Thehistory of Afghanistan covers the development of Afghanistan from ancient times to the establishment of theEmirate of Afghanistan in 1822 and Afghanistan in modern times. This history is largely shared with that ofCentral Asia,Middle East, and northern parts of theIndian subcontinent.
Human habitation in Afghanistan dates back to the earlyMiddle Paleolithic era, and the country'sstrategic location along the historicSilk Road has led it to being described, picturesquely, as the ‘roundabout of the ancient world’.[1] The land has historically been home to various different peoples andhas witnessed numerous military campaigns, including those bythe Persians,Alexander the Great, theMaurya Empire,Arab Muslims, theMongols, The Mughal Empire, theBritish, theSoviet Union, and most recently bya US-led coalition.[2] The various conquests and periods in theIranian cultural spheres[3][4] made the area a center forZoroastrianism andBuddhism, and a small community ofHinduism, and laterIslam throughout history.[5]
TheDurrani Empire, established in 1747, is considered to be the foundational polity of the modernnation state of Afghanistan, withAhmad Shah Durrani being credited as itsFather of the Nation.[6][7] Following the Durrani Empire's decline and the death of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1772) andTimur Shah (1793), it was divided into multiple smaller independent kingdoms, including but not limited toHerat,Kandahar andKabul. Afghanistan would be reunited in the 19th century after seven decades of civil war from 1793 to 1863, with wars of unification led byDost Mohammad Khan from 1823 to 1863, where he conquered the independent principalities of Afghanistan under the Emirate of Kabul. Dost Mohammad Khan is sometimes considered to be the founder of the firstmodern Afghan state.[8] Dost Mohammad died in 1863, days afterhis last campaign to unite Afghanistan, and Afghanistan was consequentlythrown back into civil war with fighting amongst his successors. During this time, Afghanistan became abuffer state in theGreat Game between theBritish Raj in South Asia and theRussian Empire. The British Raj attempted to subjugate Afghanistan but was repelled in theFirst Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842). However, theSecond Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880) saw a British victory and the successful establishment of British political influence over Afghanistan. Following theThird Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, Afghanistan became free of foreign political hegemony, and emerged as the independentKingdom of Afghanistan in June 1926 underAmanullah Khan. This monarchy lasted almost half a century, untilZahir Shah wasoverthrown in 1973, following which theRepublic of Afghanistan was established.
Since the late 1970s, Afghanistan's history has been dominated by extensive warfare, includingcoups, invasions, insurgencies, and civil wars. The conflict began in 1978 when acommunist revolution established asocialist state, and subsequent infighting prompted theSoviet Union to invade Afghanistan in 1979.Mujahideen fought against the Soviets in theSoviet–Afghan War andcontinuedfightingamongst themselves following theSoviets' withdrawal in 1989. TheIslamic fundamentalistTaliban controlled most of the country by 1996, but theirIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan received little international recognition before its overthrow in the 2001US invasion of Afghanistan. The Taliban returned to power in 2021 aftercapturing Kabul and overthrowing the government of theIslamic Republic of Afghanistan, thus bringing an end to the2001–2021 war.[9] Although initially claiming it would form an inclusive government for the country, in September 2021 the Taliban re-established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan with aninterim government made up entirely of Taliban members.[10] The Taliban government remains internationally unrecognized.[11]
Excavations of prehistoric sites byLouis Dupree and others atDarra-e Kur in 1966 where 800 stone implements were recovered along with a fragment of Neanderthal righttemporal bone, suggest that early humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 52,000 years ago. A cave called Kara Kamar containedUpper Paleolithic bladesCarbon-14 dated at 34,000 years old.[12] Farming communities in Afghanistan were among the earliest in the world.[13] Artifacts indicate that theindigenous people were small farmers and herdsmen, very probably grouped into tribes, with small local kingdoms rising and falling through the ages. Urbanization may have begun as early as 3000 BCE.[14]Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom from the Vedic period and its capital city located between theHindu Kush andSulaiman Mountains (mountains ofSolomon),[15] although Kandahar in modern times and the ancient Gandhara are not geographically identical.[16][17]
Early inhabitants, around 3000 BCE were likely to have been connected through culture and trade to neighboring civilizations likeJiroft andTappeh Sialk and theIndus Valley Civilisation. Urban civilization may have begun as early as 3000 BCE and it is possible that the early city ofMundigak (nearKandahar) was a part of the ancientHelmand culture.[18] The first known people were theIndo-Iranians,[13] but their date of arrival in the region has been estimated widely from as early as about 3000 BCE[19] to 1500 BCE.[20] (For further detail seeIndo-Iranians.)
TheIndus Valley Civilisation (IVC) spanned from parts of Afghanistan to modern-day Pakistan and north-western India.[21] An Indus valley site has been found on theOxus River atShortugai in Afghanistan, which is the northernmost site of the Indus Valley Civilisation.[22]
TheBactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, also known as the Oxus civilisation, became prominent between about 2200 and 1700 BCE. The city ofBalkh (Bakhlo inBactrian) in northern Afghanistan was founded around this time (c. 2000–1500 BCE).[19]
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TheGandhara region centered around thePeshawar Valley andSwat river valley, though the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus river to theTaxila region inPothohar Plateau and westwards into theKabul andBamyan valleys in Afghanistan, and northwards up to theKarakoram range.[23][24]
During the 6th century BCE, Gandhāra was an important imperial power in north-west South Asia, with thevalley of Kaśmīra being part of the kingdom, while the other states of the Punjab region, such as theKekayas,Madrakas,Uśīnaras, andShivis being under Gāndhārī suzerainty. The Gāndhārī kingPukkusāti, who reigned around 550 BCE, engaged in expansionist ventures which brought him into conflict with the kingPradyota of the rising power ofAvanti. Pukkusāti was successful in this struggle with Pradyota.[25][26]
By the later 6th century BCE, the founder of thePersianAchaemenid Empire,Cyrus, soon after his conquests ofMedia,Lydia, andBabylonia, marched into Gandhara and annexed it into his empire.[27] The scholarKaikhosru Danjibuoy Sethna advanced that Cyrus had conquered only the trans-Indus borderlands around Peshawar which had belonged to Gandhāra while Pukkusāti remained a powerful king who maintained his rule over the rest of Gandhāra and the western Punjab.[28]
The Kambojas were an ancient southeasternIranian peoples who lived in the southern region of modern Afghanistan. They were mentioned by a number ofIndo-Aryan inscriptions and literature, being first attested during the later part of theVedic period. The ancient Indian emperorAshoka mentioned the Kambojas between 268 and 232 BCE in his Major Rock Edicts. The people known in Classical sources as Aspasioi,Aśvaka and Assakenoi, were likely tribes of the Kamboja people. The region south of theHindu Kush that was inhabited by the Kambojas went under the rule of many different groups over the centuries, starting with theAchaemenid Persians.
The descendants of the Kambojas have mostly been assimilated into various newer groups. However, some tribes possibly remain today that still retain the names of their ancestors. There are some theories and speculation about the possible descendants of the Kamboja people. TheYusufzaiPashtuns are said to be related to the Aspasioi orAśvaka people from the Kamboja age. TheKom/Kamoz people ofNuristan retain their Kamboj name. TheAshkun of Nuristan also retain the name of Aśvakas. TheYashkunShina dards are another group that retain the name of the Kamboja Aśvakans. TheKamboj ofPunjab are another group that still retain the name however have integrated into new identity. The country ofCambodiaderives its name from the Kamboja.[29]
The area of modern Afghanistan fell to theAchaemenid Persians after it was conquered byDarius I of Persia. The land was divided into several provinces calledsatrapies, which were each ruled by a governor, orsatrap. These ancient satrapies included:Aria: The region of Aria was separated by mountain ranges from theParopamisadae in the east,Parthia in the west andMargiana andHyrcania in the north, while a desert separated it fromCarmania andDrangiana in the south. It is described in a very detailed manner byPtolemy andStrabo[30] and corresponds, according to that, almost to theHerat Province of today's Afghanistan;Arachosia, corresponds to the modern-dayKandahar,Lashkargah, andQuetta. Arachosia borderedDrangiana to the west,Paropamisadae (i.e.Gandhara) to the north and to the east, andGedrosia to the south. The inhabitants of Arachosia wereIranian peoples, referred to as Arachosians or Arachoti.[31] It is assumed that they were calledPactyans by ethnicity, and that name may have been in reference to the ethnicPaṣtun (Pashtun)tribes.[32]
Bactria was the area north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Tian Shan, with the Amu Darya flowing west through the center (Balkh);Sattagydia was the easternmost regions of the Achaemenid Empire, part of its Seventh tax district according to Herodotus, along with Gandārae, Dadicae and Aparytae.[33] It is believed to have been situated east of the Sulaiman Mountains up to the Indus River in the basin around Bannu. (Ghazni); andGandhara which corresponds to modern dayKabul,Jalalabad, andPeshawar.[34]
Alexander the Great invaded the area of modern Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeatingDarius III of Persia a year earlier at theBattle of Gaugamela.[35] His army faced strong resistance in the region's ancient tribal areas where Alexander is supposedly said to have commented that the land is "easy to march into, but difficult to march out of".[36] He first conquered Bactria in northern Afghanistan between 329 and 327 BCE,[37] and marriedRoxana of Bactria. He then conducted theCophen campaign to the south near the Kabul valley, where his army fought against theAspasioi and Assakenoi peoples.[38][39] Although his expedition through Afghanistan was brief, Alexander left behind a Greek cultural influence that lasted several centuries. He founded and built many cities in the region, all named "Alexandria", including:Alexandria Ariana (modern-dayHerat);Alexandria Arachosia (modernKandahar);Alexandria in the Caucasus (nearBagram); and finally,Alexandria Eschate (nearKhujand), in the far north. After Alexander's death, his loosely connected Macedonian empire was divided.Seleucus, aMacedonian officer during Alexander's campaign, declared himself ruler of his ownSeleucid Empire, which also included present-day Afghanistan.[40] The Hellenistic city ofAi-Khanoum was later founded in northern Afghanistan, likely by the Seleucid rulerAntiochus, the son of Seleucus in about 280 BCE.[41]
![Aramaic inscription of Laghman is an inscription on a slab of natural rock in the area of Laghmân, Afghanistan, written in Aramaic by the Indian emperor Ashoka about 260 BCE, and often categorized as one of Minor Rock Edicts of Ashoka.[43]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAramaic_inscription_of_Laghman.jpg)
The southern half of Afghanistan fell to theMaurya Empire, which was led byChandragupta Maurya. The Mauryas further entrenchedBuddhism, but also other religions such asBrahmanism to the region, and were planning to capture more territory of Central Asia until they faced Seleucid forces, who ruled in northern Afghanistan. Seleucus I is said to have reached apeace treaty with Chandragupta by giving control of the territory south of the Hindu Kush to the Mauryas upon intermarriage and 500 elephants.
