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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Pashto: ? ????????? ?????? ???????, Persian: ?????? ?????? ?????????), is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Asia and the Middle East. Generally considered a part of Central Asia, it is sometimes ascribed to a regional bloc in either South Asia, or even perhaps the Middle East as it has cultural, ethno-linguistic, and geographic links with most of its neighbours. It is largely bordered by Pakistan in the south and east,[2] Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and the People's Republic of China to the far east. The name Afghanistan means "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 many invading forces come and go, including Indo-Iranians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and the Mongols. Afghanistan was created in 1747 as a large empire, its modern-day shape was recognized by the world community as a fully independent State in 1919, when foreign intervention ceased following the Anglo-Afghan wars. Since 1979, the country has suffered almost continous conflict, begining with the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan followed by Afghan Civil War and finally by the 2001 war in Afghanistan, in which the United States toppled the ruling Taliban government. In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of an International Security Assistance Force. This force, composed of mainly US and NATO troops has protected and assisted the government of Hamid Karzai from an ongoing insurgency based in the southern and eastern provinces of the country. The name Afghanistan literally translates to Land of the Afghans. Its modern usage derives from the word Afghan. The Pashtuns began using the term Afghan as a name for themselves from the Islamic period onwards. According to W.K. Frazier Tyler, M.C. Gillet and several other scholars, "The word Afghan first appears in history in the Hudud-al-Alam in 982 AD." The last part of the name Afghanistan (-istan) originates from the Persian word stan (country or land). The English word Afghanland that appeared in various treaties between Qajar Dynasty and the United Kingdom dealing with the lands between Iran and British Raj inhabited by Pashtun tribes (modern Southeastern Afghanistan) was adopted by Afghan officials and became Afghanistan. However, Afghanistan was pronounced by its current name in 18th century when Ahmad Shah Durrani formed the new government based on Pashtun rule, and was officially named as Afghanistan during the ruling of Abdur Rahman Khan. Before the 18th century, the region of present-day Afghanistan was known as a province of Greater Iran called Khorasan. The Encyclopaedia of Islam states: Afghanistan has borne that name only since the middle of the 18th century, when the supremacy of the Afghan race (Pashtuns) became assured: previously various districts bore distinct apellations, but the country was not a definite political unit, and its component parts were not bound together by any identity of race or language. The earlier meaning of the word was simply “the land of the Afghans”, a limited territory which did not include many parts of the present state but did comprise large districts now either independent or within the boundary of Pakistan.[3] [edit] history Buddhas of Bamyan, dating back to 1st century, were the largest Buddha statues in the world.Afghanistan exists at a unique nexus point where numerous Eurasian civilizations have interacted and often fought and was an important site of early historical activity. Through the ages, the region today known as Afghanistan has been ruled by Aryans (Indo-Iranians: Indo-Aryans, Persians, Medes, Parthians, etc.). It also has been invaded by a host of peoples, including the Greeks, Mauryans, Kushans, Hepthalites, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, British, Soviets, and most recently by the United States. On other occasions, native Afghan entities have invaded surrounding regions to form empires of their own. Between 2000 and 1200 BC, waves of Indo-European-speaking Aryans are thought to have flooded into this part of Asia which now consists of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan and others, setting up a nation that during the rule of Medes and the Persian Empire became known as Aryanam Xša?ra or Airyanem Vaejah. Later, during the rule of Ashkanian, Sasanian and after, it was called Eranshahr ???????? (Iranshæhr) or Greater Iran, meaning "Dominion of the Iranians (Aryans)", which included large parts of Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and modern-day Central Asia (Afghanistan, Tajikistan, the western part of Pakistan, etc.). Zoroastrianism is speculated to have possibly originated in what is now Afghanistan between 1800 to 800 BC. Ancient Eastern Iranian languages, such as Avestan, may have been spoken in this region around a similar