Glossary of Afghanistan

International dialling code

• +93

Internet Country Suffix

• .af

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

• 1 as of 2000.

Internet Users

• N/A

Radio Broadcast Stations

• 7 AM stations (6 are inactive; the active station is in Kabul), 1 FM, 1 shortwave. Broadcasts are in Pashto, Dari, Urdu, and English.

Radios

• 167,000

Telephones — land lines in use

• 29,000 as of 1996.

Telephones — mobile cellular

• N/A

Telephone System

• General assessment: Very limited telephone and telegraph service. Domestic: In 1997, telecommunications links were established between Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Kabul through satellite and microwave systems. International: Satellite earth stations — 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) linked only to Iran and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region); commercial satellite telephone center in Ghazni.

Television Broadcast Stations

• At least 10 (one government-run central station in Kabul and regional stations in 9 of the 30 provinces; the regional stations operate on a reduced schedule; also, in 1997, there was a station at Mazar-e Sharif reaching 4 northern provinces)

Television sets

• 100,000 as of 1999.

Economy

Overview

• An extremely poor, landlocked country, dependent on farming and livestock breeding (mostly sheep and goats). Economic issues have receded in the face of political and military upheavals during the last 2 decades of Afghanistan's history. The 10-year Soviet military occupation ended on 15 February 1989. During that conflict, 1/3 of the population fled the country; Pakistan and Iran sheltered more than 6 million refugees at the peak of the migration. In early 2000, 2 million Afghan refugees remained in Pakistan and about 1.4 million in Iran. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has fallen sharply over the past 20 years due to the loss of labor and capital, and the disruption of trade and transport. Furthermore, severe drought has added to the nation's plight since 1998. The majority of the population suffers from insufficient food, clothing, housing and medical care. Inflation remains a serious economic problem. In 1999-2000 internal battles between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, which refuses to recognize the Taliban's political legitimacy. This civil war hampers both domestic economic policies and international aid efforts, though international aid can deal with only a fraction of the humanitarian problem. Afghanistan was by far the largest producer of opium poppies in 2000 and narcotics trafficking is a major source of revenue.

Agriculture — products

• Opium poppies, wheat, fruits, nuts; wool, mutton, karakul pelts.

Budget

• $N/A

Currency and Currency Code

• Afghani (AFA)

Debt (external)

• $5.5 billion (estimated 1996)

Economic Aid—Recipient

• The U.S. provided about $70 million in humanitarian assistance in 1997; from 1997-2001, the U.S. continued to contribute to multilateral assistance through the U.N. programs of food aid, immunizations, land mine removal, and a wide range of aid to refugees and displaced persons.

Exchange Rates

• Afghanis per U.S. dollar: 4700 as of January 2000 on the free market. In April 1996, the rate was officially fixed at 3000 per dollar.

Exports, Commodities and Partners

• $80 million (not including opium — 1996 estimate). Opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious stones. Partnered with Pakistan, Iran, Germany, India, U.K., Belgium, Luxembourg and Czech Republic

Imports, Commodies and Partners

• $150 million (1996 estimate). Capital goods, food and petroleum products, most consumer goods. Partnered with Pakistan, Iran, Japan, Singapore, India, South Korea, Germany.

Industries

• Small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer and cement, handwoven carpets, natural gas, oil, coal, copper.

Geography

Area

• 250,001 square miles (647,500 square km)

Border Countries

• China 47 miles (76 km), Iran 581 miles (936 km), Pakistan 1509 miles (2430 km), Tajikistan 749 miles (1206 km), Turkmenistan 462 miles (744 km), Uzbekistan 85 miles (137 km)

Boundaries

• 3435 miles (5529 km)

Environmental Issues

• Soil degradation, overgrazing, deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials), desertification.

Land Use

• Arable land: 12%. Permanent crops: 0%. Permanent pastures: 46%. Forests and woodland: 3%. Other: 39%.

Natural Resources

• Natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semi-precious stones.

Government

Administrative Divisions

• 30 provinces (there might be 2 new ones)

Capital

• Kabul, the most bomb-damaged and land-minded place in the world, outside Chechnya.

Constitution

• None

Country Name

• Conventional long form: Islamic State of Afghanistan. The self-proclaimed Taliban government refers to the country as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The local long form is "Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghaestan."

Diplomatic Representation — U.S. & Afghanistan

• Afghanistan's embassy operations in the U.S. were suspended on 21 August 1997. The U.S. embassy in Kabul has been closed since January 1989 due to security concerns.