Alexander took these away from the Hindus and established settlements of his own, butSeleucus Nicator gave them toSandrocottus (Chandragupta), upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange 500 elephants.[44]
— Strabo, 64 BCE–24 CE
The most famous Mauryan emperor wasAshoka who reigned around 268–232 BCE,[45] and whose inscriptions such theMajor and Minor Rock Edicts have been found in eastern and southern Afghanistan (for example in Kandahar). Supposedly also referred to by the name Piyadasi, he encouraged the propagation of Buddhism throughout the ancient world. In one of his edicts Ashoka states that theHellenistic kingdoms to the north and west received his envoys and followed Buddhism:
Now it is conquest by Dhamma that Beloved-of-the-Gods considers to be the best conquest. And it (conquest by Dhamma) has been won here, on the borders, even six hundred yojanas away, where the Greek kingAntiochus (Aṃtiyoka) rules, beyond there where the four kings namedPtolemy (Turamaya),Antigonus (Aṃtekina),Magas (Maka) andAlexander (Alikasudara) rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni.Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamktis, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions in Dhamma.[46]
TheGreco-Bactrian Kingdom was aHellenistic kingdom,[47] founded whenDiodotus I, thesatrap ofBactria (and probably the surrounding provinces) seceded from theSeleucid Empire around 255 to 250 BCE.[48] Diodotus' dynasty was soon overthrown byEuthydemus I sometime around 230–220 BCE. After successfully repelling a Seleucid invasion, Euthydemus' son,Demetrius I of Bactria, started an invasion of theIndian subcontinent between 190 and 180 BCE.[49]
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was known for its high level of Hellenistic sophistication and possessed many wealthy cities.[50] The main cities of the kingdom wereBactra andAi-Khanoum in northern Afghanistan. The Greco-Bactrians continued to dominate Central Asia until about 130 BCE, when the son ofEucratides I, namedHeliocles I, wasdefeated and driven out of Bactria by theYuezhi tribes from the east. After the collapse of Greek rule, the Yuezhi now had complete control of Bactria. It is thought that Eucratides' dynasty continued to rule inKabul andAlexandria of the Caucasus until about 70 BCE when KingHermaeus was also defeated by the Yuezhi. It is possible that Hermaeus was the last Greek ruler in Afghanistan, or perhaps it was one of the later Indo-Greek rulers.
The Indo-Greek kingdom was founded when the Greco-Bactrian kingDemetrius I invaded north-western India in the early 2nd century BCE. One of Demetrius I's successors,Menander I Soter, brought theIndo-Greek Kingdom (now isolated from the rest of the Hellenistic world after the fall of Bactria[51]) to its height between 165 and 130 BCE. He expanded the kingdom from Afghanistan andPakistan to even larger proportions than Demetrius. After Menander's death, theIndo-Greeks steadily declined and the last Indo-Greek kings, eitherStrato II orStrato III, were defeated in c. 10 CE.[52] The Indo-Greek Kingdom was succeeded by theIndo-Scythians.
TheIndo-Scythians were descended from theSaka (Scythians) who migrated from southernSiberia toPakistan andArachosia from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched fromGandhara toMathura. One of the most important Indo-Scythian rulers wasAzes I, who ruled between about 48–25 BCE. The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd century CE after the Scythians were defeated by the south Indian EmperorGautamiputra Satakarni of theSatavahana dynasty.[53][54] Later the Saka kingdom was completely destroyed byChandragupta II of theGupta Empire from eastern India in the 4th century.[55]
TheIndo-Parthian Kingdom was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty, named after its eponymous first rulerGondophares. They ruled parts of present-day Afghanistan,Pakistan,[56] and northwesternIndia, during or slightly before the 1st century CE. For most of their history, the leading Gondopharid kings heldTaxila (in the presentPunjab province of Pakistan) as their residence, but during their last few years of existence the capital shifted betweenKabul andPeshawar. These kings have traditionally been referred to as Indo-Parthians, as their coinage was often inspired by theArsacid dynasty, but they probably belonged to a wider groups ofIranic tribes who lived east ofParthia proper, and there is no evidence that all the kings who assumed the titleGondophares, which means "Holder of Glory", were even related. Christian writings claim that the ApostleSaint Thomas – an architect and skilled carpenter – had a long sojourn in the court of kingGondophares, had built a palace for the king at Taxila and had also ordained leaders for the Church before leaving for theIndus Valley in a chariot, for sailing out to eventually reachMalabar Coast.
TheKushan Empire expanded out of Bactria (in Central Asia) into the northwest of the subcontinent under the leadership of their first emperor,Kujula Kadphises, about the middle of the 1st century CE. They came from an Indo-European language-speaking Central Asian tribe called theYuezhi,[57][58] a branch of which was known as the Kushans. By the time of his grandson,Kanishka the Great, the empire spread to encompass much of Afghanistan,[59] and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far asSaketa andSarnath nearVaranasi (Benares).[60] The Kushans inherited the Hellenistic culture of Bactria and theirpantheon included a diverse group of deities, some Greek and some native Iranian. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism; however, and as the Kushans expanded southward, the deities[61] of their later coinage came to reflect its new Hindu majority.[62] They played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its spread to Central Asia and China. HistorianVincent Smith said about Kanishka:
He played the part of a second Ashoka in the history of Buddhism.[63]
The empire linked the Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of theSilk Road through the Indus valley, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between China andRome. The Kushans brought new trends to the budding and blossomingGandhara art, which reached its peak during Kushan Rule. By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating and their last known great emperor wasVasudeva I.[64][65]
![Kushan prince, said to be Huvishka, making a donation to a bodhisattva.[66]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aGandhara%2c_omaggio_di_un_re_kushana_al_bodhisattva%2c_II-III_sec.JPG)
TheSasanians ended the rule of theKushans Empire. Officially known as the Empire of Iranians, the Sasanian Empire was the last Persian Empire before the rise ofIslam. Named after the House ofSasan, it ruled from about 224 to 651 CE. In the east around 325 CE,Shapur II regained the upper hand against theKushano-Sasanian Kingdom and took control of large territories in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Much of modern-dayAfghanistan became part of the Sasanian Empire, sinceShapur I extended his authority eastwards into Afghanistan and the previously autonomousKushans were obliged to accept hissuzerainty.
From around 370 CE, however, towards the end of the reign ofShapur II, the Sasanians lost the control ofBactria and Afghanistan to invaders from the north. These were theKidarites, theHephthalites, theAlchon Huns, and theNezak Huns.[67] These invaders initially issued coins based onSasanian designs.[68]
TheHunas were nomadic peoples who were of Central Asian origin. Four of the Huna peoples conquered and ruled Afghanistan: theKidarites,Alchon Huns,Hephthalites, and theNezak Huns.
TheKidarites were a nomadic clan, the first of the fourHuna people to live in Afghanistan. They are supposed to have originated in Western China and arrived in Bactria with the great migrations of the second half of the 4th century.
