Colombia: Seeking Prosperity Through Peace

PreprintThe recent global transition to a more diffuse distribution of economic power points to a shift in the balance of global growth from rich to low- and middle- income economies. Colombia may be a prime example as its recent rapid per capita income growth of 10.2% on average since 1999 points to the potential for Colombia's convergence to the ranks of rich countries. However, Colombia's economic growth has been constrained by over 40 years of a costly and ineffective drug war policy that has failed. The illicit activity of drug production and trafficking grosses approximately $10-$20 billion a year; it does not enter into the GDP accounting. In addition, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) has stifled Colombia's drive towards economic prosperity. Barring the social and political impasse, the economy would flourish

Memoir of Shair Mohammad Khan Kamrany

Memoir of Shair Mohammad Kamrany, who was born circa 1901-1902 in Bala Karz, Kandahar. He worked on the family farm until he was drafted into army and sent to Kabul. In the 1920s, King Amanullah Khan modernized Afghanistan, and Kamrany was one of a small group of students sent to the newly-formed USSR to learn to fly, after which he served in the first Afghan air force, including service during the 1929 insurgency which ended Amanullah Khan\u27s reign. The memoir includes a detailed description of the alignment and re-alignment of the various Pashtun tribes and the activities of the insurgency between Kabul, Jilalabad, Loghar, Kandahar and Kohdaman