The ancient province of Arachosia lay largely within central areas of
modern Afghanistan,
and perhaps edging into western
Pakistan. Prior to its late
sixth century BC domination by the
Achaemenid Persians, Arachosia seems to have formed part of a much
larger and more poorly-defined region known as Ariana, of which the later
province of Aria was the heartland.
Barely recorded by written history, its precise boundaries are impossible to
pin down. It may have encompassed much or all of
Transoxiana, the region around
the River Oxus (the Amu Darya), and could have reached as far south as the
coastline of the Arabian Sea.
Arachosia formed part of the crossroads between ancient Transoxiana,
Persia
and India. During the Persian
and
Greek periods, it was bordered by Aria and
Bactria to the north,
Gandhara and
Paropamisadae to the east,
Northern Indus and
Southern Indus to the south-east,
and Drangiana to the
south-west. The region of which Arachosia was part came to be known as
Southern Khorasan
following the
Islamic
invasion of the seventh and eighth centuries AD. Southern Khorasan (generally
within modern Afghanistan) comprised the highlands to the west and north-west
of the River Indus. It also included the ancient regions of
Gandhara (now largely within
northern Pakistan) and Arachosia itself.
Arachosia's people have always been fiercely independent, but they have also
contributed strongly to various empires over the centuries, before a single
state began to emerge in the modern age. The region was named for its
Arachoti tribe. The great Hindu Kush mountain range
climbs in the east of the country and onto the border with Pakistan. The
Bolan Pass near Quetta forms one of the most important routes into the Indus
region of India, and it was this which was used by Alexander the Great, plus
the Mongols, the
Mughals, and many other
adventurers and explorers.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Abhijit
Rajadhyaksha, from The Persian Empire, J M Cook (1983), and from
The Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996).)
c.4000 BC
From around this date,
proto-Indo-Europeans
emerge in Central Asia to form a homogenous people who all speak the same
general language. In the third millennium BC, groups begin to migrate west
and south, beginning a fragmentation that sees them occupy large swathes of
Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia.
Following the climate-change-induced collapse of indigenous
civilisations and cultures in Iran and Central Asia between
about 2200-1700 BC, Indo-Iranian groups gradually migrated
southwards to form two regions - Tūr (yellow) and Ariana
(white), with westward migrants forming the early Parsua
kingdom (lime green), and Indo-Aryans entering India (green)
(click or tap on map to view full sized)
c.546 - 540 BC
The defeat
of the Medes
opens the floodgates for Cyrus the Great with a wave of conquests, beginning
in the west from 549 BC but focussing towards the east of the
Persians
from about 546 BC. Eastern Iran falls during a more drawn-out campaign between
about 546-540 BC, which may be when
Maka is taken (presumed
to be the southern coastal strip of the Arabian Sea). Further eastern regions
now fall, namely Arachosia, Aria,
Bactria,
Carmania,
Chorasmia,
Drangiana,
Gandhara,
Gedrosia,
Hyrcania,
Margiana,
Parthia,
Saka (at least part of the broad tribal lands of the
Sakas),
Sogdiana (with
Ferghana), and
Thatagush - all added
to the empire, although records for these campaigns are characteristically
sparse.
Persian Satraps of Harahuwatish (Arachosia)
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Conquered in the mid-sixth century BC by Cyrus the Great, the region
of Arachosia was added
to the
Persian
empire. Before that it was populated by
Indo-Iranian tribal
groups, especially a tribe known by Strabo as the Arachoti, or by Pliny
as the Angutturi. Under the Persians, the region was formed into an
official satrapy or province which, according to the Behistun
inscription of Darius the Great, was called Harahuwatish or Harauvati
(Arachosia is a Greek mangling of the name). Its capital was Arachoti,
the tribal capital of the region's largest Indo-Iranian tribe. In the
Greek period this was renamed and refounded as Alexandria in Arachosia and
today is better known as Kandahar. Kapisa, the site of a fortress in the
Persian period (the Greek city of Alexandria on the Caucasus, modern Bagram),
may be the same location as the fortress of Kapia-kani which was the
scene of a battle in 522 BC.
These eastern regions of the new-found empire were ancestral homelands
for the Persians. They formed the Indo-Iranian melting pot from which the
Parsua
had migrated west in the first place to reach Persis. There would have
been no language barriers for Cyrus' forces and few cultural differences.
Although details of his conquests are relatively poor, he seemingly
experienced few problems in uniting the various tribes under his
governance. He was the first to exert any form of imperial control here,
although his campaign may have been driven partially by a desire to
recreate the semi-mythical kingdom of
Turan
in the land of Tūr, but now under Persian control. Curiously the
Persians had little knowledge of what lay to the north of their eastern
empire, with the result that Alexander the Great was less well-informed
about the region than earlier Ionian settlers on the Black Sea coast had
been.
When viewing the Persian satrapies, there is a notable decrease of
information as one travels from west to east. This dearth of detail is
particularly noticeable in the case of Harahuwatish. Accounts of
pre-Achaemenid conditions are scanty, and even in Achaemenid times little
seems to have been recorded about the region. What is known is that the
rivers Kabul and Indus formed the border with
Gedrosia and
Thatagush. Only
Alexander the Great's presence over two hundred years later allows any
more light to be glimpsed in the darkness. The assumption that Achaemenid
administration in Sistān, Makrān, and Baluchestān could
have been based upon older administrative structures has to rely on the
tradition about the Old Iranian Sāma dynasty of which the best-known
representatives are Kərəsāspa-/Karāsp (a participant
in the defeat of the kingdom of Turan) and his grandson, Rostam. The
etymological relationship of the dynasty's name with the ethnic term
Thamanaioi (a tribe generally ascribed here to the
Drangiana region but which
may also have occupied areas of Harahuwatish) has been noted by Josef
Marquart.
At this time, what is now northern
Afghanistan
formed part of the provinces of
Bakhtrish and
Gadara, while
the south formed part of Harahuwatish. One of the most informative
sources when attempting to reconstruct the satrapal administration of
Harahuwatish and Gedrosia is that of Alexander's appointments. Drangiana
too belonged to Harahuwatish/Arachosia, thanks to Strabo's description
of Arachosia being situated south of the mountains that enclose
Haraiva. This
geographical reference is only comprehensible if Arachosia is
understood as a unit which included Drangiana.
Hindush is
another province which may have belonged to Arachosia following its
conquest by Darius, and neighbouring Thatagush - names as
Sattagydia - certainly was at the time of Darius' accession.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from The
Persian Empire, J M Cook (1983), from The Histories, Herodotus
(Penguin, 1996), from Farāmarz, the Sistāni Hero: Texts and
Traditions of the Farāmarznāme and the Persian Epic
Cycle, Marjolijn van Zutphen, from Ctesias' Persica in its Near
Eastern Context, Matt Waters, from Alexander The Great: In the
Realm of Evergetǽs, Reza Mehrafarin, and from External
Links:
The Geography of Strabo (Loeb Classical Library Edition, 1932), and
The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and
Livius.org, and
Encyclopaedia
Iranica.)
c.546 - 540 BC
During
his campaigns in the east, Cyrus the Great initially takes the northern route
from
Persis towards Bakhtrish
to reassure or subdue the provinces. This route probably involves the 'militaris
via' by Rhagai to
Parthawa.
At some point he takes the more difficult southern route, destroying Capisa
along the way (possibly Kapisa on the Koh Daman plain to the north of Kabul
- which is possibly also the Kapishakanish named at Behistun as a fortress
in Harahuwatish).
On a fresh leg of the campaign, Cyrus enters the Dasht-i-Lut desert (the
modern Dasht-e Loot) on the eastern route out of
Karmana towards
Harahuwatish. His army faces crippling loses but for the assistance provided
by the
Ariaspae on the River Helmand.
They are named 'the Benefactors' (Greek 'Euergetai') by Cyrus in thanks.
This route appears to have been poorly reconnoitred, hinting at a lack
of Persian knowledge of this region and therefore a lack of preceding
Median
occupation here in its eastern empire.
fl 522/521 BC
Vivāna
Satrap, with
Thatagush. Appointed
by Cambyses. Loyal to Darius.
522 - 521 BC
Immediately after Darius I secures the throne he faces several rebellions,
stretching from
Babirush
to
Media
and
Armina
to
Parthawa,
and
Verkāna.
The responses to all of these are handled well by Darius and all are
crushed in turn. Another major rebellion in
Mergu happens
towards the end of 522 or 521 BC and that too is put down.
Darius mentions that the the 'false' king he had replaced on the
Achaemenid throne, Smerdis (otherwise known as Vahyazdāta), had sent his
own satrap to govern Harahuwatish with orders to put down the present
incumbent. The two sides meet (or have met) in battle at a fortress called
Kapia-kani (probably Kapisa). Quite possibly Vivāna is besieged for several
weeks before assembling for battle in December 522 BC. Vivāna's forces are
victorious, but the rebels are able to regroup and offer battle again at
Gandutava. This time they are crushed, although the 'false' satrap is able
to flee to a fortress called Arādā, still within Harahuwatish and possibly
Vivāna's personal headquarters in the province. Vivāna and his army march
after them on foot and at the fortress they are seized and killed (in
February 521 BC).
The emergency in Harahuwatish is over. The 'false' satrap seems not to
be mentioned by name, a good way of ensuring that history forgets him.
However, there may still be rebel elements in
Thatagush, as Darius
conducts a campaign there, during which he also seems to secure a new
satrapy by the name of
Hindush. Some of this
territory is already likely to have been part of the conquests of Cyrus
the Great, but it is possible that Darius now extends and completes the
conquest.
516 - 515 BC
Achaemenid ruler Darius embarks on a military campaign into the lands
east of the empire. He marches through
Haraiva and
Bakhtrish, and then to
Gadara and
Taxila. By 515 BC
he is conquering lands around the Indus Valley to incorporate into the new
satrapy of Hindush before
returning via Harahuwatish and
Zranka. Along the
way the Sakas are largely defeated
and conquered.
