Assessing Afghanistan

More than five years after U.S. forces helped topple the Taliban, the fighting in Afghanistan continues. Much of the country's arid, mountainous terrain remains beyond the government's reach, opium production has skyrocketed, and the standard of living is among the world's worst.

So what's Afghanistan's story? To get to know the place, we have a by-the-numbers overview and a guide to some of the best Afghanistan resources online. We'll also map the Central Asian nation three times over: by its forbidding geography, by its mixed ethnicity, and by its nasty narcotics habit.

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Fighting for Afghanistan

Once we have the lay of the land, we'll hit Afghanistan's modern history. You remember the post-9/11 invasion. You may recall the Soviet occupation. But do you know how Afghanistan became one of the world's perennial war zones? Here's a timeline of key events, from 19th-century British interventions to the Taliban's rise and beyond.

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Remember the Taliban?

Though they no longer rule Afghanistan, Taliban forces still cause plenty of trouble in that land. They regrouped along the border with Pakistan--their original base--and fight on. Just who are these guys? We'll tell you.

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Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?

Who knows! But lots of experts think he's holed up somewhere in the arid, punishing, mountainous terrain along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border--hiding in a tiny crack in colonial history. Here's how that crack came to be.

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Ancient History
Conquering Afghanistan--Over and Over Again

Squeezed between China, the Indian subcontinent, and Iran, Afghanistan has always been a geographic and cultural crossroads. For centuries, merchants, pilgrims, soldiers, and refugees have come from all directions, lugging their ethnic traditions over the mountain passes. Many of history's greatest conquerors came, too--and not for the flatbread.

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--Michael Himick and Steve Sampson