|
|
Afghanistan
Overview:
Following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, Afghanistan became the battlefield for various Mujahidin factions and tribal leaders struggling for power. Due to the precarious security situation the populace supported the Taliban, an extremist Islamic militia, to rid Afghanistan of insecurity and warlords. By 2001, the Taliban had gained control of approximately 90% of Afghanistan and had begun a legacy of systematic civic and political violations condemned by the international community. After the Taliban refused to expel Osama bin Laden, accused by the United States of masterminding the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C., from Afghanistan, the international community joined forces in a military campaign to capture bin Laden and oust the Taliban from Afghanistan. Afghans see a "golden opportunity" in the defeat of the Taliban to release themselves from more than two decades of civil strife, destruction, displacement, warlords, and lawlessness. The Bonn Accord brokered by the United Nations between various Afghan groups outlined a political process for the return of democracy to Afghanistan. On December 22, a 30-member Interim Authority was established in Kabul. The Interim Authority will remain in place until an Emergency Loya Jirga establishes a Transitional Government that will govern Afghanistan until a fully representative government can be elected. Despite significant obstacles, a historic opportunity exists to build democratic institutions and to assist modern minded civic and political leaders to counter the influence of feudal style warlords with a viable and sustainable governing framework in their country.
Geography:
History:
Afghanistan, often called the crossroads of Central Asia, has had a turbulent history. In 328 BC, Alexander the Great entered the territory of present-day Afghanistan, then part of the Persian Empire, to capture Bactria (present-day Balkh). Invasions by the Scythians, White Huns, and Turks followed in succeeding centuries. In AD 642, Arabs invaded the entire region and introduced Islam. Arab rule quickly gave way to the Persians, who controlled the area until conquered by the Turkic Ghaznavids in 998. Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030) consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and turned Ghazni into a great cultural center as well as a base for frequent forays into India. Following Mahmud's short-lived dynasty, various princes attempted to rule sections of the country until the Mongol invasion of 1219. The Mongol invasion, led by Genghis Khan, resulted in massive slaughter of the population, destruction of many cities, including Herat, Ghazni, and Balkh, and the despoliation of fertile agricultural areas. Following Genghis Khan's death in 1227, a succession of petty chiefs and princes struggled for supremacy until late in the 14th century, when one of his descendants, Tamerlane, incorporated Afghanistan into his own vast Asian empire. Babur, a descendant of Tamerlane and the founder of India's Moghul dynasty at the beginning of the 16th century, made Kabul the capital of an Afghan principality. In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of what is known today as Afghanistan, established his rule. A Pashtun, Durrani was elected king by a tribal council after the assassination of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah at Khabushan in the same year. Throughout his reign, Durrani consolidated chieftainships, petty principalities, and fragmented provinces into one country. His rule extended from Mashad in the west to Kashmir and Delhi in the east, and from the Amu Darya (Oxus) River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. With the exception of a 9-month period in 1929, all of Afghanistan's rulers until the 1978 Marxist coup were from Durrani's Pashtun tribal confederation, and all were members of that tribe's Mohammadzai clan after 1818.
Related Links: