Origin of the name "Afghanistan"

[Guest guest]

Dear folks,

As someone interested in history and languages of India,

(I am more of the leisure kind rather than a serious researcher!), it

hasn't been very clear to me how the name "Afghanistan" is regarded

to have originated. Is it an originally Persian name (land of

the "Afghan"s?)? Or is it regarded to be originally a Sanskrit name

which was later on Persianized (by changing "sthan" to "stan")?

 

Piyush