AFGHANISTAN

The mountainous country of Afghanistan lies in south-central Asia. It is bordered by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Pakistan. A panhandle on the northeast, the Wakhan Corridor, connects it with China. Its southernmost part is separated from the nearest sea, the Arabian Sea, by 300 miles (480 kilometers) of Pakistani territory. 

Afghanistan has been known as a crossroads between East and West. Isolated and landlocked, it clung to traditional ways of life. By the mid-1900s the Afghans began to accept the ideas, methods, and machines of modern industrial societies. 

Afghanistan is approximately 252,000 square miles (652,000 square kilometers) in area. In the mid-1990s the country's population was estimated at about 18.1 million. Kabul, the capital and largest city, had more than 1 million inhabitants. 

Land and Climate  

Mountains cover about four fifths of Afghanistan. From the Pamir Mountains in the northeast, the giant Hindu Kush range stretches westward across the country. The range is highest in the Wakhan Corridor, where Nowshak Peak rises to 24,557 feet (7,485 meters) above sea level. Narrow river valleys and broad plains spread from the central highlands to barren desert country in the west. 

Afghanistan's rivers are fed by melting snow and glaciers in the mountains. Northern streams flow toward the Amu Darya, which forms part of the country's northern border (see Amu Darya). The Amu Darya is Afghanistan's largest river; but the Helmand in the southwest is longer. The Kabul River provides water for the fertile valleys and basins around Kabul and Jalalabad. 

  In winter and spring Afghanistan receives most of its meager rain- and snowfalls. Temperatures drop below 0o F (-18o C) in the windswept uplands. The lowlands have milder winters. But the summer sun may raise desert temperatures to 115o F (46o C) or higher. Frontal winds sweeping in from the west may bring huge sandstorms or dust storms. The desert regions receive less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain a year; the high mountains receive more than 40 inches (100 centimeters) of precipitation, most of which falls as snow. 

Plant and Animal Life  

Like its climate, Afghanistan's plant life is diverse. In the southern deserts, few trees grow. Spring rains may bring flowering grasses and herbs. Farther north, plant life becomes richer; at the higher altitudes it may be almost luxuriant. Plants, shrubs, and herbs include camel thorn, locoweed, spiny restharrow, mimosa, and common wormwood. In addition to stands of conifers, trees include wild walnut, oak, alder, hazel, wild peach, and others. North of the Hindu Kush are pistachio trees, which yield nuts for export. 

  Afghanistan has more than a hundred mammal species, some of which are nearing extinction. They include the leopard, snow leopard, goitered gazelle, markhor goat, and Bactrian deer. Other wild animals that survive in the country's subtropical Temperate Zone include wolves, foxes, hyenas, jackals, and mongooses. Grazing animals include ibex, wild goats, and sheep. Wild boar, jerboa, hedgehogs, shrews, hares, mouse hares, bats, and various rodents also occur. More than 380 bird species have been identified in Afghanistan; 200 of them breed there. Birds are widely hunted, and some species are becoming rare. Few Siberian cranes, for example, survive. Snakes, lizards, skinks, salamanders, and frogs are also common to the country. There are many varieties of freshwater fish in the rivers, streams, and lakes, trout being the most common. 

  Desertification, in which human intervention causes good land to turn into desert, is far advanced in Afghanistan (see Desert). Because many Afghans are poor, they collect dung, uproot shrubs, and cut trees for fuel. Domestic animals overgraze the ranges. Improper irrigation adds salt to fields. Ancient records and archaeology show that once-rich areas have become barren stretches of rock and sand. 

People  

Afghanistan's people reflect their country's location astride historic migration and invasion routes. Most Afghans belong to the Pashtun (Pathan), Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara, Turkmen, and Aimak ethnic groups. Constituting about 50 percent of the population, the Pashtuns claim to be related to the Hebrews. The Turkish-descended Uzbeks and Turkmens farm the plains north of the Hindu Kush. The Tajiks, who live near Iran, are of Persian descent. The Hazaras, a Mongol people who remained after the invasion of Genghis Khan, live in the central highlands. 

