applicable because, at first step ministry of mines will not be committed to laws. If the vision is focused on the country welfare and self-sustainability, in this case it deem necessary that our country mines are regulated in a law of framework to provide social justice. The reason is that there is a strong relationship between social justice and revenue regulations. In Afghanistan mines least for 160 years could play significant role. Therefore a base has to be established for this sector, in order to protect our future. 13

14 4- Construction: As stated earlier, according to World Bank estimation, Afghanistan s loses due to prolong war and conflicts reach to 240 billion. Kabul city lost its feature as a capital in the result of conflicts, thousands building are destroyed. In Herat half of the city is destroyed by Russian bombards. I was evident of Gardez and Khost cities destruction, where nothing was save. As result of war fertile lands of Nangarhar province changed to mined areas. Afghanistan is among the 50 countries with highest number of mines cultivated. Killing by mines is now transforming from one generation to another like stories. Mines kill poor people and this enemy is still hided in our fields. I remember one unforgettable memory and that is after collapse of Dr. Najibullah government. I was traveling to Gardez province and stopped in a valley. I wanted to get off the road, but our companies told me that the entire valley is heavily minded. This was a highway where thousands people were crossing that daily. Likewise, I observed that children were killed by mines in Herat when they were playing. Construction: In our country without having construction capacity, dynamic economic emergence is impossible, as mentioned earlier, that state has to gain full capacity to programming procurement. Now, I want to say that a clear understanding should be committed between state and private sector, in order to use the international funds and local revenues in proper manner and at maximum to se those for development of infrastructure and development purposes. Private sector development requires a series of measures to be taken, described as follows: First A code or in other words a regulation on construction has to be in place in our country in which defined national standards coincide with international norms has to be established. All donating countries and organizations have to agree with those norms. Importance of this code will be that each contractor will adjust his proposal in this frame work and invest for their capacity building. Second- an overall construction association has to be setup and supported. Those unions which don t have membership in the association would not have the chance to participate in the contracts biddings. This association will get strength to a level to grantee capacity and quality of its members. In order to achieves this goal all aspects of human resource have to be assed and present Afghan capabilities identified and for further capacity development an annual, 5 year and 10 years programs have to be prepared. Third each donor country, World Bank and NGOs has their own procurement procedures. Training of all these procedures has created problems for proposal development in Afghan companies. For this reason large contracts are gained by external or regional companies on 5 th or 6 th steps or sub-contract, thus the major part of profit are taking by external companies which are more familiar with proposal writing/ preparation. In order to overcome this problem state with donor community and concentrates assisting Afghans has to b find a common principle for biddings, acceptable to all parties and prepare it as soon as possible. Another method is that government would receive the funds from donor countries and then spend/ use it through relevant companies in a transparent and accountable fashion. Finally, the donor 14

15 countries and sources have to be convinced that this process can be carried out in a better and efficient way comparing with international contracts. Fourth: Private sector can reach to self reliance, wile they gain the ability and become confident on short, medium and long terms. This could be attainable, when capacity building of companies become integrated part of medium to long term projects which are profitable. If this confidence is been setup, different companies will gain necessary capacities. For example; if government wants to construct 400 medium size water reserves/dams, at first step financial resources have to be identified and security is in place. While, the companies are confident on government 5 years plans, for construction of power generating dams on 4 major rivers, they will adjust themselves. If government has a 10 years plan, it also has to be cleared that what capacities are needed. Afghan companies must attain those capacities through proper investments and or gain with some international companies. Thus third step they will get required capacities. Another example is construction of housings and apartments. In our present economic conditions, house rent is very high. Comparing the amount of rents in Peshawar with Kabul will disclose this fact. The rent is 10 to 20 times less in Peshawar than Kabul. If we want to use national assets along with international funds in proper ways, at least the rents of houses have to be near the levels of neighboring countries because we compared our economy primarily with these countries. If government is committed to build one million houses in 10 years period, in this case we have to use World Bank and other financial resources effectively. During this time the capacity of companies have to be supported. Consequently we will not need to bring plumbers, carpenters and masons from neighboring countries and employ them with high costs. Thus the people will become confident about cheaper housing and can afford to buy apartments of houses in proper times. Because housing is a primary need of government employees. If we want to strength anti corruption policies, we have to take measures for government employees to have houses. One way is; retirement fund capital which it could be used for constructions purpose. Other world experiences are there which can be used in a national debate. 5. Communication (Information technology): communication is an important part of economic activities in today s world, because all economic transaction are based on information. If one cannot gain information on time, he will not get profit from business if we want to justify our productions according to market demand and needs, we must get proper information. As mentioned earlier, in the year 1382 Hijri telephone license were not distributed properly and in Kabul City 9 hours were needed to send a message from one place to another. Now 7.5 million Afghans are using handset phones and easily contact all parts of the country to receive or send their message and get information on their field of business. Communications is not only important for personal contacts, but also is crucial in modern world business system. Based on these facts, we have to see communication as a tool of development and for development of this sector measures have to be taken which are helpful for future Afghanistan development. In order to implement it, essential policies have to be developed and decisions are to be taken. Because computer as a new science is upgrading from time to time and Afghanistan cannot totally rely on foreign advisors. We have to train young people on computer programming who comprise the major part of any development plans. 15

