Overview

Modern-day Afghanistan, torn by both civil and foreign wars, repeats the cycle of oppression, invasion, and turmoil that has plagued it for centuries. As the twenty-first century was about to begin, Afghan people struggled in their own land and flooded the globe in increasing numbers to escape dangers from within their borders and from without.

The Middle Eastern nation is large, about the size of the state of Texas, and is populated by about 15 million people. The vast majority, 85 percent, live in nomadic or rural settings. The country's literacy rate is about ten percent. Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries, made worse by almost constant warfare in the late twentieth century. It has been estimated that one out of every four Afghans lives as a refugee.

The people who inhabit Afghanistan are diverse. Although about 60 percent of the people are descendants of the...