Term Paper on "Afghanistan, Its History and Its Economy"

Term Paper 6 pages (1931 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Afghanistan, its history and its economy. It also takes into account such important issues as human rights situations and women rights in this part of the world. Experts maintain that religion has never been a problem it is the economy of a country that leads to poor human rights situation. Afghanistan has been torn apart with more than 23 years of warfare and its economic, political and social structure is in shambles.

AFGHANISTAN

To say Afghanistan is a poor country would be an understatement. Afghanistan is simply one of the poorest countries in the world with its GDP growth rate being negligible and more than 53% of it coming from agriculture which is still in primitive stage. It is important to mention here that Afghanistan's dependence on agriculture is leading to extreme poverty because no sophisticated methods are being used to increase productivity and the government is not doing much to exploit land, which contains abundant mineral resources. (CIA Fact book, 2003)

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 5th edition, (1993) says, "Agriculture is the main occupation, but less than 10% of the land is cultivated, and a large percentage of the arable land was damaged by warfare during the 1980s. Largely subsistence crops include wheat, fruits, and nuts. Grazing is also of great importance in the economy. Mineral wealth is virtually undeveloped, except for natural gas, which is produced in exportable quantities."

WARFARE, CONFLICTS AND IMPACT:

With this kind of economy, Afghanistan could not possibly afford another warfare. But over the past one decade, Afghanistan has witnessed a growing trend towards war, which has become the only way of governing the country. Twenty-three years of warfare have completely destroyed the country, which was once flourishing, and its economy today is in ruins. Extreme poverty has created hopelessness and disillusionment in people and they are of the view that no government can bring Afghanistan out of its deep economic problems. They are probably right because sincere effort is not being made to revitalize the economy and the damage done by wars and Taliban regime will require many years to be undone. (Larry P. Goodson, 2001)

The warfare not only damaged the country itself, it also displaced millions of its people thus resulting in massive brain drain and decrease in manpower. Many people migrated to neighboring Iran and Pakistan. Pakistan has been an important refugee host for many years for Afghan displaced groups. Because of more than 23 years of war in Afghanistan, millions fled their country and sought shelter in Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Quetta. Some of these Afghan groups have even relocated to more Industrialized cities of Karachi and Lahore but the significant majority still resides in Peshawar and Quetta. Political persecution along with economic difficulties has been the main causes of displacement in Afghanistan and between 1979 and 1992, some six million Afghanis were driven out of their homeland. Most of them sought refuge in Pakistan and Iran and according to one estimate the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan reached 3,272,000 in 1990 and rose sharply to 2 million in 2001. Several hundred more refugees have been displaced who either moved to Iran or Tajikistan. However because of warm ties with Afghanistan for several years, Pakistan has been the biggest host of Afghan refugees even though its own resources are fast eroding because of massive refugee influx.

Afghanistan has more displaced population than any other country because endless conflicts have created political, religious and economic problems in the land. Since these problems are still very much prevalent in Afghanistan, the movement of Afghans hasn't stopped after U.S. war on Afghanistan. From September 2001 till date, more than 1,100 Afghans have entered United States and most of them have resettled in California, Virginia, Texas, Florida, New York and Massachusetts. The State Department continues to process refugee cases through U.S. embassy in Pakistan and handles on average 8 to 10 cases a week. Since 1996, more than 6,000 Afghan refugees have been allowed to enter United States and apart from states with large Middle Eastern population, many have also resettled in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Washington and Missouri. (Paul Sperry, WorldNetDaily.com)

While Taliban did great damage to the already poor country in terms of economy, they also inflicted mental and emotional torture on women who were stripped of every right they had. It is indeed strange that such a government could stay in the country for five years, because five years is a long time for someone who faces suppression and oppression on daily basis. Afghanistan women became a neglected entity as they were confined to the four walls of their houses and were not allowed to leave their homes even in times of emergency. Women were subjected to violence, which was not always physical, denying someone his or her rights is an equally brutal form of violence but unfortunately Taliban had no clue what they were doing to the female population. (Hannah Beech et al., 2001)

Various Issues concerning rights:

Contemporary Women's Issues Database (1997) reported, "Violence against women has always existed in Afghanistan. Violence is commonplace in the daily lives of Afghan women, however it escalates during racial or political violence and when other groups enter the conflict. In times of crisis, whether political, economic or community, the family tends to exert greater control over women, there is state and social repression of women, and there is an increase in violence against women. Conflicts affect men and women differently, putting increased burdens on women, and leading to the increased oppression of women by families and society."

Now that we know what Afghanistan was doing to its women before the recent U.S.-Afghanistan clash, we must try to understand that economy too has a role to play in the oppression of women. While most people would think that economy is something related to prosperity of the country, the truth is that economy has far reaching impact and its area of influence is not limited to one particular sector. It has been noticed that poor countries have the weakest human rights structure. The link between economy and human rights is not very difficult to understand. When countries are financially poor and they have no means of supporting their population, violence takes place. While in some parts of the world, this violence is limited to fights on the street, in other poor geographical areas; violence can permeate every aspect of an individual's life. This is what happened in Afghanistan too. Now some people were of the view that suppression of women in Afghanistan was related to religion but this is certainly not true. Islam simply means obedience to one God and this command is to be followed by men and women alike.

There are no differences in rights for men and women in Islam and this religion does not promote subjugation of women in any sense. Women have been given equal rights in Islam and stripping women of their basic rights in the name of religion is just a political trickery.

Kristin Brustad, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Emory University. "It doesn't have anything to do with religion," she says, "In those economies where women fare poorly, men also fare poorly. Poverty leads to a lack of democracy. It's as simple as that." (The Atlanta Journal, 2001)

Poverty and economic situation:

People in Afghanistan are suffering from poor economic conditions and they will face these problems as long as the economy is of this country doesn't improve. But with the U.S. led interim government operating in Afghanistan, we can hope that at least some positive changes will occur and people will be given a chance to improve their economic and financial condition and thus improve their quality of life (Whitaker, 2001). We must make it clear how poverty can create human rights problem. It has been noticed that in the poor countries people are less tolerant of each other and are more violent in their actions. This is because of the mental pressure that they are forced to endure everyday because of their economic conditions. In such conditions, democracy cannot prevail; and with no or poor democratic rule, countries are bound to suffer from human rights problem. We can consider the example of India, which is one of the oldest democracies in the world. But the country itself is poor and therefore anti-government forces constantly threaten its democracy. The human right condition in this country is also not hidden from anyone.

Afghanistan too is facing human rights problem, which is too intense and deep to be ignored or dismissed. Its women are being subjected to oppression and suppression in the name of Islam but the truth is that it is the economy. Women were not allowed to work, which had made them financially dependent on their husbands and fathers. Many of them are still not allowed to seek divorce because they are constantly reminded of their financial condition. With poor economy of the country and no means to make money,… READ MORE

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