Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a landlocked, mostly mountainous country where Central and South Asia meet. Its neighbors are Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. The Hindu Kush divides its 652,864 km2 (252,072 sq mi) between plains in the north and the southwest.

Kabul is the capital and largest city, and Pashto and Dari are the official languages. People lived here at least 50,000 years ago, and its early farming communities were among the oldest anywhere. Alexander the Great arrived in 330 BCE, and in the 1st centuries CE the Kushan Empire, centered here, spread Buddhist culture. Islam reached Herat and Zaranj in 642, the Ghurids built the remote Minaret of Jam, and under Shah Rukh Herat became the heart of the Timurid Renaissance. Ahmad Shah Durrani founded the Durrani Empire in 1748, regarded as the basis of modern Afghanistan. The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 brought full independence, marked each year on 19 August, and the Kingdom of Afghanistan was proclaimed in 1926.

Since 2021 the Taliban have governed the country as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan through a caretaker government, and the loya jirga, a grand assembly, is the traditional way to settle national questions. Farming has long been the backbone of the economy, known for pomegranates, grapes, apricots and melons, and saffron grows especially in Herat Province. The mountains hold copper, iron ore, lithium, gold and precious stones, and the currency is the afghani. Noshaq in the Hindu Kush rises to 7,492 m (24,580 ft), and Band-e Amir, Wakhan and Nuristan are national parks.

Carpets are still woven by hand, the village of Istalif near Kabul makes turquoise and green pottery, and Gandhara art fused Greco-Roman and Buddhist styles. Cave murals here show the earliest known use of oil paint. Rumi of Balkh and Khwaja Abdullah Ansari of Herat are claimed as national glories, and Khushal Khan Khattak is the national poet. Attan is the national dance, and Ahmad Zahir shaped Afghan pop music. Kabuli palaw is the national dish, Nowruz opens the year, and buzkashi, a horseback game, is the national sport, while the cricket team played at the World Cups of 2015, 2019 and 2023.