📰 Afghanistan · page 2

In 1219 CE, Genghis Khan and his Mongol army overran the region.78 His troops are said to have annihilated the Khwarazmian cities of Herat and Balkh as well as Bamyan.[82]79 The destruction caused by the Mongols forced many locals to return to an agrarian rural society.[83]80 Mongol rule continued with the Ilkhanate in the northwest while the Khalji dynasty administered the Afghan tribal areas south of the Hindu Kush until the invasion of Timur (aka Tamerlane), who established the Timurid Empire in 1370.81 Under the rule of Shah Rukh, the city of Herat[84] served as the focal point of the Timurid Renaissance, whose glory matched Florence of the Italian Renaissance as the center of a cultural rebirth.[85][86]82

In the early 16th century Babur arrived from Ferghana and captured Kabul from the Arghun dynasty.[87]83 Babur would go on to conquer the Afghan Lodi dynasty who had ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the First Battle of Panipat.[88]84 Between the 16th and 18th century, the Uzbek Khanate of Bukhara, Iranian Safavids, and Indian Mughals ruled parts of the territory.[89]85 During the medieval period, the northwestern area of Afghanistan was referred to by the regional name Khorasan, which was commonly used up to the 19th century among natives to describe their country.[90][91][92][93]86

Hotak dynasty

Main article: Hotak dynasty

In 1709, Mirwais Hotak, a local Ghilzai tribal leader, successfully rebelled against the Safavids.87 He defeated Gurgin Khan, the Georgian governor of Kandahar under the Safavids, and established his own kingdom.[94]88 Mirwais died in 1715, and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Aziz, who was soon killed by Mirwais's son Mahmud for possibly planning to sign a peace with the Safavids.89 Mahmud led the Afghan army in 1722 to the Persian capital of Isfahan, and captured the city after the Battle of Gulnabad and proclaimed himself King of Persia.[94]90 The Afghan dynasty was ousted from Persia by Nader Shah after the 1729 Battle of Damghan.91

In 1738, Nader Shah and his forces captured Kandahar in the siege of Kandahar, the last Hotak stronghold, from Shah Hussain Hotak.92 Soon after, the Persian and Afghan forces invaded India, Nader Shah had plundered Delhi, alongside his 16-year-old commander, Ahmad Shah Durrani who had assisted him on these campaigns.93 Nader Shah was assassinated in 1747.[95][96]94

Durrani Empire

Main article: Durrani Empire

See also: Ahmad Shah Durrani

Ahmad Shah had launched two campaigns into Khorasan, 1750–1751 and 1754–1755.[97]95

Barakzai dynasty and British wars

Further information: Dost Mohammad Khan, Herat (1793–1863), Maimana Khanate, Principality of Kandahar, European influence in Afghanistan, Anglo-Afghan Wars, Durand Line, Afghan Civil War (1928–1929)

By the early 19th century, the Afghan empire was under threat from the Persians in the west and the Sikh Empire in the east.96 Fateh Khan, leader of the Barakzai tribe, installed many of his brothers in positions of power throughout the empire.97 Fateh Khan was brutally murdered in 1818 by Mahmud Shah.98 As a result, the brothers of Fateh Khan and the Barakzai tribe rebelled, and a civil war brewed.99 During this turbulent period, Afghanistan fractured into many states, including the Principality of Qandahar, Emirate of Herat, Khanate of Qunduz, Maimana Khanate, and numerous other warring polities.100 The most prominent state was the Emirate of Kabul, ruled by Dost Mohammad Khan.[98][99]101

Akbar Khan and the Afghan army failed to capture the Jamrud Fort from the Sikh Khalsa Army, but killed Sikh commander Hari Singh Nalwa, thus ending the Afghan-Sikh Wars.[100]102

In 1893, Abdur Rahman signed an agreement in which the ethnic Pashtun and Baloch territories were divided by the Durand Line, which forms the modern-day border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.103 Hazara dominated Hazaristan[101] and pagan Kafiristan remained politically independent until being conquered by Abdur Rahman Khan in 1891–1896.104 He was known as the "Iron Amir" for his features and his ruthless methods against tribes.[102]105 He died in 1901, succeeded by his son, Habibullah Khan.106

