$Unique_ID{COW00008} $Pretitle{265} $Title{Afghanistan Chapter 2A. The Society and Its Environment} $Subtitle{} $Author{Laurie Krieger} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{population afghanistan country hindu meters kush mountains million pakistan kilometers} $Date{1986} $Log{Tent-pegging*0000801.scf Valley in central Afghanistan*0000802.scf Figure 4.*0000804.scf Badminton Anyone?*0000806.scf Karate*0000807.scf } Country: Afghanistan Book: Afghanistan, A Country Study Author: Laurie Krieger Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1986 Chapter 2A. The Society and Its Environment [See Tent-pegging: Tent-pegging, a popular equestrian sport, especially among Pashtuns] The reactions of the Afghans to the invasion of their country by Soviet military forces in December 1979 were in keeping with Afghan responses to numerous earlier invasions. The almost universal resentment of the populace has been expressed in widespread, bitter, and costly guerrilla warfare against the Soviets and the Afghan government. Although the cultures of Afghanistan are varied, complex, and often poorly understood, perhaps the most interesting question about the country in the mid-1980s was why the population responded to the invasion with determination, tenacity, and pugnaciousness. The answers to this question lie in many aspects of the country; its physical environment, population structure, religious traditions, tribes, and ethnicity; the nature of the Afghan family and kin groups; and gender roles. The people of Afghanistan have adapted to an arid, rugged terrain, extreme climatic conditions, periodic droughts, and successive invasions. Afghans have coped with these difficulties by showing diversity, ingeniousness, and flexibility in subsistence strategies, technology, and religious and social organization. As they may move from one subsistence strategy to another to meet changing environmental and economic conditions, so they may change from one religious sect to another or expand or contract the boundaries of ethnic group, tribe, or lineage to adapt to the changing social environment. Despite this plasticity, certain values and shared identities endure. These include membership in the patrilineal family, with strong family loyalties and squabbles; gender separation, with bellicose males and secluded women; and membership in the Muslim community (umma), with reliance on charismatic religious figures, such as Sufi shaykhs, pirs, and miyans. The Afghans' guerrilla war affected not only their own country but the entire region as well. By late 1985 the country was severely depopulated; about one-third of the population had departed, and the war had claimed many lives. The dramatic drop in population within Afghanistan, coupled with the influx of Afghan refugees to Iran and Pakistan (where they reportedly had one of the highest birth rates in the world), had created a tremendous labor shortage within the country and a potentially volatile situation in the entire region. The Natural Environment [See Valley in central Afghanistan: Courtesy Embassy of Afghanistan, Washington DC] Historically and contemporarily, Afghanistan's rugged terrain and often harsh climate have impeded but not deterred foreign invaders. Afghanistan is an extremely mountainous country with dramatic and often spectacular scenery. Yet the land is not generally lush, and a dearth of water has been and continues to be one of Afghanistan's most pressing problems (see Agriculture, ch 3). Afghans have adapted ingeniously to the land, only 22 percent of which is arable. For example, through the millennia they have developed elaborate underground irrigation systems in many areas. This technology has had the added benefit of being relatively inaccessible to hostile invaders until the recent invasion; intensive bombing reportedly has damaged many of the underground irrigation systems in some regions. On the map, the country resembles an irregularly shaped leaf hanging from the Wakhan Corridor at its stem. It encompasses approximately 637,397 square kilometers and is completely landlocked, surrounded by the Soviet Union, Iran, and Pakistan (see fig. 1). China also shares a bit of border with Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. The nearest seaport is Karachi, Pakistan, almost 1,170 kilometers away. The country's extreme length from west to east is about 1,240 kilometers, including Wakhan. Its greatest width from north to south is approximately 565 kilometers. Mountains traverse the center of the country, running generally in a northeast-southwest direction. Of the total land area, over 49 percent lies above 2,000 meters. Geographers disagree on the division of these mountains into systems. They are in accord, however, that the Hindu Kush, the most important of the mountain systems, is probably an extension of the Himalayas. Louis Dupree, an American anthropologist whose experience in Afghanistan spans decades, describes Hindu Kush as "young rugged ranges . . . with sharp peaks, deep valleys, and many almost impenetrable barriers." The point of origin of the Hindu Kush is a matter of some dispute. Scholar Mohammad Ali and geographers Ramamoorthy Gopalakrishnan and W.B. Fisher describe the point of origin of the Hindu Kush as the Pamir Knot, which implies that the Hindu Kush runs from east to west. Conversely, in 1959 geographer Johannes Humlum fixed the point of origin in Iran. The