16 Since computer along with politics have special place in administration and economics, therefore political independency it seems necessary to build capacities for software writing in country and develop it. In universities a separate computer science schools or alternatively independent computer science universities have to be established. In such institutions will not only train technical staff, but also create capacities for computer programming computer is modern science and don t require historical education. Establishment of such institutions comparing to medical institutions are cheaper, but ht effects of that greater on economics and administration. In today s world public access to computer provide a base for economic stimulation. Earlier we talked on importance of electrification, thus availability of power is essential to use computers efficiently. Internet is an amazing system for communications which connect the whole world at once. This global network is similar to that library or university, which contain billions of books in its electronic sheets. The information that could be available with in a month in a library is attainable within minutes in the internet. Unfortunately in our country this facility has high cost. Internet facilities that are in good conditions in neighboring countries and is accessible with 10 dollars, the same is around 400 dollars in our country, which is at very high cost regarding our economic condition. For this reason not only youth, but also our trading companies are unable to use this tool frequently. In my opinion government has to transform Afghanistan as a free zone of internet. Internet service providers don t pay noticeable tax to government, but presence of free internet services will be more sufficient and helpful to government s future rather than its tax. In this regards according to the some of the law makers and analysts research for Post Kalio (Kalio Skin, software) is under discussion. If this is going to be happen many post kalio (software) development companies will be established. As it is mentioned in the previous pages most of our youths and new generation shown great interest and ability in the development of post kalio software during the last eight (8) years. If these youth encourages by the government, they will be leading other universities and their minds will be great asset for the development of the country. Around the world prices of computer is decreasing day by day, at American biggest technology university s library (MIT) team of researchers are busy working on developing a computer costs 50 USD and this price will be decreased to 20 USD in the near future. If this is going to be turned into reality, then our youth will get chance to use more computer and internet in the future, and will be more familiar with technology which will have positive impact on their lives. 6- Civil Services: living in cities is based on task division, in the cities most of the people are business man and live their lives with the help of their professions. Civil services are composing of three main parts: 1. Services that provided by city to the suburbs and villages. 2. Services that provided by one part of civilians to the other part of the civilians of the city. 3. Services that provided by city, to the other regions and world. If we focus on the three above parts, quality of the provided services will be increased and following development and services can be carried out: 16

