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Afghanistan

Crossroads of Conquerors
Geography

♥ landlocked country in North Asia


♥ between the USSR, Pakistan and Iran
♥ 650,000 sq. km.. area is covered by
high, snow-capped mountains and deep
valleys
♥ Hindu Kush mountain range bisects
the land from east to west
Government: Islamic republic
♥ poor and isolated with average income of
$104 yearly

♥ no railways or navigable rivers

♥ camels and horses are still used for travel

♥ fruits, gems, carpets, coal, iron, and natural


gas are the main products

♥ capital is Kabul

♥ economy declined due to guerrilla war


People
♥ 24 million afghans came from Aryan or
Palestinian origin
♥ Islamic country

♥ fanatical Muslims (Mujahedin) led the


Guerrilla war

♥ made up of independent, self-governing


tribes

♥ population decreased since 1979 Russian


invasion
♥ 3million Afghan refugees
in Pakistan; 1 million in
Iran, & another million
dead from the war

♥ Afghans in Pakistan are


the world's largest
concentration of refugees

♥ Pushtu & Dari Persian is


refugees
the national language
♥ illiteracy is high (88%)

♥ most are farmers and


shepherds
♥ famous for the following
1. horses better then
Arabian steeds
2. the unique two-humped
camel
3. karakul wool
karakul wool
4. homemade flintlock rifles
5. narcotic drug called
hashish(cannabis indica)
6. national sport called buz
kashi-a horse

game like polo, played with a


dead goat or calf.
buzkashi-a
Early History
♥ 6th century BC- Cyrus the Great made the country
- called it Bactria, a Persian province

♥ Two centuries later- Alexander the Great subdued


Bactria & married a local princess.
- His generals founded local kingdoms (one is
the Bactria Kingdom lasted until 167B.C.).

♥ 1st -4th centuries A.D


the Sakas (Scythian nomads), Parthians,
Kushans, Sasanians, & White Huns dominated
Afghanistan
Cyrus the Great
♥ 17th- 13th centuries- Arabs and Turks
- Converted the tribes to Islam and built new
towns, including Kabul, the present capital.
♥ 14th-16th centuries- Mongols and Moguls came led by
Tamerlane and Babur the Tiger
- Babur the tiger captured both Afghanistan and India
- He founded the Mogul Empire in India with the help of
Afghans tribesmen. Babur
- He was so enchanted by the Afghanistan that he asked
and was buried in Kabul in 1530

♥ 16th- 18th centuries- struggle for supremacy between


Mongols, Indians and Safavid Iranians

♥ 1747 - Cluster of small tribes united as one nation


under Ahmed Khan
-1st time Afghanistan had their King

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

- 1919 fought the 3rd Anglo-afghan war in


- Britain conceded
- May 26, 1919- Afghanistan became a free
and independent nation again
-founded a new kingdom and toured the
world with his wife for the 1st time King Amanullah
-
-February 1928-he was deposed by a
revolution of rebel chieftains
♥ Nadir Khan(1923-33)

- 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

parliament, independent judiciary and a


prime minister appointed by the king.
Pro- Soviet Republic and Soviet Invasion
♥ July 17, 1973
-while King Zahir was in Italy, his
brother-in-law, leftist Prime Minister
Mohammed Daoud, seized power and
proclaimed a new republic with himself
as President.
- followed years of political chaos which
led to foreign invasion and occupation
by Soviet troops and a civil war in
Afghanistan
Mohammed
Daoud
♥ April 21, 1978
- President Daoud was assassinated in a bloody military coup- “Democratic
Republic of Afghanistan” was set up with Mohammed Taraki as president
- attempt is to establish a communist state with Soviet aid brought armed
resistance rom Muslim Sunni sect leaders
- antagonized the rest of Afghanistan and the word by bloody massacres
of thousands of his opponents
- 30,000 anti-communist Afghan killed.
- kidnapping and death of American Ambassador Adolp Dubs in Kabul in
Feb. 1979
- Afghan Muslim of the Sunni Sect organized mass demonstrations in the
country.
Mohammed
Taraki
♥ March 1979
- declared a holy war against the pro-Soviet
republic
- revolutionary group was formed at Peshawar,
led by 3 Muslim rebels

♥ 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

♥ Afghanistan became the


''Vietnam'' of Russia.
♥ Reasons for the Soviet
Defeat:
1. guerrila tactics of the Afghan
defenders

2. lack of popularity of the


communist- backed government
3. the desire for peace by Soviet
leades because the Afghan
war had cost of 30,000 Soviet
troops and US$2 billion a year

4. international pressure to end


the war due to UN resolutions
and news of war atrocities.
The rule of the Talibans
♥ for over a decade after
the UN peace treaty on
April 14,1988, there
was no peace for
Afghanistan

♥ after the withdrawal of


the foreign troops. the
Talibans
warlords began to fight
among themselves
♥ another bloody civil war was erupted

♥ the sight of Muslim brothers fighting


each other grieved other Muslim
nations

♥ Pakistan and Saudi Arabia tried to stop


them but did not succeeded.
♥ Fighting and bombardment
destroyed the capital of Kabul
and claimed many lives.

