Roundup: Despite progress, Afghanistan faces major economic, security, political challenges in 2016: UN envoy

At the end of the first year of its transformation decade, the Afghan government still grappled with deteriorating security situations and the flagging economy amid intensified fighting and less international support, a senior UN official said here Monday.

"In 2016, it is vital that the National Unity Government demonstrates increasingly its effectiveness, not only to the Afghan people but also donors, on whom it is largely dependent for financial, material and technical assistance," Nicholas Haysom, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan, said while briefing the UN Secuerity Council on the current situation in Afghanistan.

Many Afghans are anxious about the future, with some feeling they have no choice other than to leave the country in search of security and economic opportunity elsewhere, he said.

"Civilians, as ever, continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, as casualties rise at an ever increasing pace and more people have been displaced from their homes by the conflict," he said, adding that with the fiscal gap between revenue raised and spent, poverty is no less prevalent, economic contraction has led to high unemployment, and corruption has yet to be overcome.

In 2015, the United Nations Human Development Office ranked the foreign-aid dependent Afghanistan as 171, out of 188 countries in the human development index and the least developed country in Asia, despite billions of U.S. dollars pumped into the war-ravaged country over the past 14 year.

According to the report of the UN entity, insecurity, poverty, endemic corruption and weak governance are the main reasons for hampering development in Afghanistan.

A high rate of unemployment parallel to increasing security incidents in the wake of foreign forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2015 have prompted thousands of Afghans, mostly educated youth, to leave their war-torn country for the developed world especially Europe.

More than 150,000 Afghans, according to Afghan minister for Refugees and Repatriation Affairs, Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi, have migrated and applied for asylum abroad throughout the outgoing year.

While challenges of such a scale and complexity would test any government, however, there has been progress on reforming the civil service and electoral sector, economic growth though low is projected to increase in the next years, and the Afghan Security Forces (ANSF) have shown resilience in the face of an intensified insurgency, he noted.

Meanwhile, Haysom commended the Afghan government for continuing to put into place the building blocks for long-term economic improvement, including through regional integration, and he noted that while the temporary loss of key district and provincial centres like Kunduz revealed major ANSF shortcomings, almost all of these centres have been retaken.

"The ANSF may be stretched to capacity but, for the most part, they are holding their ground," he said.

"This does not ignore the need for improvements to ANSF functioning, with a particular focus on logistics and administration, and remedial measures to boost both morale and diminish rates of attrition, as well as continued international support for its attempts to build its own air support capabilities."

Haysom highlighted the need to tackle corruption and make governance reform to reassure the international community that its aid will have a tangible impact in 2016, with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meeting in Warsaw to pledge its military commitment for four years, while in Brussels donors will recommit to civilian aid.

The conclusion of the NATO-led forces combat mission in Afghanistan in late 2014 and withdrawal of major parts of the more than 120,000-strong combat troops has negatively affected the economy of the foreign-aid dependent country.

The tangible harm of the impact of the forces' withdrawal can be seen in the growing rate of unemployment, tumbling Afghan national currency afghani against foreign currencies, inflation and swelling poverty in the militancy-plagued country.

The government has also confirmed the fact that as deputy spokesman to the Presidential Palace, Sayed Zafar Hashimi admitted recently that Afghanistan's economy had been dependent on foreign aid over the past 13 years and the withdrawal of 120,000 international troops and 400,000 contractors has undermined the country's economy.

"UNAMA will be encouraging donors to invest in Afghanistan's reconstruction and security, rather than bear the costs of immigration," he said, referring to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, which he heads.

"This situation cannot continue indefinitely - sooner or later the financial resources currently available to the country will decrease. Afghanistan needs to find a political route to peace," he added, calling on the Taliban to commit to entering into a peace process as the government has.

He pledged that during 2016 UNAMA will continue to pursue its three track approach to engagement with the Taliban - on human rights, humanitarian access and on political engagement.

UNAMA is a political mission that provides political good offices in Afghanistan, works with and supports the government, supports the process of peace and reconciliation, monitors and promotes human rights and the protection of civilians in armed conflict, promotes good governance and encourages regional cooperation.

UNAMA was established by the Security Council in March 2002 at the request of the government of Afghanistan. Its mandate is reviewed annually with the latest mandate renewal being on March 16, 2015 when the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2210. Endit