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In the Guzargah reception centre for returnees and repatriates in Herat, Afghanistan, 17-year-old Yunos rests on a thin mattress in a small, empty room.

The previous night fatigued him. He spent it sleeping rough in the desert along with thousands of other Afghans, awaiting the opening of the Iran-Afghanistan border. The frigid desert air froze him to the bone and hunger disturbed his sleep.

Yunos moved to Iran one year ago. He crossed the border illegally under the cover of night and made his way to Tehran, where he found a job as an electrician. Last week, however, he decided to return to Afghanistan. The Covid-19 pandemic in Iran has already infected more than 30,000 people, killing nearly 2,400.

Many of the 2 million Afghan workers there have lost their jobs, falling into despair. In Tehran all shops and companies have closed, the costs of living rocketed. If you do not work in necessary services, you cant go outside, Yunos says. All Afghans are returning home from Iran these days due to the coronavirus. We are terrified. We dont want to die in a strange land.

Since late February, more than 115,000 Afghans have returned home through the border crossing in Herat province in what has been the biggest inwards migration wave in Afghanistans recent history. Herats governor, Abdul Qayum Rahimi, estimated that close to half of the returnees might be virus carriers, raising fears that the influx will place greater strain on Afghanistans fragile health system.

While Afghanistan has so far reported only 123 Covid-19 cases including 80 in Herat and four deaths, officials believe that the real number of infections could be much higher. In a few weeks, the cash-strapped Afghan healthcare system will be put through a test of resilience. Western NGOs have rushed to evacuate their foreign staff and this week the US stripped Afghanistan of $1bn (801m) worth of support, leaving Afghan health workers as the countrys only defence in the the fight against the pandemic.

Jawad*, is bracing for what is to come. The infectious diseases department where he works has been responsible for diagnosing patients before they are transferred to a new 100-bed Covid-19 hospital.

In his ward, three doctors, three nurses and one specialist are tending to 200 patients. The lack of equipment such as protective masks, hand sterilisers and medical ventilators is the norm. According to Jawad, the hospital doctors have only one or two masks a day at their disposal.

I have to keep my mood well, but Im worried about my family, Jawad says, before he returns to the hospital for a 24-hour shift. We havent tested ourselves for Covid-19 yet. If someone in our department tests positive, the hospital will be paralysed and there will be no one to provide the services.

According to Ali*, another doctor from Herat, the new Covid-19 hospital is ready to admit roughly 150 patients. But once the number of infections passes 1,000, Ali believes, the situation will get out of control. And the predictions have been grim. According to the Afghan ministry of health, the coronavirus could infect 25 million of the countrys 35.5 million people.

Afghanistan is a country that has been affected by gross conflict for the past 40 years. There has been a lot of internal displacement, a lot of people who dont have access to services and education, water, basic healthcare. The situation in hospitals is very daunting, especially with the increasing arrivals from Iran, says Nicholas Bishop, the emergency response officer at the International Organization for Migration.

In the main Covid-19 hospital in Herat, only ten doctors, one specialist and twenty nurses tend to all patients. Even though the province recently received 400m afghanis (4.2m) from the central government to fight the pandemic, supplies are scarce.

A countrywide awareness campaign designed to improve levels of understanding of the signs and symptoms of the virus has been in full swing. In Herat alone, 2,000 volunteers are going door to door to inform people.

But this may prove insufficient to tame the spread of the disease.

We are facing problems with compliance, because of the lack of awareness, peoples religious beliefs, and because we went through very difficult times in the past 40 years, says Rahimi. Until Afghans do not see things physically right in front of their eyes they do not get alarmed. We are working with the imams to stop prayer gatherings, but we have not been successful. It needs more discussion and this is what we are focusing on.

Meanwhile, for health workers in Herat and other provinces, the prospectof an outbreak looks grim. According to Ali, several medical professionals in Herat have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days.

We are not ready for the crisis, he says.

* Some names have been changed

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'We're not ready': coronavirus looms over the fragile Afghan health system - The Guardian

The Problem

Afghanistans economy is primarily an agriculture-based economy with most of its population being occupied in agriculture(a sign of an underdeveloped economy).

Historically Afghanistans economy was rather a prospering economy due to it being a doorway between ancient India and ancient Persia, in modern times, the economy of Afghanistan saw some development in times King Amanullah Khan and Sardar Daud Khan.

Afghanistans main exports areagricultural products and Gemstones, and main imports are machinery andtextiles, such exports and imports are a sign of an underdeveloped country.