origin of the unusual term Hindu Kush (which translates as "Hindu Killer") is also a point of contention. Dupree discusses three possibilities: that the mountains are a memorial to the Indian slaves who perished in the mountains while being transported to Central Asian slave markets; that the name is merely a corruption of Hindu Koh, the pre-Islamic name of the mountains that at the time divided Hindu southern Afghanistan from non-Hindu northern Afghanistan; and finally, that the name is a posited Avestan appellation meaning "water mountains." The highest peaks are over 7,000 meters above sea level and are found in the eastern part of the country. In comparison, Mount Everest, which has the highest elevation in the world, stands 8,853.5 meters above sea level. The mountains of the Hindu Kush diminish in height as they stretch westward. Toward the middle of the range, near Kabul, they extend from 4,500 to 6,000 meters above sea level. In the western portion of the range they attain heights of 3,500 to 4,500 meters and at the extreme western border are lower still. The average altitude of the Hindu Kush is 4,500 meters (see fig. 4). The Hindu Kush runs about 966 kilometers laterally, and its median north-south measurement is about 240 kilometers. Other mountain ranges, usually considered to be offshoots of the Hindu Kush system, from part of the central highland's westward thrust but spread out from the central core. These mountain ranges include the Koh-i-Baba, Salang, Paghman, Safed Koh, Salt, Suleiman, Khwaja Amran, Siah Koh, Doshak, and Paropamisus (also referred to as Safid Kuh). Also included are the Hindu Kush range proper; only a portion of the Hindu Kush system is included in the Hindu range, while the rest of the mountain system is classified as part of these other ranges. Afghanistan's mountains are transected by a number of passes that have been, and continue to be, of great strategic importance. These include the Kowtal-e Shebar, where the Hindu Kush range proper merges with the Koh-i-Baba northwest of Kabul; eight to 10 passes in the eastern part of the Hindu Kush, such as the Killik (4,755 meters) and Wakhjir (4,923 meters); and the Baroghil (3,798 meters) and Kachin (5,639 meters) passes that join Chitral, Pakistan, to the Wakhan Corridor. Other passes leading from Afghanistan to Chitral are the Dorah (4,511 meters), Sad Eshtragh (5,319 meters), Agram An (5,069 meters), and Afsik (3,749 meters). Several important passes are located farther west-the Molla Khak (3,548 meters), Bazarak, the important Bamian pass (2,713 meters), and Hajji Gak. The passes of the Paropamisus in the west are relatively low-in general about 610 meters above sea level. Among the most famous passes in Western historical perceptions of Afghanistan are those leading to the Indian subcontinent. They include the Khyber Pass (1,027 meters) and Lateh Band Pass (also found at a relatively low elevation) leading to Kabul. The difficulties faced by any invader, as well as by Afghan refugees seeking asylum in Pakistan, become evident when the heights of the mountain passes are compared with the highest elevation in the continental United States, Mount Whitney, which at 4,420.7 meters is much lower than some important Afghan passes and not much higher than most. In addition to its mountains, the country also possesses many rivers, river basins, lakes, and desert areas. Rivers take on a very special significance in an arid, landlocked country. The major rivers are the Amu Darya (or Oxus; length at least 800 kilometers). Helmand (length 1,000 kilometers), Harirud (850 kilometers), and Kabul (length 460 kilometers). In addition, four important rivers flow northward: the Balkh, Morghab, Koshk, and Qonduz. The last two rivers flow into the Amu Darya. Many additional rivers and streams flow only seasonally, drying to a trickle or becoming totally dry during part of the year. Most rivers simply empty into arid portions of the country, spending themselves through evaporation without emptying into another watercourse. The most important river basins in the view of Gopalakrishnan are the Amu Darya, Kabul, Helmand, and Harirud. Using geographical features, geographers divide Afghanistan into several regions. As with other facets of the geography, scholars disagree over the definition of regions and what and how many regions there are. Dupree's paradigm is most relevant because he bases his divisions on human geography and ecology. Using Humlum's 1959 work as a basis, he divides the country into 11 geographic zones; the Wakhan Corridor-Pamir Knot, Badakhshan, Central Mountains, Eastern Mountains, Northern Mountains and Foothills, Southern Mountains and Foothills, Turkestan Plains, Herat-Farah Lowlands, Sistan Basin-Helmand Valley, Western Stony Deserts, and South-western Sandy Deserts. The first six zones are connected to the Hindu Kush system. The rest of the zones comprise deserts and plains "which surround the mountains in the north, west, and southwest." Geologically, the country is notable for the richness of its mineral and oil resources and for its numerous earthquakes. American geographer John F.Shroder, Jr., stresses the munificence of Afghanistan's mineral wealth and suggests that Russia has coveted the natural riches since tsarist times. The outstanding mineral resources include copper, iron, lead, zinc, mercury, tin, chromium, lithium, tungsten, niobium, gold, and uranium (among others), as well as a variety of precious stones. Afghanistan also boasts deposits of combustible hydrocarbons, including coal, lignite, peat, and oil (see Mining, ch. 3). [See Figure 4.: Topography] About 50 earthquakes are reported each year. As of mid-1985 the most recent was reported to have occurred on July 29, 1985, at 12:25 P.M. local time, lasting four minutes and 45 seconds. Its strength on the Richter scale was reported at 5.6 (possibly at the point that it was measured rather than at the epicenter) by the Afghan Seismological Institute of the Natural Science Center of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Academy of Sciences. French scientists recorded a measurement of 7.3 on the Richter scale at the epicenter, which was located in the Hindu Kush range. Such a strong earthquake is not unusual for Afghanistan, although most are relatively mild. The earthquake activity is a result of the considerable differential earth movements occurring in the region. As might be expected, there are fault lines and overthrust zones. The general climate of the country is typical of arid or semiarid steppe, with cold winters and dry summers. A subarctic climate with dry and cold winters dominates the mountain regions of the northeast. In the mountains bordering Pakistan a divergent fringe effect of the Indian monsoon, coming usually from the southeast, brings maritime tropical air masses that determine the climate in that area between July and September. At times these air masses advance into central and southern Afghanistan, bringing increased humidity and some rain. On the intermontane plateaus the winds do not blow very strongly, but in the Sistan depression there are severe blizzards during the winter. In the western and southern regions a northerly wind blows with much force and persistence during the summer months. Known as the "wind of 120 days," it is usually accompanied by intense heat, drought, and sandstorms and brings much hardship to the inhabitants of the desert and steppe lands. Dust whirlwinds frequently occur during the summer months on the flats in the southern part of the country. Rising at midday or in the early afternoon, they advance at velocities ranging between 97 and 177 kilometers per hour, raising high clouds of dust. Temperature and precipitation are controlled by the exchange of air masses. The highest temperatures (over 35C) and the lowest precipitation (less than 15 centimeters annually) prevail in the drought-ridden, poorly watered southern plateau region, which extends over the boundaries with Iran and Pakistan. The Central Highlands, with its higher peaks ascending toward the Pamir Knot, represents another distinct climatic region. From the Koh-i-Baba Range to the Pamir Knot, January temperatures may drop to -15C or lower in the highest mountain area, whereas July temperatures vary between 0 degree and 26C, depending on the altitude. In the mountains the annual mean precipitation, much of which is snowfall, increases eastward and is highest in the Koh-i-Baba Range, the western part of the Pamir Knot, and the Eastern Hindu Kush. Precipitation in these regions and the eastern monsoon area is about 40 centimeters a year. The eastern monsoon area encompasses patches in the eastern border area with Pakistan and irregular areas from north of Asmar to just north of Darkhe Yahya and occasionally as far east as the Kabul Valley. The Wakhan Corridor, however, which has temperatures ranging between 9C in the summer to below -21C in the winter, receives less than 10 centimeters of rainfall annually. Permanent snow covers the highest mountain peaks. In the mountainous region adjacent to northernmost Pakistan, the snow is often more than two meters deep during the winter months. Valleys become snow traps as the high winds sweep much of the snow from mountain peaks and ridges. Precipitation generally fluctuates greatly during the course of the year in all parts of the country. Surprise rainstorms often transform the episodically flowing rivers and streams from puddles to torrents, and an unwary invading army has been trapped in such flooding more than once in Afghanistan's history. Nomadic and seminomadic Afghans have also succumbed to the sudden flooding of their camps. The climate of the northern plains represents a transition between mountain and steppe climates. Aridity increases and temperatures rise with descending altitudes, becoming the highest along the lower Amu Darya and in the western parts of the plains (see table 2; table 3, Appendix). The natural environment is, in fact, so forbidding that at first glance it seems an unlikely site for invasion by so many hostile armies. The reason lies in the country's location at the crossroads of Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. In more recent times Afghanistan has been recognized as a land of unexploited mineral and hydrocarbon wealth as well as a geographical buffer between various political systems, rendering its desirability even greater. Population [See Badminton Anyone?: Courtesy Embassy of Afghanistan, Washington DC] [See Karate: Courtesy Embassy of Afghanistan, Washington DC] By the mid-1980s millions of refugees had fled their rural homes to reside in cities or had left Afghanistan entirely for Pakistan, Iran, and other countries. In late 1985 two world situations produced large numbers of refugees-famine in Sub-Saharan Africa and insurgencies in