The country of Afghanistan, officially known as: The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, has captured
news headlines all over the world. But there's so much more to Afghanistan than all the negative things
that make the news headlines. What's happening guys? My name is Leroy Kenton and welcome back
to another episode of FTD Facts. And now, we're about to look at 10 surprising and interesting
facts about Afghanistan. So let's take a look. I mean, the country is filled with a lot of amazing
things, and I want to highlight that for you guys. Now the first thing to look at is the landlocked
country of Afghanistan shares its borders with Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran,
and Uzbekistan, and has a huge population of 38.2 million people, making it the 37th most populated
country in the world. Now the people who make up Afghanistan, they're called Afghans not Afghanis -
which is the currency that they use and it's a common mistake that people make. The next
thing is that the country of Afghanistan is the world's 42nd largest by land area,
with Kabul serving as its capital and largest city. The total land area is 652,860 square
kilometers. And, human habitation in Afghanistan dates back to the Middle Paleolithic era and
the country's strategic location along The Silk Road, connected it to cultures of the Middle East
as well as other parts of Asia. Afghanistan's national game is Buzkashi which literally
translates to goat-pulling, and they want this to be an Olympic sport. Good luck with that because
it's regarded as the wildest sport game out there. It involves placing the carcass of a goat, a calf,
or sheep placed in the center of a circle which is surrounded by players of two teams who are on
horseback. The objective of the game is to pick up the carcass and bring it across a goal line
or into the winner's circle. The game has been played since the 13th century and used to be
played earlier by rich rival warlords. But, it's now being financed by Afghan phone companies
as well as private Airlines. Also, carpet weaving has always been an integral part of the Afghan
heritage for centuries with ethnic diversity drawn from other cultures like Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. The Afghan rugs are an extremely popular Afghanistan export. In 2008,
2013, and 2014, Afghan rugs won international awards which is held every year in Hamburg,
Germany. Most Afghan weavers today make rugs that are about the same as those that have been woven
for decades. And as a testament to the meticulous nature of this art, it approximately takes six to
nine months to weave one large Afghan carpet. Many reports also state that only 28.1%
of the population above the age of fifteen is literate in Afghanistan, which
means 71.9% of adults in the country do not have simple reading and writing
abilities. And hopefully that continues to change over the years, because the more educated you are,
of course, the more power to you. It's also the land of Opium. Opium is the largest and
fastest growing produce in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Opium poppy production goes into more than 90% of
Heroin worldwide. Afghanistan has been the world's greatest illicit Opium producer, and in 2017, Opium
cultivation in Afghanistan reached a record high. The fact that the Opium poppy cultivation continues to
expand in Afghanistan is not surprising. I mean, the country's economy has been in a deep slump since
2013 when the United States and NATO radically drew down their troop presence around which much
of Afghanistan's economy was built after 2002. Now, the bottom line is that there is simply nothing
in Afghanistan that produces more jobs than the Opium poppy economy. And there's nothing
else that would surpass it in the foreseeable future. Another interesting fact is that the
world's first oil paintings were not drawn in the Renaissance Europe, contrary to popular belief but,
in the Caves of Bamiyan located in the central heartland of Afghanistan around 650 BC. In 2008,
scientists discovered oil paintings in 12 out of 50 caves in Bamiyan possibly made with walnut or
poppy. Bamiyan was once a thriving Buddhist center where monks lived in a series of caves carved into
the cliffs by the two statues. This was a spot where the world's two largest standing Buddha
statues once stood until the Taliban destroyed them in 2001, seeing that the statues were on
Islamic. Poetry is also a very important part in Afghan culture for thousands of years, Afghans have
told their tales in the form of verses. In the western side of Herat, Thursday is a poetry
night. Every Thursday, people from all across the city get together to share verses from old and
new poetry. And they get together with desserts and sweet tea, and bond over poetry. That sounds
pretty awesome! kind of like my kind of thing. I love just chill vibes, poetry, spoken word, you know
what I mean? I might enjoy it over in Afghanistan! The next thing I want to talk about is the kandahar
Airfield, situated in southern Afghanistan, is known to be the world's single busiest runway airstrip.
It is also the location where NATO has its first full air traffic facility in a country not listed
in NATO. And the final fact about Afghanistan, is that Afghanistan became independent on August 19th
of 1919, and they fought three wars with Britain, after which, they declared themselves independent.
WooHoo! Now interestingly, they were never directly ruled by the British. However, like every other
country in South Asia, their foreign affairs were heavily influenced by the United Kingdom.
Nicknamed the Graveyard of Empires, Afghanistan has had a reputation for being unconquerable,
and for undoing ambitious military ventures, and humiliating would-be conquerors. The Soviets also
tried to invade Afghanistan but they were forced out. Afghans did not give in so easily. So, that was
a brief look at the country of Afghanistan let me know all of your thoughts and comments down below
in the comment section, and also let me know which country you'd like to see an FTD facts episode on
next. If you enjoyed this episode, you're definitely going to like this one right here! You can tap the
annotation that's on your screen, or you can click on the link to that video which I'll have below in
the video description section. I also have links to other videos, as well as my social media links
are down below. So enjoy! Have fun down there. That sounded kind of of weird. Anyways if you haven't done
so already, hit that subscribe button and ring that bell so you don't miss any of our daily
episodes here on FTD Facts. And I can't wait to see you all tomorrow in another episode.