Afghanistan - Central Asia or South Asia ?

[Gandhi G in da house]

Would you classify Afghanistan as a Central Asian country or a South Asian country ?

I personally think it is Central Asian though some put it in South Asia.

 

[waz]

Would you classify Afghanistan as a Central Asian country or a South Asian country ?

I personally think it is Central Asian though some put it in South Asia.

Both, it's borders touch both regions.

 

[Wow]

 

[Indus Pakistan]

I personally think it is Central Asian though some put it in South Asia.

South Asia. No doubt about it. Amu Darya has become the divide since 1850s leading to differant culture, history and politics. North of Amu Darya are ex-Soviet states that share and carry legacy of Russian overlorship. For instance second language is Russian. Dushanbe is more similiar to Tashkent, Alma Ata whereas Kabul is more similiar to Peshawar. On top of the the Amu Darya border for century was locked and even now not much moves across. Whereas the Af-Pak border has seen millions move this way and that way.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

South Asia. No doubt about it. Amu Darya has become the divide since 1850s leading to differant culture, history and politics. North of Amu Darya are ex-Soviet states that share and carry legacy of Russian overlorship. For instance second language is Russian. Dushanbe is more similiar to Tashkent, Alma Ata whereas Kabul is more similiar to Peshawar. On top of the the Amu Darya border for century was locked and even now not much moves across. Whereas the Af-Pak border has seen millions move this way and that way.

Hmm... makes sense but don't you think Afghans especially the non-Pashtuns i.e. Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazara etc. are essentially a different people from South Asians ? They are actually Centrla Asians are make up about 60 % of Afghanistan's population.

Besides, I have seen Afghans say that they are more like Central Asians than South Asians in terms of culture.

 

[Indus Pakistan]

Hmm... makes sense but don't you think Afghans especially the non-Pashtuns i.e. Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazara etc. are essentially a different people from South Asians ? They are actually Centrla Asians are make up about 60 % of Afghanistan's population.

Very true. Afghanistan is actually divided in half by the Hindu Kush mountains. The souther portion [dominated by Pashtuns] drains into South Asia.

Fo instance Kabul City is named after Kabul valley which is named after Kabul River which flows east through Khyber Pass into our Khyber Pakhtunkwa province, Pakistan and joins Indus River at Attock. Thus this part of Afghanistan actually is part of the Indus Valley Basin. However you are right the ethnic groups to the north of the Hindu Kush like Tajiks, Turkmen, Uzbek are related to Central Asians but they do form the less influential group and display huge differance to their ethnic brethren to the north because they have been secularized by Russians and often speak Russian.

Did you know that south east Afghanistan [Kabul region] is almost cut off from northern Afghanistan by the Hindu Kush and just one road going through the Salang Tunnel connects it with the north?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salang_Tunnel

 

[lastofthepatriots]

Afghanistan is the heart of Asia.

 

[namefield_empty]

Gateway to South Asia!?

 

[Yankee-stani]

I say neither South or Central but as the OP in last post says is the heart of Asia,there to many ethnic groups in that country so people will come with different answers I would say the North folks like the Tajiks,Kyrgyz,Uzbeks,Hazaras tho they are in the south would say Central but the Pukhtoon belt different shows you that Afghanistan is divided into ethnic lines who may show loyalty to other neighboring states

Very true. Afghanistan is actually divided in half by the Hindu Kush mountains. The souther portion [dominated by Pashtuns] drains into South Tajiks, Turkmen, Uzbek are related to Central Asians but they do form the less influential group and display huge differance to their ethnic brethren to the north because they have been secularized by Russians and often speak Russian.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salang_Tunnel

Indeed correct but those ethnic groups in Afg you mentioned are the more staunch secularists in the country,but those neighboring states do tried to leverage those groups

 

[lastofthepatriots]

I say neither South or Central but as the OP in last post says is the heart of Asia,there to many ethnic groups in that country so people will come with different answers I would say the North folks like the Tajiks,Kyrgyz,Uzbeks,Hazaras tho they are in the south would say Central but the Pukhtoon belt different shows you that Afghanistan is divided into ethnic lines who may show loyalty to other neighboring states



Indeed correct but those ethnic groups in Afg you mentioned are the more staunch secularists in the country,but those neighboring states do tried to leverage those groups

That is what Allama Iqbal wrote.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

I personally see Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indian Occupied Kashmir as one civilization.

We have been throughout most of history, and we are Iranic by race and Turco-Persian Islamic by culture.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are in three regions (ME, SA, CA,) but have more commonality with Southwest Asia (Iran, Turkey, CARs). That region is Eurasian, as it is the path of the old Silk Road which joins the West with the East.

Both Pakistan and Iran pivot also towards the Middle East as they form the Northern part of the Gulf.

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

Neither, along with kpk. It's a different culture and lifestyle the separates it frm east and west or the ex Soviet states. There used to be a connection with central Asia, culturally but that was cut after the occupation by the USSR.

Gateway to South Asia!?

That's the land of the indus, aka Pakistan.

 

[maximuswarrior]

LOL the story of opiumland. They don’t belong anywhere.

 

[Max]

We have been throughout most of history, and we are Iranic by race and Turco-Persian Islamic by culture.

We are Indo Aryan by language group, by ethnicity we are Sindhi, Punjabi, Baloch, Pashtuns.

Fk Turco, Persia, Mongol chutiya's and inferiority complexes.

 

[Kambojaric]

South Asia although its fringes (Uzbek/Turkmen territories) are located in Central Asia and Farsiwan rerritories (Herat/Farah) in Middle East. The core of the state of Afghanistan is however the territory stretching from Kabul and Jalalabad to Kandahar. This is where the Durrani, Barakzai, Ahmedzai (tribes which have produced the bulk of Afghanistans kings and Presidents) come from, and this territory is an extension of the Indus Valley. Ethnicity, culture, trade all links this core of Afghanistan to Pakistan thereby making the country as a whole South Asia.

NOTE: when it comes to geographic lines no perfect answer will ever be found, especially for a country like Afghanistan which due to the Great Game never developed through any organic process but was simply allowed and supported by the great powers of the time to remain a buffer zone between them.