OFFICIAL NAME

• ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN

Location & Size:

• Afghanistan is a 652,864 sq. km. (249,935 sq. mi.) landlocked country situated at the hub of South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 28.6 million people (2016). To the south and east, Afghanistan shares a border with Pakistan; to the west, it shares a border with Iran, and its northern border touches the Central Asian countries of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. In the far northeast, it shares a border with China.
  

FOUNDING

• Afghanistan achieved independence and freed itself from British control over its foreign affairs in 1919, following the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The Treaty of Rawalpindi granted Afghanistan sovereignty, which was declared on August 19, 1919 by King Amanullah Khan.

GOVERNMENT

• Afghanistan’s National Unity Government, elected in 2014, is led by President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive  Abdullah Abdullah.
  

CAPITAL

• Kabul

PROVINCES

• 34 

NATURAL RESOURCES

• Afghanistan has an abundance of natural resources, among them: natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromate, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones like emeralds, rubies, and lapis lazuli.
  

ETHNIC DIVERSITY

• Afghanistan has been a land of diverse peoples for centuries. The country’s constitution officially recognizes 14 ethnic groups: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Baluch, Turkmen, Nuristani, Pamiri, Arab, Gujar, Brahui, Qizilbash, Aimaq, and Pashai. Pashto and Dari are Afghanistan’s official languages; Pashto and Dari are Afghanistan’s official languages. Afghanistan’s Constitution stipulates that all other languages are “official” in the areas in which they are spoken by a majority of the population.

CURRENCY

• The “Afghani” (AFN) is the national currency, More Information (www.dab.gov.af)

COUNTRY TELEPHONE CODE

• +93

DOMAIN EXTENSIONS

• .AF  - Fore registration and more information (www.nic.af)