Geography

Physical geography

Afghanistan is a landlocked country consisting of mountainous desert with isolated fertile valleys and oases. It has an area of 652,230 square kilometres, slightly smaller than New South Wales (800,642 square kilometres). The Hindu Kush Mountain Range divides the country from the south-east to the north-west. Nearly half the country has an elevation of 2,000 metres or more, with peaks in the north-east exceeding 7,000 metres, the highest peak being Noshak at 7,485 metres. The Hindu Kush is part of the western extremity of the Himalayas and experiences frequent earthquakes. The major rivers rise in the mountains, with the Kabul River flowing east into the Indus River, while most others disappear into the desert sands.

Climate

Afghanistan has clearly defined seasons and the climate varies sharply between the highlands and lowlands. It is sub-polar in the mountainous north-east with dry, cold winter temperatures, falling to -26°C in the Hindu Kush. The rainy season is between October and April, with the mountains receiving more than 1,000 millimetres of precipitation annually, mostly as snow. The desert in the south-west receives less than 100 millimetres of rainfall a year, and summer temperatures reach over 35°C. In the capital, Kabul, temperatures range from -8 to 2ºC in winter and 16 to 33ºC in summer. Average annual rainfall is 240 millimetres.

Environment

Afghanistan’s ecosystem has severely deteriorated after decades of war and the excessive use of nature and its energy. The mountainous landscape of the Hindu Kush is home to many unique plants and animals. There is an ancient underground system of piping water from the Hindu Kush to the plains for irrigation known as the karez. The most fertile areas are around Kandahar in the south-west, Jalalabad in the east, the oasis town of Herat in the west, Bamiyan Valley in the centre and the river valleys of the north. Only 2% of the land area is forested.

Population

A large proportion (73%) of Afghanistan’s population lives in rural areas. Major cities are the capital, Kabul (approximately 3 million), Kandahar (4,682,000), Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad, and Kunduz. The desert area of the south-west is virtually uninhabited.

More than 5.7 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan since the United Nations High Commission for Refugees voluntary repatriation program began in 2002. Over 2.6 million Afghan refugees remain in neighbouring countries, including Pakistan (1.6 million), Iran (933,500), and there are an estimated 3 million worldwide.

People

Culture and identity

Afghanistan's ethnically and linguistically mixed population reflects its location in the centre of 3,000 year-old trade and invasion routes between Europe and Asia. Its rich cultural heritage dates back more than 5,000 years. Excluding people living in the major cities, many Afghans are divided into tribal and other kinship-based groups, which follow traditional customs and religious practices. The two main ethnic groups are the Pashtuns (42%) and the Tajiks (27%), whose languages, Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian), are Afghanistan’s two official languages. Tajik, Uzbek and Turkmen are spoken widely in the north, Hazari in the central highlands, Balochi in the south-west and many other languages and dialects are spoken by those who live in the high, snowbound valleys in the north-east.

Islam has a major influence on Afghan culture, particularly in the arts, architecture and poetry. Afghan handicrafts include world-renowned carpets and copper utensils. Afghan music has a unique use of note intervals, pitch, and rhythm, which is closer to western than to Asian music.

The Bamiyan Valley features artistic and religious remains from the 1st to the 13th centuries and the Minaret of Jam, located outside of Herat, dates from the 12th century. Both sites are on the UNESCO world heritage list.

Health

Years of conflict have meant a decline in the health of all people. Life expectancy is 50 years, for both males and females. The infant mortality rate is 117 per 1,000 live births. The maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan is a major concern, estimated at 460 per 100,000 live births. This reflects the poor access to and quality of pre-natal health services. Other health issues of concern are communicable diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia. About 60% of Afghans have access to safe water and 28% to adequate sanitation, although rural people have far less access than urban population.

Religion and beliefs

Islamic practices are part of most aspects of life in Afghanistan. An estimated 80% of the population is Sunni Muslim and the remainder, mainly the Hazara of central Afghanistan, are predominantly Shi'a Muslim. The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, enforced a strict interpretation of Islam upon the whole country. Television, western music and alcohol were banned. Women were restricted from working outside the home or attending school; they were not to leave their homes without an accompanying male relative and were forced to wear a traditional whole body covering garment called a burqua.

