General information: In 1979, Afghanistan was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union. Ten years later, the USSR was forced to withdraw its troops under pressure from the anti-communist forces of the Mujahideen, equipped and trained by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other countries. Subsequently, the struggle continued among various groups of the Mujahideen, this led to the fact that the fundamentalist Islamic movement, the Taliban, managed to capture most of the country’s territory. In the fall of 2001, the US and its allies launched a military operation against the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization they support, which resulted in the Taliban losing control of the country; On December 22, 2001, an interim government of representatives of various political and ethnic groups began to function under the chairmanship of the Pashtun Hamid KARZAI (Hamid KARZAI). In addition to the ongoing civil war, the people of Afghanistan suffer from extreme poverty, destruction of infrastructure and a large number of mined areas. See areacodesexplorer.com to know more about Afghanistan History.
Geography
Location: South Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran.
Geographical coordinates: 33° 00′ N. latitude, 65° 00′ E
Reference map: Asia.
Area: total: 647,500 square kilometers; land surface area: 647,500 square kilometers; water surface area: 0 km2
Comparative area: slightly smaller than the state of Texas.
Land borders: total: 5,529 km; with neighboring states: with China 76 km, with Iran 936 km, with Pakistan 2,430 km, with Tajikistan 1,206 km, with Turkmenistan 744 km, with Uzbekistan 137 km.
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked).
Maritime claims: none (landlocked).
Climate: arid and arid; winter is cold, summer is hot.
Terrain: mostly rocky mountains; in the north and southwest of the plain.
Maximum and minimum heights: lowest point: Amudarya river 258 m; highest point: Mount Noshak 7,485 m.
Natural resources: natural gas, oil, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barite, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semi-precious stones.
Land use: arable land: 12%; cultivated land: 0%; pastures: 46%; forests and plantations: 3%; others: 39% (1993 est.).
Irrigated land: 30,000 km2 (1993 est.).
Natural hazards: devastating earthquakes occurring in the Hindu Kush mountain range; rivers overflow their banks.
Current environmental issues: soil degradation; overgrazing by livestock; deforestation (most of the remaining forest plantations continue to be cut down for fuel and building materials); desertification.
International agreements on environmental protection: member: Desertification, Endangered species, Environmental change, Marine pollution, Nuclear test ban; signed but not ratified: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Hazardous Waste, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation.
Note to the section “Geography”: has no access to the sea.
Population
Population: 26,813,057 (July 2001 est.).
Age structure: under 14: 42.2% (male 5,755,921; female 5,538,836); 15 to 64 years old: 55.01% (male 7,644,242; female 7,106,568); over 65: 2.79% (male 394,444; female 353,046) (2001 est.).
Population growth: 3.48% (2001 est.); note: this ratio reflects the continued return of refugees from Iran.
Birth rate: 41.42 newborns / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Mortality: 17.72 deaths / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Migration: 11.11 people /1000 people (2001 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male/female; under 15: 1.04 male/female; from 15 to 64 years old: 1.08 male/female; over 65: 1.12 male/female; for the general population: 1.06 male/female (2000 est.);
Child mortality: 147.02 deaths/1000 births (2001 est.).
Life expectancy: for the general population: 46.24 years; men: 46.97 years; women: 45.47 years (2001 est.);
Total fertility rate: 5.79 children per woman (2001 est.).
Proportion of the adult population infected with HIV: less than 0.01%.
Number of people infected with HIV: no data.
AIDS mortality: no data available.
Nationality: noun: Afghan; adjective: Afghan.
Ethnic groups: Pashtuns 38%, Tajiks 25%, Uzbeks 6%, Hazaras 19%, national minorities (aimags, Turkmens, Balochs, and others) 12%.
Believers: Sunnis 84%, Shiites 15%, others 1%.
Language(s): Pashto 35%, Afghan Farsi (Dari) 50%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, thirty minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, the majority of the population is bilingual.
Literacy: definition: persons aged 15 and over who can read and write; for the general population: 31.5%; men: 47.2%; women: 15% (1999 est.). State Name:
Politics
Common long form: Islamic State of Afghanistan; note – the self-proclaimed Taliban government called the country the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan;
Common short form: Afghanistan; local long form: Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afgha-nestan; local short form: Afghanestan former: Republic of Afghanistan.
State structure: there is no capable central government, the country is controlled by groupings.
Capital: Kabul.
Administrative division: 30 provinces (ve-layal): Baghlan, Badakhshan, Badghis, Balkh, Bamiyan, Wardak, Ghazni, Herat, Helmand, Ghor, Jowzjan, Zabul, Kabul, Kandahar, Kapisa, Kunar, Kunduz, Laghman, Logar, Nangarhar, Nimroz, Paktika, Pak-tiya, Parvan, Samangan, Sari-Pul, Takhar, Uruz-gan, Farah, Faryab; note: two new provinces are possible: Nurestan (Nuristan) and Khost.
Dependent Territories:
Independence: from 19 August 1919 (until 1919, Britain exercised control over the foreign policy of Afghanistan).
National holiday: Independence Day, 19 August.
Constitution: no.
Legal system: No new legal system has been adopted, but it is understood that all factions agree to follow Sharia (Islamic law).
Suffrage: no data; previously existed for men 15-50 years old.
head of state:
head of government:
Government:
Legislative branch: inactive since June 1993 D.
Judicial branch: inactive since March 1995, although local Sharia (Islamic) courts are spread throughout the country.
Political parties and leaders: Taliban (Mohammad OMAR [Mohammad OMAR]); The United National Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (Burhanuddin Rabbani, chairman, Abdul Rashid DO-STAM), consists of 13 parties united against the Taliban, among them: the Islamic Movement (Harakat-i-lslami), the Islamic Party (Hizbi Islami), Islamic Unity Party (Hizb-i-Wahdat-i-lsla-mi), Islamic Society of Afghanistan (Jumaat-i-lslami Afghanistan), National Front (Jum-bish-i-Milli), National Islamic Front (Mahaz- i-Milli-i-lslami).
Political influence groups and their leaders: Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Australia, the US and elsewhere are politically organized; Social Democratic Party (Mellat) (leader – unknown); organizations based in Peshawar, Pakistan, such as the Coordinating Council for National Unity and Understanding in Afghanistan (CUNUA) (Ishaq GAILANI); tribal leaders representing the traditional power of the Pashtuns; Free Afghanistan Writers Union (WUFA) (A. Rasul AMIN).
Participation in international organizations: AsDB, CP, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Intelsat, IOC, IOM (observer), ITU, NAM, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WToO.
Diplomatic representation in the USA: note: the work of the embassy was suspended on August 21, 1997; head of mission: the post of ambassador is vacant; office: 2341 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; phone: [1] (202) 234-3770; phage: [1] (202) 328-3516; consulates general: New York.
US Diplomatic Mission: The US Embassy in Kabul has been closed since January 1989 for security reasons.
Flag Description: three identical horizontal stripes of green (top), white and black with a gold emblem in the center of all three stripes; the emblem depicts a temple-like building with inscriptions of religious content above and below it, surrounded on the left and right sides by a crown, and on top – a more distinct inscription of a religious nature; the whole composition is surrounded by two crossed curved sabers; note: the Taliban used an all white flag.
