War Number One

If you look back to just one hundred years ago - the late 19th century, early 20th century - you'll see that the world was incredibly different from how it is now. First of all, Russia was part of the Soviet Union. By 1914, the only "free" countries in Africa were Liberia and Eritrea. The rest of the huge continent belonged to European countries. Finally, Britain was a world power, claiming territories in every part of the world. They had control in North America, South America, Africa, India, Australia, China, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. Afghanistan was one of these countries.


Africa 1914.

Britain first became involved with Afghanistan when they invaded the country in 1838, sparking the First Afghan War (A). The British viewed controlling Afghanistan's foreign policy as a necessity: Afghanistan's relationship with foreign powers had become increasingly important. Russia had been interested in developing a direct trading link to India, which required friendly relations with Afghanistan. The British, however, did not want strong Russian influence so close to British India (G).



The war ended in 1842. The outcome did not include Afghanistan becoming a colony of Britain like the territories in Africa. Instead, Britain simply took control of Afghanistan's foreign policy, and placed a puppet monarch, Shah Shoja, on the throne. Shah Shoja, however, was not welcomed. The Afghans rebelled, and the British were massacred. Shah Shoja was assassinated by the Afghans, and Dost Mohammad, the previous Afghan leader, returned to power. The war ended in 1842. Dost Mohammad managed to unify Afghanistan before he died in 1863 and was succeeded by his son, Sher Ali (A). However, the peace in Afghanistan wouldn't last for long.

The Violence Never Ends

The British invaded Afghanistan again in December 1878, launching the Second Afghan War. The British emerged victorious, although the revolts against the British did not end. As a result, the British eventually relinquished Afghanistan to Emir Abdur Rahman in 1880, but continued to manage Afghanistan's foreign affairs (A).

The British managed Afghanistan's foreign affairs until 1919. While the British army was engaged in a skirmish over the Durand Line, Amanullah Khan, Abdur Rahman's grandson, launched a surprise attack on them, launching the Third Afghan War (A). This war benefited the Afghans much more than it did the Brits. On August 8, 1919, the Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed, giving Afghanistan control over their own foreign affairs, ending their payment of subsidy, and forbidding Afghanistan to import weapons (E).

Although Amanullah Khan opposed Western control in Afghanistan, he encouraged many Western ideas. He attempted to modernize Afghanistan by abolishing the purdah, or the mandatory face-covering veil for women, opening coed schools, introducing Western dress, and starting a program to educate the nomads (A).

Amanullah's ideas caused the resentment against modernization to grow among conservative families and the mullah, or Muslim clerics. In 1928, the Afghans revolted. They abdicated Amanullah the following year (A).

Nine months of civil war followed the end of Amanullah Khan’s rule, until an assembly of chiefs pronounced Mohammad Nadir Khan shah. Nadir Shah also encouraged modernization, but he executed his reforms at a more slower pace than Amanullah. He based his government on orthodox Islamic law and set up the Loya Jirga, or Great Council. He put an end to Amanullah’s reforms that angered the conservative families, and returned women to the purdah. He was assassinated in 1933, and his son, Zahir Shah, was placed on the throne (A).

The Violence Never Ends, Part Two

World War Two began in 1939 and ended in 1945. Nearly every part of the world was involved, and at the war’s end, more than 60 million people had lost their lives (F). Afghanistan, however, managed to remain nearly untouched by the war, thanks to Zahir Shah. The country prospered under Zahir Shah’s reforms. In 1964, he signed a democratic constitution into law, with a fully elected upper house and partly elected lower house (A). During this time, Mohammad Daud Khan, Zahir Shah’s cousin, was planning to take control of the country.

In 1973, Afghanistan had been weakened by natural disasters. Daud took advantage of this, and seized control in a coup d’état. He ruled as dictator until 1977, when the Loya Jirga adopted a republican constitution, electing Daud as president for a six year term. On April 27, 1978, Daud was killed in a coup, which later became known as the Saur Revolution (D).

The Pleaders of the Communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) then seized control of the country (A).  

The Soviet Invasion

The PDPA was divided into two factions: the Khalq, led by Hafizullah Amin and Nur Mohammad Taraki, and the Parcham, led by Babrak Karmal. They established a Communist government, made quick land and social reforms, and created close ties with the Soviet Union.

The Afghan people, however, hated Communist Afghanistan. Some tribal and urban groups, collectively known as the mujahideen (translates to "those who engage in jihad"), revolted against the government. 


While suffering because of external attacks, the PDPA was also struggling internally. Old ideological and religious conflicts quickly arose between the two factions. This led to Hafizullah executing Nur Muhammad Taraki in September of 1979 (D).

Seeing an opportunity, the Soviets invaded the chaotic country on December 24, 1979. They sent in 30,000 troops and put the Parcham leader Babrak Karmal in power on December 27 (B). With a steady supply of arms and ammunition coming from sympathetic Muslims, and the United States by order of Jimmy Carter, the mujahideen managed to force the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan (C). The Soviet withdrawal was completed on February 15, 1989, and Najibullah replaced Karmal as leader (B).

Najibullah's Communist government lasted for another three years before being overthrown by the mujahideen (A).

The Taliban

In 1994, Mullah Muhammad Omar, with a small band of former mujahideen, took control of the Kandahar province in Afghanistan. By 1998, they were in control of ninety percent of the country. This group became known as the Taliban (A).

The Taliban was extremely religious and was ruthless in imposing their laws. Their rules regarding women were stringent, their punishments were cruel, and the death penalty was used often (A). Let's just say that you wouldn't want to be a religious minority living under the Taliban.

The Taliban became enemies with the United States when they defended al-Qaeda by harboring Osama bin Laden. The United States retaliated by causing the Taliban to disintegrate and lose control of Afghanistan on November 13, 2001 (A).

Although the United States eventually caused the downfall of the Taliban's rule over Afghanistan, they were also a main part of the increase in the Taliban's strength. The United States had supplied the mujahideen with weaponry while Afghanistan was under Soviet influence. The Taliban, created by a small band of former mujahideen, used these weapons to grow in strength.