513 BC
The unreliable Ctesias claims that Darius orders Ariaramnes, satrap of
Katpatuka, to cross the Black Sea to conduct a preliminary
reconnaissance of the Scythian territories there. Ariaramnes brings back
prisoners which include the brother of the Scythian king, and the resultant
protests give Darius his excuse to go to war in Scythia. Following the
failure of the campaign, Darius leaves Megabazos in command of the troops.
This could be the Bagabadush who is named in a Persepolis tablet as the
later satrap of Harahuwatish.
The
placement in Zranka
of four satraps, father-and-son duo Hydarnes and Teritoukhames and their two
replacements, is highly uncertain but is made possible because a city of
Zaris is mentioned in their story. Hydarnes is believed to be a descendant
of another Hydarnes, one of the seven who had defeated the Magi and elevated
Darius I to the throne in 522 BC. His family becomes important to the
Achaemenid succession, with a great deal of intermarriage into the royal
line.
The
marriage alliance between Hydarnes and the descendants of Darius I has been
important in supporting Darius II in his acquisition of the throne. Upon the
death of Hydarnes, his son Teritoukhames has been appointed satrap in his
stead (although the name of the satrapy is not given by Photius). Ctesias
reports the plot by Teritoukhames to rid himself of his unwanted royal wife
so that he can marry his own sister, Rhoxane. Darius has Teritoukhames
attacked and killed and Darius' queen, Parysatis, takes violent action
against the rest of Teritoukhames' family. There appear to be no survivors
other than Stateira, wife of Arsakes (eventually to be Artaxerxes II). Many
years later, Parysatis also arranges her death.
Mitradates opposes the royal court and also his own father and attempts
to establish the independent rule of the city of Zaris (Zarin). Again
this is assumed to be within the satrapy of
Zranka. The
prevailing chaos in the
Persian court and the great distance between it and Zaris allows the
rebellion to establish itself for a short time, forming an independent
Achaemenid state.
360s/350s BC
Artaxerxes
II is occupied fighting the 'revolt of the satraps' in the western part of
the empire. Nothing is known of events in the eastern half of the
Persian
empire at this time, but no word of unrest is mentioned by Greek writers,
however briefly. Given the newsworthiness for Greeks of any rebellion
against the Persian king, this should be enough to show that the east
remains solidly behind the king. It seems that all of the empire's
troubles hinge on the Greeks during this period.
Barsaentes
is one of the three most senior satraps of the east, the others being Bessus
in Bakhtrish and Satibarzanes
of Haraiva. In 330-329
BC, despite the best efforts of Bessus to rally supporters to his defence of
the empire, the
Persian
provinces of the east are conquered by the
Greek empire under Alexander the Great. He takes the capital of
Harahuwatish in 330 BC.
Barsaentes turns tail when Alexander appears at the border of
Zranka and does not
wait for him to reach Harahuwatish. Instead he takes refuge in the region
of the 'Mountain Indians', a contingent of whom he had commanded at
Gaugamela. These facts (probably) indicate that Barsaentes is also
responsible for the province of
Hindush, the home
of the Mountain Indians, and therefore that it is a main satrapy of
Harahuwatish.
Argead Dynasty in Arachosia
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The Argead were the ruling family and founders of
Macedonia
who reached their greatest extent under Alexander the Great and his two
successors before the kingdom broke up into several Hellenic sections.
Following Alexander's conquest of central and eastern
Persia
in 331-328 BC, the
Greek empire ruled the region until Alexander's death in 323 BC and the
subsequent regency period which ended in 310 BC. Alexander's successors held
no real power, being mere figureheads for the generals who really held control
of Alexander's empire. Following that latter period and during the course of
several wars, Arachosia was left in the hands of the
Seleucid empire from 312 BC.
One of the most informative sources when attempting to reconstruct the
satrapal administration of Arachosia and
Gedrosia is that
of Alexander's appointments. In northern Arachosia, when he first
encountered its large administrative complex, Alexander made important
decisions about
Drangiana, Gedrosia,
Northern Indus, and
Southern Indus. These
regions were therefore subsumed in the Arachosian administrative complex
(and may already have been so during the Persian period, although this is
contested). The capital was Arachoti, the later Alexandria Arachosia,
otherwise known as Alexandropolis, and now better known as Kandahar.
During subsequent years Alexander's many adjustments in this
province are not easy to interpret, partly because some of the appointed
officers lost their lives during disturbances and through illness. However,
the fact that Sibyrtius was satrap of Arachosia and Gedrosia is very good
evidence that the two provinces were ruled from Arachosia.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Anabasis
Alexandri, Arrian of Nicomedia, from Historiae Alexandri Magni,
Quintus Curtius Rufus, from Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great:
Prosopography of Alexander's Empire, Waldemar Heckel (Ed), and from
External Links:
Encyclopaedia
Iranica, and
Bibliotheca Historica, Diodorus Siculus (Perseus Project Texts Loaded
under PhiloLogic).)
Arrian reports that the tribes of the
Arachoti and
Gedrosii are left independent
under Alexander. Diodorus states that both receive Alexander with kindness
and that the administration of both peoples is given to one Tiridates. Menon
becomes the official satrap of Arachosia and
Gedrosia (according to
Arrian) or of Arachosia alone (according to Curtius), so Tiridates may be a
native of the country who handles more direct administrative duties. Menon's
death in 323 BC sees his post being filled by the promoted Sibyrtius, but
Tiridates seems not to be mentioned, lending support to the theory that he
is a native minor satrap.
The route of Alexander's ongoing campaigns are shown in this
map, with them leading him from Europe to Egypt, into Persia,
and across the vastness of eastern Iran as far as the Pamir
mountain range (click or tap on map to view full sized)
Following
the death of Alexander the Great and the subsequent
Greek
in-fighting, Bactria
is part of the
Seleucid
empire until 256 BC, when an independent Bactrian kingdom is declared,
followed by an
Indo-Greek
expansion eastwards. Arachosia is still a Seleucid territory in 206-205 BC,
when Antiochus III proceeds through it on his way back to the west. Bactria
falls around 130 BC to the
Kushans.
Macedonian & Mauryan Arachosia
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General Seleucus of the fragmenting
Greek empire fought a number of wars in order to secure his own hold
on power. By 305 BC he was fully in charge of the empire's eastern provinces
from his capital at
Babylon,
having expanded his holdings with some ruthlessness, building up his stock
of Alexander's far eastern regions as far as the borders of
India and the River
Indus (Sindh). Appian's
work, The Syrian Wars, provides a detailed list of these regions,
which included Arabia, Arachosia,
Aria,
Armenia,
Bactria,
'Seleucid'
Cappadocia
(as it was known) by 301 BC,
Carmania,
Cilicia
(eventually), Drangiana,
Gedrosia,
Hyrcania,
Media,
Mesopotamia,
Paropamisadae,
Parthia,
Persia,
Sogdiana, and Tapouria
(a small satrapy beyond Hyrcania), plus eastern areas of
Phrygia.
In 305 BC he launched a campaign to reconquer India which lasted for two
years but which came up against the might of the
Mauryan empire and
failed to achieve its objectives. Strabo records that Seleucus conceded
the Indo-Greek
provinces to the Mauryans as part of an alliance agreement. This included
the regions of Paropamisadae, Arachosia,
Gandhara, the
northern Indus and the southern Indus. Subsequent relations between the
Greeks and the Mauryans were generally cordial, with a
Seleucid ambassador appointed to Chandragupta's court.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from External
Link: Appian's History of Rome: The Syrian Wars at
Livius.org.)
305 - 303 BC
Following two years of war on the far eastern border of his empire while he
attempts a Greek reconquest of India, Strabo records that Seleucus concedes
the Indo-Greek
provinces to the ruling
Mauryans as part of an
alliance agreement. This includes the regions of
Paropamisadae,
Arachosia, the northern
Indus and the
southern Indus. Subsequent
relations between the Greeks and the Mauryans appear to be cordial. Seleucus
even appoints Megasthenes as the
Seleucid
ambassador to Chandragupta's court.
206 - 205 BC
Seleucid
ruler Antiochus III returns from his expedition into the eastern regions by
passing through the provinces of Arachosia,
Drangiana,
and Carmania.
He arrives in
Persis
in 205 BC and receives tribute of five hundred talents of silver from the
citizens of Gerrha, a mercantile state on the east coast of the Persian
Gulf. Having re-established a strong Seleucid presence in the east which
includes an array of vassal states, Antiochus now adopts the ancient
Achaemenid
title of 'great king', which the Greeks copy by referring to him as 'Basileus
Megas'.
The kingdom of Bactria (shown in white) was at the height of its
power around 200-180 BC, with fresh conquests being made in the
south-east, encroaching into India just as the Mauryan empire was
on the verge of collapse, while around the northern and eastern
borders dwelt various tribes that would eventually contribute to
the downfall of the Greeks - the Sakas and Greater Yuezhi (click
or tap on map to view full sized)
c.90 - 60 BC
The
Sakas
under Maues take control of
Indo-GreekGandhara, creating
a capital at Taxila in northern
Indus. Just forty
or so years later (perhaps even less), the
Indo-Parthians
and then the Kushans
capture the same territory from the Sakas in what is now
Afghanistan.
c.AD 20
With
the
Parthian empire gradually fracturing and collapsing, Gondophares ventures
east and establishes an independent Indo-Parthian kingdom in what is now
Afghanistan. His
kingdom stretches from Arachosia and
Gedrosia to northern
India. Despite
various efforts, Parthian King Artabanus is unable to restore these
Indo-Parthians to Parthian control.
