Farid Ahmad Farzam Rahimi “ e impact of security and regional integration on poverty reduction in Afghanistan”, Journal Journal of International Studies, Vol. 8, No 1, 2015, of International pp. 183-195. DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2015/8-1/16 Studies c Papers © Foundation fi of International e impact of security and regional integration Studies, 2015 © CSR, 2015 on poverty reduction in Afghanistan Scienti Farid Ahmad Farzam Rahimi Ritsumeikan Asia Paci c University (APU) Japan
[email protected] Abstract. Afghanistan has 6 neighbors: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan (to the Received: January, 2015 north), Iran (to the West), Pakistan (to the South-East), and China (to the remote 1st Revision: East). Intervention and continuous war as well as insecurity are the main thematic March, 2015 areas of poverty in Afghanistan. Moreover, in many cases, poverty in Afghanistan is Accepted: April, 2015 mainly a ected by economic and political policies of neighboring countries. ere- fore, lack of economic and political integration at the regional level has increased the DOI: poverty in Afghanistan. 10.14254/2071- By any measure such as per capita income, life expectancy, health, education, welfare, 8330.2015/8-1/16 or freedom, Afghanistan is a very poor country. is paper discusses poverty and the dimensions of poverty in Afghanistan. In addition, this paper presents ways to reduce poverty through providing security and regional integration with neighboring coun- tries. Keywords: Poverty, Poverty Reduction, Security, Regional Integration JEL Code: H56, I32, R13 INTRODUCTION “ e concepts of poverty have developed rapidly over the last thirty years, and international attention is now focused more sharply on poverty reduction than it was twenty years ago (Agola & Awange, 2014, p.