Chapter 2 Continues...

Fisheries are found exclusively in inland waters and the total catch in 2000 was estimated to be 1,000 tonnes.
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries of the world, because of years of political instability and war that has ruined the economy. There was 40% of unemployment, as per the research conducted in 2005.13 Agriculture is the main source of income with opium, wheat, fruits, nuts, wool, mutton, sheepskins, lambskins; they have surplus to serve their own population and export as well. Afghanistan has 15 million strong labour forces, of which 80% are into agricultural industry. The rest 20 percent are in industry and services.14 The major industrial crops are cotton, tobacco, madder, castor beans and sugar beets. Afghanistan is also rich in natural resources with natural gas, petroleum, copper, coal, chromite, barites, lead, zinc, iron ore, sulfur, salt, precious and semiprecious stones. Other income sources are the small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, cement; hand-woven carpets; natural gas, coal and copper. The major trading partners are Pakistan, India, and U.S. and Germany.15 Major industries in Afghanistan include natural gas, fertilizers, cement, coal-mining, small vehicle assembly plants, carpet weaving, cotton textiles, clothing and footwear, leather tanning, sugar manufacturing and fruit canning.16 Principal import and export items are as follows: exported products include, non-edible crude materials (excluding fuels), manufactured goods (raw material intensive), machinery and transport equipment, fruits, nuts, hand-woven carpets, wool, hides, precious and semi-precious gems. The major imports include foodstuffs and live animals, beverages and tobacco, mineral fuels, manufactured goods, chemicals and related products, machinery and transport equipment.
Afghanistan is a cultural mosaic. The principal ethnic groups of Afghanistan are Pashtun, Uzbek, Tajik, Hazara, Kyrgyz, Baloch, Brahui, Turkmen, Nuristani, Kohistani, Pashai and Gujar. Few of its ethnic groups are of indigenous origin. Most of these ethnic groups are transnational (see Map on the “Trans-border ethnic linkages”). All Pashtuns, for example, are not Afghan citizens, almost an equal number live in the Tribal Agencies and the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Tajik, Uzbek, Turkoman and the Kyrgyz have their own presence in the north, beyond the borders of Afghanistan.

To be continued...