Afghanistan Intro

Location:
• Between Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
• On the “slik route” therefore very sought after despite its very rough terrain
• Slightly smaller than texas
History:
• Gained independence from UK in 1919
• Afghanistan was a cold war battleground when soviet troops invaded to promote communism. The country brought a lot of international attention, but the attention faded very quickly
• 1978 a coup was planned and executed that overthrew Muhammad Daoud, and this started a civil war that has not yet ended.
• Afghanistan is also a major part of the worlds drug trade, supplying about 90% of the world’s opium (main ingredient in heroin) = half of the econ
• This has been discussed on the international scale, because it is believed that the opium trade is greatly boosting the Taliban resurgence

Afghanistan, a country that has been in the international spotlight for decades, is an extremely troubled country. There is an extremely unstable balance in the government, as the Taliban and other militia groups of the country pull a lot of weight in the decisions being made in the country. They influence the citizens by using scare tactics, making them believe that their army, and foreign armies are the enemy. Afghanistan's borders are a huge problem as well, as the country borders 6 countries. A lot of Afghanistan's money comes in through the drug trade, which is also heavily influenced by militia groups. With the US, and NATO troops scheduled to be completely withdrawn by 2014, there is a lot of speculation as to how secure the country will be in the near future. Much, much more to come