Afghanistan has a brighter future ahead of it despite NATO ending its combat operations there in 2014, President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday while arguing his country had made "significant progress in the past 10 years", dpa reported.
"There are different analyses about Afghanistan's fate after 2014, and what we find from these analyses is that our country is heading towards speedy development and a brighter future," Karzai said while inaugurating an industrial exhibition in Kabul.
"Our domestic products have seen considerable growth in the past 10 years, and we can compete on the international market now," Karzai said of his war-torn country.
Analysts have said Afghanistan's development is hindered by pervasive poverty, poor infrastructure, strong dependence on foreign aid, weak rule of law and governance, and high levels of corruption.
Karzai asked foreign companies and countries to invest in Afghanistan, which has been fighting a Taliban insurgency since the Islamist movement was ousted from power in a 2001 US-led invasion.
Foreign investment is now one of the key economic strategies to make the country more economically independent.
That investment is being sought especially in exploiting Afghanistan's natural resources, which officials valued at 3 trillion dollars. But only a handful of foreign companies have shown interest in investing in its mines and gas fields.Investments have jumped 20 per cent so far in 2012 to 553 million dollars, the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency said.But last month, the commerce and industries minister said most of the investment came from Afghans, with only a few foreign investors interested.