Afghanistan

Afghanistan (/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ افغانستان Afġānistān, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) is a landlocked country in South and Central Asia. With a population of about 28 million, it has an area of 647,500 km², making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is 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 territory that now forms Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC.
The country sits at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, which has been home to various peoples through the ages. The land has witnessed many military conquests since antiquity, notably by Alexander the Great, Chandragupta Maurya, and Genghis Khan. It has also served as a source from which local dynasties such as the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have established empires of their own.
The political history of modern Afghanistan began in the 18th century with the rise of the Pashtuns, when the Hotaki dynasty rose to power in Kandahar in 1709 followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise to power in 1747. The capital of Afghanistan was shifted in 1776 from Kandahar to Kabul and part of the Afghan Empire was ceded to neighboring empires by 1893. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the "Great Game" between the British and Russian empires. On August 19, 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war and the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi, the nation regained control over its foreign policy from the British.
Since the late 1970s, Afghanistan has experienced a continuous state of war, including major occupations in the form of the 1979 Soviet war, a Pakistani military intervention in support of the Taliban in the late 1990s and the October 2001 US-led military operations that overthrew the Taliban government. In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help maintain security and assist the Karzai administration.

Etymology

Main article: Name of Afghanistan

The name Afghānistān, Persian: افغانستان [avɣɒnestɒn], means the "Land of Afghans", originating from the word Afghan.

Origin of the name

Main article: Afghan (ethnonym)

The first part of the name "Afghan" designates the Pashtun people since ancient times, the founders of Afghanistan and the largest ethnic group of the country. This name is mentioned in the form of Abgan in the 3rd century CE and as Avagana or Afghana in the 6th century CE.
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 [of] Afghan [and] 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. 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 CE in his Brihat-samhita.

A people called the "Afghans" are mentioned several times in a 10th century geography book, Hudud al-'alam. Al-Biruni referred to them in the 11th century as various tribes living on the western frontier mountains of the Indus River, which would be the Sulaiman Mountains. Ibn Battuta, a famous Moroccan travelling scholar visiting the region in 1333, writes:

We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by a village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called Afghans...

Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah (Ferishta) explains extensively about the Afghans in the 16th century. For example, he writes:

The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were ques­tioned about the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and dis­turbances." Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and themselves Afgháns.

           

Afghan soldiers of the Durrani Empire. The name "Afghaunist an" is printed on this 1847 Lithograph by James Rattray.
By the 17th century, it seems that some Pashtuns themselves were using the term as an ethnonym – a fact that is supported by traditional Pashto literature, for example, in the writings of the 17th-century Pashto poet Khushal Khan Khattak:

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

The last part of the name, -stān is a Persian suffix for "place", prominent in many languages of the region. The name "Afghanistan" is described by the 16th century Mughal Emperor Babur in his memoirs as well as by later Mughal scholar FirishtaPashtuns (called "Afghans" by them).^[24] Until the 19th century the name Afghanistan was used for the traditional Pashtun territory, between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Indus River, while the kingdom as a whole was known as the Kingdom of Kabul, as mentioned by the British statesman and historian Mountstuart Elphinstone. In 1857, in his review of J.W. Kaye's The Afghan War, Friedrich Engels describes "Afghanistan" as:

[...] an extensive country of Asia [...] 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 [...] Its principal cities are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar.

Other parts of the country were at certain periods recognized as independent kingdoms, such as the Kingdom of Balkh in the early 18th century.With the expansion and centralization of the country, Afghan authorities adopted the name "Afghanistan" for the entire kingdom, after its English translation had already appeared in various treaties between the British Raj and Qajarid Persia, referring to the lands subject to the Pashtun Barakzai dynasty of Kabul. Afghanistan became the official internationally recognized name in 1919 after the Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed to regain the country's independence from the British,^[29] and was confirmed as such in the nation's 1923 constitution.^[30]

Geography

Main article: Geography of Afghanistan

Topography

A landlocked mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest, Afghanistan is described as being located within South Asia^] or Central Asia. It is part of the Greater Middle East Muslim world, which lies between latitudes 29° and 39° N, and longitudes 60° and 75° E. The country's highest point is Nowshak, at 7,485 m (24,557 ft) above sea level. It has a continental climate with very harsh winters in the central highlands, the glaciated northeast (around Nuristan) and the Wakhan Corridor, where the average temperature in January is below −15 °C (5 °F), and hot summers in the low-lying areas of the Sistan Basin of the southwest, the Jalalabad basin in the east, and the Turkistan plains along the Amu River in the north, where temperatures average over 35 °C (95 °F) in July.

Snow-covered mountains of Afghanistan


Despite having numerous rivers and reservoirs, large parts of the country are dry. The endorheic Sistan Basin is one of the driest regions in the world. Afghanistan does not face water shortages because it receives plenty of snow during winter, especially in the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains, and the melting snow in the spring time enters the rivers, lakes, and streams. However, most of the country's water (approx. 70%) flows into neighboring countries of Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and others or end up at dry deserts. The state needs more than $2 billion to rehabilitate its irrigation systems so that the water is properly managed.^[34]
At 249,984 sq mi (647,456 km²), Afghanistan is the world's 41st-largest country (before France and after Burma). It borders Pakistan in the east and south, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far east. The country is frequently subjected to earthquakes, mainly in the northeastern Hindu Kush mountain range. Some 125 villages were damaged and 4,000 people killed by a May 31, 1998, earthquake. Its natural resources include gold, silver, copper, zinc, and iron ore in the southeast; precious and semi-precious stones (such as lapis, emerald, and azure) in the northeast; and potentially significant petroleum and natural gas reserves in the north. It also has quantities of uranium, coal, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, marble, and salt. It was revealed in 2010 that the country has about $1–3 trillion in untapped mineral deposits.

History of Afghanistan
See also
Ariana · Khorasan
Timeline
Pre-Islamic period Bactria-Margiana (2200–1700 BC) Kambojas (?-550 BC) Median Empire (728–550 BC) Achaemenids (550–330 BC) Seleucids (330–150 BC) Mauryans (305–180 BC) Greco-Bactrians (256–125 BC) Indo-Greeks (180–130 BC) Indo-Scythians (Sakas) (155–80? BC) Indo-Parthians (20 BC-50? AD) Kushans (135 BC-248 AD) Sassanids (230–565) Indo-Sassanids (248–410) Kidarites (320–465) Hephthalites (410–557) Kabul Shahi (565–879)
Islamic conquest Rashidun Caliphate (642–641) Umayyads (661–750) Abbasids (750–821) Tahirids (821–873) Saffarids (863–900)) Samanids (875–999) Ghaznavids (963–1187) Seljukids (1037–1194) Khwarezmids (1077–1231) Ghorids (1149–1212) Ilkhanate (1258–1353) Kartids (1245–1381) Timurids (1370–1506) Mughals (1501–1738) Safavids (1510–1709) Hotaki dynasty (1709–1738) Afsharids (1738–1747)
Modern history Durrani Empire (1747–1826) Barakzai dynasty (1826–1973) Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Democratic Republic (1978–1992) Islamic State (1992–1996) Islamic Emirate (1996–2001) Islamic Republic (2001–) Afghan Civil War 1979–1989 1989–1992 1992–1996 1996–2001 2001–present

Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and others suggest that humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in the area were among the earliest in the world. An important site of early historical activities, many say that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. Afghanistan is at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and often fought. It has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the Ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, the Islamic Empire and the Sassanid Empire. Many kingdoms have also risen to power in what is now Afghanistan, such as the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Hephthalites, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Mughals, and finally the Hotaki and Durrani dynasties that marked the political origins of the modern state of Afghanistan.

