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Location: Southern Asia, north and west of Pakistan, east
of Iran
Geographic coordinates: 33 00 N, 65 00 E
Map references: Asia
Area:
total: 652,000 sq km
land: 652,000 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Texas
Land boundaries:
total: 5,529 km
border countries: China 76 km, Iran 936 km, Pakistan 2,430
km, Tajikistan 1,206 km, Turkmenistan 744 km, Uzbekistan 137 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers
Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Amu Darya 258 m
highest point: Nowshak 7,485 m
Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper,
chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious
and semiprecious stones
Land use:
arable land: 12%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 46%
forests and woodland: 3%
other: 39% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 30,000 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush
mountains; flooding
Environment - current issues: soil degradation; overgrazing;
deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down
for fuel and building materials); desertification
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban
signed, but not ratified: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Hazardous
Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note: landlocked
Afghanistan
THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Afghanistan's rugged terrain and seasonally harsh climate have
not deterred foreign invaders who coveted this land or sought to
cross it on the road to further conquests. The history of Afghanistan
is replete with tales of invasion. Yet the rugged landscape combined
with the fiercely independent spirit of the Afghan people have seriously
impeded and often repulsed would-be conquerors.
Afghanistan resembles an irregularly shaped hanging leaf with the
Wakhan Corridor and the Pamir Knot as its stem in the northeast.
Situated between 29 35' and 38 40' north latitude and 60 31' and
75 00' east latitude, it encompasses approximately 652,290 square
kilometers, roughly the size of Texas, stretching 1,240 kilometers
from east to west and 565 kilometers from north to south. Afghanistan
is completely landlocked, bordered by Iran to the west (925 kilometers),
by the Central Asian States of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan
to the north and northeast (2,380 kilometers), by China at the easternmost
top of the Wakhan Corridor (96 kilometers), and by Pakistan to the
east and south (2,432 kilometers).
Data as of 1997
Afghanistan
Mountains
Mountains dominate the landscape, forming a terrigenous skeleton,
traversing the center of the country, running generally in a northeast-southwest
direction. More than 49 percent of the total land area lies above
2,000 meters. Although geographers differ on the division of these
mountains into systems, they agree that the Hindukush system, the
most important, is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains,
the Karakorum Mountains, and the Himalayas.
The origin of the term Hindukush (which translates as Hindu Killer)
is also a point of contention. Three possibilities have been put
forward: that the mountains memorialize the Indian slaves who perished
in the mountains while being transported to Central Asian slave
markets; that the name is merely a corruption of Hindu Koh, the
pre-Islamic name of the mountains that divided Hindu southern Afghanistan
from non-Hindu northern Afghanistan; or, that the name is a posited
Avestan appellation meaning "water mountains."
The mountain peaks in the eastern part of the country reach more
than 7,000 meters. The highest of these is Nowshak at 7,485 meters.
Mount Everest in Nepal stands 8,796 meters high. The Pamir mountains,
which Afghans refer to as the 'Roof of the World," extend into Tajikistan,
China and Kashmir.
The mountains of the Hindukush system diminish in height as they
stretch westward: toward the middle, near Kabul, they extend from
4,500 to 6,000 meters; in the west, they attain heights of 3,500
to 4,000 meters. The average altitude of the Hindukush is 4,500
meters. The Hindukush system stretches about 966 kilometers laterally,
and its median north-south measurement is about 240 kilometers.
Only about 600 kilometers of the Hindukush system is called the
Hindukush mountains. The rest of the system consists of numerous
smaller mountain ranges including the Koh-e Baba; Salang; Koh-e
Paghman; Spin Ghar (also called the eastern Safid Koh); Suleiman;
Siah Koh; Koh-e Khwaja Mohammad; Selseleh-e Band-e Turkestan. The
western Safid Koh, the Siah Band and Doshakh are commonly referred
to as the Paropamisus by western scholars.
Numerous high passes (kotal) transect the mountains, forming
a strategically important network for the transit of caravans. The
most important mountain pass is the Kotal-e Salang (3,878 meters);
it links Kabul and points south to northern Afghanistan. The completion
of a tunnel within this pass in 1964 reduced travel time between
Kabul and the north to a few hours. Previously access to the north
through the Kotal-e Shibar (3,260 meters) took three days. The Salang
Tunnel at 3363 meters and the extensive network of galleries on
the approach roads were constructed with Soviet financial and technological
assistance and involved drilling 1.7 miles through the heart of
the Hindukush.
Before the Salang road was constructed, the most famous passes
in the Western historical perceptions of Afghanistan were those
leading to the Indian subcontinent. They include the Khyber Pass
(,1027 meters), in Pakistan, and the Kotal-e Lataband (2,499 meters)
east of Kabul, which was superseded in 1960 by a road constructed
within the Kabul River's most spectacular gorge, the Tang-e Gharu.