Executive Branch

• The Islamic State of Afghanistan has no functioning government at this time, and the country remains divided among fighting factions. On 27 September 1996, ruling members of the Afghan government were displaced by members of the Islamic Taliban movement. The Taliban have declared themselves the legitimate government; however, the U.N. still recognizes the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani. The Organization of the Islamic Conference has left the Afghan seat vacant until the question of legitimacy can be resolved through negotiations among the warring factions. The country is divided along ethnic lines: the Taliban controls the predominantly ethnic Pashtun areas in southern Afghanistan while opposing factions have their stronghold in the more ethnically diverse north.

Judicial Branch

• Upper courts were non-functioning as of March 1995. Local shari'a or Islamic law courts are functioning throughout the country.

Legal System

• A new legal system has not been adopted, but all factions tacitly agree they will follow shari'a (Islamic law).

Legislative Branch

• Non-functioning as of June 1993.

Political Parties

• Taliban (Religious Students Movement)
• United National Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan or UNIFSA — made up of 13 parties opposed to the Taliban including
• Islamic Movement of Afghanistan
• Islamic Party
• Islamic Unity Party
• Islamic Afghan Society
• National Front
• National Islamic Front

Political Pressure Groups

• Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Australia, U.S. and elsewhere have organized politically:
• Mellat (Social Democratic Party)
• Peshawar, Pakistan-based groups such as the Coordination Council for National Unity and Understanding in Afghanistan or CUNUA
• Tribal elders represent traditional Pashtun leadership
• Writers Union of Free Afghanistan or WUFA

History

Before the Taliban— 27 September 1996

• Afghanistan's history and culture go back 5000 years. In ancient times, the land was inhabited by people who called themselves Aryans. In the medieval era, the country was called Khorasan, and in modern times, its people have decided to call it Afghanistan "Land of the Afghan." In the 19th century, the British Empire in India and Imperial Russia fought each other and vied for influence in Afghanistan, which inhabits a strategic position sandwiched as it is between the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Russia controlled the borders in the north; the U.K. controlled the southeast. In 1880, the British left and the Afghan resistance fighter Abdur Rahman had himself elected king. In 1973, the Afghan monarchy was abolished by the reigning king's cousin Mohammad Daoud, who put himself in as president but was murdered in 1978 in a coup. Two competing left-wing parties took over government. Under Prime Minister Nur Mohammad Taraki, they initiated far-reaching reforms directed against landowners and reactionaries. A growing middle-class in the cities saw the Asian Soviet republics nearby as a model for Afghanistan, but resistance to modernization hardened in the countryside. When the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to stabilize Taraki's government, the Brezhnev government probably believed that it was supporting a progressive Socialist ally against tenacious, primitive fundamentalism. Supported and funded by Saudi Arabia and the U.S., the Afghan rebels (mujahideen) forced the Soviet withdrawal in 1988, but the mujahideen began warring amongst themselves in efforts to gain control of the country. The Taliban came forward to fill that vacuum. For a recent chronology of Afghani events, click here.

Military

Military Branches

• The military does not exist on a national basis; 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 political groups.

Military Manpower

• Availability, males aged 15-49: 6,645,023 Fit for military service, males aged 15-49: 3,561,957 (2001 estimates)

People

Age Structure

• 0-14 years: 42.2% (male 5,775,921; female 5,538,826) 15-64 years: 55.01% (male 7,644,242; female 7,106,568) 65 years and over: 2.79% (male 394,444; female 353,046) (2001 estimates)

Birth Rate

• 41.42 births/1,000 population (2001 estimate)

Death Rate

• 17.72 deaths/1,000 population (2001 estimate). Kabul is the most landmined capital in the world, and mines kill on average 25 people a day in Afghanistan. The Taliban have disallowed board games that foreign agencies were using to instruct the mostly illiterate population in mine-awareness because the games used banned pictures of humans and animals. The alternative, flash cards, was outlawed as gambling.

Ethnic Groups

• Pashtun 38%
• Tajik 25%
• Hazara 19%
• Minor ethnic groups (Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch and others) 12%
• Uzbek 6%

Infant Mortality Rate

• 147.02 deaths/1,000 lives births (2001 estimate)

Languages

• Pashto 35% (Indo-European) spoken by Pashtuns, the ethnic majority
• Dari (Indo-European) 50% (spoken by Tajiks and Hazaras)
• Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek, who speak Uzbeki, and Turkmen) 11%
• 30 minor languages (primarily Baluchi and Pashai) 4% Much bilingualism

Life Expectancy at Birth

• Total population: 46.24 years
• Male: 46.97 years
• Female: 45.47 years (2001 estimate)

Literacy (Aged 15 and over who can read and write)

• Total population: 31.5%
• Male 47.2%
• Female 15%

Population

• 26 million

Religions

• Sunni Muslim 84%
• Shi'a Muslim 15%
• Other 1% ("other" includes Sikhs, Hindus and some Jews)

Total Fertility Rate

• 5.79 children born per woman (2001 estimate)

Transnational Issues

Illicit Drugs

• World's largest illicit opium producer, surpassing Burma; a major source of hashish; increasing number of heroin-processing laboratories being set up in the country; major political factions profit from drug trade. The Taliban control 96% of Afghanistan's total opium output, the country's only real remaining cash crop.

