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Islamic Republic of Afghanistan د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت (Da Afġānistān Islāmī Jomhoriyat) جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان (Jumhūrī-yi Islāmī-yi Afġānistān)
Flag Emblem
Anthem: Surūd-i Millī
Capitaland largest city	Kabul
Official languages	Pashto Persian (Darī)
Government	Islamic Republic
• President	Hamid Karzai
• Vice President	Ahmad Zia Massoud
• Vice President	Karim Khalili
Independence from the United Kingdom
• Declared	August 8 1919
• Recognized	August 19 1919
• Water (%)	n/a
Population
• 2005 estimate	29,863,000 (38th)
• 1979 census	13,051,358
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
• Total	$31.9 billion (91st)
• Per capita	$1,310 (162nd)
HDI (2003)	n/a Error: Invalid HDI value (unranked)
Currency	Afghani (Af) (AFN)
Time zone	UTC+4:30
• Summer (DST)	UTC+4:30
Calling code	93
ISO 3166 code	AF
Internet TLD	.af

Afghānistān, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, Persian: جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان), is a landlocked country located at the heart of Asia. Generally considered part of Southern Asia, it is sometimes ascribed to a regional bloc in either Central Asia or the Middle East, as it has religious, ethno-linguistic, and geographic links with most of its neighbours. It is largely bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and the People's Republic of China in the far northeast. The name Afghanistan means the "Land of Afghans".

Afghanistan is a mosaic of ethnic groups, and a crossroads between the East and the West. It has been an ancient focal-point of trade and migration. The region of modern Afghanistan has seen many invaders and conquerors come and go, including the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, Muslim Arabs, Turkic and Mongol nomads, the British Empire and the Soviets.

In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani created Afghanistan as a large state with its capital at Kandahar. Subsequently, most of its territories were ceded to former neighbors due to regional conflicts. On August 19, 1919, following the Anglo-Afghan wars, the country regained full independence from Great Britain over its foreign affairs.

Since 1979, Afghanistan has suffered almost continuous conflict, beginning with the Soviet invasion followed by a civil war and finally by the 2001 US intervention in which the ruling Taliban government was toppled. In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). This force, composed of NATO troops, has been involved in assisting the government of President Hamid Karzai in establishing authority across the nation. In 2005, the United States and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement committing both nations to a long-term relationship. In the meantime, over 18 billion US dollars have also been provided by the international community for the reconstruction of the country.

Etymology

The name Afghānistān translates to the "Land of Afghans". Its modern usage derives from the word Afghan.

Origin of the word "Afghan"

The Pashtuns began using the term Afghan as a name for themselves from at least the Islamic period and onwards. According to W. K. Frazier Tyler, M. C. Gillet and several other scholars, "The word Afghan first appears in history in the Hudud-al-Alam in 982 AD." In this regard, the Encyclopædia Iranica states:

From a more limited, ethnological point of view, "Afghān" is the term by which the Persian-speakers of Afghanistan (and the non-Paštō-speaking ethnic groups generally) designate the Paštūn. The equation Afghan Paštūn has been propagated all the more, both in and beyond Afghanistan, because the Paštūn tribal confederation is by far the most important in the country, numerically and politically.

It further explains:

The term "Afghān" has probably designated the Paštūn since ancient times. Under the form Avagānā, this ethnic group is first mentioned by the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira in the beginning of the 6th century A.D. in his Brihat-samhita.

This information is supported by traditional Pashto literature, for example in the writings of the seventeenth century Pashto poet Khushal Khan Khattak:

Pull out your sword and slay any one, that says Pashton and Afghan are not one! Arabs know this and so do Romans: Afghans are Pashtons, Pashtons are Afghans!

Meaning and origin of the name "Afghanistan"

The last part of the name, -stān, is an Indo-Iranian suffix for "place", prominent in many languages of the region. The term "Afghanistan", meaning the "Land of Afghans", was mentioned by the sixteenth century Mughal Emperor Babur in his memoirs, referring to the territories south of Kabul that were inhabited by Pashtuns (called "Afghans" by Babur). Regarding the modern usage of the name "Afghanistan", the Encyclopædia Of Islam states:

Afghānistān has borne that name only since the middle of the 18th century, when the supremacy of the Afghan race (Pashtuns) became assured: previously various districts bore distinct appellations, but the country was not a definite political unit, and its component parts were not bound together by any identity of race or language. The earlier meaning of the word was simply “the land of the Afghans”, a limited territory which did not include many parts of the present state but did comprise large districts now either independent or within the boundary of Pakistan.

Later, Afghan authorities adopted and extended the name "Afghanistan" to the entire kingdom, after its English translation, "Afghanland", had already appeared in various treaties between British Raj and Qajarid Persia, referring to the lands that were subject to the Pashtun Barakzai Dynasty of Kabul. In the year 1857, Frederick Engels wrote:

Afghanistan, an extensive country of Asia, north-west of India. It lies between Persia and the Indies, and in the other direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly included the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat, Beluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and a considerable part of the Punjab.

"Afghanistan" became the official name when the country was fully recognized by the world community in 1919, after regaining independence over its foreign affairs from the British, and was confirmed as such in the nation's 1923 constitution.