Afghanistan is rich in natural untappedresources, having been called the Saudi Arabia of Lithium(19), and many othersemi-precious and rare earth minerals, these being discovered, Afghanistan is probably home tomany many undiscovered natural resources.

Economic projects such as the Helmand valley authority, TAPI, CASA and a less successful agricultural reform are among some of the big economic plans implemented in Afghanistan, thus showing that Afghanistan has a severe need for multiple economic plans to be implemented.

Afghanistan has great potential for tourism due to its vast historical sites and artifacts.

Afghanistans economy has been in crisismode since the Saur revolution and is among the least developed countries

That all said, the biggest challenge in Afghanistans economy is finding a sustainable, stable and capable source of growth.

The Situation

The current global economy is dominatedby multinational companies, the reason more than 50% of the worlds money restsin less than one percent of the population is because of these companies, I would like to give a few examples

More than half of Netherlands GDP comes from Royal Dutch Shell (23), its economy basically consists of big companies such as Shell, ING group of Banks, Philips, Unilever and many others, its interesting because almost all of these companies rely on foreign markets rather than the internal market due to the small population, although Netherland has almost 25% of Europes natural gas resources, Shells revenue comes mostly from doing its trading in other countries, same goes for its multinational banking companies and others, meaning although they lack in resources and population yet still the Netherlands is the 16th biggest economy (nominal GDP) in the world.

Israels economy is noteworthy, despite having no resources except the recently discovered diamond deposits its the second most developed country in the middle east next to Qatar which has enormous reserves of Oil, Israel, with 82% of its workforce occupied in services, it currently has the second-largest amount of startup companies after the US (4) and 3rd in the world for the most NASDAQ listed companies after the US and China. (5)

The Solution

Objective: To find a sustainable source of economic growth in theform of revenue from enterprises and companies in different sectors of theeconomy

Step by StepSolution

Walmart (13), currently with a workforce of 2.3 million and yearly revenue of more than 500 billion US dollars, is a chain of hypermarkets, such hypermarkets have a greater chance of success due to the success of many small superstores in different provinces of Afghanistan, These hypermarkets should be made in the 5 main provinces and are sure to be successful if it accompanies the right marketing tactics.

The Main electronic device would be Mobile Phones, Tablets and Computers,if possible made in Afghanistan, if not assembled in Afghanistan, otherelectronic devices such as televisions and other home appliances orentertainment use electronics and other electronic devices should be producedwhich require light industry but are either absent in Afghanistan or notorganized enough to be considered a player in the market.

TV channel: the lack of a quality TV channel is something that should be fixed the only TV channel that earns all of its budgets by itself and doesnt require foreign help is Tolo(18), but due to its polarizing ideas, the need for a proper and quality channel is seen dearly.

TV serial and Movies: something that has been present in the foreign for a long time such 21st-century fox and other entertainment corporations, a lack of such companies is the reason Afghan culture is being infiltrated with Indian and Turkish cultures, such endeavors if executed correctly would result in turning Afghanistan into a cultural hub.

Radio: ruralareas mostly only have access to Radio, so focusing on this would be quiteimportant.

Otherentertainment: Parks, Toys and many more, an empty market for these should bethe reason for its success.

These companies would have a rather smaller market inAfghanistan but would be a source for profit if expanded to internationalmarkets.

In all these mentioned sectors the government should form a company that is organized and all these products are coordinated by competent leadership, the benefit of such would be that these products in whatever form would be organized and the goal of the government which is expansion would be easy to implement.

Such imitation or copying of global companies will haveanother advantage and that is the reduced amount of spending on research.

The need for expansion is almost absolute, Afghanistan has a rather small market, hence if these companies are not quickly yet timely expanded are not certain to make a big profit, expanding companies would make sure these companies are not stricken by war or other situations.

Afghanistans resources are yet bot accessible and the market small, expanding businesses to neighboring markets is the only choice, internationally most companies or at least many have their foreign markets as their source of revenue such Shell(24) and One Plus(25), and this is one more reason this plan will help Afghanistans economy.

If these 3 things are respected, then Afghanistanseconomy will grow at an unprecedented rate.

Afghanistan is considered to be an open market economy as such was tried to be implied by the Karzai administration, the Idea mentioned above, from a far view would seem to contradict that and one might think it would be the butchery of laissez-faire, although mentioned before, I would like to mention again it would not be a violation of laissez-faire because these proposed companies are meant to be treated private, although the government would detain stocks so one could argue over it. Personally, if something could boost the economy as the proposed theory can, I dont think laissez-faire or any other model should be of importance, even if they are of importance, we have the example of the German state buying stocks in the national companies to prevent them by being bought by the Chinese(22).

