afghanistanto the Tajikistan power grid, but this has led to protests by Hazaras, who
accuse the government of deliberately not connecting the Hazarajat to
the grid.
Aid delivery, however, was poorly coordinated and the reconstruction
programme was skewed geographically, with Kabul, the Koh Daman and
south and southeast Afghanistan receiving the lion’s share of assistance.
Remote provinces such as Ghur, Faryab, Sar-i Pul, Badghis, Badakhshan
and Nuristan were far less well served and some communities, especially
in the mountains, have still to see much benefit from the aid bonanza. The
drawdown of most combat troops at the end of 2014 and the deteriorating
security situation in rural districts has led to the closure of many projects,
with local staff being laid off with no prospect of further employment, at
least not at the salary levels paid by foreign agencies. In the wake of this
drawdown and the rising insecurity in Kabul and other cities, hundreds of
foreign aid personnel left the country. This in turn has led to a slump in retail
sales with some shopkeepers and traders, who profited from supplying goods
and services to foreign agencies, facing bankruptcy and economic hardship.
The position of women improved markedly after 2001 and new legal
frameworks were established to protect women’s rights, though their
Bamiyan, graduation ceremony for rural midwives, one of many health programmes
inaugurated after the regime change of 2002. Maternal and infant mortality rates in rural
Afghanistan are among the highest in the world.