How can a small power like Afghanistan, which is like a goat between these lions [Britain and Russia] or a grain of wheat between two strong millstones of the grinding mill, stand in the midway of the stones without being ground to dust? — Abdur Rahman Khan, the "Iron Amir", in 1900[103][104]107

During the First World War, when Afghanistan was neutral, Habibullah Khan was met by officials of the Central Powers in the Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition.108 They called on Afghanistan to declare full independence from the United Kingdom, join them and attack British India, as part of the Hindu–German Conspiracy.109 The effort to bring Afghanistan into the Central Powers failed, but it sparked discontent among the population about maintaining neutrality with the British.110 Habibullah was assassinated in February 1919, and Amanullah Khan eventually assumed power.111 A staunch supporter of the 1915–1916 expeditions, Amanullah Khan invaded British India, beginning the Third Anglo-Afghan War, and entering British India via the Khyber Pass.[105]112

Following the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War and the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi on 19 August 1919, Emir Amanullah Khan declared the Emirate of Afghanistan a sovereign and fully independent state.113 He moved to end his country's traditional isolation by establishing diplomatic relations with the international community, particularly with the Soviet Union and the Weimar Republic.[106][107]114 He proclaimed himself King of Afghanistan on 9 June 1926, forming the Kingdom of Afghanistan.115 He introduced several reforms intended to modernize his nation.116 A key force behind these reforms was Mahmud Tarzi, an ardent supporter of the education of women.117 He fought for Article 68 of Afghanistan's 1923 constitution, which implemented compulsory elementary education.118 Slavery was abolished in 1923.[108]119 King Amanullah's wife, Queen Soraya, was an important figure during this period in the fight for women's education and against their oppression.[109]120

Some of the reforms, such as the abolition of the traditional burqa for women and the opening of co-educational schools, alienated many tribal and religious leaders, leading to the Afghan Civil War (1928–1929).121 King Amanullah abdicated in January 1929, and soon after Kabul fell to Saqqawist forces led by Habibullah Kalakani.[110]122 Mohammad Nadir Shah, Amanullah's cousin, defeated and killed Kalakani in October 1929, and was declared King Nadir Shah.[111]123 He abandoned the reforms of King Amanullah in favor of a more gradual approach to modernization, but was assassinated in 1933 by Abdul Khaliq.[112]124

Mohammed Zahir Shah succeeded to the throne and reigned as king from 1933 to 1973.125 During the tribal revolts of 1944–1947, King Zahir's reign was challenged by Zadran, Safi, Mangal, and Wazir tribesmen led by Mazrak Zadran, Salemai, and Faqir of Ipi, among others – many of whom were Amanullah loyalists.126 Afghanistan joined the League of Nations in 1934.127 In the 1930s, the country experienced significant development of roads, infrastructure, the founding of a national bank, and increased education.128 Road links in the north played a large part in a growing cotton and textile industry.[113]129 The country built close relationships with the Axis powers, with Nazi Germany having the largest share in Afghan development at the time.[114]130

Until 1946, King Zahir ruled with the assistance of his uncle, who held the post of prime minister and continued the policies of Nadir Shah.131 Another uncle, Shah Mahmud Khan, became prime minister in 1946 and experimented with allowing greater political freedom.132 He was replaced in 1953 by Mohammed Daoud Khan, a Pashtun nationalist who sought the creation of a Pashtunistan, leading to highly tense relations with Pakistan.[115]133 Daoud Khan pressed for social modernization reforms and sought a closer relationship with the Soviet Union.134 Afterward, the 1964 constitution was formed, and the first non-royal prime minister was sworn in.[113]135

Zahir Shah, like his father Nadir Shah, had a policy of maintaining national independence while pursuing gradual modernization, creating nationalist feeling, and improving relations with the United Kingdom.136 Afghanistan was neither a participant in World War II nor aligned with either power bloc in the Cold War.137 However, it was a beneficiary of the latter rivalry as both the Soviet Union and the United States vied for influence by building Afghanistan's main highways, airports, and other vital infrastructure.138 On a per capita basis, Afghanistan received more Soviet development aid than any other country.139 In 1973, while the King was in Italy, Daoud Khan launched a bloodless coup and became the first president of Afghanistan, abolishing the monarchy.140

Democratic Republic and Soviet War

Main article: Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Soviet–Afghan War, Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)

