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The detailed history of Afghanistan begins around 330 BC with the arrival of Alexander the Great (Sikandar) and his Greek army although civilization existed on the land for thousands of years. The state which is recognized as Afghanistanmarker has been refered to by other names in the past. It is the land where many powerful kingdoms established their capitals, including the Kushan, Saffarid, Ghaznavid, Ghurid, Timurid, Mughal, Hotaki, and the Durrani Empire.

Afghanistan's history, internal political development, and foreign relations, have largely been determined by its geographic location at the crossroads of East, West, South Asia and Central 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. Most of its history was spent as part of the larger events that took place upon the Iranian plateau as a whole. The Aryan peoples who arrived in Afghanistan left their languages (Pashto and Persian) and some culture, but it is the Middle Eastern influence (Persian and Arab invasions) that defined modern Afghanistan. Its Greek, Central Asian nomadic, and Zoroastrian/Buddhist/Hindu 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, with Turkic groups predominant in the extreme northwest and showing some connection to the mixed Hazaras of the central regions, were not bound into a single political entity until the reign of Ahmad Shah Durrani, who in 1747 united all tribes of the area and established the Durrani Empire. In the nineteenth century, Afghanistan lay between the expanding might of the Russianmarker and British empires.

Islam played a key role in the formation of Afghanistan's society. Despite the early thirteenth century Mongol invasion, 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; within two generations, his heirs had all become Muslims. Later, local empire builders such as the Ghaznavids and Ghorids would continue to make Afghanistan a major medieval power as well as a center of learning that produced Ferdowsi and Al-Biruni among countless other academics and literary iconic figures.

Prehistoric Afghanistan

Excavation of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree, the University of Pennsylvaniamarker, the Smithsonian Institutionmarker and others suggests that early humans were living in what is now Afghanistanmarker at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in Afghanistan were among the earliest in the world.

It is not clear who the early inhabitants of Afghanistan were, though it is likely they were connected through culture and trade to neighboring civilizations like Jiroftmarker and Tappeh Sialkmarker and the Indus Valley Civilization. Urban civilization may have begun as early as 3000 BC, and the early city of Mundigak (near Kandaharmarker) may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization.

The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex became prominent in the southwest region between 2200 and 1700 BC (approximately). The city of Balkhmarker (Bactramarker) was founded about this time (ca. 2000-1500 BC). It's possible that the BMAC may have been an Indo-European culture, perhaps the Proto-Indo-Aryans.The centuries following the end of the BMAC and the Aryan invasions are not well known due to a lack of source information.

Ancient Afghanistan, Pre-Islamic period

After several centuries of darkness, history returns to find kingdoms formed in Arachosia, Bactria, Aria, and Gandhara. Parts of the region were controlled by the Medean Empire until it was overthrown in 550 BC by their Achaemenid vassals. The Achaemenid Empire soon conquered the rest of Afghanistan and ruled for over 200 years. During the 320s BC, Afghanistan and the rest of the Persian Empire were conquered by Alexander the Great and became part of his empire, which fragmented after his death in 323 BC as his generals fought for supremacy. A general named Seleucus carved out the largest Hellenistic kingdom, the Seleucid Empire, which included most of Iran and Afghanistan. In 305 BC the Seleucids gave Arachosia and Gandhara to the Mauryan Empire of India in return for a treaty of alliance and 500 Indian war elephants.

Bactria and Aria remained in Seleucid hands until 250 BC, when the Bactrian Satrap Diodotus rebelled and established the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. A campaign by Seleucid King Antiochus III led to the restoration of many of the eastern provinces in the late 200s BC.

Indo-Scythians and Kushan Empire

Driven from the Tarim Basin by the Xiongnu in the early 100s BC, the Yuezhi pushed a Scythian tribe called the Indo-Scythians or Sakas, south into the Greco-Bactrian lands. In 140 BC they defeated the last Greco-Bactrian King, Heliocles I. Soon afterwards, the Indo-Scythians captured Arachosia from the Indo-Greeks (Arachosia was then renamed Sistan). Unable to invade India from the north, the Indo-Scythians took a more southerly route, through Gedrosia to Sindh, then moving north along the Indus river.

The Indo-Scythians were defeated by the Parthian Empire and driven from Sistan into India by 20 AD, where they founded the Western Satraps Kingdom that survived until about 405 AD. In the meantime, Parthia's hold on the region was tenuous, and [it?] soon broke away to become the short-lived Kingdom of the Indo-Parthians.

