Total area: 647,500 km2
land area: 647,500 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: 5,826 km total; China 76 km, Iran 936 km, Pakistan 2,430 km, USSR 2,384 km

Coastline: none--landlocked

Maritime claims: none--landlocked

Disputes: Pashtun question with Pakistan; Baluch question with Iran and Pakistan; periodic disputes with Iran over Helmand water rights; the USSR occupied Afghanistan on 24 December 1979 and departed on 15 February 1989

Climate: arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers

Terrain: mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest

Natural resources: natural gas, crude oil, coal, copper, talc, barites, sulphur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones

Land use: 12% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 46% meadows and pastures; 3% forest and woodland; 39% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: damaging earthquakes occur in Hindu Kush mountains; soil degradation, desertification, overgrazing, deforestation, pollution

Note: landlocked; narrow and strategic Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor) provides direct access to China and separates Pakistan from USSR

NOTE: The information regarding Afghanistan on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Afghanistan Geography 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Afghanistan Geography 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.