Afghanistan

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Country summary

Capital

Kabul

Borders

China 76 km, Iran 936 km, Pakistan 2,430 km, Tajikistan 1,206 km, Turkmenistan 744 km, Uzbekistan 137 km

Government type

Islamic republic

Population

28,395,716[1]

Population growth

2.576% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

44.4 years[1]

Unemployment

35% (2008 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

Not Ranked[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

179[3]

Doing Business ranking

160[4]


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 notional 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, touching off a long and destructive war. The USSR withdrew in 1989 under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-Communist mujahedin rebels. A series of subsequent civil wars saw Kabul finally fall in 1996 to the Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 to end the country's civil war and anarchy. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., a U.S., Allied, and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Osama BIN LADIN. The UN-sponsored Bonn Conference in 2001 established a process for political reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution, a presidential election in 2004, and National Assembly elections in 2005. In December 2004, Hamid KARZAI became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan and the National Assembly was inaugurated the following December. Karzai was re-elected in November 2009 for a second term. Despite gains toward building a stable central government, a resurgent Taliban and continuing provincial instability - particularly in the south and the east - remain serious challenges for the Afghan Government.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Afghani (ISO code: AFN)
  • Central bank discount rate: (N/A)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 14.92% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $1.688 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $1.219 billion (31 December 2008)[1]


Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[5] 2 462 4 339 4 766 5 704 6 815 8 166 10 154 10 624
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[6] 9.555
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[7] 7.656 6.729 7.650
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[8] 17.568 23.274 22.991
Debt to revenue (years) 1.248

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Afghanistan", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  2. Heritage Foundation. "Afghanistan", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  3. Transparency International. "Afghanistan", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  4. Doing Business. "Afghanistan", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  5. World Bank. "Afghanistan: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  6. World Bank. "Afghanistan: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  7. World Bank. "Afghanistan: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  8. World Bank. "Afghanistan: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.

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