Afghanistan is a landlocked nation (does not have access to the sea) in south-central Asia. At the crossroads of north-south and east-west trade routes, the country has been invaded many times, by Alexander the Great in the fourth century в.с, and by the Soviet Union in the twentieth century a.d. Almost as large as the state of Texas, Afghanistan is bounded by six different countries. Afghanistan's longest border—accounting tor its entire southern boundary and most of its eastern one—is with Pakistan. The shortest one, bordering Chinas Xinjiang province, is only 76 kilometers (47 miles), at the end of the Wakhan corridor...