Afghanistan Post-2021: The New Political Economy of Growth

Author: Omar Joya

When Taliban militants deposed the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in August 2021, the country’s democratic institutions were dissolved in favour of an autocratic political regime. Abrupt changes in public finance and economic management followed the institutional shifts. The author discusses the new political economy context in Afghanistan, its importance when improvements in conventional macroeconomic indicators in crisis situations are perceived as misleading, and practical implications for policy analysis.

This publication is part of a series highlighting the work and analysis of the Afghanistan Research Network (ARN), a project convened by LSE / PeaceRep, and the Civic Engagement Project (CEP) with the Institute for Development Economic Affairs (IDEA). The network brings together over 20 Afghan researchers (and several non-Afghans) with diverse expertise and backgrounds investigating a range of issues. This project aims to support Afghan researchers who were recently forced to leave Afghanistan; to ensure expert and analytical provision; inform contextually-appropriate international policies and practices on Afghanistan; and to deepen understanding of evolving political, security, and economic dynamics.

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