Pre-Islamic period

Arachosia, Aria and Bactria were the ancient satraps of the Persian Achaemenid Empire that made up most of what is now 

Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the geographical area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by the culture of and trade with neighboring regions to the east, west, and north. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages have been found in Afghanistan.^[43] Urban civilization may have begun as early as 3,000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak (near Kandahar in the south of the country) may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. After 2,000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia moved south into the boundaries of modern Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further south to India, west to what is now Iran, and towards Europe via the area north of the Caspian. The area was called Ariana.
The ancient Zoroastrianism religion is believed by some to have originated in what is now Afghanistan between 1,800 and 800 BCE, as its founder Zoroaster is thought to have lived and died in Balkh. Ancient Eastern Iranian languages may have been spoken in the region around the time of the rise of Zoroastrianism. By the middle of the 6th century BCE, the Achaemenid Persian Empire overthrew the Medes and incorporated the region (known as Arachosia, Aria, and Bactria in Ancient Greek) within its boundaries. An inscription on the tombstone of King Darius I of Persia mentions the Kabul Valley in a list of the 29 countries he had conquered.

Buddhas of Bamyan. Buddhism was introduced during the Maurya Empire (322 BCE–185 BCE).

In addition, Hinduism in Afghanistan has existed for almost as long as Hinduism itself, as Greater Persia overlapped Greater India in the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountains. Zoroastrian and Hindu kings were often allies. The religion was widespread in the region until the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan.
Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army arrived in the area of Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier at the Battle of Gaugamela. Following Alexander's brief occupation, the successor state of the Seleucid Empire controlled the area until 305 BCE when they gave much of it to the Indian Maurya Empire as part of an alliance treaty.

Alexander took these away from the Aryans and established settlements of his own, but Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus (Chandragupta), upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange 500 elephants.

—Strabo, 64 BC – 24 AD

The Mauryans brought Buddhism from India and controlled southern Afghanistan until about 185 BCE when they were overthrown. Their decline began 60 years after Ashoka's rule ended, leading to the Hellenistic reconquest of the region by the Greco-Bactrians. Much of it soon broke away from the Greco-Bactrians and became part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Indo-Greeks had been defeated and expelled from the area by the Indo-Scythians by the end of the 2nd century BCE.
During the 1st century BCE, the Parthian Empire subjugated the region, but lost it to their Indo-Parthian vassals. In the mid to late 1st century CE the vast Kushan Empire, centered in modern Afghanistan, became great patrons of Buddhist culture. The Kushans were defeated by the Sassanids in the 3rd century CE. Although various rulers calling themselves Kushanshas (generally known as the Indo-Sassanids) continued to rule at least parts of the region, they were probably more or less subject to the Sassanids. The late Kushans were followed by the Kidarite Huns who, in turn, were replaced by the short-lived but powerful Hephthalites, as rulers of the region in the first half of the 5th century. The Hephthalites were defeated by the Sasanian king Khosrau I in CE 557, who re-established Sassanid power in Persia. However, in the 6th century CE, the successors to the Kushans and Hepthalites established a small dynasty in Kabulistan called Kabul Shahi.

Islamic conquests and Mongol invasion

Main articles: Islamic conquest of Afghanistan and Mongol invasion of Central Asia

Names of territories during the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan in 750 CE.

The territory was divided between the Safavid dynasty of Persia and the Mughal Empire of India.

From the fourth to nineteenth centuries much of modern Afghanistan was known as Khorasan.Two of the four main capitals of Khorasan (i.e. Balkh, Merv, Nishapur and Herat) are now located in modern Afghanistan, while Kandahar, Ghazni and Kabul formed the frontier region between Khorasan and Hindustan. The land inhabited by the Afghan tribes (i.e. ancestors of the modern Pashtuns) was called Afghanistan, which loosely covered the area between the Hindu Kush and the Indus River, but principally described the area around the Sulaiman Mountains.
Arab Muslims brought the religion of Islam to the western area of what is now Afghanistan during the 7th century and began spreading eastward from Khorasan and Sistan, some of the native inhabitants they encountered accepted it while others revolted. Prior to the introduction of Islam, Afghanistan was mostly Zoroastrian, Buddhist and Hindu, with unknown populations of Jews and other religions. The Kabul Shahi rulers lost their capital of Kabul around 870 AD after it was conquered by the Saffarids of Zaranj. Later, the Samanids extended their Islamic influence into the Hindu Kush area from Bukhara in the north. Afghanistan at that stage still had non-Muslims living side by side with Muslims.

"Kábul has a castle celebrated for its strength, accessible only by one road. In it there are Musulmáns, and it has a town, in which are infidels from Hind."

—Istahkrí, 921

By the 11th century the Ghaznavids had finally Islamized all of the remaining non-Muslim areas, with the exception of the Kafiristan region. This created the Afghanistan that would become the center of many important empires such as the Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, and Timurids.
The region was overrun in 1,219 CE by Genghis Khan and his Mongol barbarians, who devastated much of the land. His troops are said to have annihilated the ancient Khorasan cities of Herat and Balkh. The destruction caused by the Mongols depopulated major cities and caused many of the locals to revert to an agrarian rural society. Mongol rule continued with the Ilkhanate in the northwest while the Khiljis controlled the eastern Afghan tribal areas, until the invasion of Timur who established the Timurid dynasty. The ruling eras of the Ghaznavids,^[69] Ghurids, and Timurids are considered some of the most important eras of Afghanistan's history as they produced fine Islamic architectural monuments and numerous scientific and literary works.
Babur, a descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan, arrived from Central Asia and captured Kabul from the Arghun Dynasty, and from there he began to seize control of the territories ofeastern Afghanistan. He remained in Kabul until 1526 when he and his army invaded Delhi in India to replace the Afghan Lodi dynasty with the Mughals. From the 16th century to the early 18th century, the region of Afghanistan was contended for by three major powers: the Khanate of Bukhara ruled in the north, the Safavids in the west and the large remaining area was ruled by the Indian Delhi Sultanate.

Afghan nation-state

Hotaki dynasty and the Durrani Empire

Mirwais Hotak revolted against the Safavid rule and declared the Kandahar region an independent Afghan kingdom in 1709, which was later expanded by his son Mahmud to include Persia.

Mirwais Hotak, an influential Afghan tribal leader of the Ghilzai tribe, gathered supporters and successfully rebelled against the Persian Safavids in the early 18th century. He overthrew and killed Gurgin Khan, the Georgian governor of Kandahar, and made the Afghan region independent from Persian rule. By 1713, Mirwais had decisively defeated two larger Persian-Georgian armies, one was led by Khusraw Khán (nephew of Gurgin) and the other by Rustam Khán. The armies were sent by Soltan Hosein, the Shah in Isfahan (now Iran), to re-take control of the Kandahar region. Mirwais died of a natural cause in 1715 and his brother Abdul Aziz took over until he was killed by his nephew Mahmud. In 1722, Mahmud led an Afghan army to the Persian capital of Isfahan, sacked the city after the Battle of Gulnabad and proclaimed himself King of Persia.^[70] The Persians were unhappy with the Afghan rulers, and after the massacre of thousands of Shia religious scholars, nobles, and members of the Safavid family, the Hotaki dynasty was eventually ousted from Persia after the Battle of Damghan.

Ahmad Shah Durrani was crowned as Emir of Afghanistan in October 1747, and within a few years he conquered the entire present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Khorasan and Kohistan provinces of Iran, along with Punjab in India.