The Alchon Huns (Alchono inBactrian) were one of the fourHuna people that ruled in Afghanistan. A group of Central Asian tribes, they rose to power around 400 CE. The first major ruler wasKhingila, who emerged and took control of the routes across theHindu Kush from the Kidarites. Coins of the Alchons rulers Khingila andMehama were found at the Buddhist monastery ofMes Aynak, southeast ofKabul, confirming the Alchon presence in this area around 450–500 CE.[69] Alchon rulerToramana later overran the northern region of Pakistan and Northern India, and successfully occupied areas as far asEran and greatly weakened theGupta Empire.[70]Mihirakula, the son of Toramana, aSaivite Hindu, then ruled from his capital ofSagala in modernPakistan.[71] Ancient Buddhist writers describe Mihirakula's merciless persecution of Buddhists and destruction of monasteries,[72] though the description is disputed as far as the authenticity is concerned.[73] The Huns were finally defeated by the Indian kingsYashodharman of Malwa and Narasimhagupta in the 6th century. Some of them were driven out of India and others were assimilated in the Indian society.[74]
The Hephthalites (Ebodalo inBactrian), also known as the White Huns and one of the fourHuna people to live in Afghanistan, were a nomadic confederation in Central Asia during the late antiquity period. The Hephthalites established themselves in modern-day Afghanistan by the first half of the 5th century, and were of eitherTurkic[75] orIranian[76] ethnic origins. As they rose to prominence, the Hephthalites displaced theKidarites and theAlchon Huns, and soon came into conflict with the Sasanian Empire, whom they defeated on a number of occasions.[77] Buddhism was common in the region, and it is likely that theBuddhas of Bamiyan were constructed around this time. The Chinese Buddhist monkXuanzang visitedBamiyan andancient Kapisa (modernParwan province) between 629 and 645 CE, and described the Buddhas of Bamiyan.[78] However, during the time ofSong Yun, who visited the chief of theHephthalite nomads at his summer residence inBadakhshan and later inGandhara, observed that they had no belief in the Buddhist law and served a large number of divinities."[79] The 6th-century Roman historian Procopius of Caesarea (Book I. ch. 3) related the Huns of Europe with the Hephthalites or "White Huns" who subjugated the Sasanians and invaded northwestern India, stating that they were of the same stock, "in fact as well as in name", although he contrasted the Western Huns with the Hephthalites, in that the Hephthalites were sedentary and white-skinned, and possessed "not ugly" features.[80][81]
The Nezaks were the last of the fourHuna people that ruled in Afghanistan south of theHindu Kush from about 484 to 665 CE. They rose to power and took control of theZabulistan region after the defeat and death of the Sassanian EmperorPeroz I in 484 CE by the Hephthalites.[82][83]
From theMiddle Ages to around 1750 the eastern regions of Afghanistan such asKabulistan andZabulistan (nowKabul,Kandahar andGhazni) were recognized as being part ofIndian subcontinent (Al-Hind).[84][85] Its western parts were included in the regions calledKhorasan,[86][87]Tokharistan[88] andSistan.[89] Two of the four main capitals of Khorasan (i.e.Balkh andHerat) are now located in Afghanistan. The countries of Kabul, Kandahar and Ghazni formed thefrontier region between Khorasan and the Indus.[90] This land, inhabited by theAfghan tribes (i.e. ancestors ofPashtuns), was calledAfghanistan, which loosely covered a wide area between theHindu Kush and theIndus River, principally around theSulaiman Mountains.[91][92] The earliest record of the name"Afghan" (as"Abgân") being mentioned is byShapur I of theSasanian Empire during the 3rd century CE[93][94][95] which is later recorded in the form of"Avagānā" by the Vedic astronomerVarāhamihira in his 6th century CEBrihat-samhita.[96] It was used to refer to a common legendary ancestor known as"Afghana", grandson ofKing Saul of Israel.[97] Xuanzang, the Chinese pilgrim who visited the Afghanistan area several times between 630 and 644 CE also speaks about them.[93] Ancestors of many of today'sTurkic-speaking Afghans settled in theHindu Kush area and began toassimilate much of theculture and language of the Pashtun tribes already present there.[98] Among these were theKhalaj people which are known today asGhilzai.[99]
The Kabul Shahi dynasties (also called Turk Shahi) ruled theKabul Valley andGandhara from the decline of theKushan Empire in the 3rd century to the early 9th century.[100] The Shahis are generally split up into two eras: the Buddhist Shahis and the Hindu Shahis, with the change-over thought to have occurred sometime around 870. The kingdom was known as the Kabul Shahan or Ratbelshahan from 565 to 670, when the capitals were located inKapisa and Kabul, and laterUdabhandapura, also known as Hund[101] for its new capital.[102][103][104]
The Hindu Shahis under rulerJayapala, is known for his struggles in defending his kingdom against theGhaznavids in the modern-day eastern Afghanistan region. Jayapala saw a danger in the consolidation of the Ghaznavids and invaded their capital city ofGhazni both in the reign ofSabuktigin and in that of his sonMahmud, which initiated the Muslim Ghaznavid and Hindu Shahi struggles.[105] Sabuktigin, however, defeated him, and he was forced to pay an indemnity.[105] Jayapala defaulted on the payment and took to the battlefield once more.[105] Jayapala however, lost control of the entire region between theKabul Valley andIndus River.[106]
Before his struggle began Jaipal had raised a large army of Punjabi Hindus. When Jaipal went to thePunjab region, his army was raised to 100,000 horsemen and an innumerable host of foot soldiers. According toFirishta:
The two armies having met on the confines ofLumghan,Subooktugeen ascended a hill to view the forces of Jeipal, which appeared in extent like the boundless ocean, and in number like the ants or the locusts of the wilderness. But Subooktugeen considered himself as a wolf about to attack a flock of sheep: calling, therefore, his chiefs together, he encouraged them to glory, and issued to each his commands. His soldiers, though few in number, were divided into squadrons of five hundred men each, which were directed to attack successively, one particular point of the Hindoo line, so that it might continually have to encounter fresh troops.[106]
However, the army was hopeless in battle against the western forces, particularly against the young Mahmud of Ghazni.[106] In the year 1001, soon after Sultan Mahmud came to power and was occupied with theQarakhanids north of theHindu Kush, Jaipalattacked Ghazni once more and suffered yet another defeat by the powerful Ghaznavid forces, near present-dayPeshawar. After theBattle of Peshawar, he committed suicide because his subjects thought he had brought disaster and disgrace to the Shahi dynasty.[105][106]
Jayapala was succeeded by his sonAnandapala,[105] who along with other succeeding generations of the Shahiya dynasty took part in various campaigns against the advancing Ghaznavids but were unsuccessful. The Hindu rulers eventually exiled themselves to theKashmirSivalik Hills.[106]
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![A Turk Shahi ruler named Sandan. Copy of an issue of Khusrau II, combining Brahmi script around the ruler, Bactrian script along the two rims, where ςανδανο βαγο χοαδηο,"Lord King Sandan" is mentioned, and Pahlavi around the altar on the reverse, c. 7th century CE.[107][108]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aTurk_Shahis._Sandan._After_688_CE.jpg)
![Coins of the Hindu Shahis, which later inspired Abbasid coins in the Middle East.[109]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCoins_of_the_Shahis_8th_century.jpg)
In 642 CE,Rashidun Arabs had conquered most of West Asia from the Sasanians and Byzantines, and from the western city ofHerat they introduced the religion of Islam as they entered new cities.[citation needed] Afghanistan at that period had a number of different independent rulers, depending on the area. Ancestors ofAbū Ḥanīfa, including his father, were from the Kabul region.
The early Arab forces did not fully explore Afghanistan due to attacks by the mountain tribes. Much of the eastern parts of the country remained independent, as part of the Hindu Shahi kingdoms of Kabul andGandhara, which lasted that way until the forces of the MuslimSaffarid dynasty followed by theGhaznavids conquered them.
Arab armies carrying the banner of Islam came out of the west to defeat theSasanians in 642 CE and then they marched with confidence to the east. On the western periphery of theAfghan area the princes ofHerat andSeistan gave way to rule by Arab governors but in the east, in the mountains, cities submitted only to rise in revolt and the hastily converted returned to their old beliefs once the armies passed. The harshness and avariciousness of Arab rule produced such unrest, however, that once the waning power of theCaliphate became apparent, native rulers once again established themselves independent. Among these theSaffarids of Seistan shone briefly in the Afghan area. The fanatic founder of this dynasty, the persianYaqub ibn Layth Saffari, came forth from his capital atZaranj in 870 CE and marched throughBost,Kandahar,Ghazni,Kabul,Bamyan,Balkh andHerat, conquering in the name of Islam.[110]
— Nancy Hatch Dupree, 1971
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The Ghaznavid dynasty ruled from the city ofGhazni in easternAfghanistan. From 997 to his death in 1030,Mahmud of Ghazni turned the former provincial city ofGhazni into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today'sAfghanistan, eastern and centralIran,Pakistan, parts of India,Turkmenistan,Tajikistan, andUzbekistan.Mahmud of Ghazni (Mahmude Ghaznavi in local pronunciation) consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and the city of Ghazni became a great cultural centre as well as a base for frequent forays into the Indian subcontinent. TheNasher Khans became princes of theKharoti until the Soviet invasion.[111][112][113]
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TheGhurids defeated the Ghaznavid dynasty in 1148, but the GhaznavidSultans continued to live in Ghazni as the 'Nasher' until the early 20th century.[111][112][113] The Ghurids were ofTajik origin[122][123] and their empire was established by three brothers from theGhor province of Afghanistan, namely Qutb al-Din, Sayf al-Din, Baha al-Din, all of whom fought against the Ghaznavid emperor Bahram Shah of Ghazni but were not successful and killed in the process. InitiallyAla al-Din Husayn, the son of Baha al-Din defeated the Ghazanavid rulerBahram Shah and to take revenge of his father and uncle's death ordered the city to be sacked. The Ghorids or Ghurids lost the northern territory of Transoxiana and northern Great Korasan especially their capital Ghor province due to the invasion of Seljucks but Sultan Ala al-Din's successors consolidated their power in India by defeating the remainder of Ghaznavid rulers. At their largest extent they ruled east ofIran, much of theIndian subcontinent likePakistan, and north and central part of modernIndia.
The Mongols invaded Afghanistan in 1221 having defeated the Khwarazmian armies. The Mongols invasion had long-term consequences with many parts of Afghanistan never recovering from the devastation. The towns and villages suffered much more than the nomads who were able to avoid attack. The destruction of irrigation systems maintained by the sedentary people led to the shift of the weight of the country towards the hills. The city ofBalkh was destroyed and even 100 years laterIbn Battuta described it as a city still in ruins. While the Mongols were pursuing the forces ofJalal al-Din Mangburni they besieged the city ofBamyan. In the course of the siege a defender's arrow killed Genghis Khan's grandsonMutukan. The Mongols razed the city and massacred its inhabitants in revenge, with its former site known as theCity of Screams.Herat, located in a fertile valley, was destroyed as well but was rebuilt under the localKart dynasty. After the Mongol Empire splintered, Herat eventually became part of theIlkhanate while Balkh and the strip of land from Kabul through Ghazni to Kandahar went to theChagatai Khanate.[124] The Afghan tribal areas south of the Hindu Kush were usually either allied with theKhalji dynasty of northern India or independent.
