Afghanistan, (which literally means Land of the Afghan) is a mountainous land-locked country located in Central Asia. It has a history and culture that goes back over 5000 years. Throughout its long, splendid, and sometimes chaotic history, this area of the world has been known by various names. In ancient times, its inhabitants called the land Aryana. In the medieval era, it was called Khorasan, and in modern times, its people have decided to call it Afghanistan. The exact population of Afghanistan is unknown, however, it is estimated to be somewhere around 21-26 million. Afghanistan is a heterogeneous nation, in which there are four major ethnic groups: Pashtoons, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks. Numerous other minor ethnic groups (Nuristanis, Baluchis, Turkmens, etc.) also call Afghanistan their home. While the majority of Afghans (99%) belong to the Islamic faith, there are also small pockets of Sikhs, Hindus and even some Jews. The official languages of the country are Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian). The capital of Afghanistan is Kabul, which throughout history, was admired by many great figures, such as the great Central Asian conqueror, Zahirudeen Babur. Unfortunately, due to many years of war, this great city has been shattered and nearly destroyed. Today, Afghanistan is on a road to recovery, however, after decades of war, the economy is still in ruins, and its environment is in a state of crises. The country is riddled with landmines left from the war, which are still injuring and killing people on a daily basis. Currently, Afghanistan is being run by a United States backed, transitional government headed by President Hamid Karzai. General elections are expected to be held sometime in September 2004. With help from the United States and the United Nations, Afghanistan adopted its new constitution, establishing the country as an Islamic Republic, in early January 2004. The soon-to-be Afghan government will consist of a powerful and popularly elected President, two Vice Presidents, and a National Assembly consisting of two Houses: the House of People (Wolesi Jirga), and the House of Elders (Meshrano Jirga). There will also be an independent Judiciary branch consisting of the Supreme Court (Stera Mahkama), High Courts and Appeal Courts. The President will appoint the members of the Supreme Court with the approval of the Wolesi Jirga.

Afghanistan's Flags: Current Flag of Afghanistan (Karzai) Taliban Flag (1996-2001) 1992-2002 Flag (Rabbani Government) 1987-1992 Flag (Najibullah--Communist regime) 1980-1987 Flag (Karmal--Communists) 1978 -1980 Flag (Nur Mohammad Taraki / Amin --Khalq--Communist) 1974-1978 Flag (President Daoud Khan) 1930-1974 Flag (King Mohammad Zahir Shah) 1929-1930 Flag (King Nadir Shah) 1919-1928 Flag (Amir/King Amanullah) September 1928 - January 1929 1901-1919 Flag (Amir Habibullah) Pashtunistan (1947)

Stamps from Afghanistan Click on the names to view the images Animal and Plant Life Leopard Cobra Lions Birds Porcupines Flowers Wildlife Butterfly on a flower and Farmers Miscellaneous Unity Kids learning Stamp showing Kabul The moon Lifestyle Peace and Goodwill Culture and History Buzkashi Buzkashi 2 Wrestling Wrestling 2 Buddha in Bamiyan Stamps showing Bamiyan Stamp from 1983 Two Islamic stamps Stamps depicting the communist takeover Rug makers

Afghanistan's Information

Geography
Location: Central Asia,
Map references: Asia

Area:
Total area: 647,500 sq km
Land area: 647,500 sq km
Land boundaries: total 5,529 km,
China 76 km,
Iran 936 km, <
Pakistan 2,430 km,
Tajikistan 1,206 km,
Turkmenistan 744 km,
Uzbekistan 137 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:none; landlocked International disputes: periodic disputes with Iran over Helmand water rights; Iran supports clients in country, private Pakistani and Saudi sources also are active; power struggles among various groups for control of Kabul, regional rivalries among emerging warlords, traditional tribal disputes continue;  border dispute with Pakistan (Durand Line).