In 1738, Nader Shah and his Afsharid forces captured Kandahar from Shah Hussain Hotaki, at which point the incarcerated 16 year old Ahmad Shah Abdali was freed and made the commander of Nader Shah's four thousand Abdali Pashtuns. From Kandahar they set out to conquer India, passing through Ghazni, Kabul, Lahore and ultimately plundering Delhi after the Battle of Karnal. Nader Shah and his forces abandoned Delhi but took with them huge treasure, which included the Koh-i-Noor and Darya-ye Noor diamonds. In June 1747, Nader Shah was assassinated by four of his Persian officers and his kingdom began to fall apart. In October 1747, the Afghans gathered near Kandahar at a loya jirga ("grand assembly") to select their head of state from a group of men and Ahmad Shah Abdali was chosen. Regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan, 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. He defeated the Sikhs of the Maratha Empire in the Punjab region nine times; one of the biggest battles was the 1761 Battle of Panipat. In October 1772, Ahmad Shah died of a natural cause and was buried at a site now adjacent to the Mosque of the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed. He was succeeded by his son, Timur Shah Durrani, who transferred the capital of Afghanistan from Kandahar to Kabul. After his death in 1793, the Durrani kingdom was passed down to his son Zaman Shah followed by Mahmud Shah, Shuja Shah and others.
After Afghan Vizier Fateh Khan was defeated by the Sikhs at the Battle of Attock, he fought off an attempt by Ali Shah, the ruler of Persia, to capture the Afghan province of Herat. He was joined by his brother, Dost Mohammad Khan, and rogue Sikh Sardar Jai Singh Attarwalia. Once they had captured the city, Fateh Khan attempted to remove the ruler Mahmud Shah Durrani – a relation of his superior – and rule in his stead. In the attempt to take the city from its Afghan ruler, Dost Mohammad Khan's men forcibly took jewels from a princess and Kamran Durrani, Mahmud Shah's son, used this as a pretext to remove Fateh Khan from power, and had him tortured and executed. While in power, however, Fateh Khan had installed 21 of his brothers in positions of power throughout the Afghan Empire. After his death, they rebelled and divided up the provinces of the empire between themselves. During this turbulent period, Kabul had many temporary rulers until Fateh Khan's brother, Dost Mohammad Khan, captured Kabul in 1826.
The Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, invaded in 1809 and eventually wrested from the Afghans a large part of their empire (present day Pakistan, but not including Sindh).^[78] Hari Singh Nalwa, the Commander-in-Chief of the Sikh Empire along its Afghan frontier, invaded the Afghanistan as far as the city of Jalalabad. In 1837, the Afghan Army descended through the Khyber Pass on Sikh forces at Jamrud. Hari Singh Nalwa's forces held off the Afghan offensive for over a week – the time it took reinforcements to reach Jamrud from Lahore.

Barakzai dynasty and European influence

Further information: European influence in Afghanistan and Reforms of Amanullah Khan and civil war

First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42). William Brydon was the sole survivor of a group of 3,600 soldiers of the British 44th Regiment of Foot and 12,400 camp followers, who were attacked between Kabul and Jalalabad while heading to what is now Pakistan.

King Amanullah Khan at Berlin in February 1928. His 1927–28 European tour initiated an alliance between Afghanistan and Germany.

King Zahir Shah and wife with US President John F. Kennedy and sister Eunice in the United States

During the 19th century, following the Second Anglo-Afghan War and the ascension of the Barakzai dynasty, Afghanistan saw much of its territory and autonomy ceded to British India. Ethnic Pashtun territories were divided by the 1893 Durand Line, an action which would lead to strained relations between Afghanistan and British India (later the new state of Pakistan). The United Kingdom exercised a great deal of influence, and it was not until the reign of King Amanullah Khan in 1919 that Afghanistan re-gained independence over its foreign affairs after the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi.
King Amanullah moved to end his country's traditional isolation in the years following the Third Anglo-Afghan War. He established diplomatic relations with major states and, following a 1927–28 tour of Europe and Turkey, introduced several reforms intended to modernize his nation. A key force behind these reforms was Mahmud Tarzi, an ardent supporter of the education of women. He fought for Article 68 of Afghanistan's first constitution (declared through a Loya Jirga), which made elementary education compulsory.^[81] Some of the reforms that were actually put in place, such as the abolition of the traditional Muslim veil for women and the opening of a number of co-educational schools, quickly alienated many tribal and religious leaders. Faced with overwhelming armed opposition, Amanullah Khan was forced to abdicate in January 1929 after Kabul fell to rebel forces led by Habibullah Kalakani. Prince Mohammed Nadir Shah, Amanullah's cousin, in turn defeated and killed Habibullah Kalakani in October 1929, and was declared King Nadir Shah. He abandoned the reforms of Amanullah Khan in favor of a more gradual approach to modernisation. In 1933, however, he was assassinated in a revenge killing by a Kabul student.
Mohammed Zahir Shah, Nadir Shah's 19-year-old son, succeeded to the throne and reigned from 1933 to 1973. Until 1946 Zahir Shah ruled with the assistance of his uncle, who held the post of Prime Minister and continued the policies of Nadir Shah. Another of Zahir Shah's uncles, Shah Mahmud Khan, became Prime Minister in 1946 and began an experiment allowing greater political freedom, but reversed the policy when it went further than he expected. In 1953, he was replaced by Mohammed Daoud Khan, the king's cousin and brother-in-law. Daoud sought a closer relationship with the Soviet Union and a more distant one towards Pakistan. Afghanistan remained neutral and was neither a participant in World War II, nor aligned with either power bloc in the Cold War. However, it was a beneficiary of the latter rivalry as both the Soviet Union and the United States vied for influence by building Afghanistan's main highways, airports and other vital infrastructure. By the late 1960s, many Western travelers were using these as part of the hippie trail. In 1973, Zahir Shah's brother-in-law, Daoud Khan, launched a bloodless coup and became the first President of Afghanistan while Zahir Shah was on an official overseas visit. Daoud Khan tried to implement some much needed reforms especially in the economic sector.

Saur revolution and Soviet war

Main articles: Saur Revolution and Soviet war in Afghanistan

Outside the Palace Gate (Arg) in Kabul, the day after Saur Revolution on April 28, 1978.

In 1978, a prominent member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), Mir Akbar Khyber, was allegedly killed by the Daoud government. Leaders of the PDPA feared that Daoud was planning to dismantle them because many were being arrested. Hafizullah Amin along with other PDPA members managed to remain at large and organised an uprising. The PDPA, led by Nur Mohammad Taraki, Babrak Karmal and Hafizullah Amin, overthrew the regime of Mohammad Daoud, who was assassinated along with his family during the April 1978 Saur Revolution. Taraki was declared President, Prime Minister and General Secretary of the PDPA. Once in power, the PDPA implemented a socialist agenda. It moved to carry out an ill-conceived land reform, which was misunderstood by virtually all Afghans. They also imprisoned, tortured or murdered thousands of members of the traditional elite, the religious establishment, and the intelligentsia. They also prohibited usury^[83] and made a number of statements on women's rights, by declaring equality of the sexes and introducing women to political life. Anahita Ratebzad was one of several female Marxist leaders and a member of the Revolutionary Council.
As part of its Cold War strategy, the White House in the United States began recruiting, financing and arming Mujahideen fighters during Operation Cyclone in 1979, which was aimed to defeat the Soviets. President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, warned at the time that this might prompt a Soviet intervention (in an interview published in the 15–21 January 1998 issue of the French journal Le Nouvel Observateur, Brzezinski claimed that these measures were in fact specifically designed to provoke a Soviet military intervention.^[84] In March 1979, Hafizullah Amin took over as prime minister, retaining the position of field marshal and becoming vice-president of the Supreme Defence Council. Taraki remained President and in control of the army until September 14 when he was killed.

Soviet troops (in right row) withdrawing from Afghanistan in 1988. Afghan government BTR on the left.

To bolster the Parcham faction, the Soviet Union decided to intervene on December 24, 1979, when the Red Army invaded its southern neighbor. Over 100,000 Soviet troops took part in the invasion, which was backed by another one hundred thousand Afghan military men and supporters of the Parcham faction. In the meantime, Hafizullah Amin was killed and replaced by Babrak Karmal. In response to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Reagan administration in the U.S. increased arming and funding of the Mujahideen who began a guerilla war thanks in large part to the efforts of Charlie Wilson and CIA officer Gust Avrakotos. Early reports estimated that $6–20 billion had been spent by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia but more recent reports state that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia provided as much as up to $40 billion in cash and weapons, which included over two thousand FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles, for building up Islamic groups against the Soviet Union. The U.S. handled most of its support through Pakistan's ISI. Saudi Arabia was also providing financial support. Leaders such as Ahmad Shah Massoud received only minor aid compared to Hekmatyar and some of the other parties, although Massoud was named the "Afghan who won the cold war" by the Wall Street Journal.
The 10-year Soviet occupation resulted in the killings of between 600,000 and two million Afghans, mostly civilians. About 6 million fled as Afghan refugees to Pakistan and Iran, and from there over 38,000 made it to the United States and many more to the European Union. Faced with mounting international pressure and great number of casualties on both sides, the Soviets withdrew in 1989. Their withdrawal from Afghanistan was seen as an ideological victory in America, which had backed some Mujahideen factions through three U.S. presidential administrations to counter Soviet influence in the vicinity of the oil-rich Persian Gulf. The USSR continued to support President Mohammad Najibullah (former head of the Afghan secret service, KHAD) until 1992.

