thumbnail

Afghanistan True or False?

Can you guess whether these statements about the country of Afghanistan are true or false?
Quiz by Aaron197
Rate:
Last updated: September 16, 2021
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedJanuary 24, 2021
Times taken12,131
Average score73.3%
Rating4.50
4:00
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
1. Afghanistan was once invaded by the Soviet Union
True
False
2. Afghanistan once had a king
True
False
Afghanistan was a monarchy from 1926–1973
3. Kabul has an elevation of more than 1000 meters
True
False
At 1,790 m altitude, it is world's 11th highest capital
4. Osama bin Laden was the de facto leader of Afghanistan between 1996–2001
True
False
5. Afghanistan is the world's largest opium poppy producer
True
False
6. Khaled Hosseini was one of Afghanistan's presidents
True
False
Khaled Hosseini is a writer
7. Pashtuns are a major ethnic group in Afghanistan
True
False
Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan (39%), followed by Tajiks (37%)
8. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the U.S. war in Afghanistan
True
False
9. Afghanistan has large Christian and Hindu minorities
True
False
99.7% of Afghanis are Muslim
10. A British Army once was nearly completely annihilated fleeing from Afghanistan
True
False
During the 1842 retreat from Kabul, 16,000 soldiers and civilians fled the country. Only one British person reached the border.
11. The Taliban is now the ruling power in Afghanistan
True
False
12. Kandahar was founded by Alexander the Great
True
False
13. The population of Afghanistan has declined since 1980 due to many wars and occupations
True
False
The population of Afghanistan has TRIPLED since 1980, one of the fastest growth rates in the world
14. Afghanistan is a major oil exporter
True
False
15. In Afghanistan, it is common for people to marry their first cousin
True
False
34.7% of marriages in Afghanistan are between first cousins
+2
Level 86
Sep 16, 2021
Very topical, thank you, @Aaron197.

There’s a wee typo in question number 5: "Afghanistan is *the* world's largest opium poppy producer”.

+1
Level ∞
Sep 16, 2021
Fixed
+8
Level 62
Sep 17, 2021
Good quiz Aaron, thank you. Sadly very topical as Afghanistan seems to be headed right back to the desperate days of Hosseini's The Kite Runner, and especially A Thousand Splendid Suns
+6
Level 67
Sep 22, 2021
Right, because the past twenty years of brutal occupation and indiscriminate bombing of civilians was so much better.
+7
Level 71
Sep 22, 2021
Well..it was
+1
Level 71
Sep 22, 2021
@canadry, as flawed as the US occupation was, Afghanistan had some very positive development in the past 20 years. Even if you look at human rights abuses, the things America did in Afghanistan over 20 years don't hold a candle to the things the Taliban can do in a month. If you haven't read any Khaled Hosseini books, I highly recommend them, as they are very eye-opening.
+2
Level 67
Sep 23, 2021
That's insanely naïve; the invasion led to the slaughter of a quarter-million Afghanis for zero benefit, and the country is far worse off than when it started.

It was an unmitigated disaster that accomplished nothing positive.

+3
Level 62
Sep 23, 2021
No, not 'right', Canadry. There has been so much wrong on all sides. But at least women had been able to reassert some of the rights they lost under the Taliban. Whether American, with their bombing, Taliban, with their oppression of any dissent, or anyone else, any regime that doesn't uphold the rights of every human life is inherently wrong
+5
Level 71
Sep 23, 2021
^Exactly. My point wasn't that America hasn't done terrible things, my point is that it doesn't make sense to say that America is as bad as the Taliban. For one thing, I think you're overestimating the deaths in the war; most reports say about 46,000 civilians and 67,000 military/security officers died. For sure, that's a lot, but much less than 250,000. And yes, America caused many of those deaths, but so did the Taliban, in suicide bombings and mass shootings. At the very least, America did some things to help Afghanistan. Between 2001 and 2011, primary school enrollment jumped from 21% to 97%, including millions of girls. Child mortality dropped by 50%, life expectancy increased by 10 years, and women became politicians and professionals. The Taliban didn't do good for anyone, least of all women. I think the fact that hundreds of thousands of Afghanis risked their lives to board flights to America after the Taliban took over says a lot about how bad they are.
+3
Level 71
Sep 23, 2021
None of that was meant to be ranty or rude, I'm just trying to state facts. I don't want to turn this into a long thread so I'll stop here, but if you don't know much about the Taliban, I definitely recommend reading more about what they were like in the '90s (or, as I said in the beginning, reading a Khaled Hosseini book).
+2
Level 62
Sep 24, 2021
As you mentioned, I'd definitely recommend Hosseini, especially A Thousand Splendid Suns, a stark and beautiful book about life for Afghani women under the Taliban. Also Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale for the potential reality of life under a male dictatorship; fiction is not always stranger than truth and there are frightening similarities
+1
Level 48
Sep 17, 2021
if I choose all true I get one point. anyways great quiz aaron
+1
Level 76
Sep 20, 2021
Travel actives know Afghanistan was known as sort of a "hippie paradise" at the end part of the royal times. Well, at least the older ones who did it, and the younger ones who read older travel books.
+2
Level 61
Sep 22, 2021
"99.7% of Afghanis are Muslim". People from Afghanistan are called Afghans. Not Afghanis. Think you are mistaking the suffix for Iraqis.
+6
Level 56
Sep 22, 2021
Still trying to figure out why Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize at all??? For not being Bush? The guy bombed like 7 nations and largely expanded and continued the policies of Bush, but when Hollywood and media love you, I guess it makes you cool.
+2
Level 71
Sep 22, 2021
The award was certainly questionable and seems to have been somewhat aspirational. However, your list of troubling actions came after the award so could not have been a consideration.
+2
Level 66
Sep 22, 2021
Excellent quiz
+1
Level 68
Sep 22, 2021
Misread question #10 as "The British army" rather than "A British army". Nice phrasing, it got me. While we're splitting hairs, should "Army" be capitalized?