Afghanistan - Graveyard of Empires

Favourite Quotes

“Yet the people endure, as steadfast as the Hindu Kush mountain range.” - Conclusion

“I have been struck by the magnitude of your resources, your ships, your arsenals, but what I cannot understand is why the rulers of so vast and flourishing an empire should have gone across the Indus to deprive me of my poor and barren country” - Conclusion, said by Dost Muhammad Khan after the First Anglo-Afghan War

“This land that seems to defy time, in the shadow of the Hindu Kush, known as the Graveyard of Empires” - Conclusion

Detailed Summary

Chapter 1: Early History of Afghanistan

• Afghanistan was part of the IVC
  • there is evidence of trade between the IVC and Mesopotamian cities coming through Afghanistan
  • The migrations of the Aryans coincided with the collapse of the IVC
  • one of the early cities found was Mundigak near modern Kandahar
• After the time of the IVC, the Achaemenid Empire started to grow.
  • Bactria was a prominent city part of the Achaemenid empire
• What does Afghanistan’s ancient history tell us about its present?
  • due to the many ancient civilizations, Afghanistan today is an ethnically diverse place
  • most of the conflict in the country is due to the diversity
    • most western nations have a concept of a shared national/ethnic identity. The diversity of Afghanistan has caused it to have no unifying national or ethnic identity
    • The Taliban took over so easily because the Afghan soldiers went back to their homelands/tribes. They figured what’s the point of dying for a puppet regime?
  • the geography of the country played a big role in why invaders wanted to conquer it: there’s lots of resources and it’s a prime location, but at the same time it’s hard to conquer and even harder to control
  • Afghanistan lies in the Chaman Fault, an active geological fault that is the cause of earthquakes
    • not only is Afghanistan’s history riddled with political instability, but also physical instability!

Chapter 2: The Cradle of Civilization

• After Achaemenid control over Afghanistan, Alexander the Great took over by defeating them. This was around 300BC
  • Alexander described the people as ‘lawless savages’
    • this was likely cause the people didn’t like him. They viewed him as a foreign invader and a threat to their culture
  • Alexander had a though time in Afghanistan. He won many battles, but the Afghans still laid ambushes and fought back. Over time this was too much for Alexander to handle. On his retreat back to Macedonia, he died in Babylon
  • Alexander left a lasting impact. The province Kandahar is named after him. It comes from Iskandariya, the Arabic word for Alexander
  • After Alexander, his general Seleucus created the Seleucid empire and continued to rule Afghanistan
• 300 - 185BC = After Seleucid came the Maurya Empire, a Buddhist empire. They brought Buddhism to Afghanistan.
• After the Maurya came smaller city states like the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Indo-Greek Kingdom, Indo-Scythian (descendants of the Sakas from Siberia), and Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• 30 - 375AD = The Kushan Empire took over along with a revival of Buddhism under Kanishka the Great
• 224 - 651 = The Sassanid Empire took over. They were the last empire before the advent of Islam
  • during their time the name ‘Afghan’ was recorded for the first time in history, after Afghana, the ancient tribal chief of Pashtun origin who was the grandson of King Saul of Israel
• After the Sassanids, the various Huns tribes took over like the White Huns, Nezak Huns, and Alchon Huns
• After the Huns, the land of Afghanistan was usually split, with some Iranian empire controlling the west and a north Indian empire controlling the east
  • examples would be the Kabul Shahi dynasty, the Ghaznavids, and the Qarakhanid dynasty
• all these various empires led the various types of people moving into the lands of Afghanistan. People from China, India, Rome, Turkey, Uzbekistan, etc, came into Afghanistan. This increased the diversity
• Afghanistan laid right in the middle of the Silk Road. So any goods that went across often went into Afghanistan too which increased the wealth of the country
  • cities on the Silk Road include Kabul, Herat, Bactria/Balkh, Badakhshan, and Bamiyan
• Afghanistan’s connection to the silk road helps us to understand it’s geopolitical importance in ancient times.
  • control Afghanistan and you control the Silk Road

