Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked nation located at the crossroads of Central and also South Asia. Described as the “Heart of Asia”, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and southern, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and also China to the northeast and also east. Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the nation is predominately mountainous with levels in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush chain of mountains. Since 2021, its populace is 40.2 million, composed primarily of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks. Kabul is the country’s biggest city and also acts as its capital.

Human habitation in Afghanistan go back to the Center Paleolithic period, and also the nation’s strategic area along the historical Silk Roadway attached it to the societies of various other components of Asia in addition to Europe, leaving a mosaic of ethnolinguistic as well as religious groups that has actually influenced the modern-day Afghan nation. Known as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, the land has historically been a home to different peoples and has actually witnessed countless military projects, consisting of those by Alexander the Great, the Maurya Realm, Arab Muslims, the Mongols, the British, the Soviet Union, and also most recently by an American-led union. 

Afghanistan also served as the source from which the Greco-Bactrians and also the Mughals, to name a few, rose to form significant realms. The different occupations and also periods in both the Iranian as well as Indian cultural balls made the location a facility for Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, as well as later on Islam throughout history.