Understanding patterns of infrastructure development in the active war theater of Afghanistan over the period 2002-2010

6th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) -- JUL 26-30, 2015 -- Las Vegas, NVWOS: 000383740304001This study aims to review economic development throughout the war in Afghanistan by representing the total number of economic improvement projects and their respective total budgets within the active war theater of Afghanistan, over the period of 2002-2010. Data used for this study includes eleven infrastructure development projects that took place between 2002 and 2010 in Afghanistan. The total number of economic improvement projects, as well as the total budget of those projects, have been used for understanding patterns of infrastructure development in Afghanistan. The country was divided into seven regions for pattern analysis, where each region consists of various numbers of provinces, districts, and records. Based on the results obtained, it was concluded that the total number of economic improvement projects were at their lowest in 2002 and at their highest in 2007. When the regions were compared, the central region had the highest number of economic improvement projects, whereas the south-western region had the lowest number of economic improvement projects. Project-type analyses revealed that water supply and sanitation projects were most numerous, while agriculture projects were least numerous. Considering the total budget of economic improvement projects, the north-eastern region had the highest total budget ($177.5 million) and the south-eastern region had the lowest total budget ($95.6 million). The combined total budget of transport-type projects had the highest total value ($366.2 million) amongst project types, while agriculture projects had the lowest combined total budget ($2.6 million). Understanding these patterns may provide useful information about strategies and tactics to be employed for similar scenarios in an active war theater in the future.