Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Crossroads of Conquerors
Geography
♥ capital is Kabul
Tamerlane
♥ 19th century- became a battleground in the
rivalry of imperial Britain and Czarist
Russia
-Anglo- Afghan war fought by Dost
Mohammed and his son and grandson but
end up defeated
♥ 1880- kingdom passed on British sphere of
influence
- Abdur Rahman was recognized as king by
the british
-he receives $500,00 of annual salary to
delegate mngt. Of external relations to
Britain Dost
- Habibullah his son stayed neutral and Mohammed
assassinated on February 20, 1919
Afghan Independence
♥ Amanullah
- succeeded Amanullah
- able militarist
- rehabilitated the economy
- promulgated the 1931
constitution
- assassinated on November 8, Nadir Khan
1933
♥ Mohammed Zahir
- son of Nadir Khan
- 19 years old
- Afghanistan became a modern nation
- abolished polygamy, emancipated
women, and stayed neutral during
WW2.
- 1964 a new constitution created a
constitutional monarchy, a partly elected Mohammed Zahir
♥ September 1979
- bloody coup in Kabul led to death of Hafizzulah Amin
President Taraki and replacement by
Hafizzulah Amin, a former teacher.
♥ December 25,1979
- Soviet Union launched a massive air and
land assault on Kabul
- a Soviet spy (KGB) hit squad shot and
killed Amin and his family
- a new puppet leader, President Babrak
Karmal, was installed on Dec. 27. President Babrak
Karmal
Soviet Occupation and withdrawal
♥ unexpected fierce resistance from the Afgha people,
resulting in a bloody, dirty and most secret war
that raged from eight years.
♥Soviet Russia poured 120,000 troops and modern
equipment
♥ At first they were supported by the Afghan army but
eventually 40,000 army deserters fled to guerilla
side, only 20,000 loyalists stayed
♥ 30,000 Afghan holy warrior (Mujahedin), outnumbered and
outarmed fought with sympathy and support of the
population and the rest of the world.
♥ Bloody civil war- the Russia lost 30,000 casualities
♥ 3 million dead and 6 million refugees fled to Pakistan
and Iran.
♥ Soviet bombing demolished many villages.
♥ Some 1,800 schools were damaged and thousands of
teachers tortured by the Russian invaders.
♥ At the beginning the holy warriors fought alone in a
holy war (Jihad) against the atheistic communist.
♥ They won the support of the anti-communist
Afghans, most of whom deserted from the
army, civilian population and military aid of US,
Pakistan and other countries.
♥ Approximately 70,000 Afghan Guerillas were against
the Soviet jet bombers, helicopter ganships, heavy
artillery and tanks.
♥ Armed only with 19th century flintlock rifles they made
and later they acquired modern weapons including
US Stringer missile rockets that caused deadly
losses of Soviet and Afghan loyalist troops.
US Stringer missile
rockets
♥ Soviet government was forced to
abandon Dec. 1987, a new
Soviet party chairman
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV
announced that the USSR
would withdraw its troops to
Afghanistan by 1988.
♥ for the first time in history the
Soviet Union, a big power, lost
MIKHAIL
a war! GORBACHEV
Uzbec warlords
♥ Muslim priests (Mullahs)
became the new political
rulers
Mullahs
♥ They banned all music,
entertainment and sports
Kabul.
Lungee
(Turban)
Pakol (hat)
Woman's Dress
Girls in Kabul, wearing their traditional
clothes.