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| Historical Overview of
Afghanistan |
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Covering an area of 647,000 square kilometres
Afghanistan is approximately double the size of Germany. The
Northeast is characterised by its very high mountains. They
reach altitudes of up to 7,485 metres. The fertile valleys
are fed by the waters of the mighty Amu (once called Oxus)
and Hilmand rivers. Afghanistan’s borders touch China,
Pakistan (once part of India), Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
and Tadjikistan. |
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The variety
of climatic conditions has led to the development of an
unusually rich animal world. In the mountains, enormous
eagles wheel high in the air. This area, where the snowfields
are permanent, is also the domain of Marco Polo mountain
goats, snow leopards and yaks, strong domesticated cattle.
Yet, only 200 Kilometres away, there are areas of eternal
spring, or summer conditions in which palm trees and tropical
fruits can grow.
The extensive areas of desert
developed primarily as a result of destruction wreaked by
ruthless conquerors such as Genghis Khan or Tamerlane. But
when the desert begins to bloom in spring and poppies cover
it like a scarlet carpet, there grow most densely in the
area around the holy city of Masar-e-Sharif.
Afghanistan has strong ties in historical
and linguistic terms with Persian-speaking countries such
as Iran and Tadjikistan. But development was also influenced
strongly by many other peoples. The Uzbeks, Turkomen, Mongols
(Hasars) and Turko-Mongols – who all migrated originally
from China – left a strong mark on the country. Pashtun,
Beluchi, Kirghiz, Panjshir, Nurestani, and Indian minorities
completed the colourful picture of this central Asian land.
At that time the country was called Aryana. This means (
Land of the noble ) the word Iran also derives from Arya.
Iran, Samarkand, Bokkara, Gandhara, India and Afghanistan
have much in common in history over long periods of time.
For 800 years the Persian Longuage was the official one
in India and this is still the case in Tadjikistan, Afghanistan
and Pashtu. It is thought that the Aryans – in other
words the Indo-Germans set off in two directions: some to
India, and others to Persia, Greece, Italy and Europe.
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| The Persians
returned to Afghanistan in around 500 AD. Their rulers were
known as the Achaemenides. The Greeks under Alexnnder the
Great from Macedonia pushed their way into Afghanistan in
332 BC.in Balkh (or Bactria ), Alexander the Great married
Rochsana (Roxana), the daudgter of Darius III, who had fled
there. It is said that Kandahar bears Alexander’s
name. The city
of Kandahar was the capital of Afghanistan before Kabul
became the seat of government.
Greek governors ruled Afghanistan
for around four centuries. Seleukus had to cede the area
between Kandahar and Kabul to the Maurya dynasty. Their
most well-known king was Ashoka, who propagated Buddhism
in Afghanistan.
From the middle of the First Century AD, the Kushan took
power. They were nomads, who crossed the river Amu in the
course of their migration. After seizing power, they adopted
the Greek language and style of government.
The area controlled by them stretched from the Gobi desert
to the Ganges river in India. Their greatest king was Kanishka,
who converted to Buddhism in the meantime. It was he, who
during his rule had the largest Buddha statue
(Bott-Bodd) erected.
From the 4th to the middle
of the 7th century, before the Arabs came, the Yaftalee
ruled. Like their predecessors, this was a nomad tribe which
attacked Afghanistan from the north.
1227-1365 After the death
of Gengis khan, the lion’s share of the Afghan provinces
- the Khanat – was taken over by his second son. 1381-1526
Temerlane invaded Afghanistan and spread terror as widely
as Genghis Khan had done before him. A legacy of continuing
catastrophe was the destruction during this period of the
irrigation canal system. This led to fertile land in the
south becoming saturated with salt and to the growth of
steppe. Only under his successors, the Timorid, was the
country able to recover. Under their rule Heart flowered
as a city.
At the beginning of the
16th century, Babar, who could trace his ancestry back to
both Genghis Khan and Temerlane, founded the Moghul dynasty
in India, to which vast parts of Afghanistan also belonged.
