About the Report

The record of countries coming out of war or chaos is dismal: 

roughly half of them fall back into crises, and, among the other 

half, most end up highly aid dependent. As a participant in 

discussions organized by the United States Institute of Peace’s 

Center for Sustainable Economies, the author was invited to 

develop her proposal for reconstruction zones as a way to 

jump-start the economies of conflict- and disaster-affected 

countries in a dynamic and inclusive way, by improving aid 

effectiveness and accountability. She is grateful for many 

comments and suggestions on a previous draft.

About the Author

Graciana del Castillo is an economic expert on countries in crises, 

including those affected by conflict, natural disasters, or financial 

collapse. She is a founding partner of the Macroeconomic 

Advisory Group and a member of several advisory boards. She 

received her PhD in economics from Columbia University in 1986 

and was an adjunct/visiting professor there (1990–2007) and 

senior research scholar (2008–10). 

Dr. del Castillo has advised international organizations and 

governments on how to create a country vision and improve 

comparative advantages to attract desirable foreign investors 

into different sectors of the economy, including free-trade zones 

and infrastructure development. She is widely published and the 

author of Rebuilding War-Torn States (Oxford University Press).

2301 Constitution Ave., NW • Washington, DC 20037 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063

Special Report 292 October 2011

© 2011 by the United States Institute of Peace. 

All rights reserved.

Graciana del Castillo

Reconstruction Zones in 

Afghanistan and Haiti 

A Way to Enhance Aid Effectiveness and 

Accountability

Summary

•	 The longest war and one of the largest relief efforts in U.S. history—in Afghanistan and 

Haiti, respectively—are testing the cost-effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance in conflictravaged or disaster-torn countries. U.S.-led economic reconstruction in both countries is 

clearly off track and becoming increasingly costly and unpopular—both at home and in 

the respective countries.

•	 Reconstruction zones (RZs), consisting of two distinct but linked areas to ensure synergies 

between them—a local-production reconstruction zone (LRZ) producing for local consumption and an export-oriented reconstruction zone (ERZ) producing exclusively for export—

could be used to replace the fragmented way aid is provided to these countries with an 

integrated strategy for economic reconstruction. 

•	 With an appropriate legal and regulatory framework, ERZs—operating as free-trade zones—

could create appropriate links to the national economy as well as positive externalities or 

spillovers. Such a framework would avoid the problems created by these zones operating as 

enclaves in Haiti in the past.

•	 By targeting aid to provide adequate infrastructure and services within the RZs at a 

manageable scale, countries could jump-start their productive sectors and create jobs 

and entrepreneurship in agriculture, light manufacturing, and services, both for domestic 

consumption and for exports. 

•	 By creating dynamic and inclusive growth, RZs could help countries stand on their own 

feet, consolidate peace, and overcome the unsustainable aid dependency to which they 

have grown accustomed.

United States Institute of Peace www.usip.org

SPECIAL REPORT

Contents

Introduction 2

What Are Reconstruction Zones and

How Can They Make a Difference? 3

The Creation of Reconstruction Zones 

in Haiti and Afghanistan 4

Conclusion 12
2

Introduction

The United States’ longest war and one of the largest relief efforts in U.S. history are testing the cost-effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance in war-ravaged or disaster-torn countries. U.S.-led economic reconstruction in Afghanistan and Haiti is off track and becoming 

increasingly costly and unpopular—both at home and in the respective countries.1 Efforts at 

economic reconstruction will not succeed unless there is a coherent and integrated strategy, 

which implies that many of the policies will have to change in fundamental ways.2

The provision of aid to conflict-affected or disaster-ravaged countries is clearly in disarray in these and in many other countries in similar situations.3 In fact, aid itself has often 

proved to be more of a problem than a solution, in part by contributing to the creation of 

economies that would soon collapse if the international community and aid flows withdraw. 

Only a few countries have managed to avoid high aid dependencies created by the large 

spikes of aid that these countries receive as they try to come out of the crises.4 Such dependencies are not sustainable in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and increased 

taxpayers’ scrutiny in advanced donor countries.

The challenge for many war-ravaged or disaster-torn countries and for the international 

donors that support them is to redesign aid packages to focus primarily on the provision 

of reconstruction aid that promotes investment, local employment, and entrepreneurship. 

While humanitarian aid to save lives in the short run should not be neglected, such aid 

would promote consumption rather than investment, create price distortions and work 

disincentives, and fail to build local capacity. It should therefore be discontinued as soon 

as possible.

A dynamic and inclusive reactivation of the economy is critical to provide citizens—

particularly those most affected by the crisis—with self-employment opportunities, jobs, 

and basic infrastructure and services, which would allow them to have an honest and fair 

income on a sustainable basis. Work opportunities and job creation may sound like a normal 

development challenge, but in the context of war- or disaster-affected countries, the challenge is fundamentally different. The main objective of reconstruction in the short run is to 

address the grievances of crises-affected groups, which have been either the root causes of 

the conflict or have been the most vulnerable to the natural disaster. 

Using war-ravaged Afghanistan and disaster-torn Haiti, this study will make proposals to 

create reconstruction zones (RZs) linking free-trade zones to the domestic economy as a way 

to move out of the current fragmented, inefficient, and costly approach to reconstruction 

in these two countries. 

After a cursory discussion of existing conditions in Haiti and Afghanistan following years 

of military intervention, peacekeeping operations, and large volumes of aid, the author 

will make a specific proposal for each country. Keeping in mind the importance of national 

ownership, the proposals build on Haiti’s existing framework for using free-trade zones as a 

way out of the current crisis and on the framework that is under consideration, at least in 

some quarters, in Afghanistan. 

This report will provide all stakeholders with an analysis of the pros and cons of reconstruction zones as agents of change and outline legal and regulatory frameworks for these 

zones, based on the international experience of other countries with such zones. The better 

informed governments are before making key decisions, the more effective their economic 

reconstruction policies will be. Thus, the purpose is to stimulate debate and contribute 

constructively to the identification of policies and strategies that would make achieving 

this goal possible.

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily 

reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace, 

which does not advocate specific policy positions.

To request permission to photocopy or reprint materials, 

e-mail: permissions@usip.org

About the Institute

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, 

nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. 

Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent conflicts, 

promote postconflict peacebuilding, and increase conflict 

management tools, capacity, and intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others with 

knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by its direct 

involvement in conflict zones around the globe.

Board of Directors

J. Robinson West (Chair), Chairman, PFC Energy •

George E. Moose (Vice Chairman), Adjunct Professor of 

Practice, The George Washington University • Judy Ansley,

Former Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser under President George W. Bush • Anne H. Cahn,

Former Scholar in Residence, American University •

Eric Edelman, Hertog Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, 

Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, 

Washington, DC • Kerry Kennedy, President, Robert F. 

Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights • Ikram U. 

Khan, President, Quality Care Consultants, LLC • Stephen D. 

Krasner, Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations, Stanford University • John A. Lancaster, Former Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living 

• Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor, George Mason School of Law 

• Judy Van Rest, Executive Vice President, International 

Republican Institute • Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice 

President, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Members Ex Officio

Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for 

Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor • James N. Miller, 

Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy •

Ann E. Rondeau, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy; President, 

National Defense University • Richard H. Solomon, 

President, United States Institute of Peace (nonvoting) 
3

What Are Reconstruction Zones and How Can They Make a Difference?

The experiences of Ireland in the late 1980s, Costa Rica in the 1990s, and Uruguay in the 2000s 

offer some lessons about the need to link free-trade zones to the rest of the economy rather than 

to let them become enclaves within the country. Free-trade zones that exist as enclaves in Haiti, 

Dominican Republic, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, China, and other countries are popularly 

referred to as sweatshops (maquila in Spanish). Sweatshops are used to assemble low-quality, lowvalue-added goods, using mostly imported inputs and local unskilled labor. Foreign and domestic 

investors have operated these sweatshops in Haiti and elsewhere without creating basic links 

to the domestic economy beyond the creation of low-wage employment.5 On the contrary, the 

proposal for RZs links the free-trade zones to the domestic economy.

RZs in conflict-ravaged or disaster-torn countries would consist of two distinct but linked 

areas to ensure synergies between them—a local-production reconstruction zone (LRZ) producing for local consumption and an export-oriented reconstruction zone (ERZ) producing 

exclusively for exports.6 The ERZ could be used for light manufacturing, commercial agriculture, or services for export under the stable legal policy framework and the tax and tariff 

preferences normally granted by such zones.7 By creating RZs and building infrastructure 

in these designated areas first, countries could overcome the overwhelming challenge of 

having to provide infrastructure, security, and services throughout the country. This is an 

important consideration in crises-affected countries like Haiti and Afghanistan, which have 

large deficiencies. Providing infrastructure across the country would necessarily diffuse the 

impact it can have on reactivating production.

In the ERZs, local and foreign investors could produce a variety of low-skilled manufacturing products (garments, textiles, carpets, beauty products, agro-industries, or other low-skilled 

manufacturing products), goods that are often produced worldwide in free-trade zones. Although 

agricultural products are not normally produced in free-trade zones, ERZs could provide fiscal 

preferences and the international community could provide preferential access to its markets 

for goods such as vegetables, fruits, flowers, and spices, with different degrees of processing, 

from these zones. This preferential access could induce investors to produce gourmet and exotic 

products in these higher-risk locations. Haiti and Afghanistan could target markets that are close 

to them so as to compete also on the basis of transportation costs and logistics.

The second area—the LRZs—would produce agricultural products, process foods, and have 

light manufacturing for the less demanding local market, as well as services and input goods 

for the ERZ. Governments could also establish a single and low tax rate (say a 10 percent flat 

rate) for microenterprises, small business, and small local agricultural producers (MSEs) to 

encourage them to operate in the formal sector. Because LRZs are not closed areas as the ERZs, 

the MSE framework would apply to them wherever they are located. The LRZs, however, would 

create a level playing field for MSEs by offering them adequate security and infrastructure.

Having both ERZ and LRZ activities in the same RZ would create appropriate links to the national economy as well as positive externalities or spillovers from operating the two zones together. 

This linkage would avoid the problems created by free-trade zones in Haiti in the past.

Although Haiti and Afghanistan have very different histories with free-trade zones,8 they 

both seem to have hopes to increase exports in the future through this type of framework. 

Their histories with foreign aid, however, are much more similar and relatively negative, as 

mentioned earlier. The unquestionable challenge going forward is to avoid the mistakes of 

the past in the provision and management of aid. To make aid more effective, it should be 

targeted toward creating viable RZs as soon as possible.9

By creating RZs and building 

infrastructure in these 

designated areas first, 

countries could overcome the 

overwhelming challenge of 

having to provide infrastructure, 

security, and services throughout 

the country.
4

Necessary infrastructure and services in each country will depend on the particular RZ 

and its location but will include energy, electricity, water and sanitation, telecommunications, roads and airports, and other services.10 Infrastructure should not only be restricted 

to the needs of production but it should also ensure that workers have an adequate place to 

live, children have adequate educational facilities and clinics, and there is adequate transport for workers and their families to come back and forth if they live far from the zones or 

if they carry out activities away from them.11

At the present time, donors in Haiti and Afghanistan seem to be focusing on developing 

different types of infrastructure in different parts of the country. This piecemeal approach 

in which a donor builds a dam here, another a road there, and a third a school or clinic 

elsewhere has been ineffective and costly. The approach of spending as much as possible 

on many projects, hoping that some will stick, has also proved ineffective and costly. To 

be cost-effective, reconstruction aid needs to be provided in an integrated manner and 

considerate of local conditions and needs.

The Creation of Reconstruction Zones in Haiti and Afghanistan

After a brief discussion of existing conditions in each country, the analysis will focus on 

how the framework for RZs could be designed or modified to reactivate the productive sectors and bring Haiti and Afghanistan out of the dismal socioeconomic conditions they face, 

making aid more effective and accountable in the process. The case of Haiti will be used 

to illustrate in greater detail the challenges of designing and implementing an appropriate 

framework for ERZs so that they can be effective in reactivating the rest of the economy. 

The case of Afghanistan, on the other hand, will be used to illustrate how to start an RZ by 

creating the LRZ first, using as much as possible existing infrastructure and services, and 

ensuring that production and employment can start in a reasonable period. 

Haiti: The Current Situation

Haiti faces formidable challenges (including conflict-related challenges), many of them dating from long before the January 2010 earthquake. As Janet Reitman has recently put it, 

“Haiti’s dysfunction, while undeniably exacerbated by the quake, goes back generations.”12 

At the same time, the quake has been the worst of the many disasters that have hit the 

country, with damage and losses estimated at $8 billion, or about 120 percent of 2009 GDP. 

In comparison, the 2008 hurricanes caused damage of about one-third of GDP. The $5.3 billion pledged in March 2010 for the next eighteen months represented more than 50 percent 

of the projected GDP over that period.13

Given the appalling situation in which Haiti still finds itself a year and a half after the 

quake, it is time to rethink the strategy going forward by revising the misguided policies and 

misplaced priorities of the past. In the short run, a most important and neglected challenge 

is to provide basic health, security, and shelter needs of the millions affected by the quake, 

particularly the seven hundred thousand people still living in camps under vulnerable conditions, and the several thousand that have died or are exposed to cholera. Another short-term 

challenge is to generate employment-creating growth in a country where 70 percent of the 

population lives on less than $2 a day, and 40 percent is younger than fourteen years old.14

Short-term intervention is key if the country is ever to move into a long-term development 

path where the country can start worrying about improving higher education, upgrading 

infrastructure, and other normal development challenges.

As Nicholas D. Kristoff argued in January 2011, what Haiti needs is assistance that leads 

to savings and investments on the part of the beneficiaries and in their sending their children 

To be cost-effective, 

reconstruction aid needs to 

be provided in an integrated 

manner and considerate of local 

conditions and needs.
5

to school so that their livelihoods can improve, “not just shipments of food and clothing.” He 

concludes, “It’s hard to think of a charitable project that will be as beneficial as the Coca-Cola 

Company’s decision to build up the mango juice industry in Haiti, supporting 25,000 farmers.15 The same is true of the move by South Korean garment companies to open factories in 

Haiti.”16 As discussed earlier, this will be true only if such projects do not become an enclave 

without any links to the national economy, or a source of exploitation of local labor and farmers that will lead to further conflict and insecurity. Previous such endeavors in the country 

have also been rejected by the population at large because of displacement of agriculture 

production and environmental, human rights, and other concerns.17

As Janet Reitman noted in August 2011, the March 2010 Action Plan for National 

Recovery and Development, prepared by Haitian prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive with 

the support of the World Bank and the United Nations, envisaged “a radically overhauled 

Haiti: a country bursting with mango-processing plants, fish farms, solar-powered irrigation facilities, industrial parks and duty-free zones, financed, to a large extent, by the 

private sector.” She attributes this vision to recent work by “Paul Collier, who maintained 

that with its low-paid workforce and loose labor regulations, Haiti could become a major 

supplier for the apparel industry.” As she also notes, “The ideas weren’t dissimilar from 

the policies that had been foisted on Haiti as far back as the Duvalier era.” Sadly, she 

vividly reports how different the reality on the ground has been from what was envisaged 

in the action plan.18

Reactivation of the Haitian Economy through Reconstruction Zones

To reactivate the Haitian economy and promote stability, the government of Michel Martelly 

needs to develop its strategic vision on how to do it and establish a coherent and integrated reconstruction strategy that can be supported by a divided Haitian society and by 

the international community. 

