1. Afghanistan: the unique lebensraum Sir Halford John Mackinder in his famous Heartland theory changed the concept of world geopolitics by saying: “Whoever governs Eastern Europe commands the Heartland, Whoever governs the Heartland commands the World-Island, Whoever governs the 'Island-World rules the world. ” Afghanistan is geographically located on the periphery of Central Asia, but this does not reduce its geostrategic importance in the geopolitical phenomena of this region. Not only geographical contiguity, common racial, ethnic, cultural and religious threads of connection make Afghanistan interconnected with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries. The huge cross-border migration, the intrusion of cross-border conflicts culminated by ethnic, national and terrorist issues, and the involvement of superpowers in Afghanistan have always put Central Asian countries in a situation where they cannot ignore Afghanistan and cannot think of realizing their dreams of regional stability and peace without collaborating with Kabul. Likewise, for other countries, including Pakistan, India and neighboring regional powers, Afghanistan remained a source of disagreement. The Great Game of superpowers in Asia, which had dynamics much broader than its regional platform, was played on the terrain of Afghanistan. Therefore, to study the geopolitics of Central Asia, Afghanistan must be explored in all its historical and geopolitical aspects. The path for interaction between different factors will take on new dimensions once US and NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan. The Central Asian countries of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have common borders with Afghanistan of about 2,000 kilometers. Topography on these borders – for Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan...... middle of document ...... e-20-Soldiers-of-God-1975-1988/overview.UNICEF. “Landmines: a deadly legacy.” Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.unicef.org/graca/mines.htm"Afghanistan” Berkley Center for Religion. Peace. and World Affairs. Retrieved December 10, 2012. from http://berkleycenter.georgetown. edu /resources/countries/afghanistanOlson. Parmy (2010). “The World's Most Dangerous Countries.” lifestyle. -travel-haiti-afghanistan-iraq.htmlDupree, L, Nancy Hatch Dupree and others. "Last Afghan Empire" online. Retrieved 20 February 2012. From http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/7798 . / Afghanistan/21386/The-first-Muslim-dynasties.Elphinstone, M. (1815). "Account of the Kingdom of Kabul and its dependencies in Persia and India"..