Shortly afterwards, Kujula Kadphises founds the
Kushan empire in
Bactria-Tokharistan
and seizes a long corridor of territory which stretches to the middle Amu
Darya. This has the deliberate effect of creating a barrier around
Sogdiana, which
is then isolated for almost three hundred years. It would seem to be
during this period that Gondophares briefly holds power over the
diminished Sakas, counting
Kshatrapa Sodasa of Mathura as a vassal.
c.70
Sarpedones
succeeds as ruler of the
Indo-Parthian kingdom and adopts the name Gondophares. His rule is not
nearly so certain as that of his more illustrious predecessor, however.
Issues of his coinage are somewhat fragmented, appearing in Arachosia,
eastern Punjab (a region which could be included in the former satrapy of
northern
Indus), and
Sindh.
Shown here are both sides of a coin issued during the rule of
Sarpedones (Gondophares II), with him diademed and draped on the
left and the goddess Nike standing on the right
c.100
The
Kushans capture Arachosia
(now south-eastern
Afghanistan) from
the Indo-Parthians,
although the dating is very uncertain. The Kushan borders now extend right
up to the edge of the
Parthian empire. With pretenders to the Parthian throne regularly
basing themselves in eastern Parthia, King Pacorus is unable to do
anything about it.
c.135
Pacores
is the last
Indo-Parthian king with any real power, and even that does not extend
into former core territories in
Arachosia and
Sindh. One more
Indo-Parthian king follows him but in diminished circumstances, and
virtually unknown to history.
c.230 - c.250
The end
of Kushan King Vasudeva's
reign in AD 207 apparently coincides with the beginning of the
Sassanid
invasion of north-western
India, although
the dating for the main invasion fits with Vashiska and his successor around
230-250. Perhaps there is a first, preliminary invasion followed by a much
greater second.
The Kushans are toppled in former Arachosia,
Aria, and
Bactria (more recently better
known as
Tokharistan)
and are forced to accept Sassanid suzerainty, being replaced by Sassanid
vassals known as the
Kushanshahs
or Indo-Sassanids. There is a split in Kushan rule, so that a separate,
eastern section rules independent of the Sassanids, while some of the
nobility remain in the west as Sassanid vassals. Even so, Kushan power
still gradually wanes in India.
Kushanshahs (Indo-Sassanids) c.AD 230 - c.410
The Iranian
Sassanids toppled a large part of the
Kushan empire between
around AD 230-250, conquering swathes of territory in the process.
Included in this was the ancient region of Arachosia, which was centred
on the south-east of modern
Afghanistan
but which at times stretched much further east, into modern
Pakistan and perhaps as far
as the River Indus. To counter the threat of reconquest posed by the
growing northern Indian
empire of the Guptas,
and well as by Central Asian tribes, the Sassanids created a buffer state
which was governed by the Kushanshahs. This title literally means the 'kings of the Kushans',
otherwise known as Indo-Sassanids or even Kushano-Sassanids.
The Kushanshahs appear to have been a cadet branch of the Sassanid imperial
family. Established primarily under the rule of Shapur I around AD 245, they
seem to have been too powerful to have been simply Sassanid governors and
may instead reflect an early Sassanid continuation of
Arsacid imperial procedure, acting as an allied but autonomous junior
branch of the Sassanid royal house. The Kushanshah rulers bore names that
closely resemble the type used by the Sassanid main house itself, but dating for the Kushanshahs is very approximate and little is known of the
region under their rule. That territory - eastern Iran - certainly informed
the senior Sassanids via cultural production from at least the reign of
Shapur II (309-379). The title of kay is adopted from the east,
although it already had firmly established origins as kai in what had
once been the eastern
Indo-Iranian domain of
Turan
and amongst the early
Persians
in Iran.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from King of
the Seven Climes: A History of the Ancient Iranian World (3000 BCE - 651 CE),
Khodadad Rezakhani (Touraj Daryaee, Ed, Ancient Iran Series Vol IV,
2017), from Farāmarz, the Sistāni Hero: Texts and
Traditions of the Farāmarznāme and the Persian Epic Cycle,
Marjolijn van Zutphen, from Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins,
D Jongeward & J Cribb (American Numismatic Society, 2015), and from External Links:
Encyclopaedia Iranica, and
Iranians & Turanians in the Avesta.)
The end
of Kushan King Vasudeva's
reign in AD 207 apparently coincides with the beginning of the Sassanid invasion
of north-western India,
although the dating for the main invasion fits with Vashiska and his successor
around 230-250. The Kushans are toppled in former
Arachosia,
Aria, and
Bactria (more recently
better known as
Tokharistan). The
remaining Kushan nobility is forced to accept Sassanid suzerainty.
The first Kushanshah coin-issuing authority is a certain Ardasharo Koshano,
who may be Ardashir I. This Ardasharo is most likely a contemporary of Kanishka
II of the Kushans. Both silver and copper issues of Ardasharo are minted in
Marw and are then transported to
Tokharistan for
circulation. The coins show clear Kushan, or at least
Bactrian, influence since they
carry Bactrian legends as well as Pahlavi ones. The obverse Bactrian legends
read as 'Ardashir, the Kushan Shah' and the reverse depicts the god Mithra
(Bactrian Miiro, who is also depicted on Kushan coins).
c.245
Around
this year, Shapur devolves direct rule in what is now
Afghanistan by
creating a buffer state which is governed by the Kushanshahs. They replace
the Kushan
nobility as the holders of power in the east. Kushanshah coins, initially
issued mainly to the north of the Hindu Kush, are also soon to be found to
the south in the Begram/Kapiśa area alongside issues by Kushan King Vasishka,
suggesting a period of competition between the two sides in this region.
With the next Kushanshah, Pēroz I, the Kushanshahs start to displace the
later Kushans from Gandhara,
confining them to Mathura in northern
India, where
they are reduced to local princes.
c.245 - c.270
Pēroz I
First of the cadet branch of
Sassanids known as Kushanshahs.
In
Gandhara,
Hormazd issues coins, possibly in the names of his governors 'Kavad'
and 'Meze' (if these are indeed the names of governors and not titles or
something else which remains unknown). It may be that the governor of
Gandhara at this time is Vasudeva IV, one of the last of the
Kushan nobility.
In fact a great shift occurs in Kushanshah authority under the rule of
Hormazd I. While his early gold issues from Balkh refer to him as
'Hormazd, the Great Kushan King', later issues of gold denars from
the same mint switch the king's title to 'Hormazd, the Great Kushan
King of Kings'. The change in title is a significant change in
Kushanshah political ideology, and perhaps a direct affront to the
'imperial'
Sassanid line. It is safe to assume that during the time of Hormazd I,
the Kushanshahs assume a new level of independence from the main Sassanid
line. Hormazd's successor is someone who may later be a Sassanid king
himself, signifying - perhaps - a re-imposition of more direct Sassanid
control over the east.
With Peroz II beginning to pull away from
Sassanid control, the Persian ruler Shapur II divides the realm,
assuming direct control of the southern areas of what is now
Afghanistan
(and also Merv in modern
Turkmenistan,
Herat in Aria, and
then Gandhara),
while the Kushanshahs continue to rule in the north. With events in the
east frequently being poorly documented, there is some doubt about the
identity of the Shapur who carries this out. It is probably Shapur II,
but it may instead be a governor, or even Shapur's older brother, who
bears the same name.
A Kushanshah letter addressed to their mid-fourth century
AD ruler, Varhran, from the daughter of a princess named
Dukht-anosh, a Middle Persian name
c.325 - c.350
Varhran / Wahram / Warahran I
In the north only.
Varhran is the last Kushanshah in
Tokharistan and is
also a contemporary of
Sassanid ruler Shapur II. Varhran's grip over the Kushanshah territories
on both sides of the Hindu Kush is greatly threatened, and it is not long
before his realm and power falls to the incoming
Kidarites and the expanding
reach of Sassanid central power. The control of
Gandhara by Shapur
II - known through the issue of his copper denomination there - appears to
be a side effect of the increased Sassanid interest in the east.
There
is no evidence of any Kushans
after Kipunada. Having been subjugated by the
Gupta kings, the rump
eastern Kushan state is soon conquered by the invading
Kidarites. They, in turn,
claim to be the rightful successors of the Kushans and Kushanshahs. Any possible
survivors in the west are probably displaced by the
Hephthalites. This is the
next wave of barbarians to invade the territory of the Kushanshahs, where they
conquer former Bactria
and Gandhara to form
their own kingdom.
c.390
Bactrian legends
on the Kidarite coins issued around this period declare them to represent
the 'King of the Kushan'. The
Kidarites consider
themselves to be the continuation of rule by
Kushans and Kushanshahs.
A coin type which shows the king in frontal view and wearing a crown with
ram's horn has a legend in Brahmi declaring the authority to be 'Sa Piroysa',
meaning 'King Peroz'. This is most likely the Peroz III of
Gandhara, the
potential rival to
Sassanid
rule, but possibly only a puppet of the Kidarites.
Despite
being bordered by the powerful
Guptas to the east and
the
Sassanids to the west. Kushanshah vassal rule of the region is displaced
from the north, as the
Hephthalites invade and
conquer Bactria and
Gandhara.
565 - 652
The
Hephthalites are in turn
defeated by an alliance of
Göktürks
and the
Sassanids, and a level of Indo-Sassanid authority is re-established in
the region for the next century. The
Western Göktürks set up
rival states in Bamiyan,
Kabul, and
Kapisa under the authority of the viceroy in
Tokharistan,
strengthening their hold on the Silk Road.
Marco Polo's journey into China along the Silk Road made use
of a network of east-west trade routes that had been developed
since the time of Greek control of Bactria
During this period, any notion of the territory which later goes into
forming modern
Afghanistan as a
single state, or even a coherent regional entity, is entirely impossible. It
is not until the tenth century that something approaching an 'Afghanistan'
begins to be created with the emergence of the
TurkicSamanids.
