Afghanistan

Afghanistan is home to many different cultures and religious traditions. However, years of civil war, Soviet invasion, and Taliban rule have made it one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world. The Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, when it was defeated by mujahideen forces backed by the U.S. The Taliban, an Islamic Fundamentalist group that had received much of the U.S. funding, began to capture cities throughout Afghanistan, claiming total control over the country by 1996. Their oppressive regime was formally overthrown in 2001 by the ... more

Afghanistan is home to many different cultures and religious traditions. However, years of civil war, Soviet invasion, and Taliban rule have made it one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world. The Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, when it was defeated by mujahideen forces backed by the U.S. The Taliban, an Islamic Fundamentalist group that had received much of the U.S. funding, began to capture cities throughout Afghanistan, claiming total control over the country by 1996. Their oppressive regime was formally overthrown in 2001 by the U.S. and its partners in the anti-terrorist coalition, who continue to occupy the country in order to combat the Taliban insurgency.

Women
Under the Taliban, oppression and violence against women was sanctioned. They faced discrimination in every aspect of their lives. Afghan women were not allowed to go to school, work outside of their homes, or appear in public without wearing a burqa (full-body covering that exposes only the eyes) and accompanied by a male relative. They were denied access to health care and were forbidden to speak out. Women who had been professors and doctors found themselves without work and subject to violence. As a result female rates of illiteracy skyrocketed, leaving an entire generation of girls uneducated; even now, the national literacy rate is under 30%, with the rate for women less than half that. Women suffered from anemia and vitamin D deficiency because they did not have access to sufficient sunlight. This legacy remains as women still face discrimination at the hands of both government and society.

Health
Afghanistan has one of the least-developed health care systems in the world: medical training is nearly nonexistent, government services are minimal, and there is no welfare system. The majority of rural areas do not have hospitals or doctors and most Afghans do not have access to clean water. As a result, the country has extensive health problems: high rates of maternal mortality, low life expectancy, widespread malnutrition, poor sanitation and hygiene, and high instances of preventable diseases. Because male physicians are banned from caring for female patients and women were prevented from training to be doctors under Taliban rule, today, women have particular trouble accessing health care.

Drug Trade
The weakness of the Afghan state in recent decades has led to increased economic growth in one sector only: illicit drug production. Poppy cultivation and the opium trade now account for more than half of Afghanistan's GDP; the country is the source of about 70% of the world's illegal opium. Concentrated in the rural provinces of the country, drug production provides income to many tribal ethnic groups and funds the ongoing Taliban insurgency. Drug control efforts have been hampered by Taliban control in many regions, as well as the farmers' dependency on poppy crops. Providing alternate sources of income is an important step towards weaning the country from its reliance on the illicit drug trade.

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