Although such a vision and strategy does not yet exist, there are some elements of it that 

have made headlines, particularly with regard to the key role to be played by the garment 

industry. Given the serious deficiencies in infrastructure and the poor business climate that 

exists in the country and that these conditions will take time to improve, it makes sense for 

the government of Haiti and the international community to focus on free-trade zones as a 

way of reactivating employment in the short run. Nevertheless, the export-oriented policy 

needs to be well imbedded in the overall economic strategy of the country for the policy to 

succeed in reactivating the economy in a fair and balanced way. 

In this regard, the Haiti Economic Lift Program Act (HELP), signed into law by President 

Barack Obama on May 24, 2010, is an effort to make investment in the Haitian free-trade 

zones more attractive,19 not only for U.S. firms but also for other investors as well. The 

HELP Act expands duty-free access to the U.S. market for certain Haitian textile and apparel 

exports and extends until 2020 existing trade preference programs for certain imported 

knit apparel articles made in Haiti from yarns wholly formed in the United States.20 The 

law also provides duty-free treatment for additional textile and apparel products that are 

wholly assembled or knit-to-shape in Haiti, regardless of the origin of the fabric or yarns 

from which the articles are made. Duty-free quotas for Haiti exports are also almost tripled 

to 200 million square-meter equivalents. 

Although these changes to trade preferences have become of interest to Korean and 

other investors from Asia that want to penetrate the U.S. market, in addition to U.S. companies that want to produce at competitive costs, it is important that the new investment 

does not become a new source of polarization within Haitian society. In the past, the 

so-called sweatshops have been a source of labor and social conflict in Haiti as a result of 
6

unnecessarily harsh conditions, including serious violations of human rights. At the same 

time, their impact on poverty alleviation has been questioned since wages have remained 

extremely low.21 It is thus important to avoid potential conflict in the future and to ensure 

that these zones do not become a way to perpetuate poverty and insecurity in the country. 

Most importantly, the only way in which this type of investment can have a significant 

impact on the Haitian economy is if it creates important links to it and does not remain 

an enclave.

Proposal for Reconstruction Zones in Haiti

With the right legal and regulatory framework and the synergies that would be created by 

integrating production for export to the local economy, RZs in Haiti would overcome the 

poor performance and strong opposition to free-trade zones in the past. In this regard, the 

government of Haiti should create an appropriate legal framework for ERZs. The ERZs would 

operate exactly as free-trade zones with an improved legal framework so as to eliminate 

some of the abuses of the past and to ensure appropriate links to the rest of the economy. 

Such links would be facilitated by the creation of an LRZ close to each ERZ, as part of the 

same RZ. The LRZs would produce goods and services both for the local economy and for 

supplying inputs and services to the ERZs, thus ensuring synergies between the two zones. 

Different RZs could be strategically located throughout the country, thus contributing to 

decentralization and to the development of infrastructure away from Port-au-Prince. The 

location of these areas is important, and they should not replace agricultural production or 

threaten the environment. 

Given the importance of agriculture to the Haitian economy, a serious effort at reactivating food production and achieving food security should start as soon as possible, including 

in the RZs.22 Tourism, another sector with great potential in Haiti, however, should be left 

out of the RZs, since ERZs are closed zones where people should not be allowed to live within 

the zones, which make them unsuitable for tourism. The government could, nevertheless, 

promote the expansion of this sector through special tax, tariff, and other incentives to 

make it more competitive, as governments often do in some Latin American countries. 

In the ERZs, local and foreign investors operating in the zones could produce garments 

and other low-skilled goods exclusively for exports under tax and tariff preferences.23 

Since this is the type of production that operates normally from free-trade zones, investors 

will not locate in Haiti unless ERZs have these preferences. Trade preferences under HELP 

give Haiti a comparative advantage vis-à-vis other such areas in the Caribbean and Central 

America. ERZs could also include processing of local agricultural products such as juice production and other agribusinesses. Administrators of the ERZs, however, would not normally 

be entitled to fiscal preferences.24

In a divided society such as that of Haiti, the establishment of LRZs to complement the 

ERZs would create a level playing field for micro and small enterprises (MSEs). Having activities for export and local consumption in the same RZs would also create other externalities 

and synergies. The LRZ could produce light manufactures, agricultural products, and services 

for the less demanding local market. It would also have clinics, schools, and professional 

schools for workers in the ERZs and their families. Other infrastructure and services required 

in the LRZs will depend on their location and on what can be found in the vicinity.

In the case of Haitian firms producing for export in the ERZs, the authorities need to 

ensure that operations from these zones do not become a way of avoiding local taxes and 

tariffs on other activities that these firms carry out for the domestic economy. It should be 

enforced that the tax exemptions for ERZs are granted exclusively for exports. Otherwise, 

such avoidance would discourage other local producers from paying their taxes. 

A serious effort at reactivating 

food production and achieving 

food security should start as 

soon as possible, including 

in the RZs.
7

Necessary Improvements to Haiti’s Legal and Regulatory Framework

To maximize the benefits and ensure links from the RZs to the national economy, the government would have to modify the legal and regulatory framework for free-trade zones, taking 

into account lessons and best international practices. The proposed changes would increase 

the multiplier effect that the zones could have. In exchange for the trade and fiscal preferences given to users of the ERZs, the law and related regulations should include specific 

requirements for foreign and domestic firms operating from these zones so that they

•	 attract foreign investors who can be expected to contribute to transfers of technology and 

training of local workers;

•	 encourage investors to pay local workers fair wages, with wage increases as their productivity increases; 

•	 establish basic security, human rights, and other adequate working conditions in the zones;

•	 establish minimum levels of investment and/or local employment in the ERZs; 

•	 establish links between the activities of foreign investors and the local economy by encouraging use of competitive local inputs and services so that there can be a multiplier impact 

by facilitating procurement within the local economy; 

•	 require agreements between the foreign and domestic companies operating in ERZs and local 

technical schools and universities to create specialized courses, internship programs, and other 

arrangements to promote transfers of technology and capacity building of the local labor force;

•	 encourage corporate responsibility in social and environmental areas of foreign and domestic companies operating in ERZs. For example, these companies could be required to create 

local parks, schools, clinics, environmental projects, and other such projects in the LRZs in 

exchange for their benefits;25

•	 promote options for expanding ERZs’ operations beyond the apparel and textile sector to 

higher value-added products; and

•	 promote different options to use local agriculture to develop agribusiness industries in the 

ERZs, attract foreign investors in these sectors, and negotiate preferential treatment in 

foreign markets for these goods.

It is not enough, however, to design the adequate legal and regulatory framework for 

ERZs. For the framework to have its intended impact it needs to be enforced. To be able to 

do such enforcing, the government of Haiti will need to develop the capacity to do so on 

its own. Leaving it in the hands of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), as it has often 

been the case in the past, will not suffice.26

Expected Results from Reconstruction Zones in Haiti

The establishment of RZs could help Haiti come out of the vicious circle of poverty, insecurity, political instability, and aid dependency in which it finds itself. By starting at a feasible 

scale, RZ could help reactivate the economy so people can start having decent shelter, 

adequate food and health services, and a productive occupation, thus moving beyond the 

emergency phase. The effective design and management of aid to facilitate the establishment of the RZs could help turn this vicious circle into a virtuous one characterized by 

investment, dynamic growth, economic inclusion, and political stability by 

•	 generating direct employment with improved wages and better working conditions in 

the ERZs;

•	 generating indirect employment by promoting and facilitating the use of local inputs 

and services, that is, by creating links to the LRZs and helping to reactivate the domestic 

economy;27
8

•	 improving the skills of local workers by attracting foreign firms that are competitive in their 

respective industries; 

•	 improving corporate practices and security measures of local suppliers working for foreign 

firms with higher standards;

•	 contributing to the transfer of technology by creating links between the foreign and 

domestic companies operating in ERZs and local technical schools and universities;

•	 attracting new foreign companies once the skill level of workers improve to raise the value 

added of production and exports; 

•	 increasing exports and foreign exchange earnings that would make the economy less reliant on aid; and

•	 improving social cohesion at the community level by improving working and living conditions in the RZs. 

