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 Afghanistan| Facts & Figures |
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| President: Hamid Karzai (2002) Total area: 250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km) Population (2009 est.): 33,609,937 (growth
rate: 2.6%); birth rate: 45.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 151.9/1000;
life expectancy: 44.6; density per sq mi: 128
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Kabul, 2,206,300 Other large cities: Kandahar, 349,300;
Mazar-i-Sharif, 246,900; Charikar, 202,600; Herat, 171,500 Monetary unit: Afghani More Facts & Figures |
GeographyAfghanistan, approximately the size of Texas, is bordered on the north
by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, on the extreme northeast by
China, on the east and south by Pakistan, and by Iran on the west. The
country is split east to west by the Hindu Kush mountain range, rising in
the east to heights of 24,000 ft (7,315 m). With the exception of the
southwest, most of the country is covered by high snow-capped mountains
and is traversed by deep valleys.
GovernmentIn June 2002 a multiparty republic replaced an interim government that
had been established in Dec. 2001, following the fall of the Islamic
Taliban government.
HistoryDarius I and Alexander the Great were the first to use Afghanistan as
the gateway to India. Islamic conquerors arrived in the 7th century, and
Genghis Khan and Tamerlane followed in the 13th and 14th centuries.
In the 19th century, Afghanistan became a battleground in the rivalry
between imperial Britain and czarist Russia for control of Central Asia.
Three Anglo-Afghan wars (1839–1842, 1878–1880, and 1919) ended
inconclusively. In 1893 Britain established an unofficial border, the
Durand Line, separating Afghanistan from British India, and London granted
full independence in 1919. Emir Amanullah founded an Afghan monarchy in
1926.
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