Geography

Afghanistan is a land-locked and mountainous country in central Asia, with plains in the north and southwest. The highest point is Nowshak, at 7485 m (24,557 ft) above sea level. Large parts of the country are dry, and fresh water supplies are limited. Afghanistan has a continental climate, with hot summers and cold winters. The country is frequently subject to minor earthquakes, mainly in the northeast of Hindu Kush mountain areas.

At 249,984 mi² (647,500 km²), Afghanistan is the world's 41st-largest country (after Burma). It is comparable in size to Somalia, and is slightly smaller than the US state of Texas.

The country's natural resources include gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron ore in southeastern areas; precious and semi-precious stones such as lapis, emerald and azure in the north-east; and potentially significant petroleum and natural gas reserves in the north. The country also has coal, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, and salt. However, these significant mineral and energy resources remain largely untapped due to the effects of the Soviet invasion and the subsequent civil war. Plans are underway to begin extracting them in the near future.

History

Excavation of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree, the University of Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian Institute and others suggests that humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities of the area were among the earliest in the world.

Afghanistan is a country at a unique nexus point where numerous Eurasian civilizations have interacted and often fought, and was an important site of early historical activity. Through the ages, the region has been home to various people, among them the Aryan (Indo-Iranian) tribes, such as Bactrians, Sogdians, Parthians, etc.

It also has been invaded or conquered by a host of people, including the Median and Persian Empires, Greeks and Macedonians, Mauryans, Kushans, Hepthalites, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, British, Soviets, and most recently by the Americans. On other occasions, native entities have invaded or conquered surrounding regions to form empires of their own.

Between 2000 and 1200 BC, waves of Indo-European-speaking Aryans from the north of Amu Darya are thought to have flooded into northern Afghanistan and then spreading south towards India and west towards Persia, setting up a nation that during the rule of Medes and Achaemenid Persians became known as Aryānām Xšaθra or Airyānem Vāejah. Later, during the rule of Ashkanian, Sasanian and after, it was called Erānshahr (Template:PerB (Īrānšahr)) meaning "Dominion of the Aryans", which included large parts of Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and modern-day Central Asia (Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the western part of Pakistan, etc.).

It has been speculated that Zoroastrianism might have originated in what is now Afghanistan between 1800 to 800 BC. Ancient Eastern Iranian languages, such as Avestan, may have been spoken in this region around a similar time-line with the rise of Zoroastrianism. By the middle of the sixth century BC, the Persian Empire of the Achaemenids supplanted the Median Empire and incorporated what was known as Persia to the Greeks within its boundaries; and by 330 BC, Alexander the Great had invaded Afghanistan and conquered the surrounding regions. Following Alexander's brief occupation, the Hellenistic successor states of the Seleucids and Greco-Bactrians controlled the area, while the Mauryas from India annexed the southeast for a time and introduced Buddhism to the region until the area returned to the Bactrian rule.

During the first century CE, the Tocharian Kushans created a vast empire centered in modern Afghanistan and were patrons of Buddhist culture. The Kushans were then defeated by the Sassanids in the 3rd century. The Sassanids ruled up to the seventh century, when Muslim Arab armies conquered the Sassanid Empire following the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah. The Arab Abbasids conquered the northwest section of Afghanistan by the ninth century and administered that region as part of Khorasan.

In the Middle Ages, up to the 18th century, Khorāsān was the name of the region. Several important centers of Khorāsān are thus located in modern Afghanistan, such as Balkh, Herat, Ghazni and Kabul 1.

Afghanistan became the center of various important empires, including that of the Samanids (875-999), Ghaznavids (977-1187), Ghurids (1149-1212), Timurids (1370-1506), Moghals and Durranis. Among them, the periods of Ghaznavids of Ghazni, Timurids of Herat are considered as some of the most brilliant eras of Afghanistan's history.

In 1219, the region was overrun by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, who devastated the land. Their rule continued with the Ilkhanates, and was extended further following the invasion of Timur Lang, a ruler from Central Asia. In 1504, Babur, a descendant of both Timur Lang and Genghis Khan, established the Mughal Empire with its capital at Kabul. By the early 1700s, the region of modern Afghanistan was controlled by several ruling groups: Uzbeks to the north, Safavids to the west and the remaining larger area by the Mughals or self ruled by local Afghan tribes.

In 1709, Mirwais Khan Hotak, a local Afghan from the Ghilzai clan of the ethnic Pashtuns, overthrew and killed Gurgin Khan, the Safavid governor of Kandahar. Mirwais Khan successfully defeated the Persians, who were attempting to convert the local population of Kandahar from Sunni to Shia sect of Islam. As a result, over 30,000 Persian soldiers and their top generals were killed. Mirwais held the region of Kandahar until his death in 1715 and was succeeded by his son Mir Mahmud Hotaki. In 1722, Mir Mahmud led an Afghan army to Isfahan (now in Iran), sacked the city and proclaimed himself King of Persia. However, the great majority still rejected the Afghan regime as usurping, and after the massacre of thousends of civilians in Isfahan by the Afghans – including more than three thousand religious scholars, nobles, and members of the Safavid family – the Hotaki dynasty was eventually removed from power by a new ruler, Nadir Shah of Persia.

In 1738, Nadir Shah and his army, which included four thousand Pashtuns of the Abdali clan, conquered the region of Kandahar; in the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul and Lahore. On June 19, 1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated, possibly planned by his nephew Ali Qoli. In the same year, one of Nadir's military commanders and personal bodyguard, Ahmad Shah Abdali, a Pashtun from the Abdali clan, called for a loya jirga following Nadir's death. The Afghans gathered at Kandahar and chose Ahmad Shah as their King. Since then, he is regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan. After the inauguration, he changed his title or clans' name to "Durrani", which derives from the Persian word Durr, meaning "Pearl".