Despite the tax and tariff preferences given to the users of the ERZs, the government 

will nevertheless raise revenue from these zones in the form of social security contributions 

of workers and by taxing the administrators and the indirect activities created by the ERZs. 

Activities in the LRZs will be taxed in the same way as other activities produced for the 

domestic market. A preferential and simple regime for MSEs should be established across the 

country to encourage them to join the formal sector.

Afghanistan: The Current Situation

After three decades of conflict due to the Soviet occupation, Taliban rule, and the post-9/11 

military intervention, Afghanistan embarked on a multidisciplinary transition to peace that 

started with the UN-mediated Bonn Agreement of 2001, supported by large volumes of aid 

and debt relief. As disarming, demobilizing, and reintegration (DDR) programs failed and the 

security conditions deteriorated in 2006, an intensive and increasingly costly involvement 

of NATO and U.S. troops took place, including a civilian surge to accompany the military 

surge in 2010.28

How costly the U.S. involvement has been in Afghanistan and how much of it is allocated 

to humanitarian and reconstruction aid is a source of great confusion. One thing is clear: the 

military cost of the war has been huge in relation to the assistance for relief and reconstruction to the country. Of $443 billion budgeted for the Afghan War for fiscal years 2002–11, 

$52 billion were allocated to major programs in the country. More than half of that was 

allocated to security-related programs in Afghanistan. Putting aside the financing to cover 

embassy operations, construction of the new embassy in Kabul, and aid oversight, about 

$20 billion (48 percent) of U.S. assistance was left for relief and reconstruction. Since GDP in 

Afghanistan during this period was about $100 billion, U.S. aid for relief and reconstruction 

represented 20 percent of GDP on average per year.29

Furthermore, a large part of nonsecurity aid to Afghanistan is spent on U.S. contractors 

and U.S. supplies. The same is true of security aid, where a large proportion is spent in the 

United States for the purchase of arms and equipment. Thus, the spectacular growth that 

the Afghan economy has experienced since 2001—fueled by large volumes of aid and the 

large foreign presence in the country—has little benefited the average Afghan citizen.

Indeed, with annual average growth rates of 12 percent a year during the 2002–10 

period—higher than China’s 11 percent—the Afghan economy has failed to reactivate in 

a dynamic, inclusive, and licit way. Afghanistan continues to be stunningly poor and faces 

major challenges to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2020, the target 

year that the government has negotiated with the United Nations. Life expectancy at birth 

is slightly above forty years, adult literacy is below 30 percent, and the combined gross 

The spectacular growth that 

the Afghan economy has 

experienced since 2001—fueled 

by large volumes of aid and the 

large foreign presence in the 

country—has little benefited 

the average Afghan citizen.
9

enrollment in education is roughly 50 percent. Not surprisingly, large parts of the country 

remain insecure, creating the right environment for the drug industry and the insurgency 

to thrive.30

More than seven million Afghans (about a quarter of its population) have been affected 

by the impact of disasters and extreme weather events such as drought, earthquakes, disease epidemics, sandstorms, and harsh winters. Many others have been affected as a result 

of different explosive devices that have not been removed by demining. Counternarcotics 

policies have had mixed results. Despite increases in the number of poppy-free provinces 

and decreases in the area under cultivation, productivity has increased, and the country still 

produced about 7,000 tons of opium in 2009. Afghanistan is also one of the biggest producers of hashish. The strong association between insecurity, lack of agricultural assistance, 

and opium cultivation is just as valid today as it was before the surges.31

Insecurity, corruption, high levels of poverty and environmental degradation, extraordinary levels of unemployment, lack of basic services and dilapidated infrastructure, dissatisfaction about the presence of foreign troops, and the fragmentation and ineffectiveness 

of aid interventions constitute critical impediments to establishing peace and security in 

the country.

Reactivation of the Afghan Economy through Reconstruction Zones

After a trip to Afghanistan in May 2011, the author returned more convinced than ever 

that the Afghan economy will soon collapse as the U.S. military retreats (many companies, 

including foreign investors, are likely to close as demand falls to a trickle).32 To avoid such 

collapse, the government of Afghanistan needs to jump-start the productive sectors. A 

decade after U.S. military intervention and the Bonn Agreement, Afghanistan is still going 

through amazingly challenging times and has been unable to reactivate productive activities and exports, thus remaining highly dependent on aid. Most activity takes place in the 

construction and retail sectors, with agriculture still unable to recover its historical dynamism before the war. Investment and trade are pivotal to Afghanistan’s transition from aid 

dependency to dynamic, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth. 

With better prospects for licit jobs in a country where employment and underemployment 

is as high as 60 percent, and with improved access to basic services and infrastructure, it 

would be possible to turn the entrepreneurial spirit of the Afghan people away from producing drugs. This may be the only recipe to control further gains by the Taliban. The military 

strategy—with a few development projects on the side—has indeed proved expensive and 

relatively ineffective.

To do so, Afghanistan could create RZs. For this, the government needs to finalize first the 

appropriate legal and regulatory framework for the ERZs, taking into consideration the issues 

discussed in relation to Haiti so as to make the ERZs more effective and linked to the domestic 

economy.33 Likewise, the United States should grant preferences—as it grants to Haiti—for 

goods produced in the ERZs in Afghanistan. Other donors should, of course, follow. This is 

particularly important of neighboring countries in the Gulf, and other countries such as India 

and China, which would be natural markets if ERZs for agricultural goods were created.

While ERZs in Haiti already exist and the legal framework is broadly in place, it will take 

time in Afghanistan to develop such a framework. Thus, while it was recommended that 

in Haiti RZs start in places where the ERZs are already operating by complementing them 

with LRZs nearby, in the case of Afghanistan, it could take the opposite path. It would be 

best to start with the establishment of LRZs in areas where ERZs could be eventually set 

up nearby. Given security conditions, RZs could be established in places like Kabul, Herat, 

Mazar-i-Sharif, and Jalalabad where the environment is relatively more conducive. 

The strong association between 

insecurity, lack of agricultural 

assistance, and opium cultivation 

is just as valid today as it was 

before the surges.
10

Afghanistan’s Investment Support Agency is considering creating ERZs and so are some 

provinces. The World Bank, for example, is financing a multipurpose industrial park in 

Jalalabad where the infrastructure for two hundred companies is almost ready. Also, the 

provincial governor of Kunduz has asked the German Agency for International Cooperation 

to do a feasibility study for an export-oriented industrial area, which would be located at 

a key location, bordering Central Asia. These projects add urgency to the need to have an 

appropriate legal framework for ERZs in place as soon as possible. 

The first RZ in Afghanistan could be located in the Dehsabz-Barikab area north of Kabul, 

taking advantage of security conditions, existing infrastructure, and government plans for 

development of this area. This RZ could become a major pillar in reactivating production 

in the country in an integrated and viable way. It could also provide an inspirational and 

practical demonstration of how aid can be used more effectively and transparently to help 

the country stand on its own feet. 

