Afghanistan

Afghanistan (officially the Transitional Islamic Country of Afghanistan). Afghanistan is often a landlocked country at the crossroads of Asia. Usually regarded as a part of Central Asia, it is sometimes ascribed to a regional bloc in either the Middle East or South Asia, as it has cultural, ethno-linguistic, and geographic links with most of its neighbors. It is bordered by Iran inside the west, Pakistan and India within the South and East, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the North, and also the China for the East. Capital - Kabul. Population - 29,863,000 million.

Afghanistan was recognized for its dramatic mountain scenery and the unparalleled hospitality of its people. At the turn on the 21st century the nation was far more synonymous with war and terrorism, the picture of the failed state. The fall with the Taliban regime in 2001 and also the subsequent reconstruction attempts have done much to address this view, but in early 2007 Afghanistan’s future remained on a knife-edge.

While it remains a volatile, usually hostile area, Afghanistan contains some incredible treasures. Kabul sets a buzzing pace and Mazar-e Sharif & Northeastern Afghanistan may be the household in the country's most sacred site. Samangan (Aibak) stands out as the site for ones caves and shrines of Takht-e Rostam, a hidden Buddhist gem and whilst the senseless destruction of the Buddha statues of Bamiyan nevertheless resonates, their ruins, set in a serene valley, are an awe inspiring sight.

Having been bled white by ten many years of Soviet occupation, Afghanistan was dropped by the international community practically the minute the last Red Army tank withdrew in 1989, allowing it to slip into the chaos of civil war and the Taliban. Promises not to repeat the same mistake 13 years later proved half-hearted at best. Progress in development of education and also the political processes (which have observed successful presidential and parliamentary elections) are real enough. Kabul and other cities have boomed with increasing trade and new constructions. Most in the nation is at peace, but the state remains perilously weak. The return to power of many of the rejected warlords in the 1990s has cynically proved to Afghans that you can apparently have peace or justice but not both. The booming economy has failed to touch the countryside exactly where most Afghans live and development programmes have mostly ignored the centrally critical agricultural sector, specially inside the Pashtun regions that originally spawned the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s rugged landscape and tribal patchwork has in no way allowed it a powerful central government, and attempts by the international community to build one had been patchy. The economy is dependent on aid, and in 2006 domestic revenues raised just US$13 per capita. This pales in comparison in the 6100 tonnes of opium created inside the exact same period – more than half the significance on the legal economy. Opium corrodes the fragile state, reaching from bribed provincial cops towards centres of power in Kabul and out to the produced world. More than 90% in the heroin on the streets on the UK comes from Afghanistan.

Ever the meddling neighbour, Pakistan has continued to play a double game in Afghanistan. Islamabad has been a key partner in public from the ‘War on Terror’, but stands accused of giving sanctuary towards Taliban leadership it once helped into power. The Waziristan compact it signed in 2006 to quell a tribal rebellion on its own troubled frontier has provided both a reservoir and safe haven for Taliban fighters operating in southern Afghanistan. Flush with opium money and drawing new inspiration inside the Iraqi insurgency, Taliban attacks set swathes of southern Afghanistan ablaze in 2006, drawing NATO forces into heavy combat.

Is the Afghan glass half empty or half full? Continued and improved international commitment is important for Afghanistan’s success. Afghans nevertheless welcome foreigners who occur for the country to help, knowing full well the price of neglect. At the time of writing, international sabre-rattling more than Iran fuels Afghan fears how the nation will once again slip off the radar. Progress is slow and painful, but possible. A peaceful, stable Afghanistan is even now there to become won – the prices of losing it once again are simply as well high for everyone.