Foreign interference and civil war

1992–96

Main articles: Civil war in Afghanistan (1989-1992) and Civil war in Afghanistan (1992–1996)

After the fall of the communist Najibullah-regime in 1992, the Afghan political parties agreed on a peace and power-sharing agreement (the Peshawar Accords). The Peshawar Accords created the Islamic State of Afghanistan and appointed an interim government for a transitional period, under President Burhanuddin Rabbani. According to Human Rights Watch:

The sovereignty of Afghanistan was vested formally in the Islamic State of Afghanistan, an entity created in April 1992, after the fall of the Soviet-backed Najibullah government. [...] With the exception of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, all of the parties [...] were ostensibly unified under this government in April 1992. [...] Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, for its part, refused to recognize the government for most of the period discussed in this report and launched attacks against government forces and Kabul generally. [...] Shells and rockets fell everywhere.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar received operational, financial and military support from Pakistan. Afghanistan expert Amin Saikal concludes in Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival:

Pakistan was keen to gear up for a breakthrough in Central Asia. [...] Islamabad could not possibly expect the new Islamic government leaders [...] to subordinate their own nationalist objectives in order to help Pakistan realize its regional ambitions. [...] Had it not been for the ISI's logistic support and supply of a large number of rockets, Hekmatyar's forces would not have been able to target and destroy half of Kabul.

In addition, Saudi Arabia and Iran – as competitors for regional hegemony – supported Afghan militias hostile towards each other. According to Human Rights Watch, Iran was assisting the Shia Hazara Hezb-i Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari, as Iran was attempting to maximize Wahdat's military power and influence. Saudi Arabia supported the Wahhabite Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittihad-i Islami faction. Conflict between the two militias soon escalated into a full-scale war. A publication by the George Washington University describes:

Outside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and political agendas.

Due to the sudden initiation of the war, working government departments, police units or a system of justice and accountability for the newly-created Islamic State of Afghanistan did not have time to form. Atrocities were committed by individuals of the different armed factions while Kabul descended into lawlessness and chaos as described in reports by Human Rights Watch and the Afghanistan Justice Project. Because of the chaos, some leaders increasingly had only nominal control over their (sub-)commanders. For civilians there was little security from murder, rape and extortion. An estimated 25,000 people died during the most intense period of bombardment by Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami and the Junbish-i Milli forces of Abdul Rashid Dostum, who had created an alliance with Hekmatyar in 1994. Half a million people fled Afghanistan.Human Rights Watch writes:

Rare ceasefires, usually negotiated by representatives of Ahmad Shah Massoud, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi or Burhanuddin Rabbani [the interim government], or officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), commonly collapsed within days.

Southern Afghanistan was under the control of neither foreign-backed militias nor the government in Kabul, but was ruled by local leaders such as Gul Agha Sherzai and their militias. In 1994, the Taliban (a movement originating from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed in Afghanistan as a politico-religious force, reportedly in opposition to the tyranny of the local governor. Mullah Omar started his movement with fewer than 50 armed madrassah students in his hometown of Kandahar. When the Taliban took control of the city in 1994, they forced the surrender of dozens of local Pashtun leaders who had presided over a situation of complete lawlessness and atrocities.In 1994, the Taliban took power in several provinces in southern and central Afghanistan.
In late 1994, most of the militia factions (Hezb-i Islami, Junbish-i Milli and Hezb-i Wahdat) which had been fighting in the battle for control of Kabul were defeated militarily by forces of the Islamic State's Secretary of Defense Ahmad Shah Massoud. Bombardment of the capital came to a halt.The Islamic State government took steps to restore law and order. Courts started to work again. Massoud tried to initiate a nationwide political process with the goal of national consolidation and democratic elections, also inviting the Taliban to join the process.The Taliban declined.

Taliban Emirate and United Front

1996–2001

Main article: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Main article: Civil war in Afghanistan (1996-2001)

Afghanistan's National Hero Ahmad Shah Massoud (right) and Pashtun anti-Taliban leader and later Vice-President of Afghanistan Haji Abdul Qadir (left)

The Taliban started shelling Kabul in early 1995 but were defeated by forces of the Islamic State government under Ahmad Shah Massoud. see video Amnesty International, referring to the Taliban offensive, wrote in a 1995 report:

"This is the first time in several months that Kabul civilians have become the targets of rocket attacks and shelling aimed at residential areas in the city."^[100]

The Taliban's early victories in 1994 were followed by a series of defeats that resulted in heavy losses. Pakistan provided strong support to the Taliban. Many analysts like Amin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests which the Taliban decline. On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul. The Taliban seized Kabul on September 27, 1996, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They imposed on the parts of Afghanistan under their control their political and judicial interpretation of Islam issuing edicts forbidding women to work outside the home, attend school, or to leave their homes unless accompanied by a male relative.^[106] The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) analyze:

"To PHR's knowledge, no other regime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual house arrest, prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment."

After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on September 27, 1996, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum, two former archnemesis, created the United Front (Northern Alliance) against the Taliban that were preparing offensives against the remaining areas under the control of Massoud and those under the control of Dostum. see video The United Front included beside the dominantly Tajik forces of Massoud and the Uzbek forces of Dostum, Hazara factions and Pashtun forces under the leadership of commanders such as Abdul Haq, Haji Abdul Qadir, Qari Baba or diplomat Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai.
According to Human Rights Watch, in late May 1997, some 3,000 captive Taliban soldiers were summarily executed in and around Mazar-i-Sharif by Dostum's Junbish forces and members of the Shia Hazara Hezb-i Wahdat faction.^[98][108] The Taliban defeated Dostum's Junbish forces militarily by seizing Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998. Dostum went into exile.
According to a 55-page report by the UN, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic massacres against civilians. U.N. officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001. They also said, that "[t]hese have been highly systematic and they all lead back to the [Taliban] Ministry of Defense or to Mullah Omar himself." The Taliban especially targeted people of Shia religious or Hazara ethnic background. Upon taking Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, about 4,000 civilians were executed by the Taliban and many more reported tortured. The documents also reveal the role of Arab and Pakistani support troops in these killings. Bin Laden's so-called 055 Brigade was responsible for mass-killings of Afghan civilians. The report by the UN quotes eyewitnesses in many villages describing Arab fighters carrying long knives used for slitting throats and skinning people.

Destruction of Bamyan Buddha statues in March 2001 by the Pakistani supported Taliban government.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and Bin Laden against the forces of Massoud. In total there were believed to be 28,000 Pakistani nationals, many either from the Frontier Corps or army, fighting inside Afghanistan.  An estimated 8,000 Pakistani militants were recruited in madrassas filling the ranks of the estimated 25,000 regular Taliban force. A 1998 document by the U.S. State Department confirms that "20–40 percent of [regular] Taliban soldiers are Pakistani." The document further states that the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothing regarding their child's military involvement with the Taliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan."
From 1996 to 2001 the Al Qaeda of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri became a state within the Taliban state.^[116] Bin Laden sent Arab recruits to join the fight against the United Front. 3,000 fighters of the regular Taliban army were Arab and Central Asian militants.In total, of roughly 45,000 Pakistani, Taliban and Al-Qaeda soldiers fighting against the forces of Massoud only 14,000 were Afghan.
Ahmad Shah Massoud remained the only leader of the United Front in Afghanistan. In the areas under his control Massoud set up democratic institutions and signed the Women's Rights Declaration.Human Rights Watch cites no human rights crimes for the forces under direct control of Massoud for the period from October 1996 until the assassination of Massoud in September 2001. As a consequence many civilians fled to the area of Ahmad Shah Massoud.In total, estimates range up to one million people fleeing the Taliban. National Geographic concluded in its documentary "Inside the Taliban":

"The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud."

