Afghanistan Crossword Puzzle for Kids

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is a country in Asia. It borders Pakistan in the south and east (border with India is disputed), Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. Kabul is the capital city.

Afghanistan is currently governed by the Taliban, after the collapse of the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.

The country is around 251,826 mi2 in size. There are 40.976 million people in Afghanistan. There are about 3 million Afghan refugees (people who had to leave the country) in Pakistan and Iran. In 2011 Kabul, had about 3,691,400 people living in it.

United Nations Human Rights Council decided in October 2021 to appoint an independent expert, known as a United Nations special rapporteur on Afghanistan, to find out about violations carried out by the Taliban and others who are now part of a big conflict.

Economy

The economy does not have growth (as April 2024), of that kind that is called GDP growth, according to Worldbank.org. In regard to the mining industry: In 2024, Chinese engineers broke ground for a mine; "The deposit is estimated to [... have] 11.5 million tons of copper ore".

Geography

Afghanistan has many mountains. The mountains are called the Hindu Kush and Himalayas. The tallest mountain in Afghanistan is Mount Nowshak. There are plains (which have soil that is good for growing plants) and foothills. Parts of the country are also dry, especially the Registan Desert. Afghanistan has snow and glaciers in the mountains. Amu Darya is the big water stream, or river.

The country has a lot of a valuable stone called lapis lazuli, which was used to decorate the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Afghanistan has a continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. Having no water sometimes causes problems for farmers. Sandstorms happen a lot in the desert.

Plants and animals

Southern Afghanistan does not have many plants because it is dry. There are more plants where there is more water. Mountains have forests of pine and fir, cedar, oak, walnut, alder, and ash trees.

Afghanistan's wild animals live in the mountains. There are wolves, foxes, jackals, bears, and wild goats, gazelles, wild dogs, camels, and wild cats such as the snow leopard in the country. The birds are falcons, eagles and vultures. The Rhesus Macaque and the red flying squirrel are also in Afghanistan.

Many years of war, hunting, and years of no water have killed animals in Afghanistan. There used to be tigers in Afghanistan, but now there aren't any. Bears and wolves are almost gone.

People and culture

Many people have moved through or invaded the land of Afghanistan. Today's people of Afghanistan are known as Afghans.

The largest group of people are the Pashtuns. They make up about half the population. Tajiks (often also known as “Farsiwan”, meaning Persian speaking) are the second-largest ethnic group, making up about one-fifth of the population. Before the 20th century, Tajiks were called Sarts and some come from Iranian peoples. Most Pashtuns are also related to the Iranian peoples. Some Pashtuns and Tajiks marry each other but at the same time they are rivals. The third-largest group are the Hazaras. They are native to the Hazaristan area in central Afghanistan. The country's other groups include the Uzbek, Aimaq, Turkmen, Nuristani, Baloch, and Pashayi.

Dari-Persian and Pashto are the two official languages of Afghanistan. Many people speak both languages. Both are Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family. They are usually written with the Arabic alphabet. Uzbek and Turkmen are widely spoken in the north and Nuristani and Pashai are spoken in the east. Around 99% of Afghans follow the religion of Islam.

Afghanistan is a largely rural country. This means there are only a few major cities. About one fifth of the population live in cities. Kabul, the capital, is the largest city. It is south of the Hindu Kush range and alongside the Kabul River. Other cities are Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, and Jalalabad. The rural population is made up of farmers and nomads. The farmers live mainly in small villages along the rivers. The nomads live in tents while moving from place to place with their animals and belongings. Some people live in the high central mountains. Some live in the deserts in the south and southwest. Millions of people left Afghanistan to get away from the wars that happened in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Most of them went to Pakistan and Iran.

History

Afghanistan is in the path of important trade routes that connect southern and eastern Asia to Europe and the Middle East. Because of this, many empire builders have tried to rule over the area. Signs that these emperors were near Afghanistan still exist in many parts of the country. Afghanistan is near what used to be the Silk Road. The peoples of Afghanistan helped develop major world religions, traded and exchanged many products, and sometimes controlled politics and culture in Asia.

Archaeologists digging a cave in Badakhshan discovered that people lived in the country as early as 100,000 years ago. They found the skull of a Neanderthal, or early human, as well as tools from about 30,000 years ago. In other parts of Afghanistan, archaeologists uncovered pottery and tools that are 4,000 to 11,000 years old—evidence that Afghans were among the first people in the world to grow crops and raise animals.

Farmers and herders settled in the plains surrounding the Hindu Kush as early as 7000 B.C. These people may have grown rich off the lapis lazuli they found along riverbeds, which they traded to early city sites to the west, across the Iranian plateau and Mesopotamia. As farms and villages grew these ancient people started irrigation (digging ditches for water so it flows to crops) that allowed them to grow crops on the northern Afghanistan desert plains. This civilization (advanced state of organization) is today called BMAC (Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex), or the "Oxus civilization".

The Oxus civilization expanded as far east as the western edge of the Indus Valley during the period between 2200 and 1800 B.C. These people, who were the ancestors of the Indo-Aryans, used the term "Aryan" to identify their ethnicity, culture, and religion. Scholars know this when they read the ancient texts of these people; the Avesta of Iranic peoples and the Vedas of Indo-Aryans.

Zoroaster, the founder of the Zoroastrian religion, the world's earliest monotheistic religion, (meaning a religion believing in one god) lived in the area (somewhere north of today's Afghanistan), around 1000 B.C.

Government

Since the Taliban captured Kabul on 15 August 2021, the governance of Afghanistan is disputed between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

According to Transparency International, Afghanistan remains in the top most corrupt countries list.

Provinces

As of 2004, there are thirty-four provinces. Each province is divided into districts. (For cities see List of cities in Afghanistan.)

Text adapted from the Simple English Wikipedia article “Afghanistan” (revision 10784447, 2026-03-16), authors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.