With aid from the Soviet Union, the Afghan government built the Nangarhar Canal near Jalalabad in the south. Afghanistan has little industry. Handworkers in cottage industries produce woven, embroidered, metal, pottery, and wooden goods and utensils. Cottage industries account for some 8 percent of the gross domestic product, while manufacturing industries account for only about 4 percent. The yearly income per person in Afghanistan was about 280 dollars in the mid-1990s.
Natural gas accounts for nearly half of the country's exports.
Fruits and nuts, cotton, carpets, and karakul skins are also exported. Leading imports include textiles, machinery, vehicles, and petroleum. In the 1990s Afghanistan still lacked railways. The most important roads connect Kabul with Shir Kahn, on the Tajik border in the north, and with Peshawar in Pakistan in the east. Paved roads also link Kabul with Qandahar, Herat, and Mazar e Sharif.