MrWeb's MR-a-thon

According to the CIA World Factbook, exports from Afghanistan were worth $USD 327 million in 2007, and included opium, fuits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, and precious and semi-precious gems. Imports were valued at $USD 4.85 billion, and included capital goods, food, textiles and petroleum products. Main export partners were India, Pakistan, the USA and Tajikistan, while Imports came from Pakistan, the USA, India and Germany.

Wikipedia notes that Afghanistan's economy is recovering from decades of conflict. The economy has improved significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 largely because of the infusion of international assistance, the recovery of the agricultural sector, and service sector growth. Real GDP growth exceeded 7% in 2008. Despite the progress of the past few years, Afghanistan is extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid, agriculture, and trade with neighbouring countries. It will probably take the remainder of the decade and continuing donor aid and attention to significantly raise Afghanistan's living standards from its current level, among the lowest in the world.

Expanding poppy cultivation and a growing opium trade generate'roughly $3 billion in illicit economic activity and looms as one of Kabul's most serious policy concerns. Other long-term challenges include: budget sustainability, job creation, corruption, government capacity, and rebuilding war torn infrastructure.