time-line with the rise of Zoroastrianism. In the eastern area, the early Indo-Aryan Vedic civilization may have had some prominence, although this has yet to be conclusively proven. By the middle of the 6th century BC, the Persian Empire(Achaemenids) supplanted the Median Empire and incorporated what was known as Persia to Greeks within its boundaries; and by 330 BC, Alexander the Great had invaded the region. Following Alexander's brief occupation, the Hellenistic successor states of the Seleucids and Bactrians controlled the area, while the Mauryas from India annexed the southeast for a time and introduced Buddhism to the region until the area returned to the Bactrian rule. During the 1st century AD, the Tocharian Kushans created a vast dynasty in Khorasan, bringing the Buddhism culture into this territory. Kushanians were then defeated by Sassanids in 3rd century AD. Sassanids ruled up to the 7th century, when Muslim Arab armies conquered the Sassanid Empire in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah. The Arab Empire initially annexed parts of western Afghanistan in 652 and then conquered most of the rest of Afghanistan between 706 and 709 AD and administered the region as Khorasan. Over time much of the local population converted to Islam. Khorasan became the center of various important empires, including the Ghaznavid Empire (962-1151), founded by a local Turkic ruler from Ghazni named Yamin ul-Dawlah Mahmud. This empire was replaced by the Ghorid Empire (1151-1219), founded by another local ruler, this time of Tajik extraction, Muhammad Ghori, whose domains laid the foundations for the Delhi Sultanate in India. In 1219, the region was overrun by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, who devastated the land. Their rule continued with the Ilkhanates, and was extended further following the invasion of Timur Lang, a ruler from Central Asia. In 1504, Babur, a descendant of both Timur Lang and Genghis Khan, established the Mughal Empire with its capital at Kabul. By the early 1700s, the region of present-day Afghanistan was controlled by three ruling parties, Uzbeks to the north, Safavids to the west and the remaining larger area by the Mughals. Coronation of Ahmad Shah Durrani, who became the first king of Afghanistan.Mir Wais Khan Khotak, a Pashtun leader of the Ghilzai clan, was mayor of Kandahar City in 1709 when he killed Gurgin Khan, the Georgian governor, who ruled in the name of the Persian Shah. Mir Wais Khan successfully defeated the Safavid's attempts to assert control over Kandahar, which he held until his death in 1715 and was succeeded by his son Mahmud. In 1722, Mahmud Khotak led an Afghan army to Isfahan (Iran), sacked the city and proclaimed himself Mahmud Shah of Persia, but was eventually removed from power by Nadir Shah of Persia. In 1738, Nadir Shah conquered Kandahar, in the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul and Lahore. On June, 19, 1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated, possibly planned by his nephew Ali Qoli. In the same year, one of Nadir Shah's high-ranking military general, Ahmad Shah Durrani, a Pashtun from the Durrani clan, called for a loya jirga following Nadir Shah's assassination. The Afghans came together at Kandahar and unanimously chose Ahmad Shah to be king, who changed his last name to Durrani (Persian: "pearl of pearls"). By 1751, Ahmad Shah managed to reconquer and rule the entire present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Khorassan region of Iran, along with Dehli in India. In 1772, Ahmad Shah retired to his home in Maruf in the mountains east of Kandahar, where he died peacefully. He was succeeded by his son, Timur Shah Durrani, who transferred the capital from Kandahar to Kabul and died in 1793, and was finally succeeded by his son Zaman Shah. King Zahir Shah a.k.a. Mohammed Zahir Shah became the youngest, longest serving and last king of Afghanistan.During the 19th century, following the Anglo-Afghan wars (fought 1839-1842, 1878-1880, and lastly in 1919) and the ascension of the Barakzai Pashtun dynasty, Afghanistan saw much of its territory and autonomy ceded to the United Kingdom. The UK exercised a great deal of influence, and it was not until King Amanullah Khan acceded to the throne in 1919 (see "The Great Game") that Afghanistan regained complete independence. During the period of British intervention in Afghanistan, ethnic Pashtun territories were divided by the Durand Line, and this would lead to strained relations between Afghanistan and British India, and later the new state of Pakistan, over what came to be known as the Pashtunistan debate. The longest period of stability in Afghanistan was between 1933 and 1973, when the country was under the rule of King Zahir Shah. However, in 1973, Zahir's brother-in-law, Sardar Mohammed Daoud launched a bloodless coup. Daoud and his entire family were murdered in 1978 when the communist People's D