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Timur (Tamerlane) incorporated much of the area into his own vastTimurid Empire. The city of Herat became one of the capitals of his empire, and his grandsonPir Muhammad held the seat ofKandahar. Timur rebuilt most of Afghanistan's infrastructure which was destroyed by his early ancestor. The area was progressing under his rule. Timurid rule began declining in the early 16th century with the rise of a new ruler in Kabul,Babur.Timur, a descendant of Genghis Khan, created a vast new empire across Russia and Persia which he ruled from his capital in Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan. Timur captured Herat in 1381 and his son,Shah Rukh moved the capital of the Timurid empire to Herat in 1405. The Timurids, a Turkic people, brought the Turkic nomadic culture of Central Asia within the orbit of Persian civilisation, establishing Herat as one of the most cultured and refined cities in the world. This fusion of Central Asian and Persian culture was a major legacy for the future Afghanistan. Under the rule of Shah Rukh the city served as the focal point of theTimurid Renaissance, whose glory matchedFlorence of theItalian Renaissance as the center of a cultural rebirth.[125][126] A century later, the emperor Babur, a descendant of Timur, visited Herat and wrote, "the whole habitable world had not such a town as Herat." In 1500 CE, Babur was driven out of his home in the Ferghana valley. By the 16th century western Afghanistan again reverted to Persian rule under the Safavid dynasty.[127][128]
In 1504,Babur, a descendant ofTimur, arrived from present-day Uzbekistan and moved to the city of Kabul. He began exploring new territories in the region, with Kabul serving as his military headquarters. Instead of looking towards the powerful Safavids towards the Persian west, Babur was more focused on theIndian subcontinent. In 1526, he left with his army to capture the seat of theDelhi Sultanate, which at that point was possessed by the AfghanLodi dynasty of India. After defeatingIbrahim Lodi and his army, Babur turned (Old) Delhi into the capital of his newly establishedMughal Empire.
From the 16th century to the 17th century CE, Afghanistan was divided into three major areas. The north was ruled by theKhanate of Bukhara, the west was under the rule of the IranianShiaSafavids, and the eastern section was under theSunni Mughals of northern India, who under Akbar established in Kabul one of the original twelvesubahs (imperial top-level provinces), bordering Lahore, Multan andKashmir (added to Kabul in 1586, later split-off) and short-livedBalkh Subah andBadakhshan Subah (only 1646–47). Originally the Kabul Subah comprised the regions (sarkars) ofKabul,Kashmir,Pakli,Bimbar, Sawad (Swat),Bajaur,Daur-Banu-Isakhel andKandahar.[129] The Kandahar region in the south served as abuffer zone between the Mughals (who shortly established a Qandahar subah 1638–1648) and Persia's Safavids, with the native Afghans often switching support from one side to the other. Babur explored a number of cities in the region before his campaign into India. In the city of Kandahar, his personal epigraphy can be found in theChil Zena rock mountain. Like in the rest of the territories that used to make part of the Indian Mughal Empire, Afghanistan holds tombs, palaces, and forts built by the Mughals.[130]
In 1704, the Safavid ShahHusayn appointedGeorge XI (Gurgīn Khān), a ruthlessGeorgian subject, to govern their easternmost territories in the Greater Kandahar region. One of Gurgīn's main objectives was to crush the rebellions started by native Afghans. Under his rule the revolts were successfully suppressed and he ruled Kandahar with uncompromising severity. He began imprisoning and executing the native Afghans, especially those suspected in having taken part in the rebellions. One of those arrested and imprisoned wasMirwais Hotak who belonged to an influential family inKandahar. Mirwais was sent as a prisoner to the Persian court inIsfahan, but the charges against him were dismissed by the king, so he was sent back to his native land as a free man.[131]
In April 1709, Mirwais along with his militia under Saydal Khan Naseri revolted.[132][133] Theuprising began when George XI and his escort were killed after abanquet that had been prepared by Mirwais at his house outside the city.[134] Around four days later, an army of well-trained Georgian troops arrived in the city after hearing of Gurgīn's death, but Mirwais and his Afghan forces successfully held the city against the troops. Between 1710 and 1713, the Afghan forces defeated several large Persian armies that were dispatched from Isfahan by the Safavids, which includedQizilbash and Georgian/Circassian troops.[135]
Several half-hearted attempts to subdue the rebellious city having failed, the Persian Government despatchedKhusraw Khán, nephew of the late Gurgín Khán, with an army of 30,000 men to effect its subjugation, but in spite of an initial success, which led the Afghans to offer to surrender on terms, his uncompromising attitude impelled them to make a fresh desperate effort, resulting in the complete defeat of the Persian army (of whom only some 700 escaped) and the death of their general. Two years later, in 1713, another Persian army commanded by Rustam Khán was also defeated by the rebels, who thus secured possession of the whole province of Qandahár.[136]
— Edward G. Browne, 1924
Southern Afghanistan was made into an independent local Pashtun kingdom.[137] Refusing the title of king, Mirwais was called "Prince of Qandahár and general of the national troops" by his Afghan countrymen. He died of natural causes in November 1715 and was succeeded by his brotherAbdul Aziz Hotak. Aziz was killed about two years later by Mirwais' sonMahmud Hotak, allegedly for planning to give Kandahar's sovereignty back to Persia.[138] Mahmud led an Afghan army into Persia in 1722 and defeated the Safavids at theBattle of Gulnabad. The Afghans capturedIsfahan (Safavid capital) and Mahmud briefly became the new PersianShah. He was known after that as Shah Mahmud.
Mahmud began a short-lived reign of terror against his Persian subjects who defied his rule from the very start, and he was eventually murdered in 1725 by his own cousin, ShahAshraf Hotak. Some sources say he died of madness. Ashraf became the new Afghan Shah of Persia soon after Mahmud's death, while the home region ofAfghanistan was ruled by Mahmud's younger brother ShahHussain Hotak. Ashraf was able to secure peace with theOttoman Empire in 1727 (SeeTreaty of Hamedan), winning against a superior Ottoman army during theOttoman–Hotaki War, but theRussian Empire took advantage of the continuing political unrest and civil strife to seize former Persian territories for themselves, limiting the amount of territory under Shah Mahmud's control.
The short lived Hotaki dynasty was a troubled and violent one from the very start as internecine conflict made it difficult for them to establish permanent control. The dynasty lived under great turmoil due to bloody succession feuds that made their hold on power tenuous. There was a massacre of thousands of civilians in Isfahan; including more than three thousand religious scholars, nobles, and members of the Safavid family.[139] The vast majority of the Persians rejected the Afghan regime which they considered to have been usurping power from the very start. Hotaki rule continued in Afghanistan until 1738 when Shah Hussain was defeated and banished byNader Shah of Persia.[140]
The Hotakis were eventually removed from power in 1729, after a very short lived reign. They were defeated in the October 1729 by the Iranian military commanderNader Shah, head of theAfsharids, at theBattle of Damghan. After several military campaigns against the Afghans, he effectively reduced the Hotakis' power to only southern Afghanistan. The last ruler of the Hotaki dynasty, Shah Hussain, ruled southern Afghanistan until 1738 when the Afsharids and theAbdali Pashtuns defeated him at the longSiege of Kandahar.[140]
Nader Shah and hisAfsharid army arrived in the town of Kandahar in 1738 and defeatedHussain Hotak subsequently absorbing all of Afghanistan in his empire and renaming Kandahar asNaderabad. Around this time, a young teenagerAhmad Shah joined Nader Shah's army for hisinvasion of India.
Nadir Shah was assassinated on 19 June 1747 by several of his Persian officers, and the Afsharid empire fell to pieces. At the same time the 25-year-old Ahmad Khan was busy in Afghanistan calling for aloya jirga ("grand assembly") to select a leader among his people. The Afghans gathered near Kandahar in October 1747 and chose Ahmad Shah from among the challengers, making him their newhead of state. After the inauguration orcoronation, he became known asAhmad Shah Durrani. He adopted the titlepadshah durr-i dawran ('King, "pearl of the age") and the Abdali tribe became known as theDurrani tribe after this.[141] Ahmad Shah not only represented the Durranis but he also united all thePashtun tribes. By 1751, Ahmad Shah Durrani and his Afghan army conquered the entire present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and for a short time, subjugated large swathes of the Khorasan and Kohistan provinces of Iran, along withDelhi in India.[142] He defeated theMaratha Empire in 1761 at theThird Battle of Panipat.
In October 1772, Ahmad Shah retired to his home in Kandahar where he died peacefully and was buried at a site that is now adjacent to theShrine of the Cloak. He was succeeded by his son,Timur Shah Durrani, who transferred the capital of theirAfghan Empire from Kandahar to Kabul. Timur died in 1793 and his sonZaman Shah Durrani took over the reign.
Zaman Shah and his brothers had a weak hold on the legacy left to them by their famous ancestor. They sorted out their differences through a "round robin of expulsions, blindings and executions," which resulted in the deterioration of the Afghan hold over far-flung territories, such asAttock andKashmir. Durrani's other grandson,Shuja Shah Durrani, fled the wrath of his brother and sought refuge with the Sikhs. Durrani invaded the region of Punjab three times, during his invasions he destroyed a holy shrine of the Sikhs – theHarmandir Sahib inAmritsar in 1757.
The Sikhs, underRanjit Singh, eventually wrested a large part of theDurrani Kingdom (present-day Pakistan, but not includingSindh) from the Afghans while they were in civil war.[143]
The EmirDost Mohammad Khan (1793–1863) gained control in Kabul in 1826 after toppling his brother,Sultan Mohammad Khan, and founded (c. 1837) theBarakzai dynasty. In 1837, the Afghan army descended through theKhyber Pass on Sikh forces atJamrud killed the Sikh generalHari Singh Nalwa but could not capture the fort.[144] Rivalry between the expandingBritish andRussian Empires in what became known as the "Great Game" significantly influenced Afghanistan during the 19th century. British concern over Russian advances in Central Asia and over Russia's growing influence in West Asia and in Persia in particular culminated in two Anglo-Afghan wars and in theSiege of Herat (1837–1838), in which the Persians, trying to retake Afghanistan and throw out the British, sent armies into the country and fought the British mostly around and in the city ofHerat. Thefirst Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842) resulted in thedestruction of a British army; causing great panic throughoutBritish India and the dispatch of a second British invasion army.[145] Following the British defeat in the First Anglo-Afghan War, where they tried to re-establish theDurrani Kingdom as a de facto vassal, Dost Mohammad could focus on reuniting Afghanistan, which was divided following the Durrani-Barakzai civil wars. Dost Mohammad began his conquest while only ruling the major cities ofKabul,Ghazni,Jalalabad, andBamyan. By the time of his death in 1863, Dost Mohammad had reunited most of Afghanistan. Following Dost Mohammad's death,a civil war broke out amongst his sons, leading toSher Ali succeeding and beginning his rule. TheSecond Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880) resulted from the refusal by Emir Sher Ali (reigned 1863 to 1866 and from 1868 to 1879) to accept a British diplomatic mission in Kabul. In the wake of this conflict Shir Ali's nephew, EmirAbdur Rahman, known as the "Iron Emir",[146]came to the Afghan throne. During his reign (1880–1901), the British and Russians officially established the boundaries of what would become modern Afghanistan. The British retained effective control overKabul's foreign affairs. Abdur Rahman's reforms of the army, legal system and structure of government gave Afghanistan a degree of unity and stability which it had not before known. This, however, came at the cost of strong centralisation, of harsh punishments for crime and corruption, and of a certain degree of international isolation.[147]
Habibullah Khan, Abdur Rahman's son, came to the throne in 1901 and kept Afghanistan neutral during World War I, despiteencouragement by Central Powers of anti-British feelings and of Afghan rebellion along the borders of India. His policy of neutrality was not universally popular within the country, and Habibullah was assassinated in 1919, possibly by family members opposed to British influence. His third son,Amanullah (r. 1919–1929), regained control of Afghanistan's foreign policy after launching theThird Anglo-Afghan War (May to August 1919) with an attack on India. During the ensuing conflict the war-weary British relinquished their control over Afghan foreign affairs by signing theTreaty of Rawalpindi in August 1919. In commemoration of this event Afghans celebrate 19 August as theirIndependence Day.
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KingAmanullah Khan moved to end his country's traditional isolation in the years following the Third Anglo-Afghan war. After quelling theKhost rebellion in 1925, he established diplomatic relations with most major countries and, following a 1927 tour of Europe and Turkey (during which he noted the modernization and secularization advanced byAtatürk), introduced several reforms intended to modernize Afghanistan. A key force behind these reforms wasMahmud Tarzi, Amanullah Khan's Foreign Minister and father-in-law — and an ardent supporter of the education of women. He fought for Article 68 of Afghanistan's first constitution (declared through aLoya Jirga), which made elementary education compulsory.[148] Some of the reforms that were actually put in place, such as the abolition of the traditional Muslim veil for women and the opening of a number of co-educational schools, quickly alienated many tribal and religious leaders, which led to the revolt of theShinwari in November 1928, marking the beginning of theAfghan Civil War (1928–1929). Although the Shinwari revolt was quelled, a concurrentSaqqawist uprising in the north eventually managed to depose Amanullah, leading toHabibullāh Kalakāni taking control of Kabul.[149]
Mohammed Nadir Khan became King of Afghanistan on 15 October 1929 after he took control of Afghanistan by defeating theHabibullah Kalakani. He then executed him on 1 November of same year.[150] He began consolidating power and regenerating the country. He abandoned the reforms of Amanullah Khan in favour of a more gradual approach to modernisation. In 1933, however, he was assassinated in a revenge killing by a student from Kabul.
Mohammad Zahir Shah, Nadir Khan's 19-year-old son, succeeded to the throne and reigned from 1933 to 1973. TheAfghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947 saw Zahir Shah's reign being challenged by Zadran, Safi and Mangal tribesmen led byMazrak Zadran andSalemai among others. Until 1946 Zahir Shah ruled with the assistance of his uncleMohammad Hashim Khan, who held the post of prime minister and continued the policies of Nadir Khan. In 1946, another of Zahir Shah's uncles,Shah Mahmud Khan, became prime minister and began an experiment allowing greater political freedom, but reversed the policy when it went further than he expected. In 1953, he was replaced as prime minister byMohammed Daoud Khan, the king's cousin and brother-in-law. Daoud looked for a closer relationship with the Soviet Union and a more distant one towards Pakistan. However, disputes with Pakistan led to an economic crisis and he was asked to resign in 1963. From 1963 until 1973, Zahir Shah took a more active role.
In 1964, King Zahir Shah promulgated a liberal constitution providing for a bicameral legislature to which the king appointed one-third of the deputies. The people elected another third, and the remainder were selected indirectly by provincial assemblies. Although Zahir's "experiment in democracy" produced few lasting reforms, it permitted the growth of parties on both the left and the right. This included the communistPeople's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which had close ideological ties to the Soviet Union. In 1967, the PDPA split into two major rival factions: theKhalq (Masses) was headed byNur Muhammad Taraki andHafizullah Amin who were supported by elements within the military, and theParcham (Banner) led byBabrak Karmal.
Amid corruption charges and malfeasance against the royal family and the poor economic conditions created by the severe 1971–72 drought, former prime ministerMohammad Daoud Khan seized power in a non-violent coup on 17 July 1973, while Zahir Shah was receiving treatment for eye problems and therapy forlumbago in Italy.[151] Daoud abolished the monarchy, abrogated the 1964 constitution, and declared Afghanistan a republic with himself as its first president and prime minister. His attempts to carry out badly needed economic and social reforms were met with little success, and the new constitution promulgated in February 1977 failed to quell chronic political instability.
As disillusionment set in, in 1978 a prominent member of thePeople's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA),Mir Akbar Khyber (or "Kaibar"), was killed by the government. The leaders of PDPA apparently feared that Daoud was planning to exterminate them all, especially since most of them were arrested by the government shortly after. Nonetheless,Hafizullah Amin and a number of military wing officers of the PDPA'sKhalq faction managed to remain at large and organize a military coup.
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On 28 April 1978, the PDPA, led byNur Muhammad Taraki, Babrak Karmal and Amin Taha overthrew the government of Mohammad Daoud, who was assassinated along with all his family members in a bloody military coup. The coup became known as theSaur Revolution. On 1 May, Taraki becamehead of state,head of government andGeneral Secretary of the PDPA. The country was then renamed theDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), and the PDPA regime lasted, in some form or another, until April 1992.
In March 1979,Hafizullah Amin took over as prime minister, retaining the position offield marshal and becoming vice-president of the Supreme Defence Council. Taraki remained General Secretary, Chairman of the Revolutionary Council and in control of the Army. On 14 September, Amin overthrew Taraki, who was killed. Amin stated that "the Afghans recognize only crude force."[152] Afghanistan expert Amin Saikal writes: "As his powers grew, so apparently did his craving for personal dictatorship ... and his vision of the revolutionary process based on terror."[152]
Once it was in power, the PDPA implemented aMarxist–Leninist agenda. It moved to replace religious and traditional laws with secular and Marxist–Leninist ones. Men were obliged to cut their beards, women could not wearchadors, and mosques were declared off limits. The PDPA made a number of reforms onwomen's rights, banning forced marriages and giving state recognition of women's right to vote. A prominent example wasAnahita Ratebzad, who was a major Marxist leader and a member of the Revolutionary Council. Ratebzad wrote the famousNew Kabul Times editorial (28 May 1978) which declared: "Privileges which women, by right, must have are equal education, job security, health services, and free time to rear a healthy generation for building the future of the country ... Educating and enlightening women is now the subject of close government attention." The PDPA also carried out socialistland reforms and moved to promotestate atheism.[153] They also prohibitedusury.[154] The PDPA invited the Soviet Union to assist in modernizing its economic infrastructure (predominantly its exploration and mining of rare minerals and natural gas). TheSoviet Union also sent contractors to build roads, hospitals and schools and to drill water wells; they also trained and equipped theAfghan Armed Forces. Upon the PDPA's ascension to power, and the establishment of the DRA, the Soviet Union promised monetary aid amounting to at least $1.262 billion.
At the same time, the PDPA imprisoned, tortured or murdered thousands of members of the traditional elite, the religious establishment, and the intelligentsia.[155] The government launched a campaign of violent repression, killing some 10,000 to 27,000 people and imprisoning 14,000 to 20,000 more, mostly atPul-e-Charkhi prison.[156][157][158] In December 1978 the PDPA leadership signed an agreement with the Soviet Union which would allow military support for the PDPA in Afghanistan if needed. The majority of people in the cities including Kabul either welcomed or were ambivalent to these policies. However, the Marxist–Leninist and secular nature of the government as well as its heavy dependence on the Soviet Union made it unpopular with a majority of the Afghan population. Repressions plunged large parts of the country, especially the rural areas, into open revolt against the new Marxist–Leninist government. By spring 1979 unrests had reached 24 out of 28 Afghan provinces including major urban areas. Over half of the Afghan army would either desert or join the insurrection. Most of the government's new policies clashed directly with the traditionalAfghan understanding of Islam, making religion one of the only forces capable of unifying the tribally and ethnically divided population against the unpopular new government, and ushering in the advent ofIslamist participation in Afghan politics.[159]
To bolster theParcham faction, the Soviet Union decided to intervene on 27 December 1979, when theSoviet Army invaded its southern neighbor. Over 100,000 Soviet troops took part in the invasion, which was backed by another 100,000Afghan military men and supporters of the Parcham faction. In the meantime, Hafizullah Amin was killed and replaced by Babrak Karmal.