In early 2001 Massoud addressed the European Parliament in Brussels asking the international community to provide humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan. He stated that the Taliban and Al Qaeda had introduced "a very wrong perception of Islam" and that without the support of Pakistan and Bin Laden the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year. On this visit to Europe he also warned that his intelligence had gathered information about a large-scale attack on U.S. soil being imminent.

Recent history (2001–present)

Further information: War in Afghanistan (2001–present), Taliban insurgency, and Civilian casualties of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

US Army Chinook helicopters on their way to Bagram Air Base

Soldiers of the Afghan National Army, including the ANA Commando Battalion standing in the front.

On September 9, 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud died in a suicide attack by two Arabs in the Afghan province of Takhar. Two days later 3,000 people died on U.S. soil in the attacks of September 11, 2001. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks the U.S. government identified Osama Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the faces behind the attacks. When the Taliban refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden to U.S. authorities and refused to disband Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan, the US and British air forces began bombing al-Qaeda and Taliban targets inside Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. American and British special forces and CIA Special Activities Division units worked with commanders of the United Front (Northern Alliance) to launch a military offensive against the Taliban. These attacks led to the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul in November 2001, as the Taliban and al-Qaida retreated toward the mountainous Durand Line border with Pakistan. In December 2001, after the Taliban government was toppled and the new Afghan government under Hamid Karzai was formed, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established by the UN Security Council to help assist the Karzai administration and provide basic security to the Afghan people.
From 2002 the Taliban began regrouping while more coalition troops entered the escalating US-led war with insurgents. Meanwhile, NATO assumed control of ISAF in 2003 and the rebuilding of Afghanistan began, which is funded by the international community especially by USAID and other U.S. agencies.^[127][128] The European Union, Canada and India also play a major role in reconstruction.The Afghan nation was able to build democratic structures and to make some progress in key areas such as health, economy, educational, transport, agriculture and construction. It has also modernized in the field of technology and banking. NATO, mainly the United States armed forces through its Army Corps of Engineers, is rebuilding and modernizing the nation's military as well its police force. Between 2002 and 2010, over five million Afghan expatriates returned with new skills and capital. Still, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries due to the results of 30 years of war, corruption among high level politicians and the Taliban insurgency backed by Pakistan against the US occupation.U.S. officials have also accused Iran of providing limited support to the Taliban but stated it was "at a small level" since it is "not in their interests to see the Taliban, a Sunni ultra-conservative, extremist element, return to take control of Afghanistan". Iran has historically been an enemy of the Taliban.
NATO and Afghan troops in recent years led many offensives against the Taliban but failed to defeat them. By 2009, a Taliban-led shadow government began to form complete with their own version of mediation court. In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama deployed another 30,000 soldiers over a period of six months and proposed to begin troop withdrawals by 2012. At the 2010 International Conference on Afghanistan in London, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he intends to reach out to the Taliban leadership (including Mullah Omar, Sirajuddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar). Supported by senior U.S. officials Karzai called on the group's leadership to take part in a loya jirga meeting to initiate peace talks. According to the Wall Street Journal, these steps have resulted in an intensification of bombings, assassinations and ambushes. Many Afghan groups (including the former intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh and opposition leader Dr. Abdullah Abdullah) believe that Karzai plans to appease the insurgents' senior leadership at the cost of the democratic constitution, the democratic process and progess in the field of human rights especially women's rights.^[140] Dr. Abdullah stated:

"I should say that Taliban are not fighting in order to be accommodated. They are fighting in order to bring the state down. So it's a futile exercise, and it's just misleading. ... There are groups that will fight to the death. Whether we like to talk to them or we don't like to talk to them, they will continue to fight. So, for them, I don't think that we have a way forward with talks or negotiations or contacts or anything as such. Then we have to be prepared to tackle and deal with them militarily. In terms of the Taliban on the ground, there are lots of possibilities and opportunities that with the help of the people in different parts of the country, we can attract them to the peace process; provided, we create a favorable environment on this side of the line. At the moment, the people are leaving support for the government because of corruption. So that expectation is also not realistic at this stage."

According to a report by the United Nations, the Taliban were responsible for 76% of civilian casualties in 2009, 75% in 2010 and 82% in May 2011. In FY 2009, the U.S. resettled just 328 refugees from Afghanistan. By contrast, the U.S. admitted more than 100,000 Vietnamese refugees for resettlement during the Vietnam War.

Government and politics

Main articles: Politics of Afghanistan, Presidency of Hamid Karzai, and Constitution of Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai standing next to Faisal Ahmad Shinwari and others after winning the 2004 presidential election. The last king of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah is sitting at the right.

National Assembly of Afghanistan

The government of Afghanistan is an Islamic republic consisting of three branches, executive, legislative and judicial. The nation is currently led by the Karzai administration with Hamid Karzai as the President and leader since late 2001. The National Assembly is the legislature, a bicameral body comprising of two chambers, the House of the People and the House of Elders. The Supreme Court is led by Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi, a former university professor who had been a legal advisor to the president.^[147] The current court is seen as more moderate and led by more technocrats than the previous one, which was dominated by fundamentalist religious figures such as Chief Justice Faisal Ahmad Shinwari who issued several controversial rulings, including seeking to place a limit on the rights of women.
According to Transparency International's corruption perceptions index 2010 results, Afghanistan was ranked as the third most-corrupt country in the world. A number of government ministries are believed to be rife with corruption, while President Karzai vowed to tackle the problem in late 2009 by stating that "individuals who are involved in corruption will have no place in the government." A January 2010 report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime revealed that bribery consumes an amount equal to 23 percent of the GDP of the nation.

Elections and parties

Main articles: Elections in Afghanistan and List of political parties in Afghanistan

The 2004 Afghan presidential election was relatively peaceful, in which Hamid Karzai won in the first round with 55.4% of the votes. However, the 2009 presidential election was characterized by lack of security, low voter turnout and widespread electoral fraud. The vote, along with elections for 420 provincial council seats, took place in August 2009, but remained unresolved during a lengthy period of vote counting and fraud investigation.
Two months later, under international pressure, a second round run-off vote between Karzai and remaining challenger Abdullah was announced, but a few days later Abdullah announced that he is not participating in the November 7 run-off because his demands for changes in the electoral commission had not been met. The next day, officials of the election commission cancelled the run-off and declared Hamid Karzai as President for another 5-year term.
In the 2005 parliamentary election, among the elected officials were former mujahideen, Islamic fundamentalists, warlords, communists, reformists, and several Taliban associates. In the same period, Afghanistan reached to the 30th nation in terms of female representation. The last parliamentary election was held in September 2010, but due to disputes and investigation of fraud, the sworn in ceremony took place in late January 2011. It was announced that the nation will begin issuing special computerized ID cards in 2012, which is a $100 million project that will help prevent major fraud in future elections.

