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  • Title: Afghanistan.
    Author: United States. Department of State. Bureau of Public Affairs.
    Journal: Backgr Notes Ser; 1986 Jul; ():1-8. PubMed ID: 12178139.
    Abstract:
    This discussion of Afghanistan covers: the people, geography, history (European influence, reform and reaction, Daoud's Republic and the April 1978 coup, and the Soviet invasion), government and political conditions, the economy (agriculture, trade and industry, transportation, economic development), foreign relations, and relations between the US and Afghanistan. In 1985, the population was estimated to be 11 million (plus about 2.7 million refugees in Pakistan and 1 million refugees in Iran and the west). The annual growth rate is negative because of the war. In 1971 the UN estimate of infant mortality was 181.6/1000 live births with life expectancy 36.6 for men and 37.3 for women. Afghanistan's ethnically and linguistically mixed population reflects its location astride historic trade and invasion routes leading from central Asia into South and Southwest Asia. The dominant ethnic group, the Pukhtuns, make up about 40% of the population. Afghanistan has had a turbulent history. All of Afghanistan's rulers until the Marxist coup of 1978 were from Durani's tribe, and, since 1818, all were members of that tribe's Mohammadzai clan. Afghanistan is primarily an agricultural country, despite the fact that only 15% of its total land area is viable. This sector employs 3/4 of the working population and accounts for more than half of the gross domestic product. The Afghan economy remains tightly tied to that of the Soviet Union, its largest trading partner. Although Afghan has no railways or navigable rivers, the Amu Darya (Oxus) River on the Soviet-Afghan border does carry barge traffic. The Soviets pledged more than $300 million in new aid in 1984 and disbursed more than $400 million in commodities and new project aid. They signed a further agreement granting additional credits in February 1985. Since the December 1979 Soviet invasion, Afghanistan's foreign policy has mirrored that of the Soviet Union. The US has never recognized the Kabul regime and strongly opposes the Soviet invasion and continued occupation.
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