The 2004 constitution recognises the rights of women but forced marriages, domestic violence and lack of social and political participation continue to hinder progress for women.

Food and shelter

Afghan food is based on meat from sheep and goats with rice. The dishes are flavoured with sweet-scented herbs and spices, including coriander, mint and garam masala. Fresh and dried fruits and nuts, flat breads and yoghurt add more flavours and textures. Traditionally, Afghan food is served on large ceramic platters or in clay pots and placed on a cloth spread over an Afghan rug or carpet.

Housing ranges from modern apartment buildings and informal concrete buildings in the cities to flat-roofed mud buildings built in compounds for the extended family in rural areas. In cooler areas, beds are low, flat benches with a sandhli (heater) below.

Economy

Wealth and poverty

Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world and is heavily dependent on international aid. War and drought have resulted in widespread poverty, particularly in rural areas. High levels of international aid has driven impressive levels of economic growth over the past few years but this has not translated into the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger in the country and will be difficult to maintain after 2014.

Education and work

Only 28% of the population in Afghanistan are able to read and the difference between male literacy (43%) and female literact (12%) is significant. School enrolment has increased dramatically since 2001 from one million to 7.7 million, including more than 2.5 million girls, but this is only half the total number of children. An estimated 30% are involved in child labour.

Farmers and herders comprise more than three-quarters of the Afghan population, although less than 12% of the land is arable. An estimated 35% of the labour force is unemployed.

Industries and products

Afghanistan has a wealth of natural resources, including extensive deposits of natural gas, oil coal, copper and precious and semi-precious stones. Unfortunately, decades of conflict, the remote location, rugged terrain and an inadequate transportation network have made mining these resources difficult.

The key food crops include corn, rice, barley, wheat, vegetables, fruits and nuts, and industrial crops include cotton, tobacco, madder (used to make dye), castor beans and sugar beet. There is also the small-scale productions of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertiliser and cement. Education campaigns by the government, increased security, agriculture assistance and the threat of eradication are all helping to reduce the opium poppy cultivation.

Trade

Major imports include rice, wheat, fuel and cooking oil, while exports include fruit and nuts, hand-woven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, and precious and semi-precious gems. Afghanistan’s main export partners are Pakistan (32%), India (27%), Tajikistan (8%) and US (6%); and the main import sources are Pakistan (24%), US (18%), Russia (9%), India (6%) and China (5).

Government

Under the 2004 Afghanistan constitution, elections for the country's president and Wolesi Jirga (Lower House in the National Assembly) are held every five years. Members of the Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders, equivalent to a Senate) are not directly elected but are selected by district councils, provincial councils and the president. The constitution recommends the allocation of 68 seats for women and 10 seats for the nomadic Kuchis of southern Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai was elected in 2004 and again in 2009.

Achievements and challenges

Ongoing conflict and insecurity have been the key challenges to Afghanistan’s development. Although the Afghan economy has grown well in the past few years, access to basic services is limited, particularly in rural areas.

Good progress in education and health mean that Afghanistan is on track to meet the related Millennium Development Goals 2 and 5. 

Afghanistan faces enormous challenges following security transition and elections in 2014.

Links with Australia

Afghan–Australian relations can be traced back to the 1860s when Afghan cameleers came to Australia. For half a century, the cameleers played a crucial role in the exploration and development of the Australian outback, carrying supplies across the continent. The Adelaide to Alice Springs train, the Ghan, is named in their honour. The next wave of Afghan migration to Australia followed the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the early 1980s, when mainly educated people fled unrest. Most recently Afghanis fleeing the Taliban regime have come to Australia.

In 2011, there were 26,530 Afghanistan-born people in Australia, a 50% increase since 2006 mainly through humanitarian schemes.

Australian Aid to Afghanistan supports health, education, rural development particularly agriculture and community infrastructure; and improving the quality of governance, including public financial management, mining, electoral support and civil society engagement.