History Of Afghanistan

Afghanistan 's History , internal political development, foreign relations, and very existence as an independent state have largely been determined by its geographic location at the crossroads of Central , West , and South Asia . Over the centuries, waves of migrating peoples passed through the region--described by historian Arnold Toynbee as a "roundabout of the ancient world"--leaving behind a mosaic of ethnic and linguistic groups. In modern times, as well as in antiquity, vast armies of the world passed through this region of Asia, temporarily establishing local control and often dominating ancient Afghanistan.

Invariably, most of Afghanistan's history was spent as part of the larger events that took place upon the ) from the Tigris to the Indus is one country. The spirit of Persia has breathed over it, bringing an awareness of one background, one culture, one way of expression, a unity of spirit felt as far away as Peshawar and Quetta." It is perhaps not surprising that it is the Iranic past and Islamic invasions of the Arabs that have defined modern Afghanistan, while its Greek, Central Asian nomadic, and Buddhist/Zoroastrian past have long since vanished.

Although it was the scene of great empires and flourishing trade for over two millennia, the area's heterogeneous groups were not bound into a single political entity until the reign of Ahmed Shah Durrani , who in 1747 founded the monarchy that ruled the country until 1973 . In the nineteenth century, Afghanistan lay between the expanding might of the Russian and British empires. In 1900 , Abdur Rahman Khan (the "Iron Amir"), looking back on his twenty years of rule and the events of the past century, wondered how his country, which stood "like a goat between these lions and Tsarist Russia or a grain of wheat between two strong millstones of the grinding mill, [could] stand in the midway of the stones without being ground to dust?"

Islam played perhaps the key role in the formation of Afghanistan's society. Despite the Mongol invasion of what is today Afghanistan in the early thirteenth century which has been described as resembling "more some brute cataclysm of the blind forces of nature than a phenomenon of human history," even a warrior as formidable as Genghis Khan did not uproot Islamic civilization, and within two generations his heirs had become Muslims. An often unacknowledged event that nevertheless played an important role in Afghanistan's history (and in the politics of Afghanistan's neighbors and the entire region up to the present) was the rise in the tenth century of a strong Sunni dynasty--the Ghaznavids. Their power prevented the eastward spread of Shiism from Iran, thereby insuring that the majority of the Muslims in Afghanistan and South Asia would be Sunnis. Later native Afghan empire builders such as the Ghorids would continue to make Afghanistan a major medieval power as well as a center of learning that produced Ferdowsi , Al-Biruni , and Khushal Khan Khattak among countless other academics and literary iconic figures.

This article briefly outlines each period of History of Afghanistan only; details are presented in separate articles (see the links in the box and below).

PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD OF AFGHANISTAN (BEFORE 651)

''Main article: Pre-Islamic Period Of Afghanistan ''

( Pompeii mosaic, from a 3rd Century BC original Greek painting, now lost).]]
Afghanistan's known pre-Islamic past began with Aryan invasions around 2000 BCE and continued with Persia n, Median , Greek , Mauryan , Bactria n, and other phases in its history.

Following the defeat of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, in 328 BC , Alexander The Great entered the territory of present-day Afghanistan to capture Bactria (present-day Balkh ). Invasions by the Scythia ns, White Hun s, and Gokturk s followed in succeeding centuries.

During the Kushana rule, Afghanistan and Gandhara became major centers of culture and learning. The Sassanians and other Iranian powers ruled most of Afghanistan before the coming of Muslim invaders, while the Shahi s ruled eastern Afghanistan from the mid-7th century until Turkic invasions in the 10th century CE.

ISLAMIC CONQUEST OF AFGHANISTAN (642-1747)

''Main article: Islamic Conquest Of Afghanistan ''

In 642 CE , Arabs invaded the entire region and introduced Islam. Afghanistan, like all others conquered by the Arab s, had local rulers including the empire of Tang China , which had extended its influence all the way to Kabul . The Khorasani Persian-Arabs controlled the area until they were conquered by the Ghaznavid Empire in 998 . Mahmud Of Ghazni ( 998 - 1030 ) consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and turned Ghazna ( Ghazni ) into a great cultural center as well as a base for frequent forays into India. The Ghaznavid dynasty was defeated in 1146 by the Ghurids ( Ghor ), the Ghaznavid Khans continued to live in Ghazni as the ' Nasher ' until the early 20th century but they did not regain their once vast power until about 500 years later with the Ghilzai Mir Wais Khan Hotaki defeating the persians in kandahar and naming himself persian shah. Various princes and Seljuk rulers attempted to rule parts of the country until the Shah Muhammad II of the Khwarezmid Empire conquered all of Persia in 1205 . By 1219 the empire had fallen to the Mongols .

Led by Genghis Khan , the invasion resulted in massive slaughter of the population, destruction of many cities, including Herat , Ghazni , and Balkh , and the despoliation of fertile agricultural areas. Following Genghis Khan's death in 1227 , a succession of petty chiefs and princes struggled for supremacy until late in the 14th century, when one of his descendants, Timur Lenk , incorporated what is today Afghanistan into his own vast Asian empire. Babur , a descendant of Timur and the founder of India's Moghul Empire at the beginning of the 16th century, made Kabul the capital of an Afghan principality.

