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Afghanistan
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Afghānistān (officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan); Persian (Darī): ‫جمهوری ا س المی‬
‫اف غان س تان‬, Pashto: ‫ )د اف غان س تان ا س المي جمهوری ت‬is a landlocked country at the crossroads of
Asia and the Middle East. Generally considered a part of Central Asia, it is sometimes ascribed
to a regional bloc in either South Asia or the Middle East as it has cultural, ethno-linguistic, and
geographic links with most of its neighbours. It is largely bordered by Pakistan in the south and
east,[1] Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and the People's
Republic of China to the far east. The name Afghanistan means "land of the Afghans".
Afghanistan is a mosaic of ethnic groups and cultures, and a crossroads between east and west.
An ancient land that has often been plundered, and also a focal point of trade, the region of
present-day Afghanistan has seen many invading forces come and go, including Indo-Iranians,
Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and the Mongols. Afghanistan was created in 1747 as a large empire, its
modern-day shape was recognized by the world community as a fully independent State in 1919,
when foreign intervention ceased following the Anglo-Afghan wars. Since 1979, the country has
suffered almost continous conflict, beggining with the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan followed
by Afghan Civil War and finally by the 2001 war in Afghanistan, in which the United States
toppled the ruling Taliban government. In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council
authorized the creation of an International Security Assistance Force. This force, composed of
mainly US and NATO troops has protected and assisted the government of Hamid Karzai from
an ongoing insurgency based in the southern and eastern provinces of the country.
History
During the 19th century, following the Anglo-Afghan wars (fought 1839-1842, 1878-1880, and
lastly in 1919) and the ascension of the Barakzai Pashtun dynasty, Afghanistan saw much of its
territory and autonomy ceded to the United Kingdom. The UK exercised a great deal of
influence, and it was not until King Amanullah Khan acceded to the throne in 1919 that
Afghanistan regained complete independence. During the period of British intervention in
Afghanistan, ethnic Pashtun territories were divided by the Durand Line, and this would lead to
strained relations between Afghanistan and British India, and later the new state of Pakistan, over
what came to be known as the Pashtunistan debate.
The longest period of stability in Afghanistan was between 1933 and 1973, when the country
was under the rule of King Zahir Shah. However, in 1973, Zahir's brother-in-law, Sardar
Mohammed Daoud launched a bloodless coup. Daoud and his entire family were murdered in
1978 when the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan launched a coup known as
the Great Saur Revolution and took over the government.
Opposition against, and conflict within, the series of communist governments that followed, was
considerable. As part of a Cold War strategy, in 1979 the United States government under
President Jimmy Carter and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski began to covertly
fund and train anti-government Mujahideen forces through the Pakistani secret service agency
known as Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), which were derived from discontented Muslims in the
country who opposed the official atheism of the Marxist regime, in 1978. In order to bolster the
local Communist forces the Soviet Union—citing the 1978 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation
and Good Neighborliness that had been signed between the two countries —intervened on
December 24, 1979. The Soviet occupation resulted in a mass exodus of over 5 million Afghans
who moved into refugee camps in neighboring Pakistan and Iran. More than 3 million settled in
Pakistan alone. Faced with mounting international pressure and the loss of approximately 15,000
Soviet soldiers as a result of Mujahideen opposition forces trained by the United States, Pakistan,
and other foreign governments, the Soviets withdrew ten years later, in 1989. For more details,
see Soviet war in Afghanistan.
The Soviet withdrawal from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was seen as an ideological
victory in the U.S., which had backed the Mujahideen through three US presidential
administrations in order to counter Soviet influence in the vicinity of the oil-rich Persian Gulf.
Following the removal of the Soviet forces in 1989, the U.S. and its allies lost interest in
Afghanistan and did little to help rebuild the war-ravaged country or influence events there. The
USSR continued to support President Najibullah (formerly the head of the secret service, Khad)
until his downfall in 1992. However, the absence of the Soviet forces resulted in the downfall of
the pro-communist government as it steadily lost ground to the guerrilla forces.[3]
The result of the fighting was that the vast majority of the elites and intellectuals had escaped to
take refuge abroad, a dangerous leadership vacuum came into existence. Fighting continued
among the various Mujahideen factions, eventually giving rise to a state of warlordism. The most
serious fighting during this growing civil conflict occurred in 1994, when 10,000 people were
killed in Kabul. The chaos and corruption that dominated post-Soviet Afghanistan in turn
spawned the rise of the Taliban, who were mostly Pashtuns from Kandahar.
Taliban developed as a politico-religious force, and eventually seized Kabul in 1996. The
Taliban were able to capture 90% of the country, aside from the Afghan Northern Alliance
strongholds primarily found in the northeast Badakhshan Province. The Taliban sought to
impose a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law and gave safe haven to individuals and
organizations that were later implicated as terrorists, most notably Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda
network.
During Taliban rule, the population faced massive freedom restrictions and human rights
violations. Women were banned from jobs, girls forbidden to attend schools or universities.
Those who resisted were punished. Communists were systematically eradicated and the strict
Islamic Sharia law was imposed.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States launched Operation Enduring
Freedom, a military campaign to destroy the Al-Qaeda terrorist network operating in
Afghanistan and overthrow their host (the Taliban). The US made common cause with the
Afghan Northern Alliance to achieve its ends.