Afghanis-tan illustrates the modern
history of Afghanistan and its neighboring countries, starting from the
imperialist era in the 19th century, through
moe anthropomorphism. The title character, a clumsy young child, is a
national personification of
Afghanistan. Other female characters personify the nearby nations of
Central Asia, such as
Pakistan and
Uzbekistan. Nations that have fought wars in Afghanistan at various times, such as
Britain, the
Soviet Union and the
United States also make appearances. The
Taliban regime and
Al-Qaeda terrorist group are also represented in the comic as feral cats. Each
yonkoma strip is accompanied by an "Afghan Memo" that explains some of the background and history of the nations depicted. Additional pages give short biographies of the characters. The fact that it is a
moe manga depicting international conflict, and the fact that it personifies countries, has drawn some criticism. However, it has also drawn attention for its attempt to blend an appropriate depiction of the history and background of each country with the personality of its characters.
Afghanis-tan has finished, and work on its sequel, "Pakis-tan" (ISBN 4-86199-116-1), was suspended after four editions but was released in 2008 by the company SansaiBooks. The author of both the comics caught a virus on his computer that had leaked his personal info, after which he took down his website and moved on from associating with the comics. On July 26, 2005, after several delays, the series went on sale as a comic book, "Afghanis-tan" (). ==Characters==