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:: Relief :: |
| Afghanistan's shape has been compared to a leaf, of which the Vakhan strip forms the
stem. The outstanding geographic feature of Afghanistan is its mountain range, the Hindu Kush. This formidable range is a
barrier between the comparatively fertile northern provinces and the rest of the country, it creates the major pitch of Afghanistan
from northeast to southwest. The Hindu Kush, when it reaches a point some 100 miles north of Kabul, spreads out and continues
westward under the names of Baba, Bamyan, Safid Kuh (Paropamisus), and others, each section in turn sending spurs in different
directions. One of these spurs is the Torkestan Mountains, which extend northwestward. Other important ranges include the
Kasa Murgh, south of the Hari River; the Hesar Mountains, which extend northward; and two formidable ranges, the Mazar and
the Khurd, extending in a southwestern direction. On the eastern frontier with Pakistan, several mountain ranges effectively
isolate the interior of the country from the rain-laden winds that blow from the Indian Ocean, accounting for the dryness
of the climate. The Hindu Kush and subsidiary ranges divide Afghanistan into three distinct geographic regions, which roughly
can be designated as the Central Highlands, the Northern Plains, and the Southwestern Plateau. The Central Highlands, actually
a part of the Himalayan chain, include the main Hindu Kush range. Its area of about 160,000 square miles is a region of deep,
narrow valleys and lofty mountains, some peaks of which rise above 21,000 feet. High mountain passes, generally situated between
12,000 and 15,000 feet above sea level, are of great strategic importance and include the Shebar Pass, located northwest of
Kabul where the Baba Mountains meet the Hindu Kush, and the Khyber Pass, which leads to the Indian subcontinent, on the Pakistan
border southeast of Kabul. The Badakhshan area in the northeastern part of the Central Highlands is the location of the epicentres
for many of the 50 or so earthquakes that occur in the country each year. The Northern Plains region, north of the Central
Highlands, extends eastward from the Iranian border to the foothills of the Pamirs, near the border with Tajikistan. It comprises
40,000 square miles of plains and fertile foothills sloping gently toward the Amu River (the ancient Oxus River). This area
is a part of the much larger Central Asian steppe, from which it is separated by the Amu River. The average elevation is about
2,000 feet. The Northern Plains region is intensively cultivated and densely populated. In addition to fertile soils, the
region possesses rich mineral resources, particularly deposits of natural gas and oil. The Southwestern Plateau, south of
the Central Highlands, is a region of high plateaus, sandy deserts, and semi-deserts. The average altitude is about 3,000
feet. The Southwestern Plateau covers about 50,000 square miles, one-fourth of which forms the sandy Rigestan Desert. The
smaller Morgowb Desert of salt flats and desolate steppe lies west of the Rigestan Desert. Several large rivers cross the
Southwestern Plateau; among them are the Helmand River and its major tributary, the Arghandab. Most of Afghanistan lies between
2,000 and 10,000 feet in elevation. Along the Amu River in the north and the delta of the Helmand River in the southwest,
the altitude is about 2,000 feet. The Sistan depression of the Southwestern Plateau, 1,500 to 1,700 feet in elevation, was
the seat of a flourishing ancient civilization that was ended in the 14th century by Timur (Tamerlane). |
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:: Religion :: |
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About 99 percent of the people of Afghanistan are Muslims, of whom some three-fourths are members of
the Sunnite sect (Hanafi branch). The others, particularly the Hazaras, Kizilbash, and a few Isma'ilis, follow Shi'ite Islam.
The Nuristanis are descendants of a large ethnic group, the Kafirs, who were forcibly converted to Islam in 1895; the name
of their region was then changed from Kafiristan ("Land of the Infidels") to Nuristan ("Land of Light"). There are also a
few thousand Hindus and Sikhs.