By 1751, Ahmad Shah Durrani and his Afghan army conquered the entire present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Khorasan and Kohistan provinces of Iran, along with Delhi in India. In October 1772, Ahmad Shah retired to his home in Maruf, Kandahar, where he died peacefully. He was succeeded by his son, Timur Shah Durrani, who transferred the capital from Kandahar to Kabul. Timur died in 1793 and was finally succeeded by his son Zaman Shah Durrani.

During the nineteenth century, following the Anglo-Afghan wars (fought 1839-42, 1878-80, and lastly in 1919) and the ascension of the Barakzai dynasty, Afghanistan saw much of its territory and autonomy ceded to the United Kingdom. The UK exercised a great deal of influence, and it was not until King Amanullah Khan acceded to the throne in 1919 that Afghanistan re-gained complete independence over its foreign affairs (see "The Great Game"). During the period of British intervention in Afghanistan, ethnic Pashtun territories were divided by the Durand Line. This would lead to strained relations between Afghanistan and British India – and later the new state of Pakistan – over what came to be known as the Pashtunistan debate.

The longest period of stability in Afghanistan was between 1933 and 1973, when the country was under the rule of King Zahir Shah. However, in 1973, Zahir Shah's brother-in-law, Sardar Daoud Khan launched a bloodless coup. Daoud Khan and his entire family were later murdered in 1978, when the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan launched a coup known as the Great Saur Revolution and took over the government.

Opposition against, and conflict within, the series of communist governments that followed, was considerable. As part of a Cold War strategy, in 1979 the United States government under President Jimmy Carter and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski began to covertly fund and train anti-government Mujahideen forces through the Pakistani secret service agency known as Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), who were derived from discontented Muslims in the country that opposed the official atheism of the Marxist regime. In order to bolster the local Communist forces, the Soviet Union—citing the 1978 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborliness that had been signed between the two countries —intervened on December 24, 1979. According to media and official government sources, between 110,000 to 150,000 Soviet troops, assisted by another 100,000 or so pro-communist Afghan troops, were present in Afghanistan. The Soviet occupation resulted in a mass exodus of over 5 million Afghans that moved into refugee camps in neighboring Pakistan, Iran and other countries. More than 3 million settled in Pakistan, over a million in Iran and many others in different countries of the world. Faced with mounting international pressure and the loss of over 15,000 Soviet soldiers as a result of Mujahideen opposition forces trained by the United States, Pakistan, and other foreign governments, the Soviets withdrew ten years later, in 1989.

The Soviet withdrawal from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was seen as an ideological victory in the US, which had backed the Mujahideen through three US presidential administrations in order to counter Soviet influence in the vicinity of the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Following the removal of the Soviet forces in 1989, the US and its allies lost interest in Afghanistan and did little to help rebuild the war-ravaged country or influence events there. The USSR continued to support President Najibullah (formerly the head of the secret service, KHAD) until his downfall in 1992. However, the absence of the Soviet forces resulted in the downfall of the pro-communist government as it steadily lost ground to the guerrilla forces.

The result of the fighting was that the vast majority of the elites and intellectuals had escaped to take refuge abroad, a dangerous leadership vacuum thereby coming into existence. Fighting continued among the various Mujahideen factions, eventually giving rise to a state of warlordism. The most serious fighting during this growing civil conflict occurred in 1994, when over 10,000 people were killed in Kabul. The chaos and corruption that dominated post-Soviet Afghanistan in turn spawned the rise of the Taliban, who were mostly Pashtuns from the Helmand and Kandahar region.

The Taliban developed as a politico-religious force, and eventually seized Kabul in 1996. By the end of 2000, the Taliban were able to capture 95% of the country, aside from the opposition (Afghan Northern Alliance) strongholds primarily found in the northeast corner of Badakhshan Province. The Taliban sought to impose an outragous interpretation of Islamic Sharia law and were later implicated as supporters of terrorists, most notably by harbouring Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

During the Taliban's seven-year rule, much of the population experienced restrictions on their freedom and violations of their human rights. Women were banned from jobs, girls forbidden to attend schools or universities. Those who resisted were punished instantly. Communists were systematically eradicated and thieves were punished by amputating one of their hands or feet. On the positive side, the Taliban managed to nearly eradicate the majority of the opium production by 2001.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom, a military campaign to destroy the Al-Qaeda terrorist network operating in Afghanistan and overthrow their host (the Taliban government). The US made common cause with the Afghan Northern Alliance to achieve its ends.

In December 2001, major leaders from the Afghan opposition groups and diaspora met in Bonn, Germany, and agreed on a plan for the formulation of a new democratic government that resulted in the inauguration of Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun from the southern city of Kandahar, as Chairman of the Afghan Interim Authority.

After a nationwide Loya Jirga in 2002, Karzai was chosen by the representatives to assume the title as Interim-President of Afghanistan. In 2003, the country convened a Constitutional Loya Jirga (Council of Elders) and ratified a new constitution the following year. Hamid Karzai was elected President in a nation-wide election in October 2004. Legislative elections were held in September 2005. The National Assembly – the first freely elected legislature in Afghanistan since 1973 – sat in December 2005, and was noteworthy for the inclusion of women as voters, candidates, and elected members.