17 1. Services that provided by the city to herders living in suburbs and villages, is connected to their needs. Daily incomes of the herders living in suburbs are 50 Afghanis or less, this income is nothing and decreases their buying and selling ability. They prepare their ration from the cities. For example: if they have any wedding ceremony, buy everything from city. Farmers buy urea, ghee, matchbox, oil and other needs from the city, because from the profit point of view sellers can make more profit. If we increase farmer s income from 50 to 200 Afghani then they will be able to buy books, notebooks and other needy stuff for their children. By passing time if electricity shifted and extended to their villages, then their purchase power will be increased and they will be able to buy radio, television, washing machine, computer and other electrical equipments from the city. If our agriculture will be modernized, so in this case farmers will purchase trackers, thresher machines and other agriculture equipments from the city. They will be able to pay those agriculture advisors, whom help them in their agriculture extension. Beside, they will need engineers, architectures and designers to build them houses, factories, design housing maps, build bridges and dams. If income increases in the suburbs and villages then villagers can fulfill their needs through Social Corporation. That is why I wanted the national solidarity program to start from villages and then changes into participation throughout the villages, so that villages can find way to national and international markets. The more our vegetables sold in European markets and our fruit in Middle East the most village lives gets better. The more value cycles connects to the world markets the most villages needs civil services and this need will turn into power and ability. For example: if we want our grapes to be sold in Middle East markets, it should be certified healthy, well packed and sorted. To control this situation we must have certification institutes, whose certificates will be acceptable all over the world. Faculty of Pharmacy at Kabul University has the facility and capacity which can be used for the above mentioned issues, with this facility faculty of Pharmacy can be identified as one of the most acceptable institute in the world. From one side, government don t want faculty of Pharmacy to stand on its feet and from other side, control libratory/ institute with high quality didn t established. In terms of civil services high education for villages is very essential. Since long time I am hearing that education in villages is in bad condition because investments on teachers are not accurate. As we see there is no building and no material for schools, even though there is no electricity in mosques and schools. To solve these problems audio and video visuals/clips can be made and typed materials can be provided to the students and teachers which is easy to make with the help of electricity or government can prepare audio and video visuals of important subjects and distribute to them any where in the country. If these audio and video visuals can be used properly, so pressure on teachers can be reduced and students will be able to gain more efficient information. Kabul is the capital, but unfortunately we see big gap between high schools. Ahmad Shah Baba high school in comparison to schools such as: Amani, Estiqlal and Habibiya have fewer facilities even the level of education and teaching is different. If government distributes printed material himself or teaches online through distance learning then teaching level will be equal somehow. 17

18 Civilians of the cities, buying their foods and drinks from the markets, it is important to deliberate on these stuffs. In the butcher shops, meat hangs in the hangers and surrounded by mosquitoes and low quality fuel can have negative impact on civilians. If any action has to be taken that meat should be sold under special circumstances then positive outcomes can be seen in selling and buying of meat. in the provinces around Kabul, such as: Parwan, Panjshir, Logar, Bamiyan and Maidan Wardak possibilities in livestock can be seen easily, through which people can fulfill their needs by doing their animal husbandry. Process of collection of milk and other dairy products by cooperatives in India has been very successful and the same way will be prosperous in Kabul and its surrounding provinces. The same system with other provinces, such as: Nangarhar, Kandahar, Balkh and Khost will be possible and will have positive impact. Although, to extend these services, some other factors are also essential: First- Regulations: Such regulations should be created, which do not last only on papers, but must be used in practice. Good services can be extended in a safe and sound competition if it is used in profit of limited people. In this case people s attention will be more on ties rather than on elements and principles, and they try not to get anything by profession but by political relations and power. Municipal and Mostowfee s (chief of accountant) behavior with hotels in Kabul are clear examples. Hotel owners claim that Mustofiyat (finance departments) and municipality takes money in different ways and governmental employees shows people the ways how to escape from taxes and how to reduce the taxes. Private TV channels are fed up with the police of the government. The people in charge of these satiations never know what regulations are applied on them by the police. The employees of these private TV stations were arrested by the National Security officer. Their action was not neither according to the constitution of Afghanistan nor the Media Regulation of the country. Second- Design and Implementation of a Plan: A well- organized plan shall be developed in which it is explicitly stipulated for the development of the country and its progress, what services shall be improved and through what manner these services shall be served to the benefit of the country. Of example of such approach, is the survey which was conducted in the last seven years by different international organizations and many other organizations with the aim of finding ways for the improvement of the country. This survey was based on a comparative analysis with neighboring countries, in which a great deal of money was spent, though; regional employees of this survey were Afghan youth. The whole project was conducted by foreign companies that are why this survey spends a huge amount of money. Conducting survey is what Afghanistan will constantly need in the next decades. If we have a wellorganized plan of service delivery, in a short period, we will be able to build these capacities in the universities, and therefore create corporations in this regard. There some other way through which Afghan youth could improve their incomes in an honorable manner. 18