Southern Khorasan
Various factions were agitating for dominance in former Islamic Greater
Khorasan. The
Samanid ruler
faced internal uprisings in the tenth century, and the
Ghaznavid ruler, Sebuktigin,
went to his assistance, defeating the rebels at Balkh and then Nishapur.
Sebuktigin was granted the title 'Nasir ud-Din' ('Hero of the Faith')
while his son, Mahmud, was made governor of a northern
Khorasan which was
removed from Samanid authority. This meant a permanent division of
Khorasan, with the southern section being cut up into several regional
power bases.
It is this southern region which largely formed later eastern Persia and a
good deal of modern
Afghanistan.
The Yamanids claimed descent from the last of the
Sassanid kings, Yazdagird, whose family had fled the
Islamic
invasion following his death. They resettled in Turkestan, where they
intermarried with the locals until one of their number, a twelve year-old
named Sebuktigin, was captured by a neighbouring tribe and ended up being
purchased by Alptigin, the governor of
Samanid Khurasan.
However, he backed the losing side in a dynastic squabble amongst his
masters, so he crossed the Hindu Kush and seized Zabulistan, together
with Ghazni in the south-east of modern
Afghanistan,
from its governor, Abu Bakr Lawik and established an independent
Khorasanian Sunni Muslim kingdom. Sebuktigin was made a general and
continued in that role until his own accession.
(Information by Peter Kessler.)
962 - 963
Alptigin
Seized the eastern Afghan region from the
Samanid
governor.
962
Alptigin, Turkic for 'brave prince',
seizes Ghazni and expels the
Samanid governor of
Zabulistan, Abu Bakr Lawik. Although he establishes independent rule of
Ghazni, coins from the era show that he nominally acknowledges Samanid
overlordship, always a useful ruse for avoiding an attack by former masters.
A monument to Alptigin, founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty in
Afghanistan, located in the town of Söğüt in western Turkey
963 - c.963?
Abu Ishaq Alptegin
Son.
c.963? - c.965?
Abu Bakr Lawik briefly manages to wrest back control of his emirate before
he is expelled and the independent kings of Ghazni re-establish their rule.
c.963? - c.965?
Abu Bakr Lawik
Restored.
c.965 - 966
Abu Ishaq
Alptegin
Restored.
966
Abu Ishaq Alptegin dies childless, so the commanders of his army select one
of their number, Bilgetigin, as his successor.
966 - 975
Bilgetigin
Former army commander.
975 - 977
Piri / Pirai
A former slave of Alptigin.
977
During his reign, the cruel Piri is threatened by Abu Ali Lawik, the son of
Abu Bakr Lawik. He is rescued by General Sebuktigin, who surprises the enemy
army near Charkh, on the east bank of the River Lohgar, killing many of them
and taking ten elephants along with his prisoners. Following Piri's
death, Sebuktigin succeeds to the throne, creating a Yamanid dynasty of
kings.
Afghan
(Turkic) Ghaznavid Dynasty (Southern Khorasan) AD 977 - 1186
In 977, Sebuktigin succeeded to the throne of Ghazni, situated south
of Transoxiana (and 120 kilometres (eighty miles) to the south-west
of Kabul,
both in modern
Afghanistan,
of which Ghazni is now an eastern province). He immediately began
strengthening his domains and increasing his territory. This was at
a time at which both the
Samanids and the
Persians
were fading in power, but although the kingdom was independent it
perhaps still showed nominal allegiance to the Samanids. For the
most part, Lahore was the easternmost bastion of Ghazni power,
although they frequently raided further east.
Bist (otherwise known as Bost or Bust) became the winter capital of
the Ghaznavids, perhaps especially because its climate was entirely
suitable for war elephants. Located on the junction between the River
Argandab and the Helmand, the city had served as an early outpost of
Islam in the region. Before that it was within the area dominated by
the 'Benefactors' of Cyrus the Great, the
Ariaspae people of
Indo-Iranian Central
Asia.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from The
Persian Empire, J M Cook (1983), and from External Link:
Encyclopaedia Iranica.)
977 - 997
Sebuktigin
/ Sebuk-Tigin
Son-in-law
of Alptegin. First Yamanid king of Ghazni.
994
The
Samanid
ruler faces internal uprisings, and Sebuktigin goes to his assistance. The
rebels are defeated at Balkh and then Nishapur, and Sebuktigin is granted
the title 'Nasir ud-Din' ('Hero of the Faith'), while his son, Mahmud, is
made governor of
Khwarazm.
997
Mahmud of
Khwarazm campaigns against the
Qara-Khitaļ
in Central Asia, but is ultimately defeated. His failure is a harbinger of
problems to come where the Qara-Khitaļ are concerned.
997 - 998
Ismail
Son. Captured and imprisoned for life.
998
Although Ismail is Sebuktigin's chosen heir, his elder half-brother Mahmud
of
Khwarazm contests his claim to the throne. Initially in command of Nishapur,
Mahmud hands it over to his uncle, Borghuz, and younger brother, Nur-ud-Din
Yusuf, and marches upon Ghazni. The capital city is captured and Mahmud claims
the throne, imprisoning his brother in a fort in Joorjan.
999 - 1005
The
Turkic Karakhanids depose the
Samanid emir, Mansur
II, allied with the
Buwayids
who are supreme in south-western Persia and Mesopotamia. The Karakhanids
briefly take possession of areas of what is now
Afghanistan before
being ousted by the Ghaznavids in 1005.
998 - 1030
Yamin-ud-Dawlah Mahmud
Brother. Former
governor of Khwarazm.
First sultan.
1003
Khalaf I of
Saffarid Seistan
has long been exhibiting irrational behaviour, including the act of putting
to death his own son, Tāher. He has largely alienated popular support
within Seistan in favour of the Ghaznavids. Yamin-ud-Dawlah Mahmud is now
able to march into Seistan, defeat the emir, and carry him off into captivity
where he later dies. Seistan now becomes a province of the Ghaznavid empire
(as does the province of
Carmania), and
the once-mighty Saffarid house is extinguished. A
Nasridmalik is
soon put in place to govern Seistan.
1008
Mahmud is responsible for turning the small kingdom into a large empire,
and transforming Ghazni from a small regional capital into a large and
wealthy city. Turning his attentions eastwards, he defeats the Rajput
confederacy, conquering
Gwalior,
Kannauj, Nagarkot, Thanesar, and Ujjain and leaving them in the hands of
native client kings, as well as regularly raiding further into India. Soon
afterwards, Balkh is brought under direct control after the death of its
friendly emir, Abu Nasr Mohammad.
A computer-generated image of Ghaznavid regular troops
1017 - 1019
Making
good the loss of 995, Mahmud conquers the emirate of
Khwarazm
after the emir (his relative) is killed in a rebellion. He apparently
regains Greater Khorasan in its entirety which also includes territory to
the south of the present emirate. Within two years, Mahmud also begins
his invasion of India, notably sacking Kannauj, the capital of the kingdom
of the Pratiharas of Kannauj. However, he is repulsed by the Rajput Chandelas.
The
death of Mahmud ends the dominance of the Ghaznavids. Conflicts between
various Ghaznavid claimants and lesser rulers arise and as a result the
empire started to crumble. In Seistan, the Ghaznavid governor, Nasr, soon
declares his independence and founds a
Nasrid emirate there,
based around the Nimruz Province of modern
Afghanistan
(the country's south-western corner, abutting
Iran
to the west and what is now
Pakistan to the south).
1030 - 1031
Jalal-ud-Dawlah Mohammed
Son. Overthrown.
1031
Mohammed
is the younger of twins, and his accession leads to strife between him
and his brother, Masud. Masud wins, overthrowing Mohammed and claiming
the throne. Mohammed is blinded and imprisoned.
1031 - 1041
Shihab-ud-Dawlah
Masud I
Twin brother.
1040
Masud
is unable to preserve his father's empire. Disastrously defeated by
SeljuqTurks at the Battle of Dandanqan, he
loses the western Ghaznavid territories, including
Khwarazm and
Seistan. His successors
continue to rule much of the territory which later becomes
Afghanistan and
also areas of northern
India in reduced
circumstances. He is deposed by a rebellion of his own troops, and his brother
is restored. Masud is assassinated while in prison.
1041
Jalal-ud-Dawlah Mohammed
Restored, but
killed by Mawdud.
1041
Responding to the death of his father and the
seizure of the throne, Mawdud gathers together his forces from his
governor's base in Balkh and marches on Ghazni. Mohammed is overthrown and
executed by him. Mawdud's brother in Lahore does not recognise his rule, but
soon dies, leaving Lahore to be ruled directly from Ghazni. Some of the
empire's extreme eastern territories are lost to rebellion, however, and the
empire continues its slow decline with a series of short-lived rulers and
internal disputes.
1041 - 1049
Shihab-ud-Dawlah Mawdud
Son of Masud.
1049
Masud II
1049 - 1050
Baha-ud-Dalwah Ali
1050 - 1053
Izz-ud-Dawlah Abd al-Rashid
1053
Qiwam-ud-Dawlah Tughril
Usurper.
1053 - 1059
Jamal-ud-Dawlah Farrukhzad
1059 - 1099
Zahir-ud-Dawlah Ibrahim
1059
Ibrahim
re-establishes a truncated empire after the unstable two decades preceding his
rule. He agrees peace terms with the
Seljuqs
and restores cultural and political links, although apparently is not able to
restore Ghaznavid dominance of
Seistan. However, the
empire is increasingly sustained by riches gained in raids across northern
India, and the
Rajput rulers there offer stiff resistance.
1099 - 1115
Ala-ud-Dawlah Masud III
1115
Masud's death begins a period of instability and
the decline of the empire. His sons fight amongst themselves for the throne,
with Bahram Shah eventually winning out, but only as a vassal of the
Seljuqs.
The Ghurids
begin to assert their control in the region in the face of weakening
Ghaznavid control.