The LRZ could be immediately established in the villages surrounding the Dehsabz 

district. The government is interested not only in preserving village life in this area and 

improving services and infrastructure,34 but also in enlarging the green belt around this 

area by having rural development in land in between the villages. The village councils 

(or shuras) would promote a consensus-building process to determine priorities so that 

the villages can take full ownership of the activities that take place in the LRZ. Shuras 

would actively and effectively involve all members of the community in different projects, 

according to their possibilities. In fact, for administrative and financing purposes the LRZ 

could be established as part of the National Solidarity Program (NSP), since this program 

has received good reviews from donors as a result of its transparent and participatory 

practices in community development. Doing so would be a way to strengthen the NSP 

since its impact on reactivating production and creating employment has been one of its 

weak points.

People living in the villages in the LRZ could be involved in two types of activities. 

Some villagers would be involved in an integrated rural development project producing for 

the local community, and eventually processing their surpluses to create agribusinesses to 

supply the domestic economy. The model for an integrated rural development project could 

be based on the experience and positive results of the Millennium Villages Project of the 

Earth Institute in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This model is based on local ownership supported by specific interventions in five broad areas—agriculture and food security, 

health, education, infrastructure, and business development.35 Farmers will need access to 

credit, improved irrigation, tree woodlots, extension services and training, improved seeds 

and fertilizers, and other such inputs. The government could establish across the country 

a single and low tax rate (say a 10 percent flat rate) for the micro and small enterprises 

(MSEs.) This could encourage them to operate in the formal sector, both inside and outside 

of the LRZs.

In setting up the LRZs, existing infrastructure should be utilized as much as possible. In 

the case of Dehsabz, the LRZ should include the housing project at Alice-Ghan, bordering the 

Barikab area where the ERZ would eventually be established. Having job opportunities and 

services would be a strong incentive for settlers to return to Alice-Ghan, which now looks 

like a ghost town after people deserted.36

The ERZ could be established in the one-third of the Barikab area (thirty-three square 

kilometers) that the government wants to develop as commercial agriculture.37 This area 

requires large investments in infrastructure (water, electricity, roads, other services, storage) that the government would have difficulty in financing. However, with an appropriate 

and stable legal framework and tax and tariff preferences of ERZs, investors would have an 

incentive to locate in this secluded area in which the provision of infrastructure, services, 
11

and security would be more manageable. With appropriate infrastructure a number of 

legumes, grains, cereals, spices such as saffron, fruits (including vineyards, apples, peaches), 

and flowers could be produced for export to countries in the region.38

With regard to flower production, for example, the Japanese, Dutch, Americans, or 

Colombians could be invited to sponsor, invest, or provide technology for this type of 

activity. Japan, which has provided strong financial support and technical assistance to 

the Dehsabz-Barikab project through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 

or the Netherlands, which has invested heavily in Afghan security and development since 

2001, would be top choices to lead in this area.39 Once a few investors decide to establish 

operations in the ERZ, others will likely follow.

Eventually, the ERZ could be expanded into the production of agro-industries and other 

low-skilled manufacturing also for export, such as textiles, carpets, and other products using 

local inputs. Given the demand for carpets, jewelry, and other Afghan products, production of 

them in the ERZs could improve employment opportunities for women and returnees.

Companies operating in the ERZ would be encouraged to support health, education, and 

training in the LRZ as part of their corporate responsibilities (and as a quid pro quo for the 

preferences they get in the ERZs). This would create better conditions for their workers and 

make them more productive.

Some policymakers oppose the creation of ERZs under the fiscal myth that foreign investors are going to invest in the national economy anyway (which is not at all the case), and 

hence they will be forgoing tax revenue. Those policymakers ignore the fact that no tax 

revenue would be forgone if production does not take place and that production in crisisaffected countries where the risk is high may not take place without the right infrastructure, 

services, and strong incentives that could attract foreign investors.40

Why Would Afghanistan’s ERZs Be Attractive to Foreign Investors?

If appropriately designed as discussed earlier, the ERZ law would provide a stable legal and 

regulatory framework (rather than the very inefficient one existing in Afghanistan now).41

The law would also provide significant tax and tariff preferences that would make production cheaper and more competitive. The government will also need to negotiate preferential 

access to world markets for production from the ERZs.

At the same time, the ERZs would provide domestic and foreign investors with

•	 abundant labor supply at competitive cost; 

•	 close markets for perishable vegetables, fruits, flowers, etc.;

•	 preferential treatment in donors/neighbors’ markets;

•	 adequate security, infrastructure, and services (in comparison to the rest of the country);

•	 adequate logistics and lower transportation costs to regional markets; and

•	 adequate housing for workers just outside the ERZ.42

Desirable foreign investors (Dutch, Japanese, or any other flower producers, for 

example, that can bring technology and know-how and can open international markets 

for Afghan products) are unlikely to invest in Afghanistan outside an ERZ for the following reasons:

•	 lack of public security and infrastructure;

•	 unstable and uncertain investment framework (permits) and generally unclear and changing rules of the game;

•	 unfriendly and nontransparent business climate (highly discretionary public policies, corruption, red tape);
12

•	 uncompetitive public services in terms of quality, price, availability, and reliance;

•	 weak justice system to enforce contracts.

Expected Results from the Reconstruction Zones in Afghanistan

RZs could have widespread effects in Afghanistan by demonstrating how an integrated and 

well-coordinated strategy for reconstruction, linking export-oriented production to the local 

economy, could have spectacular results—in comparison with the fragmented approach that 

has, so far, been donors’ prevalent practice in the country.

Once the two areas—the LRZ and the ERZ—are in operation, people from other regions, 

together with donors, could be brought in to appreciate what can be achieved by an efficient use 

of aid and technical assistance to support community priorities and livelihoods, attracting the right 

type of foreign investors. This process could be expected to deter the spread of the insurgency. 

If the government could find support from donors and RZs were established, financed, 

and implemented in a reasonable period, the vicious circle of poverty, insecurity, political instability, and aid dependency could turn into a virtuous one of investment, dynamic 

growth, economic inclusion, and political stability by 

•	 improving the utilization of aid and project management based on the priorities of local 

communities and the government. On the political side, this could contribute to an effective process of decentralization and, on the economic side, it would generate foreignexchange earnings, train local people to utilize better technologies, utilize local contractors 

in a supervised way, bring Afghan expertise from the diasporas, and decrease the aid 

dependency in which the country is trapped;

•	 improving governance, local public capacity, and coordination. By involving community 

leaders, the different ministries at the local level, the UN Group, bilateral aid agencies, 

NGOs, and other stakeholders that want to participate in supporting the reconstruction 

strategy, the RZs will be contributing to improvements in governance and in capacity building within the government, and also in the creation of effective channels of coordination 

and cooperation at the local level; 

•	 working together with effective NGOs that share the philosophy and the model of the 

RZs. The LRZ would also involve NGOs that operate with a compatible model of training 

and employing local men and women, attracting Afghan expatriates, and minimizing the 

foreign presence in the country. It would collaborate with NGOs with an established record, 

such as the Global Partnership for Afghanistan (GPFA),43 and would draw on the expertise 

and resources of other NGOs, such as the Organization for the Advancement of Afghan 

Women, that address the educational and medical needs of women. At the same time, the 

ERZ could benefit from expertise and marketing of NGOs such as Arzu Studio Hope, which 

support carpet weavers in Afghanistan and facilitate export to the United States;

•	 “Afghanizing” the development process. RZs will be better educated, healthier, and more 

skilled communities that will be able to have an impact on production and trade. RZs can 

be expected to have a positive demonstration effect on other communities and to attract 

the right foreign investors. RZs may offer the best alternative for developing adequate skills, 

creating jobs, and increasing government’s access to foreign exchange while jump-starting 

sustainable growth in Afghanistan, so that the country can finally stand on its own feet.

