Islamic era

7th-12th centuries A.D.

Islam reaches Afghanistan in the seventh century but does not become universally dominant for another 300 years. The Islamic era can be said to have really begun with the Ghanznavid dynasty (962-1160) founded by Muslum Turkish Invaders who built their capital at Ghanzni. Sultun Mahmud incorporated much of modern northern India into the Ghaznavid empire, and for two centuries Ghazni was a major literary and artistic center, influential throughout the Islamic world and south Asia. Poets and scholars flocked to the Ghaznavid court. The great Persian epic poem, Ferdausi’s Shah Nama (“Book of Kings”) with its stories of Sohrab and Rustum was compiled at Ghazni and dedicated to Sultan Mahmud. Further north, the physician and philosopher Avicenna(Ibn-I-Sina) was born to a family from Balkh c. 980. The greatest name in medieval medicine in Europe and the Arab world, he was also influential for his combination of Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic thought. During this period Afghanistan became firmly and solidly Muslim.

    In the twelfth century, the Ghaznavids were overthrown by an indigenous Afghan dynasty originating in Ghor, in the in the central mountain massif. The Ghorids went on to conquer India, establishing their capital at Delhi, where they and their succors ruled until the the Delhi Sultanate fell to Tamerlane in 1389. In Delhi, they built the Qulb Minar, the world’s tallest minaret.  The sole surviving monument of their original capitol in Ghor in the Jam Minar, second highest minaret in the world, solitary in the Afghan mountain wilderness.  

1211

Ghengis Khan invades China.  

1219-1221

Ghengis Khan and his Mongol horsemen invade Afghanistan. Meeting resistance, the Mongols laid the country waste, completely wiping out Heart, Balkh, and other cities, slaughtering the population, and systematically destroying the irrigation system developed over many centuries and necessary for agriculture in this semi-arid land turning historically fertile cropland into permanent desert. This was the single most catastrophic event in Afghan history prior to the Soviet invasion.  For a century and a half Afghanistan lay under the Mongol yoke. (During this period, Marco Polo visited Afghanistan en route to the court of Kublai Khan via the Silk Road, which passed through northern Afghanistan and Wakhan.)

1370-c. 1500

Repeated invasions by the Mongols under Tamerlane (Timur-I-lang) (1336-1404; Crowned in Balkh in 1370) and incorporated into the Timurid empire, which stretched from the Caucasus to the Ganges.

Afghanistan had barely begun to recover from Genghis Khan’s devastation when Tamerlane again inflicted ruin upon it. This sealed it’s doom as a dynamic cultural center, although the Timurid capital at Heart became for a few Decades the greatest Persian panting of all time and one of the greatest centers of Islamic architecture, poetry, literature and scholarship, often compared to Renaissance Florence.

      The Mongol invasions not only undermined Astan’s leading historical cultural role but also permanently impoverished it. In the wake of the Mongols, Afghanistan lay depopulated and ruined, with neither the people nor the economic means generate energetic revival. It’s one hope for recovery lay in the trade routes, which had been the main arteries of commerce between Europe, the Mediterranean, China and India for thousands of years.  When Magellan circumnavigated the glob in 1520, Commerce shifted to sea routes, the overland routes fell into comparative disuse, and Afghanistan was left with no significant economic base. As a result, the area ceased to be a major center of culture and commerce and began to decline into stagnation as a backwater of the modern world, with a minuscule economy and small population base.

1504-1709

Babur, the founder of the Moghul dynasty, established himself in Kabul. From there, beginning in 1526, he and his descendants mount the conquest of India and established the Moghul empire. Throughout the period of the great Moghuls (1526-1701), Kabul remained the northern seat of the empire: Babur chose to be buried there; Akbar, the greatest of the Moghuls, was born there and frequently returned. Over the next 200 years, most of Afghanistan was attached ether to the Moghul empire (Kabul and the east) or to the Safavid Persian empire (Heart), or was disputed between the two (Kandahar).  

Afghan Monarchy to Buffer State

1747

Pushtuns create an Afghan monarchy. The founding of the modern nation of Afghanistan.  

1747-1773

Reign of Ahmad Shah Durani

1773-1793

Timor Shah Ruler of Afghanistan Saddozais (Shahs)

1793-1799

Zeman Shah Ruler of Afghanistan Saddozais (Shahs)  

1799-1803

Mahmud Shah Ruler of Afghanistan Saddozais (Shahs)

1803-1809

Shah Shuja Ruler of Afghanistan Saddozais (Shahs)

1809-1819

Mahmud Shah (returns) Ruler of Afghanistan Saddozais (Shahs)  

1793-1826

Time of internal trouble and erosion of monarch’s power.  

