The book is devoted to the contemporary internal and foreign policy problems of Afghanistan, which has been at war for over 20 years. The deformation of the country's economy, the almost complete stop of industry, the reorientation of agricultural production to drug-containing crops, and trade to smuggling import-export operations are shown. The role of the interethnic factor and Islamic fundamentalism, the formation of a theocratic state and the Sharia judicial-punitive system among the Pashtuns-Taliban, the situation in the territory controlled by the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance are analyzed. The positions of the neighboring states of the Near and Middle East and Central Asia, as well as the PRC, Russia, and the United States in relation to the Afghan conflict and the prospects for its settlement are considered. Special attention is paid to the emergence of a hotbed of international terrorism in Afghanistan. The book is designed for both specialists and the general reader.