Afghanistan

Afghanistan, often called the crossroads of Central Asia, has had a turbulent history. In 328 BC, Alexander the Great entered the territory of present-day Afghanistan,

then part of the Persian Empire, to capture Bactria (present-day Balkh). Invasions by the Scythians, White Huns, and Turks followed in succeeding centuries. In AD 642, Arabs invaded the entire region and introduced Islam.

Arab rule quickly gave way to the Persians, who controlled the area until conquered by the Turkic Ghaznavids in 998. Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030) consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and turned

Ghazni into a great cultural center as well as a base for frequent forays into India. Following Mahmud's short-lived dynasty, various princes attempted to rule sections of the country until the Mongol invasion of 1219. The Mongol invasion, led by Genghis Khan, resulted in the destruction of many cities, including Herat, Ghazni, and

Balkh, and the despoliation of fertile agricultural areas.

Following Genghis Khan's death in 1227, a succession of

petty chieftains and princes struggled for supremacy

until late in the 14th century, when one of his

descendants, Tamerlane, incorporated Afghanistan into his

own vast Asian empire. Babur, a descendant of Tamerlane

and the founder of India's Moghul dynasty at the

beginning of the 16th century, made Kabul the capital of

an Afghan principality.

In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of what is known

today as Afghanistan, established his rule. A Pashtun,

Durrani was elected king by a tribal council after the

assassination of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah at

Khabushan in the same year. Throughout his reign,

Durrani consolidated chieftainships, petty

principalities, and fragmented provinces into one

country. His rule extended from Mashhad in the west to

Kashmir and Delhi in the east, and from the Amu Darya

(Oxus) River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the

south. All of Afghanistan's rulers until the 1978

Marxist coup were from Durrani's Pashtun tribal

confederation, and all were members of that tribe's

Mohammadzai clan after 1818.

European Influence

Collision between the expanding British and Russian

Empires significantly influenced Afghanistan during the

19th century. British concern over Russian advances in

Central Asia and growing influence in Persia culminated

in two Anglo-Afghan wars. The first (1839-42) resulted

not only in the destruction of a British army, but is

remembered today as an example of the ferocity of Afghan

resistance to foreign rule. The second Anglo-Afghan war

(1878-80) was sparked by Amir Shir Ali's refusal to

accept a British mission in Kabul. This conflict brought

Amir Abdur Rahman to the Afghan throne. During his reign

(1880-1901), the British and Russians officially

established the boundaries of what would become modern

Afghanistan. The British retained effective control over

Kabul's foreign affairs.

Afghanistan remained neutral during World War I, despite

German encouragement of anti-British feelings and Afghan

rebellion along the borders of British India. The Afghan

king's policy of neutrality was not universally popular

within the country, however.

Habibullah, Abdur Rahman's son and successor, was

assassinated by members of an anti-British movement in

1919. His third son, Amanullah, regained control of

Afghanistan's foreign policy after launching the Third

Anglo-Afghan war with an attack on India in the same

year. During the ensuing conflict, the war-weary British

relinquished their control over Afghan foreign affairs by

signing the Treaty of Rawalpindi in August 1919. In

commemoration of this event, Afghans celebrate August 19

as their Independence Day.

Reform and Reaction

King Amanullah (1919-29) moved to end his country's

traditional isolation in the years following the Third

Anglo-Afghan war. He established diplomatic relations

with most major countries and, following a 1927 tour of

Europe and Turkey--which had seen modernization and

secularization under Attaturk--introduced several reforms

intended to modernize the country. Some of these, such

as the abolition of the traditional Muslim veil for women

and the opening of a number of coeducational schools,

quickly alienated many tribal and religious leaders. The

weakness of the army under Amanullah further jeopardized

his position. He was forced to abdicate in January 1929

after Kabul fell to forces led by Bacha-i-Saqao, a Tajik

brigand. Prince Nadir Khan, a cousin of Amanullah's, in

turn defeated Bacha-i-Saqao in October of the same year.

With considerable Pashtun tribal support, Khan was

declared King Nadir Shah. Four years later, however, he

was assassinated in a revenge killing by a Kabul student.

Mohammad Zahir Shah, Nadir Khan's 19-year-old son,

succeeded to the throne and reigned from 1933 to 1973.

In 1964, King Zahir Shah promulgated a liberal

constitution providing for a two-chamber legislature to

which the king appointed one-third of the deputies. The

people elected another third, and the remainder were

selected indirectly by provincial assemblies. Although

Zahir's "experiment in democracy" produced few lasting

reforms, it permitted the growth of unofficial extremist

parties of both left and right. This included the

communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan

(PDPA), which had close ideological ties to the Soviet

Union. In 1967, the PDPA split into two major rival

factions: the Khalq (Masses) faction headed by Nur

Muhammad Taraki and supported by the military, and the

Parcham (Banner) faction led by Babrak Karmal. The split

reflected deep ethnic, class, and ideological divisions

within Afghan society.

Zahir's cousin, Sardar Mohammad Daoud, served as his

Prime Minister from 1953 to 1963. During his tenure as

Prime Minister, Daoud solicited military and economic

assistance from both Washington and Moscow and introduced

controversial social policies. Daoud's alleged support

for the creation of a Pashtun state in the Pakistan-

Afghan border area heightened tensions with Pakistan and

eventually resulted in Daoud's dismissal in March 1963.

