Information: - Nagorno-Karabakh, officially the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR; "Lernayin Gharabaghi Hanrapetut'yun"), Artsakh Republic or Republic of Artsakh ("Arts'akhi Hanrapetut'yun"), is an unrecognised republic in the South Caucasus. The region is considered by the UN to be part of Azerbaijan, but is under the control of ethnic Armenian separatists. The NKR controls most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and some of the surrounding area, giving it a border with Armenia to the west, Iran to the south, and the uncontested territory of Azerbaijan to the north and east. - Turkmenistan (or ); formerly known as Turkmenia is a country in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north and east, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, and the Caspian Sea to the west. - Sistan and Baluchestan Province ("Ostn-e Sstn-o Balchestn") is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southeast of the country, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan and its capital is Zahedan. - Iran (, also , ; ' ), also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (' ), is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia, the "de facto" Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and Azerbaijan; to the north by the Caspian Sea; to the northeast by Turkmenistan; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan; to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. Comprising a land area of , it is the second-largest country in the Middle East and the 18th-largest in the world. With 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 17th-most-populous country. It is the only country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The country's central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, make it of great geostrategic importance. Tehran is the country's capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic center. - Pakistan (or ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people. It is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area with an area covering . Pakistan has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman. - Zabol (also Romanized as Zbol) is a city in and the capital of Zabol County, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. Zabol lies on the border with Afghanistan. Referred to as Sistan until the late 1920s, the city was renamed Zabol by Reza Shah Pahlavi. At the 2006 census, its population was 130,642, in 27,867 families. - Iraq (, or ; '; '), officially known as the Republic of Iraq ('; ') is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds; others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish. - The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean (Gulf of Oman) through the Strait of Hormuz and lies between Iran to the northeast and the Arabian Peninsula to the southwest. The Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline. - Nimruz ( Balochi / Persian : ; Pashto : ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan , located in the southwestern part of the country . It lays to the east of the Sistan and Baluchestan Province of Iran and north of Balochistan , Pakistan . The province contains five districts , encompassing about 649 villages , and roughly 156,600 settled people . The city of Zaranj serves as the provincial capital and Zaranj Airport , which is located by that city , serves as a domestic airport for the province . The name Nimruz means '' mid-day '' or '' half - day '' in Persian and Pashto . The name is believed to indicate that the meridian cutting the old world in half passes through this region . Nimruz covers 41,000 km . It is the most sparsely populated province in the country , located in the Sistan Basin . A substantial part of the province is the desert area of Dashti Margo . - Zaranj or Zarang (Persian/Pashto/) is a city in southwestern Afghanistan, near the border with Iran, which has a population of 160,902 people as of 2015. It is the capital of Nimruz province and is linked by highways with Lashkar Gah to the east, Farah to the north and the Iranian city of Zabol to the west. Zaranj serves as the border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran, which is of significant importance to the trade-route between Central Asia and South Asia with the Middle East. - Zahedan (Balochi: ) also Romanized as Zhedn, Zahidan, and Zaidn; also known as Zhedn-e Yek; formerly known as Dowzdb, Duzdb, and Duzdp and renamed Zahedan by Reza Shah Pahlavi in the late 1920s ) is a city in and the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 552,706, in 109,488 families. "Zahedan" is the plural of the Arabic word "zahed" meaning 'pious'. - Sindh is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, in the southeast of the country. Historically home to the Sindhi people, it is also locally known as the Mehran. It was formerly known as Sind until 1956. Sindh is the third largest province of Pakistan by area, and second largest province by population after Punjab. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west, and Punjab province to the north. Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east, and Arabian Sea to the south. Sindh's landscape consists mostly of alluvial plains flanking the Indus River, the Thar desert in the eastern portion of the province closest to the border with India, and the Kirthar Mountains in the western part of Sindh. Sindh's climate is noted for hot summers and mild winters. The provincial capital of Sindh is Pakistan's largest city and financial hub, Karachi. - Afghan (Pashto also Persian: ; see "etymology") refers to someone or something from Afghanistan, in particular a citizen of that country. Prior to the rise of the nation as Afghanistan, it was used by Persian speakers and those influenced by the Persian language to denote the Pashtun people. In modern times, "Afghan" is rarely used as an ethnic term for the Pashtuns, but is rather used as the national demonym for all citizens of Afghanistan Pashtuns, Tajiks, and also a large number of Hazaras, Uzbeks, Aimaqs, Turkmens, Balochs, Nuristanis, Pashayis, Pamiris, Arabs, and others. According to the "Encyclopdia Iranica", the word Afghan (afn) in current political usage means any citizen of Afghanistan, regardless of their tribal or religious affiliation. According to the 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan, all Afghans are equal in rights and obligations before the law. The fourth article of the current Constitution of Afghanistan states that citizens of Afghanistan consist of Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, Aymaq, Arab, Baluch, Pashayi, Nuristani, Qezelbash, Gujjars, Brahui, and members of other tribes. - Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey (Turkish: ), is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Greece to the west; Bulgaria to the northwest; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the south. The Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, which together form the Turkish Straits, divide Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Turkey's location has given it geopolitical and strategic importance throughout history. - Kandahar or Qandahar (, Persian: , , known in older literature as Candahar) is the second-largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 491,500 . Formerly called Alexandria Arachosia, the city is named after Alexander the Great, who founded it in 329 BC around a small ancient Arachosian town. Kandahar is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at an altitude of 1,010 m above sea level. The Arghandab River runs along the west of the city. The city of Kandahar has a population of 557,118. It has 15 districts and a total land area of 27,337 hectares. The total number of dwellings in Kandahar is 61,902. - South Asia or Southern Asia is a term used to represent the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan SAARC countries and, for some authorities, adjoining countries to the west and east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land (clockwise, from west) by West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. - Tajikistan (, or ), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ("Cumhuriji Tocikiston"), is a mountainous, landlocked country in Central Asia with an estimated 8 million people in 2013, and an area of . It is bordered by Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. Pakistan lies to the south, separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor. Traditional homelands of Tajik people included present-day Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. - The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001 by Resolution 1386, as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement. Its main purpose was to train the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and assist Afghanistan in rebuilding key government institutions, but was also engaged in the 2001present war with the Taliban insurgency. - The Strait of Hormuz "Tangehyyeh Hormoz" , "Maq Hurmuz") is a strait between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points. On the north coast lies Iran, and on the south coast the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman. At its narrowest, the strait has a width of . - Islam (' ;) is a religion articulated by the Quran, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God ('), and, for the vast majority of adherents, the teachings and normative example (called the "sunnah", composed of accounts called "hadith") of Muhammad (5708 June 632 CE). It is the world's second-largest religion and the fastest-growing major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population, known as Muslims. Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion that upholds that God is one and incomparable and that the purpose of existence is to worship God. Muslims consider Muhammad to be the last prophet of God. - China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia. With a population of over 1.381billion, it is the world's most populous country. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China, and its capital is Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau), and claims sovereignty over Taiwan. The country's major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a great power and a major regional power within Asia, and has been characterized as a potential superpower. - The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It is in an endorheic basin (it has no outflows) located between Europe and Asia. It is bound by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southeast. - Iran is subdivided into thirty one provinces ("Ostn", plural "Ostnh"), each governed from a local center, usually the largest local city, which is called the capital (Persian: "Markaz ") of that province. The provincial authority is headed by a Governor-General (Persian: "Ostndr "), who is appointed by the Minister of the Interior subject to approval of the cabinet. - The Afghan National Police (ANP; ) is the primary police force of Afghanistan, serving as a single law enforcement agency all across