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An Introduction to Afghanistan

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Title: An Introduction to Afghanistan


1
An Introduction to Afghanistan
  • Compiled by
  • Kelly Kara
  • ONeil Bredemeyer
  • ED 608-01

2
Social Studies Introductory UnitonAfghanistan
  • for
  • 6th, 7th and 8th grades
  • Although these are the grades in which
    international subject matter is traditionally
    taught, recent events have made this particular
    topic matter pertinent for all students.
    Teachers of lower grades should consider
    presenting a modified version of this material to
    their students.

3
Objective
  • After viewing a Powerpoint presentation and doing
  • the suggested related activities, students will
  • be able to locate Afghanistan on a map.
  • know at least two pertinent facts about each of
    the following Afghanistans history, people,
    language, economy, geography, and government.
  • be able to define the highlighted terms in the
    presentation with 80 accuracy.

4
Materials
  • A dictionary for each table.
  • An encyclopedia for each table.
  • A map of the world.
  • Computer access.
  • Copies of the daily paper for each class.

5
www. Sites to Visit
  • For Afghan Culture
  • www.afghan-network.net/Culture/
  • For links to other sites
  • www.aboutafghanistan.com/
  • For facts and figures
  • www.countrywatch.com/
  • www.cia.gov/
  • For up-to-date news articles
  • http//news.bbc.co.uk
  • For geographical information
  • www.geographic.org

6
Activities
  • After viewing the slide presentation, the
    students will copy an outline map of Afghanistan
    and transpose it onto an outline map of Texas
    (drawn to same scale) for comparison.
  • Students will use a world map to establish the
    geographic coordinates of Afghanistan and will
    establish what regions of the USA are at the same
    latitude. They should draw appropriate
    comparisons to weather and agriculture between
    the sites.

7
Activities
  • Students will ascertain which State(s) in the US
    has a population similar to Afghanistans.
  • Students will ascertain the life expectancy of
    various American ethnic groups, and will compare
    them with those of Afghanistan. They will then
    research and ultimately draw conclusions as to
    what factors might lead to the low life
    expectancy of Afghans.

8
Activities
  • Students (boys and girls) will take turns draping
    donated bed sheets over their heads (with an area
    cut-out for vision, like a Burqa) and walking
    around the classroom.
  • They will then write a journal entry describing
    the experience. They should discuss whether
    anything was more difficult? Could they find any
    benefits to wearing one? What could be the
    negatives of having to wear a Burqa every day?

9
Note to Teachers
  • Terms which we recommend for use in unit
  • vocabulary lists or for use as further research
  • topics have been highlighted throughout the
  • presentation.

10
The Flag of Afghanistan
  • On the coat of arms are 2 Muslim inscriptions
    written in Arabic
  • God is Great There is no God but Allah,
    and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah.

11
What Kind of GovernmentDoes Afghanistan Have?
12
The Government
  • Afghanistan does not have a functioning central
    government. It is ruled by factions.
  • 90 of the country is ruled by the Taliban. The
    United Nations, however, does not recognize the
    Taliban as the official government of
    Afghanistan.
  • The capital city is Kabul.
  • There are presently 30 Afghan provinces.
  • The Constitution of 1964 is no longer in use.

13
What Religions do the Citizens of Afghanistan
Practice?
14
Religion
  • Photo Blue Mosque
  • Ninety-nine percent of Afghanistans population
  • is Muslim.

15
What are the People Like?
16
The People
  • The people of Afghanistan are called Afghan(s).
  • Afghanistans population is 27,000,000.
  • The people of Afghanistan have a life expectancy
    of only 45 years.
  • Many ethnic groups make up the Afghan population.
    The largest is the Pashtun (38) followed in
    size by the Tajik (25).

17
The People
18
The Language
  • Because of the presence of different ethnic
    groups in
  • Afghanistan, several different languages are
    spoken.
  • 50 of the people can speak Dari.
  • 35 of the people can speak Pashtu.
  • 11 of the people can speak one of the Turkic
    languages.
  • Additionally there are another 30 minor
    languages spoken.
  • There is a high level of bilingualism among the
    population.

19
Is Afghanistans Geography Like Ours?
20
The Geography
  • Afghanistan is about the size of Texas.
  • Its 647,500 square miles are landlocked.
  • It is located in Southern Asia. It shares
    borders with Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
    and Tajikistan, Iran, and China.

