Afghanistan learning maps, prepared 17 October 2026

Provinces: Wikimedia/geoBoundaries gbOpen, public domain underlying source,
2007 reference geometry. All 34 units retained, including Daykundi and Panjshir.
https://www.geoboundaries.org/api/current/gbOpen/AFG/ADM1/
https://github.com/wmgeolab/geoBoundaries/tree/9469f09/releaseData/gbOpen/AFG/ADM1
Original snapshot: scripts/afghanistan-admin-source.geojson
Metadata: scripts/afghanistan-admin-metadata.json
Names are normalised to English. The source typo Ghanzi is corrected to Ghazni;
AF_KAN is normalised to AF-KAN, and Badakhshan's source AF-BDN to AF-BDS.
No additional simplification is applied, preserving shared edges.
These reference maps do not show current security conditions, access or ethnic
boundaries and do not settle disputes concerning the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Rivers: Natural Earth 1:10m river and lake centrelines, public domain.
https://github.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/blob/master/geojson/ne_10m_rivers_lake_centerlines.geojson
https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/
Source names: Helmand, Harirud, Panj and Amu  Darya.
Selected reaches are clipped to the province union with a 3 km border margin.
Generalisation can leave gaps beside borders; this is not a complete river
network or a hydrological flow model. The Kabul River is discussed in the
writing but is not in this four-river exercise. River widths are illustrative.

Curated representative city centres and prompts:
public/data/afghanistan-map-places.json
Combined geometry snapshot: scripts/afghanistan-map-source.geojson
Rebuild: node scripts/build-afghanistan-maps.mjs

Sights have representative longitude/latitude pins and Wikipedia links.
World Heritage: https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/af/
Bamiyan and Jam are the two inscribed properties. Herat, Balkh, Band-e Amir
and Bagh-e Babur are Tentative List entries, a different status.
The sights are heritage learning priorities, not an itinerary or a guarantee
of opening, permissions or safe access. Official advice:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/afghanistan