Location: Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran.
Land Area: 647,500 sq km (250,000 sq miles)
Coastline: 0 km (0 miles) Landlocked
Highest Point: Noshawk 7,485 m (24,550 ft)
Lowest Point: Amu Darya 258 m (846 ft)
Notable Landmarks: Take a peek...

Afghanistan's economic outlook has improved significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 because of over $1 billion in international assistance, recovery of the agricultural sector and growth of the service sector, and the reestablishment of market institutions. Real growth is estimated to have slowed in the last fiscal year primarily because adverse weather conditions cut agricultural production, but is expected to rebound over 2005 to -2006 because of foreign donor reconstruction and service sector growth. Afghanistan remains extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid, farming, and trade with neighboring countries. It will probably take the remainder of the decade and continuing donor aid to raise Afghanistan's living standards from its current status, among the lowest in the world. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs, but the Afghan government and international donors remain committed to improving access to these basic necessities by prioritizing infrastructure development, education, housing development, jobs programs, and economic reform over the next year. Growing political stability and continued international commitment to Afghan reconstruction create an optimistic outlook for continuing improvements in the Afghan economy in 2006. Expanding poppy cultivation and a growing opium trade may account for one-third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and looms as one of Kabul's most serious policy challenges. Other goals include: boosting the supply of skilled labor, reducing vulnerability to severe natural disasters, expanding health services, and rebuilding a war torn infrastructure.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): $21.5 billion (2004 est.)
GDP Per Capita: $ 800 (2004 est.)
Number of Workers: 15 million (2004 est.)
Unemployment Rate: 40% (2004 est.)
Industries: small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, cement; hand-woven carpets; natural gas, coal, and copper. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium.
Currency: Afghani (AFA) What does it look like?

Type of Government: Islamic Republic
Head of State: President Hamid Karzai (since 7 December 2004)
Head of Government: President Hamid Karzai (since 7 December 2004
Capital City: Kabul
Legal Age to Vote: 18, universal.
Flag Design: three equal vertical bands of black (hoist), red, and green, with a gold emblem centered on the red band. The emblem features a temple-like structure encircled by a wreath on the left and right and by a bold Islamic inscription above.
Official Language: Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%; Pashtu (official) 35%; Turkic languages (mostly Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%; 30% minor languages.
Religions: Sunni Muslim, 80%; Shi'a Muslim, 19%; other, 1%.

Ahmad Shah DURRANI unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747. The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian empires until it won independence from British control in 1919. A brief experiment in democracy ended in a 1973 coup and a 1978 Communist counter-coup. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 to support the tottering Afghan Communist regime, but withdrew 10 years later under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-Communist mujahedin rebels. A civil war between mujahedin factions erupted following the 1992 fall of the Communist regime. The Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 to end the country's civil war and anarchy, seized Kabul in 1996 and most of the country outside of opposition Northern Alliance strongholds by 1998. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, a US, Allied, and Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Osama BIN LADIN. In late 2001, a conference in Bonn, Germany, established a process for political reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution and a presidential election in 2004, and National Assembly elections in 2005. On 7 December 2004, Hamid KARZAI became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. The National Assembly was inaugurated on 19 December 2005.