instance_of ghazni province
Ghazni ( Persian :    ; Pashto :   ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan , located in the eastern ___MASK93___ of the country . The ___MASK96___ contains 19 districts , encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly ___MASK42___ . ___MASK42___ million people . The city of Ghazni serves as the capital . It lies on the important Kabul -- Kandahar Highway , and has historically functioned as an important trade center . The Ghazni Airport is located next to the city of Ghazni and provides limited domestic flights to Afghanistan ' s capital , Kabul . A landlocked ___MASK67___ or landlocked country is a ___MASK20___ entirely enclosed by land , or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas . There are currently 48 such countries , including four partially recognised states . Only two , Bolivia and Paraguay in South America , lie outside Afro - Eurasia ( the Old World ). China , officially the ___MASK26___ ' s ___MASK11___ of China ( PRC ), is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia . With a population of over ___MASK42___ . 381 billion , it is the world ' s most populous country . The state is governed by the Communist Party of China , and its capital is Beijing . It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces , five autonomous regions , four direct - controlled municipalities ( Beijing , Tianjin , Shanghai , and Chongqing ), and two mostly self - governing special administrative regions ( Hong Kong and Macau ), and claims sovereignty over Taiwan . The country ' s major urban areas include Shanghai , Guangzhou , Beijing , Chongqing , Shenzhen , Tianjin and Hong Kong . China is a great power and a major regional power within Asia , and has been characterized as a potential superpower . Ghazn or Ghaznai , also historically known as Ghaznn or Ghazna , is a ___MASK31___ in Afghanistan with a ___MASK5___ of nearly 150 , 000 ___MASK26___ . It is located in the central - east part of the country . Situated on a ___MASK66___ at 7 , 280 feet ( 2 , 219 m ) above ___MASK70___ level , the ___MASK31___ serves as the capital of Ghazni Province . It is linked by a highway with Kandahar to the southwest , Kabul to the northeast , and Gardez and Khost to the east . The foundation stone of Ghazni Airport was laid in April 2012 which now serves Ghazni and other nearby eastern Afghan provinces . Pashto (; " Pax  t " ), also known in older ___MASK7___ as Afghn or Pahn , is the South - Central Asian language of the Pashtuns . Its speakers are called Pashtuns or Pukhtuns and sometimes Afghans or Pathans . It is an Eastern Iranian language , belonging to the Indo - European ___MASK90___ . Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan , and it is the second - largest regional language of Pakistan , mainly spoken in the west and northwest of the country . Pakistan ' s Federally Administered Tribal Areas ( FATA ) are almost 100 % Pashto - speaking , while it is the majority language of the ___MASK96___ of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan . Pashto is the main language among the Pashtun diaspora around the world . The total number of Pashto - speakers is estimated to be 45  60 million people worldwide . Uzbekistan , officially the ___MASK11___ of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia . It is a unitary , constitutional , presidential ___MASK11___ , comprising twelve provinces , one autonomous ___MASK11___ and a ___MASK81___ city . Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries : Kazakhstan to the north ; Tajikistan to the southeast ; Kyrgyzstan to the northeast ; Afghanistan to the south ; and Turkmenistan to the southwest . South Asia or Southern Asia is a ___MASK4___ used to represent the southern region of the Asian ___MASK40___ , which comprises the sub - Himalayan SAARC countries and , for some authorities , adjoining countries to the west and east . Topographically , it is dominated by the Indian Plate , which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush . South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land ( clockwise , from west ) by West Asia , Central Asia , East Asia , and Southeast Asia . Pakistan ( or ), officially the Islamic ___MASK11___ of Pakistan , is a federal parliamentary ___MASK11___ in South Asia on crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia . It is the sixth - most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people . It is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area with an area covering . Pakistan has a coastline along the Arabian ___MASK70___ and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east , Afghanistan to the west , Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively . It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan ' s narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north , and also shares a maritime border with Oman . Kabul ( Pashto /) is the ___MASK81___ of Afghanistan as well as its largest city , located in the eastern section of the country . According to a 2015 estimate , the population of the city was around 3 , 678 , 033 which includes all the major ethnic groups . Rapid urbanization had made Kabul the world ' s 64th largest city and the fifth fastest - growing city in the world . Central Asia or Middle Asia is the core ___MASK3___ of the Asian ___MASK40___ and stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north . It is also colloquially referred to as " the ' stans " ( as the six countries generally considered to be within the ___MASK3___ all have names ending with the Persian suffix "- stan ", meaning " land of ") and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian ___MASK40___ . A ___MASK96___ is almost always an administrative division , within a country or state . The term derives from the ancient Roman " provincia ", which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ' s territorial possessions outside Italy . The term ___MASK96___ has since been adopted by many countries , and in those with no actual provinces , it has come to mean " outside the ___MASK81___ city ". While some provinces were produced artificially by colonial powers , others were formed around local groups with their own ethnic identities . Many have their own powers independent of federal authority , especially in Canada . In other countries , like China , provinces are the creation of central ___MASK44___ , with very little autonomy . ___MASK88___ (, also , ; ' ), also known as Persia , officially the Islamic ___MASK11___ of ___MASK88___ (' ), is a sovereign state in Western Asia . It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia , the " de facto " Nagorno - Karabakh ___MASK11___ , and Azerbaijan ; to the north by the Caspian ___MASK70___ ; to the northeast by Turkmenistan ; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan ; to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman ; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq . Comprising a land area of , it is the second - largest country in the Middle East and the 18th - largest in the world . With 82 . 8 million inhabitants , ___MASK88___ is the world ' s 17th - most - populous country . It is the only country with both a Caspian ___MASK70___ and an Indian Ocean coastline . The country ' s central location in Eurasia and Western Asia , and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz , make it of great geostrategic importance . Tehran is the country ' s capital and largest city , as well as its leading economic center . Afghan ( Pashto also Persian :  ; see " etymology ") refers to someone or something from Afghanistan , in particular a citizen of that ___MASK73___ . Prior to the rise of the ___MASK35___ as Afghanistan , it was used by Persian speakers and those influenced by the Persian ___MASK25___ to denote the Pashtun ___MASK26___ . In modern times , " Afghan " is rarely used as an ethnic term for the Pashtuns , but is rather used as the national demonym for all citizens of Afghanistan  Pashtuns , Tajiks , and also a large number of Hazaras , Uzbeks , Aimaqs , Turkmens , Balochs , Nuristanis , Pashayis , Pamiris , Arabs , and others . According to the " Encyclopædia Iranica ", the word Afghan ( afn ) in current political usage means any citizen of Afghanistan , regardless of their tribal or religious affiliation . According to the 1964 ___MASK76___ of Afghanistan , all Afghans are equal in rights and obligations before the law . The fourth article of the current ___MASK76___ of Afghanistan states that citizens of Afghanistan consist of Pashtuns , Tajiks , Hazara , Uzbek , Turkmen , Aymaq , Arab , Baluch , Pashayi , Nuristani , Qezelbash , Gujjars , Brahui , and members of other tribes . An administrative ___MASK85___ , unit , entity , ___MASK79___ or region , also referred to as a subnational entity , constituent unit , or country ___MASK82___ , is a portion of a country or other region delineated for the purpose of administration . Administrative divisions are granted a certain degree of autonomy and are usually required to manage themselves through their own local governments . Countries are divided up into these smaller units to make managing their land and the affairs of their people easier . For example , a country may be divided into provinces , which , in turn , are divided into counties , which , in turn , may be divided in whole or in part into municipalities ; and so on . Tajikistan (, or ), officially the ___MASK11___ of Tajikistan (" Çumhuriji Toçikiston "), is a mountainous , landlocked country in Central Asia with an estimated 8 million people in 2013 , and an area of . It is bordered by Afghanistan to the south , Uzbekistan to the west , Kyrgyzstan to the north , and China to the east . Pakistan lies to the south , separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor . Traditional homelands of Tajik people included present - ___MASK12___ Tajikistan , Afghanistan and Uzbekistan . Gardz is the ___MASK81___ of the Paktia ___MASK14___ . The population of the city was estimated to be ca . 