Afghanistan's People and History

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The Geography of Afghanistan An excerpt from The United States in Afghanistan 1

Part I: Afghanistan’s People and History

or most of us, it is difficult to imagine what Life in rural Afghanistan is difficult for FAfghanistan is like for the people who many people. Family members rise before live there. Yet, as debates about Afghanistan’s dawn to begin working. Men typically labor future continue, some fundamental ques- on small, family-owned plots to sow and tions deserve exploration. What is life like in harvest wheat, barley, rice, fruit, or nuts, most Afghanistan? What is society like? How does of which are saved for family consumption. history affect events in Afghanistan today? Women often manage the household, collect Part I of the reading provides a brief overview water and firewood, and take care of children. of the people and history of Afghanistan. Electricity is extremely rare as is mechanical farm equipment. Except in the mountain re- What is life like in rural gions, most rural villages depend on irrigation areas of Afghanistan? and are located near water sources. Farmers Afghanistan’s population today is about without irrigation depend on rainfall to water thirty million people. More than 75 percent their crops. live in rural areas, most in small villages. Life Life for pastoralists also tends to be dif- expectancy is low, around forty-five years. ficult. Pastoralists are nomadic, which means Most rural Afghans are either subsistence they migrate according to the season. By some farmers or pastoralists, which means they estimates more than one million nomadic graze small herds of animals. pastoralists live in Afghanistan today. They raise sheep and camels and move from pasture Eric Kanalstein/UNAMA. A farmer gathers wheat in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, August 11, 2009.

www.choices.edu ■ watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University ■ choices for the 21st Century Education Program The Geography of Afghanistan An excerpt from The United States in Afghanistan 2 U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika. U.S. Army Staff A bazaar in Kabul, Afghanistan, February 2009. to pasture. Although the term nomad con- Currently, about 23 percent of Afghani- veys the idea of wandering aimlessly, in fact stan’s population lives in cities, but this these groups have set patterns of movement number has been rising rapidly in the last and play an important role in the economies decade. Life in cities in Afghanistan is less of towns and cities. They sell meat, butter, physically demanding than it is in the coun- cheese, and animal skins in city markets, and tryside. Education levels are higher, there are purchase grains and other goods from farmers wide variations in levels of wealth, and a wide and manufacturers. range of kinds of work. Close social and economic connections The relationships between towns and between people are important in rural Af- cities, rural villages, and nomadic groups are ghanistan. Families, neighbors, and local close knit. Each depends on the others to pro- communities depend on each other for surviv- cure the goods they need. For example, town al. For example, communities maintain village and city dwellers depend on grain and agricul- irrigation systems and repair them after floods. tural products produced in the countryside. These close ties have helped Afghans to People in rural areas depend on the towns weather the storms of political upheaval and and cities for manufactured goods. All come invasion throughout their country’s history. together on “bazaar days” in towns, when goods are bought and sold at the markets. What is life like in towns and Afghanistan’s cities are connected to neighbor- cities in Afghanistan? ing countries and the global economy through Today, life in rural Afghanistan is un- trade. dergoing rapid change, particularly as many Afghans are migrating to Afghanistan’s cities.

The Regions of Afghanistan Historically, Qandahar was a center The geography of Afghanistan plays an of trade with India and the site of struggle important role in the country’s history and between the Indian and Persian Empires. culture. There are two massive mountain Qandahar is also the site of the founding of ranges called the Paropamisus and Hindu modern Afghanistan. There, in 1747, Ahmad Kush that dominate the center of Afghanistan. Shah Durrani became the leader of a dynasty The mountain ranges’ snowmelts are a source (a succession of family kings) that ruled Af- of water for rivers and irrigated agriculture ghanistan until 1978. His successors moved throughout much of Afghanistan. None of the the capital to the city of Kabul. Pashtuns make rivers have enough water year-round to trans- up the majority of Qandahar’s population and port cargo or connect to the sea. speak the Pashto language. The Pashtuns are Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group and have Afghanistan is a land-locked country. The played a central role in Afghanistan’s govern- rugged terrain and the presence of few roads ment for more than 250 years. makes travel through the region difficult. The dramatic changes in altitude mean that there Mazar-i-Sharif: Mazar-i-Sharif is a city are wide variations in climate. Farmers in dif- in northern Afghanistan. Because it is north ferent regions can produce a variety of fruits, of the Hindu Kush mountain range it was not nuts, and other crops. influenced by Iran or India. Instead, it inter- acted more closely with the Turkish-speaking The mountain ranges divide Afghani- empires of Central Asia. Over thousands of stan into four regions, each with a main city years, countless Turkish speakers migrated to and distinct characteristics. Each of the four the region and assimilated with the Persian regions have economic and cultural connec- speakers who were already there. Today the tions to bordering countries. In spite of the region’s inhabitants are ethnic Tajiks and Uz- ruggedness of the terrain, over the centuries beks and who speak Dari and Uzbek. It is the trade routes have gone through the mountains site of a major Islamic shrine and is a center of to connect countries and regions beyond Af- pilgrimage for Muslims. ghanistan. Kabul: Kabul is the largest city in all of Af- Herat: In western Afghanistan the city of ghanistan and is the capital of the country. For Herat lies close to the Iranian border. An an- thousands of years Kabul has connected the cient city, it may have once had a population passes through Afghanistan’s mountains with as large as one million before it was annihilat- trade routes through India. Eastern Afghani- ed by invading Mongols in the twelfth century. stan is the most densely populated region of It was once part of the Persian Empire, and the country. Four to six million people live in most residents speak Dari, a dialect of Persian the city of Kabul. This region is the most eth- (the language spoken in Iran today). nically diverse region of the country. Pashtuns, Qandahar: The city of Qandahar has been Tajiks, and Hazaras are the largest groups in at the center of politics and economics in the region. southern Afghanistan for over five centuries. The geographic divisions of Afghanistan Large portions of southern Afghanistan are have always contributed to how the country desert and as a consequence the population is ruled. The central government in Kabul is relatively small for such a large region. The has had less control over remote regions. The land around Qandahar itself is very productive different regions have often been dominated agriculturally, producing cotton and varieties by different ethnic groups, and within ethnic of fruit. Today, it also is where most of Afghan- groups by different tribes and clans (extended istan’s opium poppies are grown, essential for families). the production of the illegal drug heroin.

Afghanistan and its Neighbors

RUSSIA Irtysh RUSSIA Astana GEORGIA Caspian Sea

KAZAKHSTAN ARMENIA Aral Sea AZERBAIJAN Lake Balkhash

UZBEKISTAN IRAQ TURKMENISTAN Bishkek Tashkent Ashgabat KYRGYZSTAN Baghdad Tehran Dushanbe

TAJIKISTAN CHINA IRAN KUWAIT Kabul AFGHANISTAN Islamabad BAHRAIN

QATAR PAKISTAN Indus New U. A. E. Kathmandu Delhi Muscat NEPAL

Arabian Sea Ganges OMAN INDIA

INDIAN Bay of OCEAN Bengal

0 1000 mi 0 1000 km SRI LANKA

www.choices.edu ■ watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University ■ choices for the 21st Century Education Program