The Buddhas of Bamiyan (Persian: بت های باميان – but hay-e bamiyan) were two 6th-century monumental statues of standing buddha carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, 230 km (140 mi) north…
The Hindu Kush (/kʊʃ, kuːʃ/; Pashto, Persian and Urdu: هندوکش), also known in Sanskrit as Pāriyātra Parvata and in Ancient Greek as the Caucasus Indicus Ancient Greek: Καύκασος Ινδικός) or Paropamisadae (Ancient Greek: Παροπαμισάδαι), is an 800-kil…
Tora Bora (Pashto: توره بوړه, Black Cave), known locally as Spīn Ghar (Pashto: سپین غر, White Mountain), is a cave complex situated in the Safēd Kōh of eastern Afghanistan, in the Pachir Aw Agam District of Nangarhar, approximately 50 km (31 mi) w…
The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in Afghanistan from December 6, 2001 to December 17, 2001, during the opening stages of the War in Afghanistan launched by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The U.…
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي امارات, Da Afghanistan Islami Amarat) was the state established in 1996 when the Taliban began their rule of Afghanistan and ended with their fall from power in 2001. Even at the peak o…
Operation Anaconda took place in early March 2002 in which the United States armed forces and CIA Paramilitary Officers, working with allied Afghan military forces, and other allies, attempted to destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. The operation to…
The Camp Chapman attack was a suicide attack by Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi against the Central Intelligence Agency facility inside Forward Operating Base Chapman on December 30, 2009. FOB Chapman is located near the eastern Afghan city of Khos…
The Lockheed MC-130 is the basic designation for a family of special mission aircraft operated by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), a wing of the Air Education and Training Command, and an AFSOC-gained wing of the Air F…
Afghanistan is a landlocked mountainous country located within South Asia and Central Asia. The country is the 41st largest in the world in size. Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan, located in the Kabul Province.
Bagram Airfield (ICAO: OAIX) is the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. It is located next to the ancient city of Bagram, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan.
Balkh (/bɑːlx/; Persian/Pashto: بلخ Balkh; Bactrian: βαχλο ẞaxlə) was an ancient city and centre of Buddhism, Sufism and Zoroastrianism in what is now northern Afghanistan. Today it is a small town in the province of Balkh, about 20 kilometers north…
The Emirate of Afghanistan (Pashto: د افغانستان امارت Da Afghānistān Amārat) was an emirate between Central Asia and South Asia, which is today's Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The emirate emerged from the Durrani Empire, when Dost Mohammed Khan,…
Kunar (Pashto: کونړ, Persian: کنر) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad.
Camp Bastion is a Ministry of Defense airbase located northwest of the city of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
The Battle of Takur Ghar was a short but intense military engagement between United States special operations forces and al Qaeda insurgents fought in March 2002, atop Takur Ghar mountain, Afghanistan. For the U.S. side, the battle proved the deadli…
The Wakhan Corridor (alternatively Vakhan Corridor, or Wakhan) is the narrow strip of territory in northeastern Afghanistan that extends to China and separates Tajikistan from Pakistan.
Hamid Karzai International Airport (Persian: میدان هوائی بین المللی حامدکرزی, Pashto: د حامدکرزی نړيوال هوائي ډګر, IATA: KBL, ICAO: OAKB), also known as Kabul International Airport, is located 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) from the city center of Kabul in…
Operation Storm-333 (Шторм-333, Shtorm-333) was the codename of an operation that was originally scheduled to happen on December 14, 1979 but was postponed to the 27th of December, in which Soviet Forces stormed the Tajbeg Palace in Afghanistan and …
Kandahar International Airport (referred to by ISAF as Kandahar Airfield, KAF) (IATA: KDH, ICAO: OAKN) is located 10 miles (16 kilometers) south-east of Kandahar City in Afghanistan.
The Battle of Wanat occurred on July 13, 2008, when about 200 Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas attacked NATO troops near Quam, in the Waygal district in Afghanistan's far eastern province of Nuristan.
The Salt Pit is the codename of an isolated clandestine CIA black site prison and interrogation center in Afghanistan. Another codename of the same site is Cobalt. It is located north of Kabul and was the location of a brick factory prior to the Afg…
Badakhshan Province (Pashto: بدخشان ولایت / Persian: استان بدخشان) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the farthest northeastern part of the country between Tajikistan and northern Pakistan. It is part of a broader historical Bada…
The Battle of Kamdesh took place during the War in Afghanistan. It occurred on October 3, 2009, when a force of 300 Taliban assaulted the American Combat Outpost ("COP") Keating near the town of Kamdesh of Nuristan province in eastern Afghanistan. T…
Operation Moshtarak (Dari for Together or Joint) was an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) pacification offensive in the town of Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It involved 15,000 American, Afghan, Canadian, Estonian, Danish and B…
The Battle of Qala-i-Jangi (also incorrectly referred to as the "Battle of Mazar-i-Sharif") was a prisoner-of-war camp uprising that took place between November 25 and December 1, 2001, in northern Afghanistan, following the armed intervention by Un…
The Minaret of Jam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in western Afghanistan. It is located in a remote and nearly inaccessible region of the Shahrak District, Ghor Province, next to the Hari River. The 62-metre (203 ft) high minaret was built around 1…
Kabul University (KU) is located in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Zabul (Persian and Pashto: زابل) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a population of about 289,300, which is mostly a tribal society living in rural areas. Zabul became an independent province from…
Tirich Mir (Pashto/Khowar/Urdu: ترچ میر) (alternatively Terich Mir, Terichmir and Turch Mir) is the highest mountain of the Hindu Kush range, and the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas-Karakoram range, located in Khyber Pakhtunk…
The Salang Pass (Persian: كتل سالنگ, el. 3,878 m or 12,723 ft) is nowadays the major mountain pass connecting northern Afghanistan with Parwan Province, with further connections to Kabul Province and southern Afghanistan, and to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.…
The Granai airstrike, sometimes called the Granai massacre, refers to the killing of approximately 86 to 147 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, by an airstrike by a US Air Force B-1 Bomber on May 4, 2009, in the village of Granai (sometime…
The Gardens of Babur, locally called Bagh-e Babur (Pashto: باغ بابر/Persian: باغ بابر), is a historic park in Kabul, Afghanistan, and also the last resting-place of the first Mughal emperor Babur.
Noshaq (also called Nowshak or Noshakh; Dari/Pashto: نوشاخ) is the second highest independent peak of the Hindu Kush Range after Tirich Mir (7,492 m (24,580 ft)) and lies on the border between Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan and Chitral District…
Darul Aman Palace [Pashto: د دارال امن ماڼۍ] ("abode of peace" or, in a double meaning "abode of Aman[ullah]") is a European-style palace, now ruined, located about sixteen kilometers (ten miles) outside of the center of Kabul, Afghanistan.
The Salang Tunnel (Persian: تونل سالنگ Tūnel-e Sālang) is a 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) long tunnel located at the Salang Pass in the Hindu Kush mountains, between the Parwan and Baghlan provinces of Afghanistan. It was completed by the Soviet Union in…
The Panjshir Valley (also spelled Panjsheer or Panjsher; Persian: درهٔ پنجشير - Dare-ye Panjšēr; literally Valley of the Five Lions) is a valley in north-central Afghanistan, 150 kilometres (93 mi) north of Kabul, near the Hindu Kush mountain range…