Economy
Afghanistan's economy is recovering from decades of conflict
economy has improved a lot since 2001 with the help of international assistance
Afghanistan is extremely poor
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
the flamingo and other aquatic fowl breed in the lake areas south and east of Ghazni
ducks and partridges are also common
birds hunted widely
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