Rebuilding Afghanistan

"After decades of turmoil, the country’s Ministry of Urban Development and Housing is spearheading initiatives to help rebuild from the ground up.... Though much of the country is still in ruins, returning refugees live dangerously on the edge, and Islamic militants are fixed on sabotaging the government, Hyatt is committing to a $40 million hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan. 'Real estate in some parts of Kabul now is higher per square foot than in downtown Dallas,' noted Shair Bar Hakemy, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s business adviser, in a Washington Post article in late February. And while there are few visible signs of the more than $4 billion in aid pledged by countries worldwide to build schools, roads, and infrastructure projects, 'there is money to be made in Afghanistan now,' according to Sabir Latifa, an Afghan entrepreneur whose Internet café, only two years old, has already paid for itself.

Thanks to Urban Land Institute