Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: What is the population of Afghanistan?
The population of Afghanistan is around 33 million as of 2016,[1] which includes the roughly 3 million Afghan citizens living as refugees in both Pakistan and Iran.[5] The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multilingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Central Asia, Southern Asia, and Western Asia. Its largest ethnic group is the Pashtun, followed by Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimak, Turkmen, Baloch and a few others.[1][6]
Gulnaz's case not only attracted international attention, but also posed primitive questions about the veracity of governance in Afghanistan. Speaking to the BBC correspondent Caroline Wyatt, Gulnaz said, "I don't want to have anything to do with Afghanistan government again, because they put innocent people in prison. What kind of government is this? What kind of Afghanistan is this? My attacker committed a crime, and they arrested me!"
As of 2016, the total population of Afghanistan is around 33,332,025,[1] which includes the 3 million Afghan nationals living in both Pakistan and Iran.[5] Afghanistan's Central Statistics Organization (CSO) stated in 2011 that the total number of Afghans living inside Afghanistan was about 26 million and by 2017 it reached 29.2 million. Of this, 15 million are males and 14.2 million are females.[8] About 22% of the population is urbanite and the remaining 78% live in rural areas.[5]
The cartographer Michael Izady does not make a Tajik specific distinction and defines Parsiwans as "urbanites of any ethnic background who speak only Persian and have lost all their ethnic and tribal affiliations." In his 2013 study he found that 4.2% of Afghanistan's population were Parsiwans and that the group were historically the most likely ethnic group to be employed in the government as bureaucrats and that "most of what people in the West know about Afghanistan has come to them through these three Persian-speaking minorities [Tajiks, Kizilbash and Parsiwans]."
On 28 September Bush commented "First, there is no negotiations with the Taliban. They heard what I said. And now they can act. And it's not just Mr. bin Laden that we expect to see and brought to justice; it's everybody associated with his organization that's in Afghanistan. And not only those directly associated with Mr. bin Laden, any terrorist that is housed and fed in Afghanistan needs to be handed over. And finally, we expect there to be complete destruction of terrorist camps. That's what I told them; that's what I mean. And we expect them— we expect them to not only hear what I say but to do something about it."
The series was criticised for not dealing with the rights or wrongs of British policy in Afghanistan, however Kemp stated "we did not go to make a so-called traditional documentary, we tried to show was what the ordinary soldiers are facing" and "My documentary is about what it is like to be a British soldier in Afghanistan." While the series was not to be a political piece according to Kemp, he did consider the Iraq invasion was "a mistake", but believed the British involvement in Afghanistan to be a just war.
Tensions mounted as the Russians expanded further into what is now Turkmenistan in the early 1880s, reaching a crisis with the Panjdeh incident (near Sandykachi in what is now Turkmenistan), an area claimed by Afghanistan. Discussions calmed the situation and a joint Anglo-Russian boundary commission demarcated the boundary as it is today over the period 1885-88. As the village of Khwaja Salar could no longer be identified it was agreed that the boundary should meet the Amu Darya in the vicinity of Khamiab, Afghanistan.
As allied forces proceed to withdrawal troops, the international community wants to help and ensure that Afghanistan has security, political, and economic progress and to instill transparency and fairness of the elections. However, while the Afghanistan parliament endorsed the BSA in 2013, Afghan President Harmid Karzai refuses as of February 6, 2014, to sign i.e., approve the BSA. Presidential elections in Afghanistan are scheduled for April 2014 and the BSA is what is pending for the withdrawal of U.S. military and NATO forces. If it doesn't get signed and a civil war breaks out, the Taliban can easily regain their hold on the country, the most vulnerable citizens of the population, primarily women and children, stand to lose most. The possibility looms even greater if Karzai doesn't sign the BSA.
Pakistanis in Afghanistan are mostly refugees, but also include laborers, traders, businesspersons, and small number of diplomats. Because Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbouring states with a loosely controlled border, and a distributed population of ethnic Pashtuns and Baloch people, there is constant flow of population between the two countries.
Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimates the population of the district to be around 154,618. According to AIMS and UNHCR, Tajiks make up 50% of the population, followed by Hazaras and Pashtuns, 50%.
Over his career with BBC, Junbish has written a number of books on Afghanistan, including "What Is Really Happening in Afghanistan?", "24 Hours That Turned Afghanistan Around", and "Red Army in Afghanistan". He has also written two textbooks for Kabul University's journalism faculty.
BIFAD, in coordination with the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) held a meeting on the US agricultural strategy in Afghanistan. Attending were representatives from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department, the U.S. Central Command, the National Guard Bureau and the U.S. Marine Corp, and 21 representatives of Title XII institutions. The discussion concerned the institutional development of the Ministry of Agriculture in Afghanistan. With 80% of Afghanistan's population depending on agriculture, such development was seen as essential to prevent insurgencies, create employment opportunities, and the development of the country. After the meeting a working group with representatives form the USDA, USAID, and Universities was created to continue meeting regularly to discuss what could be done for Agricultural "research, learning and extension competencies in Afghanistan to develop strategies and opportunities to expand long-term training." 
This is an alphabetical list of populated places in Afghanistan, including hamlets, villages, towns, and other small or rural communities. For urban areas and cities, and other densely populated places, see list of cities in Afghanistan. Provinces and districts are listed at their respective articles.
