Afganistan.

For obvious reasons, there is going to be a lot of news about
Afganistan. We might take the opportunity to familiarize ourselves
with the geography, hydrology and -- on topic -- its linguistic map.

I know little of this part of the world. High, difficult-to-traverse
mountains, with isolated valleys. Small tribal groups can hold off
whole armies. This is a recipe for extreme linguistic diversity, a la
the Caucasus, tho' I don't know just how linguistically diverse
Afganistan is.

The main river is the Helmand, which is in the southwest. Is it
landlocked? It seems so. The other important river is the Kabul. The
headwaters of the Helmand and Kabul Rivers are close to each other at
the city of Kabul.

Linguistically, it seems to be Iranian-speaking except at the eastern
fringe, where Indic and Nuristani tongues are found.

The Indic entry into India seems to have been mainly via the Kabul
River valley, tho' there are other approaches, but I am largely
ignorant of them. At a later state, the Iranian languages replaced
Indic.

Yes, I'm angry, but revenge is a dish best eaten cold. Right now, I
just want to learn something of this part of the world.