1835-1863

Dost Mohammad Khan Ruler of Afghanistan Mohammedzais (Amirs).

1839-1842

British invasion and occupation, AKA First Anglo-Afghan war. British Defeat.  

1855

Anglo-Afghan treaty. First British attempt to create a buffer state between their empire and Tsarist Russia.  

1864-1879

Sher Ali Khan Ruler of Afghanistan Mohammedzais (Amirs).

1878

Second Anglo Afghan war. Early losses, but eventually victory for the British.

Creation of modern Afghanistan

1880-1901

Abdur Rahman Kahn, founder of the modern Afghan state, attempts to centralize the state. Suppresses rebellious regions including Hazarajat and forces Islamization of Kafiristan (Today’s State of Nuristan).  

1893

Creation of the Durand line, which today marks the boarder between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  

1901-1919

Habibullah Khan (While he assumed a title of Shah he was actually an an Amir) Ruler of Afghanistan Mohammedzais (Amirs).  

1919-1929

Shah Amanullah Khan Ghazi Ruler of Afghanistan.

Third Anglo-Afghan war in 1919 gave Afghanistan complete control of its foreign policy. 

Treaty of friendship the U.S.S.R. in 1920. Country open to foreign visitor. Failure of a series of administrative and social reforms.

1926

Treaty of Neutrality and Nonaggression with the Soviet Union.

1929

1929-1933

Nadir Shah Ruler of Afghanistan. 

Restoration of Pushtun control of the government.

1931

First Constitution. New Treaty of Neutrality and Nonaggression with the Soviet Union.  

1933-1973

Zahir Shah Ruler of Afghanistan 

The King’s uncles control the state until 1949.  

1946

First American economic aid to Afghanistan. Renewal of Treaty of Neutrality and Nonaggression with the Soviet Union.  

1947

India achieves independence. Pakistan proclaims a constitution. Afghanistan first confronts the problem of “Pushtunistan.” Britain withdraws from India. Pakistan is created from Indian and Afghan territory.  

1953-1963

Decade dominated by Kings cousin, Daud, who acts as Prime Minister. Five-Year Plans: 1956-1961 and 1962-1967. Technical cooperation with both the Soviet Union and the United States. Soviet aid increases considerably after 1954, amounting to $700 million between 1954 and 1968. This aid represents two thirds of all foreign aid to Afghanistan. American aid totals $526 million between 1946 and 1978.

1954

The United States refuses to sell arms to Afghanistan.

1955

Khrushchev and Bulganin visit Kabul. Treaty of Neutrality and Nonaggression with the Soviet Union extended for ten years. 

1956

1957

Women are allowed to attend university and enter the workforce.

1960

Khrushchev visits Kabul.  

1963

Brezhnev visits Kabul.  

1963

Zahir Shah Visits United States.  

Sept 9, 1964

Loe Jirga unanimously adopted a new constitution for Afghanistan.  

1964-1965

New liberal constitution. Soviet Union builds the Kabul-Charikar-Doschi road, running a tunnel under the Salang Pass.  

Jan 1965

January: Afghan Communist Party secretly formed. Babrak Karmal is one of the founders.  

1967

Afghanistan and the Soviet Union sign a protocol guaranteeing delivery of Afghan natural gas from 1967-1985  

1968

Beginning of student demonstrations in Kabul. Unrest lasts until 1972.  

1971-1973

Economic stagnation, drought, and famine.  

1973

Pro-Soviet Daoud Khan overthrows the last king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, in a military coup. Khan’s regime, PDPA (People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan) comes to power. Daoud Khan abolishes the monarchy and names himself president. The Republic of Afghanistan is established with firm ties to the USSR.  

July 17, 1973

Coup d’état. Daud proclaims republic.  

1974

Daud moves closer to Iran and Saudi Arabia and tries to improve relations with Pakistan.  

1975-1977

Daoud Khan proposes new constitution. Ousting of suspected opponents from government. Women's rights confirmed.  

1975

Porgorny visits Kabul and extends Soviet-Afghan Treaty of Neutrality and Nonaggression for another ten years. Agreements made with Iran include a $700 million loan.  

1977

Daud visits Moscow. Thirty year commercial agreement made with Soviet Union.