As the country continues to rebuild and recover, it is still struggling against poverty, poor infrastructure, large concentration of land mines and other unexploded ordinance on earth, as well as a huge illegal poppy cultivation and opium trade. Afghanistan also remains subject to occasionally violent political jockeying. The country continues to grapple with the Taliban insurgency, the threat of attacks from a few remaining al-Qaeda, and instability, particularly in the north, caused by the remaining few semi-independent warlords.

Government and politics

Template:Morepolitics Politics in Afghanistan has historically consisted of power struggles, bloody coups and unstable transfers of power. With the exception of a military junta, the country has been governed by nearly every system of government over the past century, including a monarchy, republic, theocracy and communist state. The constitution ratified by the 2003 Loya jirga restructured the government as an Islamic republic consisting of three branches, (executive, legislative, and judiciary).

Afghanistan is currently led by President Hamid Karzai, who was elected in October 2004. While supporters have praised Karzai's efforts to promote national reconciliation and a growing economy, critics charge him with failing to rein in the country's warlords, inability to stem corruption and the growing drug trade, and the slow pace of reconstruction. The current parliament was elected in 2005. Among the elected officials were former mujahadeen, Taliban members, communists, reformists, and Islamic fundamentalists. 28% of the delegates elected were women, 3% more than the 25% minimum guaranteed under the constitution. This made Afghanistan, long known under the Taliban for its oppression of women, one of the leading countries in terms of female representation.

The Supreme Court of Afghanistan is currently led by Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi, a former university professor who had been legal advisor to the president. The previous court, appointed during the time of the interim government, had been dominated by fundamentalist religious figures, including Chief Justice Faisal Ahmad Shinwari. The court had issued numerous questionable rulings, such as banning cable television, seeking to ban a candidate in the 2004 presidential election and limiting the rights of women, as well as overstepping its constitutional authority by issuing rulings on subjects not yet brought before the court. The current court is seen as more moderate and led by more technocrats than the previous court, although it has yet to issue any rulings.

Administrative divisions

Afghanistan is administratively divided into thirty-four provinces (welayats), which are further subdivided into districts.

1. Badakhshan
2. Badghis
3. Baghlan
4. Balkh
5. Bamyan
6. Daykundi
7. Farah
8. Faryab
9. Ghazni
10. Ghowr
11. Helmand
12. Herat
13. Jowzjan
14. Kabul
15. Kandahar
16. Kapisa
17. Khost
18. Konar
19. Kunduz
20. Laghman
21. Lowgar
22. Nangarhar
23. Nimruz
24. Nurestan
25. Oruzgan
26. Paktia
27. Paktika
28. Panjshir
29. Parvan
30. Samangan
31. Sare Pol
32. Takhar
33. Wardak
34. Zabol

Economy

Afghanistan is an extremely impoverished country, one of the world's poorest and least developed nations. Two-thirds of the population lives on less than US 2 dollars a day. The economy has suffered greatly from the recent political and military unrest since the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent conflicts, while severe drought added to the nation's difficulties in 1998-2001.

The economically active population in 2002 was about 11 million (out of a total of an estimated 29 million). While there are no official unemployment rate estimates available, it is evident that it is high. The number of non-skilled young people is estimated at 3 million, which is likely to increase by some 300,000 per annum.

As much as one-third of Afghanistan's GDP comes from growing poppy and illicit drugs including opium and its two derivatives, morphine and heroin, as well as hashish production.

On a positive note, international efforts to rebuild Afghanistan led to the formation of the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) as a result of the December 2001 Bonn Agreement, and later addressed at the Tokyo Donors Conference for Afghan Reconstruction in 2002, where 4.5 billion US dollars were committed in a trust fund to be administered by the World Bank Group. Another 4 billion US dollars were committed in 2004 followed by 10.5 billion in early 2006 at the London Conference. In addition neighbouring Iran has invested 4.5 billion dollars solely in reconstruction and development plans since the US invasion. In addition trade ties have reached a significant 1 billion dollar per annum between these two countries. Priority areas for reconstruction include the rebuilding of the educational system, health, and sanitation facilities, enhancement of administrative capacity, the development of the agricultural sector, and the rebuilding of road, energy, and telecommunication links.

According to a 2004 report by the Asian Development Bank, the present reconstruction effort is two-pronged: first it focuses on rebuilding critical physical infrastructure, and second, on building modern public sector institutions from the remnants of Soviet style planning to ones that promote market-led development. In 2006, two US companies, Black & Veatch and the Louis Berger Group, have won a US 1.4 billion dollar contract to rebuild roads, power lines and water supply systems of Afghanistan.

One of the main drivers for the current economic recovery is the return of over 4 million refugees from neighbouring countries and the West, who brought with them fresh energy, entrepreneurship and wealth-creating skills as well as much needed funds to start up businesses. What is also helping is the estimated US 2-3 billion dollars in international assistance every year, the partial recovery of the agricultural sector, and the reestablishment of market institutions. Private developments are also beginning to get underway. In 2006, a Dubai-based Afghan family opened a $25 million Coca Cola bottling plant in Afghanistan.

