History of Afghanistan

50,000 BC-20,000 BC --Archaeologists have identified evidence of stone age technology in Aq Kupruk, and Hazar Sum. Plant remains at the foothill of the Hindu Kush mountains indicate, that North Afghanistan was one of the earliest places to domestic plants and animals.
3000 BC-2000 BC --Bronze might have been invented in ancient Afghanistan around this time. --First true urban centers rise in two main sites in Afghanistan--Mundigak, and Deh Morasi Ghundai. --Mundigak (near modern day Kandahar)--had an economic base of wheat, barley, sheep and goats. Also, evidence indicates that Mudigak could have been a provincial capital of the Indus valley civilization. --Ancient Afghanistan--crossroads between Mesopotamia, and other Civilizations.
2000 BC- 1500 BC --Aryan tribes in Aryana (Ancient Afghanistan) --The City of Kabul is thought to have been established during this time. --Rig Veda may have been created in Afghanistan around this time. --Evidence of early nomadic iron age in Aq Kapruk IV.
--600 BC --(There is some speculation about this date) Zoroaster introduces a new religion in Bactria (Balkh)---(Zoroastrianism--Monotheistic religion) --(about 522 BC)--Zoroaster dies during nomadic invasion near Balkh.
--522 BC--486 BC --Darius the Great expands the Achaemenid (Persian) empire to its peak, when it takes most of Afghanistan., including Aria (Herat), Bactriana (Balk, and present-day Mazar-i-Shariff), Margiana (Merv), Gandhara (Kabul, Jalalabad and Peshawar), Sattagydia (Ghazni to the Indus river), Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta), and Drangiana (Sistan). --The Persian empire was plagued by constant bitter and bloody tribal revolts from Afghans living in Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta)
329-326 BC --After conquering Persia, Afghanistan is invaded by Alexander the Great. Alexander conquers Afghanistan, but fails to really subdue its people. --Constant revolts plague Alexander.

--323 BC-- Greeks rule Bactria (Northern Afghanistan)

--170 BC-160 BC Bactrian--Parthian

--50 AD --Kushan rule, under King Kanishka --Graeco-Buddhist Gandharan culture reach its height.

--220 AD Kushan empire fragments into petty dynasties.

--400 AD Invasion of the White Huns. They destroy the Buddhist culture, and leave most of the country in ruins.

--425--550 Independent Yaftalee rule in Afghanistan.

--550 AD --Persians reassert control over all of what is now Afghanistan. --Revolts by various Afghan tribes.

--652 AD Arabs introduce Islam

--962-1030 --Islamic era established with the Ghaznavid Dynasty (962-1140) --Afghanistan becomes the center of Islamic power and civilization. --Ibn Sina (Afghan scientist) is born in Balkh (980)

--1030-- --Mahmud Ghazni dies. --Conflicts between various Ghaznavid rulers arise and as a result the empire starts to crumple.

--1140-- Ghorid leaders from central Afghanistan capture and burn Ghazni, then move on to conquer India.

--1219-1221 --Invasion of Afghanistan by Genghis Khan --Destruction of Irrigation systems by Genghis Khan, which turned fertile soil into permanent deserts.

--1273 Marco Polo crossed Afghan Turkistan

--1332-1370 Descendants of earlier Ghorid rulers reassert control over Afghanistan. --1370-1404

--The rule of Timour-i-Lang (Tamerlane) --Afghan resistance

--1451-- An Afghan named Buhlul invades Delhi, and seizes the throne. He finds the Lodi dynasty.

--1504-1519 Babur, founder of the Moghul dynasty takes control of Kabul

1520-1579 Bayazid Roshan (Afghan intellectual) revolts against the power of the Moghul government. Roshan was killed in a battle with the Moghuls in 1579--but his struggle for independence continued.

1613-1689 Khushhal Khan Khattak (Afghan warrior-poet) initiates a national uprising against the foreign Moghul government.

1708 Mir Wais (forerunner of Afghan independence) makes Kandahar independent of Safavid Persia that had ruled it since 1622.

