Afghanistan
Human habitation in what is now Afghanistan dates to the Middle Paleolithic era, with archaeological evidence suggesting people lived there at least 50,000 years ago. Early farming communities emerged around 7,000 years ago, making this region one of the earliest centers of agriculture in the world. Urban civilization began as early as 3000 BCE, with the city of Mundigak near Kandahar serving as a hub for the Helmand culture. Excavations have uncovered artifacts from the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages across the landscape.
By the middle of the 6th century BCE, the Achaemenid Empire incorporated Arachosia, Aria, and Bactria into its eastern boundaries. An inscription on Darius I's tombstone lists the Kabul Valley among the 29 countries he conquered. The region became a vital link between East and West when the Silk Road appeared during the first century BCE. Traders exchanged Chinese silk, Persian silver, and Roman gold while local miners extracted lapis lazuli stones primarily from Badakhshan Province.
Successive waves of Indo-European-speaking peoples moved south from Central Asia after 2000 BCE, including many Indo-Iranians who would later migrate further into South Asia and Europe. Alexander the Great arrived in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela. Following his brief occupation, the Seleucid Empire controlled the area until 305 BCE, when they ceded much of it to the Maurya Empire under an alliance treaty. The Greco-Bactrians reconquered the territory around 185 BCE before being defeated by the Indo-Scythians in the late 2nd century BCE.
The Kushan Empire centered in Afghanistan became great patrons of Buddhist culture during the mid-to-late first century CE. Buddhism flourished throughout the region until the Sassanids overthrew the Kushans in the 3rd century CE. Later dynasties included the Kidarites, Hephthalites, and Turk Shahi, with Hindu Shahi rulers dominating parts of the northeast and south before the Saffarid conquest in 870 CE.
Afghanistan has witnessed numerous military campaigns that have repeatedly shaped its political landscape from antiquity to modern times. Arab Muslims brought Islam to Herat and Zaranj in 642 CE, spreading eastward while some native inhabitants accepted the new faith and others revolted. Before Islam's arrival, the region hosted various beliefs including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Judaism, often resulting in syncretic practices where people worshipped local Iranian gods alongside Buddhist deities.
Genghis Khan and his Mongol army overran the region in 1219 CE, annihilating Khwarazmian cities like Herat, Balkh, and Bamyan. The destruction forced many locals back into agrarian rural society as Mongol rule continued through the Ilkhanate in the northwest. Timur established the Timurid Empire in 1370, with Shah Rukh making Herat a cultural focal point matching Florence during the Italian Renaissance.
In 1709, Mirwais Hotak, a local Ghilzai tribal leader, successfully rebelled against Safavid rulers. He defeated Gurgin Khan, the Georgian governor of Kandahar, establishing his own kingdom before dying in 1715. His son Mahmud led an Afghan army to Isfahan in 1722, capturing the Persian capital after the Battle of Gulnabad. Nader Shah later captured Kandahar in 1738, the last Hotak stronghold, before assassinating himself in 1747.
Ahmad Shah Durrani launched campaigns into Khorasan between 1750, 1751 and 1754, 1755, eventually forming the Durrani Empire that became Afghanistan's modern state foundation. By the early 19th century, the empire faced threats from Persians in the west and the Sikh Empire in the east. The First Anglo-Afghan War saw British forces repelled, while the Second Anglo-Afghan War resulted in British victory. The Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919 finally freed Afghanistan from foreign political hegemony.
The modern state of Afghanistan began with the Durrani Empire in the 18th century under Ahmad Shah Durrani, though Dost Mohammad Khan is sometimes considered the founder of the first modern Afghan state. In 1893, Abdur Rahman signed an agreement dividing ethnic Pashtun and Baloch territories by the Durand Line, which forms today's border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was known as the Iron Amir for his ruthless methods against tribes, dying in 1901 and being succeeded by his son Habibullah Khan.
During World War I, Afghanistan remained neutral until Habibullah Khan was assassinated in February 1919. Amanullah Khan assumed power and invaded British India through the Khyber Pass, beginning the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Following the Treaty of Rawalpindi on the 19th of August 1919, Emir Amanullah declared Afghanistan a sovereign and fully independent state. He moved to end traditional isolation by establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and Weimar Republic.
Amanullah proclaimed himself King of Afghanistan on the 9th of June 1926, forming the Kingdom of Afghanistan. He introduced reforms including compulsory elementary education under Article 68 of Afghanistan's 1923 constitution, abolished slavery in 1923, and opened co-educational schools. His wife Queen Soraya fought for women's education and against oppression, though these reforms alienated tribal and religious leaders, leading to civil war from 1928, 1929.
Mohammad Nadir Shah defeated Saqqawist forces led by Habibullah Kalakani in October 1929 and became King Nadir Shah before being assassinated in 1933. Mohammed Zahir Shah reigned as king from 1933 to 1973, maintaining national independence while pursuing gradual modernization. During his rule, Afghanistan joined the League of Nations in 1934 and experienced significant development of roads, infrastructure, and education. The country received more Soviet development aid per capita than any other nation.
In April 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan seized power in a bloody coup d'état against President Mohammed Daoud Khan, establishing the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan with Nur Muhammad Taraki as leader. This triggered events that turned Afghanistan from a peaceful country into a hotbed of conflict and terrorism. Civil war broke out by 1979, waged by guerrilla mujahideen against regime forces countrywide.
