Afghanistan is a mountainous and deserted country. In Afghanistan, one of the most obvious geographical features is that four-fifths of the land is covered with lofty mountains and mountains and the undulating "Taiwan Plains" at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters. The plains make up only one-fifth. According to statistics, 89.9% of the country is above 600 meters. Many cities are located at high altitudes, such as the capital Kabul at 1760 meters above sea level and 2360 meters in Ghazni.
The plains are distributed in the southwest and north, and many of them are waterless deserts or wastelands that are not much different from deserts. Located near the border between Iran and Pakistan, there are famous rocky deserts such as Dashki i Margot ("Death Desert") and Pakistan ("Land of Sand"). In these gray monotonous sand seas, you can occasionally see oases of water and flowers.
Originating in Afghanistan and China, the Hindu Kush Mountain is one of the largest mountain ranges in the world. It runs diagonally across the country from northeast to southwest, stretching for 1,200 kilometers. The hardest part of the mountain to climb is the mountain that separates Afghanistan from Kashmir and Pakistan. Those round chain-shaped stone hills covered in ice and snow sparkle against the backdrop of the azure sky. Hindu Kush mountain and its branches have many important mountain gates; Baroquili Pass on the Pamir-Kashmir Passage, 3,800 meters high; The Sibar Pass, located on the passage between Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul; Located on the Rabat i Mircha Pass on the passage from Kushka to Herat.
Another large mountain in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan is Mount Suleiman, which is 700 kilometers long and is the dividing line between Afghanistan and Pakistan. This mountain range is much lower than the Hindu Kush Mountain, and its central part is more than 3,000 meters, extremely steep, desolate, and almost treeless. From the Suleiman Mountains there are many central crossings to the Indus: the Khyber Pass, which runs from Kabul to Jalalabad to Peshawar, is a mountain pass of great economic and military significance; Ghazni crossed the pass of totch and Gomar; From Kandahar to Quetta along the Khojak Gorge, then through the Jeman and Boran Passes. To the east of the Ghazni Kandahar Terrace is a mountainous desert. In the valleys of the Helmand River valley and other oases dotted with oases, most of the inhabitants are concentrated.
Egypt is truly a "gift from the Nile", because without the Nile, the country would not be able to survive. Similarly, Afghanistan should be called the "gift of the Hindu Kush Mountains", because at the top of this mountain range, it is like a large reservoir that feeds the rivers and streams of Afghanistan for many years. Hindu Kush Mountain is covered with snow all year round, no wonder it is called "Great Snow Mountain" in ancient Chinese books, and it is precisely because of this that it determines the climate and geographical region of Afghanistan. It is also this natural environment that restricts the survival of ancient Afghan residents, and creates geographical environmental conditions for them to adapt to and transform their living space.
Geographically, Afghanistan is divided into three major regions. First, the northern region is the sloping foothill plain and the Amu Darya coastal plain, and the eastern part of the area is the Badakhshan and the Wajun mountain plateau. Along the Amu Darya Plain and the northern plateau of the Hindu Kush Mountains, it is densely populated, concentrating 25% of the country's population. Here the water irrigation conditions are good, for the Granary of Afghanistan. Second, the southern region is a plateau and a desert. Third, the central region is high mountains and deep and narrow river valleys. The main rivers originate here and flow radially in all directions. The Amu Darya River irrigates the land in the northeast. The Helmand River irrigates the land in the south and eventually flows into Afghanistan's border with Iran, known as Lake Sabari. The Kabul River irrigates the eastern region and flows slowly into the Indus River near Futok. In addition, the Herirut River, named after the city of Herat, the Thalia Murkaber River in the northwest, the Fara Rud River in the southwest, and the Gomar River in the east, are all major river systems, but the inland rivers are not suitable for navigation. In the center of the Central Vozaraja Plateau, there are 5 small lakes known as "Bandel Ami", known for their rare changes in color intensity. Due to the action of the bedrock, the lake water can change from milky white to dark green. These lakes constitute one of Afghanistan's tourist destinations.
Although Afghanistan is located in the subthermal climate zone, its remoteness from the sea and its high altitude predominate the continental climate throughout the country. That is to say, the climate varies from place to place depending on the height of the terrain and not by latitude. The whole territory has a typical continental climate, with large annual temperature differences and daily temperature differences, drastic variations in day-night temperature, dry air, and minimal rainfall due to the damp wind blowing from the Indian Ocean by the high mountains in the south and southeast. Most of the precipitation is rain and snowfall. With the exception of certain valleys in the east, rainfall is extremely rare in summer and autumn, while there is no rain at all in Kandahar, Grishke, Fara and Herat. Ruixue is an auspicious omen of a bumper agricultural harvest. There is a folk proverb in Afghanistan; "Not afraid of no gold, but afraid of no snow." Afghanistan has had "karats" for irrigation using groundwater since ancient times. The large temperature difference is the biggest feature: extreme cold in winter and unusually hot in summer. In Jalalabad province, the maximum temperature in July is 49 degrees Celsius, with a low of about -3 degrees Celsius. However, the climate is better in spring and autumn, especially at night. Even during the hottest season, which comes with the afterglow of the setting sun, is usually a cool night. In Jalalabad, although summers are hot, winters are warm.
In his memoirs, Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, described the remarkable differences between the Jalalabad regions as follows: "The Badam Chasmayad Pass separates the hot zone from the cold zone. Snow falls on the Kabul-side of the mountain pass, while on the Kuluksa and Ragmana sides it is missing. After passing this mountain pass, another world is revealed in front of people; Trees are different trees, grass is not the same grass, animals are different animals, and the customs and habits of the inhabitants are completely different. "Due to the abundant rainfall, it has formed - an oasis of abundant plants. The boulevard of diamond cypress trees, the beautiful jungle composed of citrus and lemon trees, and the fruit trees such as dates, grapes, apricots, peaches, pears, persimmons, bananas and other fruit trees are a green forest. Even the orange city of Jalalaba, at an altitude of 660 meters above sea level, is also sunk in the shade of an orchard.
Afghanistan is characterized by a basic economy characterized by livestock and agriculture. Arable land accounts for only 0.2% of the country's total land area. The settled population is concentrated in the Kandahar, Jaralaba Orange and Herat Oasis areas, as well as in the valleys along the left bank of the Amu Darya River, Kabul and Badakhshan. Pastoralists, who make up the majority of the population, migrate long distances once a year. In the summer, the herd moves north, and in the winter it returns to the south. Mineral resources are abundant, with 10.6 trillion cubic meters of identified natural gas, as well as high-grade drilling and coal, copper, lead, zinc, rock salt, beryllium and oil.