This plan would create an economy that is neither damaged by wars or the enormous uneducated population and if correctly implemented would give the government an enormous amount of surplus budget, which could be used in fixing all problems of the state thus guiding Afghanistan to becoming a developed country.

Challenges andObstacles: The biggest challenge this plan will face is corruption and security

Corruption: To makesure this endeavor would be safe from corruption some steps should be taken:

Security:

Consider if even one of these companies, such as the restaurant chain makes 100th the revenue McDonald makes, it would give Afghanistan a sustainable and capable source of economic growth, let alone of multiple of these companies would become profitable, it would do wonders for the Afghan economy.

Answering Doubts and Questions:

Ans: The reason that I am quite sure that the companies would be a success is because of examples we have, Pakistans phone brand Qmobile, with that of bigger but almost a similar market regarding the status to Afghanistan, which although its growth was pushed back due to its alleged illegal importing of devices, yet still has an estimated revenue of 500 million dollars, its success was mentioned in the news outlet The Nation(10), quoted marketing strategy of Qmobile is the reason behind its success, Another example could be seen in the success of the Chinese company One Plus which due to its unique marketing strategy is among the top mobile device provider along with companies such as Apple and Samsung.

Local examples are the brand Alokozai, especially its soft drinks brand due to its local production, cheaper and due to the use of extra marketing, it has become the most consumed soft drinks/beverage in the country.

Ans: Finding staffwith experience in this field would be difficult to find locally, key technicalstaff should be brought from foreign countries with experience in the sectorthey will be employed and when and where Afghans are capable, they would leadthe company

Ans: most of these companies I proposed will be treated like startups, that dont require that much money to start. A Hypermarket with all resources would cost a maximum of 1 million dollars(26), an electronics company would cost up to (27) and banks would require even less.

Ans: Because this isnt a public enterprise, the only thing governmental is the funding and thats it, CEOs, staff and the whole organization would be independent of any kind of government intervention, CEO or other key staff might be given some shares so they would be motivated to make the company more profitable.

Ans: The basic answer would be no because once again the government would only be the funder and secondly even if that does happen, why should it matter? Germany recently bought shares in their own companies to make sure they stay in the country.

Ans: Resources are of less importance, most developed nations have almost no resources (eg South Korea) and secondly most of these examples that I have given dont require resources all such as a hypermarket chain or a banking sector.

Ans: That is thereason I keep mentioning expansion, companies like Shell, OnePlus and most ofthe international companies have international and foreign markets as theirbiggest source of revenue(24)(25).

Note:

In the end I would like to state that the success of each of these companies in interweaved with one another, for example, if retail services are successful, then the online service or E-commerce would also be successful, and so on.

Conclusion:

The implementation of such a plan where companies and enterprises, imitating international companies in different sectors of the economy, are made and expanded is surely to boost the economic growth to such a level where they need for foreign aid would not be needed and Afghanistan would be out of poverty and the status of being an underdeveloped country.

Consider if even one of these companies, such as the restaurant chain makes 100th the revenue McDonald makes, it would give Afghanistan a sustainable and capable source of economic growth, let alone of multiple of these companies would become profitable, it would do wonders for the Afghan economy.

References

23.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dutch_Shell

24. https://www.statista.com/statistics/279424/royal-dutch-shells-revenue-by-region/

25.https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.economictimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/oneplus-wants-to-make-more-in-india/amp_articleshow/62922704.cms

26.https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/35zkf1/request_how_much_does_everything_inside_a/

27. https://www.quora.com/Id-like-to-start-a-smartphone-company-Where-do-I-start-and-how-much-would-it-cost-me

28. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/afghanistan/overview

Matiullah Shenwari is a student of the Nangarhar University in Afghanistan. Matiullah has a keen interest in the economic and security situation of Afghanistan, he frequently writes articles about Afghanistan, you can contact him on Matiullahsh1313@gmail.com

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Proposed Theory for the Economic Growth of Afghanistan - The Khaama Press News Agency

The Afghan force seized a truck laden with 4,000 kilograms of explosives in western Herat province, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said.

According to a statement released by interior ministry, the security forces seized the truck in Kang Village of Ghorian district of Herat.

The statement further added that the security forces confiscated 4,000 kilograms of Ammonium Nitrate from the truck.