Political divisions

Main articles: Provinces of Afghanistan and Districts of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is administratively divided into 34 provinces (wilayats), with each province having its own capital and a provincial administration. The provinces are further divided into about 398 smaller provincial districts, each of which normally covers a city or a number of villages. Each district is represented by a district governor.
The provincial governors are appointed by the President of Afghanistan and the district governors are selected by the provincial governors. The provincial governors are representatives of the central government in Kabul and are responsible for all administrative and formal issues within their provinces. There are also provincial councils which are elected through direct and general elections for a period of four years. The functions of provincial councils are to take part in provincial development planning and to participate in monitoring and appraisal of other provincial governance institutions.
According to article 140 of the constitution and the presidential decree on electoral law, mayors of cities should be elected through free and direct elections for a four-year term. However, due to huge election costs, mayoral and municipal elections have never been held. Instead, mayors have been appointed by the government. As for the capital city of Kabul, the mayor is appointed by the President of Afghanistan.
The following is a list of all the 34 provinces of Afghanistan in alphabetical order and on the right is a map showing where each province is located:

Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces and every province is further divided into a number of districts

Badakhshan Badghis Baghlan Balkh Bamyan Daykundi Farah Faryab Ghazni Ghor Helmand Herat Jowzjan Kabul Kandahar Kapisa Khost

Konar Kunduz Laghman Logar Nangarhar Nimruz Nurestan Oruzgan Paktia Paktika Panjshir Parvan Samangan Sare Pol Takhar Wardak Zabol

Foreign relations and military

Main articles: Foreign relations of Afghanistan and Military of Afghanistan

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Official diplomatic relations between the United States and Afghanistan began in the early 1920s. The United States Department of State is currently planning to establish a consulate in Herat in the west, Mazar-e-Sharif in the north, Kandahar in the south, and Jalalabad in the east.

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for managing the foreign relations of Afghanistan. The nation has been a member of the UN since 1946, and has maintained good relations with the United States and other NATO member states since the early 1920s. In 2002, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan was established to help with assistance. Today, more than 22 NATO nations deploy about 140,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Apart from close military links, Afghanistan also enjoys strong economic relations with NATO members and their allies.

Cadets and instructors at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA).

Afghanistan also has diplomatic relations with neighboring Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the People's Republic of China, including regional states Kazakhstan, Russia, India, United Arab Emirate, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Japan, South Korea, and others. Afghanistan's relationship with Pakistan have often fluctuated since 1947.^[157][158] They have security and economic links with each others but disputes between the two states remain. Afghanistan continues to contest the Durrand Line as its international border with Pakistan and has repeatedly accused Pakistan of supporting Taliban and other insurgent groups. Pakistan harbors concerns over the growing influence of its rival India in Afghanistan. Relations between the two states were strained further after recent border skirmishes and when Afghan officials alleged that Pakistani intelligence agencies are involved in terrorist attacks inside Afghanistan. Despite these problems, Pakistan is a participant in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, pledging $250 million in various projects across the country, and often announces that a stable Afghanistan is in their interest.
India and Iran have actively participated in reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, with India being the largest regional donor to the country. Since 2002, India has pledged up to $2 billion in economic assistance to Afghanistan and has participated in multiple socio-economic reconstruction efforts, including power, roads, agricultural and educational projects.There are also limited military ties between the two nations as some Afghan security forces are getting counter-insurgency training in India.
The military of Afghanistan is under the Ministry of Defense, which includes the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Army Air Force. It currently has about 160,000 members and is expected to reach 260,000 in the coming years. They are trained and equipped by NATO countries, mainly by the United States Department of Defense. The ANA is divided into 7 major Corps, with the 201st Selab ("Flood") in Kabul being the main one. The ANA also has a commando brigade which was established in 2007. The National Military Academy of Afghanistan serves as the main educational institute for the militarymen of the country. A new $200 million Afghan Defense University (ADU) is under construction near the capital.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Afghanistan

Workers processing pomegranates (anaar), which Afghanistan is famous for in Asia.

Afghanistan is an impoverished and least developed country, one of the world's poorest. In 2010, the nation's nominal GDP stood at $16.63 billion and the GDP per capita was about $1,000. Its unemployment rate is 35% and roughly 36% of its citizens live below the poverty line. About 42 percent of the population live on less than $1 a day, according to USAID. However, due to the infusion of multi-billion dollars in international assistance and investments, as well as remittances from expats, the economy has steadily improving, growing at approximately 12 percent per year during the past six years. It is also due to improvements in agricultural production, which is the backbone of the nation's economy because over 75% of its citizens are involved in this field.

The Doost Marble Factory in Herat. Current marble exports are estimated at $15 million per year. With improved extraction, processing, infrastructure, and investment, the industry has the potential to grow into a $450 million per year business.

Local market scene in 2007

One of the main drivers for the current economic recovery is the return of over 5 million Afghan expatriates, who brought with them fresh energy, entrepreneurship and wealth-creating skills as well as much needed funds to start up businesses. A number of small factories began operating in different parts of the country in recent years, which not only provide revenue to the government but also create jobs. The Afghan rugs have become a popular product again and this gives the large number of rug weavers in the country a chance to earn better income. While the country's current account deficit is largely financed with the donor money, only a small portion 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 Afghan Ministry of Finance is focusing on improved revenue collection and public sector expenditure discipline. Since 2003, over 16 new banks have opened in the country, including Afghanistan International Bank, Kabul Bank, Azizi Bank, Pashtany Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, First Micro Finance Bank, and others. Da Afghanistan Bank serves as the central bank of the nation and the "Afghani" (AFN) is the national currency, with an exchange rate of 50 Afghanis to 1 US dollar.
Afghanistan is a member of the SAARC, ECO and the OIC. It is known for producing some of the finest pomegranates, grapes, apricots, melons, and several other fresh and dry fruits, including nuts. According to the World Bank, "economic growth has been strong and has generated better livelihoods" since late 2001. Opium production in Afghanistan has soared to a record in 2007 with about 3 million Afghans reported to be involved in the business but then declined significantly in the years following. The government started programs to help reduce cultivation of poppy, and by 2010 it was reported that 24 out of the 34 provinces were free from poppy grow.

Energy and mining

Main article: Mining in Afghanistan

According to recent U.S. Geological surveys that were funded by the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Industry, Afghanistan may be possessing up to 36 trillion cubic feet (1,000 km³) of natural gas, 3.6 billion barrels (570,000,000 m³) of petroleum and up to 1,325 million barrels (210,700,000 m³) of natural gas liquids.^[183] Other recent reports show that the country has huge amounts of gold, copper, coal, iron ore and other minerals.^{[35][36][37][184]} In 2010, Pentagon officials along with geologists from the United States announced the discovery of $1–3 trillion worth untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan.^[38] Afghan officials assert that "this will become the backbone of the Afghan economy" and a memo from the Pentagon stated that Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium". The government is preparing deals to extract its copper and iron reserves, which could earn billions of dollars in royalties and taxes every year for the next 100 years. Analysts believe that if the Afghan state was to generate even $10 billion per year from its mineral deposits, its gross national product would double and provide long-term funding for Afghan security forces and other critical needs.

Transport and communications

Main articles: Transport in Afghanistan and Communications in Afghanistan

Ariana Afghan Airlines

Ariana Afghan Airlines is the national carrier, with domestic flights between Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif. International flights include to Dubai, Frankfurt, Istanbul and a number of other Asian destinations. There are also limited domestic and international flight services available from the locally owned Kam Air, Pamir Airways and Safi Airways.
The country has limited rail service with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the north. As of 2011, two other railway projects are in progress with neighboring nations, one is between Herat and Iran while another is to connect with Pakistan Railways. Citizens who travel far distances use bus services. Newer automobiles have recently become more widely available after the rebuilding of roads and highways. Vehicles are imported from the United Arab Emirates through Pakistan and Iran. Afghanistan's postal and package delivery services such as FedEx, DHL and others are found in major cities and towns.
Telecommunication services in the country are provided by Afghan Wireless, Etisalat, Roshan, MTN Group and Afghan Telecom. In 2006, the Afghan Ministry of Communications signed a $64.5 million agreement with ZTE for the establishment of a countrywide optical fiber cable network. As of 2009, the country has 129,300 fixed telephone lines, about 12 million mobile phone subscribers and 1 million internet users.

