The Physical Setting of Afghanistan: A Comment

Despite popular perceptions regarding the inhospitable nature of Afghanistan's physical environment, reinforced by the mountainous appearance of its landscapes shown in recent television broadcasts reporting military actions of U.S. and allied forces, cultures have been rooted in the territory of the present country for several thousand years. Afghanistan's natural environment serves as habitat for its population and has provided both opportunities and limitations for human activity over the region's long history. Consequently, insight into the physical setting provides an important dimension to an understanding of Afghanistan's human geography, as outlined in the previous paper by Nigel Allan (2001).