This mountainous country situated in the heart of Central Asia, located along the old “Silk Route” is a blending of ethnicities, cultures and different religions.

In 2000/1500 B.C., this was the throughway for Indo-European tribes descending into Punjab via the Hindu Kush mountains. Integrated afterward into the Persian Empire (into the Drangiana, Ariana and Arachosia provinces), it was next conquered by Alexander, who founded Alexandria, the future city of Kabul. Around 250 B.C., it became the independent Bactrian Kingdom, a Greco-Buddhist civilization, created from the meeting of diverse Indian and Greek elements.

In the 2nd century, the region was conquered by the Scythians, Indo-European nomads who descended from Central Asia, and blended into the Kuchan Empire until the 5th century. Afghanistan was then a point of diffusion of Mahayana Buddhism into China via the Caravan Trade Routes.

Converted to Islam in the 8th century during the Umayyad occupation, and then occupied by the Ghaznavid Turks who came from Western Turkestan (11th century), Afghanistan did not achieve its own independence until 1747 with the reign of Ahmed Shah who took advantage of the collapse of the Persian and Moghul Empires. Ahmed then established a Durrani Dynasty which allowed the Pashtun Tribes to dominate the region.

But this new country was coveted by powers abroad, particularly Russia and Great Britain, who was trying to expand its empire in India. After numerous attempts from both sides, the English and the Russians concluded a pact that left Afghanistan with the role of buffer state, but under British semi-protectorate.

                                       
                                 
                                     Afghanistan , 1878 , Collections New York Public Library


It wasn’t until 1919 that the revolt against the British, led by Emir Amanullah, led to the independence of the country. The Emir became King of Afghanistan in 1923. Along the lines of Turkey’s Kemal, he modernized the country and opened education to women, but he struggled against peasant resistance to such modern ways of life. 

Overthrown in 1929, a new modernist regime was instituted in 1933 under the leadership of Zaher Shah.With the creation of elements of an Afghan state by Russian and British forces, the Pashtun Tribes, founders of the Afghan State, were divided between the British Empire and the Kingdom of Kabul. With the creation of Pakistan in 1947, following the independence of India, Afghanistan seized the opportunity to reclaim its Pashtun territories.


        


The Soviet Union supported this idea of a “Pashtun State” while the United States took sides with Pakistan. The U.S.S.R. concluded a military cooperation accord in 1955 which marked the beginning of Soviet infiltration in Afghan affairs.In the 1960s, Zaher Shah renovated the country by engaging in a major works’ policy. But only a minority of the country’s people really benefited. Largely illiterate peasants were still resisting modernization.

The 1960s saw the arrival of all sorts of political and religious movements which were emanations of a growing uneasiness among the people. The Democratic Party of the Afghan People (DPAP) was created, supported by Moscow but outlawed in Afghanistan. Other tendencies appeared, like Maoist and Islamist movements.

The 1970s saw the establishment of a new monarch, Mohammed Daoud, who took power in 1973 and imposed an authoritative regime where the political and religious parties were silenced. Gradually, Daoud engaged in a rapprochement with Pakistan and Iran, which irritated the Soviets who had in fact brought him to power.

                                  

                                     
                                               Copyright Eric Bouvet, VII Network

Because Daoud changed his political leaning, the Soviets supported the coup d’état against him in 1978, over the course of which Daoud, his family and 3000 of his loyal followers were murdered.Afghanistan and the Soviet Union once again grew closer.
 
Hafizullah Amin, leader of the Khalk, took power and applied scientific and secular socialism. He preached the emancipation of women and marriage freed from the need for family consent. His project was rejected by a part of the religious and rural population.This situation worried the Soviet leadership, and Leonid Brezhnev in particular.

Following Amin’s assassination, the Soviets intervened in Afghanistan in 1979. The world was in the grips of the Cold War and the Western powers strongly protested against this invasion. An embargo on grains was imposed, the 1980 Moscow Olympic games were boycotted, and the Salt II accords on American disarmament were not ratified. There was also the election of a new U.S. president. 


                                  
                                           
                                                Copyright Alexandra Boulat, VII Network


Ronald Reagan went on to engage in policies favoring the Afghan Mujahideen.The Soviets were struggling to hold their own in Afghanistan. Americans financed Sunni religious movements based in Pakistan (centered in Peshawar) and Shiite groups based in Iran. Locally, warlords were organizing their forces, including Ahmed Shah Massoud, Amin Wardak, Ismail Khan, Haqqani and others.In 1986, the U.S.S.R. was in complete breakdown, and it no longer had the means to finance such operations. 

In the end the Soviet troops only controlled 15% of the country, while sustaining heavy losses. Mikhaïl Gorbatchev brought his country into the era of Glasnost and then Perestroïka, hoping to obtain international financial help.In 1986, Soviet troops undertook their retreat from Afghanistan, which lasted until 1989 when the last Chouravis (Russians in the Afghan language) left the  country. The demise of the U.S.S.R. at the end of 1991 sealed the fate of the Kabul regime which crumbled in 1992.

                                             
                                       
                                                Copyright Benjamin Lowy, VII Network


The country was then victim of multiple fractures: religious, between Chiite pro-Iranians, and Sunni pro-Pakistani; ethnic, between the majority Pashtun, Tadjiks, Persian descendents, Uzbeks, Hazaras, etc.From this confusion, the Taliban (students of religion attending the Madrassa Koranic schools located in Pashtun areas) formed in 1993 behind Mullah Omar (Mohammed Omar Akhunzadah) and was supported by the Pakistanis.In a few years, they captured the majority of Afghan territory.

Only Massoud, this time benefiting from Western assistance, the Russians and Iran, was able to hold out in the Northeastern part of the country (the Panjshir). This was the period when the Major NGOs were in place in Afghanistan, like Médecins du Monde, created by Bernard Kouchner, which supported this resistance and helped the local populations.

Meanwhile, the Taliban were putting in place an ultra-fundamentalist and archaic regime based on Sharia (Islamic law). Not recognized by the international community, this regime descended into extremism and marginalization.From 1996, the Taliban offered shelter to Osama Bin Laden, who was accused of having carried out the attacks against the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. 


                                       
                                                Copyright Balazs Gardi, VII  Network


The Taliban were then sanctioned by the United Nations.On September 9, 2001, Massoud was assassinated. Two days later on September 11, the entire world watched dumbfounded the attacks on the two Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, which killed more than 3000 in New York. Two days later, the White House denounced Al Qaeda and threatened Afghanistan with reprisals if they did not turn over Bin Laden.On September 19, the operation “Enduring Freedom” was launched and was joined by the British and French.
 
In November, the Americans entered Afghanistan. The United Nations planned the political reorganization of the country. In parallel, an international force under British command, known as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was implemented in Kabul.Hamid Karzai was elected in 2004.

A member of the Pashtun Tribe of Popolzai, related to the clan of the Durrani, he signaled the return of a certain political structure to Afghanistan. He was the first president to be elected in Afghanistan.In 2009, new elections were held, and Hamid Karzaï won them.


                                    
                                                  Copyright Benjamin Lovy, VII network

This article was written by Emmanuelle Falsanisi