Afghan business community is moving away from their motherland owing to growing instability, kidnappings and extortion. Mohammad Mirza Kundazi, a goods importer, to get release from his kidnappers has paid a negotiated amount of $100,000 from the earlier demand of $2m after being captive for seven days.
Business community stated, such life threatening situations to the businessmen have become commonplace in Afghanistan. Adverse business environ in their country has prompted many traders to foray into new markets and depart thoroughly from their domestic market. Lately, the country has witnessed business community becoming more and more attracted to middle-eastern cities including Dubai, Muscat, etc. Businessmen claim, diversification will help Afghanistan in the future when foreign aid comes to a halt and in a time when one has to fend for oneself.
But law enforcement officials alleged, claims of violence is blown out of proportion and they are leaving the country for seeking selfish means. Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of criminal investigations in Kabul, added that not more than 3 kidnappings have been reported in the last year. However, Azarakhsh Hafizi, chairman of the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce, has produced a list of almost 30 recent cases of assaults on businessmen or their families. The list provides data on the ransom payments totaling to $3m, and several children had been killed in those attacks. An hotelier who owns a chain of hotels opined, he was scared to make any investments in the country, and had already cancelled two multi-million dollar projects in the tourist locations of Bamiyan and Istalif due to security concerns.
The chief executive of Afghanistan’s investment agency, Omar Zakhilwal, was of the opinion that one should not blame crime alone for driving investments away from the country because erratic power supply has also made the businesses hard to run their day to day affairs smoothly. Sarah Chayes, a soap manufacturer said that to counter four hours of power supply in every two or three days, her employees slept by switching on the bulbs and whenever the unpredictable power supply was back, they produced as much they could to avoid piling up of unmet orders.