Farmers work in a melon field in Jawzjan province, northern Afghanistan, Aug. 27, 2019. (Photo by Mohammad Jan Aria/Xinhua)
"China can transfer its experience on poverty alleviation to Afghans and also can teach them how to reduce poverty if Afghanistan enjoys viable peace and security," said Dad Mohammad Annaby, researcher and editor-in-chief of the Islah Daily.
by Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Learning from China's experience in fighting poverty and applying it to poverty-stricken Afghanistan can help the country to alleviate poverty, said an expert.
"Like Afghanistan, China has also experienced war, civil strife and poverty. About four decades ago poverty was a big challenge for the Chinese government, but the comprehensive and well-planned policy has assisted the establishment to largely overcome it," Dad Mohammad Annaby told Xinhua in an interview recently.
Annaby, who is a researcher and the editor-in-chief of the state-run newspaper the Islah Daily, linked poverty alleviation to restoring lasting peace in Afghanistan, saying no one can take the risk to invest in a country where militancy is rampant.
A soldier searches the site of a bomb attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Sept. 3, 2019. (Xinhua/Rahmatullah Alizadah)
"China can transfer its experience on poverty alleviation to Afghans and also can teach them how to reduce poverty if Afghanistan enjoys viable peace and security," the expert said.
Nevertheless, the expert opined that the situation and ground reality is different between Afghanistan and China as China is the most peaceful country with rich natural resources while the landlocked Afghanistan is the most insecure country with less untapped underground treasures.
Launching economic projects to create job opportunities is the prerequisite for poverty alleviation in a country, said the analyst, noting no investor would take the risk to invest in a project where the people living around are engaged in fighting.
"China is a peaceful country with rich natural resources, but unfortunately Afghanistan is the most insecure nation. In China, the Chinese government has budget and implements the economic projects but in Afghanistan, implementing an economic project needs donor's support," Annaby said.
An Afghan farmer harvests wheat on his farmland in Bamyan province, Afghanistan, on Aug. 10, 2016. (Xinhua/Latif Azimi)
Although there is no official statistics about the number of jobless people in Afghanistan's some 30 million population, officials believe that 54.5 percent of the country's population lives under poverty line.
Nonetheless, the analyst opined that utilizing China's experience in the agriculture sector and mining can help Afghanistan to create job opportunities and eventually contributes to poverty reduction in the war-battered country.
"If the government were able to encourage foreign firms including Chinese companies to invest in Afghanistan, especially in the fields of mine extraction and agriculture and transfer their technology here to train Afghans, it would eventually create job opportunities and reduce poverty in the country," Annaby went on to say.
The observer also believes that creating job opportunities not only alleviates poverty but could also reduce militancy in the country as many militants joined militant groups to earn a living.