“A 25-year-old man we will call Shakir has told IRIN he rues rejecting an offer of “work” from a Taliban agent whereby he would get 500 Afghanis (about US$10) a day for carrying out attacks on government offices in Farah Province, southwestern Afghanistan.  Those who accepted the offer are better off, he thinks.  “People are jobless, hungry and destitute so they agree to do anything for a small payment,” he told IRIN, refusing to give his name for fear the insurgents would kill him.”--“Afghanistan: Tempted by a Taliban Job Offer,” IRIN News Agency, March 22, 2009
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83310

 “Policemen in Afghanistan are not happy with their lives. The highest-ranking officer makes about $80 per month, and "the Taliban pay better," one policeman tells me.  Would he go fight with them? "They haven't asked me. But I have to survive. If they asked me I would," he replies.”  --“Taliban Threatens 'Grow Poppy or Die!,'” Newsmax, Nov. 16, 2006,
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/11/16/162941.shtml?s=lh 

"We need to pay construction workers more than the Taliban are paying their soldiers, fighters and porters," says Ostlund, putting porters' pay at about 100 dollars a month and fighters' at 150.”  --“Afghans Learning a Better Way to Match Taliban Pay,” AFP, March 23, 2008,
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hsVZExc0XaqQlfKcSpcweL5SbIuA

"In some areas, thanks to the canal cleaning initiatives, farmers have irrigation for their farms for the first time in 20 years. Many of their irrigation systems were destroyed by the Russians. They had never been able to afford the time and man-power to repair them until now.  Juma Gul, one of the workers on the CRS Nakhunai Canal project shares that view. "I am 18 years old. I don't mind the hard work. I have been cleaning out the canal for a month now and I will stay on until the job is finished. I support my family with the money I earn, this is an important project for me. I thank everyone who made this possible. My mother cried when she knew I had this job and that we would have water."  --“Changing Lives - Caritas in Kandahar,” Caritas Press Release, May 28, 2003,
http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/0/e02c834bd9190aa249256d440024c1d5?OpenDocument&Click=

“Joining the Taleban gave Mahmud a chance to save up enough money to start his own small business. Nowadays, he buys goods in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and sells them in the districts at weekly "mila" or markets.  "Now that I have work, I am not with the Taleban any more."” – “Few Choices for Helmand’s Troubled Youth,” Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Nov. 9, 2007
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=340496&apc_state=henh

 "There is a low percentage of the total Taliban force who we  would call ideologically driven. We refer to them as Tier 1 people who  believe their ideology, that what they're doing is right. The vast  majority of Taliban fighters are essentially economically  disadvantaged young men." --Col. Tom Collins, PBS Frontline, April 2,,, 2007,
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/afghanistan604/interview_collins.html

"Most Afghans, after the dispersal of the Taliban, were full of hope and ready to work. The tangible benefits of reconstruction --jobs, housing, schools, health-care facilities --could have rallied them to support the gooovernment and turn that illusory "democracy" into something like the real thing. But reconstruction didn't happen." ---Journalist Ann Jones, "The Road to Taliban-Land"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/116512/ann_jones_on_the_road_to_taliban_land
 

“19-year-old Jaan Agha in Helmund Province told the Institute for War and Reporting in November of 2007 that it was either the Taliban or watch his family starve.  "I couldn't find a job anywhere.  So I had to join the Taliban. They give me money for my family expenditures. If I left the Taliban, what else could I do?" --“Few Choices for Helmand’s Troubled Youth,” Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Nov. 9, 2007
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=340496&apc_state=henh

"Drought and Hunger Kill Nine People in Northern Afghanistan," RAWA report, May 25, 2008
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2008/05/25/drought-and-hunger-kill-nine-people-in-northern-afghanistan_8494.html

“Children Eating Grass, Ghazni,” IRIN News, March 10, 2008
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=77195

Combined Joint Task Force 101 (CJTF101) Power and Water Conference
http://www.aed.usace.army.mil/news/releases/CJTF101.pdf

“Guidebook for Supporting Economic Development in Stability Operations”
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2009/RAND_TR633.pdf

"DACAAR trains 460 water and sanitation engineers from all over Afghanistan"
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/SODA-6PT325?OpenDocument

"AFGHANISTAN: Water a serious problem nationwide"
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=20150

“OXFAM TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: NEW STRATEGY MUST AVERT A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN AFGHANISTAN”
http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/220803/fe304c23953614463670db1992142e7f.htm

STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL KARL W. EIKENBERRY, U.S. ARMY  FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL  COMBINED FORCES COMMAND-AFGHANISTAN  BEFORE THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE ON DEFENSE  AN ASSESSMENT OF SECURITY AND STABILITY IN AFGHANISTAN, FEBRUARY 13, 2007,
http://armedservices.house.gov/pdfs/FC_Afghan021307/Eikenberry_Testimony021307.pdf