Demographics

Main articles: Demography of Afghanistan and Afghan refugees

As of July 2010, the population of Afghanistan is around 28,395,716,but it is unknown if the 3 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran are included or not. A 2009 UN estimate shows that the Afghan population was 28,150,000 and a 2009–2010 nationwide statistical survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan has put it at 26 million but not counting some parts of the country due to insecurity.
A partial census conducted in 1979 showed roughly 15.5 million people living in the country.^[4] The Statistical Yearbook published in 1983 by the Babrak Karmal government claimed a total population of 15.96 million for 1981–82. Between 600,000 to 2 million Afghans were killed during the various 1979–2001 wars, majority of them during the Soviet war in the 1980s. At least 5 million more fled the country to neighboring Pakistan and Iran. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the Afghan population is estimated to increase to 82 million by 2050.
The only city in Afghanistan with over two million residents is its capital, Kabul. The other major cities in the country are, in order of population size, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, Jalalabad, Ghazni, Kunduz, Farah. Urban areas are experiencing rapid population growth following the return of over 5 million Afghan expats from Pakistan and Iran.

Ethnic groups

Main article: Ethnic groups in Afghanistan

Ethnolinguistic groups of Afghanistan

Pashtun children from Khost Province

Afghanistan is a multiethnic society. The population of the country is divided into a wide variety of ethnolinguistic groups. Because a systematic census has not been held in the nation in decades, exact figures about the size and composition of the various ethnic groups are unvailable. In this regard, the Encyclopædia Britannica states:

No national census has been conducted in Afghanistan since a partial count in 1979, and years of war and population dislocation have made an accurate ethnic count impossible. Current population estimates are therefore rough approximations, which show that Pashtuns comprise somewhat less than two-fifths of the population. The two largest Pashtun tribal groups are the Durrani and Ghilzay. Tajiks are likely to account for some one-fourth of Afghans and Hazara nearly one-fifth. Uzbeks and Chahar Aimaks each account for slightly more than 5 percent of the population and Turkmen an even smaller portion.^[199]

An approximate distribution of the nation's total ethnic groups is shown in the line chart below:

Ethnic groups in Afghanistan

Ethnic group	World Factbook / Library of Congress Country Studies estimate (2004–2010)[55][200]	World Factbook / Library of Congress Country Studies estimate (1992–2003)[201][202][203][204]
Pashtun	42%	38–44 percent
Tajik	27%	25–26.3% (of this 1% are Qizilbash)
Hazara	9%	10–19 percent
Uzbek	9%	6–8% percent
Aimak	4%	500,000 to 800,000
Turkmen	3%	2.5 percent
Baloch	2%	100,000
Others (Pashai, Nuristani, Arab, Brahui, Pamiri, Gujjar, etc.)	4%	6.9 percent

Afghan girls from the Guzara District of Herat Province

Children of Balkh Province

Boys from Ghazni Province

Pashai boy

The percentage numbers in the chart at the bottom are from recent national opinion polls aimed at knowing how Afghan citizens feel about the 2001–present US-led war, the current political situation, as well as the economic and social issues affecting their daily lives. One was conducted in 2010 by the Asia Foundation (with technical assistance by the Afghan Center for Socio-economic and Opinion Research) and the other between 2004 to 2009 by a combined effort of the broadcasting companies ABC News, the BBC, and ARD.
The 2010 Asia Foundation survey involved 6,467 randomly selected Afghan citizens from across all of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The margin of sampling error in that survey is 4.4 percent, at a 95 percent confidence interval.^[83]
To questions about their ethnicity at the end of the questionnaires, the results of the total 8,001 Afghan citizens (6,467 respondents from The Asia Foundation survey; 1,534 respondents from the ABC, BBC, and ARD survey) came as:

Ethnic group	"Afghanistan: Where Things Stand" (2004–2009) [206]	"A survey of the Afghan people" (2006) [207]	"A survey of the Afghan people" (2010) [205]
Pashtun	38–46%	41%	42%
Tajik	37–39%	37%	31%
Hazara	6–13%	9%	10%
Uzbek	5–7%	9%	9%
Aimak	0-0%	0%	2%
Turkmen	1–2%	2%	2%
Baloch	1–3%	1%	1%
Others (Nuristani, Arab, etc.)	0–4%	1%	3%
No opinion	0–2%	0%	0%

Languages

Main article: Languages of Afghanistan

The two official languages of Afghanistan are Pashto (since 1936) and Dari Persian (since 1964). Both are Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family.^[208] Persian has always been the prestige language and as the main means of inter-ethnic communication it has maintained its status of lingua franca. Persian is the native tongue of various Afghan ethnic groups including the Tajiks, Afghanistan's second largest ethnic group, the Hazara, Aimak and Kizilbash. Pashto is the native tongue of the Pashtuns, the single largest ethno-linguistic group within Afghanistan. Other languages, such as Uzbek, Arabic, Turkmen, Balochi, Pashayi and Nuristani languages (Ashkunu, Kamkata-viri, Vasi-vari, Tregami and Kalasha-ala), are used as native tongue by minority groups across the country and have official status in the regions where they are widely spoken. Minor languages also include Pamiri (Shughni, Munji, Ishkashimi and Wakhi), Brahui, Hindko, Kyrgyz, etc. A fair number of Afghans can also speak and understand Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi and English.

Language	CIA World Factbook (2010)/Library of Congress (2008)
Dari Persian	50 %
Pashto	35 %
Uzbek and Turkmen	11 %
30 minority languages	4 %

Religions

Main article: Religion in Afghanistan

Over 99% of the Afghan population is Muslim: approximately 80–85% follow the Sunni sect, 15–19% are Shi'a, and 1% other. Until the 1890s, the region around Nuristan was known as Kafiristan (land of the kafirs) because of its inhabitants: the Nuristanis, an ethnically distinctive people who practiced animism, polytheism and shamanism. Other than Muslims, there are tiny communities of Hindus and Sikhs found in the four major cities of the country. They number in the thousands. There was also a small Jewish community in Afghanistan who emigrated to Israel and the United States by the end of the last century, and only one individual by the name of Zablon Simintov remains today.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Afghanistan

The 2011 Afghan Youth Voices Festival at the Gardens of Babur in the capital Kabul.

The Afghan culture has been around for over two millennia, tracing record to at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BCE. It is mostly a nomadic and tribal society, with different regions of the country having their own tradition, reflecting the multi-cultural and multi-lingual character of the nation. In the southern and eastern region, as well as western Pakistan which was historically part of Afghanistan, the people live according to the Pashtun culture by following Pashtunwali, an ancient lifestyle that is still preserved. The remaining of the country is culturally Persian and Turkic. Some non-Pashtuns who live in close proximity with Pashtuns have adopted Pashtunwali in a process called Pashtunization (or Afghanization) while some Pashtuns have been Persianized.

Men wearing their traditional Afghan dress in the ultra-conservative southern city of Kandahar.

Farhad Darya performing at the Serena Hotel in Kabul.

Afghans display pride in their culture, nation, ancestry, and above all, their religion and independence. Like other highlanders, they are regarded with mingled apprehension and condescension, for their high regard for personal honor, for their tribe loyalty and for their readiness to use force to settle disputes. As tribal warfare and internecine feuding has been one of their chief occupations since time immemorial, this individualistic trait has made it difficult for foreigners to conquer them. Tony 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. There are an estimated 60 major Pashtun tribes, and the Afghan nomads are estimated at about 2–3 million.
The nation has a complex history that has survived either in its current cultures or in the form of various languages and monuments. However, many of its historic monuments have been damaged in recent wars. The two famous Buddhas of Bamiyan were destroyed by the Taliban, who regarded them as idolatrous. Other historical places include the cities of Kandahar, Herat, Ghazni and Balkh. The Minaret of Jam in the Hari River valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site. A cloak reputedly worn by Islam's Prophet Muhammad is stored inside the famous Mosque of the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed in Kandahar, a city founded by Alexander and the first capital of Afghanistan. In the city of Herat in the west, the citadel of Alexander has been renovated in recent years and is a popular attraction for tourists.
Although literacy level is low, classic Persian and Pashto poetry play an important role in the Afghan culture. Poetry has always been one of the major educational pillars in the region, to the level that it has integrated itself into culture. Some notable poets include Rumi, Rabi'a Balkhi, Sanai, Jami, Khushal Khan Khattak, Rahman Baba, Khalilullah Khalili, and Parwin Pazhwak.
The city of Kabul has been home to many musicians in the past, who were masters of both traditional and modern Afghan music, especially during the Nowruz (New Year) and National Independence Day celebrations. Most Afghans are accustomed to watching Bollywood films from India and listening to its filmi hit songs. Several Bollywood films such as Dharmatma, Khuda Gawah, Escape from Taliban and Kabul Express have been shot inside Afghanistan.
Afghans are participants in many kinds of sports, including soccer, cricket, basketball, volleyball, taekwondo, boxing, and bodybuilding. Buzkashi is a traditional sport, mainly among the northern Afghans. It is similar to polo, played by horsemen in two teams, each trying to grab and hold a goat carcass. Afghan hounds (a type of running dog) originated in Afghanistan.

