Devastated by nearly three decades of war, Afghanistan''s isolation from world trade and global finance might for once be to its advantage, shielding the country from the economic and financial meltdown abroad.

Sandwiched between Kabul''s main mosque and a foul-smelling river is the teeming money market where traders, holding aloft fist-fulls of U.S. dollars, euros, Pakistani rupees and afghanis, shout out their prices above the melee.

The afghani, Afghanistan''s currency, has barely skipped a beat and property prices in the capital and other major cities are still rising steadily despite hundreds of Taliban suicide bombings and an insurgency spreading from the south and east.

"(The recession) has not affected Afghanistan because we have no dealings with Asia, Europe or anywhere else," said Amin Jan Khosti, the head of the market.

While other currencies rise and fall, the afghani has remained steady at around 52 to the dollar, the same as when the credit crunch began to bite last year.

That is partly due to the United States'' backing of Afghan Central Bank intervention which has kept the currency stable and protected the country''s economy from being buffeted by the financial turmoil, economists said.

The biggest risk for Afghanistan is that the foreign governments that pump billions of dollars in annual aid might need to cut back as they fund multi-billion dollar stimulus plans for their own economies in the wake of the economic crisis.