Insecurity threatens Afghanistan with economic crisis

KABUL (Reuters) - Security fears ahead of a NATO combat force pullout in 2014 may prompt wealthy Afghans to keep shifting billions of dollars to safe havens in Dubai and elsewhere, threatening the country's economic survival, the deputy central bank governor warned.

In an interview with Reuters, Khan Afzal Hadawal said confidence in the economy had eroded to such a degree over more than a decade of war that Afghans were hand carrying up to $4 billion a year out from Kabul airport alone -- an amount almost equal to last year's state budget.