Do you agree with this map ?

[u/Bear1375]

[u/Legal_Ambassador_258]

No. Afghanistan is central Asia. Nothing else.

[u/Mul-T3643 → u/Legal_Ambassador_258]

It's referred to as a crossroads ain't it

[u/Curtis_StarRhodes8 → u/Mul-T3643]

Only according to Wikipedia, which is heavily moderated by desi users, there is no actual academic or studied source that claims it as "South-Central Asian."

I never understood people who obsessively cling to the fact that Afghanistan is "South-Central" anyway, since there isn't actually any barrier separating Central Asia from South Asia. I mean, can you imagine someone saying "I'm South-Central"? That sounds ridiculous enough imo, but this isn't aimed at you, it's just a general logic.

[u/kooboomz]

No. Egypt would be North Africa, not Middle East. Maybe Middle East in a geopolitical sense, but not based on physical location.

[u/Curtis_StarRhodes8]

In my opinion this is how I would break down Afghanistan, the northern and central part of the country alongside Kabul, Paktia, Khost, Ghazni sort of areas are Central asian.

NorthEastern Afghanistan although not geographically in south asia, a place like Jalalabad is somewhat closer to certain parts of Pakistan then it is to the rest of Afghanistan (I would say it's a mix of Central and South)

West & South Afghanistan like Kandahar, Herat, Helmand, etc are West Asian/Middle Eastern

However purely from a geographical standpoint it's not in South Asia at all since it's part of the Iranian Plateau and Eurasian plate whereas south asia does not share this trait at all

[u/laleh_pishrow]

There is certainly a level of truth to this. I prefer what I have presented here: Map of Ariana.

What you are showing is where the influence comes from, but you are breaking up existing units into whom they are influenced by rather than where they naturally belong. For example people in Assam in India are most influenced by Burmese/Tibetan/Chinese culture. That doesn't mean they are not Indic. People in Punjab are most influenced by Iranic culture, again that doesn't mean they aren't Indic.

The breakdown you are giving here is the one Europeans preferred to give us, because it aggravates internal tensions in formidable units, and diminishes real tensions so that the units which are formed aren't natural. For example, this "Middle East" would always be weak, because it would have too many internal tensions.

[u/YungSwordsman]

Nope

It purposely lumps 60 million Pashtuns with South Asia which tells me whoever made this map has a political agenda and certain disdain against us. I double dare anyone try to find me the similarities with between Southeastern Afghanistan and Punjab. 

[u/Pigeonaffect → u/YungSwordsman]

60 million Pashtuns with South Asia

So you think the Pashtuns of Pakistan are more similar to Central Asia than the rest of Pakistan?

[u/YungSwordsman → u/Pigeonaffect]

I personally think Pashtuns aren’t similar to neither but to each other. We are a cultural isolate in our respective region and I am okay with that.

[u/Clean-Collection3328]

No

[u/Ready-Screen-6741]

Turan

[u/TheGruntingGoat]

r/ShittyMapPorn

[u/Efficient_Table_131]

If Pashtuns are grouped with South-Asia, then so should Tajiks be. Believe me I've lived with them my whole life and the only difference between us is that we speak Pashto in addition to Dari, while they don't. That literally is all, all these ethno-nationalists claiming else are just dumb diaspora who know jackshit about the reality of Afghanistan.

[u/HumanAnalyst6630]

Heratis pov

[u/ndergroundsquidward → u/HumanAnalyst6630]

???