the country. The agency is under the responsibility of Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior, headed by Nur ul-Haq Ulumi. The ANP has about 157,000 active members as of September 2013, which is expected to reach 160,000 by the end of 2014. - Zaranj Airport is a domestic airport located by the city of Zaranj in far southwestern Afghanistan. It was built by the Afghan government to serve the population of Nimruz Province. The airport is used for civilian and military purposes. In addition to the Afghan Air Force and Afghan National Police, the U.S military and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also have presence. - The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Makran or Sea of Oman ("aldj Umn"; in Balochi: in "Khaleej Oman") is a strait (and not an actual gulf) that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, which then runs to the Persian Gulf. It borders Pakistan and Iran on the north, Oman on the south, and the United Arab Emirates on the west. - Armenia ( tr. "Hayastan"), officially the Republic of Armenia (tr. "Hayastani Hanrapetutyun"), is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located in Western Asia on the "Armenian Highlands", it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Russia and Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhchivan to the south. - The Arabian Sea is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by northeastern Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula, and on the east by India. Historically the sea has been known by other names including the Erythraean Sea and the Persian Sea. Its total area is and its maximum depth is . The Gulf of Aden is in the southwest, connecting the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, and the Gulf of Oman is in the northwest, connecting it to the Persian Gulf. - Sakastan (also known as Sagistan, Seyanish, Segistan, Sistan, and Sijistan) was a Sasanian province in Late Antiquity, that lay within the kust of Nemroz. The province bordered Kirman in the west, Spahan in the north west, Kushanshahr in the north east, and Turan in the south east. The governor of the province held the title of marzban. The governor also held the title of "Sakanshah" (king of the Saka) until the title was abolished in ca. 459/60. - Balochistan (Balochi, Pashto, , ), is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the southwestern region of the country. Its provincial capital and largest city is Quetta. It shares borders with Punjab and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to the northeast, Sindh to the southeast, the Arabian Sea to the south, Iran to the west, and Afghanistan to the north. - Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia. It is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising twelve provinces, one autonomous republic and a capital city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries: Kazakhstan to the north; Tajikistan to the southeast; Kyrgyzstan to the northeast; Afghanistan to the south; and Turkmenistan to the southwest. - Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having an 8km border with Turkey in the north west. - A sovereign state is, in international law, a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralised government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. - Pashto (; "Paxt" ), also known in older literature as Afghn or Pahn, is the South-Central Asian language of the Pashtuns. Its speakers are called Pashtuns or Pukhtuns and sometimes Afghans or Pathans. It is an Eastern Iranian language, belonging to the Indo-European family. Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, and it is the second-largest regional language of Pakistan, mainly spoken in the west and northwest of the country. Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are almost 100% Pashto-speaking, while it is the majority language of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan. Pashto is the main language among the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is estimated to be 4560 million people worldwide. - The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering (approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface). It is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean or, depending on definition, by Antarctica. It is named after the country of India. The Indian Ocean is known as "Ratnkara", ""the mine of gems"" in ancient Sanskrit literature, and as "Hind Mahsgar", ""the great Indian sea"", in Hindi. - Balochistan (also Baluchistan, often interpreted as the "Land of the Baloch") is an arid desert and mountainous region in south-western Asia. It comprises the Pakistani province of Balochistan, the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and the southern areas of the Afghan provinces of Nimruz, Helmand, and Kandahar. Balochistan borders the Pashtun region to the north, Sindh to the east, Punjab to the northeast, and Persian regions to the west. Across its southern coastline lies the Persian Gulf. - The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is "Middle-Eastern" and the derived noun is "Middle-Easterner". The term has come into wider usage as a replacement of the term Near East (as opposed to Far East) beginning in the early 20th century. - Afghanistan (Pashto/Dari: , "Afnistn"), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; and China in the far northeast. Its territory covers , making it the 41st largest country in the world. - Quetta is the provincial capital of Balochistan, Pakistan and the ninth-largest city of Pakistan. The