1150
The Ghaznavid
emirate is effectively brought to an end when Ghazni is captured by the Ghurid
Moslems. Ghaznavid power continues in northern
India alone, with them ruling from
Lahore.
1152 - 1160
Muizz-ud-Dawlah Khusrau Shah
In Lahore.
1160 - 1186
Taj-ud-Dawlah Khusrau Malik
In Lahore.
1186
Lahore
is conquered by the Ghurids
who also inherit
Pallava Punjab.
Ghurid Sultanate / Shansabani AD 1149 - 1215
The Ghurids, from Bamiyan in the Afghan mountains, were initially conquered
by the Ghaznavids and converted
from paganism (probably Zoroastrianism) to Islam in the eleventh century.
In 1149 Aladdin Hussein turned the tables and sacked the city of Ghazni in
1150, ending Ghaznavid rule in what later becomes
Afghanistan.
Ghurid rulers from the Shansabani clan took over and formed a short-lived
sultanate. Some scholars relate the Shansabani name to that of the
Sassanids, many of who had fled east during the Arab invasion of Persia
in 651.
(Information by Peter Kessler.)
1146 - 1149
Sayf ud-Din Suri
1149
Baha' ud-Din Sam I
1149 - 1161
Aladdin Jahan-Suz Husain II
Founder of the Ghurid sultanate.
1150
The
Ghaznavid emirate is brought to
an end when Ghazni is captured by the Ghurid Moslems. Ghaznavid power
continues in northern
India alone,
with them ruling from Lahore.
1161 - 1163
Sa'if ud-Din Muhammad
1162 - 1163
A
year after recapturing
Seistan from the
Seljuqs,
the death of Sa'if ud-Din Muhammad appears to cause fractures within the
sultanate, with two rulers appearing, one each in Firuzkuh and Ghazni.
1163 - 1203
Abu'l-Fath Muhammad Shams ad-Din
In Firuzkuh.
1173 - 1206
Shihab
ud-Din Muhammad (III)
In Ghazni.
1186
The
Ghaznavids in Lahore are conquered
by the Ghurids, who also gain the Punjab of the
Pallavas.
1194
Muhammad
sacks and destroys the Rajput kingdoms of the Gahadavalas and Chauhans.
Unfortunately, in the same year, the
Khwarazm
emirate gains independence from the Persian
SeljuqTurks by overthrowing them and occupying
much of the rest of Greater Khorasan, including Ghurid
Seistan and the heartland
of Persia itself.
1206
Muhammad Ghori dies without an heir. After a battle of succession, the
Turkic ex-slave general, Qutub
uddin Aibak, takes possession of Muhammad Ghori's
Indian empire.
He establishes his capital first at Lahore, and later at
Delhi. Ghiyathuddin Mahmud gains
the western section of the empire, focused on territory which largely forms
modern
Afghanistan.
The remaining Ghurid territories in northern
India are taken over
by the Delhi sultanate which also
gains the Punjab of the former
Pallavas.
1221
After
the shah of Khwarazm
decapitates the Mongol
ambassador from Chingiz Khan, the emirate is attacked twice by the Golden Horde.
Khwarazm is reduced to its western section covering northern Mesopotamia and
western Persia. Shamsuddin Bahram Shah of
Seistan is killed, and
Bukhara and then
Samarkand are captured
by the Mongols. Chaos results, with thousands being massacred or sold into
slavery. The rest of Ghurid
Southern Khorasan does not escape
unscathed. The Mongols raze the city of Bamiyan and exterminate its inhabitants.
Areas of central Khwarazm (Khorasan) around Herat (and Bamiyan) are soon seized
by the Ghurids and then governed by their subjects, the
Kartids.
1243
Almost
immediately after he has succeeded his father as malik, Shams-uddin
seizes Herat during an unstable period of
Mongol domination.
Doing so as a Ghurid subject, he submits to the Mongols and is accepted as
their Kartid governor of
the city and its surroundings.
1266 - 1332
When the defeated
Great Khan Ariq-Boke dies just two years after losing his struggle
for the great khanship, his side of the struggle against Kublai Khan is
continued by Kaidu of
Mughulistan.
This is the point at which Mughulistan becomes entirely independent of the
suzerainty of the great khans and becomes a kingdom in its own right. Its
territories include northern Afghanistan as far south as Kabul.
1332 - 1369
Descendants of the earlier Ghurid rulers reassert control over
Southern Khorasan.
Having secured his conquests around
Transoxiana, Timur
has begun the expansion of his territory into Southern Khorasan and
Persia. He forces the
Kartids of Herat into
submission and demands a hostage from Seistan to symbolise the subservience
of the Mihrabanids.
Malik Qutbuddin sends a relative named Tajuddin.
However, in 1383, despite agreeing a hostage, Timur still turns up at
Seistan with his army. The two sides fail to come to agreement so Timur
defeats the Mihrabanids in open battle. Qutbuddin is soon captured,
imprisoned, and deported to
Samarkand. He is
executed three years later. Timur appoints Shah-i Shahan as governor of
Seistan and proceeds to ravage the province.
1405
The
Timurid empire splits in two following the death of Timur. Queen Goharshad,
wife of the western ruler, Shah Rukh, moves the capital from
Samarkand to
Herat (which still
exists as a city and a province in the west of modern
Afghanistan), part of their domains
in Greater Khorasan and Persia. The eastern portion is governed from Samarkand.
Kandahar falls within the western half.
1405 - 1409
Shah Rukh
/ Shahrukh
Son of Timur. In
Khorasan initially, and in
Persia
(1409-1447).
1409 - 1447
Herat remains the heart
of the
Timurid
empire which still covers Persia and Greater Khorasan, until Ulugh Beg's weak
rule allows a rival to take control of the city.
The tomb of Shah Rukh in Multan (in modern Pakistan)
1467 - 1469
Uzun
Hassan of the
White
Sheep emirate is responsible for the death of the powerful
Black
Sheep emir, Jahan Shah. He threatens to overwhelm the entire Black Sheep
emirate, despite it receiving assistance from Abu Sa'id of
Transoxiana, and
he achieves his aim in 1468. Abu Sa'id is captured in the
Azerbaijan mountains in 1469 while on campaign against the White
Sheep emirate. He is subsequently handed over to Yadigar Muhammad in
southern Khorasan, which is focussed around
Herat, where he
is executed.
Subsequently, Uzun Hassan is able to capture Baghdad, along with territories
around the Persian Gulf. He expands his emirate into Iran as far east as the
later province of
Khorasan,
replacing the Black Sheep emirs as the main regional power. The emirate is
not a single entity, though, having been formed through uniting several
clans and tribes in the form of a confederation. Unfortunately, around
this time, the
Ottomans
are also seeking an eastwards expansion. This poses a serious threat to the
White Sheep, and Uzun is forced to seek an alliance with the Karamanids of
central Anatolia.
1529
Ubayd
Allah Sultan Khan of
Bukhara is at war against Tahmasp I of
Persia, and the Uzbeks of
Khwarazm support Bukharan
attacks by advancing to Pil Kupruki. The border cities of Khodjend (in
Khorasan) and Asferain (near Astarabad) are also stormed. As Tahmasp also
has to face the
Ottomans,
he negotiates with the Khwarizmi and effectively hands them Khorasan.
1585
Kabul is formally annexed to the
Moghul
empire after the death of Mirza Muhammed Hakim.
1623 - 1638
Prince Khurram (Shah Jehan) resents the influence of Nur
Jahan, wife of
Moghul
emperor, Jahangir, over the royal court and rebels against his father. One
of Jahangir's generals, Mahabat Khan, humiliated by Nur Jahan and her
brother, Asaf Khan, joins that rebellion. Taking advantage of Shah Jahan's
revolt, the Persians
capture Kandahar.
1638 - 1648
Buoyed
by his successes in the Deccan against
Golconda and
Bijapur,
Moghul emperor
Shah Jahan retakes Kandahar. However, the
Persians
manage to take it back just ten years later, and it is permanently lost to
the Moghuls. It becomes a Persian province until 1709.
1678
Rajput
king Jaswant Singh of Marwar is fighting in
Southern Khorasan when he
dies, allowing his overlord,
Moghul emperor,
Aurangzeb, to put into action a plot to reduce the Rajputs' special status
within the empire.
Hotaki Dynasty (Ghilzai Afghans) AD 1709 - 1738
Mirwais Khan Hotak, the leader of the Pashtun Ghilzai Afghans and mayor
of Kandahar, killed the
Persian-appointed
governor, Gurgin Khan (King Giorgi XI of the Georgian kingdom of
Kartli), in 1709, declaring Kandahar to be independent. In 1722,
the successful new dynasty also conquered the
Safavid
shahs of Persia, ruling a large empire for seven years before being defeated
by Nadil Kuli and forced back towards what is now
Afghanistan itself,
where what remained of it fragmented. Mirwais Khan may not have realised it
at the time, but his independent dynasty created the basis for the modern
state of Afghanistan.
(Information by Abhijit Rajadhyaksha.)
1709 - 1715
Mirwais Khan Hotak
Leader of the Ghilzai Afghans. Died peacefully.
1715 - 1717
Abd al-Aziz
Brother. Overthrown by his nephew.
1715 - 1717
Upon
his death, Mirwais is succeeded by his brother, Adb al-Aziz, but the Ghilzai
Afghans persuade the son of Mirwais, Mahmud, to seize power for himself and
in 1717 he overthrows and killed his uncle.
1717 - 1725
Mir
Mahmud Hotaki
Son of Mirwais.
Controlled
Safavid
Iran (1722). Killed?
1722 - 1729
The
Safavid
ruler Shah Hosayn surrenders the Iranian capital of Isfahan to Afghan rebels
after a seven month siege. The Ghilzai Afghans of Kandahar's new Hotaki
dynasty occupy much of Iran, including the capital at Estfahan. However,
they are seen as usurpers by much of the population, and hold effective
power only in the east. In 1725, they order the massacre of all captured
Safavid princes except for Hosayn himself, although Hosayn manages to have
the lives of his two sons spared as well.
