Kabul, Afghanistan – Today, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Herbie Smith and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) Minister Naseer Durrani launched two new value chain projects to improve Afghanistan’s agricultural sector. The main objectives of the programs are to drive job creation and increase rural incomes through support to key actors along the livestock and high value crops value chains.

Joint press release

KABUL, Afghanistan, 1 September 2018- The Government of Afghanistan, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have today launched a nationwide vaccination campaign to protect children 13.8 million children aged 9 months to 10 years against measles.

Executive summary

“It’s a crime. It’s like wiping a person away because you take everything away from them.”
(KII – Women’s Rights Advocate, Kandahar)

Child marriage in Afghanistan persists at rates that suggest at least one in three young girls will be married before they turn 18. However, it is not a well-researched phenomenon in this context, and gaps in knowledge regarding prevalence, practice and drivers remain.

New figures: Ongoing conflict leaves nearly half of children in Afghanistan out-of-school

Worsening security seen in recent years, and engrained poverty and discrimination, eliminate education gains made between 2002 and 2016

KABUL, 3 June 2018 – Nearly half of children aged between 7 and 17 years old – 3.7 million – in Afghanistan are missing out on school, according to the Global Initiative on Out of School Children: Afghanistan Country Study released today.

Last year's record opium production in Afghanistan threatens sustainable development, latest survey reveals

21 May 2018 - In 2017, opium cultivation in Afghanistan reached a record high with an estimated 328,000 hectares, up 63 per cent compared with 201,000 hectares in 2016.