TheCarter administration started providing limitedassistance to rebels before the Soviet invasion. After the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the U.S. began arming theAfghan mujahideen, thanks in large part to the efforts ofCharlie Wilson andCIA officerGust Avrakotos. Early reports estimated that $6–20 billion had been spent by the U.S. andSaudi Arabia[160] but more recent reports state that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia provided as much as up to $40 billion[161][162][163] in cash and weapons, which included over two thousandFIM-92 Stingersurface-to-air missiles, for building up Islamic groups against the Soviet Union. The U.S. handled most of its support through Pakistan'sISI.
Scholars such as W. Michael Reisman,[164] Charles Norchi[165] and Mohammed Kakar, believe that the Afghans were victims of agenocide which was committed against them by the Soviet Union.[166][167] Soviet forces and their proxies killed between 562,000[168] and 2 million Afghans[169][170] and Russian soldiers also engaged in abductions and rapes of Afghan women.[171][172] About 6 million fled asAfghan refugees toPakistan andIran, and from there over 38,000 made it to theUnited States[173] and many more to Europe. The Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan brought with them verifiable stories of murder, collective rape, torture and depopulation of civilians by the Soviet forces.[174] Faced with mounting international pressure and great number of casualties on both sides, the Soviets withdrew in 1989. Their withdrawal from Afghanistan was seen as an ideological victory in the United States, which had backed some Mujahideen factions through three U.S. presidential administrations to counter Soviet influence in the vicinity of the oil-richPersian Gulf. TheUSSR continued to support Afghan leaderMohammad Najibullah (former head of the Afghan secret service,KHAD) until 1992.[175]
Pakistan's spy agencyInter-Services Intelligence (ISI), headed byHamid Gul at the advice of the US and its allies, was interested in a trans-national Islamic revolution which would cover Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia. For this purpose the ISI masterminded an attack onJalalabad in March 1989, for the Mujahideen to establish their own government in Afghanistan, but this failed in three months.[176]
With the crumbling of the Najibullah regime early in 1992, Afghanistan fell into further disarray and civil war. A U.N.-supported attempt to have themujahideen parties and armies form a coalition government shattered. Mujahideen did not abide by the mutual pledges and Ahmad Shah Masoud's forces, because of his proximity to Kabul, captured the capital before a mujahideen government was established. So the elected prime minister and warlordGulbuddin Hekmatyar started war on the president and Massoud's forces entrenched in Kabul. This ignited another civil war, because the other mujahideen parties would not settle for Hekmatyar ruling alone or sharing actual power with him. Within weeks, the still frail unity of the other mujahideen forces also evaporated, and six militias were fighting each other in and around Kabul.
Sibghatuallah Mojaddedi was elected as Afghanistan's interim president for two months; then, professorBurhanuddin Rabbani, a well known Kabul university professor and the leader of Jamiat-e-Islami party of Mujahiddin who fought against Russians during the occupation was chosen by all of the Jahadi leaders exceptGulbuddin Hekmatyar. Rabbani reigned as the official and elected president of Afghanistan by Shurai Mujahiddin Peshawer (Peshawer Mujahiddin Council) from 1992 until 2001 when he officially handed over the presidency post toHamid Karzai the next US appointed interim president. During Rabbani's presidency some parts of the country including a few provinces in the north such as Mazar e-Sharif, Jawzjan, Faryab, Shuburghan and some parts of Baghlan provinces were ruled by generalAbdul Rashid Dostum.During the first five years of Rabbani's disputed term, before the emergence of the Taliban, the eastern and western provinces and some of the northern provinces such as Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, the main parts of Baghlan Province, and some parts of Kandahar and other southern provinces were under the control of the central government. The central government could not assert control over other parts of the southern provinces, however, in large measure because of Rabbani's Tajik ethnicity. During the 9 year presidency of Burhanuddin Rabani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was directed, funded and supplied by the Pakistani army.[177] Afghanistan analystAmin Saikal concludes in his bookModern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival:
Pakistan was keen to gear up for a breakthrough in Central Asia. [...] Islamabad could not possibly expect the new Islamic government leaders [...] to subordinate their own nationalist objectives in order to help Pakistan realize its regional ambitions. [...] Had it not been for the ISI's logistic support and supply of a large number of rockets, Hekmatyar's forces would not have been able to target and destroy half of Kabul.[178]
There was no time for the interim government to create working government departments, police units or a system of justice and accountability.Saudi Arabia and Iran also armed and directed Afghan militias.[152] A publication by theGeorge Washington University describes:
[O]utside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and political agendas.[179]
According to Human Rights Watch, numerous Iranian agents were assisting theShiaHezb-i Wahdat forces ofAbdul Ali Mazari, as Iran was attempting to maximize Wahdat's military power and influence.[152][180][181] Saudi Arabia was trying to strengthen theWahhabiteAbdul Rasul Sayyaf and hisIttihad-i Islami faction.[152][180] Atrocities were committed by individuals of the different factions while Kabul descended into lawlessness and chaos as described in reports by Human Rights Watch and the Afghanistan Justice Project.[180][182] Again, Human Rights Watch writes:
Rare ceasefires, usually negotiated by representatives ofAhmad Shah Massoud,Sibghatullah Mojaddedi orBurhanuddin Rabbani (the interim government), or officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), commonly collapsed within days.[180]
The main forces involved during that period in Kabul, northern, central and eastern Afghanistan were theHezb-i Islami ofGulbuddin Hekmatyar directed by Pakistan, theHezb-i Wahdat ofAbdul Ali Mazari directed by Iran, theIttehad-i Islami ofAbdul Rasul Sayyaf supported by Saudi Arabia, theJunbish-i Milli ofAbdul Rashid Dostum backed by Uzbekisten, theHarakat-i Islami of Hussain Anwari and theShura-i Nazar operating as the regular Islamic State forces (as agreed upon in the Peshawar Accords) under the Defence Ministry ofAhmad Shah Massoud.
Meanwhile, the southern city ofKandahar was a centre of lawlessness, crime and atrocities fuelled by complex Pashtun tribal rivalries.[183] In 1994, theTaliban (a movement originating fromJamiat Ulema-e-Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed in Afghanistan as a politico-religious force, reportedly in opposition to the tyranny of the local governor.[183]Mullah Omar started his movement with fewer than 50 armedmadrasa students in his hometown of Kandahar.[183] As Gulbuddin Hekmatyar remained unsuccessful in conquering Kabul, Pakistan started supporting the Taliban.[152][184] Many analysts likeAmin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests.[152] In 1994 the Taliban took power in several provinces in southern and central Afghanistan.
In 1995 the Hezb-i Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Iranian-backed Hezb-i Wahdat as well as Rashid Dostum's Junbish forces were defeated militarily in the capital Kabul by forces of the interim government under Massoud who subsequently tried to initiate a nationwide political process with the goal of national consolidation and democratic elections, also inviting the Taliban to join the process.[185] The Taliban declined.[185]
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The Taliban started shelling Kabul in early 1995 but were defeated by forces of the Islamic State government underAhmad Shah Massoud.[186] Amnesty International, referring to the Taliban offensive, wrote in a 1995 report:
This is the first time in several months that Kabul civilians have become the targets of rocket attacks and shelling aimed at residential areas in the city.[186]
On 26 September 1996, as the Taliban, with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia, prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul.[187] The Taliban seized Kabul on 27 September 1996, and established theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They imposed on the parts of Afghanistan under their control their political and judicial interpretation of Islam, issuing edicts forbidding women from working outside the home, attending school or leaving their homes unless accompanied by a male relative.[188] Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said:
To PHR's knowledge, no other regime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual house arrest, prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment.[188]
Afterthe fall of Kabul to the Taliban on 27 September 1996,[189]Ahmad Shah Massoud andAbdul Rashid Dostum, two former enemies, created theNorthern Alliance (United Front) against the Taliban, who were preparing offensives against the remaining areas under the control of Massoud and Dostum.[190] The Northern Alliance included beside the dominantlyTajik forces of Massoud and theUzbek forces of Dostum,Hazara factions andPashtun forces under the leadership of commanders such asAbdul Haq, HajiAbdul Qadir, Qari Baba or diplomatAbdul Rahim Ghafoorzai. From the Taliban conquest in 1996 until November 2001 the Northern Alliance controlled roughly 30% of Afghanistan's population in provinces such asBadakhshan,Kapisa,Takhar and parts ofParwan,Kunar,Nuristan,Laghman,Samangan,Kunduz,Ghōr andBamyan.
