Afghanistan Country Facts and History

Afghanistan Country Facts and History Afghanistan has the mishap of sitting in a vital situation at the intersection of Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East. In spite of its bumpy landscape and savagely autonomous occupants, the nation has been attacked over and over since its commencement. Today, Afghanistan is again entangled in war, pitting NATO troops and the present government against the removed Taliban and its partners. Afghanistan is an entrancing yet savagery wracked nation, where East meets West. Capital and Major Cities Capital: Kabul, populace 3,475,000 (2013 gauge) Kandahar, populace 491,500Herat, 436,300Mazar-e-Sharif, 375,000Kunduz, 304,600Jalalabad, 205,000 Afghanistan Government Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic, headed by the President. Afghan presidents may serve a limit of two 5-year terms. Ashraf Ghani was chosen in 2014.  Hamid Karzaiâ served two terms as president before him. The National Assembly is a bicameral governing body, with a 249-part House of the People (Wolesi Jirga), and a 102-part House of the Elders (Meshrano Jirga). The nine judges of the Supreme Court (Stera Mahkama) are designated to terms of 10 years by the President. These arrangements are dependent upon endorsement by the Wolesi Jirga. Afghanistan Population The number of inhabitants in Afghanistan is evaluated at 32.6 million. Afghanistan is home to various ethnic gatherings. The biggest is the Pashtun, 42 percent of the populace. Tajiks make up 27 percent, Hazarasâ 8 percent, and Uzbeks 9 percent, Aimaks 4 percent, Turkmen 3 percent and Baluchi 2 percent. The staying 13 percent are minor populaces of Nuristanis, Kizibashis, and different gatherings. Future for the two people inside Afghanistan is 60 years. The newborn child death rate is 115 for each 1,000 live births, the most noticeably awful on the planet. It likewise has one of the most noteworthy maternal death rates. Official Languages Afghanistans official dialects are Dari and Pashto, the two of which are Indo-European dialects in the Iranian sub-family. Composed Dari and Pashto both utilize an adjusted Arabic script.Other Afghan dialects incorporate Hazaragi, Uzbek, and Turkmen. Dari is the Afghan lingo of the Persian language. It is very like Iranian Dari, with slight contrasts in articulation and complement. The two are commonly understandable. Around 33 percent of Afghanis speak Dari as their first language. Around 40 percent of the individuals of Afghanistan communicate in Pashto, the language of the Pashtun clan. It is likewise spoken in the Pashtun territories of western Pakistan. Religion The mind greater part of Afghanistans individuals are Muslim, around 99 percent. Around 80 percent are Sunni, and 19 percent Shia. The last one percent incorporates around 20,000 Bahais, 3,000-5,000 Christians. Only one Bukharan Jewish man, Zablon Simintov, stayed by 2005. The entirety of different individuals from the Jewish people group fled when the Soviets attacked Afghanistan in 1979. Until the mid-1980s, Afghanistan likewise had a populace of 30,000 to 150,000 Hindus and Sikhs. During the Taliban system, the Hindu minority had to wear yellow identifications when they went out in the open, and Hindu ladies needed to wear the Islamic-style hijab. Today, just a couple of Hindus remain. Geology Afghanistan is a land-bolted nation verging on Iran toward the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan toward the north, a modest fringe with China at the upper east, and Pakistan toward the east and south. Its all out territory is 647,500 square kilometers (right around 250,000 square miles). The greater part of Afghanistan is in the Hindu Kush Mountains, with some lower-lying desert zones. The most elevated point is Nowshak, at 7,486 meters (24,560 feet). The most minimal is the Amu Darya River Basin, at 258 meters (846 feet). A dry and sloping nation, Afghanistan has little cropland; a meager 12 percent is arable, and just 0.2 percent is under changeless harvest spread. Atmosphere The atmosphere of Afghanistan is exceptionally dry and occasional, with temperatures differing by height. Kabuls normal January temperature is 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit), while early afternoon temperatures in July frequently