--1715-- Mir Wais dies peacefully, and lies in a mausoleum outside of Kandahar.

1722-- Mir Wais' son, Mir Mahmud, invades Persia and occupies Isfahan. At the same time, the Durranis revolt, and terminate the Persian occupation of Herat.

--1725-- --(April 25)--Mir Mahmud is mysteriously killed after going mad. --Afghans start to lose control of Persia.

--1736-- Nadir Shah (head of Persia) occupies southwest Afghanistan, and southeast Persia.

--1738-- Nadir Shah takes Kandahar.

1747-- Nadir Shah is assassinated, and the Afghans rise once again. Afghans, under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Abdali retake Kandahar, and establish modern Afghanistan.

--1747--1773 --Rule of Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani). --Ahmad Shah consolidates and enlarges Afghanistan. He defeats the Moghuls in the west of the Indus, and he takes Herat away from the Persians. Ahmad Shah Durrani's empire extended from Central Asia to Delhi, from Kashmir to the Arabian sea. It became the greatest Muslim empire in the second half of the 18th century. --(1750) Khurasan----> Afghanistan.

--1773-1793 --Rule of Timur Shah --Capital of Afghanistan transferred from Kandahar to Kabul because of tribal opposition. --Constant internal revolts

1793-1801

--Rule of Zaman Shah --Constant internal revolts --(1795) Persians invade Khurasan (province)

1801-1803 --Rule of Mahmood --Constant internal revolts

1803-1809 --Rule of Shah Shujah --(1805) Persian attack on Herat fails. --Internal fighting

1809-1818 --Mahmood returns to the throne. --War with Persia--indecisive victory --Internal fighting

1819-1826 --Sons of Timur Shah struggle for the throne--Civil War--anarchy-- --Afghans lose Sind permanently

1826-- Dost Mohammad Khan takes Kabul, and establishes control.

1832--1833 Persia moves into Khurasan (province), and threatens Herat. Afghans defend Herat successfully.

1834-- (May)--Afghans lose Peshawar to the Sikhs; later they crushed the Sikhs under the leadership of Akbar Khan who defeated the Sikhs near Jamrud, and killed the great Sikh general Hari Singh. However, they failed to retake Peshawar due to disunity and bad judgment on the part of Dost Mohammad Khan.

1836 Dost Mohammad Khan is proclaimed as Amir al-mu' minin (commander of the faithful). He was well on the road toward reunifying the whole of Afghanistan when the British, in collaboration with an ex-king (Shah Shuja), invade Afghanistan.

--1839-1842 --First Anglo-Afghan War --After some resistance, Amir Dost Mohammad Khan surrenders to the British and is deported to India. --Shah Shuja is installed as a "puppet king" by the British. (1839-1842) --April 1842--Shah Shuja killed by Afghans. --Afghans passionately continue their struggle against the British. --Akbar Khan--Afghan hero--victorious against the British. --In January 1842, out of 16,500 soldiers (and 12,000 dependents) only one survivor, of mixed British-Indian garrison, reaches the fort in Jalalabad, on a stumbling pony.

1843 After the annihilation of British troops, Afghanistan once again becomes independent, and the exiled Amir, Dost Mohammad Khan comes back and occupies the royal throne (1843-1863).

1845-- Afghan hero, Akbar Khan dies

--1855 Dost Mohammad Khan signs a peace treaty with India.

--1859-- British take Baluchistan, and Afghanistan becomes completely landlocked.

--1863-1866 --Sher Ali, Dost Mohammad Khan's son, succeeds to the throne.

--(1865)--Russia takes Bukhara, Tashkent, and Samerkand.

--1866-1867 --Mohammad Afzal occupies Kabul and proclaims himself Amir. --October, 1867--Mohammad Afzal dies.

--1867-1868 --Mohammad Azam succeeds to the throne --1868--Mohammad Azam flees to Persia

--1868- Sher Ali reasserts control (1868-1879).

--1873 --Russia established a fixed boundary between Afghanistan and it's new territories. --Russia promises to respect Afghanistan's territorial integrity.

