During the period of British intervention in Afghanistan, ethnic Pashtun territories were divided by the Durand Line and would lead to strained relations between Afghanistan and British India and later the new state of Pakistan over what came to known as the Pashtunistan debate.
Afghanistan is a mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest.
International efforts to rebuild Afghanistan lead to the formulation of the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA), as a result of the December 2001 Bonn Agreement, and later addressed at the Tokyo Donors Conference for Afghan Reconstruction in January 2002, where $4.5 billion was collected for a trust fund to be administered by the World Bank Group.
Afghanistan's exiled king, Zahir Shah, yesterday moved into the limelight as a candidate to lead a transitional government should the US succeed in overthrowing the Taliban.
In a flurry of interviews and statements the former king's aides made it clear he was ready to return to Kabul and form a government after 28 years in exile.
Francesc Vendrell, the UN chief's personal representative for Afghanistan, met the 86-year-old, who is said to be in good health, for several hours yesterday, according to the former king's aides.
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