“I am so tired of not having work that many times I have thought of carrying out a suicide attack,” said Farid, 30, who sells vegetables from a cart in Kabul.

Farid has a large family to support, and cannot find a stable job. He sells vegetables, but is often harassed by police who will not let him into many parts of the city.

“I need to find food for my children,” he said. “But the police will not let me work. I am tired of this life.”

Unemployment is one of the major problems facing Afghanistan today. According to Asadullah Walwalji, spokesperson to Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, there are approximately 2.5 million unemployed Afghans, representing nearly 35 percent of the work force.

Poverty and desperation are also causing many citizens to lose faith in their government, a dangerous development as Afghanistan struggles to contain a growing insurgency.

In Kabul, the capital city, the unemployed are everywhere. Even small children are trying to earn money, either begging on the street, cleaning cars stopped for traffic lights, or carrying heavy loads for people.

“I have to work to help my father,” said Mohammad Yusuf, who said he was twelve years old. According to Yusuf, his family had recently come back from Pakistan, where they lived as refugees and where he was able to complete seven years of school.

“I cannot continue my studies now,” he said, shivering in his light summer clothes, unsuitable for Kabul’s winter weather. “My father cannot find work very often, and I have to help support my family.”

Yusuf is quite small for his age, and said that few people will ask him to help them carry boxes and other loads.

“I earn 80 to 100 afghani ($1.60-$2.00) per day,” he said. “Some days I get no money at all.”

The government is trying to help, says Asadullah Walwajee.

“The ministry has established approximately 20 vocational programs in the past year,” he said. “These programs are creating job opportunities for 1.5 million unemployed.”

The projects cover 73 different skills, he added, and more than 90 percent of those who complete the program go on to start their own businesses, earning between 3000 and 8000 ($60- $160) afghani per month.

Unemployment has reached a point where hundreds of thousands of Afghans leave the country each year for work in other countries. The majority of these people are illegal workers, which places them at great risk, according to economic analyst Mohammad Bashir Dodyall.

“It is the government’s responsibility to take practical measures to find jobs for the unemployed,” said Dodyall. “The government should build infrastructure and find professionals to run these projects to create jobs.”

According to Walwajee, the ministry was looking for ways to help the unemployed

“We will send Afghan laborers to foreign countries through eight different foundations,” he said. “According to an agreement between Afghanistan and Qatar, Afghan workers will begin to go to Qatar over the next two to three months.”

However, Dodyall believes that the government has not yet taken any effective practical measure in this regard, and government officials have often not kept their promises.