Afghanistan officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,
is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central
Asia. It has a population of approximately 31 million people, making it the 42nd most
populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in
the south and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in
the north; and China in the far northeast. Its territory covers 652,000 km2
(252,000 sq mi), making it the 41st largest country in the world.
Human habitation in Afghanistan dates back to the Middle Paleolithic Era, and the country's strategic location along the Silk Road connected it to the cultures of the
Middle East and other parts of Asia. Through the ages the land has been home to
various peoples and witnessed numerous military campaigns, notably
by Alexander the Great, Muslim Arabs, Mongols, British, Soviet Russians,
and in the modern-era by Western
powers. The land also served
as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites,
Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, and others have risen to form major
empires.
The political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began
with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th
century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in
the "Great Game"
between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan
War in 1919, King Amanullah and King Mohammed Zahir
Shah attempted to
modernize the country. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a Soviet
invasion and a series of
civil wars that
devastated much of Afghanistan.
In December 2001, after the Taliban government
was toppled and the new Afghan government under President Hamid Karzai was formed, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established by the UN Security Council to help assist the Karzai administration and provide basic security.
Meanwhile, the Afghan government was able to build some democratic structures, and the country
changed its name to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Attempts were made,
often with the support of foreign donor countries, to improve the country's
economy, healthcare, education, transport, and agriculture. ISAF forces also
began to train the Afghan National Security Forces. In the decade
following 2002, over five million Afghans were repatriated, including some who
were forcefully deported from Western countries.
A landlocked mountainous country with
plains in the north and southwest, Afghanistan is located within South Asia
and Central Asia. It is part of the US coined Greater Middle East Muslim world, which lies between latitudes 29° N and 39° N, and longitudes 60° Eand 75° E. The country's highest point is Noshaq, at 7,492 m (24,580 ft) above
sea level. It has a continental climate with
harsh winters in the central highlands, the
glaciated northeast (around Nuristan), and the Wakhan Corridor, where the average temperature
in January is below −15 °C (5 °F), and hot summers in the low-lying
areas of the Sistan Basin of
the southwest, the Jalalabad basin in
the east, and theTurkestan plains
along the Amu River in the
north, where temperatures average over 35 °C (95 °F) in July.
Landscapes of
Afghanistan, from left to right: 1. Band-e Amir
National Park; 2. Salang Pass inParwan Province; 3. Korangal Valley in Kunar Province; and 4. Kajaki Dam in Helmand Province
Despite having numerous rivers
and reservoirs,
large parts of the country are dry. The endorheic Sistan Basin is one of the
driest regions in the world. Aside
from the usual rainfall, Afghanistan receives snow during the winter in
the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains, and the melting snow in the
spring season enters the rivers,
lakes, and streams. However, two-thirds of the
country's water flows into the neighboring countries of Iran, Pakistan, and
Turkmenistan. The state needs more than US$2 billion to rehabilitate
its irrigation systems so that the water is properly managed.
The northeastern Hindu Kush mountain range, in and around the Badakhshan Province of
Afghanistan, is in a geologically activearea
where earthquakes may occur almost every year. They can be deadly and
destructive sometimes, causing landslides in some parts or avalanches during
the winter. The
last strong earthquakes were in 1998,
which killed about 6,000 people in Badakhshan near Tajikistan. This was
followed by the 2002 Hindu Kush
earthquakes in which over 150 people were killed and over 1,000
injured. A 2010 earthquake left
11 Afghans dead, over 70 injured, and more than 2,000 houses destroyed.
The country's natural resources
include: coal, copper, iron ore, lithium, uranium, rare earth elements, chromite, gold, zinc, talc,barites, sulfur, lead, marble, precious and semi-precious stones, natural gas, and petroleum, among other things. In 2010,
US and Afghan government officials estimated that untapped mineral deposits
located in 2007 by the US
Geological Survey are worth between $900 bn and $3
trillion.
At 652,230 km2 (251,830 sq mi), Afghanistan
is the world's 41st
largest country, slightly bigger than France and smaller than Burma,
about the size of Texas in the United States. It borders Pakistan in the south
and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north;
and China in the far east.
