In today's video, we'll be exploring and debunking 10 of the most common misconceptions about
Afghanistan. Welcome back to FTD Facts, I'm sarah carvalho and I'm looking forward to taking you
through today's facts. Now, thanks to global media outlets, we all know how easy it can be to hear,
read, or watch content about groups of people or countries around the world. Oftentimes, this
information is presented or shared as fact when in reality, it is based on misinformation and
misconception. So, today I hope to provide you with an informative and hopefully eye-opening video to
help clarify and explain 10 of the most common misconceptions about Afghanistan. So, let's get
started. Alright, the 1st misconception of today is that a national of Afghanistan is referred to
as being Afghani. So, this first misconception is one that certainly provided some enlightenment as
I personally have always been of the understanding that a native or citizen of Afghanistan would be
referred to as Afghani however through my research, I have discovered that this is a very common
misconception. The word Afghani is actually the name used for the official currency of the country.
The currency, which was relaunched in 2002, ranges between 1 Afghani coin and
1,000 Afghanis in banknotes. So, to clarify, the correct term for an Afghanistan national would be
"Afghan." Our next misconception is that Afghanistan is located in the Middle East. Contrary to common
thought, Afghanistan is not geographically located in Middle Eastern Asia. This multi-ethnic country
is actually located in the heart of South Central Asia. The country lies along important trade routes
connecting Southern and Eastern Asia to Europe and the Middle East. Afghanistan is completely
landlocked. The nearest coast lies along the Arabian sea, about 300 miles or 480 kilometers
to the south. And because of both its isolation and its political history, it remains one of the
most poorly surveyed areas of the world. It is bounded to the East and South by Pakistan. To the
West by Iran, and to the North by the Central Asian States of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
Alright, you might be surprised to hear this one, but, Afghanistan is an Arabic speaking nation??
I think not! This in fact is a great misconception. In reality, the people of Afghanistan form a
complex mosaic of ethnic and linguistic groups. Pashto and Persian or Dari, both Indo-European
languages, are in fact the official languages of the country. And if we look a little deeper at the
breakdown of the spoken languages in Afghanistan, we see that more than two-fifths of the population
speak Pashto - the language of the Pashtuns, while about half speak some dialect of Persian. Now I
found it interesting that while the Afghan dialect of Persian is locally referred to as Farsi by many,
the general term Dari has been used since about 1964, and is said to be the preferred language of
the government. It is also interesting to note that other than Dari, a number of other dialects are
also spoken by various groups. Now I was certainly surprised to hear about this next misconception
that all Afghan women wear a burqa in public. Now, I'm going to be honest. This misconception was a
little bit harder to debunk than the rest, as it seems that the cultural and legal expectations
are ever-changing, depending on the political group in power. Traditionally in Afghanistan, the
burka was only worn by women in some rural Pashtun villages. As a multi-ethnic country, each group of
people has their own unique style of clothing, and not all groups are prescribed to wearing the burqa.
However, under Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, it is said that all women were required to wear
an all-covering burqa in public. Most recently, as of August 17, 2021, the same political group
announced that the burqa will not be mandatory for women, but that the wearing of the hijab is to be
observed by women to ensure their safety in public. Now, whether or not regulations will change again,
to be either more or less strict, remains to be seen. Alright, misconception number 6
is that Osama Bin Laden was Afghan. Well my friends, I am here to tell you that he was most definitely
not an Afghan national. In fact, he was one of more than 50 children of Muhammad Bin Laden, a self-made
billionaire who, after immigrating to Saudi Arabia from Yemen as a laborer, rose to direct major
construction projects for the Saudi royal family. So, he was born in 1957 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
He was raised there and studied business administration at King Abdulaziz University
in Jeddah. Now, much later, after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Osama, who viewed the
invasion as an act of aggression against Islam, began traveling to meet Afghan resistance leaders
and raise funds for the resistance. By 1984, his activities were centered mainly in Afghanistan
and Pakistan. His involvement in these affairs was potentially the beginning of what led people to
the misconception that he was Afghan. Interestingly, in 1994, Saudi Arabia revoked his citizenship
and froze his assets, forcing him to rely on outside sources for funding. This was likely
in part due to his training of Islamic militants to participate in conflicts around the world, which
led him to being viewed by the Saudi government as a radical and potential threat. He then resided in
Sudan where he continued to develop his training program. However, in 1996, under heavy international
pressure, Sudan expelled him and he returned to Afghanistan, where he received protection from
its ruling Taliban militia. So, now while we know that he was definitely not an Afghan national,
it was perhaps this welcoming and protection that he received, which led to the popular misconception
that he was an Afghan national. Alright, our next misconception is that Afghanistan is a vast desert.
so the idea that Afghanistan is one big desert cannot be farther from the truth.
Afghanistan is actually well known for its mountainous terrain. The huge Hindu Kush mountains
form a barrier between the northern provinces and the rest of the country. Interestingly, this
mountain range has also divided Afghanistan into three very distinct geographic regions known as
the Central Highlands, the Northern Plains and the Southwestern Plateau. The altitude, climate, and soil
conditions in Afghanistan vary greatly on where in the country you are. Now, the Central Highlands have
deep narrow valleys as well as high mountains, which have proven to be historically important to
the defense of the country. The Southern Plateau is made up of high plateaus and sandy desert. The soil
here is very infertile except along the rivers in the Southwest. This desolate region covers about 50,000
square miles, and is crossed by several large rivers, including the Helmand. So as you can see,
some of the country is covered in desert, but not all. And lastly, in the northern plains, it covers
about 40, 000 square miles of extremely fertile foothills and plains. A tremendous amount of
the country's agriculture thrives here, and this region also possesses a vast amount of
mineral deposits and natural gas. Alright, next we're going to be talking about the weather.
Afghanistan is an extremely hot country year round... or is it?? Now, this is a common misconception -
that all countries with deserts must be extremely hot and dry climates all year round. However,
this proves to be false. In general, Afghanistan has extremely cold winters and hot summers, while
the mountain regions of the Northeast have a sub-arctic climate, with dry cold winters.
The mountainous areas on the border of Pakistan, are influenced by the Indian monsoons, usually
coming between July and September. And they bring maritime tropical air masses with humidity and
rain. In addition, strong winds blow almost daily in the Southwest during the summer. The weather
in winter and early spring is strongly influenced by cold air masses from the North and the Atlantic
Low from the Northwest. These two air masses bring snowfall and severe cold in the highlands, and
rain in the lower elevations. Temperatures also vary widely in Afghanistan. Daytime highs over
95 degrees Fahrenheit or 35 degrees Celsius occur in the drought-ridden Southwestern Plateau region.
In Jalalabad, one of the hottest localities in the country, the highest temperature recorded was 120
Fahrenheit or 49 degrees Celsius. In the mountains, the temperature can drop below negative 15 degrees
Celsius and negative 24 degrees Fahrenheit. And, 31 degrees celsius was actually recorded
at one point in Kabul. Alright, this next misconception is a really important one
that needs to be addressed - the misconception that Afghans are primarily guerrilla fighters,
waging war against themselves and others. This is, unfortunately, a preconception that ultimately
displaces reality. Sadly, there is a tendency in the west to caricature the Afghan people as
lawless tribes of men with beards and turbans, who carry weapons. However, in reality, the vast majority
of Afghans are not warlords, terrorists, or fanatics, as people in the Western world are led to believe.
Instead, they are farmers, merchants teachers, and students who have simply endured many
years of civil war and drought. In fact, you might be surprised to know that a large number of
Afghans have been forced to flee into Pakistan as refugees, where they live in camps near the border,
waiting to go home. Of course, we know that there are political groups to blame for the control
and policies enforced in most of the country's territory and institutions, but it would be wrong
to say that they represent the majority of the population. Ultimately, this misconception is
rooted in a stereotype that can be traced back to the frontier mythology of the British Empire,
and it is completely rooted in colonial prejudice. And our next misconception is that Afghans all
have dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. Now, once again, this is very much false, as a multi-ethnic
country with heavy Indo-European influence , the people of Afghanistan are quite diverse.
While in general, many nationals have fair to olive skin tones and may possess darker hair
and eye color, there are also many who have very pale skin, lighter hair colors, and light eye color.
And bringing us down to our last misconception of today, but perhaps the most important that needs to
be addressed, is the misconception that all Afghans hate Americans. Alright, let's be realistic here.
It would be impossible and absolutely incorrect to argue that all
and I mean all afghans hate Americans. This is just as incorrect as someone saying that all Muslims
are terrorists, which of course, any sane minded person would know to be completely untrue and an
unjust assumption. At the end of the day, how any world citizen feels about another person or group
of people is really up to the personal opinions, experiences, and level of awareness of each
individual person. Now I don't know about you, but I certainly hope that what we can learn from this
grave misconception, is that as a global community we should never allow ourselves to generalize
entire nations or groups of people based on biased misinformation, or the heinous actions or beliefs
of extremists. So, that brings us to the end of today's video debunking 10 misconceptions about
Afghanistan. I hope you enjoyed the video, and that it helped clear up a few things for you. I know I
certainly feel a lot more informed and aware after this. And, as always, we want to know what you think.
Leave your comments down below. Are there any other misconceptions that you would have liked to see us
address in this video? Or maybe in a future video? Leave your comments down below for us. And I know
you enjoyed this video, so I've got other similar videos that you have to check out in the video
description section. So, click that link. Alright friends, that's all for today. Thanks for tuning
in to FTD Facts with me for this video. Check back daily for new content posted just for you!
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