| Afghanistan |
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| Background: Ahmad Shah DURRANI unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747. The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian empires until it won independence from notional British control in 1919. A brief experiment in democracy ended in a 1973 coup and a 1978 Communist counter-coup. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 to support the tottering Afghan Communist regime, touching off a long and destructive war. The USSR withdrew in 1989 under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-Communist mujahedin rebels. Subsequently, a series of civil wars saw Kabul finally fall in 1996 to the Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 to end the country's civil war and anarchy. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, a US, Allied, and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Osama BIN LADIN. The UN-sponsored Bonn Conference in 2001 established a process for political reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution and a presidential election in 2004, and National Assembly elections in 2005. On 7 December 2004, Hamid KARZAI became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. The National Assembly was inaugurated on 19 December 2005. |
| Geography and Environmental |
Capital: name: Kabul
geographic coordinates: 34 31 N, 69 12 E
time difference: UTC+4.5 (9.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Area Total: 647,500 sq km |
| Area Land: 647,500 sq km |
| Area Water: 0 sq km |
| Area Comparative: slightly smaller than Texas |
| Coastline: 0 km (landlocked) |
| Climate: arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers |
| Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest |
| Elevation Extremes Lowest Point: Amu Darya 258 m |
| Elevation Extremes Highest Point: Nowshak 7,485 m |
| Natural Resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones |
| Land Use Arable Land: 12.13% |
| Land Use Permanent Crops: 0.21% |
| Land Use Other: 87.66% (2005) |
| Irrigated Land: 27,200 sq km (2003) |
| Natural Hazards: damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush mountains; flooding; droughts |
| Environment Current Issues: limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; soil degradation; overgrazing; deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials); desertification; air and water pollution |
| Geography Note: landlocked; the Hindu Kush mountains that run northeast to southwest divide the northern provinces from the rest of the country; the highest peaks are in the northern Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor) |
| Population |
| Population: 31,889,923 (July 2007 est.) |
| Age Structure 0 to 14 Years: 44.6% (male 7,282,600/female 6,940,378) |
| Age Structure 15 to 64 Years: 53% (male 8,668,170/female 8,227,387) |
| Age Structure 65 Years And Over: 2.4% (male 374,426/female 396,962) (2007 est.) |
| Median Age Total: 17.6 years |
| Median Age Male: 17.6 years |
| Median Age Female: 17.6 years (2007 est.) |
| Population Growth Rate: 2.625% (2007 est.) |
| Birth Rate: 46.21 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death Rate: 19.96 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex Ratio At Birth: 1.05 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Under 15 Years: 1.049 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 15 to 64 Years: 1.054 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio 65 Years And Over: 0.943 male(s)/female |
| Sex Ratio Total Population: 1.049 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant Mortality Rate Total: 157.43 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Male: 161.81 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Infant Mortality Rate Female: 152.83 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life Expectancy At BirthTotalPopulation: 43.77 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Male: 43.6 years |
| Life Expectancy At Birth Female: 43.96 years (2007 est.) |
| Total Fertility Rate: 6.64 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 0.01% (2001 est.) |
| HIV AIDS People Living With HIV AIDS: NA |
| HIV AIDS Deaths: NA |
| Religions: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shi'a Muslim 19%, other 1% |
| Languages: Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashtu (official) 35%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism |
| Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
| Literacy Total Population: 36% |
| Literacy Male: 51% |
| Literacy Female: 21% (1999 est.) |
| Administrative Divisions: 34 provinces (velayat, singular - velayat); Badakhshan, Badghis, Baghlan, Balkh, Bamian, Daykondi, Farah, Faryab, Ghazni, Ghowr, Helmand, Herat, Jowzjan, Kabol, Kandahar, Kapisa, Khowst, Konar, Kondoz, Laghman, Lowgar, Nangarhar, Nimruz, Nurestan, Oruzgan, Paktia, Paktika, Panjshir, Parvan, Samangan, Sar-e Pol, Takhar, Vardak, Zabol |
| Legal System: according to the new constitution, no law should be "contrary to Islam"; the state is obliged to create a prosperous and progressive society based on social justice, protection of human dignity, protection of human rights, realization of democracy, and to ensure national unity and equality among all ethnic groups and tribes; the state shall abide by the UN charter, international treaties, international conventions that Afghanistan signed, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
| Economy |
