Dennis & Patten

Participation in Government

Mepham High School

Capital: Kabul

Area: 251,825 sq mi; slightly smaller than Texas

Population: 31,056,997 (July 2006 estimate)80% Sunni Muslim, 19% Shia Muslim

GDP per capita: purchasing power parity - $800 (2004 estimate)

Over 80% of labor force is employed in agriculture (farming, sheep, goats)

Covered by an estimated 5-7 million landmines

Leading illicit opium producer in 2005 supplying 89% of the opium produced in the world. 1/3 of the GDP comes from opium trade

Afghanistan is a landlocked country, making the export of goods difficult and expensive.

It has rugged mountains and plains and is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and drought.

Temperatures are extreme, as hot as 120° F in the summer and as cold as -15° F in the winter.

There are limited natural fresh water sources, and most of the land has been overgrazed and deforested, causing desertification and soil degradation, making farming difficult.

Pashtun: largest ethnic group, mostly farmers and Sunni Muslims

Tajik: live mostly in the northeast, second largest ethnic group, mostly Sunni Muslims

Hazara: live in the Hindu Kush mountains, primarily Shiite Muslims

Uzbek: live mostly along the northern border, mostly Sunni Muslims

Aimaqs: a farming and herding tribe in the west, mostly Sunni Muslims

Turkmen and Kirghiz: nomadic herders and craftsmen, mostly Sunni Muslims

Baluch: nomadic tribe living in the southern deserts, Sunni Muslims

Islam is the world’s second largest religion, with 21% of all people practicing this faith.

Islam teaches that one can only find peace in life by submitting to Allah (Almighty God) in heart, soul, and deed.

The Quran is the holy guide to Islam. Major aspects of the Islamic religion include testimony of

faith, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage (5 Pillars). “Covering” is a religious duty. Women can only have their

faces and hands showing in public. Men must not expose anything from navel to knee.

Sunni and Shia are the two most common forms of Islam with different beliefs in some of the specific premises of the religion.

The Afghan people are some of the poorest in the world and are members of many different ethnic groups. This woman is part of a herding tribe and is drying dung to use as insulation in her home during the winter. Life is difficult for most Afghans as they have faced drought, famine and war for many years.

The lives of the Afghan people differ from ours inmany ways. Above, a 16-year-old girl works at sewing for about $1 a day as part of a special training program. U.S. soldiers are a common sight in Afghanistan and often interact with the local people. The picture on the lower right shows an Afghan school, where students sit in on the floor waiting for the day’s lessons to begin.

This woman works the land to make it suitable for planting as part of a work-for-food program aimed at helping Afghanistan increase its agricultural production.

As part of their religious belief system, Afghan women cover themselves as a show of modesty, showing only their hands and faces. Men are also expected to cover from navel to knees.

In 1979, Afghanistan was invaded and eventually controlled by the Soviet Union.

In 1989, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union signed a peace agreement.

In 1995, the Taliban, promising traditional, Islamic values came into power, imposing strict Islamic law, including revoking many women’s rights.

In 2001, American troops force the Taliban from power.

In 2004, Hamid Karzai became the first elected Afghan president.

Afghanistan employs 80 percent of its workforce in farming or raising sheep and goats. Because it is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain, exporting goods like the melons carriedby the boy is difficult and expensive. Poppies are grown illegally as a source of opium, which is used to produce heroin. Drug lords make millions through unregulated trade of this drug. The Afghan government is working to eliminate illegal drug trade and encourage the growth of other agricultural crops for export.

The true roots of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network stem from the decade-long conflict that plagued Afghanistan from 1979-1989. After Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union, the Afghan Islamist extremists found a rallying call for their cause, as young Muslims from around the world came to Afghanistan to volunteer in what was being called a "holy war," or jihad, against the invading Soviets. One of these young Muslims was a 23 year old from Saudi Arabia named "Usama" bin Ladin.

Son of a wealthy construction magnate, bin Ladin had taken to the religious sermons of Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian and disciple of Sayyid Qutb. While he participated in few actual battles in Afghanistan, bin Laden became known for his generous funding of the jihad against the Soviets.

However, bin Laden's ambitions extended beyond the boarders of Afghanistan, and he began to develop a complex international organization. He set up a financial support network known as the "Golden Chain," comprised mainly of financiers from Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf states. Using this immense new fund, bin Laden and Azzam created a "Bureau of Services," which helped channel recruits for the jihad into Afghanistan. With Saudi Arabia and the United States pouring in billions of dollars worth of secret assistance to rebels in Afghanistan, the jihad against the Soviets was constantly gaining momentum.

When the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in early 1989, bin Laden and Azzam decided that their new organization should not dissolve. They established what they called a base (al Qaeda) as a potential general headquarters for future jihad. However, bin Laden, now the clear emir of al Qaeda, and Azzam differed on where the organization's future objectives should lie. Azzam favored continued fighting in Afghanistan until there was a true Islamist government, while bin Laden wanted to prepare al Qaeda to fight anywhere in the world. When Azzam was killed in 1989, bin Laden assumed full charge of al Qaeda.

After leaving Afghanistan and being exiled by Saudi Arabia, bin Laden moved to Sudan, and with him went the base of operations for al Qaeda. From the sanctuary of Sudan, bin Laden began synching up with groups from all over the Middle East and northern Africa, and began laying the groundwork for his jihad against the West.

Beginning with a fatwa called against the United States' deployment to Somalia, bin Laden would continually plan and aid attacks against the United States. Al Qaeda trainers allegedly aided in downing two Black Hawk helicopters in 1993. Bin Laden and al Qaeda also took credit for the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. In 1995, al Qaeda associates were responsible for a car bomb that exploded outside a Saudi-U.S. joint facility in Saudi Arabia that was used to train the Saudi National Guard.

Due to mounting international pressure, Sudan forced bin Laden to return to Afghanistan, where he struggled to rebuild his terrorist network. It was not until the rise of the Taliban that bin Laden had al Qaeda working again, and had enough confidence to issue his 1998 fatwa against the United States and its citizens. By this time, al Qaeda had merged with the Egyptian Islamist Jihad, headed by Ayman al-Zawahri, who would become number two in command to bin Laden. Al Qaeda was now the general headquarters for international terrorism.

While previous acts by al Qaeda had involved training, funding and aiding other groups, the new refuge in Afghanistan allowed for bin Laden to take his organization to the next level. In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were attacked by terrorists, yet this time, it was planned, directed and executed solely by al Qaeda and bin Laden. Al Qaeda would also be responsible for the 2000 strike against the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen, which left 17 American sailors dead.

On September 11, 2001 al Qaeda executed its most devastating attack against the United States, killing nearly 3,000 civilians. However, the United States military response in Afghanistan would serve to cripple al Qaeda for a significant amount of time. With the protection of the Taliban gone and bin Laden in hiding, al Qaeda became far more decentralized, with operational commanders and cell leaders making the command decisions previously made by bin Laden. However, as a recent National Intelligence Estimate report showed, al Qaeda is once again gaining strength, and has significantly rebuilt itself despite U.S. efforts.

Prior to 2001, the Taliban, led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, ruled Afghanistan under Islamic law. During this time, women had virtually no rights and received no education. Watching television and listening to music were forbidden, as were playing games and sports.

The United States entered Afghanistan in October 2001 and replaced the Taliban with an elected president. While the Taliban lost some power and the people regained some rights, the Taliban has not gone away. Instead, it has worked to regain power by promising to help Afghanistan’s poorest people and aligning itself with warlords, al-Qaida, and other militant groups to gain financial support and recruit new fighters.

Taliban Leader Mullah Mohammad Omar

President Hamid Karzai was the first elected president in the history of Afghanistan. He came to power after the Taliban was overthrown in late 2001. He was formally elected to a five-year term in 2004. Karzai has survived numerous assassination attempts and has been assigned the task of rebuilding Afghanistan. Some of the major problems he must address include providing the country with an infrastructure so that citizens have the basic necessities of life, keeping the Taliban out of power and controlling the warlords who perpetuate the illegal drug trade.