Afghanistan was divided in three parts in the 16th, 17th and early 18th century. North were the Uzbeks , west was Persia and East was the Mughal empire. The Afghans , or more specific Ghilzai Pashtuns under Khan Nasher rose against Persian rule in the early 18th century. The Persian army was defeated and the Afghans held the whole of Persia from 1719-1729. Nadir Shah of Persia defeated the Afghans in the Battle of Damghan, 1729. He had driven out the Afghans, who were still occupying Persia, by 1730. In 1738, Nadir Shah conquered Kandahar, In the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul and Lahore. After assassination of nadir Shah, the Durrani Pashtuns became the principal Afghan rulers. Rivalries and rebellions of the Ghilzai didn't stop until the 20th century.

THE DURRANI EMPIRE (1747-1826)

''Main article: Durrani Empire ''
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In 1747 , Ahmed Shah Durrani , the founder of what is known today as Afghanistan, established his rule. A Pashtun , Durrani was elected king in the first Loya Jirga after the assassination of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah at Khabushan in the same year. Throughout his reign, Durrani consolidated chieftainships, petty principalities, and fragmented provinces into one country. His rule extended from Mashad in the west to Kashmir and Delhi in the east, and from the Amu Darya (Oxus) River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. With the exception of a 9-month period in 1929, all of Afghanistan's rulers until the 1978 Marxist coup were from Durrani's Pashtun tribal confederation, and all were members of that tribe's Mohammadzai clan after 1818 .

EUROPEAN INFLUENCE IN AFGHANISTAN (1826-1919)

''Main article: European Influence In Afghanistan ''

Dost Mohammed Khan gained control in Kabul. Collision between the expanding British and Russian Empire s significantly influenced Afghanistan during the 19th Century in what was termed " The Great Game ." British concern over Russian advances in Central Asia and growing influence in Persia culminated in two Anglo-Afghan wars. The First ( 1839 - 1842 ) resulted in the destruction of a British army; it's remembered as an example of the ferocity of Afghan resistance to foreign rule. The Second Anglo-Afghan War ( 1878 - 1880 ) was sparked by Amir Shir Ali 's refusal to accept a British mission in Kabul. This conflict brought Amir Abdur Rahman 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 over Kabul 's foreign affairs.

Afghanistan remained neutral during World War I , despite German encouragement of anti-British feelings and Afghan rebellion along the borders of British India . The Afghan king's policy of neutrality was not universally popular within the country, however.

Habibullah , Abdur Rahman's son and successor, was assassinated in 1919 , possibly by family members opposed to British influence. His third son, Amanullah, regained control of Afghanistan's foreign policy after launching the Third Anglo-Afghan War with an attack on India in the same year. During the ensuing conflict, the war-weary British relinquished their control over Afghan foreign affairs by signing the Treaty Of Rawalpindi in August 1919 . In commemoration of this event, Afghans celebrate August 19 as their Independence Day .

REFORMS OF AMANULLAH KHAN AND CIVIL WAR (1919-1929)

''Main article: Reforms Of Amanullah Khan And Civil War ''

King Amanullah ( 1919 - 1929 ) moved to end his country's traditional isolation in the years following the Third Anglo-Afghan war. 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 by Ataturk --introduced several reforms intended to modernize Afghanistan. Some of these, 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. Faced with overwhelming armed opposition, Amanullah was forced to abdicate in January 1929 after Kabul fell to forces led by Bacha-i-Saqao , a Tajik brigand.

REIGNS OF NADIR SHAH AND ZAHIR SHAH (1929-1973)

''Main article: Reigns Of Nadir Shah And Zahir Shah ''

Prince Mohammed Nadir Khan , a cousin of Amanullah's, in turn defeated Bacha-i-Saqao in October of the same year and, with considerable Pashtun tribal support, was declared King Nadir Shah. He began consolidating power and regenerating the country. He reversed 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 Kabul student.

Mohammad Zahir Shah , Nadir Khan's 19-year-old son, succeeded to the throne and reigned from 1933 to 1973. Until 1946 Zahir Shah ruled with the assistance of his uncle Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan , who held the post of Prime Minister and continued the policies of Nadir Shah. In 1946 another of Zahir Shah's uncles, Sardar Shah Mahmud Khan , became Prime Minister. He 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 by Mohammed Daoud Khan , the king's cousin and brother-in-law. Daoud sought a closer relationship with the Soviet Union and a more hostile one towards Pakistan . However dispute 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 unofficial extremist parties on both the left and the right. These included the communist (Masses) faction headed by Nur Muhammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin and supported by elements within the military, and the Parcham (Banner) faction led by Babrak Karmal . The split reflected ethnic, class, and ideological divisions within Afghan society. However, most of the following presidents and heads of state were Ghilzai (Taraki, Amin, Najib, Mullah Omar), once again trying to take away the power from the Durrani.