--1878 --Start of second Anglo-Afghan War --The British invade and the Afghans quickly put up a strong resistance.

--1879 --Sher Ali dies in Mazar-i-Shariff, and Amir Muhammad Yaqub Khan takes over until October 1879. --Amir Muhammad Yaqub Khan gives up the following Afghan territories to the British: Kurram, Khyber, Michni, Pishin, and Sibi. Afghans lose these territories permanently.

--1880 --Battle of Maiwand --July 1880, Afghan woman named Malalai carries the Afghan flag forward after the soldiers carrying the flag were killed by the British. She becomes a heroine for her show of courage and valour. --Abdur Rahman takes throne of Afghanistan as Amir. --The British, shortly after the accession of the new Amir, withdraw from Afghanistan, although they retain the right to handle Afghanistan's foreign relations. --Abdur Rahman establishes fixed borders and he loses a lot of Afghan land. --Nuristan converted to Islam.

--1885-- --The Panjdeh Incident --Russian forces seize the Panjdeh Oasis, a piece of Afghan territory north of the Oxus River. Afghans tried to retake it, but was finally forced to allow the Russians to keep Panjdeh, and the Russians promised to honor Afghan territorial integrity in the future.

--1893 The Durand line fixes borders of Afghanistan with British India, splitting Afghan tribal areas, leaving half of these Afghans in what is now Pakistan.

--1895 Afghanistan's northern border is fixed and guaranteed by Russia

--1901-- --Abdur Rahman dies, his son Habibullah succeeds him. --Slows steps toward modernization

--1907-- Russia and Great Britain sign the convention of St. Petersburg, in which Afghanistan is declared outside Russia's sphere of influence.

--1918-- Mahmud Tarzi (Afghan Intellectual) introduces modern Journalism into Afghanistan with the creation of several newspapers.

--1919-- --Habibullah is assassinated, and succeeded by his son Amanullah (The reform King) --The first museum in Afghanistan is instituted at Baghe Bala.

--1921-- --Third Anglo-Afghan war --Once again, the British are defeated, and Afghanistan gains full control of her foreign affairs. --Treaty of Ranalpindi --Amanullah Khan initiates a series of ambitious efforts at social and political modernization.

--1923-- --Amanullah Khan changes his title from Amir to Padshah (King).

--1929-- --Amanullah Khan is overthrown by Habibullah Kalakani. --After the fall of Amanullah Khan, Mahmud Tarzi seeks asylum in Turkey. --The Rise and Fall of Habibullah Kalakani, popularly known as "Bache Saqaw" --Nadir Khan takes the throne; his tribal army loots government buildings and houses of wealthy citizens because the treasury was empty. --Habibullah Kalakani, along with his supporters, and a few supporters of Amanullah Khan are killed by Nadir Khan. Now Nadir Khan establishes full control.

--1930 --(May) Pro-Amanullah Khan uprising put down by Nadir Khan. --Nadir Khan abolishes reforms set forth by Amanullah Khan to modernize Afghanistan.

--1933-- --Nadir Khan assassinated by a college student, and his son, Zahir, inherits the throne. He rules until 1973. --Zahir Shah's uncles serve as prime ministers and advisors until 1953. --Mahmud Tarzi dies in Turkey at the age of 68 with a heart full of sorrow and despair toward his country.

--1934-- The United States of America formally recognizes Afghanistan

--1938-- Da Afghanistan Bank (State Bank of Afghanistan) is incorporated.

--1939-- Minor pro-Amanullah Khan uprising (January 15)

--1940-- Zahir Shah proclaims Afghanistan as neutral during WW2

--1947-- Britain withdraws from India. Pakistan is carved out of Indian and Afghan lands.

--1949-- --Afghanistan's Parliament denounces the Durand Treaty and refuses to recognize the Durand line as a legal boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan. --Pashtuns in Pashtunistan (Occupied Afghan Land) proclaim an independent Pashtunistan, but their proclamation goes unacknowledged by the world community.

