ABSTRACT
Soaring mountains dominate Afghanistan and shape its culture, history, social structure, customs, politics and economy. Vast, trackless deserts, mighty rivers and lush cropland further define this remote country. Militarily, the operational key terrain is the limited road network that connects its cities in a giant ring with side roads to Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. There are only 24 kilometers of railroad in Afghanistan - and these are split into two unconnected segments - leftover spurs from the former Soviet Union's incursion. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many countries offered to build railroads in Afghanistan, but Afghanistan was bordered to the north by the Russian Empire, to the east by the British Empire and to the west by Persia, heir to the late Persian Empire. The rulers of Afghanistan noted that the armies of empire traveled on rail and no railroads were built in Afghanistan. Militarily, this was probably a wise choice, but it exacted a severe economic and political price. To this
day, Afghanistan is one of the most poverty-stricken and isolated countries on the planet.
