type=”onevent” val0=”Kabul” val1=”1″>

type=”onevent” val0=”Kabul” val1=”0″>

type=”onevent” val0=”Kandahar” val1=”1″>

type=”onevent” val0=”Kandahar” val1=”0″>

type=”onevent” val0=”mazar” val1=”1″>

type=”onevent” val0=”mazar” val1=”0″>

type=”onevent” val0=”herat” val1=”1″>

type=”onevent” val0=”herat” val1=”0″>

//<![CDATA[ <!—

CSStopExecution = false;

function CSAction(array) {

return CSAction2(CSAct, array);

function CSAction2(fct, array) {

var result;

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var actArray = fct[array[i]];

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CSAg = window.navigator.userAgent; CSBVers =

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function CSIEStyl(s) { return document.all.tags(“div”)[s].style; }

function CSNSStyl(s) { return CSFindElement(s,0); }

function CSFindElement(n,ly) { if (CSBVers < 4) return

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var curDoc = ly ? ly.document : document; var elem = curDoc[n];

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function CSSetStyleVis(s,v) { if (IsIE()) CSIEStyl(s).visibility = (v ==

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function CSGetStyleVis(s) { if (IsIE()) return (CSIEStyl(s).visibility ==

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//<![CDATA[ <!—

CSAct[/*CMP*/ ‘B83DA56D22’] = new Array(CSShowHide,/*CMP*/

‘Kabul’,1);

CSAct[/*CMP*/ ‘B83DA57323’] = new Array(CSShowHide,/*CMP*/

‘Kabul’,0);

CSAct[/*CMP*/ ‘B83DA25918’] = new Array(CSShowHide,/*CMP*/

‘Kandahar’,1);

CSAct[/*CMP*/ ‘B83DA2C619’] = new Array(CSShowHide,/*CMP*/

‘Kandahar’,0);

CSAct[/*CMP*/ ‘B83DA95D24’] = new Array(CSShowHide,/*CMP*/

‘mazar’,1);

CSAct[/*CMP*/ ‘B83DA96625’] = new Array(CSShowHide,/*CMP*/

‘mazar’,0);

CSAct[/*CMP*/ ‘B83DAA7026’] = new Array(CSShowHide,/*CMP*/

‘herat’,1);

CSAct[/*CMP*/ ‘B83DAA7727’] = new Array(CSShowHide,/*CMP*/

‘herat’,0);

// —> //]]>

height=”423″>

face=”Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular” size=”+1″>daily|in|depth size=”-1″>Mouse over the cities of Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif for current political status. csover=”B83D9DEC1″> src=”http://www.iowastatedaily.com/galleries/indepth/afghan/afgan mapweb_sm.jpg” width=”500″ height=”392″ border=”0″ usemap=”#afganmapweb_smb83d9e4a”>

face=”Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular”>Afg hanistan Quick Facts Background: Afghanistan was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in 1979. The USSR was forced to withdraw 10 years later by anti-communist mujahidin forces supplied and trained by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and others. face=”Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular”>Fighting continued among the various mujahidin factions, but the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement seized most of the country. In addition to the continuing civil strife, the country suffers from enormous poverty, a crumbling infrastructure and widespread land mines. Total area: 647,500 sq km, slightly smaller than Texas Borders: China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan Climate: arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones Natural hazards: damaging earthquakes in the Hindu Kush mountains; flooding; droughts Environmental issues: soil degradation, overgrazing, deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials), desertification face=”Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular” size=”-2″>— taken from The World Fact Book, http://www.cia.gov

daily|in|depth by Omar Tesdell graphic by Lindsay Andersen

Some information from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk