Despite billions in aid, Afghans can't find work

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Despite billions in aid, Afghans can't find work
Oct 24, 6:27 AM EDT
By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Hundreds of men, some on crutches, all wearing tattered clothing, gather shortly before dawn at major intersections throughout Kabul and other Afghan cities. Displaying primitive tools such as a level or a trowel, they seek labor that is often backbreaking, always temporary and will earn just a few dollars for a day's work.

Employers circle the intersections, eyeing the crowds. Usually they are looking for one or two workers for minor construction tasks. Before they even stop, dozens of men swarm their vehicle, fighting with each other to get one of perhaps five or six jobs available that morning.

Despite billions of dollars from abroad to develop this impoverished country since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime in 2001, roughly 12 million people, or eight out of every 10 working-age Afghan are unskilled day laborers, according to an International Labor Organization report. Most land only temporary jobs.

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But almost everywhere, the pay is meager. Afghans with jobs, whether part-time or full-time, earn on average $410 per year - or about $1 per day, according to the World Bank.