Further information: History of Afghanistan (1978–1992)

In April 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in a bloody coup d'état against then-President Mohammed Daoud Khan, in what is called the Saur Revolution.141 The PDPA declared the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, with its first leader named as People's Democratic Party General Secretary Nur Muhammad Taraki.[116]142 This would trigger a series of events that would dramatically turn Afghanistan from a peaceful (albeit poor and secluded) country to a hotbed of conflict and terrorism.[117]143 The PDPA initiated various social, symbolic, and land distribution reforms that provoked strong opposition, while also brutally oppressing political dissidents.144 This caused unrest and quickly expanded into a state of civil war by 1979, waged by guerrilla mujahideen (and smaller Maoist guerrillas) against regime forces countrywide.145 It quickly turned into a proxy war as the Pakistani government provided these rebels with covert training centers, the United States supported them through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI),[118] and the Soviet Union sent thousands of military advisers to support the PDPA regime.[119]146 Meanwhile, there was increasingly hostile friction between the competing factions of the PDPA – the dominant Khalq and the more moderate Parcham.[120]147

In October 1979, PDPA General Secretary Taraki was assassinated in an internal coup orchestrated by then-prime minister Hafizullah Amin, who became the new general secretary of the PDPA.148 The situation in the country deteriorated under Amin, and thousands of people went missing.[121]149 Displeased with Amin's government, the Soviet Army invaded the country in December 1979, heading for Kabul and killing Amin.[122]150 A Soviet-organized regime, led by Parcham's Babrak Karmal but inclusive of both factions (Parcham and Khalq), filled the vacuum.151 Soviet troops in more substantial numbers were deployed to stabilize Afghanistan under Karmal, marking the beginning of the Soviet–Afghan War.[123]152 Lasting nine years, the war caused the deaths of between 562,000[124] and 2 million Afghans,[132] and displaced about 6 million people who subsequently fled Afghanistan, mainly to Pakistan and Iran.[133]153 Heavy air bombardment destroyed many countryside villages, millions of landmines were planted,[134] and some cities such as Herat and Kandahar were also damaged from bombardment.154 After the Soviet withdrawal, another civil war ensued until the communist regime under PDPA leader Mohammad Najibullah collapsed in 1992.[135][136][137]155

The Soviet–Afghan War had drastic social effects on Afghanistan.156 The militarization of society led to heavily armed police, private bodyguards, openly armed civil defense groups, and the like becoming the norm in Afghanistan for decades thereafter.[138]157 The traditional power structure had shifted from the clergy, community elders, intelligentsia, and military in favor of powerful warlords.[139]158

Post–Cold War conflict

See also: Afghan Civil War (1992–1996), Afghan Civil War (1996–2001), Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001), Northern Alliance

Another civil war broke out after the creation of a dysfunctional coalition government between leaders of various mujahideen factions.159 Amid a state of anarchy and factional infighting,[140][141][142] various mujahideen factions committed widespread rape, murder, and extortion,[141][143][144] while Kabul was heavily bombarded and partially destroyed by the fighting.[144]160 Several failed reconciliations and alliances occurred between different leaders.[145]161 The Taliban emerged in September 1994 as a movement and militia of students (talib) from Islamic madrassas (schools) in Pakistan,[144][146] who soon had military support from Pakistan.[147]162

Taking control of Kandahar city that year,[144] they conquered more territories until finally driving out the government of Rabbani from Kabul in 1996,[148][149] where they established an emirate.[150]163 The Taliban were condemned internationally for the harsh enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic sharia law, which resulted in the brutal treatment of many Afghans, especially women.[151][152]164 During their rule, the Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplies to starving civilians, and conducted a policy of scorched earth, burning vast areas of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes.[159]165

After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum formed the Northern Alliance, later joined by others, to resist the Taliban.166 Dostum's forces were defeated by the Taliban during the Battles of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1997 and 1998; Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf, began sending thousands of Pakistani militants to help the Taliban defeat the Northern Alliance.[164]167 By 2000, the Northern Alliance only controlled 10% of the territory, cornered in the northeast.168 On 9 September 2001, Massoud was assassinated by two Arab suicide attackers in Panjshir Valley.169 Around 400,000 Afghans died in internal conflicts between 1990 and 2001.[165]170