In Kabul can be had the products of Khurasan, Rum, `Iraq and Chin (China); while it is Hindustan’s own market.
Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, The Babur-Nama (ca. 1530, trans. 1922)
Notwithstanding the tightly closed door into Afghanistan, trade with the outside world is increasing, important improvements are projected, and European and American ideas, fashions, and articles of commerce are invading the country.
Henry D. Baker, British India, With Notes on Ceylon, Afghanistan and Tibet (1915)
Money exchange dealers, or hawaladars, provide a well-organized, convenient, and cost-effective means of making international and domestic payments. They have had lots of practice, for the Afghan population has relied on the informal sector to access financial services for hundreds of years.
Samuel Munzele Maimbo, The Money Exchange Dealers of Kabul: A Study of the Hawala System in Afghanistan (2003)
It is a pity Western organizations which send huge sums to their agents in Afghanistan do not use Afghan banks to deposit the money … it could create so many jobs.
Noorkhan Haidari quoted in Golnar Motevalli, “Afghan bankers see growth despite insecurity,” Washington Post (April 14, 2010)