DAOUD'S REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN (1973-1978)

''Main article: Daoud's Republic Of Afghanistan ''

Amid charges of corruption and malfeasance against the royal family and poor economic conditions created by the severe 1971-72 drought, former Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan seized power in a military coup on July 17, 1973. Zahir Shah fled the country eventually finding refuge in Italy . 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 met with little success, and the new constitution promulgated in February 1977 failed to quell chronic political instability.

As disillusionment set in, on April 27, 1978 , the PDPA initiated a bloody coup, which resulted in the overthrow and murder of Daoud and most of his family. Nur Muhammad Taraki , Secretary General of the PDPA, became President of the Revolutionary Council and Prime Minister of the newly established Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, strongly supported by the USSR.

SOVIET INTERVENTION IN AFGHANISTAN (1978-1992)

See Also: Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

The PDPA, as a pro-communist socialist party, implemented a socialist agenda which included decrees abolishing usury, banning forced marriages, state recognition of women’s rights to vote, replacing religious and traditional laws with secular and Marxist ones, banning tribal courts, and land reform. Men were obliged to cut their beards, women couldn't wear a Burqa , and mosque visiting was forbidden. The PDPA invited the Soviet Union to assist in modernizing its economic infrastructure (predominantly its exploration and mining of rare minerals and natural gas). The USSR also sent contractors to build roads, hospitals, schools and mine for water wells; they also trained and equipped the Afghan army.

These reforms and the PDPA's monopoly on power were met with a large backlash, partly led by members of the traditional establishment. Many groups were formed in an attempt to reverse the dependence on the Soviet Union, some resorting to violent means and sabotage of the country's industry and infrastructure. The government responded with a heavy handed military intervention and arrested, exiled and executed many Mujahedin "holy Muslim warriors".

In 1979 the Afghan army was overwhelmed with the number of incidents, and the Soviet Union sent troops to crush the uprising, install a pro-Moscow government, and support the new government. On December 25 , 1979 the Soviet army entered Kabul . This was the starting point of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the Soviet War In Afghanistan , which ended only in 1989 with a full withdrawal of Soviet troops under the Geneva Accords reached in 1988 between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

For over nine years the Soviet Army conducted military operations against the Afghan mujahedin rebels. The American CIA , Pakistan , and Saudi Arabia assisted in the financing of the resistance because of their anti-communist stance, and, in the case of Saudi Arabia, because of their Islamist inclinations.

Osama Bin Laden was a prominent mujahideen organizer and financier; his Maktab Al-Khadamat (MAK) ''(Office of Order)'' funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the American, Pakistan i, and Saudi governments. In 1988, bin Laden broke away from the MAK with some of its more militant members to form Al-Qaida , in order to expand the anti-Soviet resistance effort into a worldwide Islamic fundamentalist movement.

The Soviet Union withdrew its troops in February 1989, but continued to aid the government, led by Mohammed Najibullah . Massive amounts of aid from the CIA and Saudi Arabia to the mujahadin also continued. After the Collapse Of The Soviet Union , the Najibullah government was overthrown on April 18 , 1992 when Abdul Rashid Dostum mutinied, and allied himself with Ahmed Shah Massoud , to take control of Kabul and declare the Islamic State of Afghanistan.

HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN (1992 TO PRESENT)

''Main article: History Of Afghanistan Since 1992 ''

When the victorious Mujahidin entered Kabul to assume control over the city and the central government, internecine fighting began between the various militias, which had coexisted only uneasily during the Soviet occupation. With the demise of their common enemy, the militias' ethnic, clan, religious, and personality differences surfaced, and the civil war continued.

An interim Islamic Jihad Council was put in place, first led by Sibghatullah Mojadeddi for two months, then by Burhanuddin Rabbani . Fighting among rival factions intensified.

In reaction to the anarchy and Warlord ism prevalent in the country, and the lack of Pashtun representation in the Kabul government, a movement of religious scholars, many of them former mujahideen, arose. The Taliban took control of 90% of the country by 1998 , limiting the opposition mostly to a small, largely Tajik corner in the northeast and the Panjshir Valley . The opposition formed the Afghan Northern Alliance , which continued to receive Diplomatic Recognition in the United Nations as the government of Afghanistan .

In response to the September 11, 2001 Attacks , the United States and its coalition allies launched a successful Invasion Of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban government. Sponsored by the UN, Afghan factions met in Bonn and chose a 30 member interim authority led by Hamid Karzai . After governing for 6 months, former King Zahir Shah convened a Loya Jirga , which elected Karzai president, and gave him authority to govern for two more years. Then, on 9 October 2004, Karzai was elected president in Afghanistan's first ever direct presidential election.

SEE ALSO

Timeline Of Afghan History

History Of Present-day Nations And States

EXTERNAL LINKS

BBC: Country profile: Afghanistan

HISTORY: For Ages, Afghanistan Is Not Easily Conquered, New York Times, 9/18/2001

History of Afghanistan From Pre-history till today

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History Of Afghanistan