Afganistan 2012

Afghanistan i/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked sovereign state located in the centre of Asia, forming part of South Asia, Central Asia and Western Asia. With an estimated population of about 29 million, it has an area of 647,500 km2, making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. The territory of Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC.
The country sits at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent,which has been home to various peoples through the ages.The land has witnessed many military campaigns since antiquity, notably by Alexander the Great, Chandragupta Maurya, Genghis Khan, the Soviet Union, and NATO. It has also served as a source from which local dynasties such as the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have established empires of their own.
The political history of modern Afghanistan begins in 1709 with the rise of the Pashtuns, when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise to power in 1747.The capital of Afghanistan was shifted in '76 from Kandahar to Kabul and part of the Afghan Empire was ceded to neighboring empires by' '93. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the "Great Game" between the British and Russian empires.Following the third Anglo-Afghan war and the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, the nation regained control over its foreign policy from the British.
After the 1978