Afghanistan Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia . Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south , Iran to the west , Turkmenistan to the northwest , Uzbekistan to the north , Tajikistan to the northeast , and China to the northeast and east . Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest , which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's largest city and serves as its capital. According to the World Population review, , Afghanistan's population is 40.2 million. The National Statistics Information Authority of Afghanistan estimated the population to be 32.9 million .
Human habitation in Afghanistan dates to the Middle Paleolithic era. Popularly referred to as the graveyard of empires , the land has historically been home to various peoples and has witnessed numerous military campaigns , including those by the Persians , Alexander the Great , the Maurya Empire , Arab Muslims , the Mongols , the British , the Soviet Union , and a US-led coalition . Afghanistan also served as the source from which the Greco-Bactrians and the Mughals , amongst others, rose to form major empires. The various conquests and periods in both the Iranian and Indian cultural spheres made the area a center for Zoroastrianism , Buddhism, Hinduism, and later Islam. The modern state of Afghanistan began with the Durrani Afghan Empire in the 18th century, although Dost Mohammad Khan is sometimes considered to be the founder of the first modern Afghan state . Dost Mohammad died in 1863, days after his last campaign to unite Afghanistan , and Afghanistan was consequently thrown back into civil war . During this time, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the Great Game between the British Empire and the Russian Empire . From India, the British attempted to subjugate Afghanistan but were repelled in the First Anglo-Afghan War . However, the Second Anglo-Afghan War saw a British victory and the successful establishment of British political influence. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, Afghanistan became free of foreign political hegemony, and emerged as the independent Kingdom of Afghanistan in June 1926 under Amanullah Khan . This monarchy lasted almost half a century, until Zahir Shah was overthrown in 1973 , following which the Republic of Afghanistan was established.
Afghanistan is rich in natural resources, including lithium , iron , zinc , and copper . It is the second largest producer of cannabis resin , and third largest of both saffron and cashmere . The country is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and a founding member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation . Due to the effects of war in recent decades, the country has dealt with high levels of terrorism , poverty , and child malnutrition . Afghanistan remains among the world's least developed countries , ranking 180th in the Human Development Index . Afghanistan's gross domestic product (GDP) is $81 billion by purchasing power parity and $20.1 billion by nominal values. Per capita, its GDP is amongst the lowest of any country . (Full article...
The Kushan Empire c. 30 –c. 375 AD) was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Tajikistan , Uzbekistan , Afghanistan , Pakistan , and Northern India , at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath , near Varanasi , where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great .
The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the
Yuezhi confederation, an
Indo-European nomadic people of possible
Tocharian origin, who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria. The founder of the dynasty,
Kujula Kadphises , followed Greek cultural ideas and iconography after the
Greco-Bactrian tradition and was a follower of the
Shaivite sect of
Hinduism . Two later Kushan kings,
Vima Kadphises and
Vasudeva II , were also patrons of Hinduism. The Kushans in general were also great patrons of
Buddhism , and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they employed elements of
Zoroastrianism in their pantheon. They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China, ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years, sometimes described as "
Pax Kushana ". (
Full article... )
List of selected articles
The following are images from various Afghanistan-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Map of Afghanistan (
Emirate ) and surrounding nations, dated 1860. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 2 The Afghan Durrani Empire at its height in 1761. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 5 King Yaqub Khan with Britain's Sir
Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari , 26 May 1879, on the occasion of the signing of the
Treaty of Gandamak (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 7 Kabul during civil war in 1993. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 8 Alexander Empire in South Asia (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 9 Hotaki Empire, 1728 (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 10 Much of the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan was subordinated to the Achaemenid Empire (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 11 Some of the popular Afghan dishes, from left to right: 1. Lamb grilled kebab (
seekh kabab ); 2.
Palao and salad; 3.
Tandoori chicken ; and 4.