According to a 55-page report by theUnited Nations, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic massacres against civilians.[191][192] UN officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001.[191][192] They also said, that "[t]hese have been highly systematic and they all lead back to the [Taliban] Ministry of Defense or toMullah Omar himself."[191][192] The Taliban especially targeted people of Shia religious or Hazara ethnic background.[191][192] Upon taking Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, about 4,000civilians were executed by the Taliban and many more reportedtorture.[193][194] Among those killed in Mazari Sharifwere several Iranian diplomats. Others were kidnapped by the Taliban, touching off a hostage crisis that nearly escalated to a full-scale war, with 150,000 Iranian soldiers massed on the Afghan border at one time.[195] It was later admitted that the diplomats were killed by the Taliban, and their bodies were returned to Iran.[196]
The documents also reveal the role of Arab and Pakistani support troops in these killings.[191][192]Osama bin Laden's so-called055 Brigade was responsible for mass-killings of Afghan civilians.[197] The report by the United Nations quotes eyewitnesses in many villages describing Arab fighters carrying long knives used for slitting throats and skinning people.[191][192]
Pakistani PresidentPervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and Bin Laden against the forces of Massoud.[184][185][198][199] In total there were believed to be 28,000 Pakistani nationals fighting inside Afghanistan.[185] 20,000 were regular Pakistani soldiers either from theFrontier Corps or army and an estimated 8,000 were militants recruited inmadrasas filling regular Taliban ranks.[197] The estimated 25,000 Taliban regular force thus comprised more than 8,000 Pakistani nationals.[197] A 1998 document by theU.S. State Department confirms that "20–40 percent of [regular] Taliban soldiers are Pakistani."[184] The document further states that the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothing regarding their child's military involvement with the Taliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan."[184] A further 3,000 fighter of the regular Taliban army were Arab and Central Asian militants.[197] From 1996 to 2001 theAl-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden andAyman al-Zawahiri became a state within the Taliban state.[200] Bin Laden sent Arab recruits to join the fight against the Northern Alliance.[200][201] Of roughly 45,000 Pakistani, Taliban and Al-Qaeda soldiers fighting against the forces of Massoud only 14,000 were Afghan.[185][197]
According to Human Rights Watch in 1997 Taliban soldiers were summarily executed in and around Mazar-i Sharif by Dostum's Junbish forces.[202] Dostum was defeated by the Taliban in 1998 with the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif. Massoud remained the only leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.
In the areas under his control Ahmad Shah Massoud set up democratic institutions and signed the Women's Rights Charter.[203] Human Rights Watch cites no human rights crimes for the forces under direct control of Massoud for the period from October 1996 until theassassination of Massoud in September 2001.[202] As a consequence many civilians fled to the area ofAhmad Shah Massoud.[198][204]National Geographic concluded in its documentaryInside the Taliban:
The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres isAhmad Shah Massoud.[198]
The Taliban repeatedly offered Massoud a position of power to make him stop his resistance. Massoud declined for he did not fight to obtain a position of power. He said in one interview:
The Taliban say: "Come and accept the post of prime minister and be with us", and they would keep the highest office in the country, the presidentship. But for what price?! The difference between us concerns mainly our way of thinking about the very principles of the society and the state. We can not accept their conditions of compromise, or else we would have to give up the principles of modern democracy. We are fundamentally against the system called "the Emirate of Afghanistan".[205]
and
There should be an Afghanistan where every Afghan finds himself or herself happy. And I think that can only be assured by democracy based on consensus.[206]
Massoud wanted to convince the Taliban to join a political process leading towards democratic elections in a foreseeable future.[205] Massoud stated that:
The Taliban are not a force to be considered invincible. They are distanced from the people now. They are weaker than in the past. There is only the assistance given by Pakistan, Osama bin Laden and other extremist groups that keep the Taliban on their feet. With a halt to that assistance, it is extremely difficult to survive.[206]
In early 2001 Massoud employed a new strategy of local military pressure and global political appeals.[207] Resentment was increasingly gathering against Taliban rule from the bottom of Afghan society including the Pashtun areas.[207] Massoud publicized their cause "popular consensus, general elections and democracy" worldwide. At the same time he was very wary not to revive the failed Kabul government of the early 1990s.[207] Already in 1999 he started the training of police forces which he trained specifically to keep order and protect the civilian population in case the Northern Alliance would be successful.[185]
In early 2001 Massoud addressed theEuropean Parliament inBrussels asking the international community to provide humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan.[208] He stated that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda had introduced "a very wrong perception of Islam" and that without the support of Pakistan the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year.[208]
On 9 September 2001,Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by two Arabsuicide attackers inside Afghanistan. Two days later about 3,000 people became victims of theSeptember 11 attacks in the United States, when Afghan-based Al-Qaeda suicide bombers hijacked planes and flew them into four targets in theNortheastern United States. Then US PresidentGeorge W. Bush accused Osama bin Laden andKhalid Sheikh Mohammed as the faces behind the attacks. When the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden to US authorities and to disband al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan,Operation Enduring Freedom was launched in which teams of American and British special forces worked with commanders of the Northern Alliance against the Taliban.[209] At the same time the US-led forces were bombing Taliban and al-Qaeda targets everywhere inside Afghanistan withcruise missiles. These actions led to thefall of Mazar-i-Sharif in the north followed by all the other cities, as the Taliban and al-Qaeda crossed over theporousDurand Line border into Pakistan. In December 2001, after the Taliban government was toppled and the newAfghan government under Hamid Karzai was formed, theInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established by theUN Security Council to help assist theKarzai administration and provide basic security to theAfghan people.[210][211] The majority of Afghans supported the American invasion of their country.[212][213]
While the Taliban began regrouping inside Pakistan, the rebuilding of war-torn Afghanistan kicked off in 2002 (see alsoWar in Afghanistan (2001–2021)).[214][215] The Afghan nation was able to build democratic structures over the years by the creation of anemergency loya jirga to set up the modern Afghan government, and some progress was made in key areas such as governance, economy, health, education, transport, and agriculture. NATO had been training theAfghan armed forces as well itsnational police. ISAF andAfghan troops led many offensives against the Taliban but failed to fully defeat them. By 2009, a Taliban-led shadow government began to form in many parts of the country complete with their own version of mediation court.[216] After U.S. PresidentBarack Obama announced the deployment of another 30,000 soldiers in 2010 for a period of two years,Der Spiegel published images of theUS soldiers who killed unarmed Afghan civilians.[217]
In 2009, the United States resettled 328 refugees from Afghanistan.[218] Over five millionAfghan refugees wererepatriated in the last decade, including many who were forcefullydeported fromNATO countries.[219][220] This large return of Afghans may have helped the nation's economy but the country still remains one of the poorest in the world due to the decades of war, lack of foreign investment, ongoing government corruption and the Pakistani-backedTaliban insurgency.[221][222] The United States also accuses neighboringIran of providing small level of support to the Taliban insurgents.[223][224][225] According to a report by the United Nations, the Taliban and other militants were responsible for 76% of civilian casualties in 2009,[226] 75% in 2010[227] and 80% in 2011.[228] A report titledBody Count concluded that 106,000–170,000 civilians had been killed as a result of the fighting in Afghanistan at the hands of all parties to the conflict.[229]
In October 2008 U.S. Defense Secretary Gates had asserted that a political settlement with the Taliban was the endgame for the Afghanistan war. "There has to be ultimately – and I'll underscore ultimately – reconciliation as part of a political outcome to this," Gates stated.[230] By 2010 peace efforts began. In early January, Taliban commanders held secret exploratory talks with a United Nations special envoy to discuss peace terms. Regional commanders on the Taliban's leadership council, theQuetta Shura, sought a meeting with the UN special representative in Afghanistan,Kai Eide, and it took place inDubai on 8 January. It was the first such meeting between the UN and senior members of the Taliban.[231] On 26 January 2010, ata major conference in London which brought together some 70 countries and organizations,[232]Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he intends to reach out to the Taliban leadership (includingMullah Omar,Sirajuddin Haqqani andGulbuddin Hekmatyar). Supported by NATO, Karzai called on the group's leadership to take part in aloya jirga meeting to initiate peace talks. These steps have resulted in an intensification of bombings, assassinations and ambushes.[233] Some Afghan groups (including the former intelligence chiefAmrullah Saleh and opposition leader Dr.Abdullah Abdullah) believe that Karzai plans to appease the insurgents' senior leadership at the cost of the democratic constitution, the democratic process and progress in the field of human rights especially women's rights.[234] Dr. Abdullah stated:
I should say that Taliban are not fighting in order to be accommodated. They are fighting in order to bring the state down. So it's a futile exercise, and it's just misleading. ... There are groups that will fight to the death. Whether we like to talk to them or we don't like to talk to them, they will continue to fight. So, for them, I don't think that we have a way forward with talks or negotiations or contacts or anything as such. Then we have to be prepared to tackle and deal with them militarily. In terms of the Taliban on the ground, there are lots of possibilities and opportunities that with the help of the people in different parts of the country, we can attract them to the peace process; provided, we create a favorable environment on this side of the line. At the moment, the people are leaving support for the government because of corruption. So that expectation is also not realistic at this stage.[235]
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told world leaders during the London conference that he intends to reach out to the top echelons of the Taliban within a few weeks with a peace initiative.[236] Karzai set the framework for dialogue with Taliban leaders when he called on the group's leadership to take part in a "loyajirga" – or large assembly of elders – to initiate peace talks.[237] Karzai also asked for creation of a new peacemaking organization, to be called the National Council for Peace, Reconciliation and Reintegration.[236] Karzai's top adviser on the reconciliation process with the insurgents said that the country must learn to forgive the Taliban.[238] In March 2010, the Karzai government held preliminary talks with Hezb-i-Islami, who presented a plan which included the withdrawal of all foreign troops by the end of 2010. The Taliban declined to participate, saying "The Islamic Emirate has a clear position. We have said this many, many times. There will be no talks when there are foreign troops on Afghanistan's soil killing innocent Afghans on daily basis."[239]In June 2010 the Afghan Peace Jirga 2010 took place. In September 2010 GeneralDavid Petraeus commented on the progress of peace talks to date, stating, "The prospect for reconciliation with senior Taliban leaders certainly looms out there...and there have been approaches at (a) very senior level that hold some promise."[240]
After the May 2011death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, many prominent Afghan figures began being assassinated, includingMohammed Daud Daud,Ahmed Wali Karzai,Jan Mohammad Khan,Ghulam Haider Hamidi,Burhanuddin Rabbani and others.[241] Also in the same year, thePakistani-Afghan border skirmishes intensified and many large scale attacks by the Pakistani-basedHaqqani network took place across Afghanistan. This led to the United States warning Pakistan of a possible military action against the Haqqanis in theFederally Administered Tribal Areas.[242] The U.S. blamed Pakistan's government, mainlyPakistani Army and itsISI spy network as the masterminds behind all of this.[243]
In choosing to useviolent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of Pakistan, and most especially the Pakistani army and ISI, jeopardizes not only the prospect of our strategic partnership but Pakistan's opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence. They may believe that by using these proxies, they are hedging their bets or redressing what they feel is an imbalance in regional power. But in reality, they have already lost that bet.[244]
TheU.S. ambassador to Pakistan,Cameron Munter, told Radio Pakistan that "The attack that took place in Kabul a few days ago, that was the work of the Haqqani network. There is evidence linking the Haqqani Network to the Pakistan government. This is something that must stop."[245] Other top U.S. officials such asHillary Clinton andLeon Panetta made similar statements.[243][246] On 16 October 2011, "Operation Knife Edge" was launched by NATO and Afghan forces against the Haqqani network in south-eastern Afghanistan.Afghan Defense Minister,Abdul Rahim Wardak, explained that the operation will "help eliminate the insurgents before they struck in areas along the troubled frontier".[247] In November 2011,NATO forces attacked Pakistani soldiers in the Pakistan border region. In 2014,Ashraf Ghani waselected to be the president of Afghanistan.
