A Basic Quiz on Afghanistan

Answer: Noshaq

Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on earth, is in Nepal. K2 (second highest) is in Pakistan. And Lhotse (the fourth highest mountain peak) is in Tibet (China), almost exactly on the frontier with Nepal. All these peaks reach higher than 8,000 m (26,000 feet).

Noshaq on the other hand peaks at 7,492 m (24,580 feet) and is part of the Hindu Kush mountain range. The north and west faces of the mountain are in Afghanistan, while the south and east lie in Pakistan.

A Japanese expedition was the first to reach the top of the Noshaq in 1960. In 1970 a group of Austrians climbed to the top and made the descent on skis. 

Answer: Amu Darya

The Amu Darya is formed by the confluence of the Panj (Pamir) and the Vakhsh (also known as Kyzylsu). Both sources are in the Pamir mountain range.

Where the Amu Darya forms the border with Turkmenistan, the valley is only at 255 m (836 feet) above sea level - about one thirtieth of the elevation of the highest Afghan peak.

The Amu Darya flows for about 2,400 km (1,500 miles). It never reaches the Aral Sea, but evaporates before that place.

The Lena is a Russian river. The Chao Phraya flows through Thailand. And the Jordan river borders Israel and Jordan and ends in the Dead Sea.

Answer: Kazakhstan

Afghanistan borders six (or even seven) countries. The longest border is with Pakistan to the southeast. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, as well as Uzbekistan, lie to the north of Afghanistan. The western frontier is with Iran, and in the east there is a small frontier with China.

India claims also part of the border, via the region of Kashmir - a territory disputed between India and Pakistan.

Kazakhstan, although a very large country, does not border Afghanistan.

Answer: Khyber Pass

The Khyber Pass is a passage between the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Pamir mountain range. Officially the Khyber Pass is completely on Pakistani territory, leading from the Peshawar valley (about 30 km or 19 mile from the Afghan border) to the summit at Landi Kotal, 5km (3 miles) from the Afghan border. Nevertheless, the descent westwards from Landi Kotal ends just within Afghan territory, at the village named Loya Daka.

Commercially the Khyber Pass was one of the vital segments of the Silk Road, allowing trade between China and Rome starting in the Second Century BCE. But the military significance was also great, and has been exploited (among others) by Parthians and Mongolians.

The Swartberg Pass is in South-Africa. The Simplon Pass is in Switzerland. And the Paso Libertadores is one of the many mountain passes connecting Argentina with Chile.

Answer: Saffron

Herat has concentrated agricultural efforts on cultivating saffron, one of the most expensive spices worldwide (as saffron is harvested by handpicking stigmas of the crocus flower). In 2019 the output of Herat province approached 20 tons of pure saffron.

Vanilla is typically cultivated on Madagascar. Nutmeg comes mostly from Indonesia. Turmeric is a common produce from Thailand and India.

Answer: Babur

In the southern district of Kabul one can find the Gardens of Babur. It was however not Babur who created the gardens; the site existed already several centuries before the Mughal Empire. Babur only ordered to reinstate the gardens in their original splendour, and to add a mosque on the thirteenth terrace and the site of his tomb on the fourteenth terrace.

Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the north of the Indian subcontinent. He ruled from 1526 to 1530.

Akbar (reigned 1556-1605) was the third Mughal Emperor, and was buried in Agra, India.

Shah Jahan (reigned 1628-1658), the fifth Mughal Emperor, had already built the Taj Mahal in Agra as mausoleum for his wife and would have ordered a similar mausoleum for himself opposite the Taj Mahal. But his tomb is also in the Taj Mahal.

Aurangzeb, who ruled from 1658-1707, was buried in Khuldabad, Maharashtra (India).

Answer: East

If you can picture Afghanistan on a map, you'll see the western neighbour is Iran, Pakistan lies to the south, and China to the east - the northern border being filled by three former USSR republics: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The Povalo-Shveikskogo Peak forms the Afghan three-country point with China and Tajikistan. It reaches a height of 5,698 m (18,694 feet) above sea level.

Afghanistan has six (possibly seven) neighbours. It also has six tripoints, but only one of these tripoints lies exactly at the farthest location in any cardinal direction. The most northern point of Afghanistan stretches into Tajikistan. And as well the most southern extremity of Afghanistan, and the most western extremity, are a bit further than the Godzareh Depression which forms the Afghanistan-Iran-Pakistan tripoint.

Answer: Pamir

While the Hindu Kush contains the taller Afghan peaks, it is the Pamir range that is more to the east and thus closer to the Himalayas.

The Pamir range borders China and has been called "onion range" by the Chinese, because of the abundance of wild onions in the region.

Although the Himalaya and the Karakoram ranges account for all of the twenty tallest mountains on earth, and the Hindu Kush range also has a few peaks exceeding the Pamir heights, the Pamir range has been called the "roof of the world".

Answer: Horse breeder

Afghan would be etymologically derived from the Sanskrit word asvakan, meaning someone involved with horses: a horse breeder, horse rider or horse soldier.

Other sources refer to the Pashtun, the main ethnic group living in Afghanistan - but in my opinion, this is not likely for two reasons: the original word Pashtun still exists, and if a word undergoes etymological changes, the suppression of an initial hard consonant as P is less likely to occur.

"One of Forty" has been proposed as etymological origin of Kyrgyz. The Uzbek would mean something like "independent". And Tajik may translate to "wanderer".

Answer: Dari and Pashto

Afghanistan has two official languages. Pashto is the language spoken by the largest ethnic group, the Pashtun, who account for almost 42% of the population of Afghanistan. And the other official language is Dari, the eastern variety of Persian (nowadays Farsi). The third major ethnic group in Afghanistan, the Hazara (according to some estimates 19% of the Afghans), speak Dari.

Although both Dari and Pashto are recognized as national language, most government documents are in Dari, for more Pashtun have learned Dari than vice versa.

Pakistan has as official languages Urdu and English.
Uzbekistan has as official language Uzbek, but also recognizes Karakalpak.
And Kyrgyzstan has as official language Kyrgyz and as state language Russian.