The global financial crisis has created an unlikely property boom in Kabul, where four-bedroom houses now cost up to £250,000. As prices across the world collapse, parts of the Afghan capital have seen values rise by 75% in the past year, according to estate agents there.

A struggling Dubai property market has forced the small but wealthy Afghan elite to pull their investments out of the Gulf and plough the money back into Kabul.

Prices have been further buoyed by demand for city centre property and land from aid agencies, international contractors and new embassies. With an economy largely reliant on aid or donations and a tiny formal banking system reluctant to lend money, Afghanistan has been largely untouched by the credit crisis and ensuing downturn.

Daily Telegraph