In Bactria, the Yuezhi were united in the mid 1st century to become the Kushan Empire. Northern parts of Greco-Bactria were conquered by the Tocharian or Yuezhi tribes in the 140s BC, while the Indo-Scythians or Sakas conquered Arachosia (which became known as Sakastan and later Sistan). The Indo-Scythians fled to India after they were defeated by the Parthians and Indo-Parthians in the early 1st century AD.

Invasions by the Kushans, Sassanid Persians, Hephthalites or White Huns, and Göktürks followed in succeeding centuries. During the Kushan rule, Afghanistan became the center of Buddhist culture and learning.

Kabul Shahi

The Kabul Shahi dynasties ruled portions of the Kabul Valley (in eastern Afghanistan) and the old province of Gandhara (northern Pakistanmarker and Kashmirmarker) from the decline of the Kushan Empire in third century to the early ninth century.

Islamic conquest, Ghaznavids and Ghurids (642-1200)

By 642 AD, Arabs had conquered most of Persia and then invaded Afghanistan from the western city of Heratmarker, introducing the religion of Islam as they entered new cities. Afghanistan at that period had a number of different independent rulers, depending on the area. Some were under the influence of the empire of Tang China, which had extended its influence all the way to Kabulmarker.

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 Turk Shahi kingdoms of Kabul and Gandhara, which lasted that way until the forces of the Muslim Saffarid dynasty and later followed by the Ghaznavids conquered them. Mahmud of Ghazni consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and turned the city of Ghaznimarker into a great cultural center as well as a base for frequent forays into India. The Ghaznavid dynasty was defeated in 1148 by the Ghurids from Ghor, but the Ghaznavid Sultans continued to live in Ghazni as the 'Nasher' until the early 20th century. They did not regain their once vast power until about 500 years later when the Ghilzai Hotakis rose to power. 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.

Timurid dynasty (1370–1526)

The Mongols resulted in massive destruction of many cities, including Bamiyanmarker, Heratmarker, and Balkhmarker, and the despoliation of fertile agricultural areas. Large number of the inhabitant were also slaughtered. All the major cities and towns became part of the massive Mongol Empire, except the isolated hidden mountainous southern regions where the mountain tribes lived. Timur (Tamerlane), incorporated what is today Afghanistan into his own vast Timurid Empire. The city of Herat became one of the capitals of his empire, and his grandson Pir Muhammad held the seat of Kandaharmarker. 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 1500s with the rise of a new ruler in Kabul, Babur.

Mughal Empire (1526–1709)

Afghan area during the Safavid and Moghul Empire, from the 16th century to the early 1700s.
In 1525 Babur, a descendant of Timur, rose to power and made Kabul the capital of his Moghul Empire. Timur handed over his kingdom to Babur during a ceremony. From the 16th century to the early 1700s Afghanistan was divided in to three major parts. The north was recognized as the Kingdom of Balk, which was ruled by Uzbeks Khans, the west was under Persian Safavid rule and the east belonged to the Mughals. There was constant war fought over the region Kandahar, in some occasions it was taken over by the Mughals but most of the time it was ruled by the Persians. Babur conquered most cities of Afghanistan before his campaign into India. In the city of Kandahar his personal epigraphy can be found in the Chilzina rock mountain, where it's stated that he didn't have enough time to finish it before news came about a Persian advance from the west. In hearing the news he and his army quickly left the area. Instead of looking towards Persia, the Mughal Empire was more focused on the Indian subcontinent, which included the region known as Kabulistan.

Hotaki dynasty (1709-1738)

In 1709, the Afghans, led by Mir Wais Hotak decided to rise against the Persian Safavids. The Persian armies were defeated and the area of Kandahar made into an independent local kingdom. In 1722 Mir Mahmud Hotaki, son of Mirwais, led the Afghans to invading Persia. The Persians were again defeated in the Battle of Gulnabad. The Afghans captured Isfahanmarker (Safavid capital) in 1722 and Mir Mahmud became the Persian Shah. He began a reign of terror against his Persian subjects and was eventually murdered in 1725 by his cousin, Ashraf Khan. Some sources say he died of madness. Ashraf became the new Afghan leader of Persia soon after Mahmud's death, while the home region of Kandahar was ruled by Mahmud's other brother Shah Husayn Hotak. He was able to secure peace with the Ottomans in 1727. However, in the next year, Nadir Shah of Persia launched a national revolt against the Afghan occupiers. He defeated the Afghans in the 1729 Battle of Damghan. Ashraf was killed the next year trying to flee back to Afghanistan. In 1739, Nadir Shah conquered Kandahar, and occupied Ghazni, Kabul and Lahore. After his death in 1747, the Durrani Pashtuns became the principal Afghan rulers.

