Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the international spotlight has been trained on Afghanistan, the Central Asian country notorious for housing one of the most repressive regimes on the planet as well as suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden.

But how much do most people really know about Afghanistan? A little digging on the Web sheds light on the enigmatic nation. Because the Taliban has outlawed the Internet for being obscene and anti-Islamic, the following sites are all hosted outside Afghanistan. A good place to start for a basic rundown of the France-sized country is the CIA World Factbook. Go to Afghanpedia for a deeper treatment, including the history of the Muslim country from the sixth century B.C. to the present. Afghanistan Online and Afghana are also good resources. Sites compiling news stories about the country include http://www.afghannews.netAfghan News, the Afghan News Network and Afgha, which features over 100 video and radio reports. Additionally, Azadi Afghan Radio features an audio library of interviews with prominent Afghan scholars, a few of which are in English. For underground radio of opposition groups broadcasting from Afghanistan, click on ClandestineRadio.com. For more political discussion, surf over to the Institute for Afghan Studies, a nonprofit think tank featuring analysis by Afghan scholars.