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:: Languages :: |
| Pashtoo Language: Also called PUSHTU, PAKHTO, or AFGHAN, Indo-European language spoken
by the Pashtoon in Afghanistan and northern-western and western Pakistan. Its dialects fall into two main divisions: the southern,
which preserves the ancient sh (as in "Pashtu"), and the northern and eastern, which has kh (as in "Pakhtu") sound. Written
in a modified Arabic alphabet, Pashtu shows strong Sansicrit influence, some Arabic and Persian loanwords, and numerous archaic
Sinsicrit features. It has been attested from the beginning of the 16th century and became prominent after the creation of
the Afghan state in the 18th century. In 1936 Pashtu was declared the national and official language of Afghanistan, and instruction
in it is now compulsory. Dari was the other official languge. Pashto literature exists from the 7th century The first Psshtu
poem that has bee documented was writen in the 7th century by Amir Karoor (Le Ma Atal Nashta). The national poet of Afghanistan,
Khushhal Khan (1613-94), chief to the Khatak clan, wrote spontaneous and forceful poetry of great charm. His grandson Afdal
Khan was the author of a history of the Pashtoon. Popular mystical poets were 'Abd ar-Rahman and 'Abd al-Hamid, in the late
17th or early 18th century, and Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the modern Afghan nation, was himself a poet. The Pashtu Academy
publishes a variety of literary works. Dari Laguage: Member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian family of languages;
it is, along with Pashto, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan dialect of Farsi (Persian).
It is written in a modified Arabic alphabet, and it has many Arabic and Persian loanwords. The syntax of Dari does not differ
greatly from Farsi, but the stress accent is less prominent in Dari than in Farsi. To mark attribution, Dari uses the suffix
-ra. The vowel system of Dari differs from that of Farsi, and Dari also has additional consonants. About one-third of the
population of Afghanistan, i.e., about 5,000,000 people (Tadzhik, Uzbak, Turkman, Hazarah, Some Pashtoon), speak Dari. It
is the primary language of the Tadzhik, Hazara, and Chahar Aimak peoples. Dari, rather than Pashto, serves as the means of
communication between speakers of different languages in Afghanistan. Balochi Language: Also spelled BALUCHI, or BELUCHI,
modern Iranian language of the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family. Balochi speakers live mainly in an
area now composed of parts of southeastern Iran and southwestern Pakistan that was once the historic region of Balochistan.
They also live in Central Asia (near Merv, Turkmenistan) and southwestern Afghanistan, and there are colonies in Oman, southern
Arabia, and along the east coast of Africa as far south as Kenya. Balochi is a Western Iranian language that is closely related
to Kurdish. Despite the vast area over which it is spoken, its six dialects (Rakhshani, Sarawani, Kechi, Lotuni, the Eastern
Hill dialects, and the coastal dialects) are all believed to be mutually intelligible. There are an estimated 4,800,000 worldwide
speakers of Balochi Mostly in (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran). Turkic Language: Group of closely related languages that
form a subfamily of the Altaic languages. The Turkic languages show close similarities to each other in phonology, morphology,
and syntax, though Chuvash, Khalaj, and Yakut differ considerably from the rest. The earliest linguistic records are Old Turkic
inscriptions, found near the Orhon River in Mongolia and the Yenisey River valley in south-central Russia, which date from
the 8th century AD. (see also Index: Orhon inscriptions) Classification: The Turkic languages may be classified according
to linguistic, historical, and geographic criteria into the following branches: 1. The southwestern, or Oguz, branch includes
Turkish (Ottoman Turkish), Gagauz, Azeri (Azerbaijani), Turkmen, and Khorasan Turkic. (see also Index: Southwestern Turkic
languages, Turkish language, Gagauz language, Azerbaijani language, Turkmen language) 2. The northwestern, or Kipchak, branch
includes Kazak, Karakalpak, Nogay, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Bashkir, West Siberian dialects, Crimean Tatar, Kumyk, Karachay-Balkar,
and Karaite. 3. The southeastern, or Uighur-Chagatai, branch includes Uzbek, Uighur, Yellow Uighur, and Salar (of Oguz origin).
