STORY: 3 years on, Afghans cherish peace, wish for economic recovery
SHOOTING TIME: August 13, 2024
DATELINE: August 17, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:56
LOCATION: Kabul
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Kabul
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): MOHAMMADAJAN, Street vender
3. various of a man selling vegetables in Kabul
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): HUSSAIN, Dry fruit shopkeeper
5. various of a dried fruit seller in Kabul
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Dari): NAJIBULLAH ARMAN, Editor of a news organization

STORYLINE:

It's been three years since U.S.-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan.

For Mohammadajan, a street vendor in the Afghan capital Kabul, his country has finally experienced three years of relative peace.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): MOHAMMADAJAN, Street vendor
"The security situation here has improved 100 percent, the robbery is gone and we can go home at night without worry."

According to the Global Terrorism Index, terror deaths fell by 519 in Afghanistan in 2023, an 81 percent improvement. This was the first year since 2019 that Afghanistan has not been the country most impacted by terrorism.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): HUSSAIN, Dry fruit shopkeeper
"Security has improved compared to the past. Our shop is open until 12:00 midnight and no one bothers us."

Although the security situation has improved, the Afghan people are facing severe economic challenges.

Over the past two years, Afghanistan's economy has been characterized by a tumultuous downturn, with a staggering 26 percent contraction in real GDP, according to a report released by the World Bank in April.

Following the U.S. military withdrawal, Washington has slapped sanctions on the new Afghan administration, freezing Afghanistan's central bank assets worth billions of U.S. dollars and thus plunging the country into an economic crisis.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Dari): NAJIBULLAH ARMAN, Editor of a news organization
"Now violence has decreased and people were relieved to some extent, but we can not ignore reconstruction and modernization, aspirations of the Afghan people. How can Afghans actually live with these sanctions? I think this is unfair."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kabul.
(XHTV)