Originally Posted by Ozia

There is a difference between the terms nation, state, and country, even though the words are often used interchangeably.

Country and State are synonymous terms that both apply to self-governing political entities.
A nation is a group of people who share the same culture, language, institutions, religion, and history.

In urdu,the word "qoum" is used for nation and "mulk" for country.whenever a country wins a war,we say wo mulk jeet gaya. we never say k wo qoum jeet gaye. Where the winning of the country can be gauged by its winning a war,the winning of a nation or qoum is referred to its progress over time. Japan,germany,turkey,malaysia are winning nations although they have never won a war(after WWII).

I dnt disagree with you when you say that when an army goes to war,the whole country goes to war.As I have said in my previous argument,even if the word country was used instead of army,the meaning u r inferring could be derived but as the examiner has used nation,it gives a completely different meaning.

I have tried to articulate my stance in the best possible way.It is upto you to infer the meaning now.