Afghanistan

Afghanistan (Pashto/Dari-Persian: افغانستان, Afğānistān) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Asia. Generally considered a part of Central Asia, it is sometimes ascribed to a regional bloc in either South Asia or the Middle East, as it has cultural, ethno-linguistic, and geographic links with most of its neighbors. It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China to the east. It has a population of 30 million people, although this remains an estimate, as no official census has been taken for decades.

Afghanistan literally translates to 'land of the Afghans', but a plethora of other names have been applied to its general location in the past. Between the fall of the Taliban after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 Loya jirga, Afghanistan was referred to by the Government of the United States as the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan. Under its new constitution, the country is now officially named the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.