Two sides of a coin issued under Mahmud Shah of the Hotaki
dynasty of early Afghanistan, the ruler of a new, centrist
Afghan ruling elite who managed to defeat the Safavids and
occupy large areas of Iran for seven years
Sensing the weakness of the Safavid empire, Czar Peter the Great of
Russia
launches the Russo-Persian War of 1722-1723. Otherwise known as
the 'Persian Expedition of Peter the Great', the war is designed
to increase Russian influence in the Caucuses and prevent the
Ottoman
empire from increasing its own regional authority. Astrabad, Baku, Derbent,
Gilan, Mazandaran, and Shirvan are all successfully won (only to be
subsequently leased back to Persia between 1732-1735 now that the two
states are allies).
Under
Ashraf Khan, the dynasty and its newfound empire undergoes a short and
sudden decline. Although he is able to beat off incursions by the
Ottomans
(1727) and
Russians,
Ashraf Khan is defeated and expelled from Persia in 1729 by the
Afsharid
general, Nadir Kuli. Ashraf is murdered on the return home by Baloch
tribesmen, quite possibly on the order of his cousin, who is holding
Kandahar at the time. Afghanistan fragments, with Kandahar being ruled
by Mir Husayn.
1729 - 1738
Mir Husayn
Cousin. In Kandahar only, but independent of
Persia.
1738 - 1747
The
Afsharid shah of Iran,
Nadir Shah, enters Afghanistan with a large army and conquers Ghazni, Kandahar,
Kabul and
Lahore in the same year. Alongside him is his vassal, the future King Erekle II of
Kakhetia,
and a contingent of Georgian troops. Persian rule of the region is assured for
the next nine years, until the effective coup which creates the
Duranni dynasty.
Durrani Dynasty (Afghan Empire) AD 1747 - 1823
In 1747, the Persian
ruler, Nadir Shah, was assassinated. While the finger of blame was pointed
firmly at his former general, Ahmad Shah Abdali, by Persia, as someone who
was very close to Nadir Shah, they were unable to prove it. Even so, Ahmad
Shah Abdali was very quickly appointed king by loya jirga (grand council),
and established the Durrani empire in what quickly became
Afghanistan by capturing
Kandahar and carving out a vast territory of conquests within a very short
space of time. However, his successors governed so ineptly that the empire
was effectively at an end within half a century of his death.
(Information by Abhijit Rajadhyaksha, and from External Link:
Encyclopaedia
Iranica.)
1747 - 1772
Ahmad
Shah Abdali
Established the
dynasty.
1747
Following his accession as shah, or king, Ahmad Shah Abdali immediately
sets out to consolidate and enlarge Afghanistan. He captures Ghazni from
the Ghilzai, takes
Kabul from a
provincial warlord, defeats the
Moghuls
in the west of the Indus to gain Punjab and Kashmir, and takes
Herat from
the
Persians. The new empire quickly extends from Central Asia to Delhi, and
from Kashmir to the Arabian Sea.
1750
Southern Khorasan
is officially renamed Afghanistan, while the north is now within the khanate
of Khiva and the emirate
of Bukhara. The
westernmost section is another
Khorasan,
a fragment of former Greater Khorasan which is now a region of Persia and
is being occupied by the
Afsharids
after their expulsion from central Persia by the
Zand
regent, Karim Khan. The name of Afghanistan sticks, and is used to refer to
the region from this point onwards.
1756 - 1757
Ahmad
Shah Abdali invades the
India of the declining
Moghul emperors
(for a fifth time in his reign) and plunders Mathura.
1761
The
Peshwa sends an army to
challenge the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Abdali, and the
Maratha army is decisively
defeated on 13 January 1761 at the Third Battle of Panipat. However, the Sikhs
soon gain power over areas of Punjab at Ahmad's expense, while Ahmad also has
to agree a border with the Uzbek
emir of Bukhara
at the River Amu Darya.
The Third Battle of Panipat saw the Marathas defeated by Ahmad
Shah Abdali's army, confirming the greatness of the empire he
had created
1773 - 1793
Timur Shah Durrani
Son.
1773
The
capital of Afghanistan is transferred from Kandahar to
Kabul due to tribal
opposition, mainly to Timur himself. Constant internal revolts occur in the
state, especially in its eastern provinces.
1788
The
Marathas
have recently evacuated Delhi, so the opportunistic Afghan Rohillas march
on the city, but financially, Delhi is already bankrupt. Finding nothing
to loot, the Afghans blind
Moghul
emperor Shah Alam II just before the Marathas return to save him and drive
away the Rohillas.
1793
Humayun Shah
Son. Governor of Kandahar.
1793
Upon
the death of Timur, his son Humayun by his fourth wife declares himself king,
along with another of Timur's many sons. Humayun is blinded and imprisoned
by his brother, Zaman, who holds the strongest position as governor of the
capital. Many of his half brothers are also imprisoned when they arrive in
Kabul to confirm the election of a new shah, not knowing that Zaman has
already seized power.
1793 - 1801
Zaman Shah Durrani
Brother. Governor of Kabul. Overthrown.
1795
The
Qajar shahs of Iran
invade their 'lost' province of
Khorasan and annexe
it back to Persia proper (the
Zands having let it go
after 1750). Afghanistan itself is under constant threat of internal revolt
and is in no shape to fight back.
1801 - 1803
Shoja al-Mulk Muhammad Shah
Brother. Overthrown.
1801
Shoja al-Mulk Muhammad Shah, or Mahmud Shah, overthrows
his brother, but just two years later he is in turn overthrown by yet
another of Timur's sons, as Afghanistan slides towards complete dissolution
as a coherent state.
1803 - 1809
Shah Shuja
Brother. Overthrown.
1805
The
Persians
have been attempting to intrude small units of troops into Afghanistan in
a bid to conquer the city of
Herat while the Afghans
are fighting one another for domination of their kingdom. Unfortunately for
the Persian forces, that very instability undermines their own efforts and
forces the plan's abandonment.
1809
Shah Shuja signs a treaty with the
British
which includes a clause stating that he will oppose the passage of foreign
troops through his territories. This agreement is the first Afghan pact with
a European power, and it stipulates the undertaking of joint action if there
is any
Franco-Persian
aggression against Afghan or British dominions. Only a few weeks after
signing the agreement, Shuja is deposed by his predecessor, Muhammad Shah.
1809 - 1819
Shoja al-Mulk Muhammad Shah
Restored. Overthrown.
1809 - 1819
In
a tumultuous Afghanistan, war with
Persia
is inconclusive following another attack on
Herat. Mohamman Vali
Mirza, son of the Persian shah, is defeated at the Battle of Kafir Qala in
1818. However, internal fighting continues, and Shoja al-Mulk Muhammad Shah's
second reign is ended by yet another brother. He finds that he controls very
little of the country outside Kabul, perhaps just a 160-kilometre radius of
territory and that his dynasty has alienated not only the outlying tribes
but other Durrani Pashtun tribes as well. Instead a new
Emirate has taken control of
large swathes of countryside, and it is this which forms the country's next
major power.
1818 - 1819
Sultan Ali Shah
Brother. Overthrown.
1819 - 1823
Ayub Shah
Brother. Deposed and probably killed.
1823
The
Afghans lose Sindh
permanently to the
British
in India as the Durrani
dynasty is overthrown. It is briefly returned to power in 1839.
Emirate of Afghanistan (Barakzai Dynasty) AD 1823 - 1839
In 1823 the last of the weakened
Durrani dynasty were
overthrown by Habibollah Shah. However, the country remained fragmented,
sometimes held together almost entirely under the emir's control, sometimes
ruled by several regional warlords, usually allied to various factions of
the Barakzai clan.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Abhijit
Rajadhyaksha.)
1823
Habibollah Shah
1823 - 1826
Soltan Mohammad Khan
Regent.
1824
William Moorecroft, of the
East
India Company, arrives in Peshawar in Afghanistan, while en route to
Bukhara, east of
Khiva (and now in
Uzbekistan), to trade for horses. The country is experiencing one of its
most lawless periods in a long tradition of such periods and Moorecroft is
killed in Balkh while returning to India.
1826 - 1839
Dost Mohammad Khan
Regent (1826-1836), then emir. Deposed and deported to
India.
1832 - 1834
The
Iranian
Qajar
shahs move into the province of
Khorasan,
and then threaten Herat
yet again. The Afghans are forced to defend the city but manage to repel the
invaders by 1833. The following year they lose Peshawar to the
Sikhs. Later the Afghans
defeat the Sikhs under the leadership of Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mohammed,
near Jamrud, and kill the great Sikh general, Hari Singh. However, they
fail to retake Peshawar due to their own lack of unity and bad judgment
on the part of Dost Mohammad Khan regarding the people of Peshawar.
1836 - 1839
Dost
Mohammad Khan is proclaimed as Amir al-mu' Minin, commander of the faithful.
He is still trying to reunify the whole of Afghanistan when the
British,
in collaboration with the deposed
Durrani king of 1809, Shah
Shoja, invade Afghanistan and depose him.
Emirate of Afghanistan (Durrani Dynasty) AD 1839 - 1842
By 1839,
Britain
had decided that Persian
and Russian
intrigues posed a threat to their control of
India.
To counter that perceived threat, it was decided that Afghanistan would be
used as a buffer state. A British army marched to Kabul, triggering the
First Anglo-Afghan War, which saw Dost Mohammad replaced with a
Durrani restoration ruler
as the British figurehead in the country. Between 1839-1842, Britain controlled
much of Afghanistan, at least in theory. The British also meddled across Afghan
borders - in the khanate of
Khiva to ensure that Russia could not find a valid reason to invade and
further its own designs on India.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Abhijit
Rajadhyaksha, and from Indian Frontier Policy, John Ayde (2010).)
