History of Afghanistan
| History of Afghanistan |
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Excavation of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree, the University of Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian Institute and others suggests that early humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in Afghanistan were among the earliest in the world.[1][2]
Afghanistan's history, internal political development, foreign relations, and very existence as an independent state have largely been determined by its geographic location at the crossroads of Central, West, and South Asia. Over the centuries, waves of migrating peoples passed through the region--described by historian Arnold Toynbee as a "roundabout of the ancient world"--leaving behind a mosaic of ethnic and linguistic groups. In modern times, as well as in antiquity, vast armies of the world passed through this region of Asia, temporarily establishing local control and often dominating ancient Afghanistan.
Invariably, most of Afghanistan's history was spent as part of the larger events that took place upon the Iranian plateau as a whole. The Iranian peoples who arrived in Afghanistan have left their Iranian languages (Pashto, Dari, etc.) as their legacy as well as distinct cultural traits that many authors and historians such as Sir Olaf Caroe, writer of The Pathans, describe as distinctly Iranic: "There is indeed a sense in which all the upland (the Iranian plateau) from the Tigris to the Indus is one country. The spirit of Persia has breathed over it, bringing an awareness of one background, one culture, one way of expression, a unity of spirit felt as far away as Peshawar and Quetta." It is perhaps not surprising that it is the Iranic past and Islamic invasions of the Arabs that have defined modern Afghanistan, while its Greek, Central Asian nomadic, and Buddhist/Hindu/Zoroastrian past have long since vanished.
Although it was the scene of great empires and flourishing trade for over two millennia, the area's heterogeneous groups were not bound into a single political entity until the reign of Ahmed Shah Durrani, who in 1747 founded the monarchy that ruled the country until 1973. In the nineteenth century, Afghanistan lay between the expanding might of the Russian and British empires. In 1900, Abdur Rahman Khan (the "Iron Amir"), looking back on his twenty years of rule and the events of the past century, wondered how his country, which stood "like a goat between these lions (Britain and Tsarist Russia) or a grain of wheat between two strong millstones of the grinding mill, [could] stand in the midway of the stones without being ground to dust?"
Islam played perhaps the key role in the formation of Afghanistan's society. Despite the Mongol invasion of what is today Afghanistan in the early thirteenth century which has been described as resembling "more some brute cataclysm of the blind forces of nature than a phenomenon of human history," even a warrior as formidable as Genghis Khan did not uproot Islamic civilization, and within two generations his heirs had become Muslims. An often unacknowledged event that nevertheless played an important role in Afghanistan's history (and in the politics of Afghanistan's neighbors and the entire region up to the present) was the rise in the tenth century of a strong Sunni dynasty - the Ghaznavids. Their power prevented the eastward spread of Shiism from Iran, thereby insuring that the majority of the Muslims in Afghanistan and South Asia remain Sunnis. Later, native Afghan empire builders such as the Ghorids would continue to make Afghanistan a major medieval power as well as a center of learning that produced Ferdowsi, Al-Biruni, and Khushal Khan Khattak among countless other academics and literary iconic figures.
Pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan (before 651)
Main article: Pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan
Afghanistan's known pre-Islamic past began with Aryan invasions around 2000 BC and continued with Persian, Median, Greek, Mauryan, Bactrian, and other phases in its history.
Following the defeat of the Persian Achaemenids in 329 BC, Alexander the Great entered the territory of modern Afghanistan to capture Bactria (present-day Balkh). Invasions by the Scythians, White Huns, and Göktürks followed in succeeding centuries.
During the Kushan rule, Afghanistan became the center of culture and learning. The Sassanians and other Persian powers ruled most of Afghanistan before the coming of Muslim invaders, while the Shahis ruled eastern Afghanistan from the mid-7th century until Turkic invasions in the 10th century CE.
Islamic conquest of Afghanistan (642-1747)
Main article: Islamic conquest of Afghanistan
In 642 CE, Arabs invaded the entire region and introduced Islam. Afghanistan, like all others conquered by the Arabs, had local rulers including the empire of Tang China, which had extended its influence all the way to Kabul. The Khorasani Persian-Arabs controlled the area until they were conquered by the Ghaznavid Empire in 998. Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030) consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and turned Ghazna (Ghazni) into a great cultural center as well as a base for frequent forays into India. The Ghaznavid dynasty was defeated in 1146 by the Ghurids (Ghor), the Ghaznavid Khans continued to live in Ghazni as the 'Nasher' until the early 20th century, but they did not regain their once vast power until about 500 years later when the Ghilzai Pashtuns's defeated the Safavid Persians in Kandahar. Various princes and Seljuk rulers attempted to rule parts of the country until the Shah Muhammad II of the Khwarezmid Empire conquered all of Persia in 1205. By 1219 the empire had fallen to the Mongols.
