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Welcome To Afghanistan
Country number
42
Selected MR Agencies
  • Elephants Can't Jump

    Ensuring brand initiatives work in practice as well as in theory. To have marketplace impact, we believe every research assignment should consist of three elements consumer exploration or validation, within a competitive context, generating commercial outputs.
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  • Firefish Ltd

    29 full time staff, operating in all corners of the globe, on all manner of projects. No methodology is squashed to fit. We approach each brief with fresh eyes and minds, to make sure you get the most out of your research, helping your brand move forward.
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  • Grass Roots

    Grass Roots is one of Europe's largest performance improvement companies. Established in 1980, Grass Roots UK is the founding company of a group with offices and partners operating in 15 countries around the world.
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  • DIGITAL-MR

    In addition to Social Media Research (Web Listening) DigitalMRs solutions also include community panels, access panels, Web usability and a distinct focus on qualitativeresearch online.
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An Introduction to Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a landlocked country situated at a crossroads between the East and the West, and traditionally a focal point of trade and migration. The creation of the Durrani Empire in 1747 is considered to be the beginning of modern Afghanistan. On August 19th 1919, following the 3rd Anglo-Afghan war, the country regained full independence from the UK over its foreign affairs. Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has suffered continuous and brutal civil war in addition to foreign interventions in the form of the 1979 Soviet invasion and the recent 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government. See full country profile.

Latest Research News from Central Asia

Nov 22
In London, ad tech and data company Making Science has announced that former Ebiquity CEO Nick Waters will join as CEO for the UK, Northern and Central Europe, as of February next year. Nov 22 2024
Nov 14
In Singapore, marketplace and sample management provider PureSpectrum has announced the appointments of Giles Haynes as Senior Client Development Director, ANZ, and Kent Toh as Sales Director, SEA. Nov 14 2024


0 current Central Asian jobs at present - sorry



Fast Facts
Map of Afghanistan
CAPITAL: Kabul
GOVERNMENT: Islamic Republic
AREA: 647,500 sq km
POPULATION: 33,609,937 (July 2009 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Dari (Persian), Pashto
Conversation in Khabul, Afghanistan
Conversation in Khabul, Afghanistan


All in this together: Afghan extended families, including cousins, uncles and aunts, often live in a group of buildings called a kala. There is communal responsibility among the women to raise the children. In a society where age brings respect, grandfathers are in charge of everyone's money and grandmothers in general charge of the household.

A little More Knowledge?
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Afghanistan in Profile

Afghanistan is a landlocked country situated at a crossroads between the East and the West, and traditionally a focal point of trade and migration. The creation of the Durrani Empire in 1747 is considered to be the beginning of modern Afghanistan. On August 19th 1919, following the 3rd Anglo-Afghan war, the country regained full independence from the UK over its foreign affairs. Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has suffered continuous and brutal civil war in addition to foreign interventions in the form of the 1979 Soviet invasion and the recent 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government.

The Khyber pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan is one of the great trade routes, described by Rudyard Kipling as 'a sword cut through the mountains', and has been fought over and written about for centuries.

Some Business and General Info

GDP: $23.03bn (PPP), (2008)

Religions Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%

Currency: Afghani (AFN) (1AFN = 0.02 EUR)

Telephone Code: +93

Research Industry

None - though there are several agencies working in Afghanistan.

Overview of Trade and Industry

According to the CIA World Factbook, exports from Afghanistan were worth $USD 327 million in 2007, and included opium, fuits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, and precious and semi-precious gems. Imports were valued at $USD 4.85 billion, and included capital goods, food, textiles and petroleum products. Main export partners were India, Pakistan, the USA and Tajikistan, while Imports came from Pakistan, the USA, India and Germany.

Wikipedia notes that Afghanistan's economy is recovering from decades of conflict. The economy has improved significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 largely because of the infusion of international assistance, the recovery of the agricultural sector, and service sector growth. Real GDP growth exceeded 7% in 2008. Despite the progress of the past few years, Afghanistan is extremely poor, landlocked, and highly dependent on foreign aid, agriculture, and trade with neighbouring countries. It will probably take the remainder of the decade and continuing donor aid and attention to significantly raise Afghanistan's living standards from its current level, among the lowest in the world.

Expanding poppy cultivation and a growing opium trade generate'roughly $3 billion in illicit economic activity and looms as one of Kabul's most serious policy concerns. Other long-term challenges include: budget sustainability, job creation, corruption, government capacity, and rebuilding war torn infrastructure.

My view
from...
Afghanistan
Researchers Talk!
Have your say!
If you are a researcher based in Afghanistan, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!

Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com

Views from...

If you are a researcher in Pakistan, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!