Media

Main article: Media of Afghanistan

The Afghan media began in the early 20th century, with the first newspaper published in 1906. By the 1920s, Radio Kabul was broadcasting local radio services. Afghanistan National Television was launched in 1974 but was closed in 1996 when the media was tightly controlled by the Taliban. Since 2002, press restrictions were gradually relaxed and private media diversified. Freedom of expression and the press is promoted in the 2004 constitution and censorship is banned, though defaming individuals or producing material contrary to the principles of Islam is prohibited. In 2008, Reporters Without Borders listed the media environment as 156 out of 173, with 1st being most free. 400 publications are now registered, at least 15 local Afghan television channels and 60 radio stations. Foreign radio stations, such as Voice of America and BBC World Service, broadcast into the country.

Health and education

Main articles: Health in Afghanistan and Education in Afghanistan

Inside a regional military hospital in the Paktia Province

According to the Human Development Index, Afghanistan is the second least developed country in the world. Every half hour, an average of one woman dies from pregnancy-related complications, another dies of tuberculosis and 14 children die, largely from preventable causes. Before the Saur Revolution in 1978 and the long war that followed, the nation had an improving health system and a semi-modernized health care system in cities like Kabul. Ibn Sina Hospital and Ali Abad Hospital in Kabul were two of the leading health care institutions in Central Asia at the time. The health care system was limited to urban areas only and was eventually destroyed during the civil war in the early 1990s. The Taliban government made some improvements in the late 1990s, but health care was not available for women during their six year rule. Afghanistan has one of the highest incidences of people with disabilities in the world. There are an estimated one million disabled or handicapped people in the country. An estimated 80,000 citizens of the country have lost limbs, mainly as a result of landmines.
The nation's health care system began to improve since 2002, which is due to international support on the vaccination of children, training of medical staff. According to USAID, infant mortality rate has dropped by 33 percent and approximately 64 percent of the total population now has access to some form of health care. Most Afghans live within one hour travel to a health facility. Many hospitals and clinics have been built in the country over the last decade, with the most advanced treatments being available in Kabul. The French Medical Institute for Children and Indira Gandhi Childrens Hospital in Kabul are the leading children's hospitals in Afghanistan. The Jinnah Hospital in Kabul is also under construction, which is funded by the Government of Pakistan. There are also a number of well-equipped regional military controlled hospitals across the country that were built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and are run by the Afghan National Army.
Non-governmental charities such as Mahboba's promise assist orphans in association with governmental structures.^] According to Reuters, "Afghanistan's healthcare system is widely believed to be one of the country's success stories since reconstruction began."However, UNICEF reported in 2009 that Afghanistan is the most dangerous place in the world for a child to be born. The nation has the highest infant mortality rate in the world – 257 deaths per 1,000 live births – and 70 percent of the population lacks access to clean water. The Afghan Ministry of Public Health has ambitious plans to cut the infant mortality rate to 400 from 1,600 for every 100,000 live births by 2020. Demographic and Health Surveys is working with the Indian Institute of Health Management Research to conduct a survey in Afghanistan focusing on Maternal Mortality, among other things.

American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) in Kabul.

Education in the country includes K-12 and Higher, which is supervised by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education.^[241] The nation's education system fell apart due to the wars after 1978, but it began reviving after the new Karzai administration came to power in late 2001. More than five million male and female students were enrolled in schools as of 2009. However, there are still significant obstacles to education in Afghanistan, stemming from lack of funding, unsafe school buildings and cultural norms. Furthermore, there is a great lack of qualified teachers, especially in rural areas. A lack of women teachers is another issue that concerns some Afghan parents, especially in more conservative areas. Some parents will not allow their daughters to be taught by men. What Afghanistan needs is NATO supported scholarship programs to take massive number of students abroad so that when they return after finishing studies they can move their nation forward and quickly catch up with the rest of the world.
Following the start of the U.S. mission in late 2001, 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. Many other universities were inaugurated across the country in recent years, such as Kandahar University in the south, Herat University in the northwest, Balkh University in the north, Nangarhar University and Khost University in the eastern zones, and others. The National Military Academy of Afghanistan has been set up to train and educate Afghan soldiers.
UNICEF estimates that more than 80 percent of females and around 50 percent of males lack access to education centers. According to the UN, 700 schools have been closed in the country because of poor security. Literacy of the entire population is estimated at 34%. Female literacy is 10%.^[243] In 2010, the United States began establishing a number of Lincoln learning centers in Afghanistan. They are set up to serve as programming platforms offering English language classes, library facilities, programming venues, Internet connectivity, educational and other counseling services. A goal of the program is to reach at least 4,000 Afghan citizens per month per location.

Crime and law enforcement

Main articles: Crime in Afghanistan and Law enforcement in Afghanistan

Afghan National Police

The National Directorate of Security (NDS) is the nation's domestic intelligence agency, which operates similar to that of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and has between 15,000 to 30,000 employees. The nation also has about 126,000 national police officers, with plans to recruit more so that the total number can reach 160,000. The Afghan National Police (ANP) is under the Ministry of Interior in Kabul, which is headed by Bismillah Khan Mohammadi. The Afghan National Civil Order Police is part of the Afghan National Police, which is divided into five Brigades, each commanded by a Brigadier General. These brigades are stationed in Kabul, Gardez, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-i-Sharif. Every province of the country has a provincial Chief of Police who is appointed by the Ministry of Interior and is responsible for law enforcement in all the districts within the province.
Although they are being trained by NATO countries and through the Afghanistan Police Program, there are still problems with the force. According to a 2009 news report, large percent of Afghan police officers are illiterate and are accused of demanding bribes. Jack Kem, deputy to the commander of NATO Training Mission Afghanistan and Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, stated that the literacy rate in the ANP will reach over 50 percent by January 2012. What began as a voluntary literacy program became mandatory for basic police training in early 2011.Approximately 17 percent of them test positive for illegal drugs. In 2009, President Karzai created two anti-corruption units within the nation's Interior Ministry. Former Interior Minister Hanif Atmar said that security officials from the U.S. (FBI), Britain (Scotland Yard) and the European Union will train prosecutors in the unit.
The south and eastern parts of Afghanistan are the most dangerous due to their distances from Kabul and their flourishing drug trade. These areas in particular are often patrolled by Taliban insurgents, and in many cases they plan attacks by using suicide bombers and planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on roads. Every year many Afghan police officers are killed in the line of duty. The Afghan Border Police are responsible for protecting the nation's airports and borders, especially the Durand Line, which is a disputed border often used by criminal organizations and terrorists for their illegal activities. Reports in 2011 appeared suggesting that up to 3 million people in Afghanistan are involved in the illegal drug business, many of the attacks on government employees and institutions are carried out not only by the Taliban militants but also by powerful criminal gangs. Drugs from Afghanistan are exported to Iran, Pakistan, Russia, India, the United Arab Emirate, and the European Union. The Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics which is supported by the international community is dealing with this problem.