19 Third- Distribution of Land for settlement: Distribution of land, apartment with a fair price to the public, is considered another principle of service delivery. Infrastructural services such as electricity, internet and so on are included in such service delivery principle. In our city, the cost of housing, electricity, internet and other requirements are higher compared to those in our neighboring countries. If we are to bring an economical change in our country, we need to decline the cost of the mentioned services at least as less as to the cost of such services in our neighboring countries. But this process, without the cooperation of the government and the private sector of Afghanistan will be impossible. Some vivid and thorough recommendations have been set forth in this book regarding the reinforcement of construction companies. For application of these recommendations, it is important to provide one million shelter and houses to the teachers, government employees, enterprisers and youth in Afghanistan. The main problem of our private businessmen is the expensive cost of land and it does not mean that there is not land but the government does not have a better plan and if the government wants, it will be easy to make plan with help of private sectors companies. The good example is the city of Mazar-sharif, five years ago city of Mazar was much polluted and this city was facing with shortage of resident places, markets and shops and even there was not an asphalted road but when the private sectors got together they asphalted roads and constructed markets and shops. Now the private companies are helping the government in cleaning the city and the city has a better condition than before. In Herat city few years ago people agreed to destruct some parts their homes for expanding of the public road and this plan was implemented and by doing this their home price went up and also the city has a better shape and condition. It is not correct to say that there is no problem in Herat and Mazar-sharif but the goal is that there is sample of initiative in the country which we can use from this experience in other provinces. Lack proper urban plan created problems for carpet making industry in the country and now it is belong to other countries. However, the carpet makers of our country suffered a lot of problems and challenges but the Afghan carpet is exported by the name of Pakistani carpet to foreign countries. The first problem is that there are no carpets washing machines, carpet weavers are ready to invest for these machines but the government has not provided land for these carpet weavers. The second problem is the low quality and colors of the wool which creates problem for reputation the carpets in the world market but the government of Afghanistan has not addressed this issue. The government of Afghanistan has not provided the air transportation services for carpets makers and because of this they are transferring g their carpets through Pakistan Air Ways to other countries. Carpets making has a long history in cities and districts of our country but there is not coordination and cooperation between carpets professionals or experts and also there not job opportunity too. 19

20 According to my global experience I can say that the carpet makers request from the government is appropriate and logical. If professionals from the United States and Europe trade organization talk to our carpet makers they will accept their request. In other countries trade associations spend millions dollars to hire experts in order to provide comments and consultations but in our country carpet makers provide free comments and consultations to the government and no one listen to their request. If there is an effective government or administration in place the carpet makers request should be answered in order to create more job opportunities. Also, other businessmen who are working in the country require capacity building training from the government in order to provide better services. Puli-charkhi businessmen association, Jalalabad, Heraat, Kandahar, Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, Farah, Helmand and all other associations have analyzed their problems and made suggestions to the government to address the problems but due to lack of effective administration or government there has not been any measures taken so far. Our labors are the poorest people in the world, in the past three decades the construction companies in Iran were developed by Afghan workers. If consider the construction of houses for teachers, government employees, private sector workers, in one hand there will be more job opportunity for our people who are working in neighboring countries and on the other hand there will be capacity building which is needed in the country. B. Providing Urban and Regional Services; This section of urban services is related to regional and world services section and the good example is the banks and transferring money by private money exchangers. Previously, Afghans who are living outside the country were retransferring their money through private money exchangers but now they are transferring money through banks, despite there is more facility for export and import of the good but also there is facility in money transferring. The main role of banks is to empower small, medium and big private sectors companies. When there was not fast communication services, most of the services were taking place in national level. For example: when there was not telephone, internet and fax, every company had an office in every store in order to hear customers complaints and they were hiring staff from the country where their companies were located but now companies have the ability to hear customers complaint from any where in the world by dialing a telephone number. For performing these kinds of services, a strong human power should be created and there should be investments in the field of information technology. The experiences in Karnataka and Indrapadish states of India as well as in Ireland show that information technology is an important and big element for their lives and it brings ease in providing public services. Marketing: As we need to build a government and a nation, we also need a legal and better marketing system that we have discussed regarding some of its principles. Having a legal marketing system under the shade of a legal government is very important. Because within the legal government, country, investments and commercial transactions stay safe also existence of infrastructures are the needs through that all 20