"text":"<p>Ahmad Shah DURRANI unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747. The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian Empires until it won independence from notional British control in 1919. A brief experiment in increased democracy ended in a 1973 coup and a 1978 communist countercoup. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 to support the tottering Afghan communist regime, touching off a long and destructive war. The USSR withdrew in 1989 under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-communist mujahidin rebels. A series of subsequent civil wars saw Kabul finally fall in 1996 to the Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 to end the country's civil war and anarchy. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, a US, Allied, and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Usama BIN LADIN.</p> <p>A UN-sponsored Bonn Conference in 2001 established a process for political reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution, a presidential election in 2004, and National Assembly elections in 2005. In December 2004, Hamid KARZAI became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan and was reelected in August 2009. The Taliban conducted an insurgency for two decades against the Afghan Government and international forces from the United States and other countries. In February 2020, the US and the Taliban signed an agreement that led to the withdrawal from Afghanistan of international forces in exchange for commitments on counterterrorism and other assurances. The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.</p>"
"text":"Amu Darya (shared with Tajikistan [s], Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan [m]) - 2,620 km; Helmand river source (shared with Iran) - 1,130 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"populations tend to cluster in the foothills and periphery of the rugged Hindu Kush range; smaller groups are found in many of the country's interior valleys; in general, the east is more densely settled, while the south is sparsely populated"
},
"Natural hazards":{
"text":"damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush mountains; flooding; droughts"
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"landlocked; the Hindu Kush mountains that run northeast to southwest divide the northern provinces from the rest of the country; the highest peaks are in the northern Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor)"
"text":"Current, reliable statistical data on ethnicity in Afghanistan are not available; Afghanistan's 2004 Constitution cited Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkman, Baluch, Pachaie, Nuristani, Aymaq, Arab, Qirghiz, Qizilbash, Gujur, and Brahwui ethnicities; Afghanistan has dozens of other small ethnic groups"
"text":"<br> <p>کتاب حقایق جهان، مرجعی ضروری برای اطلاعات اولیە (Dari)</p> د دنیا د حقائېقو کتاب، بنیادی معلوماتو لپاره ضروری سرچینه- (Pashto)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> percentages sum to more than 100% because many people are multilingual <br><br><strong>note 2: </strong>Uzbeki, Turkmani, Pachaie, Nuristani, Balochi, and Pamiri are the third official languages in areas where the majority speaks them"
"text":"populations tend to cluster in the foothills and periphery of the rugged Hindu Kush range; smaller groups are found in many of the country's interior valleys; in general, the east is more densely settled, while the south is sparsely populated"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> Afghanistan is one of two countries with endemic wild polio virus (the other is Pakistan) and considered high risk for international spread of the disease; before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine"
"text":"limited natural freshwater resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; soil degradation; overgrazing; deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials); desertification; air and water pollution in overcrowded urban areas"
"text":"<em>due to civil conflict, population displacement, and economic slowdown -</em> between November 2021 and March 2022, during the winter lean season, the food insecurity situation was expected to deteriorate and the number of people in \"Crisis\" or above was likely to increase to 22.8 million, about 35% more than during the same season in 2020/21; following the developments of August 2021 in the country, the international aid flows, an important element of public spending, were halted; the food security situation and agricultural livelihoods in the country is likely to significantly deteriorate in the coming months due to cumulative and cascading impact of multiple shocks, including weather, conflict, economic crisis and the lingering effects of the COVID‑19 pandemic (2022)"
"text":"Amu Darya (shared with Tajikistan [s], Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan [m]) - 2,620 km; Helmand river source (shared with Iran) - 1,130 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"the name \"Afghan\" originally referred to the Pashtun people (today it is understood to include all the country's ethnic groups), while the suffix \"-stan\" means \"place of\" or \"country\"; so Afghanistan literally means the \"Land of the Afghans\""
"text":"previous: Independence Day, 19 August (1919); under the Taliban Government, 15 August (2022) is declared a national holiday, marking the anniversary of the victory of the Afghan jihad<br><br>"
