Afghanistan Brief

Formal Name

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

(Dowlat-e Eslami-ye-Afghanestan).

Short Form

Afghanistan.

Term for Citizen(s)

Afghan(s).

Capital

Kabul.

Major Cities

Herat (Hirat), Jalalabad, Kandahar (Qandahar),

Kondoz (Kunduz), and Mazar-e Sharif.

Independence

Afghanistan recognizes its independence day as August 19, the date in 1919 when the country became fully independent of British rule.

Public Holidays

The date of celebration of Afghanistan’s Muslim holidays varies because the Islamic calendar is 354 days rather than 365. The holidays in this category are the beginning of Ramadan, Eid al Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice, the end of Ramadan), Ashura (the martyrdom of Imam Hussein), and the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. Holidays observed on fixed dates include Nawros (New Year’s, on the vernal equinox), Victory Day (April 28), and Independence Day (August 19).

Flag

The background of the Afghan flag is three equal vertical sections of black, red, and green from left to right. In the center of the flag in yellow is the national coat of arms, which portrays a mosque with a banner and a sheaf of wheat on either side. In the upper-middle part of the insignia are the lines “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” and “Allah is Great.” together with a rising sun. The word “Afghanistan” and the year 1298 (the Muslim calendar equivalent of the year of independence, 1919) are located in the lower part of the insignia.

Source: Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile

Past

Afghanistan

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.

Environment

Afghanistan

Location:

Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran

Geographic coordinates:

33 00 N, 65 00 E

Climate:

arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers

Terrain:

mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest

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

People

Afghanistan

Population:

31,889,923 (July 2007 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 44.6% (male 7,282,600/female 6,940,378)
15-64 years: 53% (male 8,668,170/female 8,227,387)
65 years and over: 2.4% (male 374,426/female 396,962) (2007 est.)

Ethnic groups:

Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%

Religions:

Sunni Muslim 80%, Shi'a Muslim 19%, other 1%

Languages:

Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashto (official) 35%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism

Government

Afghanistan

Country name:

conventional long form: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
conventional short form: Afghanistan
local long form: Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Afghanestan
local short form: Afghanestan
former: Republic of Afghanistan

Government type:

Islamic republic

Capital:

name: Kabul
geographic coordinates: 34 31 N, 69 11 E
time difference: UTC+4.5 (9.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Independence:

19 August 1919 (from UK control over Afghan foreign affairs)

Constitution:

new constitution drafted 14 December 2003-4 January 2004; signed 16 January 2004

Business

Afghanistan

Business - 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 7% in 2007. 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.

Communications

Afghanistan

Telephone system:

general assessment: very limited telephone and telegraph service; many Afghans utilize growing cellular phone coverage in major cities
domestic: telephone service is improving with the licensing of several wireless telephone service providers in 2005 and 2006; approximately 8 in 100 Afghans own a wireless telephone; telephone main lines remain limited
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 (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 21, FM 5, shortwave 1 (broadcasts in Pashtu, Afghan Persian (Dari), Urdu, and English) (2006)

Television broadcast stations:

at least 7 (1 government-run central television station in Kabul and regional stations in 6 of the 34 provinces) (2006)

Internet country code:

.af

Internet users:

535,000 (2006)

International

Afghanistan

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

Source: The World Factbook This section was last updated on 17 January, 2008