What is the best REALISTIC way for Afghanistan to improve its economy?
The best thing that could happen would be for the government to gain security control over its territory to the point where it is a stable country. Once that happens, drop all barriers to trade or direct investment and join the global economy. If companies felt that their assets were safe enough in Afghanistan to invest there, and they could do it legally, they would. Follow the East Asian example of export driven growth spurred by Foreign Direct Investment.
The easiest way would be if they had a legal market for their opium poppy. If somehow it were legal and respectable to grow opium poppy and export it, that would take away a lot of the support for the insurgency and would bring in a lot of money, but that’s very unlikely to happen. Alternatively they will have to try to replace opium with another crop that they can export, use the export money (or foreign aid) to work on security and infrastructure, and then, after they have those things, to lure foreign investment by making Kabul business friendly.