Latin America. Nevertheless, it was the conflict in Afghanistan that produced the largest refugee population in the world. Estimates of the number of refugees in Pakistan, the home of most exiled Afghans, varied widely, and no reliable figure existed in 1985. Many experts accepted the figure of 2.5 to 3 million refugees in Pakistan and up to 1.9 million Afghans in Iran. Possibly 150,000 Afghans had emigrated to other countries, including the United States. The lack of accurate censuses of the refugee population, however, makes these figures extremely problematic (see Refugees, this ch.). Before the Soviet intervention, there had been only one official census, which was carried out in 1979. Some scholars have raised questions about the validity of this census because it was conducted in three weeks, from June 15 to July 4, and only 55 to 60 percent of the settled population was counted because of armed conflict in the remainder of the country. The census reported a settled population of 13 million and estimated an additional 2.5 million nomads, for a total population of 15.5 million. The Afghan Statistical Yearbook published in 1983 provides a total population figure of 15.96 million for the 1981-82 year, based on projections from the 1979 census figures. This figure presumably includes those citizens who have left the country. The authors estimate that 13.8 million, or 84 percent of the population, were settled, and 2.16 million, or 16 percent of the population, were nomadic in 1981-82. They estimated that only 15.8 percent of the population lived in urban areas and that about 48 percent of that urban population lived in Kabul. The population projections were calculated using a growth rate of 2.6 percent for the total population. The growth rate for the urban population was estimated to be 4.7 percent and the growth rate for the rural population 2.3 percent, reflecting migration to urban centers. The estimated sex ratio (number of males per 100 females in the population) was about 106 males in the total population, 109 in the urban population, and 105 in the rural population. An earlier unofficial census was carried out in 1972-74, for which the interviewing occurred during 1972-73, in cooperation with the Afghan government. The census was sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (AID) and was conducted jointly through the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and The Johns Hopkins University. Although this survey is generally well respected, it did not cover the entire country but relied on careful sampling techniques. The reported 1972-73 figures were 10,020,600 settled people; the nomadic population was not surveyed. The sex ratio was 116 males per 100 females. The overall sex ratio in most countries of the world gives females a slight advantage over males. The high ratio of males to females in Afghanistan is startling, even given the expected underreporting of females in a conservative Islamic society. Graham B. Kerr, SUNY Buffalo demographer, accounts for the skewed gender distribution in two ways: a higher than usual underreporting of females and a high rate of maternal mortality. An interesting datum of this survey was the reported trend of increasing migration to cities from the countryside, which antedates the advent of a Marxist-Leninist government in 1978. The AID survey found the crude birth rate (number of births per 1,000 people) to be 20.8 and the infant mortality rate (number of deaths per 1,000 infants) to be 184.0. The mortality figures are extraordinarily high, and it is not surprising that the survey's authors calculated the average life expectancy at birth to be an astonishingly low 34.6 in 1973-74. Finally, the research team calculated the annual growth rate at 2.2 percent. Experts in 1985 provided various estimates of the country's population; all of these estimates were, of course, based on the earlier censuses. The Population Reference Bureau, a respected nonprofit agency in Washington, D.C., estimated the population at 14.7 million people, including refugees, whereas the United States Bureau of the Census used the same figure of 14.7 million but excluded refugees. The Population Reference Bureau's figure is significantly lower than the Afghan government's 1983 estimate of 15.5 million (see table 4, Appendix). In 1985 the United States Bureau of the Census and the Population Reference Bureau provided other current demographic figures for Afghanistan. Both groups, however, cautioned that the figures were based on data so unreliable as to constitute little more than educated guesses. The life expectancy at birth cited by the Population Reference Bureau was among the lowest in the world, and the infant mortality rate was the highest in the world, These figures reflected not only the political situation but also the lack of adequate health care facilities in most of the country. Figures for population movement within the country were also unreliable. Kabul seems to have received the largest number of refugees from the countryside, but other major cities, such as Jalalabad, also absorbed many refugees. In the 1979 census report the population of Kabul was listed at 913,164 people. By mid-1985 unconfirmed reports placed the population of Kabul at over 2 million. The sudden influx of rural dwellers who sought to share residences with urban relatives resulted in overcrowding and pressure on city provided services.