While the country's current account deficit is largely financed with the donor money, only a small portion – about 15% – is provided directly to the government budget. The rest is provided to non-budgetary expenditure and donor-designated projects through the United Nations system and non-governmental organizations. The government had a central budget of only $350 million in 2003 and an estimated $550 million in 2004. The country's foreign exchange reserves totals about $500 million. Revenue is mostly generated through customs, as income and corporate tax bases are negligible.

Inflation had been a major problem until 2002. However, the depreciation of the Afghani in 2002 after the introduction of the new notes (which replaced 1,000 old Afghani by 1 new Afghani) coupled with the relative stability compared to previous periods has helped prices to stabilize and even decrease between December 2002 and February 2003, reflecting the turnaround appreciation of the new Afghani currency. Since then, the index has indicated stability, with a moderate increase toward late 2003.

The Afghan government and international donors seem to remain committed to improving access to basic necessities, infrastructure development, education, housing and economic reform. The central government is also focusing on improved revenue collection and public sector expenditure discipline. The rebuilding of the financial sector seems to have been so far successful. Money can now be transferred in and out of the country via official banking channels. Since 2003, over fourteen new banks have opened in the country, including Da Afghanistan Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Afghanistan International Bank, Kabul Bank, Azizi Bank, First MicroFinanceBank, and others. A new law on private investment provides three to seven-year tax holidays to eligible companies and a four-year exemption from exports tariffs and duties.

Some private investment projects, backed with national support, are also beginning to pick up steam in Afghanistan. An initial concept design called the City of Light Development, envisioned by Dr. Hisham N. Ashkouri, Prinicpal of ARCADD, Inc. for the development and the implementation of a privately based investment enterprise has been proposed for multi-function commercial, historic and cultural development within the limits of the Old City of Kabul along the Southern side of the Kabul River and along Jade Meywand Avenue, revitalizing some of the most commercial and historic districts in the City of Kabul, which contains numerous historic mosques and shrines as well as viable commercial activities among war damaged buildings. Also incorporated in the design is a new complex for the Afghan National Museum.

While these improvements will help rebuild a strong basis for the nation in the future, for now, half the population continues to suffer from insufficient food, clothing, housing, and other problems exacerbated by military operations and political uncertainties. The government is not strong enough to collect customs duties from all the provinces due to the power of the warlords. Fraud is widespread and "corruption is rife within many Afghan government organs.

The overall good news is the country has potential to quickly come out of poverty and become an economically stable country. This is due to many reports showing that the country has possession of mass amounts of high demand natural resources and minerals. According to the US Geological Survey and the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Industry, Afghanistan may be possessing up to 36 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 3.6 billion barrels of petroleum and up to 1,325 million barrels of natural gas liquids. This could mark the turning point in Afghanistan’s reconstruction efforts. Energy exports could generate the revenue that Afghan officials need to modernize the country’s infrastructure and expand economic opportunities for the beleaguered and fractious population. Other reports suggest that the country has huge amounts of gold, copper, coal, iron ore and other rich minerals.

Demographics

Languages

The CIA factbook on languages spoken in Afghanistan is as follows: Persian (officially known as Dari) 50% and Pashto 35%, both are Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family. Pashto and Dari (also known as Farsi) are the official languages of the country. Others include Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 9%, as well as 30 minor languages 4% (primarily Balochi, Nuristani, Pashai, Brahui, Hindko, Punjabi, Hindi/Urdu, etc.). Bilingualism is common.

According to the Encyclopædia Iranica, the Persian language is the mother tongue of roughly one-third of Afghanistan's population, while it is also the most widely used language of the country, spoken by around 90% of the population. It further states that Pashto is spoken by around 50% of the population.

Ethnic Groups

The population of Afghanistan is divided into a wide variety of ethnic groups. Because a systematic census has not been held in the country in decades, exact figures about the size and composition of the various ethnic groups are not available. Therefore most figures are approximations only. Based on the latest 2006 information gathered by the BBC News agency, from the CIA and the United Nations reports, Afghanistan's ethnic group distribution is indicated on the chart below:

According to the CIA World Factbook, an approximate ethnic group distribution is as follows:

The Encyclopædia Britannica gives a slightly different list for various ethnolinguistic groups in Afghanistan:

• 49% Pashtun
• 18% Tajik
• 9% Hazara
• 8% Uzbek
• 4% Aimak
• 3% Turkmen
• 9% other

Based on official census numbers from the 1960s to the 1980s, as well as information found in mainly scholarly sources, the Encyclopædia Iranica gives the following list:

• 36.4% Pashtun
• 33.6% Tajik, Farsiwan, and Qezelbash
• 8.0% Hazara
• 8.0% Uzbek
• 3.2% Aimak
• 1.6% Baloch
• 9.2% other

Religions

Religiously, Afghans are over 99% Muslims: approximately 74-89% Sunni and 9-25% Shi'a (estimates vary). There are about 30,000 to 150,000 Hindus and Sikhs living in different cities but mostly in Jalalabad, Kabul, and Kandahar. Also, there was a small Jewish community in Afghanistan (See Bukharan Jews) who fled the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, and only one individual, Zablon Simintov, remains today.

Largest cities

The only city in Afghanistan with over one million residents is its capital, Kabul. The other major cities in the country are, in order of population size, Kandahar, Herat, Mazari Sharif, Jalalabad, Ghazni and Kunduz.

