Afghanistan is a country in Asia that does not touch the sea. Pakistan lies to its east and south, Iran to its west, and several countries sit to its north. The capital is Kabul. People from there are Afghans; the main languages you will hear about are Dari and Pashto. In many English textbooks the country appears as a place of long wars: the Soviet army went in in 1979, later the United States and others fought there, and the Taliban now hold power again. Though actually, Afghanistan is not only a war story. It sits on old trade roads, much of the land is high and mountainous, and people have farmed, traded, and made things there for centuries. Population numbers in older books go stale after years of fighting and people leaving, so treat one figure as a snapshot, not a forever fact. Say Afghanistan for the country. Afghan is the usual word for a person and for the adjective (Afghan food, an Afghan friend).