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Transnational Issues of Afghanistan

Disputes - international:
Pakistan, with UN and other international assistance, repatriated 2.3 million Afghan refugees with less than a million still remaining, many at their own choosing; Pakistan has proposed and Afghanistan protests construction of a fence and laying of mines along portions of their border; Coalition and Pakistani forces continue to monitor remote tribal areas to control the border with Afghanistan and stem terrorist and other illegal activities
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 136,565 (mostly Pashtuns and Kuchis displaced in south and west due to drought and instability) (2006)
Illicit drugs:
World's largest producer of opium; cultivation dropped 48% to 107,400 hectares in 2005; better weather and lack of widespread disease returned opium yields to normal levels, meaning potential opium production declined by only 10% to 4,475 metric tons; if the entire poppy crop were processed, it is estimated that 526 metric tons of heroin could be processed; many narcotics-processing labs throughout the country; drug trade is a source of instability and some antigovernment groups profit from the trade; significant domestic use of opiates; 80-90% of the heroin consumed in Europe comes from Afghan opium; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through informal financial networks; source of hashish

Afghanistan Quickstats

  • Population: 31,889,923 (est.)
  • Area: 652,090 km²
  • Density: 46 /km²
  • GDP (total): 31,889,923
  • GDP (per capita): $1,490
  • Literacy: 36% (1999 est.)

Languages of Afghanistan

Useful to know

  • Currency: Afghani (AFN)
  • Dial code: +93

International Trade

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