Mantu (dumplings). The Afghan cuisine includes a blend of Central Asian, Eastern Asian, South Asian and the Middle Eastern cuisines. Nearly all Afghan dishes are non-spicy. (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 12 An Afghan man with a
tasbih (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 13 Women dancing in traditional dress in
San Francisco (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 14 Map of Afghanistan 1839–1863, showing the First Anglo-Afghan war, and unification of Afghanistan by Dost Mohammad Khan (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 15 Mongol invasions and conquests seriously depopulated large areas of Afghanistan (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 17 Herat Citadel in the western Afghan city of
Herat (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 18 Vishnu Nicolo Seal representing
Vishnu with a worshipper (probably
Mihirakula ), 4th–6th century CE. The inscription in cursive
Bactrian reads: "
Mihira ,
Vishnu and
Shiva ".
British Museum . (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 19 The
Mahajanapadas , including the
Gandhara and
Kambojas kingdoms and
Achaemenid Empire in West, around c. 500 BCE (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 20 Map of the region during the 7th century (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 21 An Afghan boy with a kite (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 22 Ethnolinguistic groups in Afghanistan in 1982 (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 23 Timurid Empire at its greatest extent in 1405 (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 25 Typical Afghan food table (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 26 The
Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent c. 620, under
Khosrow II (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 27 Players in a game of
buzkashi , the national sport (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 28 Arachosia ,
Aria and
Bactria were the ancient
satraps of the
Achaemenid Empire that made up most of what is now Afghanistan during 500 BCE. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 29 Present-day location of Afghanistan in Asia (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 30 Map of the Hotak Empire during the Reign of
Mirwais Hotak , 1715. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 31 Map of Ghurid territory, before the assassination of
Muhammad of Ghor . In the west, Ghurid territory extended to
Nishapur and
Merv , while Ghurid troops reached as far as
Gorgan on the shores of the
Caspian Sea . Eastward, the Ghurids invaded as far as
Bengal . (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 32 Soldiers of the
Afghan National Army in 2010, including the
ANA Commando Battalion standing in the front.
Image 33 The day after the Marxist revolution on April 28, 1978 (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 34 Modern-day sketch work of
Mahmud Hotaki (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 35 A map of Afghanistan showing the
2021 Taliban offensive (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 36 Taliban fighters patrolling Kabul in a
Humvee , 17 August 2021 (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 37 Map of the situation in Afghanistan in late 1996;
Massoud (red),
Dostum (green) and
Taliban (yellow) territories. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 38 Elements of Afghan culture including:
tabla and
harmonium musical instruments, an
Afghan carpet , teapot, and
sheer pira dessert (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 39 Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan dominions under Kanishka (dotted line), according to the Rabatak inscription. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 40 The
Bimaran casket , representing the
Buddha surrounded by
Brahma (left) and
Śakra (right) was found inside a
stupa with coins of
Azes inside.
British Museum . (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 41 Ethno-linguistic map of Afghanistan 1997 (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 42 Map of the situation in Afghanistan in August 2001 until October 2001 (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 43 Ghaznavid Empire at its greatest extent in 1030 CE (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 44 Alexander's troops beg to return home from India in plate
3 of 11 by Antonio Tempesta of Florence, 1608. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 45 Women painting at the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan (CCAA) in
Kabul . (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 47 Gandhara Buddhist reliquary with content, including
Indo-Parthian coins. 1st century CE.
Image 48 Gandhara Kingdom in
Early Vedic Period , around 1500 BCE (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 49 Approximate maximum extent of the
Greco-Bactrian kingdom circa 180 BCE, including the regions of
Tapuria and
Traxiane to the West,
Sogdiana and
Ferghana to the north,
Bactria and
Arachosia to the south. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 50 Outside the
Presidential Palace in
Kabul , a day after the
Marxist revolution on April 28, 1978. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 51 Tents of
Afghan nomads in the northern
Badghis province of Afghanistan. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan about 7,000 years ago. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 52 Former Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf sent more troops against the
United Front of
Ahmad Shah Massoud than the Afghan Taliban. (from
History of Afghanistan )
Image 53 Songbirds in cages at a farm in
Nangarhar Province , used for the pleasure of the site's farmers (from
Culture of Afghanistan )
Image 54 A
miniature from
Padshahnama depicting the surrender of the
Shia Safavid garrison of Kandahar in 1638 to the
Mughal army of
Shah Jahan commanded by Kilij Khan. (from
History of Afghanistan )
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