Pre-2001 Afghanistan has been widely represented as 25 years of war and devastation, leaving a post-conflict reconstruction agenda to start with a clean state. This analysis has ignored the nature of Afghanistan, its complexity, and its fundamental resilience. Through a critical analysis of key aspects of the rural economy and drivers of change, including the opium poppy economy, this book critically explores assumptions made about Afghanistan as a crisis state and post-conflict environment, and its reconstruction agendas and practice, and considers the limitations of the response of the international community. Bringing together papers by key practitioners and food security analysts, this book provides an important reference for operational agencies and researchers.