Climate: arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers
Terrain:mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest

Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, talc, barites, Sulfur, lead, zinc, iron or salt, precious and semiprecious stones

Land use:
Arable land: 12%
Permanent crops: 0%
Meadows and pastures: 46%
Forest and woodland: 3%
Other: 39%

Irrigated land: 26,600 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:
Current issues: soil degradation; overgrazing; deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials); desertification natural hazards: damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush mountains;
flooding international agreements: party to - Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban; signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity, Climate Change, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation

People
Population: 21,251,821 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:42% (female 4,342,218; male 4,507,141)
15-64 years: 56% (female 5,406,675; male 6,443,734)
65 years and over: 2% (female 256,443; male 295,610) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 14.47% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 42.69 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 18.53 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: 120.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 152.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
Total population: 45.37 years
Male: 45.98 years
Female: 44.72 years (1995 est.)
Total fertility rate: 6.21 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Afghan(s)
adjective: Afghan

Ethnic divisions: Pashtun 63%, Tajik 19%, Uzbek 6%, Hazara 9%, minor ethnic groups (ChaharAimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others) 3%

Religions: Sunni Muslim 90%, Shi'a Muslim 9%, other 1%

Languages: Pashtu 55%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 33%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
Total population: 29%
Male: 44%
Female: 14%

Labor force:4.98 million
by occupation: agriculture and animal husbandry 67.8%, industry 10.2%,
construction 6.3%,commerce 5.0%, services and other 10.7% (1980 est.)

Government
conventional long form: Islamic Emarats of Afghanistan
conventional short form: Afghanistan local long form: Da Afghanistan Islami Emaarat

Digraph:AF
Capital: Kabul

Administrative divisions: 30 provinces (velayat, singular - velayat); Badakhshan, Badghis,Baghlan, Balkh, Bamian, Farah, Faryab, Ghazni, Ghowr, Helmand, Herat,Jowzjan, Kabol,Kandahar, Kapisa, Konar, Kondoz, Khowst Laghman, Lowgar, Nangarhar, Nimruz,Oruzgan, Paktia,Paktika, Parvan, Samangan, Takhar, Vardak, Zabol
Note:

Independence:19 August 1919 (from UK)
Suffrage: undetermined; previously males 15-50 years of age, universal

Political parties and leaders: current political organizations

• Taliban Islamic movment (Religious Students Movement), Mulla Mohammad OMAR Mujahid

• Hizb-i-Islami (Islamic Party) Gulbuddin HIKMATYAR

• Hizbi Islami-Khalis (Islamic Party), Yunis KHALIS

• Ittihad-i-Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan), Prof. Abdul-rabi-Rasul SAYYAF

• Harakat-Inqilab-i-Islami (Islamic Revolutionary Movement), Mohammad Nabi MOHAMMADI

• Jabha-i-Najat-i-Milli Afghanistan (Afghanistan National Liberation Front), Prof. Sibghatullah MOJADDEDI;

• Afghan Millat - Prof. Anwarulhaq Ahadi.

• Mahaz-i-Milli-Islami (National Islamic Front),Sayed Ahamad GAILANI

• Jamiat-i-Islami (Islamic Society) Prof. Burhanuddin RABBANI

• Hizbi Wahdat-Khalili faction (Islamic Unity Party), Abdul Karim KHALILI

• Hizbi Wahdat-Akbari faction (Islamic Unity Party), Mohammad Akbar AKBARI

• Harakat-i-Islami(Islamic Movement) Mohammed Asif MOHSENI

• Jumbesh-i-Milli Islami(National Islamic Movement) Abdul Rashid DOSTAM

Economy
Overview: Afghanistan is an extremely poor, landlocked country, highly dependent on farming (wheat especially) and livestock raising (sheep and goats). Economic considerations have played second fiddle to political and military upheavals during more than 15 years of war, including the nearly 10-year Soviet military occupation (which ended 15 February 1989). Over the past decade, one-third of the population fled the country, with Pakistan sheltering more than 3 million refugees and Iran about 2 million. About 1,2 million Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan and about 1 million in Iran. Another 1 million probably moved into and around urban areas within Afghanistan. Although reliable data are unavailable, gross domestic product is lower than 13 years ago because of the loss of labor and capital and the disruption of trade and transport.
National product: GDP
National product real growth rate: NA%
National product per capita:
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 56.7% (1991)
Unemployment rate: NA%Budget:
Revenues:
Expenditures: , including capital expenditures of
Exports: $188.2 million (f.o.b., 1991)

Commodities: fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems
Partners: FSU countries, Pakistan, Iran, Germany, India, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg,Czechoslovakia

Imports:$616.4 million (c.i.f., 1991)

