Facts about Afghanistan
Geography
Afghanistan is a landlocked, mountainous country with an area of 647,500 sq kms. It borders Pakistan to the South and East, Iran to the West and Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the North and China to the North East.
Introduction
Historically Afghanistan’s position has rendered it of great strategic importance to bordering empires and invaders. During the 19th century it was at the centre of what came to be known as the ‘Great Game’; a competition for influence between the British Raj in India and Imperial expansionist Russia. Today the ‘Great Game’ continues and Afghanistan remains strategically significant in terms of access by the new ‘super-powers’ (potentially China and India as well and the USA) to resources, as well as having military and economic significance.
Afghanistan has suffered 23 years of a war which has seen the decimation of its infrastructure, the fracturing of its institutions and the mass migration of its people to other parts of the world. Three years on from the September 11 attacks and subsequent invasion of Afghanistan by the US led Coalition, it still ranked 173 out of the 178 nations on the UNDP’s 2004 Human Development Index, with only a few sub-saharan African countries ranking lower. The life expectancy of 44.5 years is over 20 years lower than in neighbouring countries.
Population
Exact population figures for Afghanistan are not known because there has been no census since 1979. However a 2003 nationwide UNICEF estimate put the total population at around 23.85 million with 28.8 per cent in urban areas and 71.2 per cent in rural areas. World Bank figures (2003) put the population at 27.2 million.
Ethnic groups
The population is made up from various ethnic groups, the majority of whom are Pashtun (ranging from 38 to 63 per cent of the total population depending on different estimates). The Pashtuns are concentrated in an arc to the south of the Hindu Kush range and the word Pashtun originally meant ‘Afghan.’ For over 200 years, until the Saur Revolution coup in 1978 the Pashtuns were the ruling class of the country. For a variety of reasons Pashtuns are also to be found in pockets around the North.
The second largest group is the Tajiks (ranging from 12 to 25 per cent) and concentrated in the North, North East and Kabul. The Hazara are thought to emanate from one-time invader Ghengiz Khan and make up between 8-19 per cent of the population. The Hazara’s are concentrated in the mountainous central highlands around Bamyan. Uzbeks (somewhere between 6-9 per cent) are found mainly in the North, as are Turkmen people, the smallest ethnic group.
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