1839 - 1842
Shoja al-Mulk Muhammad Shah
Restored for a second time. Puppet ruler.
1839 - 1840
Russia under Czar Nicholas I pursues a renewed policy of pressuring
the Ottoman
empire and
Britain
for control of southern Central Asia. He sends an expedition to
Khiva,
purportedly to free slaves who had been captured from areas of the Russian
frontier and sold by Turkmen raiders. Britain is already involved in the
First Anglo-Afghan War in Afghanistan but, despite sending over five thousand
infantry, the Russian force stumbles into one of harshest winters in living
memory. It is driven back by the weather and by its losses in early 1840.
Britain decides that Russian (and also
Persian)
intrigues pose a threat to their control of
India.
To counter that perceived threat, it is decided that Afghanistan will be
used as a buffer state and the slave situation in Khiva will be solved
without military intervention. The khan is convinced to free all Russian
subjects under his control and to outlaw any further slavery of Russians.
1842
Fath Jang Khan
Puppet ruler.
1842
Shahpur Khan
Puppet ruler.
1842
The
Afghans manage to unify for long enough to force the
British
to retreat from the country in January, and Dost Mohammad is released from
captivity.
Emirate of Afghanistan (Barakzai Dynasty Restored) AD 1842 - 1926
When he was released from captivity in India,
Dost Mohammad Khan was able to regain his throne and govern an independent
Afghanistan. He renewed his hostility towards British interests in the
region and allied himself with the Sikhs. Their defeat in 1849 forced him to
retreat back into Afghanistan.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Abhijit
Rajadhyaksha.)
1842 - 1863
Dost
Mohammad Khan
Restored.
1842 - 1843
In
Afghanistan's immediate north, Emir Nasr-Allah of
Bukhara
achieves an unwanted level of notoriety in early Victorian
England after he has imprisoned and now executes the British envoys,
Charles Stoddart and Arthur Conolly. He also imprisons Joseph Wolff, who
enters Bukhara in 1843 in search of the missing envoys. Amused by Wolff
openly wearing his full ecclesiastical garb, the emir performs a
rare act of leniency by allowing Wolff to leave safely.
1855 - 1859
Dost Mohammad Khan signs a peace treaty with
BritishIndia.
Four years later Britain takes Baluchistan, and Afghanistan becomes
completely landlocked.
Emir Dost Muhammad Khan played an important part in shaping
Afghanistan in the nineteenth century
1856 - 1857
The AngloPersian War is triggered on 1 November 1856 during a further
- and this time largely successful - attempt by
Persia
to capture the Afghan city of
Herat, a long-standing
ambition to compensate them for the loss of the South Caucuses. However, they
have taken too long, and now Afghanistan is generally within the
British
sphere of operations from their base in
India. Herat has already
declared independence as a city state with its own emir, in alliance with
the emirate of
Kabul, and
has accepted British protection. A two-pronged British attack on Iran's
southern coast and also in southern Mesopotamia drives Naser al-Din to sign
the Treaty of Paris in 1857, in which he relinquishes control over and any
claim to Herat.
1863 - 1866
Sher Ali Khan
Son. Deposed.
1865 - 1866
Russia
takes Bukhara, Tashkent,
and Samarkand in 1865
(all of which go into forming
Uzbekistan in 1924). The following year, Sher Ali Khan is dethroned when
Mohammad Afzal Khan captures Kabul and the throne.
1866 - 1867
Mohammad Afzal Khan
Usurper. Died.
1867 - 1868
Mohammad A'zam Khan
1868
Mohammad A'zam Khan flees to Iran in the face of
the deposed emir, Sher Ali Khan, re-imposing his control over the country.
1868 - 1879
Sher Ali Khan
Restored.
1873
Russia
establishes a fixed boundary between Afghanistan and its new territories,
promising to respect Afghanistan's territorial integrity.
1879 - 1880
Sher Ali refuses a
British
commission in Kabul, resulting in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. British
troops occupy Kabul for a brief period when British General Frederick
'Little Bobs' Roberts is sent with an army to force Afghanistan into a
treaty which cedes its foreign policy to the British. The treaty is
concluded, but the British envoy is murdered. General Roberts returns to
Kabul to hang the envoy's murderers and is himself ambushed with the result
that another British force in southern Afghanistan is almost annihilated.
Roberts retreats under continual guerrilla gunfire in a march from Kabul to
Kandahar. Shortly afterwards, Sher Ali dies in Mazar-i-Shariff, and Emir
Mohammad Yaqub Khan takes over until October 1879. He gives up several
Afghan territories to the British which include Kurram, Khyber, Michni,
Pishin, and Sibi.
1879
Mohammad Yaqub Khan
Interim ruler until October.
1879 - 1880
Mohammad
Regent.
1880 - 1901
Abdur Rahman Khan
The 'iron emir'.
1880
Abdur
Rahman Khan gains the throne, and during his reign he comes to be known as
the 'iron emir'.
British
troops leave Kabul shortly after his accession, but Britain retains effective
control over Kabul's foreign affairs. Over the next few years, Britain
and Russia
officially establish the borders of what will become modern
Afghanistan.
1893 - 1895
In 1893 the Durand Line fixes the borders of Afghanistan
with
BritishIndia
for a century, splitting Afghan tribal areas, and leaving half of these
divided Afghans in what is now
Pakistan.
Two years later, Afghanistan's northern border is fixed and guaranteed by
Russia.
1901 - 1919
Habibullah Ghazi Khan
Son. Assassinated by his family.
1907
Russia
and
Great Britain sign a treaty at the convention of St Petersburg, in which
Afghanistan is declared outside Russia's purview.
1914 - 1918
Afghanistan remains neutral during the First World War,
despite
German encouragement of
anti-British
feeling and an Afghan rebellion along the borders of British
India.
1918 - 1920
Immediately
to the north of Afghanistan, a reorganisation of Central Asian
Soviet-controlled
states along ethnic lines means the end of the khanate of
Khiva, the Turkestan Krai,
and the emirate of
Bukhara (the
latter being ousted by the Tashkent Soviet in 1920). All of these formerly
independent territories are merged into the newly-formed 'Turkestan
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic', which is formed as a self-governing
entity of the early Soviet Union. However, in the same year, the Islamic
Council and the Council of Intelligentsia declare the rival 'Turkestan
Autonomous Republic', and set about fighting against the Bolshevik forces
who start closing down mosques and persecuting Muslim clergy as part of
their secularisation campaign.
1919
Nasrullah Khan
Brother. Deposed.
1919
Shortly after Nasrullah Khan ascends the throne, his
nephew deposes and imprisons him. Approximately a year later Nasrullah is
murdered in his cell.
1919 - 1929
Amanullah Khan
Brother. Became king in 1926.
1919 - 1921
Amanullah Khan notes the weakness of the major political
players in the region,
Russia
and
Britain,
after the conclusion of the First World War and decides to launch a surprise
attack against the British. This leads to the Third Anglo-Afghan War which
quickly becomes a stalemate. An armistice is agreed in 1921 which allows
Afghanistan to become an independent nation.
1921 - 1924
The
Turkestan Autonomous Republic has gradually lost ground to the Bolsheviks.
The Bolsheviks themselves have been divided into two groups over the region's
future, but the idea of a pan-Turkic state is jettisoned in place of several
smaller states. In 1924 the Turkestan ASSR is divided into the
Uzbek SSR, the
Turkmen SSR,
the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast (Kyrgyzstan), and the Karakalpak
Autonomous Oblast (modern Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic of
Uzbekistan). Initially, the Tajik ASSR is also adjoined to the Uzbek state.
1926
Amanullah proclaims himself shah, creating the kingdom of
Afghanistan under his Barakzai dynasty.
Kingdom of Afghanistan (Barakzai Dynasty) AD 1926 - 1973
The Barakzai emirate of
Afghanistan had been inherited by Dost Mohammad Khan, first as regent
in 1826 and then as emir in 1836. While he was still trying to reunite
the various Afghan factions, the
British,
in collaboration with a deposed
Durrani king, Shah
Shoja, invaded Afghanistan from
India
in 1839 and deposed him. Shah Shoja's return to power was brief,
however. The Afghans manage to unify for long enough to force the
British to retreat from the country in January 1842, and Dost Mohammad
was released from captivity. In 1926 his successor, Amanullah Khan,
proclaimed himself shah in the
Persian fashion, the equivalent of a king, and the emirate became a
kingdom.
The Barakzai dynasty continued to rule Afghanistan for another half
century, initially under Shah Amanullah Khan. Despite an early career
in which he contributed to the murder of his father, and the death of
his brother who he himself had imprisoned, Amanullah Khan attempted to
introduce progressive and fairly liberal social reforms into the country.
This led to opposition from conservative forces which seeded unrest,
and three years after proclaiming himself shah he was forced to flee
when the army failed to protect Kabul from an uprising. His eventual
replacement was the temporarily popular Habibullah Kalakani.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Abhijit
Rajadhyaksha, from the Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan,
Ludwig W Adamec (Scarecrow Press, 2011), from Afghanistan,
Louis Dupree (Princeton University Press, 1973), from Making States
Work: State failure and the crisis of governance, Simon Chesterman,
Michael Ignatieff, & Ramesh Thakur (Eds, United Nations University
Press, 2005), and from External Links:
Afghanistan Online
Biographies, and The
Royal Ark, and
Encyclopaedia Iranica.)
1926 - 1929
Amanullah
Khan
Elevated himself to shah.
Abdicated and was exiled. Died 1960.
1929
Amanullah
Khan has been attempting to drive through reforms in the country to make it
a fully functional modern state. His efforts have not been well received in
all quarters, however. Anti-reformist elements now band together and storm
the capital, Kabul. Much of the standing army deserts rather than resist the
uprising. The shah is forced to abdicate and flees to
BritishIndia. His brother is ordered to
relinquish his own claim to the throne. The leader of the rebellion, an ethnic
Tajik by the name of Habibullah Kalakani, takes control of the country.
