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![Retired general Barry McCaffrey’s advice about the mission of the United States and its allies in …
[© FORA.tv, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (http://fora.tv)]](/web/20100528101509im_/http://www.britannica.com/static/bps-static-content/20100428-1036/images/darwin/shared/spacer_htc.gif "Retired general Barry McCaffrey’s advice about the mission of the United States and its allies in …
[© FORA.tv, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (http://fora.tv)]")
Retired general Barry McCaffrey’s advice about the mission of the United States and its allies in …[Credit: © FORA.tv, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (http://fora.tv)]
U.S. Gen. David Petraeus outlining a counterinsurgency plan to stabilize the situation in …[Credit: © FORA.tv, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (http://fora.tv)]
Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. Central Command, describing U.S. counterinsurgency policy and goals in …[Credit: © FORA.tv, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (http://fora.tv)]
Abdullah Abdullah, former foreign minister of Afghanistan, cautioning that corruption may cause the …[Credit: © FORA.tv, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (http://fora.tv)]
Abdullah Abdullah, former foreign minister of Afghanistan, criticizing the ineffectiveness of the …[Credit: © FORA.tv, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (http://fora.tv)]
Former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright discussing Afghanistan and Pakistan, January …[Credit: © FORA.tv, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (http://fora.tv)]
[Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
The Blue Mosque at Mazār-e Sharīf, Afghanistan.[Credit: © Spectrum Colour Library/Heritage-Images]
The Blue Mosque at Mazār-e Sharīf, Afghanistan.[Credit: Spectrum Colour Library/Heritage-Images]
Ministry of Public Health worker administering water-purifying tablets in Kabul, 2005.[Credit: Tomas Munita/AP]
A crowd watches a play at an outdoor theater in Kabul, Afghanistan.[Credit: Tomas Munita/AP]
Empty niche where one of two colossal Buddhas stood prior to their destruction by the Taliban in …[Credit: STRDEL/AFP/Getty]
The Bamiyan valley, Afghanistan, showing the ancient caves before destruction of the statues.[Credit: Richard Abeles]
Yakshi (river goddess), ivory carving from Bagrām, Afg. Height 46 cm.[Credit: Josephine Powell--By courtesy of the Kabul Museum, Afghanistan photographs]
Detail of the victory tower of Masʿūd III, constructed in 1099–1115; in …[Credit: Josephine Powell, Rome]
Map of Persia (Iran), Afghanistan, and Baluchistan, from the 10th edition of …[Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
Amānollāh Khan of Afghanistan.[Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
Amānollāh Khan in traditional Afghan attire.[Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
A convoy of Soviet armoured vehicles crossing a bridge at the Soviet-Afghan border, May 21, 1988, …[Credit: Vitaly Armand—AFP/Getty Images]
Osama bin Laden.[Credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Anti-Taliban fighters observing U.S. bombing of the cave sanctuaries of the al-Qaeda terrorist …[Credit: Reuters NewMedia Inc./Corbis]
In preparation for the 2004 elections, an Afghan woman obtains her voter registration card in Kabul.[Credit: AP]
U.S. Special Forces working with members of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, Nov. 12, 2001.[Credit: U.S. Department of Defense]
Northern Alliance security forces entering Kabul on the morning of Nov. 13, 2001.[Credit: Shah Marai—AFP/Getty Images]
An Afghan policeman consoling a relative of the provincial governor who was killed along with three …[Credit: Rafiq Maqbool/AP]
Afghan policemen destroying opium poppies during an eradication sweep in Orūzgān …[Credit: AP]
Collecting resin from opium poppies in a field in Afghanistan, 2008.[Credit: AP]
Afghanistan national flag, 1992–2001.
The Khyber Pass, on Pakistan’s northwestern border with Afghanistan.[Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]
U.S. Marines monitor the flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle in remote southwestern Afghanistan in …[Credit: John Moore/Getty Images]
Afghanistan’s first national park, designated in April 2009, was created in the picturesque …[Credit: AP]
The first Afghan fashion show in years—held in a hotel in Kabul on July 8—featured this …[Credit: Ahmad Masood—Reuters/Landov]
![The Blue Mosque at Mazār-e Sharīf, Afghanistan.
[Credit: Spectrum Colour Library/Heritage-Images]](http://web.archive.org/web/20100528101509im_/http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/75/97075-003-D8410C37.gif "The Blue Mosque at Mazār-e Sharīf, Afghanistan.
[Credit: Spectrum Colour Library/Heritage-Images]")
Virtually all the people of Afghanistan are Muslims, of whom some three-fourths are Sunnites of the Ḥanafī branch. The others, particularly the Ḥazāra and Kizilbash, follow either Ithnā ʿAsharī or Ismāʿīlī Shīʿite Islam. Sufism is practiced widely. The Nuristani are descendants of a large ethnic group, the Kafir, who were forcibly converted to Islam in 1895; the name of their region was then changed from Kāfiristān (“Land of the Infidels”) to Nūrestān (“Land of Light”). There are also a few thousand Hindus and Sikhs.
Aspects of the topic Afghanistan are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
The country of Afghanistan lies at the heart of central Asia. The capital is Kabul.
The mountainous country of Afghanistan lies in south-central Asia. It is bordered by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Pakistan. A panhandle on the northeast, the Wakhan Corridor, connects it with China. Its southernmost part is separated from the nearest sea, the Arabian Sea, by 300 miles (480 kilometers) of Pakistani territory.
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