The Acting Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, said that Afghanistan is facing an economic crisis and poverty, and that the UN has prioritized the development of villages and the creation of jobs in order to improve the situation.

Alakbarov added that this program will lead to the creation of jobs in the villages and will promote bottom-up economic growth.

“What we need to shift to, and that's what we're trying to do, is programs focusing more on rural development, on creating jobs in the rural sector and getting Afghan farmers back to work, linking them to the market, and stimulating bottom-up economic growth.” he said.

The Acting Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan expressed concerns over the situation of youth in the Afghanistan and said that ninety-seven percent of the people of Afghanistan are below the poverty line.

"You cannot cut the whole generation of Afghans from access to development. Afghanistan's youth have no time to wait until the political differences will be settled. They need individual development and that means they need schools, employment and they need to be equal and well-integrated citizens of the global world. Otherwise, climate change and every other problem which is compounding in Afghanistan will create an impossible situation for the future generation,” Ramiz Alakbarov said.

Meanwhile, Markus Potzel, the UN deputy special envoy for Afghanistan, said these economic problems that Afghanistan is facing today is because of a lack of governance and the lack of clear economic guidelines or a roadmap, and he asked the current government to make a clear economic roadmap.

“The economy has to be revived and has to stand on its own feet, but it is, first and foremost, the responsibility of those who are governing, who are in power, they have to come up with an economic roadmap with a clear, detailed and transparent budget, for instance. And let me be clear, these economic problems that Afghanistan is facing today, also the humanitarian crisis, most of all comes from within, because of a lack of governance and lack of clear economic guideline or roadmap. And the assets, the UN believes, belong to the people of Afghanistan, but they have to be handled in a transparent way and those who are handling [them] have to be accountable to the Afghan people, because they have to be useful for the Afghan people,” he further added.

According to an economist, paying attention to the development of villages will prevent migration and reduce poverty and unemployment in the country.

"If our villages are strengthened, then 23% of the agricultural GDP factors will relocate there and produce results, which will balance out Afghanistan's domestic markets. In fact, this is a key element and it will prevent the increase of poverty in Afghanistan,” said Sayed Masoud, economist.

Presently, the World Bank has stopped the Citizen Covenant Program, which was primarily implemented in the villages, and all projects in those areas are still unfinished.