World LocationContrary to popular belief, Afghanistan is located in the Middle East, not Africa. It is surrounded by Pakistan, Iran, China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Afghanistan has a longitude of 65°00’ E and a latitude of 33°00’ N, approximately lining up with the lower third of the United States. It is also slightly smaller than Texas in size, but unlike it’s American counterpart, Afghanistan is landlocked and generally has a difficult time with fresh water resources.
The capital of Afghanistan is Kabul, Amir’s birthplace and where he grows up until he is forced to flee. Amir and Baba flee east through the mountains, approximately two-hundred and eighty-eight kilometers, or one hundred-seventy-nine miles, to Peshawar, Pakistan. |
LandscapeAfghanistan’s northern region consists of mountains with fertile valleys and rivers in between them. The rivers are unusable as a transport method and only twenty percent of the land in Afghanistan is actually used as fields by Afghani people. During the silk trade, the mountain's passes were a popular route. In more recent events, the mountains are a great place to hid because it’s so rocky and extensive.
It’s difficult to fight in Afghanistan if you don’t understand the layout exactly, which is why it took so long for the American Army to find Osama Bin Laden; they didn’t know the mountains as well as he did. The mountains share the Afghan land with sandy deserts located in the south west of the country. The weather in Afghanistan varies so much because of the polar opposite landscapes found there. |
ClimateThe climate in Afghanistan is very similar to what we experience in Hastings, however with obvious exceptions. They experience the very extremes of weather, from the hot and dry to the cold and humid. The wet season usually lasts from winter to spring, but the country is generally very dry. It is very unlikely to snow in the southern part of Afghanistan, but the elevation of the mountains helps considerably in the northern region.
Temperature also pushes the extremes in Afghanistan: it’s achieved fifty-one degrees below zero Fahrenheit in the mountains and one hundred-twenty-four degrees in the desert, however both of these numbers are the far extremes. The average temperature tends to be about thirty-five to eighty-five degree Fahrenheit. Wind gusts hit up to ninety-eight miles per hour and with wind like that Afghanistan is perfect place for kite fights and kite running. |