The Soviet Union invaded in December 1979, killing Amin and deploying troops under Babrak Karmal to stabilize Afghanistan. The nine-year Soviet-Afghan War caused deaths between 562,000 and 2 million Afghans, displacing about 6 million people who fled mainly to Pakistan and Iran. Heavy air bombardment destroyed countryside villages, millions of landmines were planted, and cities like Herat and Kandahar suffered damage.
After Soviet withdrawal in 1989, another civil war ensued until the communist regime collapsed in 1992. A dysfunctional coalition government between mujahideen factions led to widespread rape, murder, and extortion while Kabul was heavily bombarded. The Taliban emerged in September 1994 as students from Islamic madrassas in Pakistan, gaining military support and taking control of Kandahar before driving out Rabbani's government from Kabul in 1996.
On the 9th of September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by two Arab suicide attackers in Panjshir Valley. Around 400,000 Afghans died in internal conflicts between 1990 and 2001. In October 2001, the United States invaded to remove the Taliban after they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, who operated his al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan. US and UK forces bombed training camps and ended the Taliban regime with Northern Alliance cooperation.
Afghanistan is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, occupying approximately 652,230 square kilometers. It shares its longest border, the Durand Line, with Pakistan to the east and south, followed by borders with Tajikistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and China. The region is dominated by the Hindu Kush mountain range, the western extension of the Himalayas stretching to eastern Tibet via the Pamir Mountains.
Most highest points are in the east, consisting of fertile mountain valleys often considered part of the Roof of the World. The Hindu Kush ends at west-central highlands, creating plains in the north and southwest including Turkestan Plains and Sistan Basin. These regions consist of rolling grasslands, semi-deserts, and hot windy deserts. Forests exist only in the corridor between Nuristan and Paktika provinces, while tundra covers the northeast.
The country's highest point is Noshaq at 7,492 meters above sea level, while the lowest point lies in Jowzjan Province along the Amu River bank at 258 meters. Despite numerous rivers and reservoirs, large parts remain dry, with the endorheic Sistan Basin being one of the world's driest regions. Two-thirds of Afghanistan's water flows into neighboring countries of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan.
Afghanistan experiences a continental climate with harsh winters in central highlands and glaciated northeast areas where January temperatures average below freezing. Hot summers occur in low-lying areas like the Sistan Basin and Jalalabad basin. Climate change causes more frequent severe droughts affecting 25 of 34 provinces, impacting over half the population. Severe drought conditions cause desertification, reduce food security, disrupt agriculture, and displace millions internally.
Afghanistan's nominal GDP was $20.1 billion in 2020, or $81 billion by purchasing power parity, with per capita GDP at $611 nominally. Despite having mineral deposits worth at least $1 trillion, it remains one of the world's least developed countries. The country imports over $7 billion worth of goods but exports only $784 million, mainly fruits and nuts, while holding $2.8 billion in external debt.
Agriculture employs about 40% of the workforce as of 2018, forming the backbone of the economy. Afghanistan produces pomegranates, grapes, apricots, melons, and several other fresh and dry fruits. In 2010, the country became the world's top producer of cannabis before production was banned in March 2023 by decree from Hibatullah Akhundzada. Saffron grows particularly well in Herat Province, ranking as the world's best between 2012 and 2019.
Natural resources include coal, copper, iron ore, lithium, uranium, rare earth elements, chromite, gold, zinc, talc, barite, sulfur, lead, marble, precious stones, natural gas, and petroleum. US Geological Survey estimated northern Afghanistan has crude oil reserves of 1.5 billion barrels, natural gas of 10 trillion cubic feet, and natural gas liquids of 1.5 billion barrels. In 2007, a 30-year lease granted for the Aynak copper mine to China Metallurgical Group for $3 billion became the biggest foreign investment in Afghan history.
In September 2023, the Taliban signed mining contracts worth $6 billion with extractions based on gold, iron, lead, and zinc in provinces including Herat, Ghor, Logar, and Takhar. The service sector contributed most to GDP at 55.9%, followed by agriculture at 23% and industry at 21.1%. Da Afghanistan Bank serves as the central bank, with an exchange rate of about 75 Afghani to 1 US dollar.
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Common questions
When did human habitation begin in Afghanistan?
Human habitation in what is now Afghanistan dates to the Middle Paleolithic era, with archaeological evidence suggesting people lived there at least 50,000 years ago. Early farming communities emerged around 7,000 years ago, making this region one of the earliest centers of agriculture in the world.
Who founded the Durrani Empire that became Afghanistan's modern state foundation?
Ahmad Shah Durrani launched campaigns into Khorasan between 1750 and 1755, eventually forming the Durrani Empire that became Afghanistan's modern state foundation. The modern state of Afghanistan began with the Durrani Empire in the 18th century under Ahmad Shah Durrani.
What happened on the 9th of September 2001 in Afghanistan?
On the 9th of September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by two Arab suicide attackers in Panjshir Valley. This event occurred before the United States invaded in October 2001 to remove the Taliban after they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.
Where is the highest point located within Afghanistan?
The country's highest point is Noshaq at 7,492 meters above sea level. Most highest points are in the east, consisting of fertile mountain valleys often considered part of the Roof of the World.
When did Afghanistan become a sovereign and fully independent state?
Following the Treaty of Rawalpindi on the 19th of August 1919, Emir Amanullah declared Afghanistan a sovereign and fully independent state. He moved to end traditional isolation by establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and Weimar Republic.