Durrani Empire (1747-1826)

Ahmed Shah Durrani, the founder of the Durrani Empire and the modern state of Afghanistan, established his rule in 1747 at Kandaharmarker. Ahmad Shah, a Pashtun from the Abdali clan, was elected King in a loya jirga after the assassination of Nadir Shah Afshari in the same year. Throughout his reign, Ahmad Shah consolidated chieftains, petty principalities, and fragmented provinces into one country. His rule extended from Mashadmarker in the west to Kashmirmarker and Delhimarker 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 Mohammedzai clan after 1818.Columbia Encyclopedia - " Afghanistan: History"

European influence in Afghanistan (1826-1919)

Dost Mohammed Khan gained control in Kabul. Collision between the expanding British and Russian Empiresmarker 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 and "The Siege of Herat" 1837-1838, in which Persians trying to retake Afghanistan and throw out the British and Russians sent armies into the country waging wars with the British mostly around and in the city of Heratmarker. The first (1839-1842) resulted in the destruction of a British army; it is 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 Kabulmarker's foreign affairs.

Afghanistan remained neutral during World War I, despite Germanmarker 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.


Reforms of Amanullah Khan (1919-1929)

King Amanullah 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 Turkeymarker (during which he noted the modernization and secularization advanced by Atatürk), introduced several reforms intended to modernize Afghanistan. A key force behind these reforms was Mahmud 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 a Loya Jirga), which made elementary education compulsory. 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. Faced with overwhelming armed opposition, Amanullah was forced to abdicate in January 1929 after Kabulmarker fell to forces led by Habibullah Kalakani.

Reigns of Nadir Shah and Zahir Shah (1929-1973)




Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978-1979)

On 27 April 1978, the PDPA, led by Nur Mohammad Taraki, Babrak Karmal and Amin Taha overthrew the regime of Mohammad Daoud, who was assassinated along with all his family members. The uprising was known as the Saur Revolution. On 1 May, Taraki became President, Prime Minister and General Secretary of the PDPA. The country was then renamed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), and the PDPA regime lasted, in some form or another, until April 1992.

Once in power, the PDPA implemented a liberal and socialist agenda. It moved to replace religious and traditional laws with secular and Marxist ones. Men were obliged to cut their beards, women couldn't wear a burqa, and mosques were placed off limits. It carried out an ambitious land reform, waiving farmers' debts countrywide and banning usury.

The government also made a number of decrees on women’s rights, banning forced marriages, giving state recognition of women’s right to vote, and introducing women to political life. A prominent example was Anahita Ratebzad, who was a major Marxist leader and a member of the Revolutionary Council. Ratebzad wrote the famous New Kabul Times editorial (May 28, 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 invited the Soviet Unionmarker to assist in modernizing its economic infrastructure (predominantly its exploration and mining of rare minerals and natural gas). The USSRmarker also sent contractors to build roads, hospitals and schools and to drill water wells; they also trained and equipped the Afghan army. 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.

The majority of people in the cities including Kabul either welcomed or were ambivalent to these policies. However, the secular nature of the government made it unpopular with conservative Afghans in the villages and the countryside, who favoured traditionalist 'Islamic' restrictions on women's rights and in daily life. Many groups - partly led by members of the traditional establishment who lost their privileges in the land reform - were formed in an attempt to reverse dependence on the Soviet Union, some resorting to violence and sabotage of the country's industry and infrastructure. The government responded with heavy-handed military reprisals and arrested, exiled and executed many Mujahideen "holy Muslim warriors". The Mujahideen belonged to various different factions, but all shared, to varying degrees, a similarly conservative 'Islamic' ideology.

The United States saw the situation as a prime opportunity to weaken the Soviet Unionmarker. As part of a Cold War strategy, in 1979 the United States government (under President Jimmy Carter and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski) began to covertly fund and train anti-government Mujahideen forces through the Pakistani secret service known as Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), with the intention of provoking Soviet intervention, (according to Brzezinski).


Soviet invasion (1979-1992)

Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan in 1988.
In 1979, with the Afghan army unable to cope with the large number of violent incidents, the Soviet Union sent troops to crush the uprising, support the government. On December 25, 1979, the Soviet army entered Kabulmarker. 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 mujahideen. The Americanmarker CIA, Pakistanmarker, and Saudi Arabiamarker assisted in the financing of the resistance because of their anti-communist stance.