 Islam, the official religion, pervades all aspects of Afghan life. Religious codes provide standards of conduct and means of settling legal disputes. About 99 percent of the population is Muslim, and of these about 84 percent belong to the Sunnah sect. Most of the Hazaras are Shi'ites. The country also has small numbers of Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and Parsis (Zoroastrians). 

  The official languages of Afghanistan are Pashto and Dari, which are spoken by 80 percent of the people. Pashto, or Pushtu, is the native tongue of the Pashtuns; Dari is a Persian dialect. Turkmen and Uzbek are spoken widely in the north. In the isolated eastern mountain valleys, the smaller Kafir, or Nuristani, tribes speak a variety of languages. 

  About 19 percent of Afghanistan's people live in cities. The remainder are farmers or nomads. Living mainly in small villages, farmers cultivate land irrigated by rivers. In the highlands, seminomadic farmers may move their herds to upland pastures for the summer and return to their villages in the fall. Nomadic groups, mainly Pashtuns, move often, taking their families, belongings, and animals with them. 

   Kabul forms the focal point of Afghanistan's artistic and cultural life. The city has theaters, concert halls, and libraries. Other cities offer historic, cultural, and artistic attractions to a lesser extent. A revival of the arts took place in the 1960s, bringing renewed interest in traditional and Western-style art forms. 

Economy  

About two thirds of Afghanistan's people are farmers or herdsmen, but only about 12 percent of the land is cultivated. The remainder is either too rugged or too dry for farming. The country has extensive natural gas, coal, and iron deposits. About 4 percent of the total land area is irrigated. Farmers use terrace, tunnel, and well methods to irrigate their land. 

  In the mid-1990s about half of Afghanistan's land area was being used for grazing. Afghanistan has vast herds of sheep, goats, cattle, horses, donkeys, and camels--as many as 20 million head. Of these, sheep number about 14 million; cattle, 1.5 million; and goats, 2 million. The sheep provide wool and skins for clothing and flesh for meat. 

  The farmers live in the fertile valleys or on the plain, wherever water is available for irrigation. Wheat, corn (maize), grapes, and rice are the chief crops. Industrial crops include cotton, sugar beets, and sugarcane. Oilseed, nuts, and fruits, particularly grapes, are also important, and large quantities of vegetables, especially potatoes, are grown. Agriculture contributes more than half of the gross domestic product. 

  Aided by loans and grants from the World Bank and other sources, Afghanistan's government has tried since World War II to improve economic conditions. 

  The Helmand Valley project, undertaken with aid from the United States, was designed to supply water for 1,000 square miles (2,600 square kilometers) of desert. With aid from the Soviet Union, the Afghan government built the Nangarhar Canal near Jalalabad in the south. 

Afghanistan has little industry. By estimate, only about 20,000 persons make up the industrial labor force; most of them are employed in the cotton-textile industry. Others work in the cement, sugar, vegetable oil, woolen and artificial-silk textile, and fruit-processing industries. Handworkers in cottage industries produce woven, embroidered, metal, pottery, and wooden goods and utensils. Cottage industries account for some 8 percent of the gross domestic product, while manufacturing industries account for only about 4 percent. The yearly income per person in Afghanistan was about 280 dollars in the mid-1990s. 

  Natural gas accounts for nearly half of the country's exports. Fruits and nuts, cotton, carpets, and karakul skins are also exported. Leading imports include textiles, machinery, vehicles, and petroleum. 

Transportation and Communication  

In the 1990s Afghanistan still lacked railways. The country has more than 13,000 miles (20,800 kilometers) of roads and highways. The most important roads connect Kabul with Shir Kahn, on the Tajik border in the north, and with Peshawar in Pakistan in the east. Paved roads also link Kabul with Qandahar, Herat, and Mazar e Sharif. 

Other forms of transportation range from the very primitive to the very advanced. Camels and donkeys serve as draft animals in many parts of the country. Jet-age airports, however, have been built in Kabul, Qandahar, Shindand, and Baghram, near Kabul. Airports of varying quality are located in more remote parts of the country. 