"text":"<p>the Taliban is implementing its own interpretation of Islamic law, which partially based on the Hanifi school of Islamic jurisprudence; before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan had a mixed legal system of civil, customary, and Islamic law</p> (2021)"
"text":"Overall Taliban Leader HAYBATULLAH Akhundzada serves as the head of the Taliban government as Amir-ul Momineen<br>note - on 7 September 2021, the Taliban announced Mohammad HASSAN Akhund as the “acting prime minister” of the \"caretaker government”; as of November 2021, the group had announced three acting “deputy prime ministers” - Abdul Ghani BERADER, Abdul Salam HANAFI, and Abdul KABIR"
"text":"the 2004 Afghan constitution directed that the president should be elected by majority popular vote for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 28 September 2019"
"text":"the Taliban Government has not announced the formation of a legislative branch; before the 2021 Taliban takeover, Afghanistan had a bicameral National Assembly that consisted of the House of Elders and House of the People"
"text":"the Taliban Government has a Supreme Court: number of judges and organizational structure NA; note - before 15 August 2021, Afghanistan had a Supreme Court (consisting of a supreme court chief and 8 justices organized into criminal, public security, civil, and commercial divisions)"
"text":"the Taliban Supreme Court judge selection and term of office NA; note - before 15 August 2021, the Supreme Court chief and justices were appointed by the president with the approval of the Wolesi Jirga; court chief and justices served single 10-year terms"
"text":"the Taliban Government has many provincial-level courts, religious courts, and specialty courts<br>note - before 15 August 2021, consisted of Appeals Courts; Primary Courts; and Special Courts for issues including narcotics, security, property, family, and juveniles"
"text":"the Taliban Government enforces an authoritarian state and has banned other political parties; note - before 15 August 2021, the Ministry of Justice had licensed 72 political parties as of April 2019"
"text":"the United States does not maintain a presence in Afghanistan and bases the Department of State's Afghanistan Affairs Unit in Doha, Qatar; note - the US Embassy in Kabul closed in August 2021"
"text":"three equal vertical bands of black (hoist side), red, and green, with the national emblem in white centered on the red band and slightly overlapping the other 2 bands; the center of the emblem features a mosque with pulpit and flags on either side, below the mosque are Eastern Arabic numerals for the solar year 1298 (1919 in the Gregorian calendar, the year of Afghan independence from the UK); this central image is circled by a border consisting of sheaves of wheat on the left and right, in the upper-center is an Arabic inscription of the Shahada (Muslim creed) below which are rays of the rising sun over the Takbir (Arabic expression meaning \"God is great\"), and at bottom center is a scroll bearing the name Afghanistan; black signifies the past, red is for the blood shed for independence, and green can represent either hope for the future, agricultural prosperity, or Islam",
"note":"<strong>note 1: </strong>the United States has not recognized the Taliban or any other entity as the government of Afghanistan and, accordingly, continues to display the flag of Afghanistan as set forth in the country's constitution of 2004<strong><br><br>note 2:</strong> Afghanistan had more changes to its national flag in the 20th century - 19 by one count - than any other country; the colors black, red, and green appeared on most of them"
"text":"extremely low-income South Asian economy; import drops, currency depreciation, disappearing central bank reserves, and increasing inflation after Taliban takeover; increasing Chinese trade; hit hard by COVID; ongoing sanctions"
"text":"Afghanistan's telecom sector is facing challenges providing adequate coverage to all of the population; prior to the Taliban regaining power, the World Bank and other donors supported the development of a nationwide fiber backbone and there is terrestrial cable connectivity to five neighboring countries; work on the 'Wakhan Corridor Fiber Optic Survey Project' to connect to China has faced obstacles because of Afghanistan's economic issues. (2021)"
"text":"before the Taliban takeover in August 2021, less than 1 per 100 for fixed-line teledensity; 57 per 100 for mobile-cellular subscriptions (2021)"
"text":"under the Taliban government, independent media outlets have decreased in number and are probably self-censoring criticism of the Taliban and the Ministry of Information and Culture monitors all mass media in Afghanistan; television and radio are key media platforms; only about a fifth of Afghans use the internet, mostly through smartphones (2023)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"the Taliban has established a de facto ministry of defense and a national army (aka Army of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Islamic Emirate Army, or Afghan Army); it has also formed a ministry of interior with a subordinate police force (2023)"
"text":"announced that approximately 130,000 personnel had been recruited for a new \"National Army\"; also announced that over 50,000 personnel had been trained for the police force under the ministry of interior (2022)",
"text":"the Taliban military/security forces are armed largely with US-provided equipment captured from the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces when the central government in Kabul collapsed in 2021 (2022)"