--1953-- Prince Mohammad Daoud becomes Prime Minister.

--1954-- The U.S. rejects Afghanistan's request to buy military equipment to modernize the army.

--1955-- --Daoud turns to the Soviet Union (Russia) for military aid. --The Pashtunistan (occupied Afghan land) issue flares up.

--1956-- --Kruschev and Bulgaria agree to help Afghanistan. --Close ties between Afghanistan and USSR.

--1959-- --The Purdah is made optional, women begin to enroll in the University which has become co-educational. --Women begin to enter the workforce, and the government.

--1961-- Pakistan and Afghanistan come close to war over Pashtunistan.

--1963-1964-- Zahir Shah demands Daoud's resignation. Dr. Mohammad Yusof becomes Prime Minister.

--1965-- --The Afghan Communist Party was secretly formed in January. Babrak Karmal is one of the founders. --In September, first nationwide elections under the new constitution. --Karmal was elected to the Parliament, later instigates riots. --Zahir and Yussof form second government.

--1969-- --Second nationwide elections. --Babrak and Hafizullah Amin are elected.

--1972-- Mohammad Moussa becomes Prime Minister

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--1973-- --July 17th: Zahir Shah is on vacation in Europe, when his government is overthrown in a military coup headed by Daoud Khan and PDPA (Afghan Communist Party). --Daoud Khan abolishes the monarchy, declares himself President---Republic of Afghanistan is established.

--1974-- UNESCO names Herat as one of the first cities to be designated as a part of the worlds cultural heritage.

--1975--1977 --Daoud Khan presents a new constitution. Women's rights confirmed. --Daoud starts to oust suspected opponents from his government.

--1978-- --Bloody Communist coup: Daoud is killed, Taraki is named President, and Karmal becomes his deputy Prime Minister. Tensions rise. --Mass arrests, tortures, and arrests takes place. --Afghan flag is changed. --Taraki signs treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union. --June--Afghan guerrilla (Mujahideen) movement is born.

--1979-- --Mass killings --US ambassador killed --Taraki is killed and Hafizullah Amin takes the Presidency. --Amin is executed, and he is replaced with Babrak Karmal. --Soviet Union (Russia) invade in December.

--1980-- Dr. Najibullah is brought back from USSR to run the secret police.

--1984-- UN sends investigators to Afghanistan to examine reported human rights violations.

--1986-- --Babrak Karmal is replaced by Dr. Najibullah.

--1987-- --Najibullah proposes ceasefire, but the Mujahideen refuse to deal with a "puppet government". --Mujahideen make great gains, defeat of Soviets eminent.

--1988--1989-- --Peace accords signed in Geneva. --Soviet Union defeated by Afghanistan, total withdrawal by the Soviets occurred on Feb. 15, 1989. --Experts agree that at least 40,000-50,000 Soviets lost their lives in action, besides the wounded, suicides, and murders. --Mujahideen continue to fight against Najibullah's regime. --May--Afghan guerrillas elect Sibhhatullah Mojadidi as head of their government-in-exile.

--1992-- --April 15--The Mujahideen take Kabul and liberate Afghanistan, Najibullah is protected by UN. --The Mujahideen form an Islamic State--Islamic Jihad Council--elections. --Iranian and Pakistani interference increases--more fighting-- --Professor Burhannudin Rabbani is elected President.

--1994-- --The Taliban militia are born, and advance rapidly against the Islamic government. --Dostum and Hekmatyar continued to clash against Rabbani's government, and as a result Kabul is reduced to rubble.

--1995-- --Massive gains by the Taliban. --Increased Pakistani and Iranian interference.