Chapter 3: The Age of Conquests in Afghanistan

• The closest anyone got to ruling the entire country was the Mughal empire
  • they did this by paying off the various tribal chiefs and giving them autonomy
  • this just proves that centralization never works in Afghanistan
• the mountains and caves offered secure areas for tribes to flourish, and tribal chiefs became very strong because of it. This is why invaders always had a tough time - you can’t fight the enemy that is hiding in the mountains and caves!
• The Mongols had a tough time conquering Bamiyan. The leader of the army, grandson of Genghis Khan actually died here. Eventually they took over.
  • the Mongol soldiers married into the local Tajik population which produced the Hazara people
• The Mughals had varied success with their controlling technique. They still faced rebellion.
• The Mughals constantly were fighting with the Persian Safavids for various parts of Afghanistan like Kandahar
• The Safavids tried to convert the Pashtun tribes to Shia Islam and a revolt broke out. This led to the collapse of the Safavids
  • proves my point that I’ve always said: once the Afghan/Pashtun people feel threatened ideologically, they will rise up. This is what happened with Communism.
• It’s proven that conquering Afghanistan is very possible, but controlling it is almost impossible simply due to the disunity among the people (and the Pashtuns) and the lack of cohesion

The Mughal Invasion and Subsequent Conquerors

• at the beginning of the 16th century, Afghanistan was split:
  • north: controlled by the Uzbeks
  • east: controlled by Mughals
  • west and south (Kandahar): controlled by Safavids
• The Ghilzai / Ghilji Pashtuns dominated the east and allied with the Mughals
  • The Ghilzai still had a cordial relationship with the Safavids
• The Abdali (Durrani) Pashtuns dominated the west and allied with the Safavids
• these empires knew that they needed the Pashtuns on their side to rule in peace
• in the beginning of the 18th century, Mughals and Safavids started to go through military decline
  • this was the start of the Pashtuns rising to power
• Pashtun independence started when Mirwais, the Hotak chief (a Ghilzai) took over Kandahar and Herat by 1717
  • he defeated the Safavids along with their Abdali allies
• The succeeding Hotak leaders went after the Safavids homeland and conquered large parts of Iran
  • Mirwais’ son took the capital of Isfahan in 1722, killing the Shah
• the Hotak dynasty was full of strife and infighting. Various members of the Ghilzai tribes didn’t like each other. Eventually it collapsed, lasting only 30 years
• The collapse of the Hotak dynasty was caused by Nadir Shah, a Khorasani-Turk hailing from Iran. He enlisted the help of the Abdalis
  • Eventually he was assassinated in 1747. This created a vacuum of power that the Abdalis filled
• Ahmad Shah Durrani, formerly Ahmad Khan Abdali, a former bodyguard leader of Nadir Shah, was elected the chief of the Abdalis in Kandahar after Nadir’s death.
  • he basically inherited the lands of Afghanistan that Nadir Shah conquered
• Ahmad Shah conquered parts of Indian too like Punjab, Sind, and Kashmir

