WOMEN IN ISLAM

The vast majority of Afghanistan's population professes to be followers of Islam. Over 1400 years ago, Islam demanded that men and women be equal before God, and gave them various rights such the right to inheritance, the right to vote, the right to work, and even choose their own partners in marriage. For centuries now in Afghanistan, women have been denied these rights either by official government decree or by their own husbands, fathers, and brothers. During the rule of the Taliban (1996 - 2001), women were treated worse than in any other time or by any other society. They were forbidden to work, leave the house without a male escort, not allowed to seek medical help from a male doctor, and forced to cover themselves from head to toe, even covering their eyes. Women who were doctors and teachers before, suddenly were forced to be beggars and even prostitutes in order to feed their families.
Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, many would agree that the political and cultural position of Afghan women has improved substantially. The recently adopted Afghan constitution states that "the citizens of Afghanistan - whether man or woman- have equal rights and duties before the law". So far, women have been allowed to return back to work, the government no longer forces them to wear the all covering burqa, and they even have been appointed to prominent positions in the government. Despite all these changes many challenges still remain. The repression of women is still prevalent in rural areas where many families still restrict their own mothers, daughters, wives and sisters from participation in public life. They are still forced into marriages and denied a basic education. Numerous school for girls have been burned down and little girls have even been poisoned to death for daring to go to school.

(See: WOMEN IN ISLAM, GENDER EQUALITY, WOMEN RIGHTS GROUPS)

PEOPLE

Demographics of Afghanistan
The population of Afghanistan is divided into a wide variety of ethnic groups. Because a systematic census has not been held in the country in decades, exact figures about the size and composition of the various ethnic groups are not available. Therefore most figures are approximations only. According to the CIA World Factbook, an approximate ethnic group distribution is as follows:

Ethnic groups of Afghanistan ██ 42% Pashtun ██ 27% Tajik and Qezelbash ██ 9% Hazara ██ 9% Uzbek 4% Aimak ██ 3% Turkmen ██ 2% Baloch 5% other (Pashai, Nuristani, Brahui, etc.)
The Encyclopædia Britannica gives a slightly different list for various ethnolinguistic groups in Afghanistan:
49% Pashtun
18% Tajik
9% Hazara
8% Uzbek
4% Aimak
3% Turkmen
9% other
Based on official census numbers from the 1960s to the 1980s, as well as information found in main - mostly scholarly - sources, the Encyclopædia Iranica gives the following list:
36.4% Pashtun
33.6% Tajik, Farsiwan, and Qezelbash
8.0% Hazara
8.0% Uzbek
3.2% Aimak
1.6% Baloch
9.2% other Languages

see also: Languages of Afghanistan under; Culture

Languages of Afghanistan
The CIA factbook on languages spoken in Afghanistan is as follows: Pashto 35% (in gray) and Persian (Dari) 50% (in pink), both Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family. Others include Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 9% (in green), as well as 30 minor languages 4% (primarily Balochi (in orange) and Pashai (in blue) and Nuristasni (in purple). Bilingualism is common.
According to the Encyclopædia Iranica[18], the Persian language is the mother tongue of roughly 1/3 of Afghanistan's population, while - at the same time - it is the most widely used language of the country, spoken by ca. 90% of the population. It further states that Pashto is spoken by ca. 50% of the population.


Religions
Religiously, Afghans are over 99% Muslim: approximately 74-89% Sunni and 9-25% Shi'a (estimates vary). Other religions in Afghanistan include Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, and Hinduism. Afghanistan was once home to an ancient Jewish community, numbering approximately 5,000 in 1948. (See Bukharan Jews.) Most Jewish families fled the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, and only one individual, Zablon Simintov, remains today. With the fall of the Taliban, a number of Sikhs have returned to the Ghazni, Nangarhar, Kandahar and Kabul provinces of Afghanistan.
Largest cities
The only city in Afghanistan with over one million residents is its capital, Kabul. The other major cities in the country are, in order of population size, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, Jalalabad, and Kunduz.
See also: List of cities in Afghanistan and Places in Afghanistan

EDUCATION

Education in Afghanistan
In the spring of 2003, it was estimated that 30% of Afghanistan's 7,000 schools had been very seriously damaged during more than two decades of civil war. Only half of the schools were reported to have clean water, while fewer than an estimated 40% had adequate sanitation. Education for boys was not a priority during the Taliban regime, and girls were banished from schools outright.
As regards the poverty and violence of their surroundings, a study in 2002 by the Save the Children Fund said Afghan children were resilient and courageous. The study credited the strong institutions of family and community.
Up to four million Afghan children, possibly the largest number ever, are believed to have enrolled for class for the school year beginning in March of 2003. Education is available for both girls and boys.
Literacy of the entire population is estimated at 36%, the male literacy rate is 51% and female literacy is 21%.
Another aspect of education that is rapidly changing in Afghanistan is the face of higher education. Following the fall of the Taliban, Kabul University was reopened to both male and female students. In 2006, the American University of Afghanistan will open its doors, with support from USAID and other donors. With the aim of providing a world-class, English-language, co-educational learning environment in Afghanistan, the university will take students from Afghanistan and the region.

COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Afghanistan has rapidly increased in communication technology, and has embarked on wireless companies, television channels, and commercial international airlines. Afghan telecommunication companies, Afghan Wireless and Roshan, have boasted increase in rapid cellular phone usage. Afghanistan's commercial airlines, Ariana Afghan Airlines, now serves flights to London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome, Dubai and Istanbul to and from Kabul and Herat. Afghanistan's television channels include: Ariana TV Tolo TV Ariana Afghanistan TV Afghan Sports Network Zeba Fashion Television Afghanistan has also improved in vehicle conditions with Toyota, Land Rover, BMW and Hyundai dealerships all over Kabul, and a huge import of fine second-hand vehicles from Dubai on display in Kandahar. Afghanistan, however, still is a long way from major modern technological advancements, but is on the fast road to that goal.