--1996-- --June--Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, head of Hezbi-Islami, having been eliminated as a military power, signs a peace pact with Rabbani, and returns to Kabul to rule as prime minister. --September 27--Taliban militia force President Rabbani and his government out of Kabul. After the capture of Kabul, the Taliban execute Najibullah. --Alliance between Government, Hezbi Wahdat, and Dostum --Oppression of women by the Taliban--women must be fully veiled, no longer allowed to work, go out alone or even wear white socks. Men are forced to grow beards. Buzkashi, the Afghan national sport is outlawed. --Tensions rise as Afghan government accuse Pakistan of aiding the Taliban. --Massive human rights violations by the Taliban.
On Aug. 20, 1998, U.S. cruise missiles struck a terrorist training complex in Afghanistan believed to have been financed by Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Islamic radical sheltered by the Taliban. The U.S. asked for the deportation of Bin Laden, whom it believed was involved in the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, 1998. The UN also demanded the Taliban hand over Bin Laden for trial.

In Sept. 2001, legendary guerrilla leader Ahmed Shah Masoud was killed by suicide bombers, a seeming death knell for the anti-Taliban forces, a loosely connected group referred to as the Northern Alliance. Days later, terrorists attacked New York's World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, and Bin Laden emerged as the primary suspect in the tragedy.

On Oct. 7, after the Taliban repeatedly and defiantly refused to turn over Bin Laden, the U.S. and its allies began daily air strikes against Afghan military installations and terrorist training camps. Five weeks later, with the help of U.S. air support, the Northern Alliance managed with breathtaking speed to take the key cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul, the capital. On Dec. 7, the Taliban regime collapsed entirely when its troops fled their last stronghold, Kandahar. However, al-Qaeda members and other mujahideen from various parts of the Islamic world who had earlier fought alongside the Taliban persisted in pockets of fierce resistance, forcing U.S. and allied troops to maintain a presence in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar remained at large.

In Dec. 2001, Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun (the dominant ethnic group in the country) and the leader of the powerful 500,000-strong Populzai clan, was named head of Afghanistan's interim government; in June 2002, he formally became president. The U.S. maintained about 12,000 troops to combat the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and about 31 nations also contributed NATO-led peacekeeping forces. In 2003, after the United States shifted its military efforts to fighting the war in Iraq, attacks on American-led forces intensified as the Taliban and al-Qaeda began to regroup.

President Hamid Karzai's hold on power remained tenuous, as entrenched warlords continued to exert regional control. Remarkably, however, Afghanistan's first democratic presidential elections in Oct. 2004 were a success. Ten million Afghans, more than a third of the country, registered to vote, including more than 40% of eligible women. Karzai was declared the winner in November, taking 55% of the vote, and was inaugurated in December.

In May 2005, 17 people were killed during anti-American protests prompted by a report in Newsweek that American guards at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had desecrated the Koran. In September 2005, Afghanistan held its first democratic parliamentary elections in more than 25 years.

The Taliban continued to attack U.S. troops throughout 2005 and 2006—the latter becoming the deadliest year for U.S. troops since the war ended in 2001. In 2004 and 2005, American troop levels in Afghanistan had gradually increased to nearly 18,000 from a low of 10,000. Throughout the spring of 2006, Taliban militants—by then a force of several thousand—infiltrated southern Afghanistan, terrorizing local villagers and attacking Afghan and U.S. troops. In May and June, Operation Mount Thrust was launched, deploying more than 10,000 Afghan and coalition forces in the south. About 700 people, most of whom were Taliban, were killed. In Aug. 2006, NATO troops took over military operations in southern Afghanistan from the U.S.-led coalition. NATO's Afghanistan mission is considered the most dangerous undertaken in its 57-year history.

Attacks by the Taliban intensified and increased in late 2006 and into 2007, with militants crossing into eastern Afghanistan from Pakistan's tribal areas. The Pakistani government denied that its intelligence agency has supported the Islamic militants, despite contradictory reports from Western diplomats and the media.

Mullah Dadullah, a top Taliban operational commander who has organized assassinations and abductions, was killed in a raid in Helmand Province in May 2007 carried out by Afghan security forces, NATO troops, and American soldiers.

An August 2007 report by the United Nations found that Afghanistan's opium production doubled in two years and that the country supplies 93% of the world's heroin. Southern Afghanistan, particularly Helmand Provice, saw the largest spike, and the report said the Taliban is involved in the business.