Hello and welcome to Ajanabha! In this article, you are going to learn every detail about Afghanistan like Geographical, History, Climate, Best places to visit, and some interesting facts about Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is a mountainous country situated at the crossroads of Central and South Asia. It is also sometimes considered a part of the Middle East. The country is the fortieth biggest in the world in size. Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan and the biggest city of Afghanistan, situated in the Kabul Province. Strategically situated at the crossroads of main trade routes, Afghanistan has attracted a succession of invaders since the 6th century BCE.
The Hindu Kush mountains, located at the northeast to southwest across the country, divide the country into 3 main regions:
- the Central Highlands, which had roughly 3rd of the nation’s area.
- the Southwestern Plateau, which having one-fourth of the area; and
- the smaller Northern Plains area, including the nation’s maximum fertile soil.
Land and GEOGRAPHY
Land elevations usually slope from northeast to southwest, following the overall shape of the Hindu Kush massif, from its maximum factor in the Pamir Mountains close to the Chinese border to the decrease elevations close to the border with Iran. At the north, west, and southwest, there are no mountain limitations to neighboring nations.
The northernmost plains pass into the plains of Turkmenistan. In the southwest and west, the plateaus and deserts merge into the ones of Iran. Afghanistan is situated at the Eurasian Tectonic Plate. The Wakhan Corridor and the remaining of north-eastern Afghanistan, including Kabul, are located in a geologically lively area. Over a dozen earthquakes passed off there throughout the 20th century.
Afghanistan is bounded through six countries. Its longest border is the Durand Line, accounting for its whole southern and eastern boundary with Pakistan. The shortest one, bordering China’s Xinjiang province, is a trifling seventy-six km (forty-seven mi) at the end of the Wakhan Corridor, a slim sliver of land 241 km (a hundred and fifty mi) long that extends eastward among Tajikistan and Pakistan. At its narrowest factor, it is only eleven km (7 mi) wide.
Panjshir
Carving its way into the mountains of the Hindu Kush from the eastern provinces of Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley is tipped to come to be one of the newfound commercial powerhouses of the country.
With American funding taking the lead, talk of the entirety from emerald mining to hydroelectric technology is being floated for those parts.
However, for the time being, Panjshir Valley stays the wonderful medley of snow-topped hills, mountains and winding rivers, verdant fields, and rustic hamlets it’s always been – except, that is when the Soviets rolled this direction at the time of their invasion in the 1980s.
History
Afghanistan was settled around 7000 B.C. and has been in transition for most of its history. Alexander conquered Afghanistan in 330 B.C. and brought the Greek language and way of life to the region. Genghis Khan’s Mongols invaded in the thirteenth century. In 1747, Pashtun elders held a council assembly known as a Loya Jirga and created the kingdom of the Afghans.
The British and Afghans fought in 3 wars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; however, the Afghans ultimately defeated the British in 1919 and formed an independent country in 1921.
In 1978, (PDPA) the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan seized power in the country, placing in movement a sequence of activities that might flip the poor in the main non-violent nation into a breeding ground for terrorism. The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan’s occupation subsequently led to civil war or war among residents of the same country.
Afghan fighters called the mujahedin fought in opposition to the PDPA; these rebels later received aid from Pakistan, China, United States, and Iran. Russia supported the PDPA regime. Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and remained in the country until 1989. The civil war went on in Afghanistan after the Soviet departure till the fall of the PDPA regime in 1992.
Climate
In general, Afghanistan has cold winters and warm summers, typical of semiarid steppe weather. There are many regional variations, however. While the mountain areas of the northeast have subarctic weather with dry, cold winters, the mountainous regions at the border of Pakistan are affected by the Indian monsoons, generally coming between July and September and bringing maritime tropical air masses with rains and humidity.
In addition, strong winds blow nearly every day in the southwest during the summer. A local variation is also produced by differences in elevation. The climate in winter and early spring is strongly affected by cold air masses from the north and the Atlantic low from the northwest; those air masses carry snowfall and extreme cold in the highlands.
Food and culture
Hospitality is the main part of Afghan culture, with the excellent possible food being served for visitors, always following a cup of delicious tea, of course. Tea is drunk many times every day, is offered to all visitors, and maximum families have their own recipe.
Food is traditionally eaten communally, sat on big colorful cushions known as toshak placed around a low table called a sandali. From kebabs and palaw to marinated meats and fruit, a lot of unique dishes are prepared during the year. Whether during festivals or at engagements and weddings, there is always an excuse to eat well.
Animals life
Most of the animals of the subtropical region live in Afghanistan. Large mammals, previously abundant, are actually greatly decreased in numbers, and the tiger has disappeared. There is still a great type of wild animals roaming the mountains and foothills, which includes wolves, striped hyenas, foxes, and jackals.
Birds of prey include vultures, which are there in huge numbers, and eagles. Migratory birds abound at the time of the spring and fall seasons. There are also many pheasants, quail, pelicans, snipe, cranes, partridge, and crows.
Medicine and Health Care
Since modern clinical facilities are limited, people depend on traditional practices that include herbs and animal products. Every physical disease is classified as heat or cold, and its remedy relies upon restoring the body’s equilibrium through eating foods with the opposite properties.
