Country Snapshot

Country Name: Afghanistan

Capital: Kabul

Continent: Middle East

Location: Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran.

Population: 39,232,003 (2023 est.)

Background: 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 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. 

Government Type: Theocratic

Legal System: 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. (2021)

Internet Country Code: .af

Visa, Travel, Citizenship, & Weather Information

Official Visa & Travel Information: Ministry of Interior Affairs of Afghanistan (Visa Services)

Geographic Coordinates: 33 00 N, 65 00 E

Ethnic Groups: Current reliable statistical data on ethnicity in Afghanistan is 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.

Languages: Afghan Persian or Dari (official, lingua franca) 77%, Pashto (official) 48%, Uzbeki 11%, English 6%, Turkmani 3%, Urdu 3%, Pachaie 1%, Nuristani 1%, Arabic 1%, Balochi 1%, other <1% (2020 est.)

Religions: Muslim 99.7% (Sunni 84.7 - 89.7%, Shia 10 - 15%), other <0.3% (2009 est.)

Citizenship: 

• Citizenship By Birth: No

• Citizenship By Descent Only: At least one parent must have been born in - and continuously lived in - Afghanistan

• Dual Citizenship Recognized: No

• Residency Requirement for Naturalization: 5 Years

Economic Overview: Extremely low-income Middle Eastern economy; import drops, currency depreciation, disappearing central bank reserves, and increasing inflation after Taliban takeover; increasing Chinese trade; hit hard by COVID; ongoing sanctions.

Currency: Afghan Afghani (AFN)

Reserves of Foreign Exchange & Gold: $9.749 billion (31 December 2020 est.)

Real GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $60.803 billion (2021 est.)

Real GDP Growth Rate: -20.74% (2021 est.)

Real GDP per Capita: $1,500 (2021 est.)

Exports:

• $1.476 billion (2020 est.); note: data is in current year U.S. dollars and does not include illicit exports or re-exports.

• Comparison Ranking: 168

Export Commodities: Gold, figs, grapes, cotton, fruits and nuts, coal, and Afghan opium (production remains a significant illicit trade export) (2021)

Export Partners: United Arab Emirates 45%, Pakistan 24%, India 22%, China 1% (2019)

Imports:

• $6.983 billion (2020 est.) note: data is in current year U.S. dollars

• Comparison Ranking: 127

Import Commodities: Wheat flours, broadcasting equipment, refined petroleum, rolled tobacco, aircraft parts, and synthetic fabrics (2019)

Import Partners: United Arab Emirates 23%, Pakistan 17%, India 13%, Uzbekistan 7%, China 9% (2021)

Natural Resources: Natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones, and arable land.

Agricultural Products: Wheat, milk, grapes, vegetables, potatoes, watermelons, melons, rice, onions, and apples.

Industries: Small-scale production of bricks, textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, apparel, food products, non-alcoholic beverages, mineral water, cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, coal, copper.

Industrial Production Growth Rate: 

• -14.19% (2021 est.)

• Comparison Ranking: 203

Labor Force: 9.39 million (2021 est.)

Labor Force By Occupation: 

• Agriculture: 44.3%

• Industry: 18.1%

• Services: 37.6% (2017 est.)

Unemployment Rate: 13.28% (2021 est.)

Natural Hazards: Damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush mountains; flooding; droughts.

Geography:

• Total: 652,230 sq km

• Land: 652,230 sq km

• Water: 0 sq km

(Country Summary, The World Factbook, CIA.gov)

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