Islamic Republic of Afghanistan جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Afġānistān (Persian) د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت Da Afġānistān Islāmī Jomhoriyat (Pashto)
Flag Emblem
Anthem: Afghan National Anthem
Capital (and largest city)		Kabul 34°32′N 69°08′E / 34.533°N 69.133°E / 34.533; 69.133
Official language(s)		Dari (Persian) Pashto[1]
Demonym		Afghan [alternatives]
Government		Islamic republic
-	President	Hamid Karzai
-	Vice President	Mohammed Fahim
-	Vice President	Karim Khalili
-	Chief Justice	Abdul Salam Azimi
Legislature		National Assembly
-	Upper house	House of Elders
-	Lower house	House of the People
Establishment
-	First Afghan state[2][3]	October 1747
-	Independence (from the United Kingdom)	August 19, 1919
Area
-	Total	647,500 km2 (41st) 251,772 sq mi
-	Water (%)	negligible
Population
-	2011 estimate	29,835,392 [4] (42nd)
-	1979 census	15.5 million[5]
-	Density	43.5/km2 (150th) 111.8/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$29.731 billion[6]
-	Per capita	$956[6]
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$18.181 billion[6]
-	Per capita	$585[6]
Gini (2008)		29[7] (low)
HDI (2011)		0.398[8] (low) (172st)
Currency		Afghani (AFN)
Time zone		D† (UTC+4:30)
Drives on the		right
ISO 3166 code		AF
Internet TLD		.af
Calling code		+93

Afghanistan ⁱ/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming part of South Asia, Central Asia, and Greater Middle East,^[9][10] it is also considered to be part of a broader West Asia. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of 647,500 km² (250,001 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.

Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC.^[11] Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC.^[12] Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent,^[13] the land has been home to various peoples through the ages^[14] and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and in modern era Western forces.^[11][12] The land also served as a source from which the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have risen to form major empires.^[15]

The political history of the modern state of Afghanistan begins in 1709 with the rise of the Pashtuns, when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise to power in 1747.^[3][16][17] In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the "Great Game" between the British and Russian empires.^[18] Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 and the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi, King Amanullah started modernization of the country. During the Cold War, after the withdrawal of the British from neighboring India in 1947, the United States and the Soviet Union began spreading their influence in Afghanistan.^[19] Between 1979 and 1989, the country experienced a major war between the US-backed mujahideen forces and the Soviet-backed Afghan government in which over a million Afghans lost their lives mainly due to land-mines.^[20][21][22] This was followed by the 1990s Afghan civil war, the rise and fall of the extremist Taliban government and the 2001-present war.^[23] In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help maintain security in Afghanistan and assist the Karzai administration.^[24]

The decades of war made Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country,^[25] including the largest producer of refugees and asylum seekers. While the international community is rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan, terrorist groups such as the Haqqani Network and Hezbi Islami^[26] are actively involved in a nationwide Taliban-led insurgency,^[27] which includes hundreds of assassinations and suicide attacks.^[28] According to the United Nations, the insurgents were responsible for 75% of civilian casualties in 2010 and 80% in 2011.^[29][30]

Etymology[link]

The name Afghānistān (Persian: افغانستان‎, [avɣɒnestɒn])^[31] means "Land of the Afghans",^[32] which originates from the ethnonym "Afghan". Historically, the name "Afghan" designated the Pashtun people, the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan.^[33] This name is mentioned in the form of Abgan in the 3rd century CE by the Sassanians^[34] and as Avagana (Afghana) in the 6th century CE by Indian astronomer Varahamihira.^[33] A people called the Afghans are mentioned several times in a 10th century geography book, Hudud al-'alam, particularly where a reference is made to a village: "Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans."^[35]

Al-Biruni referred to them in the 11th century as various tribes living on the western frontier mountains of the Indus River, which would be the Sulaiman Mountains.^[36] Ibn Battuta, a famous Moroccan scholar visiting the region in 1333, writes: "We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by a village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principle mountain is called Kuh Sulayman."^[37]

Afghan soldiers of the Durrani Empire. The name "Afghaunistan" is written on this 1847 Lithograph by James Rattray.

One prominent 16th century Persian scholar explains extensively about the Afghans. For example, he writes:

The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were ques­tioned about the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and dis­turbances." Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and themselves Afgháns.^[38]

—Firishta, 1560-1620 AD

It is widely accepted that the terms "Pashtun" and Afghan are synonyms. In the writings of the 17th-century Pashto poet Khushal Khan Khattak it is mentioned:

Pull out your sword and slay any one, that says Pashtun and Afghan are not one! Arabs know this and so do Romans: Afghans are Pashtuns, Pashtuns are Afghans!^[39]

The last part of the name, -stān is a Persian suffix for "place", prominent in many languages of the region. The name "Afghanistan" is described by the 16th century Mughal Emperor Babur in his memoirs as well as by the later Persian scholar Firishta and Babur's descendants, referring to the traditional ethnic Afghan (Pashtun) territories between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Indus River.^[40] In the early 19th century, Afghan politicians decided to adopt the name Afghanistan for the entire Afghan Empire after its English translation had already appeared in various treaties with Qajarid Persia and British India.^[41] In 1857, in his review of J.W. Kaye's The Afghan War, Friedrich Engels describes "Afghanistan" as:

