Afghanistan - Learn Explore and Travel

Kabul: Kabul has a rich history but a pockmarked present, although it is still possible to see some of its glory. Sights that are still around include the old section of Kabul with narrow streets filled with bazaars, the Kabul Museum and the Afghan National Museum, the latter of which still has the majority of its collections intact, and Babur Gardens which take you back in time a few millennia after being recently restored.

Afghanistan (Persian/Pashto: , Af??nist?n), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the southeast, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. The territory that now forms Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC.

The country sits at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, which has been home to various peoples through the ages. The land has witnessed many military conquests since antiquity, notably by Alexander the Great, Chandragupta Maurya, and Genghis Khan. It has also served as a source from which local dynasties such as the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have established empires of their own.

The political history of modern Afghanistan begins in 1709 with the rise of the Pashtuns, when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise to power in 1747. The capital of Afghanistan was shifted in 1776 from Kandahar to Kabul and part of the Afghan Empire was ceded to neighboring empires by 1893. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the "Great Game" between the British and Russian empires. Following the third Anglo-Afghan war and the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, the nation regained control over its foreign policy from the British.

After the 1978 Marxist revolution, the Soviet Union began a 10-year war in which over a million Afghans lost lives. The mujahidin insurgency generated by the Marxist government and the Soviet invasion signaled the first sustained entry of Islam into Afghan politics as the religion served as a force to unify the tribally divided multiethnic population. This was followed by the Afghan civil war (1992?1996), the rise and fall of the extremist Taliban government and the 2001-present war. In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help maintain security in Afghanistan and assist the Karzai administration. While NATO and other countries are rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan, terrorist groups such as the Haqqani network with alleged support and guidance from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy network are actively involved in a nationwide Taliban-led insurgency, which includes countless assassinations and suicide attacks. According to the United Nations, the insurgents were responsible for 75% of civilian casualties in 2010 and 80% in 2011.

* Afghanistan is still rather difficult place to live in these days. A just - released (Feb, 2005) study produced the following figures:

* -- Life expectancy in Afghanistan in 2004, was about 44 years - vs about 80 for the "first world".

* -- Only 5 countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Burundi) are considered less developed

* -- Half the population is "poor", as judged by local standards.

* -- 20% are chronically hungry.

* -- one quarter of the population has at some time sought refuge outside the country.

* -- 3.6 million out of 28 million citizens, are still refugees or "internally displaced".

* -- 1 in 5 children currently die under the age of 5, most from easily preventable diseases.

* -- 1 in 8 children die from causes related to unclean water.

* -- only 25% of the total population has access to clean water (i.e., three quarters don't!!).

* -- Adult literacy is under 29 percent.

* -- Per capita income is $190 USD (52 cents per day), and unemployment is at least 25%.

* -- Maternal mortality rates (women dying because of child birth complications) are 60 times that of Europe.

* That said, there are reasons for hope: 54 percent of children are now enrolled in school, including 4 million high school students - and non-drug related economic growth was 16 percent in 2003 and estimated to remain at 10 percent or more per year for a while. Key to further success, however, rests upon improved security, political reform, reduction of poppy production, and "bottom-up" economic development.

In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan [Paperback]