Daoud's Republic (1973-78) and the April 1978 Coup

Amid charges of corruption and malfeasance against the

royal family and poor economic conditions caused by the

severe 1971-72 drought, former Prime Minister Daoud

seized power in a military coup on July 17, 1973. Daoud

abolished the monarchy, abrogated the 1964 constitution,

and declared Afghanistan a republic with himself as its

first President and Prime Minister. His attempts to

carry out badly needed economic and social reforms met

with little success, and the new constitution promulgated

in February 1977 failed to quell chronic political

instability.

Seeking to exploit more effectively mounting popular

disaffection, the PDPA reunified with Moscow's support.

On April 27-28, 1978, the PDPA initiated a bloody coup

which resulted in the overthrow and death of Daoud and

most of his family. Nur Muhammad Taraki, Secretary

General of the PDPA, became President of the

Revolutionary Council and Prime Minister of the newly

established Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

Opposition to the Marxist government emerged almost

immediately. During its first 18 months of rule, the

PDPA brutally imposed a Marxist-style "reform" program

which ran counter to deeply rooted Islamic traditions.

Decrees advocating the abolition of usury, changes in

marriage customs, and land reform were particularly

misunderstood and upsetting to highly conservative

villagers. In addition, thousands of members of the

traditional elite, the religious establishment, and the

intelligentsia were imprisoned, tortured, or murdered.

Conflicts within the PDPA also surfaced early and

resulted in exiles, purges, imprisonments, and

executions.

By the summer of 1978, a major revolt in the Nuristan

region of eastern Afghanistan spread into a country-wide

insurgency. In September 1979, Hafizullah Amin, who had

earlier been the Prime Minister and minister of defense,

seized power from Taraki after a palace shootout. Over

the next two months, instability plagued Amin's regime as

he moved against perceived enemies in the PDPA. By

December, party morale was crumbling, and the insurgency

was growing.

The Soviet Invasion

The Soviet Union moved quickly to take advantage of the

April 1978 coup. In December 1978, Moscow signed a new

bilateral treaty of friendship and cooperation with

Afghanistan, and the Soviet military assistance program

increased significantly. The regime's survival

increasingly was dependent upon Soviet military equipment

and advisers as the insurgency spread and the Afghan army

began to collapse.

By October 1979, however, relations between Afghanistan

and the Soviet Union were tense as Hafizullah Amin

refused to take Soviet advice on how to stabilize and

consolidate his government. Faced with a deteriorating

security situation on December 24, 1979, large numbers of

Soviet airborne forces, joining thousands of Soviet

troops already on the ground, began to land in Kabul

under the pretext of a field exercise. On December 26,

these invasion forces killed Hafizullah Amin and

installed Babrak Karmal, exiled leader of the Parcham

faction, as Prime Minister. Massive Soviet ground forces

invaded from the north on December 27.

Following the invasion, the Karmal regime, although

backed by an expeditionary force of about 120,000 Soviet

troops, was unable to establish authority outside Kabul.

As much as 80% of the countryside, including parts of

Herat and Kandahar, eluded effective government control.

An overwhelming majority of Afghans opposed the communist

regime, either actively or passively. Afghan freedom

fighters (mujahidin) made it almost impossible for the

regime to maintain a system of local government outside

major urban centers. Poorly armed at first, in 1984 the

mujahidin began receiving substantial assistance in the

form of weapons and training from the U.S. and other

outside powers.

In May 1985, the seven principal Peshawar-based guerrilla

organizations formed an alliance to coordinate their

political and military operations against the Soviet

occupation. Late in 1985, the mujahidin were active in

and around Kabul, launching rocket attacks and

assassinating high government officials. The failure of

the Soviet Union to win over a significant number of

Afghan collaborators or to rebuild a viable Afghan army

forced it to bear an increasing responsibility for

fighting the resistance and for civilian administration.

Soviet and popular displeasure with the Karmal regime led

to its demise in May 1986. Karmal was replaced by

Muhammad Najibullah, former chief of the Afghan secret

police (KHAD). Najibullah had established a reputation

for brutal efficiency during his tenure as KHAD chief.

As Prime Minister, though, Najibullah was ineffective and

highly dependent on Soviet support. Undercut by deep-

seated divisions within the PDPA, regime efforts to

broaden its base of support proved futile.

The Geneva Accords and Aftermath

By the mid-1980s, the tenacious Afghan resistance

movement--aided by the United States, Saudi Arabia,

Pakistan, and others--was exacting a high price from the

Soviets, both militarily within Afghanistan and by

souring the U.S.S.R.'s relations with much of the Western

and Islamic world. Although informal negotiations for a

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan had been underway

since 1982, it was not until 1988 that the Governments of

Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the United States and

Soviet Union serving as guarantors, signed an agreement

settling the major differences between them. The

agreement, known as the Geneva accords, included five

major documents, which, among other things, called for

U.S. and Soviet non-interference in the internal affairs

of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the right of refugees to

return to Afghanistan without fear of persecution or

harassment, and, most importantly, a timetable that

ensured full Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan by

February 15, 1989. About 14,500 Soviet and an estimated

one million Afghan lives were lost between 1979 and the

Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

Significantly, the mujahidin were neither party to the

negotiations nor to the 1988 agreement and, consequently,

refused to accept the terms of the accords. As a result,

civil war did not end with the Soviet withdrawal,

completed as scheduled in February 1989. Instead, it

escalated. Najibul-lah's regime, though failing to win

popular support, territory, or international recognition,

was able to remain in power until 1992.