Disputes - international:
Afghan, Coalition, and Pakistan military meet periodically to clarify the alignment of the boundary on the ground and on maps; Afghan and Iranian commissioners have discussed boundary monument densification and resurvey; Iran protests Afghanistan's restricting flow of dammed Helmand River tributaries during drought; Pakistan has sent troops across and built fences along some remote tribal areas of its treaty-defined Durand Line border with Afghanistan which serve as bases for foreign terrorists and other illegal activities; Russia remains concerned about the smuggling of poppy derivatives from Afghanistan through Central Asian countries
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 132,246 (mostly Pashtuns and Kuchis displaced in south and west due to drought and instability) (2007)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Afghanistan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; Afghan boys and girls are trafficked within the country, in forced prostitution, in forced labor in carpet-making factories, and in forced domestic service; forced begging is a growing problem in Afghanistan; Afghan boys are subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor in the drug smuggling industry in Pakistan and Iran; Afghan women and girls are subjected to forced prostitution and forced marriages; women and girls from Iran, Tajikistan, and possibly Uganda and China are reportedly forced into prostitution in Afghanistan
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Afghanistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; despite these efforts, the government did not show evidence of increased efforts to address human trafficking over the previous year; the Afghan government did not prosecute or convict trafficking offenders under its 2008 law, and it punished victims of sex trafficking with imprisonment for adultery or prostitution (2011)
Illicit drugs:
world's largest producer of opium; while poppy cultivation was relatively stable at 119,000 hectares in 2010, a poppy blight affecting the high cultivation areas in 2010 reduced potential opium production to 3,200 metric tons, down over 40 percent from 2009; the Taliban and other antigovernment groups participate in and profit from the opiate trade, which is a key source of revenue for the Taliban inside Afghanistan; widespread corruption and instability impede counterdrug efforts; most of the heroin consumed in Europe and Eurasia is derived from Afghan opium; vulnerable to drug money laundering through informal financial networks; regional source of hashish (2011)