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Extending back into the past, Afghanistan had been under the rule of various Persian, Greek, Sassasian, and Central Asian empires. Islam entered the nation in the eighth century with the arrival of Arabs who established their sovereignty on the soil. The breaking of Arab rule gave way to the formation of semi-independent states. In 1200, the Mongolian invasion wiped out the local dynasties and established a firm control over the country until the 1500s amidst several internal riots and disturbances. After the collapse of the Mongol rule, Afghanistan got caught between the vice of two big powers namely the Mughals of northern India and the Safavids of Iran finding a great devastation and slaughtering of people by the armies of these big powers.
In 1747, Ahmed Shah, a Pashtun came to prominence and united the various Afghan tribes and also annexed parts of what we call today as Iran, Pakistan, northern India and Uzbekistan. However, under his successors, the nation came down in size and was seized by rival regional powers within the next 50 years leaving a series of bloody wars within the nation targeting the throne.
Beginning with 1800, what is famously stated as “The Great Game” started between the two powers—the Britain and Czarist Russia, with Afghan as the bone of contention. The British wanted to expand its territory from northern India till Hindu Kush mountain of Afghanistan aiming to make it a natural barrier to safeguard its colony. From the other side, the Russians were rapidly swallowing the nation in their downward march towards Central Asia. In 1838, the first Anglo-Afghan war took place and the Britain seized most of the states of Afghanistan. However, the people revolted the heavy-handed rule of Britain resulting in a mass massacre of the entire British army of 15,000. During the second Anglo-Afghan war in 1878, the Britain occupied most parts of the nation, suppressed all the revolts and installed its puppet ruler over the state before retreating from there.
In 1917, the King of Afghanistan, Amanullah took the aid of Lenin and declared a war on Britain. Britain conceded for Afghan’s independence. Rulers like Muhammed Nadir Shah and Zahir Shah followed Amanulla. In 1973, Daoud, a member of the royal family overthrew Zakir Shar and declared the state as a republic announcing himself as the president with the help of Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Though the country was relieved from the clutches of the monarchy now, little was done to serve the interests of the general public. In 1978, the PDPA seized the power from Zakir Shah and began a series of reforms. However, the land reform by PDPA met a strict opposition leading to armed rebellion. Now the Soviet Union entered the political scene and led several armed coups.
Several Islamic fundamentalist groups emerged rebelling against PDPA and the Soviets. At this juncture, the United States started supporting, training and supplying huge quantity of war crafts to the Islamic guerillas called as Mujahadeen to move the Soviet out of the country. Alongside, the Saudis and the Persian Gulf Emirates also started supporting the Mujahadeen responding to the call of jihad against Soviet secularists. Osama Bin Laden emerged as the leader of Mujahadeen operations. After the withdrawal of Soviets in 1989, internal clashes existed between Mujahadeen and PDPA and within the groups of Mujahadeen. The long reign of PDPA ended with 1992 and different Mujahadeen warlords occupied different regions of the country.
Under these circumstances, Pakistani Intelligence supported and nurtured a new Islamic fundamentalist movement called Taliban. The Taliban attempted to create a theocratic state based on their interpretations of the Koran severely worsening the condition of women in the state. The United States accused Osama Bin Laden as the master head behind the September 11 WTC bombings and demanded the Taliban government to hand him over to the US. The Taliban’s negative response to this has been the major reason behind the continuous attacks of Afghanistan by the US and their active support to the Northern Alliance that is attempting to overthrow the Talibans. Hundreds and thousands of the common masses continue to die in poverty, bombings and the strife between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban even to this day. To this day, the country has not been redeemed of the wreckage and the ravages of slaughters, wars, plundering, and impoverishment.
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