The Durand Line, also known as the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, is a 2,611-kilometre (1,622 mi) international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia. The western end runs to the border with Iran and the eastern end to the border with China.
Arachosia and the Pactyans during the 1st millennium BC
Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, British diplomat and civil servant in British India. The Durand Line is named in his honour.
Borki, a village at the border, with Mount Sikaram's peak in the background, the highest peak of the White Mountains
A view towards the border in Pakistan, taken in Paktia Province of Afghanistan
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.
Tents of Afghan nomads in the northern Badghis province. Early peasant farming villages came into existence about 7,000 years ago.
A "Bactrian gold" Scythian belt depicting Dionysus, from Tillya Tepe in the ancient region of Bactria
Portrait of Ahmad Shah Durrani c. 1757
Afghan tribesmen in 1841, painted by British officer James Rattray