India, as a British colony, once had a large Pashtun population roughly equal to that of Afghanistan, mostly concentrated in what were then the British Indian provinces of the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. In Rohilkhand, they made large settlements subsequent to 14th century and prior to the 20th century. In fact, according to the 1911 edition of "Encyclopædia Britannica", the number of Pashtuns in all of the British Raj was nearly 31 million, but the speakers of Pashto numbered less than 14 million. Most of this population was allotted, along with its respective provinces, to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947. Today the Pashtuns in India can be divided into those who speak Pashto and those who speak Urdu/Hindi and other regional languages, the Urdu/Hindi speaking group being the biggest. Khan Mohammad Atif, a professor at the University of Lucknow, estimates that "The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan".
When Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni began crossing the Indus River into Hindustan (land of Hindus) in the 10th century, the Ghaznavid Muslims began bringing Hindu slaves to what is now Afghanistan. Al-Idirisi testifies that until as late as the 12th century, a contract of investiture for every Shahi king was performed at Kabul and that here he was obliged to agree to certain ancient conditions which completed the contract. The Ghaznavid military incursions assured the domination of Sunni Islam in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan. Various historical sources such as Martin Ewans, E.J. Brill and Farishta have recorded the introduction of Islam to Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan to the conquests of and Mahmud:
Afghanistan has 4 international airports which is expected to increase to five by the end of 2014. The Kabul International Airport serves the population of Kabul and the surrounding areas, Mazar-e Sharif International Airport serves northern Afghanistan, Kandahar International Airport serves the southern parts of the country and Herat International Airport serves the population of western Afghanistan.
Genetic analysis of the Hazara people indicate partial Mongolian ancestry. Invading Mongols and Turco-Mongols mixed with the local Iranian population, forming a distinct group. Mongols settled in what is now Afghanistan and mixed with native populations who spoke Persian. A second wave of mostly Chagatai Mongols came from Central Asia and were followed by other Mongolic groups, associated with the Ilkhanate and the Timurids, all of whom settled in Hazarajat and mixed with the local, mostly Persian-speaking population, forming a distinct group.
Environmental issues in Afghanistan predate the political turmoil of the past few decades. Forests and wetlands have been depleted by centuries of grazing and farming, practices which have only increased with modern population growth. In Afghanistan, environmental conservation and economic concerns are not at odds; with 80% of the population dependent on herding or farming, the welfare of the environment is critical to the economic welfare of the people. In 2007, the World Health Organization released a report ranking Afghanistan as the lowest among non-African nations in deaths from environmental hazards.
Genetic analysis of the Hazara people indicate partial Mongolian ancestry. Invading Mongols and Turco-Mongols mixed with the local Iranian population, forming a distinct group. Mongols settled in what is now Afghanistan and mixed with native populations who spoke Persian. A second wave of mostly Chagatai Mongols came from Central Asia and were followed by other Mongolic groups, associated with the Ilkhanate and the Timurids, all of whom settled in Hazarajat and mixed with the local, mostly Persian-speaking population, forming a distinct group.
Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimated the population of the district to be around 40,340 (CSO 2004). According to the same sources, Pashtuns make up 100% of the total population.
The size of the American military presence after 2014 will help determine the size of the American civilian footprint. As of December 2012 the United States are reducing its plans for large civilian force in post-2014 Afghanistan, because the U.S. military is certain to curtail or stop the security and other services it provides U.S. government civilians in Afghanistan. Firm decisions on civilian numbers and locations cannot be made "until we resolve exactly what the military follow-on numbers are going to be," one unnamed U.S. official said. "That will determine . . . where we locate, what kind of security, medical and other support we might be able to get." According to the New York Times the U.S. military wants to retain 9,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, while the Obama administration wants a force of 3,000 to 9,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014.
Like in the rest of Afghanistan, no exact population numbers are available. The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development (MRRD) along with UNHCR and Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Afghanistan estimated the population of the district to be around 58,560 (CSO 2004). According to the same sources, Pashtuns make up 100% of the total population.
Tensions mounted as the Russians expanded further into what is now Turkmenistan in the early 1880s, reaching a crisis with the Panjdeh incident (near Sandykachi in what is now Turkmenistan), an area claimed by Afghanistan. Discussions calmed the situation and a joint Anglo-Russian boundary commission demarcated the boundary as it is today over the period 1885-88. As the village of Khwaja Salar could no longer be identified it was agreed that the boundary should meet the Amu Darya in the vicinity of Khamiab, Afghanistan.
Herat (persian/Dari: هرات) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the western part of the country. Together with Badghis, Farah, and Ghor provinces, it makes up the north-western region of Afghanistan. Its primary city and administrative capital is Herat City. The province of Herat is divided into about 17 districts and contains over 1,000 villages. It has a population of about 1,780,000, making it the second most populated province in Afghanistan behind Kabul Province. The population is multi-ethnic but largely Persian-speaking.
Tensions mounted as the Russians expanded further into what is now Turkmenistan in the early 1880s, reaching a crisis with the Panjdeh incident (near Sandykachi in what is now Turkmenistan), an area claimed by Afghanistan. Discussions calmed the situation and a joint Anglo-Russian boundary commission demarcated the boundary as it is today over the period 1885-88. As the village of Khwaja Salar could no longer be identified it was agreed that the boundary should meet the Amu Darya in the vicinity of Khamiab, Afghanistan.