Culture

Afghans display pride in their religion, country, ancestry, and above all, their independence. Like other highlanders, Afghans are regarded with mingled apprehension and condescension, for their high regard for personal honor, for their clan loyalty and for their readiness to carry and use arms to settle disputes. As clan warfare and internecine feuding has been one of their chief occupations since time immemorial, this individualistic trait has made it difficult for foreign invaders to hold the region.

Afghanistan has a complex history that has survived either in its current cultures or in the form of various languages and monuments. However, many of the country's historic monuments have been damaged in recent wars. The two famous statues of Buddha in the Bamyan Province were destroyed by the Taliban, who regarded them as idolatrous. Other famous sites include the very cities of Kandahar, Herat, Ghazni and Balkh. The Minaret of Jam, in the Hari Rud valley, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The cloak worn by Prophet Mohammad is stored inside the famouse Khalka Sharifa in Kandahar City.

The people of Afghanistan are prominent horsemen as the national sport is Buzkashi, similar to polo, but instead which a goat carcass is used instead of a ball. Afghan hounds (a type of running dog) also originated from Afghanistan.

Although literacy levels are very low, classic Persian poetry plays a very important role in Afghan culture. Poetry has always been one of the major educational pillars in Iran and Afghanistan, to the level that it has integrated itself into culture. Persian culture has, and continues to, exert a great influence over Afghan culture. Private poetry competition events known as “musha’era” are quite common even among ordinary people. Almost every home owns one or more poetry collection of some sort, even if it is not read often.

The eastern dialects of the Persian language are popularly known as "Dari". The name itself derives from "Pārsī-e Darbārī", meaning Persian of the royal courts. The ancient term Darī – one of the original names of the Persian language – was revived in the Afghan constitution of 1964, and was intended "to signify that Afghans consider their country the cradle of the language. Hence, the name Fārsī, the language of Fārs, is strictly avoided. With this point in mind, we can consider the development of Dari or Persian literature in the political entity known as Afghanistan."

Many of the famous Persian poets of the tenth to fifteenth centuries stem from Khorasan where is now known as Afghanistan. They were mostly also scholars in many disciplines like languages, natural sciences, medicine, religion and astronomy.

• Mowlānā Rumi, who was born and educated in Balkh in the thirteenth century and moved to Konya in modern-day Turkey,
• Abu'l-Majd Sanā'ī (twelfth century, native of Ghazni province),
• Jāmī of Herāt (fifteenth century, native of Jam-e-Herat in western Afghanistan),
• Nizām ud-Dīn Alī Sher Navā'ī, (fifteenth century, Herat province).

Most of these individuals were of Persian (Tājīk) ethnicity who still form the second-largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Also, some of the contemporary Persian language poets and writers, who are relatively well-known in Persian-speaking world, include Ustad Betab, Qari Abdullah, Khalilullah Khalili, Sufi Ghulam Nabi Ashqari, Qahar Asey, Parwin Pazwak and others. In 2003, Khaled Hosseini published The Kiterunner which though fiction, captured much of the history, politics and culture experienced in Afghanistan from the 1930s to present day.

In addition to poets and authors, numerous Persian scientists have had their origins lie in where it's now called Afghanistan. Most notable was Avicenna (Abu Alī Hussein ibn Sīnā) whose father hailed from Balkh. Ibn Sīnā, who travelled to Isfahan later in life to establish a medical school there, is known by some scholars as "the father of modern medicine". George Sarton called ibn Sīnā "the most famous scientist of Islam and one of the most famous of all races, places, and times." His most famous works are The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine, also known as the Qanun. Ibn Sīnā's story even found way to the contemporary English literature through Noah Gordon's The Physician, now published in many languages.

Before the Taliban gained power, the city of Kabul was home to many musicians who were masters of both traditional and modern Afghan music, especially during the Nauroz-celebration. Kabul in the middle part of the twentieth century has been likened to Vienna during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The tribal system, which orders the life of most people outside metropolitan areas, is potent in political terms. Men feel a fierce loyalty to their own tribe, such that, if called upon, they would assemble in arms under the tribal chiefs and local clan leaders (Khans). In theory, under Islamic law, every believer has an obligation to bear arms at the ruler's call (Ulul-Amr).

Heathcote considers the tribal system to be the best way of organizing large groups of people in a country that is geographically difficult, and in a society that, from a materialistic point of view, has an uncomplicated lifestyle.

Infrastructure

Communications and technology

Afghanistan has rapidly increased in communication technology, and has embarked on wireless companies, internet, radio stations and television channels. Afghan telecommunication companies, Afghan Wireless, Roshan and Areeba, have boasted increase in rapid cellular phone usage. In 2006, the Afghan Ministry of Communications has signed a US 64.5 million dollar agreement with a company (ZTE Corporation) on the establishment of a countrywide fibre optical cable network. This will improve telephone, internet, television and radio broadcast services throughout the country.

Afghanistan's local television channels include:

• Aina TV
• Ariana TV
• Ariana Afghanistan TV
• Lamar TV
• Shamshad TV
• Tolo TV

Transportation

Afghanistan's commercial airlines, Ariana Afghan Airlines, now serves flights to London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome, Dubai and Istanbul to and from Kabul and Herat. Afghanistan has also improved in vehicle conditions with Toyota, Land Rover, BMW and Hyundai dealerships all over Kabul, and a huge import of fine second-hand vehicles from UAE on display in Kandahar. Afghanistan, however, still is a long way from major modern technological advancements, but is on the fast road to that goal.