1977-1978

Drought and famine.  

The New Regime

Apr 24, 1978

Daud overthrown and executed. Daoud Khan is killed in a communist coup. Nur Mohammad Taraki becomes president, and Babrak Karmal is named deputy Prime Minister. They proclaim independence from Soviet influence, and declare their policies to be based on Islamic principles, Afghan nationalism, and socioeconomic justice.Taraki signs friendship treaty with the Soviet Union.In June, the U.S.-supported guerrilla movement Mujahadeen is created.  

Apr 30, 1978

Democratic republic of Afghanistan proclaimed and recognized by Soviet Union.  

May 15, 1978

Tass announces that the Soviet Union is taking charge of Afghan security forces.  

Jul 12, 1978

Decree 6 abolishes usury and peasants’ debts.  

Jul 1978

The Khalq faction ousts members of the rival Parcham faction from key posts.  

Aug-Sep 1978

Regime arrests many senior officers and several ministers, including the minister of defense, Abdul Qader.  

Oct 1978

Decree 7 guarantees women’s rights.  

Nov 28, 1978

Decree 8 announces agrarian reforms to take effect on January 1, 1979. 

Dec 1978

Taraki visits Moscow, where he signs a treaty guaranteeing friendship and cooperation for a period of twenty years.  

January 16, 1979

The Shah flees Iran. The Islamic Revolution spreads throughout the country within a month.  

Feb 14, 1979

The United States Ambassador in Kabul is kidnapped and killed during a raid by Afghan security forces.  

March 1979

The people support a mutiny of troops stationed in Heart.  More than twenty Russians are killed during the uprising. Hafizullah Amin is named Prime Minister. The insurrection that began during the winter in Nuristan and Hazarajat spreads throughout several other provinces.  

Apr-Aug 1979

Large numbers of soldiers and officers desert from the Afghan army. Afghan refugees begin to pour into Pakistan.  

July 27 1979

Hafizullah Amin becomes Minister of Defense and Minister of the Interior.  

August 5, 1979

Regime crushes a military uprising in Kabul led by the Bala Hissar garrison.  

Sept 16, 1979

Hafizullah Amin becomes president of the Republic and Secretary General of the ruling party, the DPPA.  

Oct 14, 1979

Mutiny of troops at Rishkur base in Kabul.  

Oct-Dec, 1979

Hafizullah Amin announces concessions and releases political prisoners but also orders increased repression by military.  

Dec 25 1979

Beginning of Soviet military intervention. Under the guise of support for Amin, heavily armed Soviet forces began arriving in early December. On December 24th, two airborne battalions secured Kabul airport for the subsequent massive airlift of infantry and armor. Meanwhile, Afghanistan forces were immobilized on various pretexts (e.g. winterizing).   

Dec 27 1979

Soviet troops occupy Kabul. According to verbal accounts Soviet Tanks were placed at key locations to thwart a staged student uprising.  Soviet forces seized the city and a special assault unit killed Amin and his family.  On the same night, a speech by Babrak Karmal, claiming to be in Kabul and announcing his takeover of the government and the PDPA, was broadcast from Tashkent on the Radio Kabul frequency.

           On or about January 1, 1980, Babrak arrived in Kabul (though he later claimed to have been there secretly since October). Having killed Amin without obtaining any written documentation requesting Soviet forces, Moscow fell back on a variety of contradictory explanations. To justify the invasion. Under terms of the 1978 treaty and the United Nations Charter.

            While the international press was present in Kabul, a number of prisoners were freed from Pul-i-Charki prison, most of them Parchamis though some non-Communists; meanwhile, other arrests continued secretly. Afghan refugees began to pour into Pakistan and Iran.

Afghanistan under Soviet Occupation

Dec-27, 1979

Brezhnev congratulates Babrak Karmal, new President of the Republic and Secretary General of the DPPA.

January 1980

Amin’s secret police (KAM), is replaced by KhAD, organized with the assistance of the KGB and East German secret police; Dr. Najibullah is brought back from the Soviet Union to run the organization.  

Jan 6, 1980

Several thousand political prisoners are freed.

Jan 11, 1980

A new government is formed and includes members of both the Khalq and Parcham factions.  

January 13, 1980

Brezhnev declares that the Soviet intervention was a response to appeal by friendly government and was intended to counter interference by foreign powers.

January 29, 1980

Representatives from thirty-six Muslim countries meet in Islamabad, vote by an overwhelming majority to condemn