The Islamic State of Afghanistan, lies in the south west of Asia and is bounded on the north by Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and on the east by China, west by Iran and south by Pakistan. The capital city is Kabul and other major cities include Kowt-e-Ashrow, Baraki and Feyzabad.
The official languages are Pashtu and Afghan Persian (Dari). The local currency is the afghani broken into 100 puls.
Afghanistan is an extremely poor country that suffers from political upheaval and wars.
The country was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in 1979 who then withdrew some 10 years later. The country during that time and since then, has been in constant turmoil, fighting for political and military power. As a result of this most of the people in Afghanistan are poor, suffering from a lack of housing, food and medical care. Millions of the people of Afghanistan are refugees in Pakistan and Iran. The high inflation rate in the country has hindered economic development and drug trafficking has become a major source of income. Afghanistan was by far the largest producer of opium poppies in 1999.
Afghanistan has resources of natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones, but lacks the infrastructure to exploit them.
Proven and probable oil and condensate reserves were estimated to be 95 million barrels in the late 1970s. Afghanistan's various provinces currently receive refined products from neighbouring countries. Afghanistan signed a deal with Consolidated Construction Company of Greece to explore the area of Herat in southwestern Afghanistan in 1999, an area believed to be potentially rich in hydrocarbons.
Apart from oil and gas reserves, there is also a significant estimate of coal reserves (around 400 million tons). Afghanistan has not produced any coal, however, since 1997.
Afghanistan's power grid has been severely damaged by war, and there is currently. Currently, the ruling Taliban are concentrating on rebuilding damaged hydroelectric plants, power distribution lines, and high-voltage cables. Afghanistan has received electricity from Uzbekistan, mainly into Mazar-e-Sharif near the border, but payment problems have previously caused Uzbekistan to reduce power exports. On October 1999, Afghanistan also announced that it had reached agreement with Turkmenistan for electricity imports into Andkhoy District in northwestern Afghanistan, including power to the Herat cement plant. Turkmenistan also has discussed supplying Afghanistan with additional electricity in coming years.
There is a very limited domestic telephone and telegraph service. In 1997, telecommunications links were established between Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Kabul through satellite and microwave systems.
Afghanistan's chief exports are natural gas and dried fruit, however other exports include carpets, fresh fruit, wool, and cotton, while the main imports include food, motor vehicles, petroleum products, and textiles.
The transport system in Afghanistan is in a poor condition with almost 80% of highways and roads being unpaved. Due to the rugged terrain in the country the only operational rail network is about 25 kilometers and joins Afghanistan with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The international time zone is GMT +4.5. The dialing code is +93. Visa’s are required by all nationals.
The state of health, the current immunisation status, location and the local disease situation lead to the risk of contraction of polio, typhoid and malaria.
