TRADE AND RESOURCES
Agriculture is the main source of income for the majority of Afghans and the country’s main export.
According to the World Trade Organization, Afghanistan exported US$783 million of goods in 2020, a near-10 per cent drop on 2019. Dried fruits, nuts and medicinal herbs make up the bulk of exports, mainly to India and Pakistan. But large imports of oil, food and machinery mean Afghanistan has a big trade deficit.
Afghanistan also dominates the global opium and heroin business, which provided the sole income for many poor farmers but also a boon for the Taliban who extort taxes, trafficking fees and engage in cultivation and production.
The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime estimates that more 80 per cent of global opium and heroin supplies originate in Afghanistan. At its 2017 peak, opium production accounted for 7 per cent of Afghan GDP.
The country also sits on an estimated US$1 trillion worth of mineral deposits such as iron, copper, gold and lithium, a rare earth metal essential for electric vehicle battery production, according to a 2010 Pentagon study. The nation had the potential to become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium”, a Pentagon memo said.
Mining prospects may attract major powers like China to secure resources for its green economy push, but difficult access and lack of roads complicate extraction.
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