More specifically he asked Afghanistan to:
- Deliver Osama bin Laden and all the al Qaida leaders located in Afghanistan
to the United States.
- Release all imprisoned foreign nationals, including American citizens.
- Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in Afghanistan.
- Close terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and "hand over all
the terrorists and their support structure to appropriate authorities".
- Give the US full access to terrorist training camps to verify their closure.
Facts about Afghanistan:
- Bordered by Iran, Pakistan, three central Asian states and a corridor
to China, landlocked Afghanistan formed part of the ancient east-west trade
route and has a history of repeated foreign occupation and interference.
- After 25 years of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest
countries and security remains a problem, especially in the south and east
where 20,000 U.S. troops are helping government forces battle Taliban insurgents.
- No census work has been done in decades but the population is believed
to be between 25 million and 28 million. Annual population growth is 2.6
percent. Life expectancy is 43.
- An estimated 40-45 percent of the population is Pashtun, 27 percent Tajik,
nine percent Hazara, nine percent Uzbek, and the rest Turkmen, Baluch and
other minorities. Virtually all are Muslim, mostly Sunni Muslim.
- Afghanistan has an area of 650,000 sq km, about the same size as Texas.
- About a quarter of all children die before they are five and half of all
men and 80 percent of women are illiterate.
- Aid donors pledged $4.5 billion in 2002 and another $8.4 billion for three
years in 2004.
- Gross domestic product was $4.6 billion in 2003, with agriculture making
up about half that.
- The world's largest producer of opium, Afghanistan accounts for 87 percent
of world supplies, according to the United Nations.
- The opium economy is believed to be equivalent to about half of GDP.
- The IMF forecast economic growth of 8 percent in 2005, off high levels
of 29 percent that followed the ousting of the Taliban by U.S.-led forces
in 2001.
- Growth is booming in the construction and services sectors, fuelled by
foreign aid and possibly opium-related demand.
- About 12 Afghans out of 1,000 have a telephone and about one in 1,000
uses the Internet in 2003.