Led by Genghis Khan, the invasion resulted in massive slaughter of the population, 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 chiefs and princes struggled for supremacy until late in the 14th century, when one of his descendants, Timur Lang, incorporated what is today Afghanistan into his own vast Asian empire. Babur, a descendant of Timur and the founder of Moghul Empire at the beginning of the 16th century, made Kabul the capital.
Afghanistan was divided in many parts in the 16th, 17th and early 18th century. North were the Uzbeks, west was Safavid's rule and east was the Mughal's and local Pashtun rule. In 1709, the Pashtuns (Afghans) decided to rise against the Persian Safavids. The Persians were defeated very badly and the Afghans held Isfahan (Iran) from 1719-1729. Nadir Shah of Persia pushed back the Afghans in the 1729 Battle of Damghan. In 1738, Nadir Shah conquered Kandahar, in the same year he occupied Ghazni, Kabul and Lahore. After his death in 1747, the Durrani Pashtuns became the principal Afghan rulers.
Hotaki Dynasty (1709-1736)
Main article: Hotaki
Mirwais Khan Hotak (1709 - 1715)
A picture of life in the old city of Kandahar under the Timurids, the Safavids and the Moghuls has begun to emerge since the British Institute began its excavations in 1974. Bronze ewers, imported glazed ceramics and ornate glass from Persia and imported porcelains from China speak of widespread trade. Locally made glazed wares in the Persian style speak of a cultural orientation toward the west.
On the whole the indigenous Pashtun tribes living in the Kandahar area were more attached to the Persians and, indeed, on those occasions when the Moghuls received the city by means other than conquest, it was disaffected Persian governors who instigated the transfer, not the tribes. The tribes were not above pitting foreigner against foreigner in order to further their attempts to better one another. However, siding sometimes with the Persians, sometimes with the Moghuls, but never with each other, they perpetuated tribal disunity and prolonged foreign domination.
The principal contenders in these tribal disputes came from the two most important Pashtun groups in the Kandahar area, the Ghilzai and the Abdali (later Durrani), between whom there was long-standing enmity. As a matter of fact, because of these quarrels, many of the turbulent Abdali had been forcibly transferred to Herat by the irritated Persians by the end of the 16th century. This left the Ghilzai paramount in Kandahar, but the dispute more hotly contested, the hatred more deeply entrenched, and revenge more fervently sought.
The Persians were adept at manipulating such machinations and their rule at Kandahar was tolerant until the court at Isfahan began to sink in decadence. Mirroring this, the Persian governors of Kandahar became more and more rapacious and, in response, the tribes became more and more restless. Mounting tribal disturbances finally caught the concern of the court and they sent Gurgin Khan, a Georgian known for his uncompromising severity toward revolt, to Kandahar in 1704. Kandahar's mayor at this time was Mirwais Khan Hotak, the astute and influential leader of the Ghilzai.
Gurgin, advocate of law by force, burnt, plundered, murdered and imprisoned, but the tribes would not be subdued; revolts were crushed only to break out anew and Mirwais, credited with master-minding the rebellions, was sent to Isfahan tagged as a highly dangerous prisoner. Imagine Gurgin's surprise and dismay when Mirwais returned to Kandahar shortly thereafter clothed in lustrous robes of honor, symbols of respect and trust. The Shah of Persia thus declared the influence of Mirwais, not Gurgin, at the Persian court. Mirwais had extricated himself from a very nasty situation but, more importantly, he had observed the depths of decay at Isfahan, much as Babur had observed it at Herat, and correctly determined that the Safavid Empire was on the brink of collapse.
Mirwais formulated plans for disposing of the hated Gurgin; only the difficult task of waiting for the right moment remained.
The moment came in April, 1709. Because details of the assassination are varied, this discussion recounts the version popular among Kandarians today who say that Mirwais invited Gurgin to a picnic at his country estate at Kohkran on the outskirts of Kandahar city. Here the guests were fed all manner of rich dishes and plied with strong wines until "everyone was plunged in debauch." This was the moment. Mirwais struck, killing Gurgin, and his followers killed the Georgian's escort. The rebels then marched to take possession of the citadel.
Isfahan was astounded and sent emissaries to complain. The emissaries were imprisoned. Isfahan sent armies to take the city. The armies were defeated. The Persian court then sat in stunned idleness while Mirwais extended his authority throughout the Kandahar region.
