Country Overview

This section provides background information about Afghanistan's:

• Geography
• People
• War-torn History
• Crisis for Female Afghans

Afghanistan's Geography

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, otherwise known as Afghanistan, is a landlocked country, slightly smaller than the state of Texas. Afghanistan is bordered by six countries: Iran lies to Afghanistan's west while Pakistan lies to its south and east. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan run along Afghanistan's northern border, and China touches the easternmost edge of the country.

Since Afghanistan has cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and geographical links to each of its neighbors, it is considered to sit at the crossroads of Asia. Afghanistan is at various times said to belong both to Central Asia and to the Middle East.

Afghanistan is mostly arid, rugged and mountainous. In the southwest and north there are plains, the central plateau region includes the Hindu Kush mountain range, and the eastern end contains the Pamir Mountains. The country has cold winters and hot summers with little rain. Afghanistan does not have much arable land and is subject to earthquakes in the mountains. The country is plagued by a shortage of fresh water, poor soil conditions, massive deforestation, and high levels of air and water pollution. While the country has significant oil and gas reserves in the north as well as other mineral deposits, the unrest in the country has left these resources mostly untapped and the overall economy in tatters.

Afghanistan's People

Afghanistan's population is approximately 31 million. Over 80% of the population depend directly upon the natural resource base for their survival, either through farming, shepherding livestock, or similar livelihoods. The life expectancy for Afghans, both male and female, is roughly the same. Men can expect to live, on average, 43.15 years while women may live to be 43.53 years old. The average number of children born to Afghan women is 6.69. Infant mortality is high, however, since waterborne diseases such as typhoid and various types of diarrhea are prevalent. Malaria is also a threat in lower elevations between March and November.

The country is made up of various ethnic groups, with Pashtun being the majority. Most Afghans are Muslim. Sunni Muslim far outnumber Shi'a Muslim, and only 1 percent of the population practices a religion other than Islam.

If literacy is defined as individuals over the age of 15 who can read and write, only 36% of the Afghan population is literate. The male population is divided almost evenly between literate and illiterate males; approximately 51% are literate. The female population fares much worse. As of 1999, roughly 21% of Afghani women were literate. Because of the Taliban's strict prohibition against women's education and the deteriorating living conditions during the recent conflicts, the percentage of literate women has dropped drastically from that already low number.

Afghanistan's War-torn History

From its earliest history, Afghanistan has been at the center of a turbulent region. For thousands of years Afghanistan has been plagued by myriad invaders. The country has alternately been a seat of commerce, a hotbed of creative culture, and a devastated land. In the early thirteenth century, Chinggis (aka Genghis) Khan laid waste to Afghanistan, and brought the Mongols to rule. Despite the Persians' success in conquering the area around the mid-17th century, peace did not follow. Various tribes fought for control of the region. In 1747, the various ethnic groups known as the Afghans and the tribal group known as the Pashtuns were able to unify sufficiently to create the nation-state of Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the empire that followed lasted less than a century before intertribal conflict and outside wars threw the country into disarray once more.

As the Russian and British empires grew in scope and power, Afghanistan became little more than a buffer between the two behemoths. Much of Afghanistan's autonomy slipped into the hands of Great Britain. It wasn't until 1919 that Afghanistan regained its independence. Between 1933 and 1973, Afghanistan actually saw a period of relative calm. In 1973, however, Sardar Mohammed Daoud, the king's brother-in-law, led a bloodless coup that eventually led to his own death and to the Great Saur Revolution that put a Communist government in control.

Thereafter, Afghanistan was plunged into the Cold War. The United States funded anti-government forces inside Afghanistan. These militants were mostly Muslims who opposed the atheistic stand of Afghanistan's new Communist government. In response to the militant opposition, the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, and the country erupted in violence once more. By 1989 the constant conflict of the Soviet occupation had taken a terrible toll on both the Afghan and Russian people. The USSR finally withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989.

