Name of Afghanistan

The name Afghānistān (Persian: افغانستان‎‎, [avɣɒnestɒn]) means "land of the Afghans", which originates from the ethnonym "Afghan". Historically, the name "Afghan" mainly designated the Pashtun people, the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan. The earliest reference to the name is found in the 10th-century geography book known as Hudud ul-'alam. The last part of the name, -stān is a Persian suffix for "place".

In the early 19th century, Afghan politicians adopted the name Afghanistan for the entire Durrani Empire after its English translation had already appeared in various treaties with Qajarid Persia and British India.

In 1857, in his review of J.W. Kaye's The Afghan War, Friedrich Engels describes "Afghanistan" as:

"an extensive country of Asia ... between Persia and the Indies, and in the other direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly included the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat, Beluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and a considerable part of the Punjab ... Its principal cities are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar."

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