Conclusion

RZs—consisting of both an export-oriented and a local-production zone—could be used by 

both Afghanistan and Haiti to transition from the fragmented aid policies of the past to a 
13

coherent and integrated strategy for economic reconstruction. RZs would facilitate jumpstarting these economies by both improving aid effectiveness and accountability and by 

creating positive externalities between the zones. To create RZs, aid should be targeted to 

providing adequate security, infrastructure, and services within the zones, which is key in 

creating jobs and entrepreneurship in agriculture, light manufacturing, and services, both 

for domestic consumption and for exports. By creating dynamic and inclusive growth, RZs 

could help consolidate peace and avoid aid dependency.

With an adequate and stable policy framework and the tax and tariff preferences normally 

granted by free-trade zones, ERZs could be used for attracting foreign direct investment and 

producing a variety of goods for export. The purpose of LRZs would be to alleviate poverty, 

build sustainable livelihoods, and restore environmental sustainability in the communities 

by producing agricultural products, processing foods, and light manufacturing for the less 

demanding local market, as well as services and input goods for the ERZs. Having both ERZ 

and LRZ activities in the same RZ would create appropriate links to the national economy 

as well as synergies from operating the two zones together. 

Changing the status quo has never proved easy, but peace will not take root unless 

the reconstruction process in Afghanistan and Haiti is properly planned and implemented. 

Both countries are at a juncture in which broad-based debate of the type that took place 

in connection to the Marshall Plan—including national leaders, U.S. government officials, 

military leaders, members of Congress, academics, think tanks, and practitioners from other 

stakeholders in these countries—is urgently needed and should take place without delay. 

The international community cannot continue to ignore the serious consequences that 

business-as-usual policies are having in the respective countries, and their spillover effects 

in the regional and global economies in terms of refugees, drug trafficking, terrorism, 

political instability in the regions, and other such ill effects. Neither can we ignore the tremendous financial cost of failure, particularly when donor countries are dealing with major 

unemployment, large fiscal imbalances, and increased scrutiny from taxpayers at home.

Notes

1. The terms economic reconstruction and reconstruction are used interchangeably throughout this paper, as are the 

terms long-term development, normal development, and development as usual. The terms free-trade zones and 

export-oriented reconstruction zones (ERZs) are also used interchangeably throughout this paper.

2. For the author’s views on the problems with aid and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Haiti, and the rules or 

guidelines that could help develop a more appropriate and effective strategy for these and other countries, 

see Graciana del Castillo, The Economics of Peace: Five Rules for Effective Reconstruction, Special Report No. 

286 (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2011) and “The Economics of Peace: Military vs. 

Civilian Reconstruction—Could Similar Rules Apply?” in Expeditionary Economics: Toward a Doctrine for Enabling 

Stabilization and Growth (New York: West Point United States Military Academy, 2011). For a sobering review of 

aid and U.S. policies toward Haiti since the quake, see Janet Reitman, “How the World Failed Haiti,” Rolling Stone 

Magazine, August 4, 2011. For a review of an excellent example of the problems created by lack of integration 

in aid provision in Afghanistan, see Jack Healy, “Alice-Ghan Journal: A Model Afghan Village for Dashed Hopes,” 

New York Times, August 9, 2011.

3. Aid refers to official assistance that provides some relief to the receiving country, and includes both grants 

(assistance without a quid pro quo) and concessional loans (loans at interest rates below commercial or market 

terms). The World Bank reports official development assistance (ODA) data as a percentage of gross national 

income (GNI), http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ODAT.GN.ZS. 

4. For examples, see Graciana del Castillo, Rebuilding War-Torn States: The Challenge of Post-Conflict Economic 

Reconstruction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). 

5. Ireland, Costa Rica, and Uruguay developed niches in pharmaceuticals and health products, microchips and 

software, financial services, and other higher-tech goods and services, which will not be the case of Afghanistan 

and Haiti. The benefits they got from links from the free-trade zones to the rest of the economy, however, are 

equally valid for zones producing low-skilled products in Haiti, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. For the experience 

of Ireland, Costa Rica, and Uruguay, see Graciana del Castillo, “Promotion of Export-Oriented Foreign Direct 

Investment” (study prepared for the Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, 2003), www.

macroadvisory.com/gdc_publications.html.

6. ERZs in crisis-affected countries would operate exactly as free-trade zones do in other countries. The ERZ law 

normally would offer tax and tariff preferences to companies operating within closed ERZ areas, including 

domestic investors, foreign direct investors (foreign majority-owned), or joint ventures between domestic and 

foreign investors. For tax and tariff purposes, ERZs are considered outside the country’s territory (although all 

other national laws apply and the government would have ultimate responsibility for the ERZ). If desired, the 

By creating dynamic and 

inclusive growth, RZs could help 

consolidate peace and avoid 

aid dependency.
14

legal framework of the ERZ could specify that part of the production of the ERZ can be exported to the local 

economy paying the appropriate tariffs.

7. An administrator operates the ERZ. The ERZ has space (land, buildings, silos, greenhouses) within the zone that 

the administrator leases to tenants or users for a specific rent. The administrator also provides services to users 

for specific fees. The administrator of an ERZ could be the government or a private entity. A private administrator 

normally does not have tax exemption (and therefore it is subject to local taxation), although it normally has 

tariff exemption to import equipment and other imports required for the ERZ. 

8. In Haiti, for example, the free-trade zones law entered into force on July 2002. Afghanistan still lacks the legal 

framework for free-trade zones. 

9. In this regard, it is encouraging that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) considers the June 2009 procurement 

law passed by the Haitian Parliament to be in line with international best practices and that “this law constitutes 

a solid legal basis for the establishment of a modern and transparent procurement system.” See IMF, “Haiti: 

Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries—Completion Point Document,” Country Report No. 

09/288, September 2009, 9. In Afghanistan, aid should be channeled through the Afghanistan Reconstruction 

Trust Fund (ARTF), making sure that the World Bank accelerates its disbursement procedures, which in the past 

has been very slow.

10. RZs may eventually need to have a wide variety of services, including services related to recruitment and training 

of personnel, medical and educational facilities, and on-site day care; legal and administrative services; roundthe-clock security; general maintenance and environmentally responsible landscaping; on-site customs; courier 

services; satellite and communications; post office and banking facilities; and energy and transportation. The 

more attractive the zones are and the better workers are treated, the higher the productivity and the lower the 

probability of labor conflicts and violence. The larger the number of services provided, the stronger the links that 

these will provide to the rest of the economy.

11. In building the necessary infrastructure, it is very important that governments learn from the bad experiences 

in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, where such infrastructure was often not appropriate for local conditions 

or the skills of local workers, or the government could not afford to maintain it, which often caused it to be 

underutilized or abandoned once it was built. 

12. Janet Reitman, “How the World Failed Haiti.”

13. See various IMF country reports on Haiti, www.imf.org/external/country/hti/index.htm. See also Tatiana Wah’s 

presentation in panel 3 at the Columbia University Conference on Peace Through Reconstruction, http://

capitalism.columbia.edu/view/events/conference. Haiti’s problems have led to a long political and security UN 

involvement in the country dating since 1991, after the coup that took Jean-Bertrand Aristide out of power. In 

fact, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) currently in the country was established in 2004 after 

President Aristide departed for exile in the aftermath of an armed conflict, which spread to several cities across 

the country. Conflict and natural disasters have been recurrent challenges in Haiti. Since 1993, the United Nations 

has established five peacekeeping missions in the country. For data on the economic and social situation of Haiti, 

see Post Disaster Needs Assessment at www.refondation.ht/resources/PDNA_Working_Document.pdf.

14. See the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for other data, www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/UNICEF_

Haiti_Humanitarian_and_Recovery_-_Mid-Year-Review_of_the_2010_HAR.pdf.

