the American people are weary of war nowhere is this more evident than with the war in Afghanistan the longest war in American history in August 2017 President Donald Trump outlined a new troop surge in Afghanistan prolonging a military occupation that began in 2001 the Afghan government has been overthrown and replaced the military revamped and retrained and the economy completely overhauled still many parts of the country have resisted change particularly in rural areas so today just how powerful is Afghanistan well the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is one of the largest countries in South and Central Asia coming in at roughly 250,000 square miles ranking 41st globally in size but much of the region is sparse mountainous and rural with only a few major urban centers including the capital Kabul Kabul actually hosts more than 13 percent of the country's population of 35 million with roughly 75% living in rural areas which are still ethnically divided demographically Afghans break down into four major ethnic groups Pashtun Tajik Hazara and Uzbek although there are over a dozen ethnicities including those from surrounding countries such as Pakistan Iran and Turkmenistan roughly half of the country speaks a Persian Afghan dialect known as dari and more than 1/3 speak Pashto with the distinction mostly based on geography Pashto is predominantly found in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan while dari is more exclusively Afghan nonetheless both are defined in Afghanistan's Constitution as the country's official languages additionally ninety-nine point seven percent of the population is Islamic with as many as 90 percent ascribing to the Sunni faith and 10 to 15 percent to the Shia faith interestingly there's only one reported Jewish resident in the entire country despite a sizable Jewish population prior to 1979 in fact 1979 marked a significant shift in Afghan demographics and politics that year the soviet-afghan war saw the Soviet Union Afghanistan and establish a socialist state until 1989 in the chaotic aftermath of the USSR s departure the country fell under the control of the Islamic terror group the Taliban who became its de facto for an evil government starting in 1996 following the attacks of September 11th and 2001 the Taliban protected the financier and mastermind of the attacks Osama bin Laden this sparked another invasion this time by the United States which toppled the Taliban regime and instituted a pro US government in the year since the Afghan economy has seen massive growth mostly due to foreign involvement and investment their GDP has jumped from around two billion dollars to roughly twenty billion dollars however following the withdrawal of US troops in 2014 the economy has slumped as the overwhelming majority is still based on agriculture in fact one of the most economically lucrative crops in the country is poppies used to produce the largest supply of opium in the world somewhat ironically this only became the norm following the USS invasion as the Taliban government had previously prohibited the production of opium economically the country ranks 190 and is one of the world's most underdeveloped regions despite having more than one trillion dollars in untapped mineral deposits civil war and constant invasion and regime change has made concentrated efforts to exploit these minerals almost impossible militarily in spite of significant investment improvements and training by the United States Afghanistan still lags far behind many of its neighbors with roughly 200,000 troops and a defense budget comprising less than 1% of the GDP Afghanistan only ranks 69th worldwide nonetheless it's a member of the United Nations and specifically the group of 77 which is a collection of underdeveloped States which negotiates jointly within the UN additionally it's also a member of the non-aligned movement meaning it's not officially aligned with any major power bloc somewhat uniquely having been invaded by both the Soviet Union and the United States in short Afghanistan is still struggling to make significant strides on the world stage with a lagging economy military and a lack of urbanization with American troops leaving in 2014 many believe that not enough has been done to propel the country past developing status sadly outside of their enormous illicit drug trade little about Afghanistan can be considered powerful but while Afghanistan is one of the largest producers of opium neighbouring Pakistan is one of its biggest consumers fueling a countrywide heroin epidemic to learn more about Pakistan's struggle with heroin you can watch this video to the right thanks for tuning in please don't forget to Like and subscribe for more now this world every week