Economy
* economy is recovering from decades of conflict
* economy has improved a lot since 2001 with the help of international assistance
* extremely poor country
* very dependent on foreign aid, agriculture, and trade with neighboring countries
* population suffers from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care, jobs
Industry
* cotton textile production, carpet-making, felt-making
* weaving of cotton, woolen, and silk cloth
* wood and stone carving
* jewelry-making
* leather goods
Natural Resources
natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur
lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious, semiprecious stones
Agriculture
* wheat is the most important crop
* barley, corn, and rice also grown
* cotton is another important and widely cultivated crop
* fruit and nuts (grapes, melons, raisins, apricots, cherries, figs, mulberries, pomegranates)
Livestock
* Karakul sheep are raised in large numbers in the north
* tight curly fleece of Karakul lambs is used to make Persian lamb coats
* other breeds of sheep, such as the fat-tailed sheep, and goats are also raised
Plant Life
* sparse but diverse
* trees in mountains are evergreens, oaks, poplars, wild hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios
* plains of the north are largely dry, treeless steppes
* plains of the southwestern corner are nearly uninhabitable
* desert plants are camel thorn, locoweed, spiny restharrow, mimosa,
* also wormwood, sagebrush;
Animals
* wild animals of Afghanistan include more than 100 mammal species
* some of which are nearing extinction
* endangered are goitered gazelle, leopard, snow leopard, markor goat, Bactrian deer
* wild animals include sheep, urials, ibex, bears, wolves, foxes, hyenas, jackals, mongooses also wild boar, hedgehogs, * shrews, hares, mouse hares, bats, and various rodents
* more than 380 bird species, with more than 200 breeding
* flamingo and other aquatic fowl breed in the lake areas south and east of Ghazni
* ducks and partridges are also common
* birds hunted widely
Subject Index 
