| Afghanistan's Reappearance on the World Stage by ARI GOLDBERG Tuesday August 25, 1998 Until last week, Afghanistan had disappeared from the world's radar screen. But on Thursday, after 50 U.S. cruise missiles impacted on its soil, this strategic Asian nation made headlines around the world. What is Afghanistan? Afghanistan is a large nation situated between the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Although it has no access to the sea, its location is strategic due to the borders it shares with major powers like China, Iran, Pakistan, and the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. |
There has never been a census in Afghanistan; population data is imprecise.
Most observers estimate the population to be 90% rural. Ethnically, Afghanistan
is a patchwork of various tribal units. A mosaic of languages, customs,
and communities have been left by people who, over thousands of years, roamed
Inner Asia. The two largest ethnic populations are the Pathans (Pashtans)
and the Tajik. The Pathans are organized tribally and are concentrated in
the east and the south. The Tajik speak Persian and are identified with
farming and town life. Afghanistan also includes a number of smaller populations
such as the Uzbek and Turkmen (both Turkic), the Mongoloid Hazara, and various
mountain and desert communities. One uniting factor in Afghanistan's ethnic tapestry is Islam.
Virtually all citizens are Muslim; 80% of them are Sunnites.Most people think of the former Soviet Union when they think of Afghanistan. Indeed, the Soviets spent most of the 1980's engaged in an unpopular war in Afghanistan, and many observers link the collapse of the USSR to that bloody and costly campaign. The Soviets intervened militarily in Afghanistan in December 1979 following the removal from power of Nur Mohammed Turki. Turki was the leader of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA); he rose to power during a Marxist coup in April 1978. Following the Soviet intervention, a national resistance movement spread throughout the country. A group of ill equipped soldiers known as the mujahadeen (Islamic Warriors in Arabic) slowly gained control of most of Afghanistan's countryside with the backing of the United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. In 1986, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw from Afghanistan (the withdrawal was completed in February 1989). The man who the Soviets left to rule, Najibullah, the former head of the Afghan secret police, battled the mujahadeen for control of the country until April 1992, when the capital city Kabul was occupied by the mujahadeen. Soon, an Islamic state was formed. But the violence did not end -- it escalated. Power struggles within the mujahadeen literally leveled Kabul between 1992 and 1995. Buildings and homes were decimated as warlords of various factions struggled for control of the country. 25,000 Afghans, including 15,000 civilians, were killed during that period. During the USSR's occupation, over 1 million refugees lived in Kabul. Since that time, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled the capital to become internal refugees. The violence has prompted the United Nations and other relief organizations to suspend most humanitarian efforts in Kabul. Ari Goldberg is a U.S. citizen currently working in the United Kingdom. |
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