Country Profiles: Afghanistan

With a new year comes new resolutions. And this year, I think it would be fun to start having country profiles...learn a little about the 194 neighbors we share this planet with. So here we go...

Afghanistan is located in South Asia. Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtun tribes, founding the country of Afghanistan in 1747. With an area of 652,230 sq km, it is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Texas.

Afghanistan shares a border with China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It is mostly rugged mountains with plains in the north and southwest.



People who live in Afghanistan are called Afghans, which is also an adjective used to describe something from this country. As of July 2011, there are 29.8 million people in Afghanistan. The ethnic groups that reside in Afghanistan are mostly Pashtun and Tajik. Several languages are spoken there, though there are only two official languages, Afghan Persian (also know as Dari) and Pashto. Sunni Muslims make up approximately 80% of the population, while Shia Muslims make up an additional 19%.

The country's official name is the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The capital is Kabul, and the country is made up of 34 provinces. Though Afghanistan gained independence from the UK on August 19, 1919, a constitution was not drafted until December 14, 2003. The constitution can be found here on Constitution Finder. The current president is Hamid Karzai. Information about the leaders of Afghanistan's government can be found here. The currency is the afghani (abbreviated AFA), which stands at 46.45 AFA per USD as of 2010.



All of this information was gathered from the CIA World Factbook. For more information, check out these resources...

Office of the President, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Afghanistan, CIA World Factbook

Background Note: Afghanistan, U.S. Department of State

Afghanistan 2010 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, U.S. Department of State

You can also check out the Country Studies tab on our Fed Docs libguide here for more resources on all of the countries.


Sonnet Ireland
Head of Federal Documents
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Subject Specialist: Legal Research, Political Science
Urban Studies, Engineering