Shah Amanullah Khan photographed in 1928 and wearing what
appears to be full ceremonial dress, along with a full selection
of dignitaries and high officials
1929
Inayatullah
Khan
Brother. Unwilling king
who abdicated after a few days.
1929
Habibullah
Kalakani (Ghazi)
Anti-reform usurper for
9 months. Killed by Nadir Khan.
1929
In a
dramatic year of turmoil and change for Afghanistan, Habibullah Kalakani is
executed by the government's former minister of war, Nadir Khan. Nadir Khan
himself is a great-grandson of Sultan Mohammad Khan Telayee, the brother of the
Barakzai ruler, Dost
Mohammad Khan (1842-1863). He is also the brother-in-law of Amanullah Khan
following a visit to
India by the latter which had seen
Nadir's sister marry the shah and her family being restored from exile there.
Nadir Khan had supported Habibullah Kalakani in destabilising the country and
now fulfilled his own ambitions to be king.
1929 - 1933
Mohammed
Nadir Khan
Former minister under
Amanullah Khan. Assassinated.
1933
Nadir
Khan has suppressed rebellions against his rule and has begun a more low-key
modernisation of the country. However, he is assassinated during a local visit,
although the reason for the assassination seems to be unclear. His son, Zahir
Shah, becomes shah in his place and Afghanistan remains a monarchy for the
next four decades, albeit largely governed by Zahir Shah's uncles for the
first thirty years.
1933 - 1973
Mohammed
Zahir Khan
Son. Deposed and
exiled until 2002.
1939 - 1945
The Nazi
German invasion of
Poland
on 1 September is the trigger for the Second World War. With both
France
and
Britain,
under
Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain, pledged to support Poland, both countries have no option
but to declare war on 3 September. Allies on all sides are subsequently
pulled into the war but Afghanistan, despite its strong links with the Axis
forces, remains neutral, one of the very few to do so.
1953
General
Mohammed Daud Khan, one of the shah's uncles who are exercising true power
from behind the throne, becomes prime minister. He turns to the
Soviet
Union for economic and military assistance, and introduces a number of
social reforms, such as the abolition of purdah (the practice of
secluding women from public view).
1963 - 1964
Mohammed
Daud is forced to resign in 1963, freeing Zahir Khan to lead the country
personally. A constitutional monarchy is introduced, but this leads to political
polarisation and power struggles. Mohammed Daud is especially antagonistic
as the changes will serve to prevent him from making a political comeback.
1973
Mohammed
Zahir Khan is in
Italy
for medical treatment. His uncle and former prime minister, Mohammed Daud, has
chosen his moment carefully and he seizes power in a surprise coup, declaring
a republic of
Afghanistan.
Modern Afghanistan AD 1973 - Present Day
The modern Islamic republic of Afghanistan is largely a creation of the
eighteenth century, formed out of several ancient regions. It is located
along the ancient trade routes between modern
Iran
to its the west and India
to the east. To the north it is bordered (from west to east) by
Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, and
Tajikistan. China
borders briefly along the eastern Wakhan Corridor Nature Refuge, while
Pakistan occupies the full
remainder of the eastern and southern border.
The territory which now forms Afghanistan largely formed the ancient region
of Arachosia. Arachosia seems
to have formed part of a much larger and more poorly-defined region known
as Ariana, of which the later
province of Aria was the
heartland. Barely recorded by written history, its precise boundaries are
impossible to pin down. Conquered in the mid-sixth century BC by Cyrus the
Great, Arachosia was added to the
Persian
empire as the satrapy of Harahuwatish.
The
Greek empire replace the Persians, and the Indian
Mauryan empire replaced
them. Following that the region suffered from the same uncertainty and
shifting rulers as the rest of South Asia, although the
Kushanshahs held sway for some
time. A new region, Southern
Khorasan, emerged during the early
Islamic
period, of which a greater part was later absorbed into Afghanistan as a
native kingship eventually emerged. From the 1700s those native kings were
engaged in a near-constant battle against Iranians and Indians for power
and territory, and then became playthings of the colonial powers prior
to independence being restored early in the twentieth century.
As can be seen, the country endured a troubled time for several centuries,
and not more so than since 1973. Mohammed Daud seized power in a coup in
that year and declared Afghanistan to be a republic, ditching its
Barakzai king. He tried to play off the
Soviets
against the western powers, but his style quickly alienated left-wing factions
who joined forces against him. Soviet Russian forces invaded the country in
1979, leading to a decade of guerrilla warfare from the Afghan tribal forces.
Despite a massive superiority in firepower, Russia was never able to defeat
these canny hill-fighting forces, but by the time they retreated the country
was in ruins. Various factions vied for control thereafter, sometimes briefly
unifying the country before the next faction pushed it aside. The most
destructive of these was the fundamentalist Taliban regime, which employed
brutal suppression as its tool of government. They were pushed into the east
by the allied invasion of 2001 and have largely been pinned back there ever
since.
The titular Barakzai kings of Afghanistan,
led by the deposed and exiled Zahir Khan, retained their claim even though
Zahir Khan was not even allowed back into the country until the Taliban
had clearly been removed from governance in 2002. Despite not holding any
power at all in the destabilised country, the current head of the royal
house could be re-established as king should the country eventually decide
to go that way, however unlikely that may seem at present. Titular
claimants are shown below with a shaded background to differentiate them
from the actual holders of power in the country.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Abhijit
Rajadhyaksha, and from The Persian Empire, J M Cook (1983), from
The Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996), from Farāmarz, the
Sistāni Hero: Texts and Traditions of the Farāmarznāme
and the Persian Epic Cycle, Marjolijn van Zutphen, from Alexander
The Great: In the Realm of Evergetǽs, Reza Mehrafarin, and from
External Links:
The Geography of Strabo (Loeb Classical Library Edition, 1932), and
The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and
Livius.org, and
Encyclopaedia
Iranica.)
1973 - 1978
Mohammed Daud Khan
Military dictator.
Former prime minister. Murdered.
Daud
is overthrown and killed in a coup - known as the Saur Revolution - by the
leftist People's Democratic Party. The party's Khalq and Parcham factions
fall out, leading to a purge of most of the Parcham leaders. At the same
time, conservative Islamic and ethnic leaders who object to social changes
begin an armed revolt in the countryside.
The Soviet Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the decade
of war which followed left the country devastated, and
starkly divided along factional lines
A power
struggle explodes between the leftist leaders, Hafizullah Amin and Nur Mohammed
Taraki, in Kabul is won by Amin. Taraki is removed from power and is
murdered on Armin's orders. Revolts in the countryside continue and the
Afghan army faces collapse. The
Soviet
Union finally sends in troops to help remove Amin, who is executed.
Various
Mujahideen factions fight a guerrilla war against the occupying
Soviet
army. In 1985, they unite in Pakistan
and begin to offer a much more effective fighting force, backed by the
USA
from 1986. Soviet troops begin to withdraw from 1988, with the evacuation being
completed in 1989. The Afghan Civil War (1989-1992) is triggered as the
Mujahideen fight on to oust Najibullah.
The
next phase of the Afghan Civil War (1992-1996) sees the tables turned.
The victorious Mujahideen forces agree on the formation of a government, with
an ethnic Tajik, Burhanuddin Rabbani, being proclaimed president. In 1994,
the Pashtun-dominated Taliban emerge as major challenge to his government,
and within two years they capture Kabul and impose a hardline version of
Islam, banning women from working, and introducing fundamentalist Islamic
punishments, which include death by stoning and amputations (the removal of
a hand for low-level crime, for instance). Rabbani flees to join the
anti-Taliban northern alliance as the still-recognised president in exile,
and another phase of the Afghan Civil War (1996-2001) is triggered.
1992 - 1996
Burhanuddin Rabbani
Mujahideen ruler.
Fled Kabul as president-in-exile.
1996 - 2001
Mullah Mohammad Omar
Taliban ruler.
2001
In
March, the Bamiyan Bhuddas, built by the
Indo-Greek
settlers in the region in the third century, are destroyed by the Taliban.
By 2008 a project to rebuild one of them is underway, to be completed in
2009.
The Taliban refuse a
US
demand to hand over terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden, who is taking refuge
in the country. This gives the US an excuse to take military action of its
own and open a fresh phase of the Afghan Civil War (2001-2014). By
November 2001, the Taliban have been pushed out of Kabul and into the
eastern fringes of the country by US and
British
air strikes and a resurgent northern alliance. A power-sharing government
is formed in Kabul, with Hamid Karzai selected as interim head of state.
US and British forces, along with smaller units from other countries,
attempt to destroy the remaining Taliban forces without much overall
success. One benefit of these successes is the fact that the former king,
Mohammed Zahir Khan, is allowed back into the country for the first time
since he had been deposed in 1973.
2004 - 2005
Presidential elections are undertaken in the country, with Hamid Karzai
winning. The first parliamentary and provincial elections in decades are
held in the country in 2005. Some stability has been achieved in the west
and north, but the fighting against the Taliban in the east shows no
sign of abating.
Despite a decade of fighting against Nato forces, the Taliban
remain strong in eastern Afghanistan, although various attempts
to negotiate a peace with them have floundered
2007 - Present
Crown Prince Ahmad Shah
Son of Zahir Shah. Born 1934.
2014 - 2015
The last
British
troops pull out of Helmand province, transferring all defensive duties to
Afghan forces as the fight against the Taliban continues.
US
forces in the country are also being reduced to a minimum by the end of the
year, although official combat participation formally ends in line with the
British on 26 October. The following year the Taliban agree for the first
time to take part in peace negotiations, although fighting still takes place
in bursts of activity.
Crown Prince Muhammad Zahir Khan
Son of Ahmad Shah and heir to the title. Born 1962.
