Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan

In the life of the human spirit, words are action, much more so thanmany of us may realize who live in countries where freedom of expressionis taken for granted. The leaders of totalitarian nations understand thisvery well. The proof is that words are precisely the action for which dissidentsin those countries are being persecuted. ...

And we are confident of the good sense of American people, and so welet them share in the process of making foreign policy decisions. We canthus speak with the voices of 215 million, and not just of an isolatedhandful. ... [Read More]

American University in Afghanistan To Train Future Leaders - US Department of State

The study noted that the new Afghan government had already presented the new university with a 99-year lease on 42 acres of prime land in Kabul, near the new Parliament buildings. The site had been the location of the American School in Kabul until the Soviet invasion of 1979 and still contained several heavily damaged buildings of the former school as well as a dormitory built after the Soviet invasion. ...

Damaged buildings once part of the American International School of Afghanistan remain on land donated to the proposed campus site for the American University of Afghanistan. (Courtesy of Coordinating Council for International Universities) ... [Read More]

Southwest Asia

Illicit Cultivation/Production. Afghanistan contains the largest area of illicit opium poppy cultivation in the world. Poppy is grown commercially in all of its 34 provinces. In 2004, Afghanistan had an unprecedented 206,700 hectares of land planted to poppy. Opium production was an estimated 4950 metric tons. If all of Afghanistan’s opium production were refined into heroin, an estimated 582 metric tons of heroin could have been produced. None of these figures has any precedent. For example, the largest prior production of opium in Afghanistan was 3108 metric tons of opium in 2000; 2004’s production of opium exceeded this level by almost 60 percent. The largest area ever dedicated to growing opium was 165,800 hectares in Burma in 1993; the land devoted to poppy in Afghanistan last year exceeded Burma’s ‘93 cultivation by almost 25 percent. Only pitiful yields for South Asia of 24 kilograms of opium gum per hectare, caused by disease and drought, sa ... [Read More]

Political and Security Situation of Women In Afghanistan

The Afghan war against the Soviet Union and the ensuing civil war resulted in the devastation of the country, millions of deaths, and the flight of additional millions of refugees, chiefly to Pakistan and Iran. In the chaos that ensued, the status of women deteriorated sharply. The Taliban came to power in 1996, in part by pledging to restore order to the country. However, the Taliban regime soon began to enforce a series of ultra-conservative laws, many of which repressed the human rights of women, such as:Most women were banned from working outside the home. Girls over eight years of age were denied education. Access to medical treatment was severely restricted. There was a brutally enforced restrictive dress code. Women were forbidden from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a male relative. ... [Read More]

Background Notes Archive - Near East and North Africa

U.S. Department of State______________________________________________________ The State Department does not guarantee the authenticity of documents on the Internet. If for legal or other reasons you require the original version of a document in hard copy, please contact the Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs. Note that State Department information is not copyrighted unless indicated and can be reproduced without consent. Citation of source is appreciated. Permission to reproduce any copyrighted material (including photos or graphics) must be obtained from the original source.______________________________________________________BACKGROUND NOTES: AFGHANISTANPUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRSU.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATEJULY 1994Official Name: Islamic State of AfghanistanPROFILEGeographyArea: 648,000 sq. km. (252,000 sq. mi.); slightly smaller than Texas. Cities (1993 est.): Capital--Kabul (est. 800,000). Other cit ... [Read More]

Deputy Secretary Armitage Heralds Reestablishment of Fulbright Program in Afghanistan

Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage today announced the reestablishment of the Fulbright Program with Afghanistan after nearly 24 years dormant. The announcement came in a ceremony hosted by Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Patricia S. Harrison at the U.S. Department of State. His Excellency Ishaq Shahryar, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States, participated in the ceremony, and other diplomats from the region attended. The reactivation of the prestigious program signifies the U.S. commitment to rebuilding the once vibrant bilateral relations in education and culture, and acknowledges Afghanistan’s resurgence as a full partner in significant academic exchange. ... [Read More]

Afghanistan (04/05)

By the mid-1980s, the tenacious Afghan resistance movement--aided by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and others--was exacting a high price from the Soviets, both militarily within Afghanistan and by souring the U.S.S.R.'s relations with much of the Western and Islamic world. Informal negotiations for a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan had been underway since 1982. In 1988, the Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the United States and Soviet Union serving as guarantors, signed an agreement settling the major differences between them. The agreement, known as the Geneva accords, included five major documents, which, among other things, called for U.S. and Soviet noninterference in the internal affairs of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the right of refugees to return to Afghanistan without fear of persecution or harassment, and, most importantly, a timetable that ensured full Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan by February 15, 1989. About 14,500 Soviet and an estimated one ... [Read More]