arrive at 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit). Jalalabad can hit 46 Celsius (115 Fahrenheit) in the late spring. A large portion of the precipitation that falls in Afghanistan comes as winter day off. The across the nation yearly normal is just 25-30 centimeters (10 to 12 inches), however snow floats in the mountain valleys can arrive at profundities of more than 2 meters. The desert encounters dust storms continued breezes moving at up to 177 kph (110 mph). Economy Afghanistan is among the most unfortunate nations on Earth. The per capita GDP is $1,900 US, and around 36 percent of the populace lives under the destitution line. The economy of Afghanistan gets enormous mixtures of remote guide, totaling billions of U.S. dollars every year. It has been experiencing a recuperation, to some degree by the arrival of more than 5,000,000 ostracizes and new development ventures. The countrys most significant fare is opium; annihilation endeavors have had blended achievement. Other fare products incorporate wheat, cotton, fleece, handwoven mats, and valuable stones. Afghanistan imports a lot of its nourishment and vitality. Horticulture utilizes 80 percent of the work power, industry, and administrations 10 percent each. The joblessness rate is 35 percent. The cash is the afghani. Starting at 2016, $1 US 69 afghani. History of Afghanistan Afghanistan was settled at any rate 50,000 years prior. Early urban communities, for example, Mundigak and Balkh jumped up around 5,000 years prior; they likely were subsidiary with the Aryan culture of India. Around 700 B.C., the Median Empire extended its standard to Afghanistan. The Medes were an Iranian people, opponents of the Persians. By 550 B.C., the Persians had uprooted the Medians, setting up the Achaemenid Dynasty. Alexander the Great of Macedonia attacked Afghanistan in 328 B.C., establishing a Hellenistic domain with its capital at Bactria (Balkh). The Greeks were dislodged around 150 B.C. by the Kushans and later the Parthians, traveling Iranians. The Parthians managed until around 300 A.D. at the point when the Sassanians took control. Most Afghans were Hindu, Buddhist or Zoroastrian around then, yet an Arab intrusion in 642 A.D. presented Islam. The Arabs vanquished the Sassanians and controlled until 870, at which time they were driven out again by the Persians. In 1220, Mongol warriors under Genghis Khan vanquished Afghanistan, and relatives of the Mongols would manage a significant part of the locale until 1747. In 1747, the Durrani Dynasty was established by Ahmad Shah Durrani, an ethnic Pashtun. This denoted the cause of present day Afghanistan. The nineteenth century saw expanding Russian and British rivalry for impact in Central Asia, in The Great Game. England battled two wars with the Afghans, in 1839-1842 and 1878-1880. The British were directed in the first Anglo-Afghan War however assumed responsibility for Afghanistans outside relations after the second. Afghanistan was unbiased in World War I, however Crown Prince Habibullah was killed for implied star British thoughts in 1919. Soon thereafter, Afghanistan assaulted India, provoking the British to give up authority over Afghan remote issues. Habibullahs more youthful sibling Amanullah reigned from 1919 until his relinquishment in 1929. His cousin, Nadir Khan, became ruler however endured just four years before he was killed. Nadir Khans child, Mohammad Zahir Shah, at that point took the position of authority, administering from 1933 to 1973. He was removed in an overthrow by his cousin Sardar Daoud, who announced the nation a republic. Daoud was expelled thus in 1978 by the Soviet-sponsored PDPA, which established Marxist standard. The Soviets exploited the political flimsiness to attack in 1979; they would stay for a long time. Warlords controlled from 1989 until the radical Taliban took power in 1996. The Taliban system was expelled by U.S.- drove powers in 2001 for its help of Osama receptacle Laden and al-Qaeda. Another Afghan government was framed, bolstered by the International Security Force of the United Nations Security Council. The new government kept on getting help from US-drove NATO troops to fight Taliban insurrections and shadow governments. The US war in Afghanistan was authoritatively finished December 28, 2014.