Afghanistan (EN)

Afghanistan (Edited by Elena Di Dio) The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is located in Central Asia and it borders Pakistan to the southeast, Iran to the west and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north. To the east, it is linked to China by the Wakhan corridor, a 30 kilometres strip of land, 260 km long. Since ancient times, its strategic position at the centre of the continent has played a significant role in shaping the country's domestic and foreign policy and the administration of Kabul, its capital. From its historical origins, the Afghan territory has been a true crossroads of Central Asia, passing under the rule of numerous empires. The birth of the modern nation-state is attributed to 1747, when Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtun tribes and led numerous campaigns of territorial conquest, eventually forming an empire that, at its height, extended as far as Delhi in India. The Durrani Empire lasted until 1826 when, at its fall, the region took the name “Emirate of Afghanistan” and faced British colonialism until the beginning of the 20th century. The Kingdom of Afghanistan gained independence from the colonisers in 1919 and worked its way out of isolation through diplomatic strategies and modernisation reforms. The country remained neutral in World War II. In 1973, Prime Minister Mohammed Daud Khan staged a coup d'état and thus interrupted the monarchy in Afghanistan. Shortly afterwards, in 1978, another coup d'état brought the communists to power, supported by the territorial invasion of the Soviet Union, which led to the outbreak of a long and destructive war, still considered to be ongoing. To counter the invasion, the progressive government deployed the mujahideen (fighters for the homeland) who were supported by the US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Hence, the scene became a last major conflict between the US and the Soviet Union in the context of the Cold War. It was not until 1989 that the USSR withdrew, defeated by the Mujahideen rebels, who in turn split into the Northern Alliance and the Taliban and whose differences led to a new civil war. Finally, Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban in 1996, who strictly enforced Islamic law - the shari'a - and punished all violations. In 2001, the NATO intervention following the terrorist attacks of 11 September overthrew the regime, which was accused of favouring the terrorist group al-Qaeda and of providing shelter to Osama Bin Laden. Thus, it began a process of foreign occupation of the territory aimed at the political reconstruction of Afghanistan, encouraged by the United Nations and inaugurated by the promulgation of a new constitution. The 2004 elections rewarded Hamid Karzai, who remained president until 2014. The country is currently plunged into political and economic instability, stimulated on the one hand by the presence of the Taliban in the south-east bordering Pakistan, and on the other by the influence of the United States and other international forces consolidating their military presence there. The reasons behind the US presence in the territory after the fall of Bin Laden can be found in the strategic position of the country. The presence of military and air bases allows the US to maintain control over Iran and neighbouring areas. The transition to a stable peace is prevented in such a socio-political context, however peace negotiations between the Taliban and the US government have been growing in intensity since 2018. Politics and Society The 2014 elections brought Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai to the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The first round of the elections resulted in a majority of votes for Abdullah Abdullah, who later withdrew in the ensuing runoff due to allegations of fraud in the counting of ballots, leaving his opponent with the victory. In February 2020 Ashraf Ghani was reappointed for a second term, despite protests from Abdullah Abdullah who proclaimed himself president. Ghani, of Pashtun ethnicity, seems not to be influenced by the Taliban in his political exercise, unlike his predecessors. Meanwhile, the Islamic terrorist group continues to operate in the south of the country in a continuous guerrilla war against the Afghan security forces. Since 2015, the group has been reinvigorated following the rise of IS. The conflict between the two terrorist organisations is concentrated in the territory on the border with Pakistan. The operations of Taliban extremists are mainly characterised by attacks against civilians, such as the 2016 attack in Kabul. The "Atlas of Wars and Conflicts in the World" project records an intensification of peace negotiations with the United States, since 2018. The points of convergence reached so far concern the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territory on condition that Afghanistan is no longer a territory for terrorist activities. Currently, more than 17,000 foreign troops, among which 14,000 US troops, are engaged in the war against the Taliban on Afghan territory, which has been going on uninterruptedly for forty years and with a high number of casualties. The relevance of Ghani's government has gradually diminished in this context, due to its exclusion from the negotiations. However, Kabul keeps its parallel conflict with the Taliban alive, with an army financed by international funds. The terrorist organisation obtains support from Pakistan and funding from a number of states, including China and Iran. Guerrilla