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• Afghanistan is a landlocked country bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north and China in the far northeast.

• Fast Facts

  1. Capital: Kabul
  2. Government: Islamic Republic
  3. Population: 31,889,923 (July 2007)
  4. Currency: Afghani (AFN)
  5. Inflation rate: 16.3%
  6. Official languages: Afghan Persian (Dari ) 50%, Pashto 35%
  7. UN survey shows Afghan civilian deaths rose 40% in 2008The New York Times: Afghan Civilian Deaths Rose 40 Percent in 2008 (February 17, 2009)

• History

  Afghanistan was first founded in 1747, when the tribes gathered under Ahmad Shah Durrani's leadership. The country won its independence from England in 1919. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, but struggled to maintain its control over the fractured region. After heavy loses on both sides, the Soviet Union withdrew in 1989.

  In 1996, Afghanistan came under the control of the Taliban, which had been established in 1994. After 9-11, the Taliban was overthrown by the United States, citing the group's support for and protection of Osama Bin Laden as a casus belli.

  In December of 2004, Hamid Karzai was elected the nation's president.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Afghanistan War | Battle of Musa Qala | Iraq War | George W. Bush | Osama Bin Laden | Taliban | Pat Tillman | War on Terror | India | China | Iran | Pakistan | United States | The Kite Runner | A Thousand Splendid Suns | Khaled Hosseini | Soviet Union | Mujahideen | Himalayas | Stanley McChrystal

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