 Afghanistan is an extremely poor, landlocked country, which has regularly confronted natural disasters as well as those arising as a consequence of prolonged war and conflict.
An ethnically, socially and politically complex country, Afghanistan’s geo-strategic position at the heart of Asia has contributed both to its rich cultural and historical heritage and an acute vulnerability to the geopolitical interventions of its neighbours throughout its history. As a result of political and military upheavals over the last two decades of war, humanitarian factors have played an overriding role in the assistance to Afghanistan. Disasters, therefore, have been primarily viewed from the perspective of humanitarian relief and response rather than from the point of view of longer-term capacity building for risk and vulnerability reduction.
Area: 652,200 sq km
Land Use: Arable land: 12 % , permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 46%, forest and woodlands:3%
Papulation 25.99 Million (1999) , density 33.6 hab/km2, urban population:21.5%
|