Afghanistan
World Compassion Terry Law Ministries' Focus in Afghanistan…
In Afghanistan, we’re providing educational, skills and community development training to hundreds of poor Afghan women and children many of whom are widows and orphans, teaching them in Literacy, English, Computers, personal health and community hygiene in order to help them provide food and income to live and survive. Click here to learn more about this program.
Location:
- Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran.
Total area:
- 647,500 sq km. Slightly smaller than Texas.
Population:
- 32,738,376
There are about 1.5 million widows and 1.6 million orphans living in Afghanistan. That’s over 9% of the total population!
Languages:
- Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashto (official) 35%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism.
Religion:
- Afghanistan is 99% Muslim. Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%.
Background:
- Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, a US, Allied, and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Osama Bin Ladin. The UN-sponsored Bonn Conference in 2001 established a process for political reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution, a presidential election in 2004, and National Assembly elections in 2005.
- In December 2004, Hamid Karzai became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan and the National Assembly was inaugurated the following December. Despite gains toward building a stable central government, a resurgent Taliban and continuing provincial instability - particularly in the south and the east - remain serious challenges for the Afghan Government.
stats from NationMaster.com
