Afghanistan is located approximately in the center of Asia. Afghanistan is a crossroads between the East and the West, and has been an ancient point of trade and migration. It has an important geostrategical location, connecting South and Central Asia and Middle East.

The country has many natural resources, that’s why there’s still a war there. The natural resources are  gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron ore in southeastern areas; precious and semi-precious stones such as lapis, emerald and azure in the north-east; and potentially significant petroleum and natural gas reserves in the north. The country also has uranium, coal, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, and salt.

The most common languages spoken in Afghanistan are Persian and Pashto. Both are Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family.

Afghanistan has a complex history that has survived either in its current cultures or in the form of various languages and monuments. However, many of the country’s historic monuments have been damaged in recent wars.

The two famous statues of Buddha in the Bamyan Province were destroyed by the Taliban, who regarded them as idolatrous. Other famous sites include the cities of Kandahar, Heart, Ghazni and Balkh.

Timezone GMT +4.5

Area 647497kmz/2999345qmi

Population total (2002e) 27756000, plus an estimated 2.5 million members of nomadic tribes, and c. 5 million living in Pakistan and Iran as refugees

status Democratic republic Date of independence 19ts Capital Kabul

Languages Pushm, Dari

Ethnic groups Pathans (50% Tajik (20%), Uzbek (9%), Hasata (9%), Cnahar Aimak (3%), Turkmen (2%), Baluchi (1%(

Religion Muslim

Physical features:mountainous, landlocked country centered on and divided E-W by the Hindu Kush mountain range which reaches heights closer 7 000 m

Climate Continental climate; summers warm every-where except on highest peaks; rain mostly during spring and autumn; average annual rainfall 338 nom! 13.25 in: _winters generally cold, with much snow^, at higher altitudes (central highlands have a sub polar climate) at lower levels desert climate

Currency 1 Afghani (All =100 puls)

Economy Traditionally based on agriculture, fruit, vegetables, maize, barley, cotton, sugar-beet sugar cane, sheep, cattle, goats: natural-gas production in the N, largely for export; most sectors have been affected by civil war, especially sugar, carpets, tex-tiles; natural resources also include oil,copper,sulphur, lead, zinc, iron, salt, precious and semi-precious smnes; many of these resources remain untapped owing to inaccessibility. Main trading partners: Fastern Euro pean and CIS countries, Japan, China.

History Nation first formed in 1797, under Ahmed Shah Durrtni;seen asabridgebetweeaIndia andtheMid-dle East; Britain tried but failed m gain control during a series of Afghan Wars (the last in 1919(; independence declared in1919afterWorIdWarl;feudal monarchy sur vived until after World War 2, when the constitution became mom liberal under several Soviet-influenced five,well economic plans; king deposed in 1973, and a republic formed a new constitution, 1977; coup (1979) brought top power HafizuIlah Amin,which invasion by USSR forces and establishment of Babralt Karmal as Head of State; new constitution in 1987 provided for an executive President, bicameral National Assembly, and council of ministers; Soviet withdrawal 1988-9; new regime met with heavy guerrilla resistance from the Mujahadeen (Islamic fighters); resignation of President Najibullah in April 1992; Islamic State of Afghanistan declared, 1992; continuing unrest among Mujahadeen groups, hinder-ing progress of UN-backed peace plans; new conflict, 1994-5, with the trillion (army of students), a Muslim force whose military organization emerged in late 1994; Taliban seize Kabul and drive out government forces, imposition of strict Islamic regime, and execution of Najibullah,1996; government of Burhanuddin Rabbani continued m control part of the country in rebellion against the Taliban government under Mohammad Omar Aknondzada; called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, 1997; following the attack on the World Trade Center in New York (11 Sep 2001, US-led coalition forces launch aerial bombardment ofTalibancontrolled military installations linked to Osama bin Laden, Oct 2001; Afghan delegations set up interim administration under the auspices of the UN, Dec 2001; International Security Assistance Force(ISAF(established; US-ledorigin ing operations against remaining Taliban resistance, 2002; ISAF taken over by NATO, Aug 2003; interim president Humid Karzai elected, Nov, 2004.

Head of State

2002- Humid Karzai

The Bamiyan Buddhas were among the most impressive Buddhist monuments in western Asia before their demolition in March 2001. No one knows exactly when they were constructed, but it was likely that they were erected sometime in the 4th or 5th century AD. For many centuries they stood sentinel to groups of wandering monks and merchants along the famous “silk road” from Rome to China. Alongside the Buddhas, monasteries once existed here as places of sanctuary, but were abandoned in the 9th century as Islam displaced Buddhism in Afghanistan.

The two Buddha figures were commonly classified as the larger and smaller one (53 and 38 meters, respectively). They were once covered with a mixture of mud and straw that had worn away long ago. The straw was covered with plaster and painted to model the rich expressions of the face, hands, and robes. Long before their destruction this year, both the plaster covering and the surrounding cave paintings were rubbed away.

The Buddhas were destroyed following the Taliban’s assertion that the statues were idolatrous. With the swift collapse of the Tabliban in November, 2001, a team of Swiss preservationists has announced plans to restore the statues using precise three-dimensional data collected in the 1970s. However, the United Nations recommended in early 2002 that the monuments not be restored as a reminder of the Taliban’s destructive legacy.