Afghanistan emerged in late 2001 as a State that was devastated without many parallels in the modern history. The extent of destruction of the country’s physical, institutional, human and social capital left Afghanistan and its international partners with a monumental task to build a pluralist Islamic State.

The 2004 UNDP Human Development Report for Afghanistan – ‘Security with a Human Face’ – highlighted the extent of acute poverty in the country, caused by more than a quarter century of conflict. The Human Development Index ranks Afghanistan 173rd out of 178 nations in 2004. Only a few Sub-Saharan nations rank lower. The GDP per capita is 293 USD (2005-2006), and social indicators are among the lowest in developing countries. The total population is 28 million 70% living in rural areas. Disparities are considerable, between men and women and between urban and remote rural areas.Afghan refugees have returned to their home country, while an additional 600,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have moved back to their place of origin. In total, more than 5 million Afghans are living outside the country, mostly as refugees in urban areas.

The Bonn Agreement of December 2001 guided Afghanistan’s transformation towards a new era of democratic self-governance, and in 2004 AfghanistanAfghanistan and the international community adopted the Afghanistan Compact, agreed to at the London Conference of (2006). While the Bonn Agreement re-established State institutions, the Afghanistan Compact aims to make them functional. The Compact sets out ambitious goals for comprehensive state building with benchmarks for security, governance adopted its first Constitution in three decades, laying the political and development foundations for the country. After the successful completion of the Bonn Agreement, and socioeconomic development, including the cross-cutting goals of counter-narcotics and regional cooperation. To implement its obligations under the Afghanistan Compact, the Government of Afghanistan presented its Interim-Afghanistan National Development Strategy, now developed into the full ANDS.

ANDS’s priorities within sectorial policies are linked to agriculture and rural development with a strong commitment to rural areas, enhancing infrastructure, including power water and natural resource management and improvement of education and health service delivery. Emphasis are made on gender and women empowerment. (www.ands.gov.af/)