15. See “The Coca-Cola Company Announces $7.5 Million Haiti Hope Project Project to Boost Incomes of 25,000 

Mango Farmers In Haiti,” press release, Coca-Cola Company, March 31, 2010, www.thecoca-colacompany.com/

dynamic/press_center/2010/03/the-coca-cola-company-announces-75-million-haiti-hope-project-to-boostincomes-of-25000-mango-farmer-1.html.

16. See Nicholas D. Kristoff, “Ladders for the Poor,” New York Times, January 5, 2011.

17. See, for example, World History Archives, “The History of Free Trade Zones the Republic of Haiti,” www.hartfordhwp.com/archives/43a/index-cfa.html.

18. Paul Collier’s views are detailed in “Haiti: From Natural Catastrophe to Economic Security” (report for the UN 

secretary-general, January 2009). See also his “Beyond the Begging Bowl,” Guardian, April 3, 2009, and his 

article with Jean-Louis Warnholz, “Building Haiti’s Economy, one Mango at a Time,” New York Times, January 29, 

2010. In Janet Reitman, “How the World Failed Haiti, ” she reports, for example, how people in a camp in Portau-Prince were encouraged to relocate to Corail on the promise that they would get jobs in garments factories 

that Korean firms would build there. A year later, none were built because there was not enough water to supply 

the manufacturers.

19. The free-trade zones law, which entered into force on July 2002, specifies the conditions for operating and 

managing these zones. The law defines free-trade zones as geographical areas with a special regime on customs 

duties and controls, taxation, immigration, capital investment, and foreign trade. In these zones, both domestic 

and foreign investors can provide services, import, store, produce, export, and re-export goods. These zones may 

be private or joint ventures. The law provides the following incentives and benefits for enterprises located in 

them: (a) full exemption from income tax for a maximum period of fifteen years, followed by a period during 

which there is partial exemption that gradually decreases; (b) customs and fiscal exemptions for the import of 

capital goods and equipment needed to develop the area, with the exception of tourism vehicles; (c) exemption 

from all communal taxes (with the exception of fixed occupancy tax) for a period not exceeding fifteen years; 

and (d) registration and transfer of the balance due for all deeds relating to purchase, mortgages, and collateral. 

It should be noted that users of some free-trade zones—for example, those in Uruguay—are exempted from all 

taxes currently in effect, or that may be created in the future, for the full term of their contract, which can be 

granted until 2040 at the time the permit for the administrators of the zones runs out.

20. These include the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), amended by the United States–Caribbean 

Basin Trade Partnership Act, the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 

2006 (HOPE Act), and the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008 

(HOPE II).

21. For a detailed analysis of Haiti’s free-trade zones, the problems that they have created, and the changes that 

need to be made so as to become effective and respect international labor laws, see Yasmine Shamsie, “Time 

for a ‘High-Road’ Approach to EPZ Development in Haiti” (paper prepared for the Conflict Prevention and Peace 

Forum [CPPF], Social Science Research Council [SSRC], January 24, 2010). Conditions in Haiti’s free-trade zones 

are no different from those of other countries, but these are increasingly under attack and will necessarily have to 

change. See, for example, Kathrin Hille, “Showing the Strain,” Financial Times, May 29/30, 2010, which discusses 

the problems in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where a series of suicides in the staff of a Taiwanese company, 

Foxconn, producing 4 percent of Chinese exports, have called attention to appalling working conditions. In 
15

March 2011, Shenzhen had to increase minimum salaries by 20 percent (about $200), the largest increase ever 

(El Observador, March 3, 2011).

22. See, for example, Jeffrey Sachs, “After the Earthquake, How to Rebuild Haiti From Scratch,” Washington Post, 

January 17, 2010, and “Reconstructing Haiti,” Project Syndicate, January 20, 2010. According to the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB), agriculture is the largest sector within the Haitian economy, employing 

roughly two-thirds of the labor force. Many farmers concentrate on subsistence crops, including cassava 

(manioc), plantains and bananas, corn (maize), yams and sweet potatoes, and rice. The IADB notes that Haiti’s 

unique microclimate produces high-value crops of superior quality and that its proximity to the U.S. market and 

significant untapped potential make the country an attractive destination for investors and buyers alike. Haiti 

offers premium products, such as mangoes and coffee, which are capable of meeting both organic and fair-trade 

standards. See IADB, Fact Sheet, Haiti’s Agribusiness Sector, International Business Meeting, Port-au-Prince, 

October 1–2, 2009.

23. According to the IADB, the light manufacturing sector was at its most dynamic in the 1980s, employing around 

100,000 workers to make apparel, electronics, baseballs, toys, and Rubik’s Cubes. By 2009, the garments 

sector employed about 25,000 workers in twenty-three factories. The industry supplies mostly mass-produced 

commodity knitwear, such as T-shirts and sweatshirts, to the U.S. market. More complex garments, such as pants, 

shirts, lingerie, and suits, account for about 20 percent of production. In 2008, goods worth $428 million (with 

significant upward potential) were exported to the United States. See IADB, Fact Sheet, Haiti’s Garments Sector, 

International Business Meeting, Port-au-Prince, October 1–2, 2009.

24. Private administrators of the zones would charge fees to the users of the zones and pay taxes to the government. 

The government, however, could consider granting special preferences to administrators who are willing to set 

up RZs in desirable areas that the government wants to develop. The government could also establish and 

administer these zones by using aid resources. In countries such as Uruguay, for example, there are both private 

and government-administered free-trade zones. Private administrators are not tax exempt.

25. A few companies are already exercising corporate responsibility in Haiti. Reitman, “How the World Failed Haiti,” 

notes that Digicel, the telecommunications giant and the largest taxpayer in Haiti, together with other privatesector partners, has committed millions of dollars to reconstruction through the Clinton Global Initiative’s Haiti 

Action Network. With $12 million donated by Denis O’Brien, head of Digicel, the Iron Market, a 120-year old 

marketplace, became one of the quickest and most successful projects rebuilt since the earthquake.

26. The way to regulate and supervise free-trade zones varies across countries. In Uruguay, for example, the Ministry 

of Economy and Finance is in charge of the supervision and control of the FTZs, through its Free-Trade Zone Unit. 

The minister himself is directly in charge of the FTZs’ policies. 

27. There are different levels of indirect employment. For example, the goods produced in the ERZs need to be taken 

to the airport, which creates jobs in transportation. Eventually, the trucks will need to be replaced and that 

can create another level of indirect employment in the automobile sector, if trucks are produced or assembled 

locally.

28. See del Castillo, Rebuilding War-Torn States and “Peace through Reconstruction: An Effective Strategy for 

Afghanistan,” Brown Journal of World Affairs 16, no. 2 (Spring/Summer 2010), 195–211. For an inside story, see 

M. Ishaq Nadiri, “Economics as a Pre-Requisite for the Stability of Afghanistan and the Region,” (working paper 

no. 45, Center on Capitalism and Society, Columbia University, October 2009), http://capitalism.columbia.edu/

files/ccs/Nadiri%20Working%20Paper%2045.pdf.

29. The United States has spent about $325 billion in Afghanistan in fiscal years FY2001–10 and has budgeted 

$118 billion for FY2011, which would bring the total budgetary cost of the war to $443 billion. An additional 

$114 billion has been requested for FY2012. Of the $120 budgeted for FY2011, about 94 percent of the funds 

are for the Department of Defense, 5 percent for foreign aid programs and embassy operations, and 1 percent 

for medical care for veterans. See Amy Belasco, “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror 

Operations since 9/11,” Congressional Research Services (CRS) Report for Congress, RL33110, March 29, 2011. 