10 , 000 in the 1979 census and was estimated to be 70 , 000 in 2008 . The population is overwhelmingly Pashtun . The city of Gardez is located at the junction between two important roads that cut through a huge alpine valley . Surrounded by the mountains and deserts of the Hindu Kush , which boil up from the valley floor to the north , east and west , it is the axis of commerce for a huge area of eastern Afghanistan and has been a strategic location for armies throughout the country  s long history of conflict . Observation posts built by Alexander the Great are still crumbling on the hilltops just outside the city limits . the city of Gardez has a population of 70 , 641 ( in 2015 ). it has 6 districts and a total land area of . The total number of dwellings in this city are 7 , 849 . Afghanistan is made up of 34 provinces (" wilåyat "). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primary administrative divisions . Each ___MASK96___ encompasses a number of districts or usually over ___MASK42___ , 000 villages . Turkmenistan ( or ); formerly known as Turkmenia is a ___MASK73___ in Central Asia , bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest , Uzbekistan to the north and east , Afghanistan to the southeast , ___MASK88___ to the south and southwest , and the Caspian ___MASK70___ to the west . Kandahar or Qandahar (, Persian :  , , known in older ___MASK7___ as Candahar ) is the second - largest city in Afghanistan , with a population of about 491 , 500 . Formerly called Alexandria Arachosia , the city is named after Alexander the Great , who founded it in 329 BC around a small ancient Arachosian town . Kandahar is the ___MASK81___ of Kandahar Province , located in the south of the country at an altitude of ___MASK42___ , 010 m above ___MASK70___ level . The Arghandab River runs along the west of the city . The city of Kandahar has a population of 557 , 118 . It has 15 districts and a total land area of 27 , 337 hectares . The total number of dwellings in Kandahar is 61 , 902 . Khost or Khowst ( Pashto / Persian :  ) is a ___MASK31___ in eastern Afghanistan . Khost is a mountainous region near Pakistan ' s ___MASK23___ with neighboring North Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Bannu in Pakistan . The population of Khost City is about 160 , 000 ___MASK26___ and the whole ___MASK96___ has around a million . There are various tribes living in Khost . Some of the main tribes are Zadran , Mangal , Zazi , Tani , Gurbaz , Muqbal , and Sabari . The ___MASK31___ of Khost has a population of 106 , 083 ( in 2015 ). it has 6 districts and a total land area of 7 , 139 Hectares . The total number of dwellings in this ___MASK31___ are 11 , 787 . Urbanization refers to the ___MASK5___ shift from rural to urban areas , " the gradual increase in the proportion of ___MASK26___ living in urban areas ", and the ways in which each ___MASK71___ adapts to the change . It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more ___MASK26___ begin living and working in central areas . The United Nations projected that half of the world ' s ___MASK5___ would live in urban areas at the end of 2008 . It is predicted that by 2050 about 64 % of the developing world and 86 % of the developed world will be urbanized . That is equivalent to approximately 3 billion urbanites by 2050 , much of which will occur in Africa and Asia . Notably , the United Nations has also recently projected that nearly all global ___MASK5___ growth from 2016 to 2030 will be absorbed by cities , about 1 . 1 billion new urbanites over the next 14 years . Afghanistan ( Pashto / Dari : , " Afnistn "), officially the Islamic ___MASK11___ of Afghanistan , is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia . It has a population of approximately 32 million , making it the 42nd most populous country in the world . It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east ; Iran in the west ; Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan , and Tajikistan in the north ; and China in the far northeast . Its territory covers , making it the 41st largest country in the world .