Job creation is a top priority in Afghanistan according to Dr. Mohammad Hota, President, of British Afghan Chamber of Commerce & Industries (BACCI). Speaking to the Khaama Press (Afghan News Agency) Dr Hota states: “Mahatma Gandhi said ‘Poverty is the worst form of violence’ and we know that unemployment and poverty is driving our youth (68% of the population under the age of 25) to join the anti-government insurgent groups or illegal armed groups with catastrophic consequences for Afghanistan and the international community. Although Afghanistan needs international aid to meet its immediate needs but in the long-term it promotes dependency, undermines innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth. “

Dr.Hotak added, “the only solution to Afghanistan’s miseries, survival and self-dependency lies in active support from Afghan government and the international community for entrepreneurship and private sector in Afghanistan, and multi-lateral trade, commerce and investment with the rest of the world to create jobs, ensure economic stability and bring peace. The easier to do business in Afghanistan, the easier to create jobs and a functioning economy”.

“The government of Afghanistan must understand that for example, when two friends who have worked as a lawyer and a marketing expert come together to open a consultancy startup to help clients with their legal and marketing needs, will hire an office, an admin assistant, hire a cook and  security guard. These two friends without any financial or material help from government just paid $2,000 to create a limited liability company, which would cost only $25 dollars in the UK and created direct income for themselves, a landlord, a cook, security guard and an admin. Indirectly they ensured income for their wives, children, for suppliers and tax revenues for the government that can be used to feed the orphans, the widows, build schools, roads and treat the addicts of the nation. Government can never deliver value like entrepreneurs can and the least that they can do is to eliminate the bureaucratic government barriers that hinder entrepreneurship and investment. Barriers preventing such work of entrepreneurs would mean that government has to create jobs for the people in the example otherwise the lawyer will turn into an addict, marketing expert into a schizophrenic, security guards into illegal armed militia, landlord into a storage for opium and admin into an immigrant in Iran or Pakistan. The families of these people will be deprived of the most basic needs of a human life and the government will turn into a corrupt factory rather than a function institution delivering services to give its citizens a better quality of life.”

“The process of registering new startups and international companies in Afghanistan should not involve entrepreneurs and businessmen being sent around to a dozen ministries, foreign embassies and requests for irrelevant complex paperwork from USA, Europe and Middle East with registration fees in thousands of dollars. This old and irrational practice has to be transformed into an efficient, technological and business friendly process that takes hours rather than days”.

“Similarly, Afghan government has to stand firm with its exporters and businessmen looking for lucrative markets in America and Europe. These are the people who will ensure that Afghanistan’s [legal] exports surpass its imports, creating a trade surplus as opposed to the current trade deficit. A good recent example is Omid Bahar Juice Factory of Afghanistan, which signed a multimillion dollar Kandahari pomegranate supply deal with a British company in London. This is the example of private sector transactions that will create hundreds and thousands of jobs for Afghans and transform Afghanistan from aid recipient into a self-sustaining nation. The issue that very few citizens of Afghanistan know about is that respected Afghan businessmen like the owner of Omid Bahar Juice factory and many others cannot even apply for visas in Kabul to explore new markets for their products and services. Despite sacrificing over 450 soldiers and spending billions in Afghanistan, countries such as UK do not even issue visa to Afghan citizens in Kabul (applicants have to visit either Islamabad or Dubai), a diplomatic slap on the face of Afghan government when they attended London conference discussing private sector development and total let down of British people who lost their loved ones in Afghanistan”.

“Entrepreneurs and private sector can create jobs and transition Afghanistan from aid dependency into self-sustainability. The government has to make doing business easy, support the private sector and not try to do business. The governments of the world are not good at doing business and should stay out. The Afghan government must ensure security, fight internal corruption and remove the barriers for private sector to deliver real value and change”.

Afghanistan has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world with an estimated 35% of the population out of work. According to United Nations one million people are food-insecure because of the on-going conflict and natural disasters.  Meanwhile, an estimated 42% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, 68% have no sustainable access to improved water sources, and almost 95% are without access to improved sanitation.  Some 42% of school-age children are out of school, 21% of teachers do not have the required qualifications, and approximately 15% of the population has no access to the most basic health services.