Terrorist attacks and armed clashes from time to time recall the unstable situation in Afghanistan. Life there will probably never be peaceful. Terror and fear have become an integral part of the daily lives of Afghans. On the streets you can constantly see many military, police, special services and militias, only last year in the country more than fifty major terrorist attacks took place with casualties, and kidnappings occur regularly.
Martial law
Life in Afghanistan (photos speak of this as well as possible) cannot be called peaceful. It seems that the country is again on the verge of chaos, but in fact this situation has been maintained for about forty years. Recently, the number of civilian casualties has been increasing. The UN estimates that in 2016, approximately 11.5 thousand civilians were killed and wounded. In 31 of the 34 provinces, military operations were carried out with varying success.
In the first four months of 2017 alone, almost 100, 000 ordinary Afghans were left homeless and became refugees in their own country. In 2016, there were about 600 thousand. Many travel to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, in the hope that the situation there is at least slightly better, but more often the hopes turn out to be false. The city does not accommodate all refugees, and countless camps appear on the outskirts.
Today's situation
Unfortunately, nothing indicates an improvement in the foreseeable future: just recently, on June 11, 2018, 36 people died as a result of the attacks, although three days before the Taliban accepted the authorities' proposal for a temporary ceasefire. On June 4, fourteen people became victims of a terrorist attack near a university in the Afghan capital, and on May 29 this year, the Taliban captured three counties in one of the provinces.
The next armed conflict between NATO forces and the militants of various radical groups began in January 2015, that is, immediately after the withdrawal of the main contingent of the North Atlantic Alliance from the country. In response, US Army soldiers (the majority remaining - 10.8 thousand out of almost 13 thousand NATO soldiers - they were the ones) began to carry out active measures to neutralize the militants.
Conflict history
The long-standing confrontation that destroyed peaceful life in Afghanistan began with the April 1978 revolution. As a result of a military coup, a pro-Soviet socialist regime was established in the country. The royal palace of Arg, where President Mohammed Daoud was with his family, the main ministries and departments, was fired from tank guns.
The revolution was formally communist, but the attempts of the new local leadership to force the establishment of a model of state structure, fully copied from the USSR, without taking into account Afghan characteristics, led to the emergence of strong opposition to the government. Subsequently, Soviet troops were introduced to fight the opposition.
One of the stages of the conflict in Afghanistan was the civil war of 1989-1992, during which government troops, with the support of Soviet soldiers, fought against the Mujahideen, supported by the United States, Pakistan and some other states.
In less than a decade, Afghanistan has recovered from the war. The confrontation broke out with renewed vigor in 2001. The NATO forces, supported by the new government, opposed the Taliban Islamist organization, which controlled most of the country. The withdrawal of troops began in the summer of 2011. But in fact, the war was ended only formally, as the events of the beginning of 2015 proved.
Armed Forces
Life in Afghanistan today is highly dependent on the province. After the US military operation, which supposedly ended successfully with the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2011, local leaders of armed groups continue to rule in most areas. A case in point: the seventy-year-old Afghan field commander, Ili Gulbeddin Hekmatyar, was nicknamed the “Kabul butcher” for shelling the Afghan capital in the mid-nineties. Until recently, it was listed on the "black list" of terrorists compiled by the UN.
In poorly controlled and equally poorly visible Afghan territories, confrontation with the Taliban and active hostilities by about twenty other international terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda and ISIS, continue. Nobody knows what peaceful Afghanistan should look like, because each group has its own opinion on this matter. Four decades of bloody war clearly demonstrate that the problem cannot be solved by military means.
The life of ordinary people
It is clear that against the backdrop of an ongoing war and all-consuming fear, the life of people in Afghanistan is far from easy. In Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, it is very dirty, and the river of the same name, which flows through the city, is also a gutter where all the garbage is thrown. The water is not just muddy, but generally black. The city center is almost completely destroyed, but in some places you can find the remains of old buildings. Reviews of determined tourists who have visited the country are simply terrifying.
Many locals do not know their age and have never attended school. And those who are lucky to gain access to knowledge are not in a hurry to use it. In local schools there are no grades, but there are special people with sticks with which they beat wards if they are somewhat offended. Especially a lot of work at the end of each break, because students simply do not want to return to classes.
Many locals gratefully recall the "Soviet invaders" and curse NATO troops. All schools and hospitals have remained since Soviet times. In Kabul there is even a district built up by the Khrushchevs, called Teply Stan, just like one of Moscow's microdistricts. Life in Afghanistan, they say, was better then. American soldiers and NATO troops control only a few large cities, and the Taliban are already located fifteen kilometers from Kabul.
The vast majority of goods sold in local stores are imported from neighboring Pakistan or other countries. There is practically no legal economy. Ten billion out of the twelve state budgets are foreign aid. But the shadow budget is ten times larger than the official one. Its base is heroin.
The main producer of heroin
In Afghanistan, 150 billion single doses of heroin are produced annually. Two-thirds go to the local market, the remainder is exported. On the streets of Kabul, heroin is smoked openly. The largest drug users are the European Union and Russia, which receives about 10 billion doses each year. According to the UN, more than 10% of the population, that is, about 2.5-3 million Afghans, are involved in drug production. Organizers receive up to $ 100 billion a year, but local peasants can be content with only $ 70 annually.
Healthcare
The US mission found that health is worse in Afghanistan than in Somalia or Sierra Leone. Maternal mortality is 1700 women per 100 thousand of the population, and every fifth child does not live up to five years. About half of the country's population suffers from mental disorders, and among 80% of women, depression is normal. About 6 million people (mainly the rural population) are deprived of any medical care due to the catastrophic state of the infrastructure.
Life expectancy in Afghanistan ranges from 45 years. Many die as a result of armed clashes and terrorist attacks. But if we discard this factor, life expectancy in Afghanistan is extremely low. Up to 30% of the population is affected by tuberculosis, and more than 70 thousand new cases of the disease are registered annually. Typhoid fever is constantly recorded in the country, outbreaks of cholera are noted from time to time, and dysentery is a common occurrence. Malaria is prevalent throughout the country, and in some areas up to 75% of the population suffers from STDs (in cities the figure is lower - 10-13% of the population). Ninety percent of the population is infected with helminths.