If they were to remain free the tribes must be united and to this formidable task the venerable statesman devoted the rest of his life. But not many years were left for Mirwais. He died in 1715. An imposing blue domed mausoleum at Kohkaran Bagh, next to the orchard where Gurgin was assassinated, is a fitting monument to Afghanistan's first great nationalist.
The qualities which enabled Mirwais to lead the tribes toward a meaningful unity were not, unfortunately, inherited by his ambitious 18 year old son, Mahmood, whose visions only encompassed conquest and power. Killing his uncle, elected successor to Mirwais, Mahmood gathered his followers and marched across Persia and seized the Safavid throne (1722). Mahmood met an early death in 1725 and was succeeded by his cousin, Ashraf, who ruled until 1730 when a new soldier-of-fortune, the Turkman Nadir Quli Beg, ended Ghilzai rule.[3]
Durrani Empire (1747-1818)
Main article: Durrani Empire
Ahmed Shah Durrani, the founder of the Durrani Empire, established his rule in 1747 at Kandahar. Ahmad Shah, a Pashtun from the Abdali clan, was elected King in a loya jirga after the assassination of Nadir Shah in the same year. Throughout his reign, Ahmad Shah consolidated chieftains, petty principalities, and fragmented provinces into one country. His rule extended from Mashad 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. With the exception of a 9-month period in 1929, 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 Mohammedzai clan after 1818.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
European influence in Afghanistan (1826-1919)
Main article: European influence in Afghanistan
Dost Mohammed Khan gained control in Kabul. Collision between the expanding British and Russian Empires significantly influenced Afghanistan during the 19th century in what was termed "The Great Game." British concern over Russian advances in Central Asia and growing influence in Persia culminated in two Anglo-Afghan wars and "The Siege of Herat" 1837-1838, in which Persians trying to retake Afghanistan and throw out the British and Russians sent armies into the country waging wars with the British mostly around and in the city of Herat. The first (1839-1842) resulted in the destruction of a British army; it's remembered as an example of the ferocity of Afghan resistance to foreign rule. The second Anglo-Afghan war (1878-1880) 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 in 1919, possibly by family members opposed to British influence. 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.
Reforms of Amanullah Khan and civil war (1919-1929)
Main article: Reforms of Amanullah Khan and civil war
King Amanullah (1919-1929) 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--during which he noted the modernization and secularization advanced by Atatürk--introduced several reforms intended to modernize Afghanistan. A key force behind these reforms were Mahmud Tarzi who was his Foreign Minister. He was also Amanullah Khans father-in-law who has a legacy of being an ardent supporter of the education of women. He fought for Article 68 of the first constitution (declared through a Loya Jirga) of Afghanistan made elementary education compulsory. [11] Some of the reforms that were actually put in place, such as the abolition of the traditional Muslim veil for women and the opening of a number of co-educational schools, quickly alienated many tribal and religious leaders. Faced with overwhelming armed opposition, Amanullah was forced to abdicate in January 1929 after Kabul fell to forces led by Habibullah Kalakani.
Reigns of Nadir Shah and Zahir Shah (1929-1973)
Main article: Reigns of Nadir Shah and Zahir Shah
Prince Mohammed Nadir Khan, a cousin of Amanullah's, in turn defeated and killed Habibullah Kalakani in October of the same year, and with considerable Pashtun tribal support he was declared King Nadir Shah. He began consolidating power and regenerating the country. He reversed the reforms of Amanullah Khan in favour of a more gradual approach to modernisation. In 1933, 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. Until 1946 Zahir Shah ruled with the assistance of his uncle Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan, who held the post of Prime Minister and continued the policies of Nadir Shah. In 1946 another of Zahir Shah's uncles, Sardar Shah Mahmud Khan, became Prime Minister. He began an experiment allowing greater political freedom, but reversed the policy when it went further than he expected. In 1953 he was replaced as Prime Minister by Mohammed Daoud Khan, the king's cousin and brother-in-law. Daoud sought a closer relationship with the Soviet Union and a more hostile one towards Pakistan. However dispute with Pakistan led to an economic crisis and he was asked to resign in 1963. From 1963 until 1973 Zahir Shah took a more active role.
In 1964, King Zahir Shah promulgated a liberal constitution providing for a bicameral 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 on both the left and the right. These 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 Hafizullah Amin and supported by elements within the military, and the Parcham (Banner) faction led by Babrak Karmal. The split reflected ethnic, class, and ideological divisions within Afghan society. However, most of the following presidents and heads of state were Ghilzai (Taraki, Amin, Najib, Mullah Omar), once again trying to take away the power from the Durrani.
