Afghanistan (officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan; Persian (Dari): جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان), Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, 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 the Middle East or South Asia, as it has cultural, ethno-linguistic, and geographic links with most of its neighbors. It is bordered by Iran in the west, Pakistan and India[1] in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and the People's Republic of China to the east. The name Afghanistan is derived from Persian, meaning "land of the Afghans"

Afghanistan is a mosaic of ethnic groups and cultures, and a crossroads between east and west. An ancient land that has often been plundered, and also a focal point of trade, the region of present-day Afghanistan has seen several invading forces come and go, including Aryan nomads, the Mede and Persian Empires, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols. Modern Afghanistan arose as an independent state in 1919, when foreign intervention ceased following the Anglo-Afghan wars. The country's recent history has seen it ravaged by the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, the Afghan Civil War, the rise and fall of the Taliban, and the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

As a result of these traumatic events, Afghanistan is in a rebuilding phase, as it attempts to reconcile the devastation that constant warfare has created, with a new government that seeks to unify and rebuild Afghanistan. Afghanistan faces numerous problems, ranging from its devastated economy, the return of millions of refugees, continued warlordism, drug trafficking, and a new government that is struggling with the political forces trying to define the sort of country Afghanistan will become in the 21st century.