The interior ministry also added that the terrorist groups, specifically the Taliban group use the Ammonium Nitrate substance to carry out explosives and manufacture improvised explosive devices.

The anti-government armed militants including Taliban group has not commented in this regard so far.

The Khaama Press News Agency is the leading and largest English news service for Afghanistan with over 3 million hits a month.Independent authors/columnists and experts are welcomed to contribute stories, opinions and editorials. Send stories to news@khaama.com.

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Truck laden with 4000 kgs of explosives seized in West of Afghanistan - The Khaama Press News Agency

Ordinary Afghans say it has happened to them many times and nevernot oncehas it made news anywhere outside Afghanistan. Last November, an American Reaper drone targeted a group of villagers in the mountainous area of Afghanistans southeastern province of Paktia and killed seven of them. Paktia has long been home to Taliban militants, but local residents say all the victims were civilians, including three women and one child. They had gone to the remote area to graze their cattle and collect wood. Suddenly, they were dead.

Nobody wants to listen to us. I doubt that the murderers will face justice one day. God is our only hope, said Mohammad Anwar, a resident of Zazai Aryub, a district in Paktia. The perpetrators he is talking about are sitting far away in one of the many U.S. military bases where drone operators are working from.

According to Anwar, who is related to the victims, some families lost their male breadwinners, as often happens after such attacks. They are desperate. Their future is very uncertain, he told Foreign Policy in a phone conversation.

And now it is more uncertain than ever, even after 18 and a half years of war. The newly signed U.S.-Taliban truce contains secret annexes that reportedly will give the Taliban information allowing the Islamist insurgent group to prevent attacks during the U.S. withdrawal. But the Afghan national government and its officials have been cut out of the dealthough it calls for peace talks between various Afghan factionsand even more so, ordinary Afghans, who have no recourse to justice and dont know whether the drone strikes will let up.

We are like ants for them, said Islam Khan, a resident of Paktia. The murderers need to face a trial. If its not happening, it just reveals that the Western world does not care about the Afghans they are murdering.

According to Lisa Ling, a former drone technician with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, civilian casualties caused by drone strikes must be investigated and regarded as war crimes. I think that every strike where community leaders speak out and tell us that we are killing their civilians should be thoroughly investigated by the ICC [International Criminal Court] and the international community should listen, she told Foreign Policy via Signal. Ling, who has become a whistleblower and staunch critic of drone attacks, believes that this kind of warfare is wrong on so many levels and that the United States cannot fight terror with terror.

Neither the U.S. military nor the CIA responded to a request for comment for this story. But both typically portray drone attacks as precision strikes that kill alleged militants or suspected terrorists, and actual on-the-ground investigations rarely take place afterward. According to a recent analysis of 228 official U.S. military investigations conducted in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria between 2002 and 2015, most investigations of alleged civilian casualty incidents didnt include even one visit. The military conducted site inspections in only 16 percent of the casualty investigations reviewed for the study by researchers from the Center for Civilians in Conflict and the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute.

The same was true of the strike in Paktia. Not a single U.S. investigator is believed to have visited the site of the killings afterward. On its Dari Twitter page, U.S. Central Command reported that an action had allegedly killed Taliban members from Faryab province in the same timespan, but it did not mention any drone strikes nor civilian casualties.

Despite the U.S.-Taliban truce, residents of Zazai Aryub are still afraid, saying that they have been haunted by American drone strikes for years and that their fate is often ignored by both the U.S. military and the Afghan government in Kabul. They keep saying that they are killing terrorists. But thats not true. Farmers, shepherds, and women are not terrorists. One of the victims, Naqib Jan, was a 2-year-old child, said Khan, who works as a teacher in a local village. During the last months and years, several relatives and members of his family were killed by drone strikes. He claims that his fellow tribesmen are terrified and depressed, suffering from trauma, and that many children fear to play outside.

We tried to raise our voice, and we even confronted President Ashraf Ghani with this issue, but he does not care, Khan said.

While in the past, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai took a critical stance toward U.S. airstrikes and criticized them in public, Ghanis administration, which is heavily dependent on the United States for aid and support at a time when the Taliban are winning in many parts of the country, has preferred to largely conform to Washingtons global war on terrorism narrative, mostly ignoring civilian casualties. In some cases, Ghanis officials have even rejected the findings of independent observers and human rights organizations that offered proof of civilian harm. U.S. military officials have sometimes claimed that their Afghan army allies ordered the strikes.