21
The Geography
  • The terrain is mostly rugged mountains, but there
    are plains in the north and southwest portions of
    the country.
  • The climate is arid-semiarid. The winters are
    cold and the summers are hot.

22
The Geography
  • Afghanistan suffers from damaging earthquakes (an
    earthquake killed 5,000 people in Takhar
    Province, in 1998) and from flooding and
    droughts.
  • Photo Takhar Province after 1998 earthquake

23
What Kind of Economy Do the Afghans Have?
24
The Economy
  • Afghanistan is a poor country with few modern
    conveniences.
  • It depends on farming and livestock raising
    (sheep and goats).
  • Due to war and drought during the past 20 years,
    there has been
  • a large loss of labor and capital, and the
    disruption of trade and
  • transport of goods has had serious effects on the
    lives of many
  • Afghans.

25
Exports
  • Afghanistans main export has been the opium
    extracted
  • from the poppy plants grown over much of the
    country. The
  • Taliban has recently put a ban on the cultivation
    of poppies.
  • Because poppy farmers have little else to fall
    back on, many
  • now have to face devastating poverty.

26
Exports
  • Exports which are still legal
  • wheat
  • fruits
  • nuts
  • wool
  • mutton
  • karakul pelts

27
Do the Afghan People Have a History Like Ours?
28
The History
  • 18th Century The creation of Afghanistan.
  • 19th Century The Barakzai Dynasty.
  • 1919 Independence from British control.
  • 1973 A coup overthrows the King.
  • 1979 Invasion by Russian troops.
  • 1996 The Taliban take power.

29
18th and 19th Centuries
  • Todays Afghanistan was created in the early18th
    century by Ahmad Shah Durrani, an Afghan general
    of Persian Emperor Nadir Shah Afshar.
  • In the early 19th century, the British imposed a
    protectorate. During this period the Barakzai
    Dynasty took the place of the Durrani.
  • In 1919, Afghanistan gained independence from
    British control.

30
1933 - 1973
  • King Zahir Shar (pictured left) sat on the Kobul
    throne for forty years.
  • A coup detat led by his cousin in 1973 ended his
    reign.
  • He has been living in Rome, Italy since.

31
1979 - 1988
  • The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with 80,000
    men
  • in December, 1979, in an attempt to impose
    control for its puppet Afghan government.
  • After losing tens-of- thousands of soldiers, the
    defeated Soviets retreated in 1988.
  • 1,000,000 Afghans lost their lives in the fight
    against the Soviet Union.

32
1996 - Present
  • The Islamic fundamentalist movement known as the
    Taliban began to take political and physical
    control of the country in 1994. With its
    takeover of Kobul in 1996, the Taliban became the
    self-proclaimed government of Afghanistan,
    although it is not recognized as such by the
    United Nations.

33
What is Afghanistan Like Today?
34
Afghanistan Today
  • After more than twenty years of civil war,
  • Afghanistans economy and infrastructure lie in
    ruin.

35
Afghanistan Today
  • The civil war which Afghanistan has been fighting
  • continues as the Taliban supporters face the
    forces of
  • the Northern Alliance.

36
Afghanistan Today
  • During the many years of
  • fighting, millions of land mines
  • were buried in Afghanistans
  • countryside. Many of the
  • unexploded mines are now
  • injuring adults and children
  • when they accidentally trip the
  • wires. International agencies
  • are trying to help the Afghans
  • de-mine the land.

37
Afghanistan Today
  • The Taliban has been ridding
  • the country of all non-Islamic
  • relics. Two sandstone
  • statues of Buddha had stood
  • carved in the side of a cliff in
  • Bamiyan since around the
  • Third Century. They were
  • built to 175 and 120 in
  • height.

38
Afghanistan Today
  • But on March 3, 2001, the
  • Taliban used rockets and
  • mortars to destroy the statues
  • in a campaign to rid the
  • country of un-Islamic and
  • idolatrous representations of
  • the human form.

39
Afghanistan Today
  • Women no longer have as
  • many rights as they once
  • did. The Taliban does not
  • allow women or girls to
  • study, work in most jobs, or
  • vote. Women have to be
  • completely covered when
  • walking in public and should
  • be accompanied by a male
  • from their family.

40
The End
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