Since some of the Department of Defense funding has been used for nonmilitary purposes, U.S. assistance for 

relief and reconstruction since the beginning of the war has been about $52 billion. For a breakdown on how 

these funds were allocated, see Kenneth Katzman, “Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. 

Policy,” CRS Report for Congress, RL30588, June 3, 2011 (also 2010 and 2009 versions). Including other donors, 

official aid peaked at 46 percent of GNI in 2008 (the last year for which World Bank reports ODA data for the 

country) or about $5 billion (of which the U.S. contributed about $3 billion). In per capita terms, ODA in 2008 

represented about $190 per person. UN peacekeeping and NATO operations add to the cost of U.S. security and 

military operations in Afghanistan.

30. Despite U.S. involvement and large cost to the international community, the 2009 United Nations Development 

Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index ranks Afghanistan worst of all countries with respect to poverty 

and second worst with respect to human development. In the 2010 index, however, Afghanistan is ranked above 

some of the sub-Saharan African countries, which reflects some gains in 2008 (the year used in the 2010 index).

31. See United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNEP in Afghanistan: Laying the Foundations for Sustainable 

Development (Kabul: UNEP, January 2009) for environmental problems in the country. See also United Nations 

Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Afghanistan Opium Survey (Kabul: UNODC, several years) and Afghanistan 

Cannabis Survey (Kabul: UNODC, 2010) for drug-related information. As UNODC recognizes, drugs have 

“catastrophic consequences” by funding criminals, insurgents, and terrorists in Afghanistan and abroad and by 

undermining public trust in government officials, security, and the rule of law because of corruption. Katzman 

(”Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance,” 2009, 20) reports that narcotics traffic provides $70 million to $100 

million per year to the Taliban. Drugs are also posing a larger public health problem in Afghanistan since 

drug addiction and HIV are spreading death and misery throughout the country, particularly among the most 

vulnerable groups, which include refugees and internally displaced people. UNODC reported that roughly 800,000 

Afghans (about 7 percent of the adult population) now use opium, heroin, and other illicit drugs, a jump from 

five years ago. Furthermore, tens of thousands will die again this year around the world from heroin overdoses, 

with about 90 percent of heroin coming from Afghanistan. UNODC reports that villages with a low level of security 

and that had not received agricultural assistance in the previous year were significantly more likely to grow poppy 

than villages with good security and those that had received assistance.

32. The New York Times has recently reported that “an estimated 95 percent of the country’s economic activity is derived 

from foreign aid and Western military expenditures” and that the departing U.S. ambassador has “warned of an 

economic collapse in Afghanistan as donors begin to reduce their spending there.” See Alissa J. Rubin and Rod 

Nordland, “Departing U.S. Envoy Sees Progress in Afghanistan, and Pitfalls Ahead,” New York Times, July 5, 2011.
33. The governments will need specific expertise to create such a framework to ensure that it will be effective and 

can be enforced. The Ireland Development Agency could perhaps provide technical assistance to the government 

as it has done to other countries in the world.

34. The Ministry of Reconstruction and Rural Development (MRRD) has already agreed to supply infrastructure for 

about forty villages that the MRRD and JICA have identified for a pilot project. 

35. Interventions in these areas will be decided after a thorough consultation process with local communities and 

with the national and local governments on a number of issues to understand how the Earth Institute and its 

partners can help the community achieve its goals in the respective areas. For details, see the report Harvests 

of Development in Rural Africa: The Millennium Villages after Three Year (Earth Institute, the Millennium Promise, 

and the UNDP, 2010). http://millenniumvillages.org/files/2011/02/MVP_Report_2010FINAL.pdf. The proposal 

for the Millennium Villages Project in Afghanistan was prepared with inputs from Jeffrey Sachs, M. Ishaq Nadiri, 

and the author, and is available by request at gd14@columbia.edu.

36. Alice-Ghan is a $10 million resettlement project created by UNDP for returnees, and financed by the Australian 

government. As Jack Healy, “Alice-Ghan Journal,” makes clear, this project reflects everything that is wrong with 

aid. Housing was built in the middle of nowhere, miles away from any possible jobs, without water or electricity, 

and with only a mobile health clinic that visits on Tuesdays. Things could change should the ERZ be built a few 

blocks away. Building the LRZ and ERZ in an integrated way would not only create synergies between them, but 

it would also address some of the concerns that critics of the Millennium Villages Project in Africa have expressed, 

that is, that strong support is given to a few villages to the exclusion of others.

37. In addition to carrying out the preservation of the villages and developing commercial agriculture, the 

government started building 12,000 housing units in Dehsabz (out of 80,000 planned for the next five years) and 

has plans to develop necessary infrastructure. These plans include water, electricity, roads, and the commercial 

infrastructure necessary to market the products in this area. Developing Barikab as an ERZ would probably 

facilitate the development of infrastructure in this area. 

38. A detailed soil study will need to take place after soil leveling is done. A study will also need to take place on the 

provision of water for the zone through karez systems, flood irrigation, or reservoirs, or from the Panjshir Valley. 

This is a very windy area and windbreaks would have to be planted around the thirty-three square kilometers. In 

a second phase, pastures would be planted in the mountains to create pasturelands for animal husbandry.

39. Rather than financing through NGOs and UN agencies, the Dutch are now focusing on financing the private sector 

directly. There are two specific ways in which the Dutch could support the Barikab ERZ or any other such zone 

in the country. First, the Dutch Agency for International Business and Cooperation (EVD) could finance investors 

that decide to locate in an ERZ. Since EVD’s objective is to support sustainable economic growth, and the agency 

does this by selecting innovative pilot projects in commercial sectors, any ERZ would fit perfectly well within 

that framework. EVD finances Dutch companies as well as joint ventures with local companies. In this regard, 

EVD could promote joint ventures between Dutch investors that bring know-how, capital, and best management 

practices, and Afghan investors that know the local environment and bring local expertise, language, culture, and 

other important factors to make the project successful. If EVD decided to fund pilot projects in the Barikab ERZ, 

the EVD could support up to 60 percent of the private investment up to a maximum of €1.5 million per project. 

The rest of the financing would need to come from domestic investors.

40. Empirical evidence from many countries shows that ERZs could contribute to the government fiscal accounts in 

many ways: ERZs generate “indirect employment” (in companies that provide inputs and services to the zones) 

and these would be subject to national taxes; private administrators of ERZs would pay a fee to the government 

or be subject to national taxation; local workers would pay social security taxes; and, by generating direct and 

indirect employment, ERZs would contribute to improve security and lower security expenditure.

41. Establishing a company in Afghanistan requires several permits and these permits need to be renewed on an 

annual basis. This is not only a perfect recipe for corruption but also denies the legal framework that investors 

require to make economic decisions. For details, see Ernst & Young Presentation of Tax Issues in Afghanistan, 

Serena Hotel, Kabul, May 2011.

42. Housing already exists in the Dehsabz villages and in the Alice-Ghan project, which, together with other existing 

infrastructure in the surroundings, justifies the proposal to create the first RZ in this area.

43. GPFA is a U.S.-based NGO that helps rural Afghans alleviate poverty, build sustainable livelihoods, and restore 

their environment. It has been operating in Dehsabz and neighboring areas for a number of years without 

any security problem. With a $3.5 million annual budget, GPFA employs 180 Afghan men and women as staff 

members. It is working to boost the income of 15,000 male and female farmers in twelve provinces working 

in horticulture, agro-forestry, reforestation, vegetable production, and water management. Its track record in 

reviving and expanding nurseries, orchards, vineyards, and woodlots has been recognized by the Clinton Initiative 

and received a number of awards. See the GPFA website, http://www.gpfa.org/ProjectSummary.pdf. As a member 

of GPFA’s advisory board, the author had the privilege of visiting some of its projects with its Afghan staff.

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