While Russia continued its efforts to prop up Afghanistan's Communist regime, the US lost interest in the war-torn country once it achieved Russia's physical removal from the region. By 1992, Afghanistan's government had crumbled, and the nation was devoid of competent leaders. Local warlords filled the power vacuum and fought each other in a series of shifting alliances, and in response to the country's chaotic conditions the Taliban, a group of fundamentalist Afghans, rose to power in a bloody civil war. The Taliban imposed strict interpretations of Islamic law, known as Sharia. They also tolerated and in some cases provided support for terrorist organizations such as Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda.

In 2001 when members of Al-Qaeda bombed the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States responded by invading Afghanistan. The war was swift and led to the Taliban's downfall. A series of elections, the first in decades, has created a functional central government based in the capital city of Kabul, but Kabul's reach is still not complete over the country and some regions are still controlled by local warlords or factions. Although the Taliban were defeated and splintered, many of their fighters escaped south across the border into Pakistan, and they have managed to regroup and continue to fight a guerrilla war against the central government and international forces stationed in the country.

Crisis for Female Afghans

For decades, the wars in Afghanistan have forced Afghan women to endure extraordinary violence, poverty, and oppression. Prior to the Soviet Union's invasion and the Taliban's ascent to power, women were educated and held meaningful positions in all levels of society and government. The Taliban stripped women of their freedom, their privileges, and their rights. Women were prohibited from attending school or working. They were forced into the restrictive dress of the burqa and could not appear outside their homes without a male relative. Cosmetics, participation in athletics, bright colors, and loud laughs were all against the law. Under the Taliban, women's financial resources dwindled, their literacy rates fell, and their access to medical care became nearly nonexistent. During the Taliban's rule, maternal and infant mortality soared, and to this day, remains one of the highest in the world. In short, under the Taliban, women in Afghanistan had no voice and power.

Conditions are slowly improving. The 2001 invasion by US and British forces put into motion the creation of a new government, beginning with a Constitution drafted by a committee on which women as well as men were represented. What's more, the Constitution was then adopted by the 2004 Loya Jirga , an Afghan legislative body comprised of more than 20% female voting members.

Afghanistan's Constitution took the enormous step of granting Afghans, both male and female, equal rights under the law. Additionally, the Constitution mandates 25% of the seats in the lower house of Parliament be reserved for Afghan women (this compares to approximately 15% of house and senate seats held by women in the US). This unprecedented move ensures the female populace in Afghanistan will have a say in their country's governance. However, despite the favorable laws, there is still a strong local cultural resistance in Afghanistan to including women in government, and women continue to struggle to enforce the new laws and obtain meaningful participation.

Work opportunities are increasing for women in Afghanistan. Laws restricting women's movement, education, and right to employment have been lifted. Nevertheless, the outlook for Afghan women isn't all roses. Economic conditions for men and women are difficult. Years of war and the poverty that endless violence creates cannot be wiped away in only a few years. The country is one of the world's poorest, and the majority of the population lives on less than two US dollars per day. Severe drought persists throughout the country, and Afghanistan's decades-long lack of agricultural and forestry management has exacerbated the drought's effects.

Another obstacle to Afghanistan's economic recovery is the population's youth and inexperience. The average age of Afghans is seventeen, and most those young people are unskilled laborers. Unemployment is extremely high while the creation of new jobs is slow. Industry is lagging while agriculture remains dominated by poppy crops. Opium and its derivative drugs, morphine and heroin, are the largest cash crop in Afghanistan. Hashish is the second largest.

Such massive lack of opportunity coupled with the prevailing insecurity of the nation makes it difficult for women to make gains in education, society, and the government. Tribal fighting, particularly in already depressed rural areas, make it increasingly hard for women to move out of their traditional roles and into larger economic and political spheres. Many of Afghanistan's fundamentalist clerics and conservative political leaders rely on the lack of security to press for reinstatement of the restrictions on women's rights that were in place under the Taliban.

The hope for a better future for Afghans, both male and female, lies in reconstruction. As their country moves out of its war-ravaged past toward a stronger economy and a stable society, opportunities in education, society, and government are growing. But the country's path toward this goal is a long and treacherous one. It is a road that requires international help. Countries and non-governmental organizations around the world must pave Afghanistan's way with fiscal, educational, and technological aid that will serve to improve the lives of all Afghans, male and female.

Written by Pam Duncan