Afghanistan
Location of Afghanistan
Recent events in Afghanistan
Living conditions in Afghanistan
The bright side …
Where do Afghanistan’s women stand today?
What is Canada doing to help?
CIDA and other government links
Eight things you can do, using the links listed below
Links to organizations involved with Afghanistan
Only 20 percent of Afghans nationwide
have access to safe drinking water in both cities
and rural areas. Every day, children
must fetch water for their families.
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This landlocked country in Central Asia has suffered decades of war, including civil war, with a series of warlords and tribal leaders trying to assert their authority at various times.
 Location of Afghanistan
Afghanistan lies east of Iran, north and west of Pakistan. It has a population of about 25 million people, a million of them living in the capital city Kabul. Its land mass of 652,000 square kilometres is about the size of Manitoba. It is a land of mountains and plains, cold winters and hot summers, and it is often threatened by earthquakes and floods.
Recent events in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has been the centre of many power struggles. In 1979 it was invaded by the Soviet Union. The Soviets were forced out 10 years later by the anticommunist mujahedeen forces (trained and supplied by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan). By the late 1990s, the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement had seized most of the country, including Kabul. Afghanistan came into the news again when a search for Osama bin Laden was mounted following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. This Saudi-born multimillionaire is believed to be behind “9/11”’ and other deadly attacks, and is suspected to be in hiding in Afghanistan’s rugged mountains.
In retaliation for 9/11, the US invaded Afghanistan in 2002 and overthrew the Taliban. Now the country is being run by a US-backed transitional government headed by President Hamid Karzai. The government is attempting to establish a democracy. General elections the first ever in the country will take place in September 2004, with voter registration already begun, although the elections may be delayed because of security issues and challenges related to voter registration. With help from the UN and countries such as Canada, Afghanistan adopted a new constitution, establishing itself as an Islamic republic. The dominant religion is Sunni Muslim (84 percent of the population), followed by Shi'a Muslim (15 percent). The world community has responded by pledging extensive military and economic aid.
Living conditions in Afghanistan
Kabul's Rights and Democracy Centre allows
women to share information and receive training
in such areas as leadership, capacity building
and gender equality. The Centre's library
was supplied with books thanks to CIDA funding.
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As if being battered by wars and enduring brutal governments and grinding poverty isn’t enough, Afghanistan periodically suffers from droughts that last for years. Average life expectancy is only 45 years, and one quarter of all children die before they reach the age of 5. Yet despite these odds, Afghanistan, with the help of international partners such as Canada, is working hard to recover and rebuild. The Afghan people want to live in a peaceful society that respects the rule of law, though they face serious challenges. For instance, Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium poppies, and narcotic trafficking is a major source of revenue for farmers and bandits alike. The recent rise in poppy cultivation reflects the lack of alternative economic opportunities, especially in the rural areas.
There is still drought in southwest Afghanistan and more than 7 million people are vulnerable to hunger. Health services are hard for many to access and some regions report the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality in the world. More than 75 percent of the population is without safe drinking water and over 90 percent have no proper sanitation. Nearly 1.5 million children are still not in school.
The large influx, mainly to the cities, of returning refugees and internally displaced people, has strained existing resources. More are expected to return home this year. Natural resources such as forests and rivers are seriously damaged or polluted. Large areas, including precious farmland, are littered with unexploded land mines. Afghanistan remains one of the world's poorest countries.
The most significant stumbling block to Afghanistan's recovery is the lack of security. Law and order have been established in Kabul and surrounding villages, but factional fighting continues in the provinces and along the borders. Ongoing violence¯including attacks on government officials, aid workers, ethnic minorities and women¯continues and it prevents peace and reconstruction.
The bright side …
It’s not all grim, though. Let’s take stock of some of the impressive achievements made in just one year (2002–2003):
- Over 3 million children—nearly a third of them girls—have returned to school
- Millions of children were immunized against polio and measles
- More than 1.8 million refugees and 250,000 internally displaced persons returned to their homes
- Food aid and emergency assistance was delivered to approximately two thirds of the population
- Judicial, legal, and constitutional reforms are now underway and the country is preparing for elections to be held in September 2004.
Source: CIDA: Afghanistan Overview
Sometimes people’s impressions help balance the gloomy statistics. In September 2003, a Canadian radio journalist, Anna Maria Tremonti, host of the CBC-TV program “The Current” spent time in Kabul and had this to say. “…in the midst of all the crumbling, I got a sense of optimism. The markets are crammed and life goes on…You see people making do. You see optimism in the sense that they are getting on with their lives.” (For more details)
Where do Afghanistan’s women stand today?
According to Afghanistan Online, “Women are forced to cover themselves from head to toe, denied access to education and proper health care, forbidden to work in order to support their families, and face brutal beatings if they do not comply with the rules set forth for them by their oppressors. The world needs to know about this tragedy. The current oppression of women in Afghanistan is due to politics and ignorance, not Islam!” (For more details)
Afghan journalist Shukria Dawi Barekzai is optimistic that 2004 might be a turning point for women in her country, but notes there is a long way to go before women’s rights, now established in the new constitution, become reality.
Ms. Barekzai says that what is now required is for women, including those less educated and in rural areas, to coordinate a united campaign against the continuing suffering of women.
What is Canada doing to help?
Canada is assisting the people of Afghanistan by contributing in the areas of development, diplomacy and defence. In terms of supporting the humanitarian transition and reconstruction, activities include peacebuilding, reintegrating returned refugees into their communities, assistance in land mine removal, promotion of human rights especially the rights of women—and providing basic health care and education.
For example, in Kabul 10,000 war widows and their families (50,000 people) receive monthly supplementary food rations. CARE Canada, with funding from CIDA, has run the project for the past six years. The food assistance package includes 50 kg of fortified wheat flour, 9 kg of pulses (e.g., beans and lentils) and 4.6 kg of fortified oil per family per month. In addition to the dry rations, the beneficiaries also receive oral dehydration supplements and iodized salt for the treatment of iodine deficiency. Health education sessions on topics such as personal hygiene, malnutrition causes and prevention, vaccination, Vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency and water-related diseases, are conducted during food distributions. The CIDA-supplied food rations meet roughly 70 percent of the recipients’ nutritional requirements.
CIDA and other government links
Afghanistan—Overview
Canada world view
Stories from the field
List of bilateral projects in Afghanistan
Rebuilding Afghanistan: background
Eight things you can do, using the links listed below
Learn more about Afghanistan (consult the links below).
Discuss and share your views on Afghanistan in a chat room.
Express yourself on the issue. Write an essay or create art. Submit it to the butterfly 208 contest or check out http://www.youcan.ca.
Volunteer with an organization that supports Afghanistan, like Oxfam Canada, Save the Children Canada, or Amnesty International.
Vote (if you're 18 or over). Make a difference in how Canada is run and how it supports countries like Afghanistan. Participate in the As Prime Minister Awards program.
Inform other students about Afghanistan. Speak to other classes in your school or in nearby schools.
Organize your fellow students. Form a local fundraising or volunteer group. Participate in a Model United Nations conference.
Talk about Afghanistan to your parents, your friends and your teachers.
Links to organizations involved with Afghanistan
OneWorld.ca
CARE Canada
Asian Development Bank
United Nations Development Programme
The World Bank Group
Relief Web
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