This information comes from the assessment conducted in country for the Afghanistan report, which was published in August 2007.
Afghanistan is a land-locked Islamic Republic of about 30 million inhabitants located in the mountainous region of Central Asia between Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, and Pakistan. It is predominantly an agrarian economy, and it has been long considered a loose confederation consisting of disparate peoples separated by harsh terrain, language, local politics, and tribal affiliations. Over the past thirty years, a series of civil wars and external invasions have caused significant civic and physical destruction. In late 2001 the U.S.-led ouster of the ultra-Islamic Taliban from Kabul led to significant changes. Although the current Constitution of Afghanistan is only three years old, a violent insurgency has yet to be rooted out from the Southern portion of the country, mostly along its border with Pakistan.
| Key Development Data & Statistics |
Year |
Latest Data |
| External debt stocks (% of GNI) |
2006 |
19.7 |
| GDP (current US$) (billions) |
2006 |
8.4 |
| Exports (current US$) (billions) |
2007 |
0.327 |
| Imports (current US$) (billions) |
2007 |
4.85 |
| Top Exports: opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets |
|
|
| Top Imports: capital goods, food, textiles |
|
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Source: World Bank Group 2009, CIA World Factbook 2009
For additional economic indicators, please visit the World Bank's "Private Sector at a Glance."
