National name: Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan

President: Hamid Karzai (2002)

Area: 250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km)

Population (2005 est.): 29,928,987 (growth rate: 4.8%); birth rate: 47.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 163.1/1000; life expectancy: 42.9; density per sq mi: 120

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Kabul, 2,206,300

Other large cities: Kandahar, 349,300; Mazar-i-Sharif, 246,900; Charikar, 202,600; Herat, 171,500

Monetary unit: Afghani

Languages: Pashtu, Dari Persian, other Turkic and minor languages

Ethnicity/race: Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, minor ethnic groups (Chahar Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others)

Religion: Islam (Sunni 80%, Shiite 19%), other 1%

Literacy rate: 36% (1999 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2003 est.): $21.5 billion; per capita $800 . Real growth rate: 7.5%. Inflation: 10.3%. Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 12%. Agriculture: opium, wheat, fruits, nuts, wool, mutton, sheepskins, lambskins. Labor force (2001 est): 11.8 million; agriculture 80%, industry 10%, services 10%. Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones. Industries: small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, coal, copper. Exports: $446 million (FY03–04): opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems. Imports: $3.759 billion (FY03–04)): capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products. Major trading partners: U.S., France, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Turkmenistan, Kenya, (2003).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 29,000 (1998); mobile cellular: n.a. Radio broadcast stations: AM 7 (6 are inactive; the active station is in Kabul), FM 1, shortwave 1 (broadcasts in Pushtu, Dari, Urdu, and English) (1999). Radios: 167,000 (1999). Television broadcast stations: at least 10 (one government run central television station in Kabul and regional stations in nine of the 30 provinces; the regional stations operate on a reduced schedule; also, in 1997, there was a station in Mazar-e Sharif reaching four northern Afghanistan provinces) (1998). Televisions: 100,000 (1999). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2000). Internet users: n.a.

Transportation: Railways: total: 24.6 km. Highways: total: 21,000 km; paved: 2,793 km; unpaved: 18,207 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 1,200 km; chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels up to about 500 DWT. Ports and harbors: Kheyrabad, Shir Khan. Airports: 47 (2002).

International disputes: Thousands of Afghan refugees still reside in Iran and Pakistan; isolating terrain and close ties among Pashtuns in Pakistan make cross-border activities difficult to control; prolonged regional drought strains water-sharing arrangements for Amu Darya and Helmand River states.