Welcome to Afghan Training Foundation

Life in Afghanistan is hard, unbelievably hard. Abject poverty, ill health, a lack of sanitation and clean water, poor infrastructure and damaged homes - these face the thousands of families returning to Afghanistan from refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran or coming to the capital, Kabul, from districts and provinces where war and conflict, devastation and drought have made them barely viable. Kabul has grown over the past decade from a population of 750,000 to over 5 million people.

Despite major international reconstruction efforts, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s poorest and most dangerous countries - struggling to get back on its feet, whilst remaining dependent on military, charity and government aid.

The population of the country is around 30 million, of whom over half are under the aged of 15. If things don’t improve soon, the problems will be far worse in the coming years… One in four children die before the age of 5 and the average lifespan is 43. Illiteracy remains high and although there are many encouragements - such as the thousands of children, girls as well as boys, now in school - there’s much more to do.

For many young people and their families, life is a daily struggle. They face little hope for the future in a country which is economically and politically fragile - dominated by corruption, violence and the poppy trade.

The Taliban, defeated in 2002 and forced to retreat over the border into the mountains of northern Pakistan, continue to fight and appear to be gaining ground - not least because they recruit from among the thousands of unemployed, impoverished men who have no other means of livelihood.

It is not hard to see a way forward for Afghanistan - jobs, businesses and international trade, in a safe environment. The billions of dollars being invested by the international community in military intervention and security initiatives cannot succeed without jobs for the people and businesses to employ them - with international markets to generate the income the country needs.

Afghan Action offers hope of a brighter future to young men and women - helping them train to become carpet weavers and learn to read and write.

Once trained they can use their skills to work in good conditions with fair wages in Afghan Action’s carpet factory in Karte Se, Kabul - or be helped to run a business from home providing badly needed income, so they can support themselves, their families and their local communities.

We’re getting into other things now - work with technical schools, IT development, teaching English and a range of programmes in the UK, working with Afghans and the wider community and linking British schools with schools in Afghanistan.

While others throw up their hands in despair, we remain determined to make a real difference in Afghanistan. But we can’t do it on our own. We need your help and support.