Education

In the spring of 2003, it was estimated that 30% of Afghanistan's 7,000 schools had been very seriously damaged during more than two decades of civil war. Only half of the schools were reported to have clean water, while fewer than an estimated 40% had adequate sanitation. Education for boys was not a priority during the Taliban regime, and girls were banished from schools outright.

As regards the poverty and violence of their surroundings, a study in 2002 by the Save the Children Fund said Afghan children were resilient and courageous. The study credited the strong institutions of family and community.

As of 2006, more than four million male and female students are enrolled in schools throughout the country. Primary education is totally free and available for all boys and girls.

Literacy of the entire population is estimated at 36%, the male literacy rate is 51% and female literacy is 21%.

Another aspect of education that is rapidly changing in Afghanistan is the face of higher education. Following the fall of the Taliban, Kabul University was reopened to both male and female students. In 2006, the American University of Afghanistan also opened its doors, with the aim of providing a world-class, English-language, co-educational learning environment in Afghanistan. The university accepts students from Afghanistan and the neighboring countries. Construction work will soon start at the new site selected for Balkh University in Mazari Sharif. The new building for the university, including the building for the Engineering Department, would be constructed at 600 acres of land at the cost of US 250 million dollars.

Views of Afghanistan

See also

• Kabul
• History of Afghanistan
• Demographics of Afghanistan
• List of leaders of Afghanistan
• Military of Afghanistan
• Transportation in Afghanistan
• Communications in Afghanistan
• European influence in Afghanistan
• Foreign relations of Afghanistan
• First Anglo-Afghan War
• NATO
• Provincial Reconstruction Team
• International Security Assistance Force
• Ariana Afghan Airlines
• Afghanistan International Bank
• Afghan Scout Association
• Golden Needle Sewing School
• Help Afghan School Children Organization
• Human rights in Afghanistan
• Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
• Taliban
• Afuganisu-tan

Stamps

• Postage stamps and postal history of Afghanistan
• List of birds on stamps of Afghanistan
• List of fish on stamps of Afghanistan

Literature

• Ghobar, Mir Gholam Mohammad. Afghanistan in the Course of History, 1999, All Prints Inc.
• Griffiths, John C. 1981. Afghanistan: A History of Conflict. André Deutsch, London. Updated edition, 2001. Andre Deutsch Ltd, 2002, ISBN 0-233-05053-1.
• Levi, Peter. 1972. The Light Garden of the Angel King: Journeys in Afghanistan. Collins, 1972, ISBN 0-00-211042-3. Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1973, Indianapolis/New York, ISBN 0-672-51252-1.
• Moorcroft, William and Trebeck, George. 1841. Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab; in Ladakh and Kashmir, in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz, and Bokhara... from 1819 to 1825, Vol. II. Reprint: New Delhi, Sagar Publications, 1971. Oxford University Press, 1979, ISBN 0-19-577199-0.
• Rashid, Ahmed (2000) "Taliban - Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia", Yale University Press
• Caroe, Olaf. 1958. The Pathans (about the ethnic origin of Afghans).
• Toynbee, Arnold J. 1961. Between Oxus and Jumna. Oxford University Press, London. ISBN B0006DBR44.
• Wood, John. 1872. A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. New Edition, edited by his son, with an essay on the "Geography of the Valley of the Oxus" by Henry Yule. John Murray, London. Gregg Division McGraw-Hill, 1971, ISBN 0-576-03322-7.
• Heathcote, T.A. The Afghan Wars 1839-1999, 1980,2003, Spellmount Staplehurst.
• Rall, Ted. 2002. "To Afghanistan and Back: A Graphic Travelogue" New York: NBM Publishing.
• Vogelsang, Willem. 2002. The Afghans. Blackwell Publishers. Oxford. ISBN 0631198415

