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Coordinates: 33°N 65°E
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
  • جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان (Dari)
  • Jomhūrīyyeh Eslāmīyyeh Afġānestān
  • د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت (Pashto)
  • Da Afġānistān Islāmī Jumhoryat
Motto: لا إله إلا الله، محمد رسول الله
"Lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh, Muhammadun rasūlu llāh"
"There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. (Shahada)
Anthem: Millī Surūd
ملي سرود
(English: "National Anthem")
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Location of Afghanistan
Capital
and largest city
Kabul
34°32′N 69°08′E
Official languages
Ethnic groups Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, and others[2]
Religion Islam
Demonym Afghan[Note 1]
Government Unitary presidential Islamic republic
• President
Ashraf Ghani
Abdullah Abdullah
Legislature National Assembly
House of Elders
House of the People
Formation
April 1709
October 1747
• Emirate
1823
• Recognized
19 August 1919
• Kingdom
9 June 1926
• Republic
17 July 1973
26 January 2004
Area
• Total
652,864[5] km2 (252,072 sq mi) (40th)
• Water (%)
negligible
Population
• 2016 estimate
34,656,032[6] (40th)
• Density
49.88/km2 (129.2/sq mi) (150th)
GDP (PPP) 2017 estimate
• Total
$70 billion[7]
• Per capita
$1,888[7]
GDP (nominal) 2017 estimate
• Total
$21 billion[7]
• Per capita
$572[7]
Gini (2008) 29[8]
low
HDI (2014) Increase 0.465[9]
low · 171st
Currency Afghani (Afs) (AFN)
Time zone D† (UTC+4:30 Solar Calendar)
Drives on the right
Calling code +93
ISO 3166 code AF
Internet TLD .af افغانستان.

Afghanistan (/æfˈɡænɪstæn, -ɡɑːnɪstɑːn/ (About this sound listen); Pashto/Dari: افغانستان‬, Pashto: Afġānistān [avɣɒnisˈtɒn, ab-], Dari: Afġānestān [avɣɒnesˈtɒn]), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; and in the far northeast, China. Its territory covers 652,000 square kilometers (252,000 sq mi) and much of it is covered by the Hindu Kush mountain range, which experience very cold winters. The north consists of fertile plains, whilst the south-west consists of deserts where temperatures can get very hot in summers. Kabul serves as the capital and its largest city.

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. The land has historically been home to various peoples and has witnessed numerous military campaigns, including those by Alexander the Great, Mauryas, Muslim Arabs, Mongols, British, Soviet, and since 2001 by the United States with NATO-allied countries. It has been called "unconquerable" and nicknamed the "graveyard of empires". The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khaljis, 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. Its border with British India, the Durand Line, was formed in 1893 but it is not recognized by the Afghan government and it has led to strained relations with Pakistan since the latter's independence in 1947. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919 the country was free of foreign influence, eventually becoming a monarchy under King Amanullah, and later for 40 years under Zahir Shah. In the late 1970s, Afghanistan in a series of coups first became a socialist state and then a Soviet Union protectorate. This evoked the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s against rebels. By 1996 most of Afghanistan was captured by the fundamentalist Islamic group the Taliban, who ruled most of the country as a totalitarian regime for almost five years. The Taliban were forcibly removed by the NATO-led coalition, and a new democratically-elected government political structure was formed.

Afghanistan is a unitary presidential Islamic republic with a population of 35 million, mostly composed of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks. It is a member of the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Group of 77, the Economic Cooperation Organization, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Afghanistan's economy is the world's 108th largest, with a GDP of $64.08 billion; the country fares much worse in terms of per-capita GDP (PPP), ranking 167th out of 186 countries in a 2016 report from the International Monetary Fund.

Etymology

The name Afghānistān (Pashto: افغانستان‎) is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, which is documented in the 10th-century geography book Hudud ul-'alam. The root name "Afghan" was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix "-stan" means "place of" in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, to land of the Pashtuns. However, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that "[t]he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan."

History