4. The northeastern, or Siberian, branch includes Yakut (Sakha), Dolgan, Altay, Khakas, Shor, Tuvan, and Tofa. 5. Chuvash,
a strongly divergent language of the Volga region. 6. Khalaj, a strongly divergent language of central Iran. The development
of distinct Turkic literary languages began in the 8th century in Central Asia. The Uighur literary language flourished in
the 9th-14th century, and the Qarakhanid literary language came into existence in the 11th century. Khwarezmian (13th-14th
century) and Chagatai (15th-16th century), the latter with its postclassical products of the 17th-19th century, were the antecedents
of the modern Uzbek and Uighur (New-Uighur) literary languages. In the Oguz group, Turkish has the most significant literary
tradition. Its antecedent is the Ottoman Turkish language, which developed from the Old Anatolian Turkish literary language
(13th-15th century) of the Seljuq Turks, the first Turkish conquerors of Anatolia (11th century). The Arabic script was generally
used by all Turkic peoples writing Turkic languages until the early 1920s, when the Latin script began to be introduced to
the Turkic peoples of the Soviet Union. After 1939 the Latin script was almost completely replaced in the Soviet Union by
modified forms of the Cyrillic alphabet. Turkey officially adopted a Latin script in 1928. Currently, the Arabic alphabet
is used only by Turkic peoples living in China, Iran, and the Arab countries. Linguistic characteristics: One notable characteristic
of the Turkic languages is vowel harmony. The vowels are of two kinds--front vowels, which are produced at the front of the
mouth (e,i,ö,ü), and back vowels, produced at the back of the mouth (a,i,o,u). Purely Turkic words can contain only all front
or all back vowels, and all suffixes and affixes must conform to the vowel of the syllable preceding them in the word. Thus,
Turkish kül 'ash,' kül-ler 'ashes,' kül-ler-i 'its ashes,' kül-ler-in-den 'from its ashes,' as opposed to kul 'slave,' kul-lar
'slaves,' kul-lar-i 'his slaves,' kul-lar-in-dan 'from his slaves.' Besides this "palatal harmony," most Turkic languages
also adopt a "labial harmony" between syllables with respect to rounded and unrounded vowels. Only rounded vowels may occur
after an initial rounded vowel in a word, with the same pattern holding true for unrounded vowels--e.g., Turkish pul-u 'his
stamp,' versus pil-i 'his battery.' These harmony rules vary considerably across the various languages. Due to foreign influence,
harmony is phonetically differently realized, though far from lost, in the Karaite, Gagauz, and Uzbek languages. The morphology
of the Turkic languages is agglutinative; i.e., it offers rich possibilities of expanding word stems by means of relatively
unchangeable suffixes, many of which designate grammatical notions. For example, the word evlerimde 'in my houses' is composed
of ev 'house,' ler = plural suffix, im = possessive suffix 'my,' and de = locative suffix 'in.' When attached to a word with
back vowels, such as oda 'room,' these suffixes change their vowels according to the law of vowel harmony but retain their
meaning: odalarimda 'in my rooms.' The Turkic languages mostly lack subordinative conjunctions and relative pronouns, using
verbal nouns, participles, and converbs instead. Thus the sentence 'I know that the person who had come went away' is rendered
in Uzbek Kelgän kisining ketgänini bilämän, literally 'Having-come person-of having-gone-his know-I.' | |
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:: Government :: |
Until the middle of the 20th century, Afghanistan was ruled by the absolute power of
the king. Two constitutions were promulgated, in 1923 and 1931, both affirming the power of the monarchy. The constitution
of 1964, however, provided for a constitutional monarchy, based on the separation of executive, legislative, and judicial
authorities. A military coup in 1973 overthrew the monarchy, abolished the constitution of 1964, and established the Republic
of Afghanistan. The Grand National Assembly (Loya Jirgah) adopted a new constitution in February 1977, but it was abrogated
in 1978 when another coup established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, governed by the Afghan Revolutionary Council.
Political turmoil continued, marked by a third coup in September 1979, a massive invasion of troops from the Soviet Union,
and the installation of a socialist government in December 1979. A new constitution promulgated in 1987 changed the name of
the country back to the Republic of Afghanistan and reaffirmed its nonaligned status, strengthened the post of president,
and permitted other parties to participate in government.
The highest government authority is vested in the Grand National
Assembly, a body defined as "the highest manifestation of the will of the people of Afghanistan" and made up of members of
the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The Grand National Assembly has the power to elect the president, amend
and interpret the constitution, declare war, and adopt decisions on "the most important questions concerning the country's
national destiny." The head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces is the president, who is elected for a seven-year
term. The Council of Ministers is the highest executive body and is responsible for domestic and foreign policy. The National
Assembly is the highest legislative body and comprises a 192-member council of elders and a 234-member council of representatives.
Afghanistan has a centralized system of local government. For administrative purposes the country is divided into provinces,
each administered by a centrally appointed governor. The provinces are further subdivided into districts and sub-districts,
headed by appointed commissioners.
