Afghanistan

Despite the presence of proven untapped mineral reserves worth more than $1 trillion, Afghanistan remains one of the least developed countries. Approximately one third of the population has left the country, and about 1.2 million Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan and 1.4 million in Iran.

The country imports goods worth more than $6 billion, but exports only almost $1 billion, mainly fruits and nuts.

The country's GDP, according to official data, is provided by agriculture by 27%, industry by 12.5% and services by 56%. In 2020, Afghanistan's GDP fell by 5% (Asian Development Bank estimate), mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. GDP in 2021 is less than $20 billion.

Arable land in Afghanistan is allocated mainly for grain crops — wheat, corn, rice and barley. All kinds of fruit crops are grown in the gardens — apricots, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, pomegranates and citrus fruits. Meat-wool-dairy sheep breeding is the most developed.

Several industrial enterprises built in the 1970s are inactive.

There are small reserves of coal, iron, manganese and copper ores, gypsum, lead, zinc, gold, sulfur, chromium and lithium in the bowels of the country. Prospects for mining in Afghanistan are hampered by the lack of the necessary transport infrastructure.

Only 25 km of railways have been laid in the country (between Kushka in Turkmenistan and Torgundi — 10 km and Termez in Uzbekistan and Hairatan — 15 km). There are very few navigable rivers in the country. The Kabul River is navigable for a little over 100 km . The highway network has a length of 21,000 km, of which 2,800 km is paved.