force: 10 million (2000 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 80%, industry 10%, services 10% (1990 est.)
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget: revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries: small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, and cement; handwoven carpets; natural gas, coal, copper
Electricity - production: 375 million kWh (2000)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 36% hydro: 64% other: 0% (2000) nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption: 453.75 million kWh (2000)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2000)
Electricity - imports: 105 million kWh (2000)
Agriculture - products: wheat, fruits, nuts, wool, mutton, sheepskin, and lambskin
Exports: $1.2 billion (2001 est.)
Exports - commodities: opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems
Exports - partners: Pakistan 32%, India 8%, Belgium 7%, Germany 5%,
Russia 5%, UAE 4% (1999)
Imports: $1.3 billion (2001 est.)
Imports - commodities: capital goods, food and petroleum products; most consumer goods
Imports - partners: Pakistan 19%, Japan 16%, Kenya 9%, South Korea 7%,
India 6%, Turkmenistan 6% (1999)
Debt - external: $5.5 billion (1996 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: international pledges made by more than 60 countries and international financial institutions at the Tokyo Donors Conference for Afghan reconstruction in January 2002 reached $4.5 billion through 2006, with $1.8 billion allocated for 2002; according to a joint preliminary assessment conducted by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the UN Development Program, rebuilding Afghanistan will cost roughly $15 billion over the next ten years
Currency: afghani (AFA)
Currency code: AFA
Exchange rates: afghanis per US dollar - 4,700 (January 2000), 4,750 (February 1999), 17,000 (December 1996), 7,000 (January 1995), 1,900 (January 1994), 1,019 (March 1993), 850 (1991); note - these rates reflect the free market exchange rates rather than the official exchange rate, which was fixed at 50.600 afghanis to the dollar until 1996, when it rose to 2,262.65 per dollar, and finally became fixed again at 3,000.00 per dollar in April 1996
Fiscal year: 21 March - 20 March
Communications Afghanistan
Telephones - main lines in use: 29,000 (1998)
Telephones - mobile cellular: NA
Telephone system: very limited telephone and telegraph service domestic: Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Kabul through satellite and microwave systems international: satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) linked only to Iran and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region); commercial satellite telephone center in Ghazni
Radio broadcast stations: AM 7 (6 are inactive; the active station is in Kabul), FM 1, shortwave 1 (broadcasts in Pashtu, Afghan Persian (Dari), Urdu, and English) (1999)
Radios: 167,000 (1999)
Television broadcast stations: at least 10 (one government-run central television station in Kabul and regional stations in nine of the 32 provinces; the regional stations operate on a reduced schedule; also, in 1997, there was a station in Mazar-e Sharif reaching four northern Afghanistan provinces) (1998)
Televisions: 100,000 (1999)
Internet country code: .af
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2000)
Internet users: NA
Transportation Afghanistan
Railways: total: 24.6 km broad gauge: 9.6 km 1.524-m gauge from
Gushgy (Turkmenistan) to Towraghondi; 15 km 1.524-m gauge from Termiz
(Uzbekistan) to Kheyrabad transshipment point on south bank of Amu Darya
(2001)
Highways: total: 21,000 km paved: 2,793 km unpaved: 18,207 km (1998 est.)
Waterways: 1,200 km note: chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels up to 500 DWT (2001)
Pipelines: natural gas 180 km note: product pipelines from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have been in disrepair and disuse for years (2002)
Ports and harbors: Kheyrabad, Shir Khan
Airports: 46 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 10 over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 under 914 m: 1 (2001) 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
Airports - with unpaved runways: 7 1,524 to 2,437 m: Heliports: 2 (2001)
Military Afghanistan
Military branches: NA; note - the December 2001 Bonn Agreement calls for all militia forces to come under Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) control, but formation of a national army is likely to be a gradual process; Afghanistan's forces continue to be factionalized largely along ethnic lines
Military manpower - military age: 22 years of age (2002 est.)
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 6,896,623 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 3,696,379 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 252,869 (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $NA
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: NA%
Transnational Issues Afghanistan
Disputes - international: close ties with Pashtuns in Pakistan make long border difficult to control
Illicit drugs: poppy ban cut 2001 cultivation by 97% to 1,695 hectares, with potential production of 74 tons of opium; a major source of hashish; many heroin-processing laboratories throughout the country; major political factions in the country profit from the drug trade
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
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Algeria
Introduction
Algeria
Background: After a century of rule by France, Algeria became independent