Among the foreign participants in the war was Osama bin Laden, whose Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) (Office of Order) organization trained a small number of mujahideen and provided some arms and funds to fight the Soviets. Bin Laden played only a limited part in this conflict and, in 1988, he broke away from the MAK to form Al-Qaida, in order to expand the anti-Soviet resistance effort into a worldwide Islamic 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 mujahideen also continued.

Civil war of 1990s

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 Kabulmarker and declare the Islamic State of Afghanistan. When the victorious mujahideen entered Kabulmarker 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 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 warlordism prevalent in the country, and the lack of Pashtun representation in the Kabul government, the Taliban, a movement of religious scholars and former mujahideen, emerged from the southern province of Kandaharmarker. These Taliban took control of approximately 95% of the country by the end of 2000, limiting the opposition mostly to a small corner in the northeast. The opposition formed the Afghan Northern Alliance, which continued to receive diplomatic recognition in the United Nations as the government of Afghanistan.

United States and NATO involvement

In response to the Taliban's refusal to hand over Al Qaida operatives without the provision of tangible evidence linking Al Qaida to the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Taliban's refusal to assist the U.S. in prosecuting Al Qaida, the United Statesmarker and its coalition allies launched an invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban government. Although they succeeded in taking control of Kabul, the war continues to this day and the complete defeat of the Taliban still looks a remote possibility as of October 2009. Sponsored by the UN, Afghan factions met in Bonnmarker, Germanymarker and chose a 30 member interim authority led by Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun from Kandahar . After governing for 6 months, former King Zahir Shah convened a Loya Jirga, which elected Karzai as president and gave him authority to govern for two more years . On October 9, 2004, Karzai was elected as president of Afghanistan in the country's first ever presidential election. Karzai ran for re-election in 2009.

See also

Further reading

  • Anthony Arnold, Afghanistan's Two-Party Communism
  • Henry S. Bradsher, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union
  • David B. Edwards, Before Taliban: Genealogies of the Afghan Jihad
  • Louis Dupree, Afghanistan
  • DeSpain, Dori. A Brief History of Afghanistan. School Journal. Volume 53. Issue 9 (2007)
  • Arnold Charles Fletcher, Afghanistan: Highway of Conquest
  • Vartan Gregorian, The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics of Reform and Modernization, 1840-1946
  • Kawun Kakar Hasan, Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amin 'Abdal-Rahman Khan
  • W. Kerr Fraser-Tytler, Afghanistan: A Study of Political Developments in Central and Southern Asia
  • Raiz Muhammad Khan, Untying the Afghan Knot: Negotiating the Soviet Withdrawal
  • Richard S. Newell, The Politics of Afghanistan
  • Leon B. Poullada, Reform and Rebellion in Afghanistan, 1919-1929
  • Olivier Roy, Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan
  • Barnett Rubin, The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System
  • Bernard, P. 1994. “The Greek Kingdoms of Central Asia.” In: History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Harmatta, János, ed., 1994. Paris: UNESCO Publishing., pp. 99–129.
  • Rashid, Ahmed, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. Yale University Press, 2001, 294 pages. ISBN 0-300-08902-3
  • Sarianidi, Viktor I. 1971. “The Lapis Lazuli Route in the Ancient East.” V. I. Sarianidi. Archaeology Magazine, January 1971, pp. 12–15.
  • Sarianidi, Viktor I. 1985. The Golden Hoard of Bactria: From the Tillya-tepe Excavations in Northern Afghanistan. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York.
  • Sarianidi, Viktor. 1989. “Early Kushan Jeweller's Art.” International Association for the Study of the Cultures of Central Asia Information Bulletin, Issue 15. Moscow, Nauka Publishers, pp. 124–134.
  • Sarianidi, Viktor 1990-1992 “Tilya Tepe: The Burial of a Noble Warrior.” PERSICA XIV, 1990-1992, pp. 103–130.
  • Vogelsang, Willem. 2002. The Afghans. Blackwell Publishers. Oxford. ISBN 0-631-19841-5.
  • Watson, Burton. Trans. 1961. Records of the Grand Historian of China: Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Chap. 123. The Account of Ta-yüan. Columbia University Press.
  • Wood, John. 1872. A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. New Edition, edited by his son, with an essay on the "Geography of the Valley of the Oxus" by Henry Yule. John Murray, London.
  • Afghanistan. The Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th Edition. 2005.


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