FACTBOX: Key facts and figures for Afghanistan

> Karzai's inauguration took place against the backdrop of a rising Taliban insurgency, doubts over his legitimacy after an election tainted by fraud and complaints his government is riddled with corruption and mismanagement. Here are the latest key facts and figures about Afghanistan: PROFILE * Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia which shares borders with Iran, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. * Hamid Karzai has led the country since 2001, when U.S.-backed Afghan forces ended the five-year rule of the austere Islamist Taliban movement. * Karzai was first appointed leader of Afghanistan's interim government at the Bonn conference of December 2001 and has been re-elected twice since. * Afghanistan's population is almost 30 million. Life expectancy for both men and women is about 45 years. * Some 42 percent of Afghans are Pashtun and 27 percent are Tajik. Hazaras and Uzbeks each account for 9 percent of Afghans. * There are two national languages, Pashto and Dari. Pashto is the language of the Pashtuns and is spoken exclusively in many parts of the south and east. Dari (a Persian language) is spoken mainly in the north and center of Afghanistan. * Only 28 percent of Afghans are literate. SECURITY AND VIOLENCE * Violence has escalated as tens of thousands of additional foreign, mainly U.S., troops, have been deployed in response to an escalating Taliban insurgency which has claimed record numbers of military and civilian lives so far in 2009. * About 1,520 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the war started in November 2001. * The United States has lost 920 troops, Britain 235 and other NATO contributors 365, according to the iCasualties website (www.icasualties.org). * Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are by far the biggest killer of foreign troops. So far in 2009, 407 troops have been killed by home-made, insurgent-laid bombs.  Continued...