Included in the agenda for the Brussels Summit on Afghanistan in October, economic programs for villages will also be tackled.

This comes after a number of residents in villages recently criticized government for not undertaking inclusive economic development programs for rural areas - saying villages have little access to economic opportunities to leverage a livelihood.

It is said that over the past several years almost of 50 percent of villagers have flocked to urban areas for various reasons including security and the lack of proper infrastructure in rural areas.

However, unemployment and security threats are said to be the main reasons for the economic downturn in villages.

Unconfirmed statistics show that currently nearly 80 percent of villagers have little or no income.

"The situation is not good, our economy is very weak, we do not harvest good crops these days due to certain reasons," said Bulbul Shah, a villager in Paghman.

"Our agricultural lands were destroyed after the invasion of the Russians, also there is not enough water for irrigation," another farmer Ekramuddin said.

The low income, nonexistent economic development projects, few health facilities, poor education facilities and the lack of power and clean drinking water are among their challenges, say villagers.

Earlier this month, the Afghan Ministry of Urban Development and Rural Rehabilitation said it is undertaking new programs that aim to create job opportunities for villagers.

The ministry said that on the basis of the plan, $1 billion USD will be invested in various sectors in the provinces.

"The citizen consolidation program will help to create short term and long term job opportunities for villagers; one of the specialties of the program is that it will help provide social services to the people in villages," said deputy minister of urban development and rural rehabilitation Ahmad Shaheer Shahriar.