Decades-long terror crisis cost Afghanistan 50% of GDP

Recent developments in Afghanistan have brought attention back to long-standing conflicts and the impact such prolonged problems leave nations in. Globally, tens of countries continue to be affected by terrorism which has affected peace and economies, and Afghanistan has been among the worst-affected for many years now.TOI looks at two data sets — the Global Terrorism Index-2020 and the Global Peace Index-2021 — brought out by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Both reiterate that Afghanistan’s problems pre-date the shock waves sent by the Taliban takeover in the past few days.Afghanistan least peaceful country...Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and Iraq fared the worst on the Global Peace Index-2021. All, except Yemen, have been ranked amongst the five least peaceful nations since at least 2015, with Afghanistan having been ranked amongst the three least peaceful nations since 2010. medium nocaption85587025...And worst hit by terrorismAfghanistan remained the country most impacted by terrorism since overtaking Iraq in 2018 and Taliban remained the world's deadliest terror organisation, according to the Global Terrorism Index-2020. medium nocaption85587046In a downward spiral for past 20 yearsAfghanistan's ranking on the Global Terrorism Index has been worsening ever since US forces were deployed in the country in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. From ranking 16 on the index in 2002, the country holds the dubious no. 1 spot for two years in a row. medium nocaption85587585And as its ranking worsened, the number of terror incidents in the country saw a massive increase over the past decade resulting in more deaths too. This also made Afghanistan the country with the biggest economic losses from terrorism. medium nocaption855873262.6 million Afghan refugees abroadBecause of the terror, a large number of Afghans fled to other countries. But, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 2.6 million Afghan refugees abroad (at the end of 2020) hadn’t yet entered or completed asylum processes. About 85% of them can be found in Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries Iran and Pakistan, while Germany comes third with 148,000 or around 5.5%. medium nocaption85590792Globally peacefulness fell in 9 of last 13 yearsOverall, the world is considerably less peaceful now than it was in 2008. The average level of global peacefulness has deteriorated by 2% since 2008, with 75 countries recording a deterioration. Global peacefulness declined for nine of the past 13 years. Among the three index domains, ongoing conflict deteriorated by 6.2% and safety and security deteriorated by 2.5%, while militarisation improved by 4.2%. medium nocaption85587369Economic impact of terrorism decliningThe global economic impact of terrorism was estimated to be $26.4 billion in 2019 — 25% less than in 2018. In fact, this is the fifth consecutive year it has declined. The improvement over the last four years is largely driven by declining terrorism in Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. Since its peak of $116 billion in 2014, the economic impact has decreased by 77%. medium nocaption85587806Untitled Carousel 85537457