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.
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 the National Assembly was inaugurated the following December. KARZAI was reelected in August 2009 for a second term. The 2014 presidential election was the country's first to include a runoff, which featured the top two vote-getters from the first round, Abdullah ABDULLAH and Ashraf GHANI. Throughout the summer of 2014, their campaigns disputed the results and traded accusations of fraud, leading to a US-led diplomatic intervention that included a full vote audit as well as political negotiations between the two camps. In September 2014, GHANI and ABDULLAH agreed to form the Government of National Unity, with GHANI inaugurated as president and ABDULLAH elevated to the newly-created position of chief executive officer. The day after the inauguration, the GHANI administration signed the US-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement and NATO Status of Forces Agreement, which provide the legal basis for the post-2014 international military presence in Afghanistan. After two postponements, the next presidential election was held in September 2019.
The Taliban remains a serious challenge for the Afghan Government in almost every province. The Taliban still considers itself the rightful government of Afghanistan, and it remains a capable and confident insurgent force fighting for the withdrawal of foreign military forces from Afghanistan, establishment of sharia law, and rewriting of the Afghan constitution. In 2019, negotiations between the US and the Taliban in Doha entered their highest level yet, building on momentum that began in late 2018. Underlying the negotiations is the unsettled state of Afghan politics, and prospects for a sustainable political settlement remain unclear.
" } }, "Geography": { "Location": { "text": "Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran" }, "Geographic coordinates": { "text": "33 00 N, 65 00 E" }, "Map references": { "text": "Asia" }, "Area": { "total": { "text": "652,230 sq km" }, "land": { "text": "652,230 sq km" }, "water": { "text": "0 sq km" } }, "Area - comparative": { "text": "almost six times the size of Virginia; slightly smaller than Texas" }, "Land boundaries": { "total": { "text": "5,987 km" }, "border countries": { "text": "China 91 km, Iran 921 km, Pakistan 2670 km, Tajikistan 1357 km, Turkmenistan 804 km, Uzbekistan 144 km" } }, "Coastline": { "text": "0 km (landlocked)" }, "Maritime claims": { "text": "none (landlocked)" }, "Climate": { "text": "arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers" }, "Terrain": { "text": "mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest" }, "Elevation": { "highest point": { "text": "Noshak 7,492 m" }, "lowest point": { "text": "Amu Darya 258 m" }, "mean elevation": { "text": "1,884 m" } }, "Natural resources": { "text": "natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones, arable land" }, "Land use": { "agricultural land": { "text": "58.1% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: arable land": { "text": "arable land: 11.8% (2018)" }, "agricultural land: permanent crops": { "text": "permanent crops: 0.3% (2018)" }, "agricultural land: permanent pasture": { "text": "permanent pasture: 46% (2018)" }, "forest": { "text": "1.85% (2018 est.)" }, "other": { "text": "40.1% (2018)" } }, "Irrigated land": { "text": "32,080 sq km (2012)" }, "Population distribution": { "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)" } }, "People and Society": { "Population": { "text": "37,466,414 (July 2021 est.)" }, "Nationality": { "noun": { "text": "Afghan(s)" }, "adjective": { "text": "Afghan" } }, "Ethnic groups": { "text": "Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, other (includes smaller numbers of Baloch, Turkmen, Nuristani, Pamiri, Arab, Gujar, Brahui, Qizilbash, Aimaq, Pashai, and Kyrghyz) (2015)کتاب حقایق جهان، مرجعی ضروری برای اطلاعات اولیە (Dari)
د دنیا د حقائېقو کتاب، بنیادی معلوماتو لپاره ضروری سرچینه- (Pashto)" }, "note": "note 1: data represent most widely spoken languages; shares sum to more than 100% because there is much bilingualism in the country and because respondents were allowed to select more than one language\r\nnote - the Ministry of Justice licensed 72 political parties as of April 2019
" }, "International organization participation": { "text": "ADB, CICA, CP, ECO, EITI (candidate country), FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (NGOs), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, OSCE (partner), SAARC, SACEP, SCO (dialogue member), UN, UNAMA, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO" }, "Diplomatic representation in the US": { "chief of mission": { "text": "Ambassador Roya RAHMANI (since 24 November 2018)" }, "chancery": { "text": "2341 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008" }, "telephone": { "text": "[1] (202) 483-6410" }, "FAX": { "text": "[1] (202) 483-6488" }, "consulate(s) general": { "text": "Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC" } }, "Diplomatic representation from the US": { "chief of mission": { "text": "Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Ross WILSON (since 18 January 2020)" }, "telephone": { "text": "[00 93] 0700 108 001" }, "embassy": { "text": "Bibi Mahru, Kabul" }, "mailing address": { "text": "U.S. Embassy Kabul, APO AE 09806" }, "FAX": { "text": "[00 93] 0700 108 564" } }, "Flag description": { "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 IslamPrior to 2001, Afghanistan was an extremely poor, landlocked, and foreign aid-dependent country. Increased domestic economic activity occurred following the US-led invasion, as well as significant international economic development assistance. This increased activity expanded access to water, electricity, sanitation, education, and health services, and fostered consistent growth in government revenues since 2014. While international security forces have been drawing down since 2012, with much higher U.S. forces’ drawdowns occurring since 2017, economic progress continues, albeit uneven across sectors and key economic indicators. After recovering from the 2018 drought and growing 3.9% in 2019, political instability, expiring international financial commitments, and the COVID-19 pandemic have wrought significant adversity on the Afghan economy, with a projected 5% contraction.
