Large groups of Sunni Arab living in the vicinity of Bokhara
in Central Asia fled to northeastern Afghanistan following Russian
conquests in the nineteenth century. By the 1880s they were, with
the Uzbek with whom they established close ties, the second most
populous ethnic group in present day Kunduz, Takhar and Baghlan
provinces. Smaller groups settled in scattered communities as
far west as Maimana, Faryab Province.
The Arab are pastoralists who raise sheep and grow cotton and
wheat. Some among the eastern groups make summer migrations of
up to 300 kilometers to reach the lush high pastures in Badakhshan.
Government development schemes, especially those which brought
large numbers of Pushtun to the area in the 1940s, relegated the
Arab to a small proportion of the population and the Arab ceased
to hold a monopoly on long distance migration. Bilingual in Dari
and Uzbeki, but speaking no Arabic, they continue to identify
themselves as Arab although they have had no contact with the
Arabs of the Middle East since the late fourteenth century.
Country
name Afghanistan conventional long form Islamic State of
Afghanistan conventional short form Afghanistan local long
form Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan local short form Afghanestan former Republic of Afghanistan
Area
- total: 647,500 sq km land: 647,500 sq km water: 0 sq km
Terrain
- mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest
Climate
- arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers
Geography
- landlocked; the Hindu Kush mountains that run northeast to southwest divide
the northern provinces from the rest of the country; the highest peaks are in
the northern Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor)
Waterways
- 1,200 km note: chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels up to 500 DWT (2001)
Natural hazards - damaging earthquakes
occur in Hindu Kush mountains; flooding; droughts
Information
Courtesy: The Library of Congress - Country Studies
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