Islamic State of Afghanistan, Republic

Islamic State of Afghanistan, Republic


Current President	Hamid Karzai (interim leader of Afghanistan) Biography


Capital	Kabul Photographs of Afghanistan


Land	Most of Afghanistan is covered with mountains. These mountains are rugged and experience many earthquakes. In between mountain ranges and in the southwestern part of Afghanistan there are lowland plains areas.

	Land Features
	Hindu Kush	Amu Darya (Oxus) River		Amu Darya plain	Hari Rud (Arius) River
	(takes a minute to load)
		Khyber Pass		Helmand River

				Afghanistan Relief Map

Borders	Iran along the west	Pakistan along the east and south		Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan along the north


Climate	The climate of Afghanistan ranges from arid to semi-arid. Its winters are bitterly cold and the summers are hot.





Population	26,813,057 (2001 estimation)


People	The people of Afghanistan are all members of one of the ethnic groups that live there. The three major ethnic groups are the Pashtun, Tajik, and Hazara, and the most important ethnic group is the Pashtun. The Pashtun make up 38% of the Afghanistan population, Tajik is 25% of the population, and Hazara is 19% of the population. Some smaller ethnic groups are the Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch who make up 12% of the population of Afghanistan. Another is the Uzbek ethnic group that makes up 6% of the Population of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan are members of the Sunni Muslim 84%, Shi'a Muslim 15%, other 1%


Economy


Government	There is no central government of Afghanistan. Each ethnic region or faction governs itself using its own system of law. Each ethnic group has agreed that they will follow Islamic law when making their own laws and decisions. On September 28, 1996 the Islamic Taliban movement took over the governments of most of Afghanistan. The Taliban declared themselves the ruling government of Afghanistan, but most of the world does not recognize them as the government.

			Coalition Military Advancement Map
History	On August 19, 1919 Afghanistan became independent of the United Kingdom. Afghanistan has been at war within its own borders and with the world from the beginning. Since 1970 the ethnic factions of Afghanistan have been fighting against the Russian invasions or against themselves. A civil war has been going on in Afghanistan since the Russians decided to pull out of Afghanistan in the early 1990's.

Bibliography and Citations

Photographic Citations: Photographic citations can be found by moving your mouse over the picture.

Electronic Encyclopedia: http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/00163.html
CIA Factbook: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/