[...] an extensive country of Asia [...] between Persia and the Indies, and in the other direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly included the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat, Beluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and a considerable part of the Punjab [...] Its principal cities are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar.^[42]

The Afghan kingdom was sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Kabul, as mentioned by the British statesman and historian Mountstuart Elphinstone.^[43] Afghanistan was officially recognized as a sovereign state by the international community after the signing of the 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi.^[44][45]

Geography[link]

Topography

A landlocked mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest, Afghanistan is described as being located within South Asia^{[9][46][13][47][48][49][50]} or Central Asia.^[10] It is part of the Greater Middle East Muslim world, which lies between latitudes 29° N and 39° N, and longitudes 60° E and 75° E. The country's highest point is Noshaq, at 7,492 metres (24,580 feet) above sea level. It has a continental climate with very 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 the Turkestan plains along the Amu River in the north, where temperatures average over 35 °C (95 °F) in July.^{[citation needed]}

Snow-covered mountains of Afghanistan

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.^[51] Aside from the usual rain falls, Afghanistan receives snow during winter in the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains, and the melting snow in the spring season enters the rivers, lakes, and streams.^[52][53] However, two-thirds of the country's water flows into 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.^[54]

The northeastern Hindu Kush mountain range, in and around the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan, is in a geologically active area where earthquakes may occur almost every year.^[55] They can be deadly and destructive sometimes, causing landslides in some parts or avalanche during winter.^[56] The last strong earthquakes were in 1998, which killed about 6,000 people in Badakhshan near Tajikistan.^[57] This was followed by the 2002 Hindu Kush earthquakes in which over 150 people of various regional countries were killed and over 1,000 injured. The 2010 earthquake left 11 Afghans dead, over 70 injured and more than 2,000 houses destroyed.

Scenic view in western Afghanistan

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.^[58][59] 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.^[60][61][62]

At 652,230 square kilometres (251,830 sq mi),^[63] Afghanistan is the world's 41st largest country,^[64] 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.

History[link]

History of Afghanistan

See also: Timeline

Pre-Islamic Proto-Elamite civilization (2300–1800 BC) Indus valley civilization (2200–1800 BC) Oxus civilization (2100–1800 BC) Aryans (1700–700 BC) Median Empire (728–550 BC) Achaemenids (550–330 BC) Seleucids (330–150 BC) Mauryans (305–180 BC) Greco-Bactrians (256–125 BC) Indo-Greeks (180–130 BC) Indo-Scythians (Sakas) (155–80? BC) Indo-Parthians (20 BC–50? AD) Kushans (135 BC–248 AD) Sassanids (230–565) Indo-Sassanids (248–410) Kidarites (320–465) Hephthalites (410–557) Kabul Shahi (565–879) Islamic period Rashidun Caliphate (642–641) Umayyads (661–750) Abbasids (750–821) Tahirids (821–873) Saffarids (863–900) Samanids (875–999) Ghaznavids (963–1187) Seljukids (1037–1194) Khwarezmids (1077–1231) Ghorids (1149–1212) Ilkhanate (1258–1353) Kartids (1245–1381) Timurids (1370–1506) Arghun (1479-1522) Mughals (1501–1738) |Safavids (1510–1709) Hotaki dynasty (1709–1738) Afsharids (1738–1747) Modern history Durrani Empire (1747–1826) Emirate (1826–1919) Kingdom (1919–1973) Republic (1973–1978) Democratic Republic (1978–1992) Islamic State (1992–1996) Islamic Emirate (1996–2001) Islamic Republic (2001–present) Afghan Civil War  (1979–present) Soviet war  (1979–1989) Civil War, first phase (1989–1992) Civil War, second phase (1992–1996) Civil War, third phase (1996–2001)  War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

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Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and others suggest that humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in the area were among the earliest in the world.^[11][65][66] An important site of early historical activities, many say that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites.^[67]

Afghanistan is at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and often fought. It has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, the Islamic Empire and the Sassanid Empire.

Many kingdoms have also risen to power in what is now Afghanistan, such as the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Hephthalites, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Mughals, and finally the Hotaki and Durrani dynasties that marked the political origins of the modern state of Afghanistan.

Pre-Islamic period[link]

A 5th century BC carving of Median and Achaemenid soldiers, at a time when the region was known as Ariana.

Bilingual (Greek and Aramaic) edict by Emperor Ashoka from the 3rd century BCE was discovered in the southern city of Kandahar.

