Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east. Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's largest city and serves as its capital. According to the World Population review, as of 2023, Afghanistan's population is 43 million. The National Statistics Information Authority of Afghanistan estimated the population to be 32.9 million as of 2020.
Kabul is the capital city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. According to 2023 estimate, the population of Kabul was 4.95 million people. In contemporary times, the city has served as Afghanistan's political, cultural, and economical center, and rapid urbanisation has made Kabul the 75th-largest city in the world and the country's primate city.
The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is an Afghan militant movement with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi current of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the American invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 following the departure of most coalition forces, after nearly 20 years of insurgency, and currently controls all of the country. Its government is not recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education.
Pashtuns, also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are a nomadic, pastoral, Eastern Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. They historically were also referred to as Afghans until the ratification of the 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan, which stated anyone with citizenship is Afghan, and the 1970s after the term's meaning had become a demonym for members of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan.
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Soviet-controlled Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) from 1979 to 1989. The war was a major conflict of the Cold War as it saw extensive fighting between the DRA, the Soviet Union and allied paramilitary groups against the Afghan mujahideen and their allied foreign fighters. While the mujahideen were backed by various countries and organizations, the majority of their support came from Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Iran, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The involvement of the foreign powers made the war a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Combat took place throughout the 1980s, mostly in the Afghan countryside. The war resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000,000 Afghans, while millions more fled from the country as refugees; most externally displaced Afghans sought refuge in Pakistan and in Iran. Approximately 6.5% to 11.5% of Afghanistan's erstwhile population of 13.5 million people is estimated to have been killed over the course of the conflict. The Soviet–Afghan War caused grave destruction throughout Afghanistan and has also been cited by scholars as a significant factor that contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, formally ending the Cold War.
Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan, southern and eastern Afghanistan, and some isolated pockets of far eastern Iran near the Afghan border. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani.
The Agonoxeninae are a subfamily of moths.
The Cosmopterigidae are a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera. These are small moths with narrow wings whose tiny larvae feed internally on the leaves, seeds and stems of their host plants. About 1500 species are described. The taxonomic family is most diverse in the Australian and Pacific region with about 780 species.
The Momphidae, or mompha moths, is a family of moths with some 115 described species. It was described by Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer in 1857. These moths tend to be rather small with a wingspan of up to 21 mm. The wings are held folded over the body at rest. The larvae are concealed feeders, either as leaf miners or within seeds or stems.
Labdia caroli is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae. It is endemic to the Dachigam National Park in Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Vulcaniella kabulensis is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae. It is endemic to Afghanistan.
The War in Afghanistan was an armed conflict from 2001 to 2021. It was the direct response to the September 11 attacks. It began when an international military coalition led by the United States launched an invasion of Afghanistan, declaring Operation Enduring Freedom as part of the earlier-declared war on terror; toppling the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate and establishing the Islamic Republic three years later. The Taliban and its allies were expelled from major population centers by the US-led forces, supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance; however Bin Laden relocated to neighboring Pakistan. The conflict officially ended with the 2021 Taliban offensive, which overthrew the Islamic Republic, and re-established the Islamic Emirate. It was the longest war in the military history of the United States, surpassing the length of the Vietnam War (1955–1975) by approximately six months.
Eteobalea sumptuosella is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae. It is found in the Mediterranean Region from Spain to Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia, Ukraine, southern Russia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, eastwards to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
Ascalenia acaciella is a moth in the family Cosmopterigidae. It is found on the Canary Islands and Malta, North Africa, the Near and Middle East and east to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The habitat consists of dry or desert-like areas.
Ascalenia kabulella is a moth in the family Cosmopterigidae. It is found in Afghanistan.
Ascalenia unifasciella is a moth in the family Cosmopterigidae. It is found in Afghanistan.
Ascalenia viviparella is a moth in the family Cosmopterigidae. It is found in Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine and southern Russia.
Ascalenia vanelloides is a moth in the family Cosmopterigidae. It is found in Turkey, the Palestinian Territories, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The Antequerinae are a subfamily of the Cosmopterigidae. In the Nearctic, the subfamily consists of eight species in four genera, found in North America and England.
Calycobathra pakistanella is a moth in the family Cosmopterigidae. It was described by Kasy in 1968. It is found in western Pakistan and Afghanistan.
