Roads And The Fate Of Afghanistan

From Strategy Page:

December 10, 2008: Afghanistan is the poorest nation in Asia. The place is mostly mountains and desert, has no railroads and few roads (42,000 kilometers worth, and only 29 percent are paved.) There are few rivers, much less navigable ones, and no access to the sea. In other words, a logistical nightmare. And not just for modern armies. The ancients suffered as well, as they depended on living off the local population. But most Afghans live in mountain valleys, or along the few rivers, and tend to be self-sufficient. Not enough plunder for a really large army. Even the Mongols, who came by and hosed the place (at least what they could reach) pretty good, brought with them more horses than warriors (each had several), and could not always find enough pasturage for their mounts. A lot of places in Afghanistan avoided the Mongol invasion simply because the formidable horsemen could not graze their way to the remote mountain valleys.

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