In early March, senior judges at the ICC authorized an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. By doing so, they overturned an earlier rejection of the inquiry. Mainly, the ICC investigation will look at actions by U.S, Afghan, and Taliban troops. But immediately after the ICCs announcement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attacked the ruling, describing it as reckless, and said the United States would outline measures in the coming weeks to prevent its citizens being brought before the court. This is a truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable political institution masquerading as a legal body, Pompeo told a news conference.

In terms of possible U.S. war crimes, the ICC is focusing on alleged CIA torture and some cases of forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. However, according to various reports, drone strikes, such as the one that wiped out Khans family members, will not be included in the inquiry. These strikes could be seen as violations of international humanitarian law. But that does not make it a war crime, which has to be intentional or sufficiently reckless. But determining recklessness requires a legal analysis in each case of the evidence, Patricia Gossman, an associate Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told Foreign Policy via email.

Nor has the United States done an effective job of investigating any of these strikes, rights officials say, especially since the International Security Assistance Force was disbanded in 2014 and the U.S. military was in control once again.

Family members of the victims in Paktia believe that there is no doubt about the nature of those human rights violations. We dont believe that it was a mistake. It happened too often. We want the culprits to face prosecution and trial, Khan said. Other Afghans share his opinion. Its a war crime, and it needs to be prosecuted properly. We are not interested in quibbling words and phrases. We want justice. This is just one case out of thousands that took place since the end of 2001, said Abdul Malik Zazai, the head of Paktias provincial council, in a phone conversation.

Afghanistan is the most drone-bombed country in the world. The United States dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in 2019 than in any other years since the Defense Department began keeping track in 2006. According to new figures released by the U.S. military, at least 7,423 bombs and other munitions were dropped on the country in 2019, a nearly eightfold increase from 2015 and an average of 20 bombs a day.

In its numbers, the U.S. military does not differentiate between strikes conducted by drones or those conducted by conventional aircraft. At the end of 2001, the age of drone warfare began in Afghanistan, where the very first lethal strike of an unmanned aircraft took place.

According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which is observing U.S. drone warfare around the world, at least 6,825 drone strikes took place in 2019 in Afghanistan. The total number of victims remains unknown since most of these attacks are taking place in remote areas like in Zazai Aryub.

The Americans are benefiting from the nature of this war and from the status quo of the international community. They believe that they are above the law, said Karim Popal, an Afghan German lawyer who is representing the victims of a 2009 NATO airstrike that was ordered by a German colonel in Kunduz province. Back then, dozens of civilians were killed. A German court rejected considering the massacre as a war crime and paying compensation to the victims families. A few years later, the responsible colonel was promoted by the army.

Recently, however, a hearing took place in front of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, with no outcome as yet.

This is a big success, but at the same time, its very clear that many Western countries, including Germany and the United States, are not interested in addressing the crimes their troops committed, Popal said by phone. Imagine being the Afghan father or mother who heard that the one who killed their children did not face any trial but was promoted. Its a shame.

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Afghans Wonder if America Will Ever Acknowledge Its Alleged War Crimes - Foreign Policy

WASHINGTON - While the government of President Ashraf Ghani downplays the repercussions of a potential $1 billion cut in U.S. aid to Afghanistan, ordinary Afghans and experts warn the country is not in a position to withstand such a financial blow as it struggles with ongoing political instability that threatens the countrys peace process and growing fears of a COVID-19 outbreak.

A $1 billion cut in U.S. aid would be a significant blow to the country. Afghanistans GDP is only about $20 billion per year, and much of that comes from international donations, Johnathan Schroden, an expert on Afghanistan and director of Stability and Development Program at Washington-based think tank Center for Naval Analysis (CAN), told VOA.

Secretary Pompeo has made clear that the U.S. would prioritize continued support to Afghanistans security forces, but U.S. civilian-sector assistance to Afghanistan is about $500 million this year, so even if they zeroed that out, to reach $1 billion would still require a $500 million cut to military aid, Schroden said.

He said if the U.S. cuts aid to Afghanistan, its NATO allies will likely follow suit, creating a compounding effect.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise visit to Afghanistan this week to help resolve the political impasse between President Ghani and his election rival and former chief executive officer, Abdullah Abdullah. Both declared themselves winners in the contested presidential election last year.

Pompeo expressed U.S. disappointment over the failure of the leaders to form a government.

The United States is disappointed in them and what their conduct means for Afghanistan and our shared interests, Pompeo said in a strongly worded statement after his departure from Kabul.