Commodities: food and petroleum products; most consumer goods partners: FSU countries, Pakistan, Iran, Japan, Singapore, India, South Korea, Germany

External debt: $2.3 billion (March 1991 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 2.3% (FY90/91 est.); accounts for about 25% of GDP

Electricity:
Capacity: 480,000 kW
Production: 550 million kWh
Consumption per capita: 39 kWh (1993)

Industries:small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, and cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, oil, coal, copper

Agriculture:largely subsistence farming and nomadic animal husbandry; cash products - wheat,fruits, nuts, karakul pelts, wool, mutton

Illicit drugs: An illicit cultivator of opium poppy and cannabis for the international drug trade;world's second-largest opium producer after Burma (950 metric tons in 1994) and a major source of hashish

Economic aid:
Recipient: $450 million US assistance provided 1985-1993; the UN provides assistance in the form of food aid, immunization, land mine removal, and a wide range of aid to refugees and displaced persons

Currency:1 afghani (AF) = 100 puls
Exchange rates: afghanis (Af) per US$1 - 1,900 (January 1994), 1,019 (March 1993), 850(1991), 700 (1989-90), 220 (1988-89); note - these rates reflect the free market exchange rates rather than the official exchange rates
Fiscal year:21 March - 20 March

Transportation
Railroads:
Total: 24.6 km
Broad gauge: 9.6 km 1.524-m gauge from Gushgy (Turkmenistan) to
Towraghondi; 15 km 1,524-m gauge from Termiz (Uzbekistan) to Kheyrabad
transshipment point on south __ of Amu Darya

Highways:
Total: 21,000 km
Paved: 2,800 km
Unpaved: gravel 1,650 km; earth 16,550 km (1984)
Inland waterways: total navigability 1,200 km; chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels up to about 500 metric tons
Pipelines: petroleum products - Uzbekistan to Bagram and Turkmenistan to Shindand; natural gas 180 km
Ports: Keleft, Kheyrabad, Shir Khan

Airports:
Total: 48
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 3
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
with paved runways under 914 m: 15
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 14
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 6

Communications
Telephone system: 31,200 telephones; limited telephone, telegraph, and radiobroadcast services; 1 public telephone in Kabul
Local: NA
Intercity: NA
International: one link between western Afghanistan and Iran (viasatellite)

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM 5, FM 0, shortwave 2
Radios: NA

Television:
Broadcast stations: several television stations run by factions and local councils which provide intermittent service
Televisions: NA

Defense Forces
Branches: The military still does not exist on a national scale; some elements of the former Army,Air and Air Defense Forces, National Guard, Border Guard Forces, National Police Force (Sarandoi), and tribal

militias still exist but are factionalized among the various mujahedin and former regime leaders. The main force is the Islamic movment of Taliban who control 85% of the country
Manpower availability: males age 15-49 5,646,789; males fit for military service 3,011,777;males reach military age (22) annually 200,264 (1995 est.)
Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $450 million, 15% of GDP (1990 est.); the new government has not yet adopted a defense budget.

Heads of State
Mohammad Zahir Shah 1933-1973 King
Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan 1973-1978 President
Nur Mohammad Taraki 1978-1979 President
Hafizullah Amin 1979 President
Babrak Karmal 1980-1986 President
Haji Mohammad Chamkani 1986-1987 President
Dr. Mohammad Najibullah 1987 President
Dr. Mohammad Najibullah 1987-1992 President
Abdul Rahim Hatif 1992 President (acting)
Prof. Sibghatullah Mojadeddi 1992 President (acting)
Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani 1992-1998 President

Prime Ministers
Mohammad Hashim Khan 1933-1946
Shah Mahmood Khan 1946-1953
Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan 1953-1963
Mohammad Yusuf Khan 1963-1965
Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal 1965-1967
Noor Ahmad Atemadee 1967-1971
Abdul Zahir 1971-1972
Mohammad Musa Shafiq 1972-1973
Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan 1973-1978
Nur Mohammad Taraki 1978-1979
Hafizullah Amin 1979
Babrak Karmal 1980-1981
Sultan Ali Keshtmand 1981-1988
Mohammad Hassan Sharq 1988-1989
Sultan Ali Keshtmand 1989-1990
Fazal Haq Khaliqyar 1990-1992
Abdul Sabur Farid Kuhestani 1992
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 1993-1994
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 1996