Daoud's Republic of Afghanistan (1973-1978)
Main article: Daoud's Republic of Afghanistan
Amid charges of corruption and malfeasance against the royal family and poor economic conditions created by the severe 1971-72 drought, former Prime Minister Mohammad Sardar Daoud Khan seized power in a military coup on July 17, 1973. Zahir Shah fled the country eventually finding refuge in Italy. 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.
As disillusionment set in, on April 27, 1978, the PDPA initiated a bloody coup, which resulted in the overthrow and murder 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, strongly supported by the USSR.
Soviet intervention (1978-1992)
 | The neutrality of this section is disputed. |
The PDPA, as a Communist Party, implemented a socialist agenda which included decrees abolishing usury, banning forced marriages, state recognition of women’s rights to vote, replacing religious and traditional laws with secular and Marxist ones, banning tribal courts, and land reform. Men were obliged to cut their beards, women couldn't wear a burqa, and mosque visiting was forbidden. The PDPA invited the Soviet Union to assist in modernizing its economic infrastructure (predominantly its exploration and mining of rare minerals and natural gas). The USSR also sent contractors to build roads, hospitals, schools and mine for water wells; they also trained and equipped the Afghan army. Upon the PDPA's ascension to power, and the establishment of the DRA, the Soviet Union promised monetary aid in the amount of at least $1.262 billion.
These reforms and the PDPA's monopoly on power were met with a large backlash, partly led by members of the traditional establishment. Many groups were formed in an attempt to reverse the dependence on the Soviet Union, some resorting to violent means and sabotage of the country's industry and infrastructure. The government responded with a heavy handed military intervention and arrested, exiled and executed many mujahedin "holy Muslim warriors".
In 1979 the Afghan army was overwhelmed with the number of incidents, and the Soviet Union sent troops to crush the uprising, install a pro-Moscow government, and support the new government. On December 25, 1979 the Soviet army entered Kabul. This was the starting point of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which ended only in 1989 with a full withdrawal of Soviet troops under the Geneva accords reached in 1988 between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
For over nine years the Soviet Army conducted military operations against the Afghan mujahedin rebels. The American CIA, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia assisted in the financing of the resistance because of their anti-communist stance, and, in the case of Saudi Arabia, because of their Islamist inclinations.
Osama bin Laden was a prominent mujahideen organizer and financier; unsubstantiated claims have been made that his Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK) (Office of Order) funneled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the American, Pakistani, and Saudi governments, a claim which is vehemently denied by both governments stating they were only funding the local Afghan resistance fighters. In 1988, bin Laden broke away from the MAK with some of its more militant members to form Al-Qaida, in order to expand the anti-Soviet resistance effort into a worldwide Islamic fundamentalist movement.
The Soviet Union withdrew its troops in February 1989, but continued to aid the government, led by Mohammed Najibullah. Massive amounts of aid from the CIA and Saudi Arabia to the mujahadin also continued. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Najibullah government was overthrown on April 18, 1992 when Abdul Rashid Dostum mutinied, and allied himself with Ahmed Shah Massoud, to take control of Kabul and declare the Islamic State of Afghanistan.
History of Afghanistan (1992 to present)
Main article: History of Afghanistan since 1992
When the victorious mujahidin entered Kabul to assume control over the city and the central government, internecine fighting began between the various militias, which had coexisted only uneasily during the Soviet occupation. With the demise of their common enemy, the militias' ethnic, clan, religious, and personality differences surfaced, and the civil war continued.
An interim Islamic Jihad Council was put in place, first led by Sibghatullah Mojadeddi for two months, then by Burhanuddin Rabbani. Fighting among rival factions intensified.
In reaction to the anarchy and warlordism prevalent in the country, and the lack of Pashtun representation in the Kabul government, the Taliban, a movement of religious scholars and former mujahideen, emerged from the southern province of Kandahar. The Taliban took control of approximately 95% of the country by the end of 2000, limiting the opposition mostly to a small corner in the northeast. The opposition formed the Afghan Northern Alliance, which continued to receive diplomatic recognition in the United Nations as the government of Afghanistan.
In response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States and its coalition allies launched an invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban government. Sponsored by the UN, Afghan factions met in Bonn, Germany and chose a 30 member interim authority led by Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun from Kandahar. After governing for 6 months, former King Zahir Shah convened a Loya Jirga, which elected Karzai as president and gave him authority to govern for two more years. Then, on October 9, 2004, Karzai was elected as president of Afghanistan in the country's first ever direct presidential election.