warfare, therefore, remains high throughout the country. Since 2015, the self-styled Islamic State has also been present, mainly through attacks in cities. In this situation of insecurity, thousands of migrants and asylum seekers are forced to return from Pakistan and Europe. According to The Asia Fundation, Afghanistan is considered a country with a low level of human development, despite large investments by the international community. Nevertheless, in recent years, UNDP has recorded an improvement in the life expectancy and education level of citizens, causing a consequent increase in the value of the human development index. An increase in household income was also recorded in 2018, possibly due to the increasing number of women entering the workforce. Afghanistan's population has one of the highest growth rates in the world at around 4%, with an equally galloping rate of urbanisation. However, society continues to be predominantly rural: only a quarter of the total now live in cities. More than 70% of the population lives in slums or in housing inadequate for the large number of family members. In 2017, the percentage of the population below the national poverty line was 55%, despite development assistance. Poverty rates increase with the number of family members, due to the precariousness of most jobs. Poverty rates are also higher in rural areas. Almost half of the Afghan population is food insecure, and the trend is increasing in recent years. According to a joint report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), food insecurity is due to food shortages caused by conflict and insecurity, displacement and severe drought that affected the country at the turn of 2017-2018. Rainfall shortages, which exceeded 70% in some areas, have plagued the country's main livelihoods, worsening food insecurity among the population. In the field of education, Afghanistan still needs solid investments, despite the progress made since 2001. Access to schooling varies by residence, gender and poverty, so a large proportion of children are not guaranteed education. According to the EASO report on Afghanistan's Key Socio-Economic Indicators published in 2019 by the European Asylum Support Office, around 3.7 million children were not attending school in 2018. The situation is particularly critical in the rural areas of the country. In some areas, access to education is prevented by the ongoing conflict, as attacks have been recorded on schools, which are used as voter registration centres and polling stations for parliamentary elections. As a result, a quarter of the workforce is unemployed and most employment is insecure. Job creation has not been able to keep pace with population growth and good jobs are few and far between. Internal migration remains high due to the current conflict, which has an intense level of violence despite ongoing negotiations. According to UNHCR, internally displaced persons (IDPs) amounted to more than two million people at the end of 2018, a figure that has increased exponentially since previous years, partly due to malnutrition, child labour and reduced access to health care recorded in conflict zones. In addition to the victims, refugees also include those who have fled their homes as a result of the severe droughts in the southwest of Afghanistan and forced repatriations from foreign countries. In spite of this, Afghanistan remains one of the main countries of origin of refugees in the world, second only to Syria, which mainly seek asylum in Pakistan and Iran.   Rights Afghanistan has ratified numerous international human rights treaties and conventions, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, and specifically racial discrimination, treatment of refugees, civilians at war and the rights of children. However, the country is currently facing many challenges to the implementation of fundamental rights, whose compliance varies greatly on a regional basis. The Afghanistan Public Policy Research Organization identifies the greatest obstacles as economic instability, the fight against insurgency, crime, impunity and corruption. Under these conditions, the most vulnerable are women, minorities, displaced persons and children. In the collective imagination, the notions of democracy and human rights remain associated with Western values and foreign imposition, as opposed to the Islamic law that has been the basis of Afghan society for a long time. Freedom of expression is limited to those individuals willing to face threats or aggression from the powerful. Women also risk being accused of moral corruption, considered "worse than death". Although women's participation in both the political and labour processes has strongly improved since the fall of the Taliban, the granting of rights to women continues to be seen as a threat to the traditional values of society. Freedom of movement itself is restricted by the requirement to obtain permission from a man or to have an escort, and by the requirement to wear the burqa. However, the main problem remains unemployment, which leads to the inevitable dependence of women on men. Persistent and growing poverty and unemployment have led to the spread of child labour in several provinces. In the most serious cases, children's rights are violated through heavy physical labour, such as in the production of bricks. However, the most widespread employment is in the agricultural sector. In some provinces, the percentage of children employed in some work activities is as high as 70 per cent. In terms of social rights, health care varies from province to province, but is generally considered insufficient, especially in rural areas, and affected by corruption. Food insecurity has reached alarming rates, leading to forced land sales and child marriages, forcing children to drop out of school.   