A Brief History of Afghanistan

The first in populating the Afghan territory were the nomadic tribes, settling down in the mountains in 1500 BC, which later belonged to the Persian Empire and lasted until the arrival of Alexander Magno. Later It was conquered by the Bactrians and the Kushans, who were Buddhist. Halfway through the VII century, Islam penetrated the country through the Turks and dominated the territory until the arrival of the Mongols from Gengis Khan who dominated a great part of which today is Afghanistan. The rest of the territory was taken by the Persian Sofawíes in the XVIII century.

The origin of the nation of Afghanistan was created by Ahmad Shah Durrani, who obtained the union of all the tribes in 1747, fighting Persia and India, establishing a monarchy that lasted until 1973. During the XIX century, the Persians attacked the country with the aid of Russia, in an attempt to expand itself towards the Indian Ocean. Great Britain sent troops and restored the situation of the country and named governors who sympathized with the cause.

In spite of everything, the Afghan tribes never accepted the English, thus harassing the invaders. After several confrontations, in 1921, the Afghans recovered the sovereignty of the nation. In 1973, after a military coup headed by Muhammad Daoud Kan, the monarchy retired and the republic settled down.

In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded the country to support the communist government, creating a civil war between Afghans and Soviets. Between 1986 and 1989 the Soviet army withdrew, but Muyahidin began another civil war between the factions. In 1992 Mohamed Najibulá left the presidency and late that same year, a government coalition between the guerrilla factions formed. In 1996 the Taliban took Kabul, establishing a fundamentalist government. Since then, Afghanistan has been governed by an iron religious and political fundamentalism, while opposing guerrillas harassed the government until 2001, when Kabul was taken by NATO, without much resistance on the part of the Taliban.