Current political parties’ power-sharing agreement following the September 2019 presidential elections as well as ongoing Taliban attacks and peace talks have led to Afghan economic instability. This instability, coupled with expiring international grant and assistance, endangers recent fiscal gains and has led to more internally displaced persons. In November 2020, Afghanistan secured $12 billion in additional international aid for 2021-2025, much of which is conditional upon Taliban peace progress. Additionally, Afghanistan continues to experience influxes of repatriating Afghanis, mostly from Iran, significantly straining economic and security institutions.
Afghanistan’s trade deficit remains at approximately 31% of GDP and is highly dependent on financing through grants and aid. While Afghan agricultural growth remains consistent, recent industrial and services growth have been enormously impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns and trade cessations. While trade with the People’s Republic of China has rapidly expanded in recent years, Afghanistan still relies heavily upon India and Pakistan as export partners but is more diverse in its import partners. Furthermore, Afghanistan still struggles to effectively enforce business contracts, facilitate easy tax collection, and enable greater international trade for domestic enterprises.
Current Afghan priorities focus on the following goals:
despite decades of war, Afghanistan has successfully rebuilt infrastructure to create a functional telecom sector that covers nearly all of the population; due to mountainous geography, country relies on its mobile network; mobile broadband penetration growing, but is still low compared to other countries in Asia; operator launched LTE in Kabul; World Bank and other donors support development of a nationwide fiber backbone; terrestrial cable connectivity to five neighboring countries; work on the ‘Wakhan Corridor Fiber Optic Survey Project’ to connect to China is nearing completion; major importer of broadcasting equipment from UAE (2020)
(2020)" }, "domestic": { "text": "less than 1 per 100 for fixed-line teledensity; 59 per 100 for mobile-cellular; an increasing number of Afghans utilize mobile-cellular phone networks (2019)" }, "international": { "text": "country code - 93; multiple VSAT's provide international and domestic voice and data connectivity (2019)" }, "note": "note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments\r\n" }, "Broadcast media": { "text": "state-owned broadcaster, Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), operates a series of radio and television stations in Kabul and the provinces; an estimated 174 private radio stations, 83 TV stations, and about a dozen international broadcasters are available (2019)" }, "Internet country code": { "text": ".af" }, "Internet users": { "total": { "text": "4,717,013" }, "percent of population": { "text": "13.5% (July 2018 est.)" } }, "Broadband - fixed subscriptions": { "total": { "text": "19,683" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "less than 1 (2018 est.)" } } }, "Transportation": { "National air transport system": { "number of registered air carriers": { "text": "3 (2020)" }, "inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers": { "text": "13" }, "annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers": { "text": "1,722,612 (2018)" }, "annual freight traffic on registered air carriers": { "text": "29.56 million mt-km (2018)" } }, "Civil aircraft registration country code prefix": { "text": "YA" }, "Airports": { "total": { "text": "46 (2020)" } }, "Airports - with paved runways": { "total": { "text": "29 (2020)" }, "over 3,047 m": { "text": "4" }, "2,438 to 3,047 m": { "text": "8" }, "1,524 to 2,437 m": { "text": "12" }, "914 to 1,523 m": { "text": "2" }, "under 914 m": { "text": "3" } }, "Airports - with unpaved runways": { "total": { "text": "17 (2020)" }, "2,438 to 3,047 m": { "text": "1" }, "1,524 to 2,437 m": { "text": "7" }, "914 to 1,523 m": { "text": "4" }, "under 914 m": { "text": "5" } }, "Heliports": { "text": "1 (2020)" }, "Pipelines": { "text": "466 km gas (2013)" }, "Roadways": { "total": { "text": "34,903 km (2017)" }, "paved": { "text": "17,903 km (2017)" }, "unpaved": { "text": "17,000 km (2017)" } }, "Waterways": { "text": "1,200 km (chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels up to 500 DWT) (2011)" }, "Ports and terminals": { "river port(s)": { "text": "Kheyrabad, Shir Khan" } } }, "Military and Security": { "Military and security forces": { "text": "Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) are comprised of military, police, and other security elements:
the Afghan military focuses on internal security threats from several armed groups, particularly the Taliban and militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS), al-Qa’ida, and Haqqani Network terrorist groups (see the Terrorist Organizations Appendix); the primary threat to the Afghan Government and its security forces is the Taliban, which has conducted an insurgency since the early 2000s and conducted thousands of attacks against government forces, including widespread assassinations of government employees, security officials, and society leaders; the Taliban calls itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; its political and military decisions are made by a leadership council (Rahbari Shura) currently led by HAIBATULLAH Akhundzada; as of mid-2020, the group had an estimated 60-80,000 full-time fighters; in addition to their strongholds in the provinces of Helmond and Kandahar, the Taliban has conducted attacks in nearly every Afghanistan province; the Taliban has close ties to al-Qaida and the Haqqani Network
Afghan, Coalition, and Pakistan military meet periodically to clarify the alignment of the boundary on the ground and on maps and since 2014 have met to discuss collaboration on the Taliban insurgency and counterterrorism efforts; Afghan and Iranian commissioners have discussed boundary monument densification and resurvey; Iran protests Afghanistan's restricting flow of dammed Helmand River tributaries during drought; Pakistan has sent troops across and built fences along some remote tribal areas of its treaty-defined Durand Line border with Afghanistan which serve as bases for foreign terrorists and other illegal activities; Russia remains concerned about the smuggling of poppy derivatives from Afghanistan through Central Asian countries
" }, "Refugees and internally displaced persons": { "refugees (country of origin)": { "text": "72,191 (Pakistan) (2019)" }, "IDPs": { "text": "3.547 million (mostly Pashtuns and Kuchis displaced in the south and west due to natural disasters and political instability) (2020)" } }, "Trafficking in persons": { "current situation": { "text": "human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims and returning Afghan migrants and exploit Afghan victims abroad; internal trafficking is more prevalent than transnational trafficking; 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; Afghan security forces and non-state armed groups, including the pro-government militias and the Taliban, continue to unlawfully recruit and use child soldiers; sexual exploitation of boys remains pervasive nationwide, and traffickers subject some boys to sexual exploitation abroad" }, "tier rating": { "text": "Tier 3 — Afghanistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government decreased law enforcement efforts against civilian and official perpetrators of trafficking, and officials complicit in recruitment and use of child soldiers and the sexual exploitation of boys continued to operate with impunity; authorities continued to arrest, detain, and penalize many trafficking victims, including punishing sex trafficking victims for “moral crimes”; the judiciary remained underfunded, understaffed, and undertrained (2020)
" } }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "world's largest producer of opium; poppy cultivation increased 63 percent, to 328,304 hectares in 2017; while eradication increased slightly, it still remains well below levels achieved in 2015; the 2017 crop yielded an estimated 9,000 mt of raw opium, a 88% increase over 2016; the Taliban and other antigovernment groups participate in and profit from the opiate trade, which is a key source of revenue for the Taliban inside Afghanistan; widespread corruption and instability impede counterdrug efforts; most of the heroin consumed in Europe and Eurasia is derived from Afghan opium; Afghanistan is also struggling to respond to a burgeoning domestic opiate addiction problem; a 2015 national drug use survey found that roughly 11% of the population tested positive for one or more illicit drugs; vulnerable to drug money laundering through informal financial networks; illicit cultivation of cannabis and regional source of hashish (2018)" } } }