In April 1992 The communist government was overthrown by the various Islamist Parties
that established the first Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. This regime was driven out as result of internal warfare by the
student militia of Taliban which established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in September 1996. |
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:: Armed Forces & Education:: |
Regular army officers are trained in a military school in Kabul. There is a small air
force, with bases at Bagram , Shindand, and Jalalabad. A secret police force was organized in the late 1970s.Currently there
are no military structure or military education facility left as a result of the the internal warfare between former Mujahideen
group during 1992 to 1996.
Education:
Education was free at all levels, and elementary education was officially
compulsory wherever it is provided by the state. Nonetheless, fewer than one-fourth of all Afghan children attended school.
There was primary schools throughout the country but secondary schools only in the provincial and in some district centers.
Less than one-fourth of the population is literate. Kabul University was founded in 1946 by the incorporation of a number
of faculties, the oldest of which is the faculty of medicine, established in 1932. The University of Nangarhar was formed
in Jalalabad in 1963. Under the rules of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 1992 till 1996 and Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan
1996 till Today the education structure have was completely destroyed and none of theses government have tried to recover
the lose in the field of education. The education system is currently in a very dire shape. |
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:: The Afghan Civil War :: |
|
Nur Mohammad Taraki was elected president of the Revolutionary Council, prime minister of the country,
and secretary general of the combined People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Babrak Karmal, a Banner leader, and
Hafizullah Amin were elected deputy prime ministers. The leaders of the new government insisted that they were not controlled
by the Soviet Union and proclaimed their policies to be based on Afghan nationalism, Islamic principles, socioeconomic justice,
nonalignment in foreign affairs, and respect for all agreements and treaties signed by previous Afghan governments.
Unity
between the Khalq (People) and Parcham (Banner) factions rapidly faded as the People's Party emerged dominant, particularly
because their major base of power was in the military. Karmal and other selected Banner leaders were sent abroad as ambassadors,
and there were systematic purges of any Banner members or others who might oppose the regime.
The Taraki regime announced
its reform programs, including the elimination of usury, equal rights for women, land reforms, and administrative decrees
in classic Marxist-Leninist rhetoric. The reform program--which threatened to undermine basic Afghan cultural patterns--and
political repression antagonized large segments of the population, but major violent responses did not occur until the uprising
in Nurestan late in the summer of 1978. Other revolts, largely uncoordinated, spread throughout all of Afghanistan's provinces,
and periodic explosions rocked Kabul and other major cities. On Feb. 14, 1979, U.S. Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed, and
the elimination of U.S. assistance to Afghanistan was guaranteed.
Hafizullah Amin became prime minister on March 28,
1979, although Taraki retained his posts as president of the Revolutionary Council and secretary general of the PDPA. The
expanding revolts in the countryside, however, continued, and the Afghan Army collapsed. The Amin regime asked for and received
more Soviet military aid.
Taraki was killed in a confrontation between Taraki and Amin supporters on Sept. 14, 1979.
Amin then tried to broaden his internal base of support and to again interest Pakistan and the United States in Afghan security.
Despite his efforts, on the night of Dec. 24, 1979, the Soviets began their invasion of Afghanistan, and Amin and many of
his followers were killed on December 27.
Babrak Karmal returned to Afghanistan from the Soviet Union and became prime
minister, president of the Revolutionary Council, and secretary general of the PDPA. Opposition to the Soviets and Karmal
spread rapidly, urban demonstrations and violence increased, and resistance escalated in all regions. By early 1980, several
regional groups, collectively known as mujahideen (from the Arabic word meaning "warriors"), had united inside Afghanistan,
or across the border in Peshawar, to resist the Soviet invaders and the Soviet-backed Afghan Army. Friction among the Banner
and People's members heightened in 1980 when Karmal removed Assadullah Sarwari, a member of the People's Party, from his position
as first deputy prime minister and replaced him with a Banner leader, Sultan Ali Keshtmand. Banner Party dominance was broadened
again in June 1981 when Karmal, retaining his other offices, resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Keshtmand.
On
May 4, 1986, Mohammad Najibullah, former head of the secret police, replaced Karmal as secretary general of the PDPA, and
in November 1986 Karmal was relieved of all his government and party posts. Friction among the Banner and People's parties
continued. A national reconciliation campaign approved by the Politburo in September 1986, which included a unilateral six-month
cease-fire to begin on Jan. 15, 1987, met with little response inside Afghanistan and was rejected by resistance leaders in
Pakistan.
