Or more commonly known: Afghanistan. The first on my list of countries to read about. To simplify matters, I've decided to focus on the internationally recognized countries. Of which Afghanistan is top of the list.


To be honest, I was very tempted to skip this one, due to over-saturation (the whole USA vs the Taliban saga), but in the end I gave it a go..

Interesting fact: The country was a monarchy until 1973, when the King's brother-in-law ousted him with a bloodless coup to become the country's first president. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "trouble with the in-laws"

Little known fact: There is a booming opium trade in Afghanistan stemming from a huge illegal poppy cultivation.

Best part: Culture plays a big part in the average Afghan's life - most households have at least one book of poetry and poetry events are very common (even though a large part of the population is illiterate).
Also, women now form 28% of the cabinet, making Afghanistan one of the leading countries in the world in terms of female representation.

Worst part: The almost constant war the country has been embroiled in since way back when. And the Taliban. Those are not guys you want to mess with. Especially if you are a woman.

Verdict: It doesn't seem as bad as I initially thought, but I'd still hesitate to go live there. Even though women are now well represented in parliament, and the laws governing what women can and cannot do have largely fallen away, I think that large parts of the population still views women as 2nd class citizens. And I'd have a very hard time coping with that.