| Overview: Afghanistan's economy is recovering from decades of conflict. The economy has improved significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 largely because of the infusion of international assistance, the recovery of the agricultural sector, and service sector growth. Real GDP growth exceeded 8% in 2006. Despite the progress of the past few years, Afghanistan is extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid, agriculture, and trade with neighboring countries. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs. Criminality, insecurity, and the Afghan Government's inability to extend rule of law to all parts of the country pose challenges to future economic growth. It will probably take the remainder of the decade and continuing donor aid and attention to significantly raise Afghanistan's living standards from its current level, among the lowest in the world. While the international community remains committed to Afghanistan's development, pledging over $24 billion at three donors' conferences since 2002, Kabul will need to overcome a number of challenges. Expanding poppy cultivation and a growing opium trade generate roughly $3 billion in illicit economic activity and looms as one of Kabul's most serious policy concerns. Other long-term challenges include: budget sustainability, job creation, corruption, government capacity, and rebuilding war torn infrastructure. |
| GDP Purchasing Power Parity: $21.5 billion (2004 est.) |
| GDP Real Growth Rate: 8.4% (2006 est.) |
| GDP Composition By Sector Agriculture: 38% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Industry: 24% |
| GDP Composition By Sector Services: 38% |
| Labor Force: 15 million (2004 est.) |
Labor Force By Occupation: agriculture: 80%
industry: 10%
services: 10% (2004 est.) |
| Unemployment Rate: 40% (2005 est.) |
Household Income Or Consumption By Percentage Share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
| Inflation Rate Consumer Prices: 16.3% (2005 est.) |
| Industries: small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, coal, copper |
| Industrial Production Growth Rate: NA% |
| Energy |
| Electricity Production: 734.3 million kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Production By Source Fossil Fuel: 36.3% |
| Electricity Production By Source Hydro: 63.7% |
| Electricity Production By Source Nuclear: 0% |
| Electricity Production By Source Other: 0% (2001) |
| Electricity Consumption: 782.9 million kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Exports: 0 kWh (2004) |
| Electricity Imports: 100 million kWh (2004) |
| Oil Production: 0 bbl/day (2004) |
| Oil Consumption: 4,500 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil Proved Reserves: 0 bbl (1 January 2002) |
| Natural Gas Production: 20 million cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Consumption: 20 million cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Imports: 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural Gas Proved Reserves: 99.96 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.) |
| Exports: $471 million; note - not including illicit exports or reexports (2005 est.) |
| Exports Commodities: opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems |
| Exports Partners: US 25.8%, India 21.2%, Pakistan 20.3%, Finland 4.1% (2005) |
| Imports: $3.87 billion (2005 est.) |
| Imports Commodities: capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products |
| Imports Partners: Pakistan 39%, US 9.6%, Germany 5.6%, India 5.3%, Turkey 4.2%, Turkmenistan 4.1% (2005) |
| Debt External: $8 billion in bilateral debt, mostly to Russia; Afghanistan has $500 million in debt to Multilateral Development Banks (2004) |
| Economic Aid Recipient: international pledges made by more than 60 countries and international financial institutions at the Berlin Donors Conference for Afghan reconstruction in March 2004 reached $8.9 billion for 2004-09 |
| Communications |
| Telephones Main Lines In Use: 280,000 (2005) |
| TelephonesMobileCellular: 1.4 million (2005) |
| Telephone System General Assessment: very limited telephone and telegraph service; many Afghans utilize growing cellular phone coverage in major cities |
| Telephone System Domestic: telephone service is improving with the licensing of several wireless telephone service providers in 2005 and 2006; approximately 4 in 100 Afghans own a wireless telephone; telephone main lines remain limited |
| Telephone System International: country code - 93; five VSAT's installed in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar, and Jalalabad provide international and domestic voice and data connectivity |
| Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 21, FM 5, shortwave 1 (broadcasts in Pashtu, Afghan Persian (Dari), Urdu, and English) (2006) |
| Radios: 167,000 (1999) |
| Television Broadcast Stations: at least 7 (1 government-run central television station in Kabul and regional stations in 6 of the 34 provinces) (2006) |
| Televisions: 100,000 (1999) |
| Internet Service Providers-ISPs: 1 (2000) |
| Internet Users: 30,000 (2005) |
| Transportation |
| Waterways: 1,200 km (chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels up to 500 DWT) (2005) |
| Airports: 46 (2006) |
| Military Expenditures Percent Of GDP: 1.9% (2006 est.) |
| Disputes International: Pakistan, with UN and other international assistance, repatriated 2.3 million Afghan refugees with less than a million still remaining, many at their own choosing; Pakistan has proposed and Afghanistan protests construction of a fence and laying of mines along portions of their border; Coalition and Pakistani forces continue to monitor remote tribal areas to control the border with Afghanistan and stem terrorist and other illegal activities |
| Refugees And Internally Displaced Persons: IDPs: 136,565 (mostly Pashtuns and Kuchis displaced in south and west due to drought and instability) (2006) |
| IllicitDrugs: world's largest producer of opium; cultivation dropped 48% to 107,400 hectares in 2005; better weather and lack of widespread disease returned opium yields to normal levels, meaning potential opium production declined by only 10% to 4,475 metric tons; if the entire poppy crop were processed, it is estimated that 526 metric tons of heroin could be processed; many narcotics-processing labs throughout the country; drug trade is a source of instability and some antigovernment groups profit from the trade; significant domestic use of opiates; 80-90% of the heroin consumed in Europe comes from Afghan opium; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through informal financial networks; source of hashish |