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Geography, demographics, economy, history, and government
- Capital city: Kabul
- Form of government: In transition
- Population: 27,755,775 (July 2002 est.) (15% urban)
- Total area: 647,500 sq. km
- Languages: Pashtu (35%), Afghan Persian (50%), Turkic languages (11%)
- Religions: Sunni Muslim (84%), Shi'ite Muslim (13%)
- Per capita GDP: $800 p.a. (1998 est.)
- Exports: $1.2b; opium, natural gas, fruit & nuts, carpets, wool, cotton, hides, pelts
- Literacy: 36%
- Life expectancy: 46.6 years (45.9f, 47.3m)
Sources
- CIA World Factbook | country data - Afghanistan
- AsiaSource | country profiles maps and statistics - Afghanistan - a resource of The Asia Society
- Atlapedia Online | Afghanistan
- E-Conflict World Encyclopedia - Afghanistan - national anthem, flag, map, people, economy, geography, government,
defence, news and weather
- Nation by Nation | country data - Afghanistan - facts, government, geography, history, human rights, people
- World Skip | country data - Afghanistan
- Freedom House | Report 2001 - Afghanistan
- Human Rights Watch | Human Rights Developments 2000 - Afghanistan
- International Lesbian and Gay Association | Country Survey - Afghanistan - information for those working to promote
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) rights
- IRINnews.org | news archive - Afghanistan - news articles from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- OneWorld.net country database - Afghanistan - news articles selected from around the world
- Norwegian Refugee Council | Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) database - Afghanistan
- U.S. Refugee Committee | World Refugee Survey country report - Afghanistan
- UNHCR - data on refugees and asylum seekers
- UNICEF | children's health & education statistics - Afghanistan
- Political Resources - Afghanistan
- CIA Library | Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members - Afghanistan
- World Audit.org | national statistics and reports - Afghanistan - from Freedom House, Transparency International, Amnesty
International, the International Commission of Jurists and others
- ElectionWorld.org | election results in Afghanistan
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(Click on map to go to surrounding locations)
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Portals, indexes, guides, searchers, phone directories
- Afghanistan Online (California, USA) - privately owned, independent web site that provides updated news and information on
Afghanistan
- TakingITGlobal Afghanistan - platform for ideas and expressions to be showcased; a resource of opportunities and a network of
projects, initiatives and inspirational young people from Afghanistan
- Afghan Network (Canada) - 24 hour updated Afghan News Channel, Afghan Bookshop, Afghan Music Channel, Culture
Gateway, eMail service, iNteractive Zone features and more
- Afghan Information Network
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Executive, legislature, judiciary, ministries, departments, agencies, and commissions
- Governments on the WWW - Afghanistan - comprehensive database of governmental institutions - parliaments, ministries,
offices, law courts, embassies, etc
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Human rights & civil liberties, humanitarian aid, political parties, activism, environment, and labour
- Afghanistan Information Management Service (AIMS) (Kabul) - project administered by UNDP and comprised of two
components, the Humanitarian Information Center for Afghanistan (HICFA), which acts as a central location for data and
information resources, and the Project Management Information System (ProMIS), which aims to enhance the capacity of UN
Agencies, NGOs and the donor community to undertake analysis and planning for operational activities
- UNDP Afghanistan Country Office - concentrates its support to Afghanistan on poverty reduction, strengthening capacity in the
public sector, gender in development, post-conflict recovery, and disaster management
- United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) - mandated to promote national reconciliation, to fulfill the tasks
and responsibilities entrusted to the United Nations in the Bonn Agreement, including those related to human rights, the rule of
law and gender issues, and to manage all UN humanitarian, relief, recovery and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan in
coordination with the Afghan Administration
- Humanitarian and development assistance
- Afghan Health & Development Services (AHDS) - non-profit, non-government, and non-political organization founded by Afghans,
which concerns itself with rehabilitating Afghanistan's health infrastructure and providing comprehensive primary health care
services to the needy Afghan population
- Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees (DACAAR) - humanitarian non-governmental organisation which supports
sustainable economic and social recovery in selected project areas in Afghanistan as well as the lasting return of refugees and
internally displaced people
- Children of the War (Virginia, USA) - provides food to the needy people living inside Afghanistan and the refugee camps in
Pakistan bordering war-torn Afghanistan, relocates families from refugee camps to proper housing and finds long term sponsors
that will directly support these families, builds schools in order to provide education for the refugee children, and provides
vocational training in order to make the refugees self-sufficient
- Help the Afghan Children (HTAC) (Virginia, USA) - non-profit, non-partisan, charitable organization, established in 1993 by
Suraya Sadeed, an Afghan- American woman, in response to the abject condition of children she witnessed in the early 1990s
during her first trip back to Afghanistan after fifteen years
- Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan (HAWCA) (Peshawar, Pakistan) - non-political, non-profit
NGO engaged in improving the well-being of women and encouraging their particpation in the reconstruction and development of
Afghanistan, particularly in relation to health-care, education, income generation, sanitation and child-care, counseling and
women's sponsorships
- Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Support for Afghanistan (PARSA) (Arizona, USA) - works with needy people in Kabul,
particularly widows, in a direct personal way to find work and develop skills to partly or wholly support themselves and their
families
- U.S.-Afghanistan Reconstruction Council (USARC) (Washington, DC) - non-profit, non-partisan coalition of professionals
dedicated to the reconstruction and development of a civil society in Afghanistan
- Peace movements
- Afghanistan Peace Association (New York) - broad-minded, not-for-profit, umbrella organization that belongs to all Afghans
without discrimination to their ideology, religious belief, gender, ethnicity, language or locality
- Afghanistan Peace Organization - "a number of determined Afghans who like to capitalize on their wisdom and knowledge for
the holy cause of peace [and] realize that it has been impossible for United Nations and the international community to put an
end to this problem which effects the whole world, but believes with knowledge and wisdom Afghans can resolve their
differences and enter the twenty first century with peace and understanding"
- Afghanistan Voice (Bloomingdale, NJ) - newsletter published "for the cause of a free, united Afghanistan"
- Political parties
- Liberal Democratic Party of Afghanistan (FDPA) (Garching, Germany) - supports a social market economy and demands to
solve any problems in a rational and objective manner and to leave out of consideration all ideologies
- Acting in Solidarity with Afghan People (ASAP) (San Francisco, CA) - network of individuals who are committed to the
alleviation of oppression and human rights violations in Afghanistan
- Women's groups
- Afghan Women's Support (Boston, USA) - provides direct financial aid to Afghan women and children in five refugee camps in
Peshawar, Pakistan, and supports the efforts of the Afghanistan Women Council, which provides education and medical care to
refugee families
- Feminist Majority Foundation (US) Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan - works to expand peace-keeping forces
and increase and monitor the provision of emergency and reconstruction assistance to Afghan women and girls, supports the
Afghan Ministry for Women's Affairs, the Independent Human Rights Commission, and Afghan women-led non-governmental
organizations, and promotes the leadership of women in post-Taliban Afghanistan
- Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan) (Calgary, Canada) - volunteer solidarity group, established in 1996.
Members from over ten chapters and affiliated groups are committed to raising awareness in Canada to the plight of Afghan
women and their families
- Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) (Quetta, Pakistan) - the oldest political-social organization of
Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan
- Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan (WAPHA) (Washington, DC) - non-profit organization which
organises demonstrations and rallies, sponsors conferences, meetings, and seminars and presents papers to raise awareness
and support Afghan women's human rights
- Women's Health and Human Rights in Afghanistan - 2001 report by Physicians for Human Rights (Boston, US), based on a
survey of more than 1,000 Afghan men and women living in Afghanistan and nearby refugee camps
- Women for Afghan Women (WAW) (New York) - committed to ensuring the human rights of Afghan women, promoting the
agency of local Afghan women through the creation of safe forums where Afghan women can network, develop programs to meet
their specific needs, and participate in human rights advocacy in the international sphere
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Education, health & public safety, religion, women, children & youth, and associations & societies
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Ethnicity, language, the arts, history & heritage, performance, costume, and literature
- Association de la Culture Afghane (Afghan Culture Association) (France) - books, music and photography
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Associations, competitions, leisure, and hobbies
- Afghan Taekwondo Federation (ATF) - recognised by the world Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and will be participating in the
2004 Athens Olympic Games
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Guides & advice, accommodation, attractions, transport, agents, and organisers
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Statistics, government, economy, geography, demography, and society
- Research bodies:
- Afghanistan - American Foundation (Washington, DC) - non-profit, non-partisan, independent organization founded as the
Afghanistan Foundation in 1996 by former U.S Congressman Don Ritter (R-PA, 1979-1993), along with committed Afghan and
American leaders, who wish to bring peace, stability, and prosperity to Afghanistan
- Institute for Afghan Studies - non-profit, non-political and independent organization, founded and run by young Afghan scholars
from around the globe, which promotes research on social, economic, political and other issues of critical importance pertaining
to Afghanistan by providing a forum and soliciting contributions from recognized Afghan and non-Afghan scholars, think-tanks
and experts on Afghan studies
- Interactive Central Asia Resource Project (ICARP) (University of Hawaii) - serves as the official World Wide Web Virtual Library
for Central Asia, Afghanistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and is also a member of the
Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library
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Newspapers & magazines, journals, television & radio, publishing, and entertainment
- Afghan Online Press - US-based news source reporting on Afghanistan
- IRIN Asia - news from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- Lemar-Aftaab - independent magazine which focuses on the arts and culture of Afghans
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Resourcing, manufacturing, distribution, trade, and regulation of goods and services
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Banking, investment, insurance, stockmarkets, and market regulation
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