  Government-operated telephone, telegraph, and postal facilities form the heart of the communications system. The facilities serve only the principal cities and some towns, however. People's Television Afghanistan transmits over one station at Kabul. Radio programs are broadcast in a variety of languages, including English and Russian. 

Education and Health  

Afghanistan's 1964 constitution provided for free and compulsory education at all levels. Regardless, relatively few children attended school, and literacy was near only 30 percent in the early 1990s. Some 30 percent of the country's children now attend the more than 1,500 schools. In the late 1980s the country had more than 800 general secondary schools and about 550 primary schools. Kabul University has an enrollment of about 6,500 students. To earn their degrees some Afghan students go abroad, now mostly to the former republics of the Soviet Union. 

  Afghanistan's public health services have long been handicapped by a lack of doctors, hospitals, and sanitary facilities. Neglect of the rules of health and hygiene has also been a problem. Diseases such as malaria, smallpox, and cholera had been eliminated in the early 1980s, but the country had fewer than 60 hospitals and only 2,500 doctors in the early 1990s. An estimated 38 percent of all newborn children do not survive beyond their first birthday--one of the world's highest infant mortality rates. 

Government and History  

On July 17, 1973, a military coup overturned the two-century-old Afghan kingdom and established the Republic of Afghanistan. From 1964 to 1973 the country had been run as a true constitutional monarchy, with royalty barred from high public office. A prime minister appointed by the shah directed the government. This constitution was abolished in 1973 after the military coup. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was set up in 1978. A new constitution was approved in November 1987. The word Democratic was dropped from the republic's name. 

The remains of buried cities indicate that settled peoples lived in Afghanistan more than 5,000 years ago. The land was invaded repeatedly by nomads and conquering armies. Historic figures who passed through Afghanistan included Darius I of Persia, Alexander the Great, the Muslim invaders, Genghis Khan, Timur Lenk (Tamerlane), and Baber (Babur). Through Afghanistan's mountain passes, China's trade flowed westward and southward on the ancient silk route.

  The modern Afghan kingdom dates from 1747, when Ahmad Shah Durrani freed the country from Persian domination. To preserve their independence, the Afghans shut off the outside world. 

  In the 19th century Afghanistan was caught in the rivalries of great empires. Russia, to the north, threatened Britain's domination of India to the east. After waging two bloody wars, from 1839 to 1842 and from 1878 to 1880, Britain bought Afghanistan's cooperation by paying a large annual subsidy to 'Abdor Rahman Khan and supporting his rule (see Afghan Wars). 

  When Amanollah Khan ascended the Afghan throne in 1919, he declared war on Britain. After the third Afghan War, Afghanistan gained its independence. Amanollah tried to modernize the country. The mullahs--religious teachers and leaders--incited a revolt against him, and he abdicated in 1929. Mohammad Zahir Shah became king in 1933. 

  The Westernization policy begun by Amanollah made significant advances. Under the 1964 constitution, women voted and ran for office for the first time in 1965. The separation of the state's executive, legislative, and judicial powers was completed when a supreme court was established in 1967. 

From 1973 to 1978 the country was ruled by a military regime. A Revolutionary Council with leanings toward the Soviet Union, with whom a treaty of friendship was signed, gained control in 1978. The new government oppressed the Islamic majority, and civil war broke out. In December 1979 the Soviet Union claimed Western interference, invaded the country, and joined government forces against Muslim rebels. The council president was killed in the invasion, and the Soviets installed Babrak Karmal in his place. Opposition spread; demonstrations and violence increased. In 1986 Karmal was replaced by Mohammad Najibullah. The Soviet Union, honoring a 1988 agreement, completed its military pullout on Feb. 15, 1989. More than 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed during the nine-year occupation. 

   Three days after the Soviet troops pulled out, Najibullah declared a state of emergency and replaced the non-Communists in the cabinet with Communists. A March 1990 coup attempt failed to bring down Najibullah. The United States and the Soviet Union agreed in late 1991 to end military aid to the government and the rebels. In April 1992 the rebels captured Kabul, forcing Najibullah out. 

