 By the end of its first year in operation, the organization had reached over 4,500 clients, an outstanding loan portfolio of almost $700,000, and a repayment rate of 100%.The rapid expansion achieved in less than a year was the first evidence of the pent-up demand for financial services and economic opportunity among Afghanistan's poor.Recognizing that these needs were not limited to Herat, FINCA initiated an ambitious long-term expansion plan to spread across Afghanistan, beginning with Kabul and Nangarhar in 2005, followed by Balkh, Laghman, Kunar and Parwan in 2006, and Kunduz in 2007.