Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Information

Afghanistan  Persian officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked sovereign state forming part of South Asia,Central Asia,and to some extent Western Asia. It has a population of around 30 million inhabiting an area of approximately 647,500 km2 (250,001 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as the Middle Paleolithic. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC.Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East culture with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the land has been home to various peoples through the agesand witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and in modern era Western forces.The land also served as a source from which the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Hephthalites, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Mughals, Durranis, and others have risen to form major empires. The political history of the modern state of Afghanistan begins in 1709 with the rise of the Pashtuns, when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by the rise of the Durrani Empire in 1747. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the "Great Game" between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the 1919 Anglo-Afghan War, King Amanullah began a European style modernization of the country but was stopped by ultra-conservatives. During the Cold War, after the withdrawal of the British from neighboring India in 1947, the United States and the Soviet Union began spreading influences in Afghanistan, which led in 1979 to a bloody war between the US-backed mujahideen forces and the Soviet-backed Afghan government in which over a million Afghans lost their lives.This was followed by a 1990s civil war, the rise and fall of the extremist Taliban government, and the 2001–present war.In December 2001, the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help maintain security in Afghanistan and assist the Karzai administration.Three decades of war made Afghanistan one of the world's most dangerous countries, including the largest producer of refugees and asylum seekers. While the international community is rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan, terrorist groups such as the Haqqani Network and Hezbi Islami are actively involved in a nationwide Taliban-led insurgency, which includes hundreds of assassinations and suicide attacks. According to the United Nations, the insurgents were responsible for 80% of civilian casualties in 2011 and 2012.

History

The written history of Afghanistan can be traced back to around 500 BC when the area was under the Achaemenid Empire,although evidence indicates that an advanced degree of urbanized culture has existed in the land since between 3000 and 2000 BC.[3][4][5] Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army arrived in what is now Afghanistan in 330 BC after conquering Persia during the Battle of Gaugamela.Many powerful kingdoms have established their capitals inside the modern state of Afghanistan, including the Greco-Bactrians, Mauryas, Kushans, Kabul Shahi, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Timurids, Mughals, Hotakis, Durranis and others.Afghanistan (meaning "land of the Afghans") has been a strategic important location throughout the history. The land served as "a gateway to India, impinging on the ancient Silk Road, which carried trade from the Mediterranean to China".Sitting on many trade and migration routes, Afghanistan may be called the 'Central Asian roundabout'since routes converge from the Middle East, from the Indus Valley through the passes over the Hindu Kush, from the Far East via the Tarim Basin, and from the adjacent Eurasian Steppe. Afghan people called the Aryans from Central Asia arrived in Afghanistan after the 20th century BC,who left their languages that survived in the form of Pashto and Dari.The Arab invasions influenced the culture of Afghanistan, as its Zoroastrian, Macedonian and Buddhist past has long vanished. Local empire-builders such as the Ghaznavids, Ghurids and Timurids made Afghanistan a major medieval power as well as a learning center that produced the likes of Avicenna, Al-Biruni, and Rumi, among many other academic or iconic figures.Mirwais Hotak followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani unified Afghan tribes and founded the last Afghan Empire in the early 18th century.Afghanistan's sovereignty has been held during the Anglo-Afghan Wars, the 1980s Soviet war, and the 2001-present war by the country's many and diverse people: the Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Aimak, Baloch, and others. The Pashtuns form the largest group, claiming to be descendants of ancient Israelites or Qais Abdur Rashid but scholars believe that they are a confederation of various peoples from the past who united under Pashtunwali.

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