This remarkable engineering feat completed in 1960 reduced travel
time between Kabul and the Pakistan border from two days to a few
hours.
The roads through the Salang and Tang-e Gharu passes played critical
strategic roles during the recent conflicts and were used extensively
by heavy military vehicles. Consequently these roads are in very
bad repair. Many bombed out bridges have been repaired, but numbers
of the larger structures remain broken. Periodic closures due to
conflicts in the area seriously affect the economy and well-being
of many regions, for these are major routes carrying commercial
trade, emergency relief and reconstruction assistance supplies destined
for all parts of the country.
There are a number of other important passes in Afghanistan. Wakhjir
(4,923 meters), proceeds from the Wakhan Corridor into Xinjiang,
China, and into Kashmir. Passes which join Afghanistan to Chitral,
Pakistan, include the Baroghil (3,798 meters) and the Kachin (5,639
meters), which also cross from the Wakhan. Important passes located
farther west are the Shotorgardan (3,720 meters), linking Logar
and Paktiya provinces; the Bazarak (2,713 meters), leading into
Mazar-i-Sharif; the Khawak (3,550 meters)in the Panjsher Valley,
and the Anjuman (3,858 meters) at the head of the Panjsher Valley
giving entrance to the north. The Hajigak (2,713 meters) and Unai
(3,350 meters) lead into the eastern Hazarajat and Bamiyan Valley.
The passes of the Paropamisus in the west are relatively low, averaging
around 600 meters; the most well-known of these is the Sabzak between
Herat and Badghis provinces, which links the western and northwestern
parts of Afghanistan.
These mountainous areas are mostly barren, or at the most sparsely
sprinkled with trees and stunted bushes. True forests, found mainly
in the eastern provinces of Nuristan and Paktiya, cover barely 2.9
of the country's area. Even these small reserves have been disastrously
depleted by the war and through illegal exploitation. The forests
are in fact in a crisis situation. A 1996 a FAO report estimated
that of the 4.7 million acres of forests existing at the beginning
of the war, in 1979, considerably less than one million acres survive
today.
Data as of 1997
Afghanistan
Rivers
In addition to its mountains, the country possesses many rivers,
river basins, lakes and desert areas. The four major river systems
are the Amu Darya, the Oxus of antiquity, (boundary with Central
Asia, 1,100 kilometers in Afghanistan); the Hilmand (1,300 kilometers);
the Harirud (650 kilometers in Afghanistan); and the Kabul (460
kilometers). Only the Kabul River, joining the Indus system in Pakistan,
leads to the sea. Many rivers and streams simply empty into arid
portions of the country, spending themselves through evaporation
without replenishing the four major systems; others flow only seasonally.
Three major dams harness these rivers for land reclamation and
hydroelectric purposes: the Arghandab Dam above Kandahar, completed
in 1952, is 145-feet-high and 1,740-feet-long and has a storage
capacity of 388,000 acre-feet of water; the Kajakai Dam on the Hilmand
River, completed in 1953, is 300-feet-high and 887-feet-long, with
a storage capacity of 1,495,000 acre-feet of water; the Naglu Dam
on the Kabul River west of Jalalabad, completed in the 1960s, is
361-feet-high and 919-feet-long, stores 304,000 acre-feet of water.
These large dams were not destroyed by war, but because of lack
of maintenance, looted cables and major silting in the reservoirs,
none are functioning to full capacity.
Data as of 1997
Afghanistan
Regions
Scholars disagree over the division, number and definitions of
Afghanistan's regions. Louis Dupree's geographic paradigm is one
of the most respected and is based on the regional division of human
geography and ecology. He divides Afghanistan into eleven geographic
zones. The first six--the Wakhan Corridor-Pamir Knot, Badakhshan,
Central Mountains, Eastern Mountains, Northern Mountains and Foothills,
Southern Mountains and Foothills--are connected to the Hindukush
systems. The remaining five--Turkistan Plains, Herat-Farah Lowlands,
Sistan Basin-Hilmand Valley, Western Stony Desert, and Southwestern
Sandy Desert--comprise deserts and plains "which surround the Mountains
in the north, west and southwest." Medieval geographies speak of
the remarkable prosperity of the Sistan which is now known principally
for its deserts covered with moving sand dunes rising to a height
of 20 meters. Some experts have concluded these may be the fastest
moving sand dunes anywhere in the world.
The United Nations has defined eight regions for their assistance
planning: Northeast--Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, Baghlan; North--Samangan,
Balkh, Saripul, Jawzjan; West--Faryab, Badghis, Herat, Farah; East-Central--Bamiyan,
Ghor; Central--Kapisa, Parwan, Kabul, Logar, Wardak; East--Kunar,
Nuristan, Laghman, Nangarhar; South--Paktya, Pakteka, Khost, Ghazni;
Southwest--Zabul, Uruzgan, Kandahar, Hilmand, Nimroz. This reflects
the creation since 1978 of three new provinces--Saripul, Khost and
Nuristan--bringing the 1996 total to thirty-two.
