ACTION AGAINST HUNGER | ACF INTERNATIONAL
AFGHANISTAN
COUNTRY PROFILE
BASIC FACTS
Location: South Asia
President: Hamid Karzai
Government: Republic
Capital: Kabul
Official Languages: Afghan
Persian or Dari and Pashto
Official Currency: Afghani
Population: 29.1 million
Climate: arid to semi-arid;
cold winters, hot summers
Life Expectancy: 44.65
years
Literacy Rate (age 15 and
over): 28.1%
Area: 652,230 km²
National Flag:
MODERN HISTORY
Afghanistan gained independence from the British
Empire in 1919. After a period of democracy, the
government was overthrown in 1973 and 1978.
In 1979, the Soviet Union backed the new communist regime with resources and financial support, sparking a Cold War era proxy between the
Soviet-backed Afghan government and the U.S.backed opposition forces of mujahedin rebels
that would last the next 22 years.
In 1989, the Soviet Union withdrew its forces
from Afghanistan leaving Mohammad Najibullah
and a Soviet-supported government in place in
Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. Fighting continued
between Najibullah supporters and mujahedin
rebel factions.
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Najibullah’s
government was severely weakened. In 1994, the
government in Kabul was overthrown, and for the
next two years Afghanistan was ungoverned until
the Taliban, a Pakistani-sponsored group, took
over in 1996. Seeking to replace anarchy with order and rid the country of regional warlords, the
Taliban practiced Sharia law and sought to rule
the country based on a strict religious code.
Until late 2001, the Taliban ruled 90% of Afghanistan, alothough they were not recognized as the
legitimate government of Afghanistan by the international community. Following the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., an antiTaliban alliance formed between the U.S., Britain
and groups from northern Afghanistan. Accused of
harboring terrorists including Osama bin Laden,
the Taliban government met strong resistance
from the anti-Taliban alliance as well as from opposing factions within Afghanistan, leading to the
collapse of Taliban rule by the end of 2001.
In 2001, the United Nations-sponsored Bonn
Conference established a process for political
reconstruction that included a new Afghanistan
constitution, presidential elections in 2004 and
the installation of a National Assembly (a central
lawmaking body) to govern Afghanistan. Hamid
Karzai was declared the first democraticallyelected president of Afghanistan in 2004, and the
National Assembly was put in place in December
of 2005.
Even though the new constitution was an important step towards political stability, regional
conflicts and a continued Taliban presence in the
country remain serious challenges for the Afghanistan government.
GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE
Afghanistan is a land-locked country in South
Asia bordered by Pakistan to the east, Iran to the
west, and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the north. With an area slightly smaller
than that of Texas, Afghanistan has an arid to
semi-arid climate with cold winters and hot summers. The Hindu Kush Mountains separate northern Afghanistan from the rest of the country.
Photos clockwise from top left:
ACF-AFGHANISTAN, courtesy of
Jean Lapegue, 2006; Isabelle
Eshragei, 2004, CIA Factbook.
247 West 37th Street, 10th floor | New York, NY 10018 | Tel: 212-967-7800 | Fax: 212-967-5480 | www.actionagainsthunger.org
Action Against Hunger is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. All contributions are tax-deductable to the full extent of the law.
ACTION AGAINST HUNGER | ACF INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN CONTEXT
Due to decades of conflict, conditions in Afghanistan are dire for many people, with more than five
million people dependent on daily humanitarian aid and some four million Afghans living as refugees in
Pakistan and Iran. An estimated 60% of Afghani children under the age of five are malnourished, while
32% of the population have no access to clean water. With an illiteracy rate of 72%, the majority of the
population lives precariously on less than one dollar per day. The post-conflict reconstruction process has
been slow and the political system and infrastructure remain unstable. In recent years, there have been increases
in armed conflict and political instability, with frequent
attempts by the Taliban to regain control in Afghanistan.
Seven years of successive drought and other environmental disasters have left Afghanistan with inadequate
natural resources. In southern Afghanistan, 80% of the
“kareze” - underwater aqueducts used for irrigation have dried up. With changing climate patterns the land
has become drier and less fertile, making it more difficult for farmers to raise livestock and cultivate crops.
Many farmers are being driven to cultivate poppy as a
cash crop, which has proven strong against drought, but
offers no nutritional value. Given that 80% of the country’s 29.1 million people live in rural areas dependant on
agriculture, the country’s nutritional challenges are being
further compromised as drought continues to devastate
crops.
Earthquakes, avalanches and floods are also common environmental disasters in Afghanistan, destroying
Photos: ACF-AFGHANISTAN, courtesy infrastructure and taking lives each year. Political instability and natural disasters continue to plague
Afghanistan, leaving the humanitarian condition unstable.
of Isabelle Eshragei, 2004; Jean
Lapegue, 2006; Google Maps.
Source: IRIN News
ACTION AGAINST HUNGER IN AFGHANISTAN
Founded in 1979, ACTION AGAINST HUNGER | ACF INTERNATIONAL’s first humanitarian programs were launched in response to the
humanitarian emergency unfloding in Afghanistan as civilians fled the fighting between the Soviet-backed government and
opposition rebel groups. Security concerns would later lead ACF to remove its teams from Afghanistan, but programs resumed
in 1995 and ACF has been active in the country since.
Nutrition
ACF supports Afghanistan’s Ministry of Health by drafting national
guidelines on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition, while training government staff and community health volunteers. Patients in our nutrition programs recieve psychological
support and education on basic nutrition and food diversity.
Food Security & Livelihoods
ACF conducts a range of activities to stimulate household economies by fosdtering certain livelihoods like tailoring, small shops
and other income-generating activities. ACF distributes seeds and
fertilizers to bolster agricultural activity and organizes food-forwork activities to build needed infrastructure.
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
ACF extends water and sanitation improvements by constructing
tap stands and water distribution points, latrines and public toilets, and promotes improved hygiene practices. To improve access
to drinking water, ACF constructs and rehabilitates water networks
to bring clean water to communities and health clinics, and establishes community-based water committees to manage water points
and infrastructure for the future.
FURTHER ACTIVITIES
• Have students research current events in Afghanistan and present their findings to the class.
• Have students research and present a “day-in-the-life” of an
Afghan teenager: how would their day begin, what would they
eat, how would they prepare it, what would they do, what are
their dreams?
• Have students design a program for helping vulnerable Afghan
families: What would it look like? What components (water, food,
health) would it have? What problems would it try to solve? How
would it be carried out?
Steps to follow:
1) Set-up an operational budget
2) Print out “What Money Can Buy” from ACF’s Student Center
3) Break students into groups and distribute Afghanistan Country
Profile and “What Money Can Buy”
4) Explain assignment and give students a set amount of time to
come up with a program.
5) Have students present the programs to the class and discuss
reasoning behind money allotment.
247 West 37th Street, 10th floor | New York, NY 10018 | Tel: 212-967-7800 | Fax: 212-967-5480 | www.actionagainsthunger.org
Action Against Hunger is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. All contributions are tax-deductable to the full extent of the law.