Afghanistan Today

 

 

    Aimal Ahmadzai told us that Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Aghanistan, is a landlocked country in Asia.  Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south; Iran to the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the north, and China to the northeast.

The capital of Afghanistan is Kabul.  The population is approximately 35 million with 5 million who live abroad.  The government is Islamic Republic where the legislature is bicameral.  There are the House of Elders and the House of People.  The United States help write their Constitution. 

 

The religious culture of Afghanistan is where 85% of its citizens practice Islam.  About 90% of the population follow Sunni Islam which makes up between 84.7-89.7% of the populations, Shia Muslims 10-15% and 0.3% is other.  The culture of Afghanistan has persisted for over three millennia.  Some of their culture includes poetry, and cuisine.  The official languages is Dari and Pashto.  Most of the Afghans follow the Islamic traditions, celebrate the same holidays, dress the same, consume the same food, listen to the same music and are multi-lingual.

 

In 1979 through 1989 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan which 2 million died, plus millions fled the country as refugees.  With a bit of Nebraska connect, the University of Nebraska-Omaha produced some textbooks which was sent to Afghanistan, but what was in those textbooks didn’t really help.  It was to show the rural people that they needed to fight Communism.  With financial support from America, helped the Afghans to defend their homeland and defeat the Red Army.  The victory did not come without major short-term and long-term consequences.

 

In 1989 the United States pulled out and the Taliban came in and started to rule from 1996-2001.  The Taliban changed the law where the women were not allowed to get educated, needed to dress according to their rules, and could not drive.  Osama bin Laden was protected under the Taliban due to his loyalty in defeating the Soviets. 

In 2001 after 9/11 the U.S. kicked off “Operation Enduring Freedom” and quickly defeated the Taliban, which scattered them to across the border, but the long-term success has proved extremely difficult.  Education for the women was re-established and today Afghanistan is a democratic state with democracy growing.  Afghans have risked their lives in national and parliamentary elections, despite the flaws in its growing democracy.  The next generation will be able to help the democracy grow stronger since in 2014 a declaration for democracy was signed.

 

Today Afghanistan people have freedom of speech which is the new norm.  They have over 40 television channels with all kinds of programming.  With the freedom of speech their press is healthy.  Sports has returned and the Ghazi Stadium, which the Taliban used has received major upgrades and can be used for sports.

Afghanistan today is making efforts to become a regional economic partner and a partner in stopping the spread of violence.  The United States has given millions to help rebuild Afghanistan.  Afghanistan has many minerals in its soil that are worth trillions of dollars.  The millions that have been given, most of it is through aid from American companies, so much of it has been returned through these companies to the U.S. There have been many peace negotiations going on between the Taliban and the U.S. and with a lot of mixed messaging (U.S. President), that it is always off or on in trying to make peace.

 

Geopolitical strategy and the long game Afghans need to find are opportunities, and avoid the traps.

 

Aimal thank you for telling us about your home country and how the U.S. has helped to try to bring peace to that country.