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>the Taliban dismissed nearly all women from the former Afghan Government security forces, except those serving in detention facilities and assisting with body searches"
"text":"the Taliban’s primary security threats include ISIS-Khorasan and anti-Taliban resistance elements known as the National Resistance Front and Afghanistan Freedom Front (2023)"
"text":"Haqqani Taliban Network; Harakat ul-Mujahidin; Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami; Islamic Jihad Union; Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K); Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)/Qods Force; Jaish-e-Mohammed; Jaysh al Adl (Jundallah); Lashkar i Jhangvi; Lashkar-e Tayyiba; al-Qa’ida; al-Qa'ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS); Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)",
"note":"<strong><strong>note 1: </strong></strong>as of mid-2022, TTP was reportedly the largest component of foreign terrorist fighters in Afghanistan, with an estimated 3-4,000 armed fighters operating primarily along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border<strong><strong><br></strong></strong><strong><br>note 2:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix T"
"text":"<p><em>Afghanistan-China:</em> None identified<br><em><br>Afghanistan-Iran:</em>Afghan and Iranian commissioners have discussed boundary monument densification and resurvey; Iran protests Afghanistan's restricting flow of dammed Helmand River tributaries during drought<br><br><em>Afghanistan-Pakistan:</em> Pakistan has built fences in some portions of its border with Afghanistan which remains open in some areas to terrorist and other illegal activities. Their alignments may not always be in conformance with Durand Line and original surveyed definitions of the boundary.<br><br><em>Afghanistan-Tajikistan:</em> None identified<br><br><em>Afghanistan-Turkmenistan:</em> None identified<br><br><em>Afghanistan-Uzbekistan:</em> None identified. Boundary follows Amu Darya river as delimited in the Afghan-Soviet treaties and not by the river's current course. The boundary was delimited and possibly demarcated during Soviet times (pre-1991). No current negotiations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to redelimit the boundary have been identified.<br><br>Russia remains concerned about the smuggling of poppy derivatives from Afghanistan through Central Asian countries</p>"
"text":"Tier 3 - Afghanistan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore, Afghanistan remains on Tier 3; substantial personnel turnover and closing of some ministries after the August 15, 2021 Taliban takeover hindered Afghanistan's ability to maintain consistent anti-trafficking efforts; although the pre-August 15 government took some training and awareness steps to address trafficking, it employed or recruited child soldiers and sexual slaves in government compounds; after August 15, the Taliban continued recruiting or employing child soldiers and did not investigate, prosecute, or convict any traffickers; the Taliban shut down shelters for victims, did not identify or protect victims, and did not make any efforts to prevent trafficking; Taliban undermining the rights of women, minorities, and other vulnerable populations, further exacerbated vulnerabilities to trafficking (2022)"
"text":"human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Afghanistan and exploit Afghan victims abroad; internal trafficking is more prevalent than transnational trafficking; since the Taliban takeover, vulnerabilities to exploitation have intensified; traffickers exploit men, women, and a large number of children domestically; victims are subjected to forced labor in agriculture, brick kilns, carpet weaving, domestic servitude, commercial sex, begging, poppy cultivation and harvesting, salt mining, transnational drug smuggling, and truck driving; the Taliban and non-state armed groups, such as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), continue to unlawfully recruit and use child soldiers; sexual exploitation of boys remains pervasive nationwide, and traffickers subject some boys to sexual exploitation abroad; after the Taliban takeover, restrictions on the movement of women and girls, and severely diminished access to employment and education, increased their vulnerability to trafficking; LGBTQI+ individuals are among the most vulnerable groups in Afghanistan under the Taliban (2022)"
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>The United States has not recognized the Taliban or another entity as the government of Afghanistan. On August 15, 2021, the Taliban culminated its takeover of Kabul, and on September 7, 2021, the Taliban announced a so-called interim government. As of December 2021, the Taliban had not outlined steps or a timeline to establish a new permanent government. All references to “the pre-August 15 government” refer to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. References to the Taliban reflect events both prior to and after August 15."
"text":"<p>the world’s largest supplier of opiates, but it is not a major supplier to the United States; 233,000 hectares (ha) of opium poppy cultivated in Afghanistan in 2022; opium from poppies used to produce morphine and heroin; also produces large quantities of methamphetamine, cannabis, and cannabis products such as hashish; one of the world’s largest populations suffering from substance abuse; major source of precursor or essential chemicals used in the production of illicit narcotics:</p> (2022)"