♥ By the 1990's, 2 million people


had died, and 6 million
Afghans had become refugees.
♥ A religious fanatic group called the Taliban
controlled 90% of the country.
♥ Opposed by the northern alliance of the
Uzbec warlords
♥ 1999, they hanged the pro-Russian leaders
in Kabul and took over the government

Uzbec warlords
♥ Muslim priests (Mullahs)
became the new political
rulers

♥ orders were cruel and


repressive for dress and
behavior, especially for
women.

Mullahs
♥ They banned all music,
entertainment and sports

♥ women no longer allowed to wear


make up, go to school, or work as
doctors, teachers or lawyers

♥ those who disobeyed the new rules


were executed quickly.
The Global War on Terror Began in Afghanistan
♥ the end of the Taliban came when their
leader Mullah Omar, formed alliance
with a wealthy Arab businessman named
Osama bin Laden funded an
international network( al- Qaeda, Abu-
Sayyaf)

♥ attacks included the bombing of US warship


at Yemen harbor, and the kidnapping Osama bin
and killing of an US ambassador in Laden

Kabul.

♥ Their worst act of terror brought swift


international retaliation.
♥ September 11,2001, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists
hijacked 3 American commercial jets and
crashed them on the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon.
♥ A 4th jet did not make it to its target because the
passengers resisted the hijackers.
♥ It was believed headed for the White House
presidential grounds.
al-Qaeda
♥ Over 2 thousand victims died in the horrible terrorists
tragedy, most of them were civilians and rescue
workers came from 83 countries including the
Philippines.
♥ After September 11,2001 US president George W. Bush Jr.
launched the globar war on terror, and many countries including
Philippines joined the war.
♥ Taliban in Afghanistan became the 1st target
♥ Taliban rulers refused demands to hand over Osama bin Laden,
who was suspected of masterminding the terror attacks.
♥ 2 weeks later, an American led military campaign began in Afghanistan.
♥ This smashed the Taliban rule and the terrorists training camps in the
country
♥ their leaders fled into hiding, along with bin Laden and his supporters.
♥ June 2002, a new post- Taliban system was chosen
for Afghanistan by the loya jirga, or tribal
council
♥ they elected a dashing Westernized leader from
majority Pashtu tribe, Hamid Karzai as their
new head
♥ King Mohammed Zahir Khan returned from exile in
Italy to help organize the new government
♥ The cold,famine,the ravages war and decades of
fighting made the Afghanistan one of the
poorest countries.
♥ Called ''graveyard of empires'' and ''crossroads of Hamid Karzai
conquerors'' because its a strategic gateway
between the Middle east and Far east.
♥ Many powers have tried to meddle in
Afghanistan's land and people but
they all failed.

♥ Alexander the Great, the Mongols,


the British, the Russians and the
Americans have all come and gone,
only to find that the Afghans have
their own ways.
Economy
Afghanistan's economy is recovering
from decades of conflict. The
economy has improved
significantly since the fall of the
Taliban regime in 2001 largely Pomegranates
because of the infusion of from Afghanistan

international assistance, the


recovery of the agricultural sector,
and service sector growth.
Despite the progress of the past few years,
Afghanistan is extremely poor,
landlocked, and highly dependent on
foreign aid, agriculture, and trade with
neighboring countries. Much of the
population continues to suffer from
shortages of housing, clean water,
electricity, medical care, and jobs.
Criminality, insecurity, weak governance,
and the Afghan Government's inability
to extend rule of law to all parts of the
country pose challenges to future
economic growth. Afghanistan's living
standards are among the lowest in the
world
While the international community remains
committed to Afghanistan's development, pledging
over $57 billion at three donors' conferences since
2002, the Government of Afghanistan will need to
overcome a number of challenges, including low
revenue collection, anemic job creation, high
levels of corruption, weak government capacity,
and poor public infrastructure.
Culture
At one time, Buddhism
flourished in Afghanistan and
this sculpture is proof of this.
This image of Buddha's head is
from  Shotorak and it stands 22
cm tall. The mass like quality is
typical of  many of the late
Gandhara Buddha images.
These figurines are made out of
baked clay. The one on the left
is 6 cm tall and the one on the
right is 5.5 cm. These figurines
supposedly represent the great
pagan mother goddess, and
many similar ones have been
found in Southern
Afghanistan (Baluchistan).
This figure of Maitreya and
worshippers from Paitava,
stands 25 cm tall. This piece
is from the 3rd Century and
represents an orientalized
Roman sculpture.
dresses

Lungee
(Turban)

Pakol (hat)

Woman's Dress
Girls in Kabul, wearing their traditional
clothes.

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