See also
- Afghanistan
- Hotaki
- Durrani Empire
- Third Anglo-Afghan War
- Second Anglo-Afghan War
- First Anglo-Afghan War
- Timeline of Afghan history
- History of present-day nations and states
- http://www.ruswar.com One chapter of Afghanistan war 1979-1989
References and footnotes
- ^ Nancy Hatch Dupree - An Historical Guide To Afghanistan - Sites in Perspective (Chapter 3)...Link
- ^ John Ford Shroder, B.S., M.S., Ph.D. Regents Professor of Geography and Geology, University of Nebraska. Editor, Himalaya to the Sea: Geology, Geomorphology, and the Quaternary and other books. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 - Afghanistan...Link
- ^ Afghanland - History - Mirwais Khan Hotak...Link
- ^ CIA World Factbook - Afghanistan...Link
- ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica - Ahmad Shah Durrani...Link
- ^ Nancy Hatch Dupree - An Historical Guide To Afghanistan - The South (Chapter 16)...Link
- ^ Columbia Encyclopedia - Afghanistan: History...Link
- ^ History Of Nations - History of Afghanistan...Link
- ^ Afghanistan Online - Biography (Ahmad Shah Abdali)...Link
- ^ Britannica Student Encyclopedia - Government and History (from Afghanistan)...Link
- ^ "Education in Afghanistan," published in Encylopeadia Iranica, volume VIII - pp. 237-241...Link
- Anthony Arnold, Afghanistan's Two-Party Communism
- Henry S. Bradsher, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union
- David B. Edwards, Before Taliban: Genealogies of the Afghan Jihad
- Louis Dupree, Afghanistan
- Arnold Charles Fletcher, Afghanistan: Highway of Conquest
- Vartan Gregorian, The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics of Reform and Modernization, 1840-1946
- Kawun Kakar Hasan, Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amin 'Abdal-Rahman Khan
- W. Kerr Fraser-Tytler, Afghanistan: A Study of Political Developments in Central and Southern Asia
- Raiz Muhammad Khan, Untying the Afghan Knot: Negotiating the Soviet Withdrawal
- Richard S. Newell, The Politics of Afghanistan
- Leon B. Poullada, Reform and Rebellion in Afghanistan, 1919-1929
- Olivier Roy, Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan
- Barnett Rubin, The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System
- Bernard, P. 1994. “The Greek Kingdoms of Central Asia.” In: History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Harmatta, János, ed., 1994. Paris: UNESCO Publishing., pp. 99-129.
- Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition.[1]
- Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [2]
- Rashid, Ahmed, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. Yale University Press, 2001, 294 pages. ISBN 0-300-08902-3
- Sarianidi, Viktor I. 1971. “The Lapis Lazuli Route in the Ancient East.” V. I. Sarianidi. Archaeology Magazine, January 1971, pp. 12-15.
- Sarianidi, Viktor I. 1985. The Golden Hoard of Bactria: From the Tillya-tepe Excavations in Northern Afghanistan. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York.
- Sarianidi, Viktor. 1989. “Early Kushan Jeweller's Art.” International Association for the Study of the Cultures of Central Asia Information Bulletin, Issue 15. Moscow, Nauka Publishers, pp. 124-134.
- Sarianidi, Viktor 1990-1992 “Tilya Tepe: The Burial of a Noble Warrior.” PERSICA XIV, 1990-1992, pp. 103-130.
- Vogelsang, Willem. 2002. The Afghans. Blackwell Publishers. Oxford. ISBN 0-631-19841-5
- Watson, Burton. Trans. 1961. Records of the Grand Historian of China: Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Chap. 123. The Account of Ta-yüan. Columbia University Press.
- Wood, John. 1872. A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. New Edition, edited by his son, with an essay on the "Geography of the Valley of the Oxus" by Henry Yule. John Murray, London.
External links
- Nancy Hatch Dupree - An Historical Guide To Afghanistan
- History of Afghanistan - By John Ford Shroder, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
- Afghanistan Online - History of Afghanistan
- Encarta Encyclopedia - Afghanistan
- History of Afghanistan - From Pre-history till today
- BBC: Country profile: Afghanistan
- U.S. Department of State Background Note on Afghanistan
- Library of Congress - Country Study of Afghanistan
- List of rulers for Afghanistan
- HISTORY: For Ages, Afghanistan Is Not Easily Conquered, New York Times, 9/18/2001
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