In November 1987 a new constitution changed the name of the country back to the Republic of Afghanistan and
allowed other political parties to participate in the government. Najibullah was elected to the newly strengthened post of
president. Despite renewals of the official cease-fire, Afghan resistance to the Soviet presence continued, and the effects
of the war were felt in neighbouring countries: Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran numbered in the millions. Morale in the
Afghan military was low. Men were drafted only to desert at the earliest opportunity, and the Afghan military dropped from
its 1978 strength of 105,000 to about 20,000-30,000 by 1987. The Soviets attempted new tactics, but the resistance always
devised counter tactics. For example, the use of the Spetsnaz (special forces) was met by counter-ambushes.
The only
weapons systems that solidly continued to bedevil the resistance were combat helicopter gunship and jet bombers. Toward the
end of 1986, however, the resistance fighters began to receive more and better weapons from the outside world--particularly
from the United States, the United Kingdom, and China--via Pakistan, the most important of these being shoulder-fired ground-to-air
missiles. The Soviet and Afghan air forces then began to suffer considerable casualties.
Pressure from the Pakistanis,
from outside supporters, and from the guerrilla commanders had forced the seven major resistance groups based in Peshawar
to form an alliance in May 1985. Inside Afghanistan, neighbouring ethnolinguistically oriented resistance groups united for
military and political purposes within their various regions. Internal struggles for leadership also occurred in certain areas
where the Soviets had little influence, such as Hazarajat and Nurestan. Although no national liberation front existed, the
resistance groups began to feel that they were part of an overall effort to liberate Afghanistan.
During the 1980s
talks between the foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan were held in Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations,
the primary stumbling blocks being the timetable for the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the cessation of arms supplies to
the mujahideen. Peace accords were finally signed in April 1988. General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev subsequently carried
out an earlier promise to begin withdrawing Soviet troops in May of that year; troops began pulling out as scheduled, and
the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan on Feb. 15, 1989. The civil war continued, however, despite predictions of an early
collapse of the Najibullah government upon the withdrawal of the Soviets. The mujahideen formed an interim government in Pakistan
and steadfastly resisted efforts of reconciliation by Najibullah.
Najibullah was finally ousted from power in 1992,
and a coalition of rebel forces set up a fragile interim government. General peace and stability remained a distant hope for
the war-torn nation, as rival militias vied for influence, interethnic tensions flared, and the economy lay in chaos. With
the fall of the Communist government, Afghanistan appeared to be on a course of Islamicization; the interim government banned
the sale of alcohol and pressured women to cover their heads in public and adopt traditional Muslim dress.
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:: Last Afghan Empire :: |
Overthrow of foreign rule:
Periodic attempts were made to gain independence. In
1709 Mirwais Khan, a leader of the Hotak , led a successful rising against Gorgin Khan, the Persian governor of Qandahar.
The Hotakis:
Mirwais Khan governed Qandahar until his death in 1715. In 1716 the Abdalis of Herat, encouraged by
his example, took up arms against the Persians and under their leader, Asadullah Khan, succeeded in liberating their province.
Mahmud, Mirwais's young son and successor, was not content with holding Qandahar, and in 1722 he led some 20,000 men against
Isfahan; the Safavid government surrendered after a six-month siege.
Mahmud died in 1725 and was succeeded by Ashraf,
who had to contend with Russian pressure from the north and Ottoman Turk advances from the west. Shah Ashraf halted both the
Russian and Turkish onslaughts, but a brigand chief, Nader Qoli Beg, defeated the Afghans at Damghan in October 1729 and drove
them from Persia. During the retreat Ashraf was murdered, probably on orders from his cousin, who was then holding Qandahar.
Nader Shah:
Nader Qoli Beg took Herat in 1732 after a desperate siege. Impressed by their courage, Nader recruited
many Heratis to serve in his army. He was elected shah of Persia, with the name Nader Shah, in 1736.
In 1738, after
a year's siege, the city of Qandahar fell to Nader Shah's army of 80,000 men. Nader Shah seized Ghazna and Kabul and occupied
the Mughal capital at Delhi in 1739. His booty included the Koh-i-noor diamond and the Peacock Throne. He was assassinated
at Khabushan in 1747, which led to the disintegration of his empire and the rise of the last great Afghan empire.
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