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Introduction to DARI Introduction to DARI GEOGRAPHY Afghanistan is located in the heart of Central Asia. It has an area of some 251,825 square miles (652,225sq.km) and is completely land locked. The nearest coast lying along the Arabian Sea is about 300 miles to the south. Its longest border of 1,125 miles (1,810km) is with Pakistan, to the east and south. The 510-mile border in the west separates Afghanistan from Iran. Afghanistan also shares about 200 miles of border with the part of Jammu and Kashmir claimed by Pakistan. The combined length of Afghanistan's northern borders with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan is 1,050 miles. The shortest border, 50 miles, is with the Uighur Autonomous Region of Xijiang in the People's Republic of China, at the end of Wakhan, in the extreme northeast. The capital of Afghanistan and its largest populated city is Kabul, which is located in the east-central part of the country at an altitude of about 5,900 feet (1,800 meters). The city is connected by road to most Afghan provinces and neighboring countries to the north and east. The current boundaries of Afghanistan were established in the late 19th century in the context of rivalry with Britain and Russia. Modern Afghanistan became a pawn in struggles over political ideology and commercial influence. In the late 20th century, Afghanistan suffered ruinous effects after invasion by the Soviet Union (1979), Soviet military presence (1979-1989), and prolonged civil war (the 90's). Terrain: Landlocked; the Hindu Kush mountains that run northeast to southwest divide the northern provinces from the rest of the country; the highest peaks are in the northern Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor). The country consists mostly of rugged mountains with plains in the north and desert and semi-desert in the south and southwest. Location: Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran 1 Major Cities: Kabul, JalalAbad, Heart, Qandahar, Baghlan, Kandus, Mazar-e-Sharif, Logar, Paghman, Bamian, Oruzgan Border countries: China 76 km, Iran 936 km, Pakistan 2,430 km, Tajikistan 1,206 km, Turkmenistan 744 km, Uzbekistan 137 km Area: total: 647,500 sq km, water: 0 sq km, land: 647,500 sq km (slightly smaller than Texas) Land boundaries: total: 5,529 km Elevation extremes: lowest point: Amu Darya 258 m, highest point: Nowshak 7,485 m Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromites, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron, ore, salt precious and semiprecious stones Land use: arable land 12 %, permanent crops 0 %, other 88 % (1998 est.) Irrigated land: 23,860 sq km (1998 est.) Natural hazards: damaging earthquakes occur in the Hindu Kush mountains; flooding; droughts Current Environmental Issues: Limited natural fresh water resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; soil degradation; overgrazing; deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials); desertification; air and water pollution. CLIMATE The climate is arid to semiarid with cold winters and hot summers and snow fall in the north. Afghanistan has three major land regions. They are, from north to south: the Northern Plains, the Central Highlands, and the Southwestern Lowlands. Temperatures in the Northern Plains average about 38 degrees F in January and about 90 degrees F in July. The average annual precipitation totals about 7 inches. The Central Highlands covers about two-thirds of the entire country and consist of the Hindu Kush mountain range and its branches. Most Afghans live in the high, narrow valleys of the Hindu Kush. The Central Highlands have an average temperature of about 25 degrees in January and 75 degrees in July. The average annual precipitation in this region is 15 inches. The Southwestern Lowlands mostly consists of desert and semi-desert land. Temperatures in the lowlands average about 35 degrees in January and 85 degrees in July, while average precipitation is two to nine inches, annually. POPULATION Population: 27,755,775 (July 2002 est.) Population growth rate 3.43% Ethnic groups: Pashtoon 44 %, Tajik 25 %, Hazara 10 %, Uzbek 8 % Minor ethnic groups (Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others) 13 % Afghanistan's ethnically and linguistically mixed population reflects its location astride historic trade and invasion routes leading from Central Asia 2 into South and Southwest Asia. Most Afghans are a blend of many early peoples who came to the country as invaders or settlers. These groups included Aryans, Persians, Arabs, Turkish-speaking people from central Asia, and people from Mongolia and the Xinjiang region of Western China. Pashtoons are the dominant ethnic group, accounting for about 38% of the population. Tajik (25%), Hazara (19%), Aimaq (6%), Uzbek (6%), Turkmen (2%), and other small groups are also represented. Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pashto are official languages. Dari is spoken by more than one-third of the population as a first language and serves as a lingua franca for most Afghans. Tajik, Uzbek, and Turkmen are spoken widely in the north. Smaller groups throughout the country also speak more than 70 other languages and numerous dialects. Afghanistan is an Islamic country. An estimated 84% of the population is Sunni; the remainder is predominantly Shi'a, including Isma'ilis, Hazaras, and the Qizilbash. Despite attempts during the years of communist rule to secularize Afghan society, Islamic practices still pervade all aspects of life. Likewise, Islamic religious traditions and codes provide the principal means of controlling personal conduct and settling legal disputes. Excluding urban populations in the principal cities, most Afghans are divided into clans and tribal groups, which follow centuries-old customs and religious practices. Age structure 14 years: 42% (male 5,953,291; female 5,706,542) 15-64 years: 55.2% (male 7,935,101; female 7,382,101) 65 years and over: 2.8% (male 410,278; female 368,462) (2002 est.) Birth rate: 41.03 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) Death rate: 17.43 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) Net migration rate: 10.7 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) LANGUAGES Languages: Pashto 50 %, Afghan Persian (Dari) 35 %, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11 %, 30 Minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4 %. There is a lot of bilingualism. DARI - Dari is a member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian family of languages; it is, along with Pashto, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan dialect of Farsi (Persian). It is written in a modified Arabic alphabet and it has many Arabic and Persian loanwords. The Syntax of Dari does not differ greatly from Farsi, but the stress accent is less prominent in Dari than in Farsi. To mark attribution, Dari uses the suffix 'ra'. The vowel system of Dari differs from the Farsi, and Dari also has additional consonants. About 1/3rd of the 3 population of Afghanistan, which is about 5,000,000 people (Tajik, Uzbek, Turkman, Hazara and most Pashtoons) speak Dari. It is the primary language of the Tajik, Hazara and Aimak people. Dari, rather than Pashto, serves as the mean of communication between speakers of different or many languages in Afghanistan. PASHTO - According to research, Pashto is one of the most ancient languages of the world. It has been spoken from the Hindu Kush hills in the south west of Asia to the bank of the River Indus for thousands of years and is believed to be almost four thousand years old. BALOUCHI - Also spelled Balochi, Beluchi or Baluchi, is a modern Iranian language of the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family. Balouchi speakers live mainly in an area now composed of parts of southeastern Iran and southwestern Pakistan; an area that was once the historic region of Balouchistan. They also live in Central Asia (near Merv, Turkmenistan) and southwestern Afghanistan. There are also colonies of them in Oman, southern Arabia, and along the east coast of Africa as far south as Kenya. Balouchi is a western Iranian language that is closely relates to Kurdish. Despite the vast area over which it is spoken, its six dialects (Rakhshani, Sarawani, Kechi, Lotuni, the Eastern Hill dialects, and the coastal dialects) are all believed to be mutually intelligible. There are an estimated 4,800,000 worldwide Balouchi speakers, who are mostly in Afghanistan, Iran, Oman and Pakistan. TURKIC - Group of closely related language is that from a subfamily of Altaic languages. The Turkic languages show close similarities to each other in phonology, morphology and syntax -- though Chuvash, Khalaj and Yakut differ considerably from the rest. The earliest linguistic records are Old Turkic inscriptions, found near the Orhon River of Mongolia and the Yenisy River valley in south-central Russia, which date from the 8th century AD. HISTORY 328 – 642 Afghanistan, often called the crossroads of Central Asia, has had a turbulent history. In 328 BC, Alexander the Great entered the territory of present-day Afghanistan, then part of the Persian Empire, to capture Bactria (present-day Balkh). Invasions by the Scythians, White Huns, and Turks followed in succeeding centuries. In AD 642, Arabs invaded the entire region and introduced Islam. 998 – 1219 Arab rule gave way to the Persians, who controlled the area until conquered by the Turkic Ghaznavids in 998. Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030) consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and turned Ghazni into a great cultural center as well as a base for frequent forays into India. Following Mahmud's short-lived dynasty, various princes attempted to rule sections of the country until the Mongol invasion of 1219. The Mongol invasion, led by Genghis Khan, resulted in massive slaughter of the population, destruction of many cities, including Herat, Ghazni, and Balkh, and the despoliation of fertile agricultural areas.
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