ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part examines the extent to which the government of Afghanistan, with the support of massive external aid, has been able to effectively address the country’s continuing vulnerability, poor housing and dreadful environmental conditions, all of which have been aggravated by natural disasters. It provides a historical overview of the Afghan economy. The country’s contemporary history obviously indicates how the central state has failed to deal properly with rural areas during the process of expanding bureaucracy as a mechanism of authority across the territory. Private sector investment beyond the informal sector has, however, been very limited, the major exceptions being the establishment of a nationwide mobile phone and Internet service and Chinese and Turkish investment to develop oil, gas and copper reserves. Rural communities are geographically far from the center and demographically too heterogeneous in language, ethnicity and religion.
