Job Hunting in Afghanistan
What could be construed as normal in Kabul, Afghanistan? An unemployment rate of 40%, with ordinary workers desperate to find some kind of employment, and with little hope of finding anything more secure than one day of casual labour out of ten. Not much to feed their families with. And there is the Taliban, offering wages for joining their cause. The starving and the desperate are given faint choice.Since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the international community has poured billions into the country for humanitarian aid and for reconstruction purposes. While the international community envisages working factories employing Afghan citizens, the truth is painfully different. Corruption of a truly endemic, pervasive nature, unreliable and wasteful contractors, constant power shortages, all contribute to failure.
With the continuing problem of poor civic infrastructure, despite the efforts of the international community, the government of Afghanistan is hardly capable of exerting its influence in Kabul, let alone the outlying areas in its vast provinces. Mismanagement of resources is constant, and lack of trust among the people is the result. Men who are skilled construction workers cannot find work.
How is that possible when the international community claims reconstruction is going on apace? "One day we work, three days we don't. How can life be good? The Americans are sending cash to Afghanistan to build factories, but our officials are taking it for themselves. If there were factories do you think we'd be standing in this dusty place?"
Looking in from abroad there is constant news of how the war against the Taliban is progressing. Or not. About poppy fields. About the Taliban threatening villagers. About young men joining the Taliban because they have no other recourse. About NATO troops being killed by IEDs, many of them planted by young village men conscripted and paid by the Taliban for that purpose.
There are certainly some Afghans who have managed to prosper; businessmen with import-export connections, those working with foreign governments and international organizations. Those who thrive unabashedly build mansions for themselves while the vast majority who barely manage to survive await job opportunities that fail to manifest.
Men eager to work, those with or without education look for employment prospects. There are job postings for forestry, the beverage industry, emergency services, and the jobs vanish, accommodating those who have connections, or who can afford the obligatory bribes. "I don't know what to do" said a man who studied agriculture, but who cannot afford a bribe: "I can't leave Afghanistan for work. Who would feed my family?"
"If the government could just improve security, maybe that would help", said a father of five, among fellow labourers, all awaiting a tap on the shoulder to inform them that they have a job for that day. "I cannot remember when I had my last job. I think it was two months ago."
Labels: Human Relations, Realities, Societal Failures
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, March 14, 2010
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