International Disputes

• Support to Islamic militants worldwide by some factions; question over which group should hold Afghanistan's seat at the U.N.

Transportation

Airports—paved runways

• 3 over 3330 yards (3047 m)
• 4 from 2660 to 3330 yards (2438 to 3047 m)
• 15 from 1680 to 2660 yards (1524 to 2437 m)
• 1 under 1000 yards (914 m) (2000 estimates)

Airports — unpaved runways

• 4 from 2660 to 3330 yards (2438 to 3047 m)
• 15 from 1680 to 2660 yards (1524 to 2437 m)
• 4 from 1000 to 1680 yards (914 to 1523 m)
• 12 under 1000 yards (914 m)
• (2000 estimates)

Heliports

• 3 (2000 estimate)

Women and Children

Women

Before the Taliban—27 September 1996

• Afghan women in rural areas worked beside the men in the fields
• Afghan women were more than 70% of school teachers
• Afghan women made up more than 60% of the instructors at Kabul University
• Afghan women were more than 50% of the civilian government workers
• Afghan women were more than 40% of the doctors
• Afghan women were the vast majority of healthcare workers
• Afghan women were over half of the students at universities
• During the war with the USSR, the survival of many families came to depend on women's income

After the Taliban—27 September 1996

• Afghan women make up 75% of the refugees living in neighboring countries in substandard conditions with little food and virtually no clean water or sanitation; women and children have no more than plastic sheets for shelter.
• Afghan women and children comprise the largest refugee population in the world today.
• Forty percent of the population in Kabul lives on handouts from foreign agencies; 20 years ago, Afghanistan could feed its own people.
• Thirty thousand widows in Kabul and others elsewhere in the country are the sole providers for their families, yet have not been permitted to work since 1996. Therefore, families led by women are reduced to begging in the streets.
• Afghan girls are not permitted to go to school and women have been expelled from universities.
• Afghan women are prohibited from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative.
• Afghan women's houses must have all windows to the outside painted black.
• Afghan women must wear the burqa or chador, which completely shrouds the body, leaving only a small mesh-covered opening (a 3-inch square) through which to see.
• A growing number of women have been hit by vehicles since enforced veiling, because the burqa leaves them unable to walk quickly or to see where they're going.
• Many Afghan women must share one burqa throughout a neighborhood in because the veil now costs the equivalent of five months' salary (if only women received a salary). These women can only go outside of their house on one day, when it is their turn to have the burqa.
• Afghan women must ride on special buses with all windows except the driver's covered with thick blankets.
• Afghan women have been brutally beaten, flogged, maimed and killed for violating Taliban decrees.
• The evening curfew is 7.30 pm and even women in labor must wait until morning to seek medical attention.
• Afghan women are committing suicide in growing numbers. Doctors report esophageal burns because women are swallowing battery acid or poisonous household cleaners.
• The list of things banned by the Taliban includes makeup, nail polish, jewelry, plucked eyebrows, short hair, white socks and shoes, high-heeled shoes, walking loudly, talking loudly, laughing in public.

Gender Apartheid

• A system whereby the women of Afghanistan exist in a state of virtual house arrest, stripped of visibility, voice and mobility. The basis for the discrimination and oppression is gender, rather than race.

Women in Islam

• The oppression that the Taliban perpetrates against women has no basis in Islam or the Qu'ran. Within Islam, women are allowed to earn and control their own money and participate in public life. The 55-member Organization of Islamic Conference has refused to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's official government, and one of the reasons for that refusal is the Taliban's policy of gender apartheid. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, considered by many to be ultraconservative, has denounced the Taliban's decrees that result in gender apartheid. According to the Qur'an the Prophet Muhammad said, "Women are the siblings of men."

Children

After the Taliban

• One in 4 Afghan children dies before the age of 5
• Supplementary feeding centers funded by foreign agencies routinely see 4-year-old children who weigh 16 pounds, 18-month-old toddlers who weigh 9 pounds
• The number of street children in Kabul: roughly 60,000
• Landmines maim and/or kill an average of 25 people a day in Afghanistan, 2/3 of them children who herd animals or search for fuel or scrap metal to help support their families. (Scrap metal mercants will purchase unexploded bombs or shells only if the children disarm them first.)
• Children's toys, including dolls and kites, and card and board games are banned by the Taliban

Further Reading

• Afganistan Online
• Afghan Info Center