Another way to cure disease is to adopt a pilgrimage to a shrine. Sometimes, pilgrims placed a pinch of sand gathered from the holy area into their tea or kept a scrap from the banners on a tomb. Certain springs are taken into consideration holy, and their water is considered to have a healing effect. Talismans (Koranic verse in a cloth folder) are sewed onto clothing or hats to defend against the evil eye or treat a disease.
Best Places to Visit in Afghanistan
Today, the fabric of this huge country in the depths of Asia is a palimpsest of its tumultuous past and wonderful location: Cities like Mazar-e Sharif and Kandahar are full of filigreed mosques and breathtaking madrasahs; historic trading routes cross opium fields; the dusty desert gives direction to snow-capped peaks and alpine glaciers. Of course, modern times have now no longer been so kind, and nowadays, the war-torn territory of tribes and Taliban is quite much out-of-bounds.
The best places to visit in Afghanistan:
Bagram
Although the small eastern town of Bagram, situated very near to both Kabul and the rises of the Hindu Kush, is best known to modern onlookers because of the sight of the biggest allied army base in the country, this one’s tale actually is going a lot deeper than that.
For starters, the city was conquered in the 300s BC by none other than Alexander, who finally made changes to its layout in the Grecian manner. And later, the area passed to the Mauryan Empire, which brought their Indian creative traditions to bear on the region.
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass actually falls into that huge category of places not present at the menu for the tourist in Afghanistan – considering that at the least 2007, the entire area here has been ruled by Taliban guerrillas, with western resources and army convoys targeted specifically.
However, once the tensions raise and the battle subsides, this high-perched stretch of land in the heights of the Spin Ghar will actually be worth the visit. Why? Well, because for hundreds of years, it’s hosted armies and traders. They came across the Silk Road from China and the east, or they came in the form of high-quality army leaders like Alexander the Great and Genghis Kahn.
Kabul
Kabul has been plunged into chaos because of the takeover of the Mujahedeen and al-Qaeda, the Taliban insurgents, and different factions after the beginning of the country’s current wars.
It’s a sad situation for capital with a lot to offer. Kabul was once a cultural hotpot point of Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. Later there had been Hindus here or even Alexander. Today, this wealthy past can be explored on the Kabul Museum – that is if you deem it secure to enter.
Band-e Amir National Park
Band-e Amir became home to the primary ever national park in Afghanistan back in 2009. Peppered by no less than six unique mountain lakes, landed more than 3,000 meters up in the mountainous peaks of the Hindu Kush, and formed by the happiness of captivating geological movements, the entire region is a wondrous area to behold.
Hikers come in the spring and summer (when the temperatures aren’t an unbearable 20 Celsius below!), to wonder at the cobalt-blue waters of Band-e Panir and the Band-e Gholaman.
Samangan
While the city of Samangan is a historical caravan stop on the outer edge routes of the old Silk Road, that declare to fame isn’t actually its main draw.
That honor is going to the mysterious cave complexes of Takht I Rostam that carve their way thru the dusty ridges of the mountains nearby.
These are ideas to have been built in the 4th and fifth centuries AD and are adorned with Buddhist inlays of lotus leaves, all that specialize in an internal mud-brick stupa. They provide an immersive glimpse into an almost-forgotten, pre-Muslim past.
Bamiyan
For fans of tradition and spiritual history, the Bamiyan story is a completely sad one. In historical times, the area was called a hub for Hindu–Buddhist worship, and it thrived with artisans, monasteries, and – especially – sculptors a long time earlier than the Muslim invasion.
In fact, the 2 large statues of the Buddha that stood right here had been taken into consideration a number of the maximum elegant 4th and fifth-century carvings in all of Asia. In March 2001, however, those great effigies had been destroyed by the Taliban, causing global outrage and even prompting UNESCO to tag their stays to prevent further destruction.
Interesting facts about Afghanistan
- “Buzkashi” is Afghanistan’s national game. Players in groups attempt to capture a goat at the same time as using a horse. This sport is being performed for hundreds of years and is a difficult sport.
- Mobile phone coverage is available in greater than 90% of the country. Mobile telephones are status symbols.
- Alexander captured the city of Herat in 330BC and constructed its historical citadel. Alexander had a son with a lovely girl from the province of Balkh in Afghanistan.
- Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the poster boy in many of the muscle-building centres in Afghanistan. They say he looks like an Afghan.
- The world’s first oil paintings were drawn in the caves of “Bamiyan” around 650 BC.
- Afghanistan is expected to have been inhabited by humans at least 50,000 years ago.
- In Afghanistan, the maximum of the stores and organizations are closed on Friday, that is the Islamic holy day.
- Direct eye contact among males and females is not considered acceptable and need to be avoided.
- Gifts are a means of strengthening the connection among a tourist and their host. The tourist can bring a small present for the host while invited for tea or food.
- Afghanistan is a multicultural and multi-ethnic country.
Final Words
In this article, we have provided every detail about Afghanistan. We hope this will help you for gaining more knowledge about Afghanistan. If you have any questions, please ask us in the comment and we will be happy to help you. Please follow us on Social Media and subscribe to us via email to receive regular updates.
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