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AFGHANISTAN Geography Afghanistan, the land of Afghans as the name suggests, is a mountainous land surrounded by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and by China on the extreme northeast, on the east and south by Pakistan, and towards west by Iran. The country is split across from East to the west by the Hindu Kush mountain range, rising in the east at the height of 24,000 ft (7,315 m). The southwestern part of the country is covered by high snow-capped mountains and is bridged by deep valleys. The Largest City is Kabul and the other larger cities are Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, Charikar and Heart.
Total area: 250,000-sq mi (647,500 sq. km)
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| History |
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Afghanistan has a history and culture that rolls back over to 5000 years. It has been know by several names during this historical span, which has been sometimes chaotic and splendid at times. In the ancient era it was known as the Aryan, in the medieval period it was known as the Khorasan, and in the modern times people collectively decided to call it the Afghanistan.
The official language of this country is Dari Persian, Pashtu, other Turkic and minor languages. The capital city of Afghanistan is Kabul, greatly admired by the historical figures including the Babur, the great central Asian conqueror. As a result of the war that had been fought for years, this great city has been nearly destroyed. |
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| People |
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| Afghanistan is a multifarious nation, consisting of four major ethnic groups: Pashtoons, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks, and numerous other minor ethnic groups like Aimak, Turkmen, Baloch and others. Majority of the Afghans are followers of Islam, but there also followers of Hinduism, Sikhism and some Jews in minority. Even in Islamic population the majority are Sunni Muslim with 80% and Shia Muslim with 19%. The total population of Afghanistan in 2008 is estimated to be 32,738,376. |
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| Government |
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After a decade of war, although the economy is in ruins and environment is in the state of contingency, nonetheless Afghanistan is on the roads of recovery. Stability is upheld after the recent presidential election held on October 9, 2004. On November 3rd, The Joint Electoral Management Body of Afghanistan had certified and declared Hamid Karzai, the interim President. With support from United States and United Nation, a new Constitution was adopted, establishing the Afghanistan as the Islamic Republic, in early January 2004.
As per the constitution, the Afghan government comprises of a powerful President, two Vice presidents, and a National Assembly consisting of two Houses, the House of People also know as the Wolesi Jirga, and the House of Elders also popularly known as the Meshrano Jirga. It also consists of an independent Judiciary branch consisting of the Supreme Court (Stera Mahkama), High Courts and Appeal Courts. The Supreme Court members were appointed by the President with the approval of the Wolesi Jirga. In late 2005, Assembly elections were held |
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| Economy |
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Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries of the world, because of years of political instability and war that has ruined the economy. There was 40% of unemployment, as per the research conducted in 2005. Agriculture is the main source of income with opium, wheat, fruits, nuts, wool, mutton, sheepskins, lambskins; they have surplus to serve their own population and export as well.
Afghanistan has 15 million strong Labor forces, of which 80% are into agricultural industry. The major industrial crops are cotton, tobacco, madder, castor beans and sugar beets. Afghanistan is also rich in Natural resources with natural gas, petroleum, copper, coal, chromite, barites, lead, zinc, talk, iron ore, sulfur, salt, precious and semiprecious stones. Other income sources are the small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, cement; hand-woven carpets; natural gas, coal, copper. The Major trading partners are Pakistan, India, and U.S.and Germany. |
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