Middle East, South West Asia And Human Geography: Afghanistan

Throughout most of my career my deployments have been to Afghanistan. I find this country to be very intriguing, the topography, the politics, the cities, and the remote tribes. The whole land is beautiful in its own right and mysterious… especially at night in the middle of the Erg and Hamada deserts. I find the people to be very respectful at the bazaars, and helpful at some of the local businesses. It is truly amazing how much the Afghan people respect and sometimes cherish the moments spent with UN forces.

Afghanistan has been a country of much focus from the rest of the world over the past 300 years or so. The Pashtun tribes were unified by British colonies to serve as a buffer zone for Brittan from Russian Colonies in 1747. It remained under British control until it gained its independence in 1919. The country prospered temporarily until the Russian invasion of 1979. With the help of the United States the Mujahedin pushed the Russian military out of Afghanistan in 1989, which only led to civil wars between the regions of the land. In 1996 the Afghan government fell to the Taliban when they overran the capital, Kabul. After the September 11^th terrorist attacks, the US and other anti-Taliban regimes invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban for harboring the Terrorist Osama BIN LADIN.

Afghanistan is a land locked country in South West Asia with a population of 30,500,000 (2012 est.). This Muslim nation consists of 80% Sunni Muslim and 19 % Shia. Religious practices are very important to the people of Afghanistan, as they can be seen giving their daily prayers and having the Holy Koran in almost every building. The Child Birth Rate (CBR) of Afghanistan is 39.3 and the Crude Death Rate (CDR) is 14.59 deaths. This gives the country a natural increase rate (NIR) of 2.22%.

Afghanistan has, without a doubt, a rocky past. The economy has been in havoc due to multiple wars and conflicts. But, some hope has been given to this country over the past couple of years. Afghanistan has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $29.74 billion with a real growth rate of 5.8% in 2011. This growth will hopefully give the people of Afghanistan some hope as the GDP per capita (PPP) to be $1,000. The unemployment rate has fallen from 40% in 2003 to 35% in 2008. The growth of the working force may be a sign of shifting powers and a promising future for the economy of Afghanistan. But, the leading export as well as agricultural product is opium, which is also subsidized by the Taliban.