Recent surge in Violence

In the past few weeks there has been a sudden surge of violence in Afghanistan. The death toll from the recent attacks in Afghanistan has reached over 100. On Monday, the 21st, 32 Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a government office in Kunduz. The civilians were waiting in line outside the office to recieve new paperwork and/or identity cards, said Mohammad Ayob Haqyar head of the Kuduz district. In July withdrawl of selected NATO and US troops is scheduled to begin. Speculators have indicated the possible surge in the attacks is due to the projected withdrawl. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. In the last few weeks over three large scale attacks have occured. The Saturday before this most recent bombing a suicide bomber detonated his bomb in the lobby of a bank where many police officers were chasing their paychecks. The attacks seem to target civilians and governement officials. Because of the upcoming withdrawl and the prosepct that in just under three years Afghanistan's newly created army and police force will have complete control of the country, the attacks seem to be increasing.

I think that this recent surge in violence is extremely interesting due to the recent revolutions in so many of the Middle Eastern countries. Because Afghanistan currently has 140,000 international troops stationed in it revolts similar to the ones in Libya and Egypt are highly unlikely. The coinsidence is however interesting. Hopefully the Taliban is not aiming to reinsert control over the struggling nation.

Afghanistan has a long and complex history of political and civil unrest. Because Afghanistan, often known as the crossroads of central Asia, was such a diverse region it continued to endure fighting and bloodshed off and on throughout the centuries. Today Afghanistan is an Islamic nation. Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in the country at 47%. Tajiks make up the second largest ethnic group at 27%. Hazaras make up a smaller ethnic group at 9% along with Uzbeks. The most common languages in Afghanistan are Dari and Pashto, however over 70 other dialects exist in the various regions outside of the cities. Obviously Afghanistan's wide diversity is cause for many of the problems the country faces today. The mains religions of the country are Sunni Muslim 80% and Shi'a Muslim.19% The life expectancy in this war devestated region is only 44 years for both men and women. The life expectancy in the U.S. is almost double that. The literacy rate is low as well with approximately 43% of males literate and only 12% literacy rates for females. Islam in Afghanistan is embedded into every aspect of culture as are the the age old traditions and cultural practices of the country. It was not until 2004 that the first democratic election took place in Afghanistan. Voter turnout totaled over 8 million. Hamid Karzai, the currect Afghan president, was elected for a five year term.

On October 9, 2004, Afghanistan held its first national democratic presidential election. More than 8 million Afghans voted, 41% of whom were women. Hamid Karzai was announced as the official winner on November 3 and inaugurated on December 7 for a 5-year term as Afghanistan's first democratically elected president.

About 85% of the citizens in Afghanistan depend on farming and agriculture to survive. Because of the desperate need these people face daily drugs has become an important cash crop, specifically poppies that contain the chemcial used to manufacture heroin.

This map shows the country and its major cities. Kabul is the capitol but Kandahar, Jalalabad and Herat are all large cities as well. Afghanistn contains 37 districts or proviences and is only the size of Texas. It lays west of Paksitan and borders Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Recently a report was released on Aljazeera exploring the lives of Afghan children. In 2009 UNICEF released reports naming Afghanistan as the worst country in the world to be born. Because of the perpetual violence plaquing this country and the incident of widespread disease many children do not live past the age of five. Afghanistan, unforntunately, is home to the world's highest infant mortality rate: 1 in 5 kids do not live to see five years old.  Because of the Taliban influence in the country and their strong belief that women should not be educated, attacks have been carried out on schools. Many children have been victims of violence such as IEDs. The rate of children killed in attacks in Afghanistan has risen since last year. In addition to death due to violence many children perish young due to complication from common illnesses like pneumonia. UNICEF and other organizations are calling for a child protection law to be inforced in the country.Currently 40% of Afghanistan's people live below the poverty line and over five million children do not attend school, the majority of them girls.