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Afghanistan: Zeus / Serapis / Ohrmazd with Kushan worshipper, Bactria, 3rd Century CE. The Kushan Empire was originally formed in the early 1st century CE under Prince Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the Oxus River in what is now northern Afghanistan, southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.<br/><br/> The Kushan kings were a branch of the Yuezhi confederation (possibly intermarried with local families) and they had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Persia and Han China. The empire declined from the 3rd century and fell to the Sassanid and Gupta empires.
Afghanistan: Kushan worshipper and the deity Pharro, Bactria, 3rd Century CE. The Kushan Empire was originally formed in the early 1st century CE under Prince Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the Oxus River in what is now northern Afghanistan, southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.<br/><br/> The Kushan kings were a branch of the Yuezhi confederation (possibly intermarried with local families) and they had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Persia and Han China. The empire declined from the 3rd century and fell to the Sassanid and Gupta empires.
Mullah Mohammed Omar (born c. 1959), often simply called Mullah Omar, is the spiritual leader of the Taliban movement that operates in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was Afghanistan's de facto head of state from 1996 to late 2001, under the official title of Head of the Supreme Council. He held the title Commander of the Faithful of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which was officially recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He lost an eye during the war against Soviet occupation.<br/><br/> There are at most one or two indistinct photographs of Mullah Omar, who follows a strict Salafist interpretation of the Islamic prohibition on making images of living things, including via photography. In a more mundane sense, this has served him well as a guerrilla commander by protecting his anonymity.<br/><br/> It was reported on 29 July 2015, that Mullah Omar had died in 2013. These reports were confirmed by the National Directorate of Security and the Taliban the following day.
Shah Shujah-ul-Mulk (1785-1842) was the Amir of Afghanistan from 1802 until 1809 when he was driven out by his rival Mahmud Shah. During the First Afghan War (1838-42), the Governor-General of India Lord Auckland, attempted to restore Shah Shujah against the wishes of the Afghan people.<br/><br/> In summer of 1839 the British-Indian Army of the Indus, under the command of Sir John Keane, captured Kandahar and the fortress of Ghazni. They then advanced north towards Kabul. Amir Dost Mohammed fled from the capital and Shah Shujah was duly installed in his place in August 1839.<br/><br/> After his British backers were forced to retreat from Kabul in January 1842, Shah Shujah fled to the Bala Hissar fortress. In April he left this refuge and was killed by the supporters of Dost Mohammad's son, Muhammad Akbar Khan. Dost Mohammed was quietly restored to the throne.
Dost Mohammad Khan (December 23, 1793 - June 9, 1863) was the Emir of Afghanistan between 1826 and 1863. He first ruled from 1826 to 1839 and then from 1843 to 1863. He was the eleventh son of Sardar Pāyendah Khan (chief of the Barakzai tribe) who was killed by Zaman Shah Durrani in 1799.<br/><br/>He was the grandson of Hajji Jamal Khan who founded the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan. Dost Mahommed belonged to the Pashtun ethnic group.
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan.<br/><br/> The war ended in a manner after attaining all the British geopolitical objectives. Most of the British and Indian soldiers withdrew from Afghanistan. The Afghans were permitted to maintain internal sovereignty but they had to cede control of their nation's foreign relations to the British.
Mahmud of Ghazni (November 2, 971 - April 30, 1030) was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty and ruled from 997 until his death in 1030. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni (now in Afghanistan) into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which extended from Afghanistan into most of Iran as well as Pakistan and regions of North-West India.
Ghilzai (Pashto: Ghar-Zai, meaning: 'hill people') are the largest Pashtun tribal confederacy found in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are also known historically as Ghilji, Khilji, Ghalji, Ghilzye, and possibly Gharzai.<br/><br/> These Pashtun people are located mainly in southeastern Afghanistan, between Kandahar and Kabul, and extending eastwards towards the Suleiman Mountains into Pakistan. In Afghanistan they are the second largest Pashtun tribal confederation after the Abdali/Durrani.<br/><br/> Ghilzai are often considered to be the most courageous,fiercely independent, warlike and tough Afghan Pashtun tribe.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors. The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts.<br/><br/> The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco. They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’.<br/><br/> International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
About 30 kms from Kabul, Mes Aynek, is a trove of Buddhist monastery ruins, statues, and stupas attesting to the prolific role that Afghanistan played in the proliferation of Buddhism in Central and East Asia. Currently being excavated as a copper mine, rescue excavations began in 2009. Work was undertaken by the National Institute of Archaeology and the Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan. Part of the monastic compound was excavated, leading to the discovery of a vaulted chapel, monks’ cells and storerooms. Polychrome terracotta statues were also found, including a sleeping Buddha. A monastery complex has also been dug out, revealing hallways and rooms decorated with frescoes and filled with clay and stone statues of standing and reclining Buddhas, some as high as 10 ft (3m); more than 150 statues have been found so far though many remain in place.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors. The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts.<br/><br/> The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco. They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’.<br/><br/> International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Kandahar (Ancient Greek, Alexandria Arachosia) is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 468,200 as of 2006. It is the capital of Kandahar province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m (3,297 feet) above sea level. The Arghandab River runs along the west of the city.<br/><br/> Kandahar is a major trading center for sheep, wool, cotton, silk, felt, food grains, fresh and dried fruit, and tobacco. The region produces fine fruits, especially pomegranates and grapes, and the city has plants for canning, drying, and packing fruit.<br/><br/> Many empires have long fought over the city, due to its strategic location along the trade routes of Southern and Central Asia. In 1709, Mirwais Hotak made the region an independent kingdom and turned Kandahar into the capital of the Hotaki dynasty. In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Empire, made it the capital of modern Afghanistan.<br/><br/> From 1996 to 2001, Kandahar served as the capital of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Since 2002, the city is slowly being rebuilt.
Kamal ud-Din Behzad Herawi (c. 1450 - c. 1535), also known as Kamal al-din Bihzad or Kamaleddin Behzad, was a painter of Persian miniatures and head of the royal ateliers in Herat and Tabriz during the late Timurid and early Safavid periods. An orphan, he was raised by the prominent painter Mirak Naqqash, and was a protege of Mir Ali Shir Nava'i. His major patron in Herat was the Timurid sultan Husayn Bayqarah (ruled 1469 - 1506).
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Afghanistan, India, Bengal: Sher Shah Suri (1486 - May 22, 1545), also known as Sher Khan (The Lion King), was a powerful Afghan (Pashtun) conqueror in medieval Delhi, India. He first served as a private before rising to become a commander in the army of Mughal leader Babur and finally the governor of Bihar. In 1537, when the new Mughal leader Humayun was elsewhere on an expedition, Sher Shah Suri overran Bengal and became the new emperor after establishing the Suri Empire.
By 1921, banditry was dramatically curtailed in Afghanistan by harsh punishments, such as being imprisoned in a suspended cage and left to die of stravation and exposure.
Amanullah Khan (June 1, 1892 – April 25, 1960) was the ruler of Afghanistan from 1919 to 1929, first as Amir and after 1926 as Shah. He led Afghanistan to independence over its foreign affairs from the United Kingdom, and his rule was marked by dramatic political and social change.
Pashtuns, also called Pathans, are an Eastern Iranian ethno-linguistic group with populations primarily in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, which includes Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. The Pashtuns are typically characterized by their usage of the Pashto language and practice of Pashtunwali, a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct. Their true origin is unclear but historians have come across references to a people called Paktha (Pactyans) between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC, who may be the early ancestors of Pashtuns.
Dost Mohammad Khan (December 23, 1793 - June 9, 1863) was the Emir of Afghanistan between 1826 and 1863. He first ruled from 1826 to 1839 and then from 1843 to 1863. He was the eleventh son of Sardar Pāyendah Khan (chief of the Barakzai tribe) who was killed by Zaman Shah Durrani in 1799. He was the grandson of Hajji Jamal Khan who founded the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan. Dost Mahommed belonged to the Pashtun ethnic group.
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun (1508-56) was the second Mughal emperor who ruled present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of northern India from 1530–40 and again from 1555–56. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained a larger one. On the eve of his death in 1556, the Mughal Empire spanned almost one million square kilometers.
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan. The war ended in a manner after attaining all the British geopolitical objectives. Most of the British and Indian soldiers withdrew from Afghanistan. The Afghans were permitted to maintain internal sovereignty but they had to cede control of their nation's foreign relations to the British.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The flag of Afghanistan was adopted by the transitional government of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan in 2002–2004. This flag is similar to the one flown in Afghanistan during the monarchy between 1930 and 1973. The difference is the addition of the shahadah (Islamic Confession of Faith) at the top of the coat of arms (seen in gold/yellow) in the center. The new flag was adopted January 4, 2004. The flag consists of three stripes of the colors black, red, and green. This has been present on most flags of Afghanistan in the last twenty years. The center emblem is the classical emblem of Afghanistan with a mosque with its mihrab facing Mecca.
The word Nautch is an anglicized version of nāc, a word found in Hindi and Urdu and several other languages of North India, derived from the Sanskrit, Nritya, via the Prakrit, Nachcha. A simple and literal translation of Nautch is 'dance' or 'dancing'.<br/><br/> The culture of the performing art of Nautch rose to prominence during the later period of Mughal Empire, and the East India Company Rule. Over a period of time, the Nautch traveled outside the confines of the Imperial courts of the Mughals, the palaces of the Nawabs and the Princely states, and the higher echelons of the officials of the British Raj, to the places of smaller Zamindars, and other places.<br/><br/> Some references use the terms Nautch and Nautch girls to describe Devadasis who used to perform Hindu ritual and religious dances in the Hindu temples of India. However, there is not much commonality between the Devadasis and the Nautch girls. The former performed dances in the precincts of the Hindu temples to please the temple deities, whereas Nautch girls performed for the pleasure of men.
The Barakzai dynasty (‘Sons of Barak’) ruled Afghanistan from 1826 until 1973 when the monarchy rule finally ended under Mohammad Zahir Shah. The Barakzai dynasty was established by Dost Mohammad Khan after the Durrani dynasty of Ahmad Shah Durrani was removed from power. During this era, Afghanistan saw much of its territory lost to the British in the south and east, Persia in the west, and Russia in the north. There were also many conflicts within Afghanistan, including the three major Anglo-Afghan Wars and the 1929 civil war.
Shuja Shah Durrani (also known as Shah Shujah, Shoja Shah, Shujah al-Mulk) (c. November 4, 1785 – April 5, 1842) was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1803 to 1809. He then ruled from 1839 until his death in 1842. Shuja Shah was of the Sadozai line of the Abdali group of Pashtuns. He became the fifth Emir of Afghanistan.
The Amir Yakub Khan, General Daoud Shah, Habeebulah Moustafa, with Major Cavagnari C.S.I. and a Mr Jenkyns. The Treaty of Gandamak officially ended the first phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Afghanistan ceded various frontier areas to Britain to prevent invasion of further areas of the country. It was signed by the emir of Afghanistan, Mohammad Yaqub Khan and Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari representing the British government of India, on 26 May 1879, at a British army camp near the village of Gandamak, about 70 miles east of Kabul, The treaty was ratified by Lord Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, Viceroy of India, on 30 May 1879. Most historical writings consider the Treaty of Gandamak as the prelude to the second phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1879-80.
Lapis lazuli is a relatively rare, semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense blue color. Lapis lazuli has been mined in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan for over 6,000 years, and trade in the stone is ancient enough for lapis jewelry to have been found at Predynastic Egyptian sites and lapis beads at neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and even as far from Afghanistan as Mauritania.
Pashtuns, also called Pathans, are an Eastern Iranian ethno-linguistic group with populations primarily in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, which includes Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. The Pashtuns are typically characterized by their usage of the Pashto language and practice of Pashtunwali, a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct. Their true origin is unclear but historians have come across references to a people called Paktha (Pactyans) between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC, who may be the early ancestors of Pashtuns.
Mohammed Nadir Shah (born Mohammed Nadir; April 9, 1883 - November 8, 1933), was king of the Kingdom of Afghanistan from October 15, 1929 until his assassination in 1933. He and his son Mohammed Zahir Shah, who succeeded him, are sometimes referred to as the Musahiban.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Zaman Shah Durrani (c.1770 - 1844) was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1800. He was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timur Shah Durrani. Zaman Shah became the third King of Afghanistan.
Hamid Karzai (24 December 1957 - ) is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.<br/><br/> During the December 2001 International Conference on Afghanistan in Germany, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as chairman of the Interim administration. He was then chosen for a two-year term as Interim President during the 2002 'loya jirga' (grand assembly) that was held in Kabul.<br/><br/> After the 2004 presidential election, Karzai was declared winner and became President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He controversially won a second five-year term in the disputed 2009 presidential election while admitting the elections were flawed.
The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company.
The word Nautch is an anglicized version of nāc, a word found in Hindi and Urdu and several other languages of North India, derived from the Sanskrit, Nritya, via the Prakrit, Nachcha. A simple and literal translation of Nautch is 'dance' or 'dancing'.<br/><br/> The culture of the performing art of Nautch rose to prominence during the later period of Mughal Empire, and the East India Company Rule. Over a period of time, the Nautch traveled outside the confines of the Imperial courts of the Mughals, the palaces of the Nawabs and the Princely states, and the higher echelons of the officials of the British Raj, to the places of smaller Zamindars, and other places.<br/><br/> Some references use the terms Nautch and Nautch girls to describe Devadasis who used to perform Hindu ritual and religious dances in the Hindu temples of India. However, there is not much commonality between the Devadasis and the Nautch girls. The former performed dances in the precincts of the Hindu temples to please the temple deities, whereas Nautch girls performed for the pleasure of men.
Mohammad Afzal Khan (1811 - October 7, 1867) was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1865 to 1867. The oldest son of Dost Mohammed Khan, Afzal Khan seized power from his brother Sher Ali Khan three years after their father's death. Following Afzal Khan's death the following year, Sher Ali Khan was reinstated as Amir of Afghanistan. He was an ethnic Pashtun and belonged to the Barakzai tribe.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan or Daud Khan (July 18, 1909 – April 27, 1978) was Prime Minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963, later becoming the President of Afghanistan. He overthrew the monarchy of his first cousin Mohammed Zahir Shah and declared himself as the first President of Afghanistan from 1973 until his assassination in 1978 as a result of the Saur Revolution led by the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Daoud Khan was known for his progressive policies, especially in relation to the rights of women, and for initiating two five-year modernization plans.
Hajji Mirwais Khan Hotak (1673–1715) was an influential tribal chief of the Ghilzai Pashtuns from Kandahar, Afghanistan, who founded the Hotaki Dynasty that ruled a wide area in Persia and Afghanistan from 1709 to 1738.
The Durrani Empire, also referred to as the Afghan Empire, was a monarchy centered in Afghanistan and included northeastern Iran, the modern state of Pakistan as well as the Punjab region of India.<br/><br/> It was established at Kandahar in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani, an Afghan military commander under Nader Shah of Persia and chief of the Abdali tribe. After the death of Ahmad Shah in about 1773, the Emirship was passed onto his children followed by grandchildren and its capital was shifted to Kabul. With the support of tribal leaders, Ahmad Shah Durrani extended Afghan control from Meshed to Kashmir and Delhi, from the Amu Darya to the Arabian Sea.<br/><br/> Next to the Ottoman Empire, the Durrani was the greatest Muslim Empire in the second half of the 18th century. The Durrani Empire is considered the foundation of the current state of Afghanistan, with Ahmad Shah Durrani being considered the ‘Father’ of modern Afghanistan.
Ghazni is a city in central Afghanistan, with an approximate population of 141,000 people (2010). It is the capital of Ghazni Province, situated on a plateau at 7,280 feet (2,219 m) above sea level.<br/><br/> Ghazni was founded sometime in antiquity as a small market-town and is mentioned by Ptolemy. According to various legends it was founded by Raja Gaj of the Yadu Dynasty around 1500 BCE. In the 6th century BCE, the city was conquered by the Achaemenid king, Cyrus II, and incorporated into the Persian empire.<br/><br/> Ghazni was a thriving Buddhist center up until the 7th century. In 683 CE, Arab armies brought Islam to the region but many refused to accept the new religion. Yaqub Saffari from Zaranj conquered the city in the late 9th century. It later became the dazzling capital of the Ghaznavid Empire, which encompassed much of northern India, Persia and Central Asia. Between 1215–21, Ghazni was managed by the Khwarezmid Empire, during which time it was destroyed by the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan, led by his son Ögedei Khan.
Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a scholarly literary language that was in use as a lingua franca in the Indian cultural zone.<br/><br/> It is a standardized dialect of Old Indo-Aryan, originating as Vedic Sanskrit and tracing its linguistic ancestry back to Proto-Indo-Iranian and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European.<br/><br/> The corpus of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical and dharma texts. Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the forms of hymns and mantras.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
Shah Mahmud Hotaki (1697-1725) was an Afghan ruler of the Hotaki dynasty who defeated and overthrew the Safavid dynasty to become the king of Persia from 1722 until his death in 1725. He was the eldest son of Mir Wais Hotak, the chief of the Ghilzai-Pashtun tribe of Afghanistan, who had made the Kandahar region independent from Persian rule in 1709.
Amanullah Khan (June 1, 1892 – April 25, 1960) was the ruler of the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1919 to 1929, first as Amir and after 1926 as Shah. He led Afghanistan to independence over its foreign affairs from the United Kingdom, and his rule was marked by dramatic political and social change.
The Scythians were an ancient Iranian people of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who throughout Classical Antiquity dominated the Pontic-Caspian steppe, known at the time as Scythia. By Late Antiquity the closely-related Sarmatians came to dominate the Scythians in the west.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen and foreign ‘Arab–Afghan’ volunteers. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Egypt, China and other nations. The Afghan war became a proxy war in the broader context of the late Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Durrani Empire, also referred to as the Afghan Empire, was a monarchy centered in Afghanistan and included northeastern Iran, the modern state of Pakistan as well as the Punjab region of India.<br/><br/> It was established at Kandahar in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani, an Afghan military commander under Nader Shah of Persia and chief of the Abdali tribe. After the death of Ahmad Shah in about 1773, the Emirship was passed onto his children followed by grandchildren and its capital was shifted to Kabul. With the support of tribal leaders, Ahmad Shah Durrani extended Afghan control from Meshed to Kashmir and Delhi, from the Amu Darya to the Arabian Sea.<br/><br/> Next to the Ottoman Empire, the Durrani was the greatest Muslim Empire in the second half of the 18th century. The Durrani Empire is considered the foundation of the current state of Afghanistan, with Ahmad Shah Durrani being considered the ‘Father’ of modern Afghanistan.
Ghilzai are one of the major Pashtun tribes found in Afghanistan. They are also known historically as Ghiljies, Ghaljis, and possibly Gharzais. These Pashtun people are located mainly in southeastern Afghanistan, between Kandahar and Kabul, and extending eastwards towards the Suleiman Mountains into Pakistan. They are the second Pashtun tribal confederation after the Durrani.
Mahmud of Ghazni (November 2, 971 - April 30, 1030) was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty and ruled from 997 until his death in 1030. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni (now in Afghanistan) into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which extended from Afghanistan into most of Iran as well as Pakistan and regions of North-West India.
Sher Ali Khan (1825–February 21, 1879) was Amir of Afghanistan from 1863 to 1866 and from 1868 until his death in 1879. He was the thirdson of Dost Mohammed Khan, founder of the Barakzai Dynasty in Afghanistan.
The Citadel of Herat (Persian: ارگ هرات‎, Pashto سکندرۍ کلا), also known as the Citadel of Alexander, and locally known as Qala Iktyaruddin (Persian: قلعه اختیارالدین‎), is located in the center of Herat in Afghanistan. It dates back to 330 BCE, when Alexander the Great and his army arrived to what is now Afghanistan after the Battle of Gaugamela. Many empires have used it as a headquarters in the last 2,000 years, and was destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries.<br/><br/>This historic citadel was saved from demolition in the 1950s, and was excavated and restored by UNESCO between 1976 and 1979. From decades of wars and neglect, the citadel began to crumble but in recent years several international organizations decided to completely rebuild it. The National Museum of Herat is also housed inside the citadel, while the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture is the caretaker of the whole premises.
Mohammed Zahir Shah (15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last King of Afghanistan, reigning for four decades, from 1933 until he was ousted by a coup in 1973. Following his return from exile he was given the title 'Father of the Nation' in 2002 which he held until his death. Had he not been deposed in 1973, he would have reigned for a total of 73 years and he would have been one of the longest reigning monarchs of all time.
A Hand-colored engraving from Auguste Wahlen, 'Moeurs, Usages, et Costumes de tous les Peuples de Monde, d'apres des Documents Authentiques et les Voyages les plus Recents' (Manners, Customs and Costumes of all the Peoples of the World taken from Authentic Documents and the Most Recent Travels), Brussels: 1843.
Timur Shah Durrani (1748 – May 18, 1793) was the second ruler of the Durrani Empire from October 16, 1772, until his death in 1793. An ethnic Pashtun, he was the second and eldest son of Ahmad Shah Durrani.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
The Koran’s oldest illuminations were made by the famed illuminator Yari Mudhahhib, who was active under the late Timurids and early Safavids. The text was written in Naskh by the calligrapher Qasim Ali al-Hirawi in 1519. A Persian translation of the Koran’s Arabic text was added in red Nastaliq. The manuscript was once in the Qutb Shahis’ library in Golconda, but fell into the hands of the Great Mughals when Aurangzeb conquered Golconda in 1687.
The Koran’s oldest illuminations were made by the famed illuminator Yari Mudhahhib, who was active under the late Timurids and early Safavids. The text was written in Naskh by the calligrapher Qasim Ali al-Hirawi in 1519. A Persian translation of the Koran’s Arabic text was added in red Nastaliq. The manuscript was once in the Qutb Shahis’ library in Golconda, but fell into the hands of the Great Mughals when Aurangzeb conquered Golconda in 1687.
Miniature from Hafiz-i Abru’s Majma al-tawarikh. “Noah’s Ark” Iran (Afghanistan), Herat; c. 1425. Timur’s son Shah Rukh (1405-1447) ordered the historian Hafiz-i Abru to write a continuation of Rashid al-Din’s famous history of the world, Jami al-tawarikh. Like the Il-Khanids, the Timurids were concerned with legitimizing their right to rule, and Hafiz-i Abru’s “A Collection of Histories” covers a period that included the time of Shah Rukh himself.
Miniature from Hafiz-i Abru’s Majma al-tawarikh. “Noah’s Ark” Iran (Afghanistan), Herat; c. 1425. Timur’s son Shah Rukh (1405-1447) ordered the historian Hafiz-i Abru to write a continuation of Rashid al-Din’s famous history of the world, Jami al-tawarikh. Like the Il-Khanids, the Timurids were concerned with legitimizing their right to rule, and Hafiz-i Abru’s “A Collection of Histories” covers a period that included the time of Shah Rukh himself.
The Ghaznavids (Persian: غزنویان‎) were a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic slave origin which existed from 975 to 1187 and ruled much of Persia, Transoxania, and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.<br/><br/> The Ghaznavid state was centered in Ghazni, a city in modern-day Afghanistan. Due to the political and cultural influence of their predecessors - that of the Persian Samanid Empire - the originally Turkic Ghaznavids had become thoroughly Persianized.<br/><br/> The dynasty was founded by Sebuktigin upon his succession to rule of territories centered around the city of Ghazni from his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, a break-away ex-general of the Samanid sultans. Sebuktigin's son, Shah Mahmud, expanded the empire in the region that stretched from the Oxus river to the Indus Valley and the Indian Ocean; and in the west it reached Rey and Hamadan.
The flag of the Islamic Amirate (Emirate) of Afghanistan, government of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, and also the flag of the Afghan Taliban movement (1994 - continuing) shows the shahadah, or Muslim declaration of faith, in black on a white field. The shahahdah, always written in Arabic, states 'There is no God but God, Muhammad is the Prophet of God'.
Hamid Karzai (24 December 1957 - ) is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.<br/><br/> During the December 2001 International Conference on Afghanistan in Germany, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as chairman of the Interim administration. He was then chosen for a two-year term as Interim President during the 2002 'loya jirga' (grand assembly) that was held in Kabul.<br/><br/> After the 2004 presidential election, Karzai was declared winner and became President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He controversially won a second five-year term in the disputed 2009 presidential election while admitting the elections were flawed.