One of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, Buddhism was widespread in the region before the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan

Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the geographical area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by the culture of and trade with neighboring regions to the east, west, and north. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages have been found in Afghanistan.^[68] Urban civilization may have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak (near Kandahar in the south of the country) may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization.^[66]

After 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia moved south into the boundaries of modern Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians.^[65] These tribes later migrated further south to India, west to what is now Iran, and towards Europe via the area north of the Caspian.^[69] The region was called Ariana.^[65][70][71]

The ancient Zoroastrianism religion is believed by some to have originated in what is now Afghanistan between 1800 and 800 BCE, as its founder Zoroaster is thought to have lived and died in Balkh.^[72][73][74] Ancient Eastern Iranian languages may have been spoken in the region around the time of the rise of Zoroastrianism. By the middle of the 6th century BCE, the Achaemenid Persians overthrew the Medians and incorporated Afghanistan (Arachosia, Aria and Bactria) within its boundaries. An inscription on the tombstone of King Darius I of Persia mentions the Kabul Valley in a list of the 29 countries he had conquered.^[75]

Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army arrived in the area of Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier in the Battle of Gaugamela.^[72] Following Alexander's brief occupation, the successor state of the Seleucid Empire controlled the area until 305 BCE when they gave much of it to the Indian Maurya Empire as part of an alliance treaty.

Alexander took these away from the Aryans and established settlements of his own, but Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus (Chandragupta), upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange 500 elephants.^[76]

—Strabo, 64 BC – 24 AD

The Mauryans brought Buddhism from India and controlled the area south of the Hindu Kush until about 185 BCE when they were overthrown.^[77] Their decline began 60 years after Ashoka's rule ended, leading to the Hellenistic reconquest of the region by the Greco-Bactrians. Much of it soon broke away from the Greco-Bactrians and became part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Indo-Greeks were defeated and expelled by the Indo-Scythians in the late 2nd century BCE.

During the 1st century BCE, the Parthian Empire subjugated the region, but lost it to their Indo-Parthian vassals. In the mid to late 1st century CE the vast Kushan Empire, centered in modern Afghanistan, became great patrons of Buddhist culture. The Kushans were defeated by the Sassanids in the 3rd century CE. Although various rulers calling themselves Kushanshas (generally known as the Indo-Sassanids) continued to rule at least parts of the region, they were probably more or less subject to the Sassanids.^[78]

The late Kushans were followed by the Kidarite Huns^[79] who, in turn, were replaced by the short-lived but powerful Hephthalites, as rulers in the first half of the 5th century.^[80] The Hephthalites were defeated by Khosrau I in CE 557, who re-established Sassanid power in Persia. However, in the 6th century CE, the successors to the Kushans and Hepthalites established a small dynasty in Kabulistan called Kabul Shahi.

Islamization and Mongol invasion[link]

Built during the Ghurids era, the Friday Mosque of Herat or Masjid Jami is one of the oldest mosques in Afghanistan.

Between the fourth and nineteenth centuries, much of modern Afghanistan was known by the regional name as Khorasan.^[81][82] Two of the four main capitals of Khorasan (i.e. Balkh, Merv, Nishapur and Herat) are now located in modern Afghanistan, while Kandahar, Zabulistan, Ghazni and Kabulistan formed the frontier between Khorasan and Hindustan.^[83] The land inhabited by the Afghan tribes (i.e. ancestors of modern Pashtuns) was called Afghanistan, which loosely covered the area between the Hindu Kush and the Indus River, with the Sulaiman Mountains being the center.^[37][38]

A miniature from Padshahnama depicting the surrender of the Safavid garrison of Kandahar in 1638 to the Mughals, which was re-taken by the Safavids in 1649 during the Mughal-Safavid war.

Arab Muslims brought the message of Islam to the western area of what is now Afghanistan during the 7th century and began spreading eastward, some of the native inhabitants they encountered accepted it while others revolted.^[84] Afghanistan at that time was Zoroastrian, Buddhist and Hindu, with smaller populations of Jews, Christians and others.^[85] The Shahi rulers lost their Kabul capital in around 870 AD after it was conquered by the Saffarid Muslims of Zaranj. Later, the Samanids extended their Islamic influence into the Hindu Kush area from Bukhara in the north. It is reported that Muslims and non-Muslims lived side by side.

"Kábul has a castle celebrated for its strength, accessible only by one road. In it there are Musulmáns, and it has a town, in which are infidels from Hind."^[86]

—Istahkrí, 921 AD

Afghanistan became one of the main centers in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age.^[87][65] By the 11th century the Ghaznavids had finally Islamized all of the remaining non-Muslim areas, with the exception of the Kafiristan region. They were replaced by the Ghurids who expanded and advanced the already powerful empire. In 1219 AD, Genghis Khan and his Mongol barbarians overran the region. His troops are said to have annihilated the Khorasanian cities of Herat and Balkh.^[88] The destruction caused by the Mongols depopulated major cities and forced many of the locals to revert to an agrarian rural society.^[89] Mongol rule continued with the Ilkhanate in the northwest while the Khilji dynasty controlled the Afghan tribal areas south of the Hindu Kush, until the invasion of Timur who established the Timurid dynasty in 1370.^[90] During the Ghaznavid, Ghurid, and Timurid eras, Afghanistan produced many fine Islamic architectural monuments as well as numerous scientific and literary works.