Construction of a circular road system to link these regions was
assiduously promoted during the 1960s: with assistance from the
United States south of the Hindukush, the Soviet Union north of
the Hindukush, and West Germany in Paktya Province. These roads
connected major cities with the principal border crossings: from
Herat to Iran and Turkmenistan in the west; from Kandahar to Pakistan
in the south; from Kabul through Jalalabad to Pakistan in the east;
from Balkh to Uzbekistan in the north.
Other roads are unpaved, and the once-paved roads have been almost
totally destroyed. This is a major impediment to reconstruction
since any improvements, particularly in the agriculture sector,
are hampered by the lack of an efficient delivery infrastructure.
Rebuilding of the roads, however, is beyond the capacity of any
agency now involved in Afghanistan's rehabilitation. This is the
one sector that will require massive inputs which can only be obtained
by such organizations as the World Bank or the Asian Bank, both
of which insist on peace before becoming involved.
The plate-tectonic activity in Afghanistan has contributed to the
creation of the geologic riches of the country, but has also produced
frequent earthquakes; around fifty are recorded each year. Although
most are relatively mild, the most severe earthquake in recent history
occurred on 29 July 1985. French scientists recorded a measurement
of 7.3 on the Richter scale at its epicenter in the Hindukush. Since
then, according to the United States Geological Survey, there have
been ten earthquakes in Afghanistan which have registered above
6.0; the most severe, both registering at 6.4, occurred in January
and July 1991.
Data as of 1997
Afghanistan
Climate
The climate is typical of an arid or semiarid steppe, with cold
winters and dry summers. The mountain regions of the northeast are
subarctic with dry and cold winters. In the mountains bordering
Pakistan, a divergent fringe effect of the monsoon, generally coming
from the southeast, brings tropical air masses that determine the
climate between July and September. At times, these air masses advance
into central and southern Afghanistan, bringing increased humidity
and some rain.
On the intermountain plateaus the winds do not blow very strongly,
but in the Sistan Basin there are severe blizzards that occur during
the winter, generally December through February. In the western
and southern regions a northerly wind, known as the "wind of 120
days," blows during the summer months of June to September. This
wind is usually accompanied by intense heat, drought, and sand storms,
bringing much hardship to the inhabitants of the desert and steppe
lands. Dust and whirlwinds frequently occur during the summer months
on the flats in the southern part of the country. Rising at midday
or in the early afternoon, these "dust winds" advance at velocities
ranging between 97 and 177 kilometers per hour, raising high clouds
of dust.
Temperature and precipitation are controlled by the exchange of
air masses. The highest temperatures and the lowest precipitation
prevail in the drought-ridden, poorly watered southern plateau region,
which extends over the boundaries with Iran and Pakistan.
The Central Mountains, with higher peaks ascending toward the Pamir
Knot, represent another distinct climatic region. From the Koh-e
Baba Range to the Pamir Knot, January temperatures may drop to -15
C or lower in the highest mountain areas; July temperatures vary
between 0 and 26 C depending on altitude. In the mountains the annual
mean precipitation, much of which is snowfall, increases eastward
and is highest in the Koh-e Baba Range, the western part of the
Pamir Knot, and the Eastern Hindukush. Precipitation in these regions
and the eastern monsoon area is about forty centimeters per year.
The eastern monsoon area encompasses patches in the eastern border
area with Pakistan, in irregular areas in eastern Afghanistan from
north of Asmar to just north of Darkh-e Yahya, and occasionally
as far west as the Kabul Valley. The Wakhan Corridor, however, which
has temperatures ranging from 9 C in the summer to below -21 C in
the winter, receives fewer than ten centimeters of rainfall annually.
Permanent snow covers the highest mountain peaks. In the mountainous
region adjacent to northern Pakistan, the snow is often more than
two meters deep during the winter months. Valleys often become snow
traps as the high winds sweep much of the snow from mountain peaks
and ridges.
Precipitation generally fluctuates greatly during the course of
the year in all parts of the country. Surprise rainstorms often
transform the episodically flowing rivers and streams from puddles
to torrents; unwary invading armies have been trapped in such flooding
more than once in Afghanistan's history. Nomadic and seminomadic
Afghans have also succumbed to the sudden flooding of their camps.
The climate of the Turkistan Plains, which extend northward from
the Northern Foothills, represents a transition between mountain
and steppe climates. Aridity increases and temperatures rise with
descending altitudes, becoming the highest along the lower Amu Darya
and in the western parts of the plains.
Data as of 1997
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