The Moghul dynasty remained in power until 1709. |
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1709 – 1730 The downfall of the Moghul
empire and the weakening of the Persian Safawids makes it
possible for a capable tribal leader of the Pashtun –
Mir Wais Hotaki to found a small national kingdom with its
capital at Kandahar, which was able to push its western boundary
as far as Isfahan in Persia. In 1729 the Pashtuns were driven
out by the Safawid general Nadir Shah, who was murdered in
1747. |
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1747 – 1773 Ahmad Shah Darrani established
the independent kingdom of Afghanistan. In 1747 he crossed
the Indus river in today’s Pakistan, occupied the Punjab
and the province of Multan, and pressed on to Delhi. This
meant that his empire not only comprised Afghanistan within
its modern borders, but also parts of eastern Persia, India
and Kashmir. But his successors were unable to hold on to
the conquered areas. |
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1836-1863 Dost Mohammad becomes Emir of Afghanistan.
During his time, the British were attempting to stabilise
the North West Frontier of India, which because of Tsarist
Russia’s advance, appeared to endanger British interests.
In 1838 the first Anglo-Afghan war broke out which, although
it brought victory for the British, was quickly followed a
year later by unrest in Kabul, which built up to open outrage
in 1841. |
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In 1842 the British were forced to leave
the country, with a promise of safe conduct. The guarantee
was not fulfilled. Of six thousand British troops who left
Kabul on foot, only barely one hundred reached Jalalabad.
All the others fell victim to the vengeful Afghans in the
mountains around the Lataband pass. After this terrible defeat
a British punishment force was sent to Kabul, which destroyed
the city. |
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1878 was the year when the second Anglo –
Afghan war began. It ended in 1879, with the signing of the
Gandomak treaty which guaranteed British the right to keep
a permanent mission in Kabul. In fact this mission was butchered
within a few months during a revolt. |
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1880 – 1901 With
Abdul-Rahman, an intelligent politician ascended the throne
who ruled his country with a rod of iron. Nevertheless he
unable to prevent the British making Afghanistan into a
buffer state. The still contested drawing of the border
– the so-called Durand Line – which cut the
tribal land of the Pashtun into two was undertaken during
his reign.
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Abul – Rahman’s successor from
1901-1919 was his son Habibullah and he managed to maintain
independence from the British. In the country he carried out
important reforms, which helped to prepare Afghanistan for
independence. |
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With Amanullah (1919-1929) a man came to
power who was determined to free his country from British
dominance. He believed that the time had come to demand Afghanistan’s
independence of the Victory of India. The British resisted
this by force, which led to the third Anglo-Afghan war. The
Afghans fought to victory near Thal, in modern Pakistan, ending
the war in 1919. Although Afghanistan had won its independence,
the British did not confirm this until 1921. Amanullah’s
excess of ambition in wanting to create a modern state out
of conservative Afghanistan on western lines cost him the
throne in 1929. A revolution toppled him from power and he
ended his days in Italy. |
The whole
Afghanistan only came under Islamic dominance at the beginning
of the 20th century, when King Abdul-Rahman Khan came to
power. The Nurestan region, which at that time was called
Kaferestan - land of the heroes – has belonged to
Afghanistan since that time. Under Abdul-Rahman Khan’s
government, the beginning of an evolution towards technical
progress and towards unity of the country were established. |
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His successor from 1933-1973
was his 19-year-old son Zahir Shah. Peace came to the country
and the population felt secure. Modernisation, however,
made very slow progress. After a 40-year rule, the king
was toppled by a military coup on 17th July 1973, led by
Daoud Khan. Today he lives in exile in Italy. |
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Daoud Khan (1973-1978) declared Afghanistan
a republic in 1973. Through another military coup, in which
the then Soviet Union and his own family participated, he
was killed in 1978. Daoud Khan, like Amanullah Khan, was a
man who really loved his country and worked for it. He was
a patriot. |
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In 1978 Mohammad Taraki took on the presidency.
He was deposed. |
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President Amin ruled from October to December
1979. In 1979 Soviet troops invaded. |
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Babrak Karmal was head of government
between 1980-1986. |
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Between 1986-1992 party leader and state
president Dr. M.Najibullah came to power.
From the year 1992 onwards Afghanistan was thrown into civil
war.
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