Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 12/2009

The Cost of War: Afghan experiences of conflict, 1978-2009

November 2009

Oxfam Publishing

Abstract

The past three decades of war and disorder have had a devastating impact on the Afghan people. Millions have been killed, millions more have been forced to flee their homes and the country's infrastructure and forests have all but been destroyed. The social fabric of the country is fractured and state institutions are fragile and weak.