Economics and resources Afghanistan is considered a low-income country, with socio-economic conditions worse than in other conflict situations in the world. Recent political events have caused economic growth to fluctuate. Until the political transition in 2014, the overall security of the country could be considered relatively stable, as could economic growth. However, the elections caused a loss of confidence in institutions due to the weakening of national security and the reduction of external aid in this area, thus leading to a slowdown in the economy. Since 2017, there has been a gradual economic recovery, fuelled mainly by the agricultural sector and services. The quality of life of Afghans, however, remains at a level of degradation due to social factors such as high insecurity and the difficulty of women's participation in civil life, but especially due to high food insecurity linked to severe droughts in recent years. The country's war economy is entirely financed from outside, while the informal economy is based on opium trafficking. Opium production continues to grow and estimates put its value on the Afghan market at around 20-30% of GDP. In comparison, the value of licit agriculture amounts to 18% of GDP. The strong growth in opium production is encouraged by the persistence of a weak rule of law, easy access to trade routes and above all by the lack of alternative employment opportunities. The poverty index thus continues to rise, in line with the decline in the average per capita wage. Relatedly, the Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey shows a spike in the percentage of the population living below the poverty line, which consists of more than half of the Afghan population (about 54% of the total in 2018). Current projections do not foresee exceptional progress in the fight against poverty: conflict and instability continue to profoundly affect economic development prospects in Afghanistan. In particular, insecurity and internal displacement, in addition to structural factors such as galloping population growth and the resulting inability of the labour market and the education sector to keep up, are the immediate causes of the country's underdevelopment. Economic growth is expected to accelerate to around 3.7% by 2021, but with a population growth rate of 2.7%. However, this figure is insignificant in terms of improving the quality of life of Afghans and jobs, which are insufficient for the 400,000 young people who enter the workforce every year. Exports from Afghanistan are proceeding at a low pace due to limited agricultural production and a small manufacturing base, but nevertheless growing since 2018 due to the creation of new trade routes with India and Pakistan. The main exported products are fruits and nuts. Imports, which are also increasing, are needed mainly because of droughts that are severely limiting agricultural production. China is keeping an eye on the main mineral deposits, which, despite being difficult to extract, are considered an expanding market. Afghanistan's economic future is highly sensitive to the level and pattern of aid flows. External grants have been growing since 2018 and are estimated at 40% of the country's GDP. Aid not only finances the security sector but also more than half of the budget expenditure.   Environment Today, mainly due to decades of political chaos and conflict, Afghanistan is in a state of severe environmental crisis. Although some regulatory improvements have been made since the fall of the Taliban, such as the creation of the National Environmental Agency (NEPA) in 2005 and the passing of the first national environmental law in 2007, much more needs to be done. According to Afghanistan Online (https://www.afghan-web.com/environment/), the main environmental problems for Afghanistan today are soil degradation, air and water pollution, the alarming rate of deforestation, overgrazing, desertification and overpopulation of fragile urban areas. The majority of the Afghan population does not have access to clean water due to the contamination of water resources with industrial and domestic waste. Global warming is the main cause of drought as it causes glaciers to melt, drying out wetlands and causing the death of vegetation and wildlife in large areas. This also leads to soil erosion and desertification of fields. In a country where 80% of the population is engaged in agriculture and livestock, environmental changes make the foundations of society vulnerable and extremely susceptible to water shortages. Currently, only about 2% of Afghanistan is covered by forests, which in turn risk disappearing within the next 30 years. The main causes of this shortage include illegal logging for timber, war, and deforestation for energy and urban sprawl. The lack of protection of Afghanistan's forests leads to damage to biodiversity, soil and air quality. Air pollution has become a problem in major urban areas. Climate change is having a serious impact on Afghanistan's population and ecosystems, making it one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. Climate change predictions such as changes in rainfall and temperature will lead to reduced agricultural productivity, landslides, droughts, aridification, and increased food security for the population.

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