Afghanistan Geography

Afghanistan

Geography

Total area: 647,500 km2; land area: 647,500 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: 5,826 km total; China 76 km, Iran 936 km,

Pakistan 2,430 km, USSR 2,384 km

Coastline: none--landlocked

Maritime claims: none--landlocked

Disputes: Pashtun question with Pakistan; Baloch question with Iran

and Pakistan; periodic disputes with Iran over Helmand water rights;

insurgency with Iranian and Pakistani involvement; traditional tribal

rivalries

Climate: arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers

Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest

Natural resources: natural gas, crude oil, coal, copper, talc, barites,

sulphur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones

Land use: 12% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 46% meadows and

pastures; 3% forest and woodland; 39% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush mountains;

soil degradation, desertification, overgrazing, deforestation, pollution

Note: landlocked

People

Population: 15,862,293 (July 1990), growth rate 7.7% (1990)

Birth rate: 44 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 18 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 51 migrants/1,000 population (1990);

note--there are flows across the border in both directions, but data are

fragmentary and unreliable

Infant mortality rate: 154 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 47 years male, 46 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 6.4 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Afghan(s); adjective--Afghan

Ethnic divisions: 50% Pashtun, 25% Tajik, 9% Uzbek, 12-15% Hazara; minor

ethnic groups include Chahar Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others

Religion: 74% Sunni Muslim, 15% Shia Muslim, 11% other

Language: 50% Pashtu, 35% Afghan Persian (Dari), 11% Turkic languages

(primarily Uzbek and Turkmen), 4% thirty minor languages (primarily

Balochi and Pashai); much bilingualism

Literacy: 12%

Labor force: 4,980,000; 67.8% agriculture and animal husbandry,

10.2% industry, 6.3% construction, 5.0% commerce, 10.7% services and other

(1980 est.)

Organized labor: some small government-controlled unions

Government

Long-form name: Republic of Afghanistan

Type: authoritarian

Capital: Kabul

Administrative divisions: 30 provinces (velayat, singular--velayat);

Badakhshan, Badghis, Baghlan, Balkh, Bamian, Farah,

Faryab, Ghazni, Ghowr, Helmand, Herat, Jowzjan, Kabol,

Kandahar, Kapisa, Konar, Kondoz, Laghman, Lowgar,

Nangarhar, Nimruz, Oruzgan, Paktia, Paktika,

Parvan, Samangan, Sar-e Pol, Takhar, Vardak, Zabol;

note--there may be a new province of Nurestan (Nuristan)

Independence: 19 August 1919 (from UK)

Constitution: