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Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a landlocked country of South-Central Asia.
The country extends about 600 miles (970 km) from north to
south and about 800 miles (1,300 km) from east to west,
including the very narrow Wakhan, a corridor 150 miles (241
km) long connecting Afghanistan with China to the northeast.
Afghanistan is also bordered on the south and southeast by
Pakistan, on the west by Iran, and on the north by
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Its total
area is 251,825 square miles (652, 900 square km).
Afghan people are of Pashtun, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras
ancestries. The Pashtuns mainly inhabit the southern and
eastern parts of the country. Most Pashtuns are
sedentary. The Tajiks, mostly farmers and artisans, live
predominantly in the northeast and in the west of Herat. The
Uzbeks are mainly farmers living north of the Hindu Kush.
The Hazaras are nomads who inhabit the central mountains.
The
official languages of the country are Pashtu and Dari, both
Indo-European languages. Pashtu is spoken by about
half the population. Dari is the language of about a third
of the population-mainly the Tajik, Hazara and Kizilbash
people. More than four-fifths of Afghanistan's population is
rural, and nearly one fifth of the country's population is
nomadic.
Afghanistan's birth and death rates are among the highest in
the world, and country has a relatively young population; 46
percent are less than 15 years of age.
After the overthrow of the
Taliban in November, 2001, an
Afghan Interim Authority
under the Chairmanship of
H.E Mr. Hamid Karzai, along with
21
member cabinet
was formed on
December 22, 2001
for a period of 6-month
under the
auspices of
United Nations
. An Assembly of Afghan tribal leaders and
representatives held the Loya
Jirga in June 2002 and approved
new government, to rule Afghanistan for next 18 months.
The new
government is called the Islamic Transitional Government
of Afghanistan (ITGA) which is broadly representative of
the ethnic, geographic, and religious composition of
Afghanistan including women. H.E President Hamid
Karzai heads the ITGA.
The Transitional
Governmental will establish Institutions in Afghanistan as
the state administration have remained largely in disarray
or nonfunctional.
More than two decades of
instability and conflict has left a country with a ruined
infrastructure and Economy. With some seven million of its
population threatened by famine combined with devastating
and one-third of the population fled the country and
sheltering in Pakistan and Iran.
Afghanistan is an
extremely poor, landlocked country, highly dependent on
farming, handicrafts and livestock raising (sheep and
goats). Gross domestic product has fallen substantially over
the past 20 years because of the loss of labor and capital
and the disruption of trade and transport.
Imports: Total value:
2471 mln US$ (2005)
Major Items:
petroleum products, foodstuff, sugar, wheat, flour, rice,
cooking oil, agricultural inputs, electronics, crockery,
cars/motorbikes, auto parts, fabrics, cosmetics, tires, tea
Exports:
Total value:
384 mln US$ (2005)
Major Items:
Dried fruits and nuts, carpets
and rugs, wool, raw cotton, hides and pelts, natural gas,
precious and semi-precious gems
Natural
Resources:
Natural gas, petroleum,
hydrocarbon, coal, copper, chrome, talc, barites, sulfur,
lead, zinc, iron ore, tin, salt, gold, silver, lapis,
uranium, rubies, rare metals
Agriculture Products:
Wheat, meat, fruits, nuts; wool,
mutton, karakul pelts
Main Industries:
Small-scale production of
textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, cement;
hand-woven carpets; natural gas, oil, coal, copper, leather,
gold and silver jewelry
The natural gas, with
large reserves near Sheberghan
in Jowzjan province, near the
Turkmen border, about 75 miles west of
Mazar-e-Sharif. The Khwajeh
Gugerdak and
Yatim Taq
fields are major producers, with storage and refining
facilities. Pipelines deliver natural gas to Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan and to a thermal power plant and chemical
fertilizer plant in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Petroleum resources have proved to be insignificant.
Many coal deposits have been found in the northern slopes of
the Hindu Kush. Major coalfields
are at Karkar and
Eshposhteh, in
Baghlan province, and Fort
Sarkari,
in
Balkh
province.
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