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In 2021, theUnited States forces and allies withdrew from Afghanistan, which allowed theTaliban to intensify their insurgency. On 15 August 2021, as theTaliban entered Kabul,President Ghani fled toTajikistan, and the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed.[248] Anti-Taliban forces formed theNational Resistance Front of Afghanistan and launched anuprising from thePanjshir Valley.[249]
On 7 September 2021 Taliban announced an interim government headed byMohammad Hassan Akhund,[250] although the government remained unrecognized internationally.
Western countries have suspended most humanitarian aid to Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover of the country in August 2021.[251] The United States hasfrozen about $9 billion in assets belonging to theAfghan central bank,[252] blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in U.S. bank accounts.[253][254] In October 2021, more than half of Afghanistan's 39 million people faced an acute food shortage.[255] On 11 November 2021, theHuman Rights Watch reported that Afghanistan is facing widespreadfamine due to collapsed economy and broken banking system. TheUN World Food Program has also issued multiple warnings of worsening food insecurity.[256]
In October 2023, the Pakistani government ordered theexpulsion of Afghans from Pakistan.[257] Iran also decided to deportAfghan refugees back to Afghanistan.[258] Taliban authorities condemned the deportations of Afghans as an "inhuman act."[259] In December 2023, speaking about the situation in Afghanistan,WHO Director-GeneralTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that 30% of theAfghan population was facing acute food insecurity, adding that "Close to 1 million children are severely malnourished and 2.3 million are suffering from moderate acute malnutrition."[260]
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Khorāsān, also spelled Khurasan, historical region and realm comprising a vast territory now lying in northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, and northern Afghanistan. The historical region extended, along the north, from the Amu Darya (Oxus River) westward to the Caspian Sea and, along the south, from the fringes of the central Iranian deserts eastward to the mountains of central Afghanistan.
The earliest mention of the name 'Afghan' (Abgan) is to be found in a Sasanid inscription from the third century AD, and it appears in India in the form of 'Avagana'...
... Jaypala of Waihind saw danger in the consolidation of the kingdom of Ghazna and decided to destroy it. He therefore invaded Ghazna, but was defeated ...
In 1201 Ghurid troops entered Khurasan and captured Nishapur, Merv, Sarakhs and Tus, reaching as far as Gurgan and Bistam. Kuhistan, a stronghold of the Ismailis, was plundered and all Khurasan was brought temporarily under Ghurid control
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)In 1205, Bakhtīyar Khilji sacked Nudiya, the pre-eminent city of western Bengal and established an Islamic government at Laukhnauti, the capital of the predecessor Sena dynasty. On this occasion, commemorative coins were struck in gold and silver in the name of Muhammad b. Sām
The dynamics of north Indian politics changed dramatically, however, when the Ghurids, a dynasty of Tajik (eastern Iranian), origin arrived from central Afghanistan towards the end of twelfth century
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Abdur Rahman had meanwhile become known as the 'Iron Emir' for his ruthless measures to break the tribal, or feudal, system in Afghanistan as well as the power of the mullahs.
W. Michael Reisman is Hohfeld Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and a member of the Independent Counsel on International Human Rights.
Charles Norchi, a Visiting Scholar at Yale Law School, directed the Independent Counsel on International Human Rights (with the Committee for a Free Afghanistan).
The Afghans are among the latest victims of genocide by a superpower. Large numbers of Afghans were killed to suppress resistance to the army of the Soviet Union, which wished to vindicate its client regime and realize its goal in Afghanistan.
According to widely reported accounts, substantial programmes of depopulation have been conducted in these Afghan provinces: Ghazni, Nagarhar, Lagham, Qandahar, Zabul, Badakhshan, Lowgar, Paktia, Paktika and Kunar...There is considerable evidence that genocide has been committed against the Afghan people by the combined forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union.
During the intervening fourteen years of Communist rule, an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Afghan civilians were killed by Soviet forces and their proxies- the four Communist regimes in Kabul, and the East Germans, Bulgarians, Czechs, Cubans, Palestinians, Indians and others who assisted them. These were not battle casualties or the unavoidable civilian victims of warfare. Soviet and local Communist forces seldom attacked the scattered guerilla bands of the Afghan Resistance except, in a few strategic locales like the Panjsher valley. Instead they deliberately targeted the civilian population, primarily in the rural areas.
2 million afghans killed soviet.
A final weapon of terror the Soviets used against the mujahideen was the abduction of Afghan women. Soldiers flying in helicopters would scan for women working in the fields in the absence of their men, land, and take the women captive. Russian soldiers in the city of Kabul would also steal young women. The object was rape, although sometimes the women were killed, as well. The women who returned home were often considered dishonored for life.
While military operations in the country were going on, women were abducted. While flying in the country in search of mujahideen, helicopters would land in fields where women were spotted. While Afghan women do mainly domestic chores, they also work in fields assisting their husbands or performing tasks by themselves. The women were now exposed to the Russians, who kidnapped them with helicopters. By November 1980 a number of such incidents had taken place in various parts of the country, including Laghman and Kama. In the city of Kabul, too, the Russians kidnapped women, taking them away in tanks and other vehicles, especially after dark. Such incidents happened mainly in the areas of Darul Aman and Khair Khana, near the Soviet garrisons. At times such acts were committed even during the day. KhAD agents also did the same. Small groups of them would pick up young women in the streets, apparently to question them but in reality to satisfy their lust: in the name of security, they had the power to commit excesses.
His commitment to jihad – to an Islamic revolution transcending national boundaries, was such that he dreamed one day the 'green Islamic flag' would flutter not just over Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also over territories represented by the (former Soviet Union) Central Asian republics. After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, as the director-general of the Pakistan's intelligence organisation, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, an impatient Gul and West wanted to establish a government of the so-called Mujahideen on Afghan soil in order to recognise it. He then ordered an assault using mujahideen leaders on Jalalabad, the first major urban centre across the Khyber Pass from Pakistan, with the aim capturing it and declaring it as the seat of the new administration.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Equally large percentages endorse the US military presence in Afghanistan. Eighty-three percent said they have a favorable view of "the US military forces in our country" (39% very favorable). Just 17% have an unfavorable view.
Seventy-seven percent support the presence of U.S. forces; 67 percent say the same of NATO/ISAF forces more generally. Despite the country's travails, eight in 10 say it was a good thing for the United States to oust the Taliban in 2001. And many more blame either the Taliban or al-Qaeda for the country's violence, 53 percent, than blame the United States, 12 percent. The latter is about half what it was in 2012, coinciding with a sharp reduction in the U.S. deployment.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Internet Archive copy
Chronological chart for the historical periods of Afghanistan | ||
−2200 — – −2000 — – −1800 — – −1600 — – −1400 — – −1200 — – −1000 — – −800 — – −600 — – −400 — – −200 — – 0 — – 200 — – 400 — – 600 — – 800 — – 1000 — – 1200 — – 1400 — – 1600 — – 1800 — – 2000 — – 2200 — | Coming of Iranians c.1700-1100 BC: TheRigveda, one of the oldest known texts written in anIndo-European language, is composed in a region described asSapta Sindhu ('land of seven great rivers', which may correspond to theKabul Valley). c. 1350 BC: Migration of waves ofIranian tribes begin from theBactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex westwards to theIranian plateau, western Afghanistan and westernIran. According to theAvesta (Vendidad 1.1-21), they are compelled to leave their homelandAiryana Vaēǰah becauseAŋra Mainyu so altered the climate that the winter became ten months long and the summer only two. Along the way, they settle down near large rivers, such asBāxδī,Harōiva,Haraxᵛaitī, etc. (SeeAvestan geography.) c. 1100-550 BC:Zoroaster introduces a new religion atBactra (present-dayBalkh) -Zoroastrianism - which spreads acrossIranian plateau. He composes Older (i.e. 'Gathic')Avesta and later Younger Avesta is composed - at least - inSīstān/Arachosia,Herāt,Merv and Bactria. | |
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