AFGHANISTAN

QUICK FACTSCapital: KabulArea: 647,500 km sq. (same size as Manitoba)Population: 31,889,923Head of State: Hamid KarzaiAverage Age: 17.5Life expectancy at birth: 43Ethnic groups: Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%

A brief overviewAfghanistan is a landlocked country of about 28 million people, bordered by Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. It is a land of mountains, plains, cold winters and hot summers and is often threatened by earthquakes and floods.

Afghanistan has been embroiled in violent contact for the past several decades. This violence and instability has greatly effected the country, making it one of the poorest in the world.

A United Nations report in February 2005, concluded that Afghanistan remains one of the world's least developed countries. It ranked 173rd out of 178 countries surveyed

In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in order to help support the tottering Soviet backed regime. This move kick started a long and destructive war that lasted for 10 years.

The USA supported the Afghanistan fighters, called Mujahedin, help fight the Soviets by providing weapons and money and even setting up training camps. The war lasted for 10 long years and resulted in the deaths of over 1, 000,000 Afghan citizens. Around 2,000,000 people, mostly non-combatants were left with permanent injuries.Over 25% of the entire population were forced to live in refugee camps.

After expelling the Soviets, Afghanistan was once again at war, this time a series of civil wars erupted as various Mujahidin groups competed for power.

In 1996 Kabul, the capital was captured by a group called the Taliban.

The TalibanThe Taliban was and still is an Islamic fundamentalist militia, originally consisting of mainly Sunni religious students, educated and trained in Pakistan.When they came to power their rule ended much of the factional fighting and corrupt rule.They rigidly enforced Sharia laws.

Life under the Taliban regime

Sharia law was interpreted to ban a wide variety of activities hitherto lawful in Afghanistan: movies, television, videos, music, dancing, hanging pictures in homes, clapping during sports events, pork, anything made from human hair, satellite dishes, cinematography, and equipment that produces the joy of music, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, VCRs, television, anything that propagates sex and is full of music, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogs, pictures

While in power, the Taliban became notorious internationally for their alleged treatment of women. Women were forced to wear the burga in public. They were allowed neither to work nor to be educated after the age of eight, and until then were permitted only to study the Koran. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught.

They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a female chaperon, which led to illnesses remaining untreated.

They faced public flogging in the street, and both men and women faced public execution for violations of the Taliban's laws.Taliban and Women

Men were required to have a beard extending farther than a fist clamped at the base of the chin. On the other hand, they had to wear their head hair short. Men were also required to wear a head covering.

Possession was forbidden of depictions of living things, including photographs of them, stuffed animals, and dolls.

Rules which according to some Muslims had no validity in the Koran, or Sharia law included a ban on clapping during sports events, kite flying, beard trimming, and sports for women.

These rules were issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice (PVSV) and enforced by its religious police", In newly conquered towns hundreds of religious police beat offenders -- typically men who shaved and women who were not wearing their burqa properly -- with long sticks.

Theft was punished by the amputation of a hand, rape and murder by public execution. Married adulterers were stoned to death. In Kabul, punishments were carried out in front of crowds in the city's former soccer stadium.

After 9/11 the Taliban provided refuge for Osama bin Laden, which sparked the Americans to attack the entire country of Afghanistan.

In 2001 with U.S. help and international military aid, The Northern Alliance (a pro Western military group) ousted the Taliban from power and formed the new government. Gradually militias were either incorporated into the new national army and police forces or demobilized.

Seven years later, the Taliban are still fighting as a significant guerrilla force against the NATO allied troops and the Northern Alliance government.

Seven years later Afghanis are still effects by the 2001 attacks.The Red Cross has warned Afghan children not to play with unexploded yellow cluster bomblets dropped on Afghanistan by the United States last year that look a little like toys. The bomblets were dropped in cluster bombs in an aerial campaign to help U.S.-backed rebels overthrow Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban rulers.

According to the UN Afghanistan is one of the top three most-mined countries on the planet. About 200,000 civilians have died and 400,000 have been disabled in mine incidents in Afghanistan. Approximately 6,000 more will lose their lives or limbs every year in the war battered country due to mine incidents, says a report issued by the United Nations Office.Afghanistan is infested with 10 Million anti-personnel mines ready to explode the moment anyone stepped on them. In Afghanistan alone, about 20 innocent civilians including children and women, daily fall victim to mines, half of whom lose their lives due to lack of medical facilities.