Bilingual Books, located in Fishermen's Terminal, has recently released a new tool for U.S. military forces serving in Afghanistan.

"Pashto: A Language Map" is an ultra-thin, lightweight, durable language guide to the dominant language in Afghanistan.

“This release was prompted by military requests for critical needs languages,” Kristine Kershul, president of Bilingual Books, said in a press release. “The current war in Afghanistan started nine years ago, on Oct. 7, 2001, and the majority of our troops have had an extremely limited choice of language tools."

The language map will give soldiers what they need to communicate immediately and work effectively in the field, Kershul said.

The company is committed to helping U.S. forces overseas, according to the press release. Bilingual Books released an Arabic language map in 2003 to assist troops deploying to Iraq.

“Even a small number of key words in a foreign language can help to remove cultural barriers and potentially save lives," Kershul said. "The development of the Pashto title was the logical extension of our commitment to help our troops stationed abroad.”

Pashto is the first language of 12 million people in Afghanistan and another 28 million across the border in Pakistan.

“If we want to be successful, we need to be able to communicate, at the very least, at a rudimentary level with the people in these countries,” Kershul said.

Bilingual Books is in its 30th year with more than 50 title in more than 20 languages.