A rchive Date
[ 21-02-2005 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Afghanistan ]
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[Afghanistan's tumultuous history
Despite its inhospitable terrain of mountains and deserts, Afghanistan's strategic location in the heart of central Asia has guaranteed a steady stream of invaders. During the 19th century, the British and the Russians vied for control of Himalayan mountain passes leading to India. It was during this period that Britain learned - at considerable cost - the Afghans' reputation as fierce and hardy warriors. One hundred years later, the Soviet Union would learn the same bloody lesson before retreating in defeat.
The geographical area of present-day Afghanistan appears in Western accounts in 328 B.C. following the conquests of Alexander the Great, who seized the land from the Persian Empire. During succeeding centuries the area was occupied by the Scythians, White Huns and Turks. Arab invaders introduced Islam to the area in 642 A.D. Eventually it settled into a collection of independent communities.
Towards the middle of the 19th Century, Imperial Britain and Czarist Russia maneuvered for power among the kingdoms and caliphates of Central Asia. Their actions - a combination of exploration, alliances, and military moves and feints - became known to British players as "The Great Game."
Hoping to thwart Russian incursions into Central Asia - and protect the "jewel of the crown" - India - Britain moved into Kabul in 1839. Two years later a British envoy was killed by a mob and the British garrison retreated toward what is now Pakistan after it was assured of its safety. But ambushes and massacres by Afghan warlords obliterated the garrison of 4,500 soldiers and 12,000 civilians, leaving only one survivor. Britain retaliated and warfare raged until 1842. After a second Anglo-Afghan war, from 1878 to 1880, London put its own candidate, Amir Abdur Rahman, on the Afghan throne. During this time, the British and Russians officially established the boundaries of what would become modern Afghanistan.
King Abdur Rahman remained neutral during World War I, angering many of his subjects who wanted him to join the Axis coalition. After the assassination in 1919 of Habibullah, Rahman's son and successor, a third son, Amanullah, launched the Third Anglo-Afghan war. Britain, exhausted from World War I, relinquished its control over Afghan foreign affairs by signing the Treaty of Rawalpindi in August 1919.
King Amanullah (1919-29) introduced several reforms such as the abolition of the traditional Muslim veil for women and the opening of a number of coeducational schools. The move alienated many tribal and religious leaders, and Amanullah abdicated in January 1929 after Kabul was captured by a rival from the Tajik ethnic group. The throne passed through several hands before Zaher Shah assumed it in 1933. He served as king for the next four decades.
King Zaher Shah and his prime minister, Shah Mahmud, promoted elections and a free press, and increased Afghanistan's involvement in foreign relations. However, Lt. Gen. Mohammad Daud Khan seized power in 1953. Daud Khan turned to the Soviet Union for economic and military assistance, while hewing to a position of neutrality during the Cold War. During his 1953-63 tenure, Daud Khan also introduced several far-reaching educational and social reforms, such as the voluntary removal of the veil from women and the abolition of purdah - the practice of secluding women from public view. Disagreements over the Afghani-Pakistan border in 1961 lead to Daud's resignation in 1963.
The National Assembly approved a new constitution in 1964 providing for a two-chamber legislature to which the people, King Zaher Shah and provincial assemblies each appointed one-third of the deputies. The elections of 1965 and 1969 yielded strong showings from both Islamic fundamentalists and the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. But Zaher Shah refused to enforce the constitution, and political instability grew.
On July 17, 1973, former Prime Minister Daud Khan seized power with the help of leftist military officers. Daud Khan introduced socio-economic reforms, but poverty compounded by widespread government repression provided seeds for a growing leftist coalition. A coup in April 1978 led to the death of Daud Khan and the rise of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Nur Muhammad Taraki, secretary general of the party, became prime minister.
After signing a bilateral treaty with Moscow in December 1978, Soviet money and military assistance poured into Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the People's Democratic Party introduced decrees on land reform, the abolition of usury and changes in marriage customs. The new laws alienated the Kabul-based government from the Islamic traditions of the countryside. To combat insurgency, the People's Democratic Party imprisoned members of the religious establishment as well as the Kabul intelligentsia. The crisis triggered armed revolt in the countryside, where ethnic leaders and conservative Islamic mullahs led protests. As dissatisfaction with the government grew, the People's Democratic Party found itself increasingly reliant on Soviet aid.
Although backed by 120,000 Soviet troops, the Karmal regime failed to establish authority outside Kabul. The presence of non-Islamic troops in Afghanistan galvanized resistance as men from throughout the Muslim world flocked to battle Moscow's forces. The resistance fighters, known as the Mujahedeen, received substantial support in the form of weapons and training from the United States, along with Britain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Unceasing Afghan resistance brought the Soviet Union to the bargaining table. The Geneva Accords, signed in 1988, created a timetable guaranteeing full Soviet withdrawal by Feb. 15, 1989. About 14,500 Soviets and an estimated 1 million Afghans lost their lives between 1979 and the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. Because the mujahedeen were not involved in negotiations, the pullout left a power vacuum in Afghanistan.
The united front against Moscow collapsed after the Soviet pullout and fighting erupted between the various Mujahedeen factions, allowing for the eventual rise to power of the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement, which took control of Kabul in 1996. The hard-line regime controlled as much as 90 percent of Afghanistan until the United States unleashed a military assault on Oct. 7, targeting alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was protected by the Taliban.
By December, the Taliban was on the run, having lost control of all of Afghanistan's major cities after U.S. airstrikes allowed the main opposition force, the Northern Alliance, as well as other tribal groups to seize control of the country.
Under a U.N.-backed agreement, an interim administration under the leadership of Hamid Karzai will run Afghanistan for a 6-month period that began on Dec. 22. Within that period, a grand council or loya jirga will be opened by former king Mohammad Zaher Shah to agree on an interim authority to rule the country for a further two years after which an election will be held to establish a "fully representative government."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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