Afghanistan

Country Profile: Afghanistan

Executive Summary

Characterized by a war torn history spanning through millennia, Afghanistan perpetually struggles with eradicating hostile forces within its borders. With living standards amongst the lowest in the world, most of the state’s population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs. After U.S., Allied, and Northern Alliance troops entered the state in 2001, the reign of the Taliban was brought to an end. Subsequently, the U.N. sponsored Bonn Conference laid the groundwork for building a stable central government. In spite of these gains, instability in southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan has left these territories susceptible to a resurgent Taliban.

Brief History

Afghanistan’s history traces to its creation in 1747 after the unification of Pashtun tribes in the region. Located between the empires of Great Britain and Russia, Afghanistan acted as a buffer state until it was released from British hands in 1919. By the late 1970s, a unstable Communist regime gained support and ultimately engendered an invasion from the Soviet Union. Russia withdrew a decade later, bringing an end to the devastating war. In the mid-1990s, Afghanistan succumbed to the Taliban, an extreme Pakistani-sponsored movement with the aim of ending anarchy and civil war. Taliban power was upset after U.S. and Allied forces invaded in response to their sheltering of Osama bin Laden. Political reconstruction then took place in 2001 that led to the drafting of a new constitution and presidential and legislative elections.

Political Structure

Political Parties: The Ministry of Justice licensed 84 political parties as of December 2012.

Political System: Afghanistan is an Islamic republic with a bicameral National Assembly that consists of the House of Elders and the House of People. The House of People is composed of individuals who are directly elected to serve five-year terms. Members of the House of Elders are elected by either provincial councils to serve four-year terms or nominated by the president to serve five-year terms. The president acts as both chief of state and head of government.

Political Conflicts: In early May 2013, an Afghan police officer was killed in a Pakistan border clash. President Hamid Karzai said those behind such attacks seek to force Afghanistan to recognize the Durand Line, a border drawn by the British in the 19th century. Pakistan views the Durand Line as an international border, which Afghanistan has consistently refused to recognize.

Economic Structure

Economic System: Several decades of conflict have left Afghanistan’s economy in a state of recovery. The fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 has allowed the economy to make significant advancements. An influx of international aid combined with the recovery and growth of the agricultural and service sectors are responsible for these improvements. Nevertheless, Afghanistan remains home to a largely destitute population and the state is highly dependent on foreign aid.

Economic Trends: Over the course of 2003 to 2010, over $67 billion dollars was pledged to development in Afghanistan at a series of donors’ conferences. This commitment from the international community was reflected by a July 2012 pledge from donors in Tokyo of an additional $16 billion in civilian aid through 2015. Despite this help, the Afghan Government will need to overcome a number of challenges, including low revenue collection, anemic job creation, high levels of corruption, weak government capacity, and poor public infrastructure.

Economic Resources: Industries entail the small-scale production of bricks, textiles, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, apparel, food-products, handwoven carpets, natural gas, coal, and copper. Exports include opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, and precious and semi-precious gems.

Social Structure

Religion:

Muslim: 22,241,015 adherents (97.89% of population)
Parsee: 340,806 adherents (1.50% of population)
Hindu: 79,521 adherents (0.35% of population)
Traditional ethnic: 22,720 adherents (0.10% of population)
Bahai: 22,720 adherents (0.10% of population)
Sikh: 4,544 adherents (0.03% of population)
Christian: 3,000 adherents (0.02% of population
Non-Religious: 2,272 adherents (0.01% of population)

Ethnicity:

Pashtun 42%
Tajik 27%
Hazara 9%
Uzbek 9%
Aimak 4%
Turkmen 3%
Baloch 2%
Other 4%

Gender:

Overall male population: 15,782,020 (50.7%)
Overall female population: 15,326,057 (49.3%)
0-14 years: 42.6% (male 6,733,097/female 6,520,116)
15-24 years: 21.9% (male 3,479,696/female 3,346,154)
25-54 years: 29.1% (male 4,623,203/female 4,440,635)
55-64 years: 3.8% (male 585,629/female 605,018)
65 years and over: 2.5% (male 360,395/female 414,134) (2013 est.)

Urbanization:

Urban population: 23% of total population (2010)
Rate of urbanization: 4.7% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)
Children under the age of 5 underweight: 32.9% (2004)

Operating Organizations

Political Groups:

Religious groups
Tribal leaders
Ethnically based groups
Taliban

Allies and Enemies

Regional Allies: Iran, India, Tajikistan
Regional Enemies: Pakistan
Global Allies: Russia, United States
Global Enemies: N/A

Terrorist:

al-Qa’ida
Hezb-e Azadi-ye Afghanistan
Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)
Taliban

Country Trajectory

A recent uptick of security incidents and civilian casualties is indicative of the Taliban’s reemergence in Afghanistan. In combating their campaign, drone strikes from the United States and United Kingdom have also contributed to civilian casualties. President Karzai is reckoning with the loss of innocent Afghans during a critical evaluation period of its relationship with the United States. Negotiations are ongoing regarding the size of a future American military presence following the departure of most international troops by the end of 2014.

Economic and security obstacles have persisted through the construction of the Afghan Government. Future growth of the economy is jeopardized by a lack of infrastructure and the difficulties that have manifested in expanding the rule of law across the entirety of the state. The fragility of security is typified not only by Taliban, but also by armed engagements with Pakistanis acting on behalf of the government of Pakistan. Although just under half of all international trade in Afghanistan takes place with neighboring Pakistan, tensions between the two states remain highly elevated.

Current Events

March 30th, 2013: A NATO helicopter killed at least one child and nine suspected Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's east, officials and locals said. The deaths, on the outskirts of the capital of Ghazni province, will reopen an often heated debate between those who blame NATO air strikes for civilian deaths and others who argue NATO air support is vital to protect Afghan security forces.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/30/us-afghanistan-airstrike-idUSBRE92T03020130330

May 4th, 2013: President Hamid Karzai has called on the Taliban to "turn their weapons" against those who "plot" against Afghanistan. Karzai urged the militants to "stand with" Muhammad Qasim, an Afghan border policeman killed in a six-hour clash on the border with Pakistan.

http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanistan-karzai-taliban-enemies/24976659.html

May 9th, 2013: President Karzai said he is ready to let the U.S. have nine bases in the country after the 2014 combat troop pullout, but wants Washington’s “security and economic guarantees” first.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/karzai-afghanistan-ready-let-us-have-9-bases#overlay-context=article/10-things-know-today-174

May 18th, 2013: Reports have suggested that Afghanistan is sitting on massive deposits of copper, gold, iron and rare earth minerals valued up to $3 trillion. International investors are hesitant to deal with Afghanistan’s uncertain political, regulatory and security environment. It could be many years before Afghanistan begins extracting its mineral wealth.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/05/18/184775139/Afghan-Mineral-Treasures-Stay-Buried-Hostage-To-Uncertainty

May 25th, 2013: A Taliban assault on a United Nations building in Kabul ended after a fierce 10-hour gunbattle in which at least eight people were killed, officials said. The incident was the second major attack in Kabul in a little more than a week.

http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/2154339.html

Sources