Their failure has harmed U.S.-Afghan relations and, sadly, dishonors those Afghan, American and coalition partners who have sacrificed their lives and treasure in the struggle to build a new future for this country, he said.

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Ghanis reaction

While expressing gratitude for continued U.S. assistance to Afghanistan, Ghani, reacting Tuesday to the potential cut in U.S. aid, said it would not have direct impact on key sectors.

In order to compensate for the cut in U.S. aid [to Afghanistan], I will conduct an overall assessment of our budget and will report to you as soon as possible, Ghani said. However, in the meantime, I can assure you that reduction in U.S. aid will not have a direct impact on our key sectors."

But Shukria Barakzai, Afghanistans former ambassador to Norway, said the U.S. statement has a message.

"The statement has a clear message that is more serious than the economic assistance, and that is a political one. If the U.S. stops supporting the current political system, I think that would be the worst-case scenario for Afghanistan, Barakzai said.

Matt Dearing, an assistant professor at Washington-based National Defense University, seconds Barakzais concerns and charges that the cut in aid poses serious risks for the country.

At a time where Afghan domestic politics are at their worst, an aid cut is incredibly risky and could break the country in two, Dearing said.

We should remember that it is was not the withdrawal of Soviet troops that led to the fall of the Afghan government [1989], rather the end of aid in 1992, he added.

Alternative resources

Ghani said his government will try to fill the vacuum with the help of alternative resources.

Javid Ahmad, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said he thinks the Afghan government will tap into the countrys cash reserve while trying to find a solution to end the political crisis and reverse Washingtons decision.

More immediately, the countrys $8 billion cash reserves and cutbacks in security expenditures are likely to provide short-term support as Afghan leaders make another attempt to break the political impasse, permitting the U.S. to reverse the decision, Ahmad said.

Ahmad warned that if the U.S. proceeds with it is decision, the potential slash in U.S. aid will cut into the military aid Washington has been providing Afghanistan to support its security sector.

The cutback, still under review, is unlikely to affect the basic functions of the Afghan government, but it will exact a toll on the security sector that consumes the bulk of the Afghan budget, he added.

Ordinary Afghans

Meanwhile, ordinary Afghans are worried that the loss of $1 billion in U.S. assistance would have a direct impact on their lives.

If this $1 billion that the U.S. gives to Afghanistan is reduced, it would not have any effects on Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani. But ordinary people would suffer, Ainullah Attal, a Kabul resident, told VOA.

Our leaders, Abdullah Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani, should sit with each other and make peace for the people, country and Gods sake, Abdullah Jan, another Kabul resident, told VOA.

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Ghani and Abdullah shared power in the contested presidential elections of 2014 following months of a political crisis that almost took the country to the brink of civil war before former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry helped broker a deal that led to the creation of the National Unity Government (NUG).

Both Afghan leaders vowed not to compromise politically this time, despite Pompeos visit.

"In the current situation, reducing that much money is a great loss [for Afghanistan]. But there is no alternative; President Ghani has made some promises during his reelection campaign. One of those promises was that he wont be making a power-sharing government, Kabir Ranjbar, a political analyst and former member of Afghan parliament, told VOA.

Ghanis rival, Abdullah, has not publicly said that his team would consider a similar arrangement but has shown a willingness to negotiate.

Ghani said Tuesday that he has offered Abdullah a key role in the ongoing peace talks with the Taliban and Cabinet positions to his allies but charged that Abdullahs demands of changing the constitution were beyond his authority.

Impact on peace talks

There is growing frustration among Afghans over the ongoing political impasse between the two leaders will add to the growing fears of a COVID-19 outbreak in the country and have an impact on the ongoing peace talks with the Taliban.

If Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani were on good terms with each other, we would have the intra-Afghan talks started, Shah Wazir Tarakhil, a member of the Afghan parliament, told VOA.

On his way to Qatar to meet with representatives of the Taliban, Pompeo told reporters the U.S. was committed to the peace deal with the Taliban.

We are proceeding with the conditions-based withdrawal of our forces in accordance with the U.S.-Taliban agreement, Pompeo said. The United States remains convinced that a political settlement is the only solution to the conflict.

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The war in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. service members and cost the U.S.nearly $1 trillion.

VOAs Rahim Gul Sarwan from Kabul and Cindy Saine from Washington contributed to this report.

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Experts: $1 Billion Cut in US Aid to Afghanistan Will Have Serious Implications - VOA News