1. Afghanistan By: Becky Williams

2. The Land  Afghanistan is located in South Asia  The landforms of Afghanistan are mountains, valleys, hills, and plains  Natural Resources: oil, gasoline, petroleum, coal, copper, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron, ore, and salt

3. The Land cont…  Water Systems:  Afghanistan is divided into 4 regions; north, south, east, and west  The south basin holds the majority of the country’s water  There are many rivers that run through Afghanistan providing water to the people

4. Climate/Vegetation  Temperature varies from -10 degrees Celsius in winter to 34 degrees Celsius in summer  From the count in 1994, there are 123 species of animals in Afghanistan  Some of these include: mice, bats, snow leopard, tiger, bears, fox, monkey, hedgehog, and porcupine  Some of the common vegetation consists of: evergreens, oaks, locoweed, mimosa, sagebrush, and wormwood

5. Government  Hamid Karzai is the president of Afghanistan  The first and second vice presidents are, in order: Mohammed Fahim Khan, and Abdul Karim Khalili  The government is an Islamic Republic  The life expectancy is 44.4 years  The population is 28,395,716 people as of July 2009

6. History  The Battle of Ghuznee was the beginning of the first Afghan war  The British and Indian soldiers of the Bengal and Bombay army, along with the army of Shah Shuja fought together against the Afghans of Dost Mohammed  Outcome: The British and Indian army won  1978-1992  Anti-Communist Muslim Afghan guerrillas vs. Afghan government and Soviet  The assassination of Sardar Muhammad Daud Khan made relations tight  Because of another coup in 1979, there was an invasion of Soviet forces  The war came to an end when the Afghan government collapsed Battle of GhuzneeAfghanistan War

7. Economy  The major exports are: opium, fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, and precious and semi-precious gems  The percentage of the total population of Afghanistan that has the ability to read is 28.1  The national currency of Afghanistan is Afghani

8. Culture  Traditional clothing for the women is kalaa Afghani (Afghan women’s dress)  It consists of tombaan (pants), parahaan (overdress), chaadar (head covering), and payzaar (footwear)  Traditional clothing for the men is tombaan, payraan (overshirt), kullaa (hat or cap), and payzaar  In the cold, men often wear a waaskaat (vest), pokool (hat), and shaal (shawl) along with the basic items  Dari, Pashto, Uzbek, and Turkman make up the majority of the languages spoken in Afghanistan  The most practiced religions are Sunni Muslim and Shia Muslim

9. Places to Visit  The Bolan pass  Mosque Mausoleum of Timur Shah  Hindu Kush Bamiyan

10. Works Cited  " AQUASTAT - FAO's Information System on Water and Agriculture." FAO: FAO Home. http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries/afghanistan/index.stm (accessed March 23, 2010).  "Afghanistan Online: Animals found in Afghanistan." Afghanistan Online. http://www.afghan- web.com/fauna/animals.html (accessed March 23, 2010).  "Afghanistan War — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0802662.html (accessed March 23, 2010).  "Afghanistan's Web Site - Plant and Animal Life." Afghanistan's Web Site: Afghanistan | Afghan | افغانستان. http://www.afghanistans.com/information/PlantAnimal.htm (accessed March 23, 2010).  "Animal Info - Afghanistan." Endangered Animals - Rare, Threatened and Endangered animals & mammals. http://www.animalinfo.org/country/afghanis.htm (accessed March 23, 2010).  BBC News. "BBC News - Afghanistan country profile." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1162668.stm (accessed March 23, 2010).  CIA, The. "The World Factbook." Afghanistan. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world- factbook/geos/af.html (accessed March 22, 2010).  Daly, Catherine. "Clothing, Traditional—Afghanistan | Encyclopedia of Modern Asia Summary." BookRags.com: Book Summaries, Study Guides. http://www.bookrags.com/research/clothing-traditionalafghanistan-ema-02/ (accessed March 23, 2010).  Nabil. "Afghanistan." The Community of Learners at EEV and TEAM. http://eev.liu.edu/KK/wallsthattalk/culturewalls/afg.htm (accessed March 23, 2010).