Afghanistan is the crossroads of Central, South, and West Asia, nestled largely between Iran in the west and Pakistan in the east and south. Afghanistan's northern border touches the republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, formerly parts of the Soviet Union. A thin sliver of China's westernmost Xingiang Province reaches to Afghanistan's northeast, in the massive Hindu Kush mountain range.

Far from being the desolate ruin that decades of war have left it, Afghanistan has a long, long history of civilization. There are few roads, many of the people live isolated rural lives, not as a consequence of inherent backwardness but because of the country's impossibly rugged geography.

Its high passes have long been important routes of trade, culture and empire. Parts of Afghanistan were incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great, itself replacing an earlier Persian empire. Buddhism, which began in India, is thought to have reached China and East Asia largely via Afghanistan. The world-famous Sufi poet Rumi was born in Balkh, in northern Afghanistan in 1207. When he was a young man his family fled to Turkey before the invasion of the armies of Genghis Khan.

Afghanistan is an ethnically and linguistically diverse region, which, combined with the difficulty of communications, results in a lot of regional autonomy. The Pashtuns, largely in the south, share their heritage with a large number of people spread through Pakistan and north India. The Persian (Farsi) speaking groups, have more cultural linkages with Iran. Other groups have language/ethnic affinities with Tajiks and Uzbekis. Descendants of Mongolian invaders make up another significant ethnic group.

While there are ethnic feuds among different peoples in Afghanistan, the reality is never so simple. Often divided, they have just as often demonstrated a unity of purpose in the face of foreign invasions. They drove out the Soviets without ever having a completely unified military command.

There is also a fierce conflict between forces for modernization and reactionary elements, most clearly illustrated by the Taliban's horrific oppression of women. The Pro-Soviet government that the USSR invaded the country in 1979 to prop up, instituted wide ranging reforms of women's rights, healthcare and education.

The Taliban themselves are reportedly not of one mind, even on the question of bin Laden. While a favorite of the Taliban spiritual leader, Mullah Umar, some think that the Saudi bin Laden has too much influence for a foreigner.

Immediately upon the withdrawal of the Soviet Armies in 1989 and amid a cascade of shifting alliances, the Mujahideen forces began fighting among themselves. Roughly speaking, the Pakistan-backed Taliban managed to seize control of Kabul and now hold some 90% of the country. They are opposed by an India-supported alliance, based in the north. This alliance represents the exiled government of the anti-Soviet forces. This government holds Afghanistan's seat in the United Nations. Again, it is not simple. The mainly Pashtun Taliban does not represent all Pashtuns, nor are all Taliban allies Pashtun. The forces of the UN-recognized alliance includes leaders accused of atrocities and fosters its own repressive elements.

The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan called in May of 2001 for the world's governments to disavow both factions as contributing to atrocities and perpetration of the war.

Afghanistan has been politically unified in a number of configurations in its several thousand year history.

The modern state of Afghanistan is said to have started with Nadir Shah, a Persian, who unified the country in the mid 1700's. Afghanistan became a central prize in the struggles between the British Empire and Czarist Russia in the 19th century. Russia, whose global designs have been hampered by limited access to ports that don't freeze over in the winter, has long looked in the directions of Iran and Pakistan for such access. From Russia's perspective, Afghanistan is the "high ground" toward that effort.

Britain, while never conquering the whole country, largely controlled Afghanistan's affairs from the mid-1800's to 1907. Along with British influence came the rise of a western educated class of people who have been a strong force for modernization. The introduction of western-style reforms and influences, and the undercutting of traditional power structures led to resistance from fundamentalist tribal leaders.

This resistance erupted in the original uprisings against the Soviet-backed government in the 1970's. The Soviets responded by increasing their direct control, sparking a general anti-Soviet uprising that the US aided in pursuit of its own political aims. Once the Soviet forces withdrew, the US largely lost interest in Afghanistan.