In 1220 Genghis Khan sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants and levelled all the buildings capable of defense — treatment to which it was again subjected in the 14th century by Timur. Notwithstanding this, however, Marco Polo could still describe it as &quot;a noble city and a great seat of learning. In the 16th century the Uzbeks entered Balkh. The Moghul Shah Jahan fruitlessly fought them there for several years in the 1640s. Balkh was the government seat of Aurangzeb in his youth. In 1736 it was conquered by Nadir Shah. Under the Durani monarchy it fell into the hands of the Afghans; it was conquered by Shah Murad of Kunduz in 1820, and for some time was subject to the Emirate of Bukhara. In 1850, Dost Mohammad Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan, captured Balkh, and from that time it remained under Afghan rule. In 1866, Balkh lost its administrative status to the neighboring city of Mazar-e Sharif.
The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, also known as ‘Oxus civilization’, is the modern archaeological designation for a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia, dated to c. 2200 – 1700 BCE, located in present day Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan, centered on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus), in area covering ancient Bactria.<br/><br/> Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for the area of Bactra (modern Balkh), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Margu, the capital of which was Merv, in today's Turkmenistan.<br/><br/> According to some authorities, Bactria was the homeland of Indo-European tribes who moved south-west into Iran and into North-Western India around 2500–2000 BCE. Later, it became the north province of the Persian Empire in Central Asia. It was in these regions, where the fertile soil of the mountainous country is surrounded by the Turanian desert, that the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) was said to have been born and gained his first adherents.
The Kushan Empire originally formed in the early first century CE under Prince Kujula Kadphises in ancient Bactria on either side of the Oxus River in what is now northern Afghanistan, and southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the first and early second centuries CE, the Kushans expanded rapidly across the northern part of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares) where inscriptions have been found dated to the first few years of the era of the most famous Kushan ruler, Kanishka, which apparently began about 127 CE. The Kushan kings were a branch of the Yuezhi confederation (possibly intermarried with local families) and they had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Persia and Han China. The empire declined from the third century and fell to the Sassanid and Gupta empires.
The Kushan Empire originally formed in the early 1st century CE under Prince Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the Oxus River in what is now northern Afghanistan, southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the 1st and early 2nd centuries CE, the Kushans expanded rapidly across the northern part of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares) where inscriptions have been found dated to the first few years of the era of the most famous Kushan ruler, Kanishka, which reportedly began about 127 CE. The Kushan kings were a branch of the Yuezhi confederation (possibly intermarried with local families) and they had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Persia and Han China. The empire declined from the 3rd century and fell to the Sassanid and Gupta empires.
The Kushan Empire originally formed in the early 1st century CE under Prince Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the Oxus River in what is now northern Afghanistan, southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.<br/><br/> During the 1st and early 2nd centuries CE, the Kushans expanded rapidly across the northern part of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares) where inscriptions have been found dated to the first few years of the era of the most famous Kushan ruler, Kanishka, which reportedly began about 127 CE.<br/><br/> The Kushan kings were a branch of the Yuezhi confederation (possibly intermarried with local families) and they had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Persia and Han China. The empire declined from the 3rd century and fell to the Sassanid and Gupta empires.
A Soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment (Airborne), watches cattle make room while a CH-47 helicopter prepares to land on Landing Zone Shetland during Operation Saray Has July 19 near Forward Operating Base Naray, Afghanistan.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
Hamid Karzai (24 December 1957 - ) is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.<br/><br/> During the December 2001 International Conference on Afghanistan in Germany, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as chairman of the Interim administration. He was then chosen for a two-year term as Interim President during the 2002 'loya jirga' (grand assembly) that was held in Kabul.<br/><br/> After the 2004 presidential election, Karzai was declared winner and became President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He controversially won a second five-year term in the disputed 2009 presidential election while admitting the elections were flawed.
Hamid Karzai (24 December 1957 - ) is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.<br/><br/> During the December 2001 International Conference on Afghanistan in Germany, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as chairman of the Interim administration. He was then chosen for a two-year term as Interim President during the 2002 'loya jirga' (grand assembly) that was held in Kabul.<br/><br/> After the 2004 presidential election, Karzai was declared winner and became President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He controversially won a second five-year term in the disputed 2009 presidential election while admitting the elections were flawed.