South Asia
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Afghanistan: TopicOfficially Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, republic (2005 est. pop. 29,929,000), 249,999 sq mi (647,497 sq km), S central Asia. The capital and largest city is Kabul.
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Bhutan: TopicOfficially Kingdom of Bhutan, kingdom (2005 est. pop. 2,232,000), 18,147 sq mi (47,000 sq km), in the E Himalayas, southern Asia.
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India: TopicCountry in southern Asia, bounded to the north by China, Nepal, and Bhutan; east by Myanmar and Bangladesh; northwest by Pakistan and Afghanistan; and southeast, south, and southwest by the Indian Ocean.
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Maldives: TopicGroup of 1,196 islands in the north Indian Ocean, about 640 km/400 mi southwest of Sri Lanka; only 203 of them are inhabited.
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Sri Lanka: TopicIsland in the Indian Ocean, off the southeast coast of India.
Nepal
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Nepal: Topic
Independent nation (2005 est. pop. 27,677,000), c.54,000 sq mi (139,860 sq km), central Asia. Landlocked and isolated by the Himalayas. Katmandu is the capital. Around forty different languages are spoken in the kingdom of Nepal, with Nepali being the official language.
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Kathmandu: TopicCapital of Nepal, situated at 1,370 m/4,500 ft in the southern Himalayas
Bangladesh
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Bangladesh: Topic
Officially People's Republic of Bangladesh, republic (2005 est. pop. 144,320,000), 55,126 sq mi (142,776 sq km), S Asia.
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Dhaka: TopicCapital of Bangladesh since 1971 following the war of independence from Pakistan.
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Bengali Language: TopicThe national language of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) and also spoken by the great majority in the Indian province of West Bengal
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Bengal: TopicRegion, 77,442 sq mi (200,575 sq km), E India and Bangladesh, on the Bay of Bengal.
Pakistan
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Pakistan: TopicOfficially Islamic Republic of Pakistan, republic (2005 est. pop. 162,420,000), 310,403 sq mi (803,944 sq km), S Asia.
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Balochistan: TopicThe country's largest and least populous province.
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Islamabad: TopicCapital of Pakistan from 1967 (replacing Karachi).
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Karachi: TopicLargest city and former capital of Pakistan.
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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: TopicProvince of Pakistan... It includes the strategic Khyber Pass, the site of constant struggle between the British Raj and the Pathan warriors.
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Lahore: TopicCapital of Punjab prov., E central Pakistan, on the Ravi River. It is the second largest city of Pakistan.
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Peshawar: TopicCapital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North-West Frontier Province).
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Panjabi Language: TopicPanjabi belongs to the Indo-Aryan languages and to the dialect continuum of northern India and Pakistan.
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Pashto Language: TopicSpeakers in Pakistan are known as Pathans or Afghans.
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Punjab: TopicHistoric region in the NW of the Indian subcontinent. Since 1947 it has been separated into an Indian state and a Pakistani province bearing the same name.
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Sind: TopicProvince (1998 pop. 29,991,161), c.50,000 sq mi (129,500 sq km), SE Pakistan, roughly coextensive with the lower Indus River valley and bounded by India on the east and south and by the Arabian Sea on the southwest.
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Urdu Language: TopicOne of the Indo-Aryan Languages, Urdu is the twin of Hindi. It has the same origin in the regional language of the country around Delhi. Culturally, the two languages are a world apart.