References and footnotes

1. Afghanistan, in Encyclopædia Britannica, Online Edition, 2006, (LINK)
2. ^ CIA World Factbook - Afghanistan...Link Cite error: The named reference "CIA" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
3. Part of the region bordering Pakistan falls in the disputed Kashmir region which is claimed by India
4. Britannica Concise - Ahmad Shah Durrani...Link
5. Ch.M. Kieffer, "Afghan" (with ref. to "Afghanistan: iv. Ethnography"), in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition 2006, (LINK)
6. extract from "Passion of the Afghan" by Khushal Khan Khattak; translated by C. Biddulph in "Afghan Poetry Of The 17th Century: Selections from the Poems of Khushal Khan Khattak", London, 1890
7. Zāhir ud-Dīn Mohammad Bābur in Bāburnāma, "Transactions of the year 908", translated by John Leyden, Oxford University Press 1921 (LINK)
8. M. Longworth Dames/G. Morgenstierne/R. Ghirshman, "Afghānistān", in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition
9. ^ MECW Volume 18, p. 40; The New American Cyclopaedia - Vol. I, 1858;...Link
10. M. Ali, "Afghanistan: The War of Independence, 1919", Kabul , 1960
11. Afghanistan's Constitution of 1923, under King Amanullah Khan, English translation...Link
12. ^ Minerals in Afghanistan - gold and copper discovered in Afghanistan...Link
13. ^ Eurasianet.org - Eurasia Insight - Afghanistan’s Energy Future and its Potential Implications... Link
14. ^ Pajhwok Afghan News - Govt plans to lease out Ainak copper mine...Link
15. Pajhwok Afghan News - 16 detained for smuggling chromites...Link
16. Nancy Hatch Dupree - An Historical Guide To Afghanistan - Sites in Perspective (Chapter 3)...Link
17. John Ford Shroder, B.S., M.S., Ph.D. Regents Professor of Geography and Geology, University of Nebraska. Editor, Himalaya to the Sea: Geology, Geomorphology, and the Quaternary and other books. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 - Afghanistan...Link
18. Ghubar, Mir Ghulam Mohammad, Khorasan, 1937 Kabul Printing House, Kabul)
19. Tajikistan Development Gateway from The Development Gateway Foundation - History of Afghanistan LINK
20. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Online Edition - Ghaznavid Dynasty LINK
21. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Online Edition - Timurid Dynasty LINK
22. Packard Humanities Institute - Persian Literature in Translation - Chapter IV: An Outline Of The History Of Persia During The Last Two Centuries (A.D. 1722-1922)...Link
23. Prof. D. Balland, "Ašraf Ghilzai", in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition 2006, (LINK)
24. Encyclopaedia Britannica - The Hotakis (from Afghanistan)...Link
25. Encyclopaedia Britannica - The Durrani dynasty (from Afghanistan)...Link
26. Encyclopaedia Britannica - Ahmad Shah Durrani...Link
27. Nancy Hatch Dupree - An Historical Guide To Afghanistan - The South (Chapter 16)...Link
28. Encyclopaedia Britannica - The Durrani dynasty (from Afghanistan)...Link
29. Columbia Encyclopedia - Afghanistan: History...Link
30. Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban
31. - New Supreme Court Could Mark Genuine Departure - August 13, 2006
32. Morales, Victor (2005-03-28). "Poor Afghanistan". Voice of America. Retrieved 2006-09-10.
33. North, Andrew (2004-03-30). "Why Afghanistan wants $27.6bn". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-09-10.
34. ^ Fujimura, Manabu (2004) "Afghan Economy After the Election", Asian Development Bank Institute
35. The Kansas City Star - Midday Business Report: Black & Veatch unit gains piece of Afghan contract...Link
36. Contra Costa Times - Coca-Cola opens plant in Afghanistan...link
37. Kabul - City of Light Project...link
38. The Economist magazine, UK, October 2005
39. L. Dupree, "Afghānistān: (v.) languages", in Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition 2006, (LINK)
40. BBC News - Afghan poll's ethnic battleground - October 6, 2004
41. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica - Afghanistan...Link (PDF)
42. ^ L. Dupree, "Afghānistān: (iv.) ethnocgraphy", in Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition 2006, (LINK)
43. Goring, R. (ed) "Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions" (Larousse: 1994); pg. 581-58;: Table: "Population Distribution of Major Beliefs", ISBN 0-7523-0000-8, Note: "... Figures have been compiled from the most accurate recent available information and are in most cases correct to the nearest 1% ..."
44. Hinduism Today: Hindus Abandon Afghanistan
45. BBC South Asia: Sikhs struggle in Afghanistan
46. Washingtonpost.com - Afghan Jew Becomes Country's One and Only - N.C. Aizenman
47. ^ Heathcote, Tony (1980, 2003) "The Afghan Wars 1839 - 1919", Sellmount Staplehurst
48. R. Farhādī, "Modern literature of Afghanistan", Encyclopaedia Iranica, xii, Online Edition, (LINK)
49. Afghanmagazine.com - Ustad Khalilullah Khalili - 1997
50. Afghanmagazine.com - Kharaabat - by Yousef Kohzad - 2000
51. Pajhwok Afghan News - Ministry signs contract with Chinese company...Link
52. Pajhwok Afghan News - Pakistan grants $10m for Balkh University...Link

External links

General information

• US State Department - Afghanistan
• "Afghanistan". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency.
• BBC News Country Profile - Afghanistan
• Evidence of life in Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago (see also )
• Open Directory Project - Afghanistan directory category
• Afghanistan's Paper Money
• Voter turnout, Gender quotas, Electoral system design and Political party financing in Afghanistan
• IPS Inter Press Service Independent news on the 'Afghan Divide', giving a voice to Afghan citizens and civil society
• Template:Wikitravel
• Hindutva.org

Government and organizations

• Afghanistan's official website
• Office of the President - Official website
• Law of Afghanistan
• Afghanaid
• ARCADD, Inc.
• ANDS (Afghanistan National Development Strategy)
• AISA - Afghanistan International Investment Conference & Exhibit (May 2006)
• AKDN (Aga Khan Development Network)
• Doing Business in Afghanistan
• Kabul - City of Light (9 Billion dollar modern urban development project)
• American University of Afghanistan
• Royal House of Afghanistan
• Kabul Caravan
• Afghanistan Online
• Afghanland
• Afghana
• Local Afghan News
• RAWA - Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
• RAHA - World Independent Writers' Home رها پن

Other

• Afghanistan In JazirehDanesh(In Persian)
• Return to Afghanistan - Short films by the Washington Post on the New Afghanistan
• British Royal College for Defense Studies analyses and proposes a war in August 2001
• Darul-Aman Palace
• Library Fundraising in Afghanistan
• General Afghan Entertainment News Site
• General Afghan Information and Entertainment Portal

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• Afghanistan
• Central Asian countries
• Landlocked countries
• Middle Eastern countries
• South Asian countries
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