Afghanistan
POPULATION 27,755,775
MUSLIM 99 percent
OTHER 1 percent
Country Overview
Introduction
Afghanistan, since 2001 officially known as the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, is a mountainous, landlocked country that lies in the heart of the Eurasian continent. It borders Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to the north, China to the northeast, and Pakistan to the east and south. Located at the crossroads of trade routes connecting south-central Asia to northern Europe and the Mediterranean region, Afghanistan has experienced incessant waves of invaders, migrants, and traders, creating an ethnically and linguistically diverse cultural mosaic. Despite a violent and turbulent past, Afghanistan has also been a place of great cultural efflorescence, because of its unique geographical location.
In ancient times Afghanistan was the center of Zoroastrianism, a Persian religion founded by the prophet Zoroaster (c. 628–c. 551 B.C.E.). Buddhism, first introduced in Afghanistan from India during the third century B.C.E., reached its apogee during the first and second centuries C.E., after which it spread to China and Southeast Asia. Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, Afghanistan became an important center for the development of Sufi Islam. Afghanistan emerged as an autonomous state after gaining independence from the British in 1919, which lasted until 1992, when factional fighting plunged the country into a protracted civil war that destroyed its state apparatus.
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