city is known as the fruit garden of Pakistan, due to the numerous fruit orchards in and around it, and the large variety of fruits and dry fruits produced there. The city was also known as Little Paris in the past due to its beauty and geographical location. The immediate area has long been one of pastures and mountains, with varied plants and animals relative to the dry plains to the west. Quetta is at an average elevation of above sea level, making it Pakistan's only high-altitude major city. The population of the city is estimated to be approximately 1,140,000. - Sstn (Persian/Baloch/Pashto: ), known in ancient times as Sakastan (Persian/Baloch/Pashto: ; "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day eastern Iran (Sistan and Baluchestan Province), southern Afghanistan (Nimruz, Kandahar, and Zabul Province), and the Nok Kundi region of Balochistan (western Pakistan). - A landlocked state or landlocked country is a sovereign state entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are currently 48 such countries, including four partially recognised states. Only two, Bolivia and Paraguay in South America, lie outside Afro-Eurasia (the Old World). - The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA; ) is a semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, bordering Pakistan's provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to the east and south, and Afghanistan's provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost and Paktika to the west and north. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas consist of seven tribal agencies (districts) and six frontier regions, and are directly governed by Pakistan's federal government through a special set of laws called the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). - Tehran ( "Tehrn") is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With a population of around 9 million in the city and 16 million in the wider metropolitan area, Tehran is the most populous city of Iran, the 2nd-most populous city in Western Asia and the 3rd-largest metropolitan area in the Middle East. It is ranked 29th in the world by the population of its metropolitan area. - Western Asia, West Asia, Southwestern Asia or Southwest Asia is the westernmost subregion of Asia. The concept is in limited use, as it significantly overlaps with the Middle East (or Near East), the main difference being the exclusion of Egypt (which would be counted as part of North Africa). The term is sometimes used for the purposes of grouping countries in statistics. - Oman (; ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Holding a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the nation is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest, and shares marine borders with Iran and Pakistan. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz (which it shares with Iran) and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries. - Nok Kundi ("the blunt point"), is a township and region in western Pakistan in the province of Balochistan. This region of western Pakistan, was historically known to these people as Dzaranga ("water producing land"). It was recorded by the Greeks and Hellenized to Drangiana in Greek literature. The original word for this region is Zaranka means ("watermill" or a "spring"). This word occurs in old Balochi and Persian as ("Waterland"). - The Saka or Saca ; "Sakai"; "*Sk", "Si") was the term used in Persian and Sanskrit sources for the Scythians, a large group of Eastern Iranian nomadic tribes on the Eurasian Steppe. Modern scholars usually use the term Saka to refer to Iranians of the Eastern Steppe and the Tarim Basin. Rene Grousset wrote that they formed a particular branch of the "Scytho-Sarmatian family" originating from nomadic Iranian peoples of the northwestern steppe in Eurasia. They migrated into Sogdiana and Bactria in Central Asia and then to the northwest of the Indian subcontinent where they were known as the Indo-Scythians. In the Tarim Basin and Taklamakan desert region of Northwest China, they settled in Khotan and Kashgar which were at various times vassals to greater powers, such as the Han and Tang dynasties of Imperial China. - Zabul (Persian and ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a mostly rural population of about 289,300. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring Kandahar in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Zabulistan region. Qalat serves as the capital of the province. - Central Asia or Middle Asia is the core region of the Asian continent and stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It is also colloquially referred to as "the 'stans" (as the six countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan", meaning "land of") and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent. - The Afghan Air Force (AAF; Pashto: ; Dari: ), formerly the "Afghan National Army Air Corps", is a branch of the military of Afghanistan that is responsible for air defense and air warfare. It is divided into three wings, with the 1st Wing at Kabul, the 2nd Wing at Kandahar and the 3rd Wing south at Shindand in western Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. Mohammad Dawran serves as Chief of Staff of the Afghan Air Force and Major General Abdul Wahab Wardak is the Afghan Air Force Commander. The command center of the Afghan Air Force is located at Kabul International Airport and the Shindand Air Base in Herat Province serves as the main training area. What entity does 'nimruz province' has the relation 'shares border with' with?
A:
helmand