An Introduction to Afghanistan

The Flag of Afghanistan

On the coat of arms are 2 Muslim inscriptions written in Arabic:

“God is Great” “There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the

Prophet of Allah.”

The Government• Afghanistan does not have a functioning central

government. It is ruled by factions.• 90% of the country is ruled by the Taliban. The

United Nations, however, does not recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan.

• The capital city is Kabul.• There are presently 30 Afghan provinces. • The Constitution of 1964 is no longer in use.

Religion

Photo: Blue Mosque

Ninety-nine percent of Afghanistan’s population

is Muslim.

The People• The people of Afghanistan

are called Afghan(s).• Afghanistan’s population

is 27,000,000.• The people of Afghanistan

have a life expectancy of only 45 years.

• Many ethnic groups make up the Afghan population. The largest is the Pashtun (38%) followed in size by the Tajik (25%).

The People

The Geography

• Afghanistan is about the size of Texas.

• Its 647,500 square miles are landlocked.

• It is located in Southern Asia. It shares borders with Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Iran, and China.

The Geography

• The terrain is mostly rugged mountains, but there are plains in the north and southwest portions of the country.

• The climate is arid-semiarid. The winters are cold and the summers are hot.

The Economy

Afghanistan is a poor country with few modern conveniences.

It depends on farming and livestock raising (sheep and goats).

Exports

Afghanistan’s main export has been the opium extractedfrom the poppy plants grown over much of the country. TheTaliban has recently put a ban on the cultivation of poppies.Because poppy farmers have little else to fall back on, manynow have to face devastating poverty.

The History

• 1919: Independence from British control.

• 1973: A coup overthrows the King.

• 1979: Invasion by Russian troops.

• 1996: The Taliban take power.

1979 - 1988

• The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with 80,000 men

in December, 1979, in an attempt to impose control for its puppet Afghan government.

• After losing tens-of- thousands of soldiers, the defeated Soviets retreated in 1988.

• 1,000,000 Afghans lost their lives in the fight against the Soviet Union.

1996 - Present

The Islamic fundamentalist movement known as the Taliban began to take political and physical control of the country in 1994. With its takeover of Kobul in 1996, the Taliban became the self-proclaimed government of Afghanistan.

• In 1979, Afghanistan was unsuccessfully invaded and eventually controlled by the Soviet Union.

• In 1995, the Taliban, promising traditional, Islamic values came into power, imposing strict Islamic law, including revoking many women’s rights.

• In 2001, American troops force the Taliban from power.

• In 2004, Hamid Karzai became the first elected Afghan president.

Afghanistan Today

After more than twenty years of civil war,Afghanistan’s economy and infrastructure lie in ruin.

Afghanistan Today

The civil war which Afghanistan has been fightingcontinues as the Taliban supporters face the forces ofthe Northern Alliance.

Afghanistan Today

The Taliban has been ridding

the country of all non-Islamic

relics. Two sandstone

statues of Buddha had stood

carved in the side of a cliff.

Afghanistan Today

But on March 3, 2001, the

Taliban used rockets and

mortars to destroy the statues

in a campaign to rid the

country of “un-Islamic” and

idolatrous representations of

the human form.

Afghanistan TodayWomen no longer have as many rights as they once did. The Taliban does not allow women or girls to study, work in most jobs, or vote. Women have to be completely covered when walking in public and should be accompanied by a male from their family.

President Karzai• President Hamid Karzai

was the first elected president in the history of Afghanistan. He came to power after the Taliban was overthrown in late 2001. Karzai has survived numerous assassination attempts and has been assigned the task of rebuilding Afghanistan.