“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.” - Frederick Douglass
Afghanistan is a country familiar with struggle. After 30 years of war in one form or another, it's amazing that there is anything left of the country at all. What direction the country will go remains to be seen, especially if all foreign troops are withdrawn by 2014. Who will remain in power? Will the Taliban overthrow the current government? What will happen to women's rights? Will the country still be enslaved to opium? While these are questions of which answers have not yet come to pass, one thing has risen from the ashes of the conflict in Afghanistan; the church. Despite a constitution that does not allow evangelism and the very real threat of Taliban retribution, Christianity is spreading. The church has not died in the past thirty years of struggle, it has found a foot hold. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, and with every drop that has been spilled, God is bring about his change in this country. This month let us pray that from the struggle and adversity of persecution, God will bring about lasting change in this country and that His people will remain faithful admist the storms of life.
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Afghanistan
Basic Info: Afghanistan is part of southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran. The country is slightly smaller than Texas, and is cold in the winter and hot in the summers. There are limited natural freshwater resources, and inadequate supplies of potable water. Some concerns for the country are soil degradation, overgrazing, deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials), desertification, as well as air and water pollution. Of the 30,419,928 (July 2012 est.) population, only about 23% of the population is urban and only about 28% are literate. The average life expectancy is 49 years. Afghanistan is home to many ethnic groups: Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%. Afghanistan is also the world's largest producer of opium, with the Taliban and other antigovernment groups participating in and profiting from the opiate trade. Drug money is an essential form of revenue for the Taliban operating inside of Afghanistan. Widespread corruption and instability impede counter drug efforts. Most of the heroin consumed in Europe and Eurasia is derived from Afghan opium.
Government: The country of Afghanistan was founded in 1747 when Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtun tribes. The country was a buffer between the British and Russian Empires until it won independence from British control in 1919. A brief experiment in democracy ended in a 1973 coup and a 1978 Communist counter-coup. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 to support the tottering Afghan Communist regime, touching off a long and destructive war. The USSR withdrew in 1989 under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-Communist mujahedin rebels. A series of subsequent civil wars saw Kabul finally fall in 1996 to the Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 to end the country's civil war and anarchy. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a US, Allied, and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Osama Bin Ladin. The UN-sponsored Bonn Conference in 2001 established a process for political reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution, a presidential election in 2004, and National Assembly elections in 2005. In December 2004, Hamid KazaiI became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan and the National Assembly was inaugurated the following December. Karzai was re-elected in August 2009 for a second term. Despite gains toward building a stable central government, a resurgent Taliban and continuing provincial instability - particularly in the south and the east - remain serious challenges for the Afghan Government. The country is officially an Islamic Republic and it has a mixed legal system of civil, customary, and Islamic law.
Economy: After decades of conflict, Afghanistan's economy is still recovering. The economy has improved significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 largely because of the infusion of international assistance, the recovery of the agricultural sector, and service sector growth. Despite the progress of the past few years, Afghanistan is extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, and jobs. About 38% of the population is below the poverty line. Criminality, insecurity, weak governance, lack of infrastructure, and the Afghan Government's difficulty in extending rule of law to all parts of the country pose challenges to future economic growth. Afghanistan's living standards are among the lowest in the world. The international community remains committed to Afghanistan's development, pledging over $67 billion at nine donors' conferences between 2003-10. In July 2012, the donors at the Tokyo conference pledged an additional $16 billion in civilian aid through 2016. Despite this help, the Government of Afghanistan will need to overcome a number of challenges, including low revenue collection, job creation, high levels of corruption, weak government capacity, and poor public infrastructure. There are limited fixed-line telephone services, but there is an increasing number of Afghans who utilize mobile-cellular phone networks. The state-owned broadcaster, Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), operates a series of radio and television stations in Kabul and the provinces. There are an estimated 150 private radio stations, 50 TV stations, and about a dozen international broadcasters are available (2007). The Internet access is growing through Internet cafes as well as public "telekiosks" in Kabul (2005).
Religion: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%
When the Taliban took over the country in 1996, they imposed a deviant expression of strict Wahhabist Islam, particularly devastating for Afghanistan’s women. In 2004, when Afghanistan instated a new constitution it declared, “The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam.” Followers of other religions may exercise their faith and perform religious rites “within the limits of the provisions of law.” However, the constitution also says, “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.” Despite gains toward building a stable central government, a resurgent Taliban and continuing provincial instability remain serious challenges for the Afghan government. Muslims make up the vast majority of Afghanistan’s population at 99.85 percent. Christians account for 0.05 percent. While there is limited freedom to practice other religions, there is no freedom to propagate another faith or to convert from Islam. Authorities often ignore the persecution that occurs. Citizens are free to practice their own religion, but individuals and organizations suspected of evangelizing Muslims have been threatened or attacked by militants. Because of these limitations, the Church in Afghanistan remains almost entirely underground, but despite these restrictions Christianity is growing. Just last year Mohabat News reported, "Informed Afghan authorities acknowledge that Christianity has obtained a special place not only among youth, but also among various layers in society. (In addition), house churches are growing tremendously." Further, an independent Shi'ite website in Iran reportedly quoted a knowledgeable Afghan official as saying, "There is evidence of widespread Christian propaganda in Afghanistan, and the existence of more than 10 churches that operate secretly in residential houses have been proven." New reports indicate that some members of the country's parliament have embraced Christianity. A Farsi news service also published a report on these conversions, writing, "Evangelism and Christian propaganda is taking place in the country at a high level, but this is the first time that those who call themselves representatives of the Afghani people not only have become 'apostates' but have joined Christian ministries to evangelize. This time they want to present their Christian services to Muslim people through parliament."
Info compiled from CIAWorldFactBook "Afghanistan"; VOMC "Afghanistan"
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Afghanistan - My Kabul 1 of 3 - BBC Culture Documentary (March 2011)
Afghanistan - My Kabul 2 of 3 - BBC Culture Documentary
Afghanistan - My Kabul 3 of 3 - BBC Culture Documentary
Afghanistan: Stabilizing Rural Communities Oct 2012
Afghanistan to move from opium to world's most expensive spice June 2012
Pakistan and Afghanistan Taliban Persecution Jan 2010
Afghanistan - Anti Christian protest 2010
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