   Ethnic and political rivals vied for control of Afghanistan after the fall of Najibullah's government. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Hezb-i-Islami faction battled the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani for power. In late 1994, a powerful fundamentalist Islamic militia, the Taliban (Persian for "students"), emerged, gaining control of ten of the country's 30 provinces. The Taliban declared that they sought the establishment of an Islamic republic in Afghanistan. In June 1996, Hekmatyar and Rabbani made peace and formed an alliance against the Taliban. Hekmatyar became prime minister in Rabbani's government. 

   In September, members of the Taliban captured the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. With the victory the Taliban, who were widely considered the most conservative of Afghanistan's many fundamentalist Islamic parties, brought two thirds of Afghanistan under their control. Government officials and army members fled from Jalalabad to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Afghanistan President Burhanuddin Rabbani accused Pakistan, a long-time rival for regional power, of supporting the Taliban revolt, a charge that Pakistan denied. Rabbani's government resorted to bombing the city of Jalalabad in an attempt to slow the rebels' progress towards Kabul. The coalition government under Rabbani was forged from five Islamic factions that took part in the anti-Communist struggle, but it lost much popular support to the Taliban, which promised to impose strict fundamentalism. 

   In October, three former enemies joined to announce the creation of a military agreement designed to coordinate efforts against the newly formed Islamic government in Kabul. United by the threat of a common enemy in the form of the Islamic Taliban party, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, Ahmad Shah Massoud, and Abdul Karim Khalily forged the alliance to integrate the forces of the three largest ethnic minorities of northern Afghanistan. Uzbeks, led by General Dostum, Tajiks, led by Massoud, and Hazaras, led by Khalily, controlled ten provinces in the north of the country at the time of the agreement. The three ethnic groups had been embroiled in intermittent conflict since 1993, but each viewed a united front as the only means of stopping the Taliban advance. In the first days of the union, they launched decisive counterattacks against the advancing Taliban guerrillas, halting the Taliban's rapidly advancing expansion. The Taliban controlled the remaining 19 provinces of the country. 

   The Taliban received harsh criticism from both domestic and international voices after their virtual takeover of most of Afghanistan. Upon their successful capture of Kabul, they imposed rule by strict Islamic law. Public floggings for violations of Islamic law, combined with severely repressive policies toward Afghanistan's female population, drew the ire of the international community. The leaders of the anti-Taliban alliance pledged that, if victorious, they would restore a moderate Islamic state. 

Facts About Afghanistan

Official Name. Islamic State of Afghanistan. Capital. Kabul. Area. 251,773 square miles (652,090 square kilometers). Population (1996 estimate). 22,664,000; 90.0 persons per square mile (34.8 persons per square kilometer); 20 percent urban, 80 percent rural (1995 estimate). Major Languages. Pashto and Dari (Persian) (official). Major Religion. Islam (official). Literacy. 31.5 percent. Mountain Ranges. Hindu Kush, Pamirs. Highest Peak. Nowshak, 24,557 feet (7,485 meters). Largest Lakes. Ab e Istadeh ye Moqor, Sari Qul, Band e Kajaki. Major Rivers. Amu Darya, Helmand. Form of Government. Islamic state. Chief of State. President. Head of Government. Prime Minister. Legislature. Parliament. Voting Qualifications. All citizens 18 years of age. Political Divisions. 32 provinces. Major Cities (1988 estimate). Kabul (700,000) (1993 estimate), Qandahar (225,500), Herat (177,300), Mazar-e Sharif (130,600). Chief Manufactured and Mined Products. Salt, copper, food products, gypsum, leather and fur products, barite, textiles, printing and publishing, industrial chemicals, footwear, coal, petroleum products, natural gas. Chief Agricultural Products. Crops--wheat, corn (maize), grapes, rice, potatoes, barley. Livestock--sheep, goats, cattle, horses, camels, chickens. . Monetary Unit. 1 afghani = 100 puli. 

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