"Inflation ran 30.5 percent last year, in part because of the infusion of Western non-governmental organizations, military contractors, and foreign-educated specialists who are willing to pay top dollar for luxuries and necessities.... In the nine years since the US military toppled the Taliban regime, the price of bread has jumped from 2 to 20 cents. A bundle of firewood has gone from 14 cents to $1.50. A simple house that rented for $30 per month now fetches $500."
Hey, all you need is love!
"Afghanistan tries to limit excessive wedding day costs; Families struggle with expenses for ceremony, dowry" by Farah Stockman, Globe Staff / February 6, 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan — Marriage in this embattled nation is a two-sided coin: an emblem of hope for the future and a symbol of Afghanistan’s battle with inflation.
In the nine years since the US military toppled the Taliban regime, the price of bread has jumped from 2 to 20 cents. A bundle of firewood has gone from 14 cents to $1.50. A simple house that rented for $30 per month now fetches $500. But perhaps nowhere has inflation caused more discomfort than in the skyrocketing cost of marriage, which has leapt from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands.
Marriage costs have become a major political issue....
Inflation ran 30.5 percent last year, in part because of the infusion of Western non-governmental organizations, military contractors, and foreign-educated specialists who are willing to pay top dollar for luxuries and necessities.
Afghan employees of foreign organizations, as well as corrupt Afghan officials and drug traffickers, easily earn a hundred times the salary of an ordinary person, making the gap between rich and poor in Afghanistan among the widest in the world.
Middle-class families in Kabul take out bank loans or sell their homes to pay for a marriage....
The rest of the article degenerates into insulting Afghan-bashing.
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Time to get a divorce from the Boston Globe.
