from Wikipedia
Afġānistān, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان, Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامى جمهوريت ), is a landlocked country that is located in the heart of Asia. It is variously designated as located geographically within Central Asia[3], the Middle East[4], or South Asia[5]. It has religious, ethno-linguistic, and geographic links with most of its neighbors. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east,[6] Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. The name Afghanistan means the “Land of Afghans.”
Afghanistan is a culturally mixed nation, a crossroads between the East and the West, and has been an ancient focal point of trade and migration. It has an important geostrategical location, connecting South Asia, Central Asia and Southwest Asia. During its long history, the land has seen various invaders and conquerors, while on the other hand, local entities invaded the surrounding vast regions to form empires to themselves. Ahmad Shah Durrani created a large empire in the middle of the eighteenth century, with its capital at Kandahar.[7] Subsequently, most of its territories were ceded to former neighboring countries. In the 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in “The Great Game” played between the British Indian Empire and Russian Empire. On August 19, 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war, the country regained full independence from the United Kingdom over its foreign affairs.
Since the late 1970s, Afghanistan has suffered continuous and brutal civil war, which included foreign interventions in the form of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan in which the ruling Taliban government was toppled. In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). This force, composed of NATO troops, has been involved in assisting the government of President Hamid Karzai in establishing authority across the nation. In 2005, the United States and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement committing both nations to a long-term relationship. In the meantime, about 40 billion US dollars have also been provided by the international community for the reconstruction of the country.
from Amnesty International
Head of state and government: Hamid Karzai
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: ratified
from CIA Factbook
from Afghanistan Embassy in DC
General Facts and Statistics
Area: 647,500 sq. km. (249,935 sq. mi.), slightly smaller than Texas
Capital: Kabul, 2,000,000 (approx.)
Population: 29,863,000 (2005 est.)
Natural resources: Natural gas, petroleum, coal, cooper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones
Land use: Arable land 12% Permanent pastures 46% Forests and woodland 3% Other 39%
Literacy rate: 28.7 percent (UN Afghanistan Human Development Report of 2005)
from BBC
After the fall of the Taleban administration in 2001, adherents of the hardline Islamic movement have re-grouped and are now a resurgent force, particularly in the south and east. A fledgling democratic government faces the challenges of extending its authority beyond the capital and of forging national unity.
Source Material:
- Afghanistan: Taliban execute 5 abducted policemen as warning not …
International Herald Tribune, France - Two latest Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan begin long …
The Canadian Press - Philippine government lifts ban on worker deployment in Afghanistan
Xinhua, China - Afghanistan trailing badly on development: study
AFP - Internal displacement in Afghanistan
ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland
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