Back to focus index
	CIAO Focus, December 2003: Afghanistan
	Map of Afghanistan Attacks by Taliban and anti-Coalition factions are on the rise in Afghanistan. The recent attack on group of UN census workers, which resulted in the death of one Afghani worker, and the missile attack near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul highlight the need for increased demilitarization. More than 11,500 U.S.-led coalition forces are currently on the ground in Afghanistan. On the development front, recent reports by the IMF, Asian Development Bank and UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) present a mixture of promise and failure. Afghanistan's economic growth is up 30% in the 12 months from March 2002 to 2003, and it shows little sign of significantly slowing. But opium cultivation is also up, 6 percent this year alone. In 2001 the Taliban banned opium cultivation, but this year Afghanistant will provide 75% of the world's opium. According to the Asian Development Bank, Afghanistan has the highest infant, child and maternal mortality rates, and the lowest literacy and life expectancy rates in the world. This month CIAO examines developments in Afghanistan From CIAO's database: Interview with Barnett Rubin on Afghanistan Strange Victory: A critical appraisal of Operation Enduring Freedom and the Afghanistan war Afghanistan: Are We Losing the Peace? Tiptoeing Through Afghanistan: The Future of UN State-Building Outside Links*: United Nations http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel1.asp?infocusID=16&Body=Afghanistan Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/afghanistan/ Asian Development Outlook 2002 http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/ADO/2002/afg.asp USAID's Rebuilding Afghanistan Report http://www.usaid.gov/about/afghanistan/rebuilding_afghanistan.pdf (PDF) Islamic State of Afghanistan: Rebuilding a Macroeconomic Framework for Reconstruction and Growth, IMF http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2003/cr03299.pdf (PDF) * Outside links are not maintained. For broken outside links, CIAO recommends the Way Back Machine [http://www.archive.org/].