Chapter 4: The British Invasion of Afghanistan and Independence

• the 19th century is really when the Durranis started to create a nation state, as in a unified country with a government, an army, etc, and the power of tribal chiefs started to go down
  • the main force driving this was the Afghans facing invasion from the British
• the first Anglo-Afghan war (1838 - 1842) was fought between Dost Muhammad Khan (of the Barakzai tribe) and the British + East India Company + Durranis
• reason for this was because Dost Muhammad was becoming close with Russia and the British didn’t like that. They viewed Russia as a threat to their Indian lands
• Shuja Shah Durrani was a former Emir of the Afghan kingdom in the early 1800s. He was exiled to British India
  • in 1839, the British used him as a puppet ruler and installed him into power.
• Britain and Russia were both trying to control Central Asia. This was called “The Great Game”
• Shuja Shah was an unpopular ruler; he was harsh and tortured his subjects
  • The Ghilzai Pashtuns rose up in rebellion, and even the rest of the Durrani Clan helped in the rebellion. Dost Muhammad was eventually restored to power
• the second Anglo-Afghan war (1878 - 1880) was started due to rising tensions between Russia and Britain. Both countries tried to send diplomatic missions to Afghanistan, both were refused by Amir Sher Ali Khan. This caused Britain to start a war
• the British took over Kabul with ease and Sher Ali’s son, Muhammad Yaqub Khan, signed a treaty to prevent the British from conquering the rest of the country
  • Sher Ali died in 1879, likely natural cause
• Yaqub Khan gave control of Afghanistan’s foreign affairs to the British
• in 1879 an uprising happened that led to the British starting another battle and conquering of Kabul, which they did with ease.
  • this time the British installed Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, nephew of Sher Ali
  • during his time, no disturbances / uprisings occurred
  • this concluded the second Afghan-Anglo War
• the third Anglo-Afghan war (1919) lasted a few months and was started by Amanullah Khan, grandson of Abdur Rahman Khan.
  • he was facing lots of internal turmoil, some accused him of killing his own father, etc, so he needed something to distract people. So he invaded British India
• Britain was busy with WW1 so they had to sign a treaty which granted Afghanistan full independence.
  • Aug 19 1919 is the modern Afghanistan independence day
  • this included the third Anglo-Afghan war
• Amanullah’s time was full of reforms and he focused on modernizing his country. He ruled from 1919 to 1929
• this was the first time the country was independent and united
• due to the speed of his ideological and social changes, he faced rebellions. One of which succeeded. Kalakani, a Tajik, took over Kabul but his rule was short lived
• Muhammad Nadir Shah, Amanullah’s cousin, defeated Kalakani and executed him in 1929
• Nadir Shah continued to modernize, but took it slower.
• His son, Zahir Shah continued the slow reforms and the country started to really develop well.
  • he was the last king of Afghanistan

Chapter 5: The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the Aftermath

• Daoud Khan staged a coup in 1973 ousting his cousin, the king
  • Zahir Shah didn’t fight back, he felt this was the will of the people
• Daoud Khan had ties with communism, and he had the help of communists in his coup
• Daoud tried to build alliances with US, which made his communist-leaning government upset
• in 1978, Daoud was ousted in killed by the communists - the same people who helped him win power
  • this was called the Saur Revolution
• the communist who split between two factions: Khalqist and Parchamites
  • this led to internal turmoil and lots of killing
• the communists implemented their social reforms way too quickly. It led to a lot of people resenting their rule.
• they gained lots of enemies: tribal chiefs, Islamists, western-educated folks, and even other communists
• rebellions started to rise up in various provinces and entire provinces were under tribal control
• this deterioration of communist power is what led the Soviets to enter Afghanistan
  • they used the Brezhnev Doctrine, which states that the Soviet Union MUST militarily intervene in any country where communist rule is under threat
• once the Soviets entered, this led to the various Mujahideen groups to rise up
• there were many Mujahideen groups, but they were all united in their anti-communist and pro-Islamic sentiment
• lots of foreigners, especially Arabs came to help the Jihad
  • Osama Bin Laden was one of them
• The Mujahideen were heavily funded by the Pakistani ISI and CIA
• many women also fought and supported the Mujahideen, the most famous being Bibi Ayesha
• this war was a cold war proxy war between the Soviets and the US
• as much as 6 - 11% of the Afghan population were killed in this war
• the
• the real reasons for the Soviet entering Afghanistan are not really known: they didn’t have anything to gain.
  • the likely reason is probably the simplest: they simply didn’t think it’d be too hard to bring back stability to Afghanistan
• the goal for the Soviets was to go into Afghanistan, install Karmal as ruler, and be out in 6 months
  • they faced the same issues that all historical invaders faced: untenable terrain, and fierce resistance from the locals
  • these factors DRAINED the Soviets economically and extended their stay to almost a decade
• this war is often called “Russia’s Vietnam”
• before Karmal, Amin was the leader and the Soviets suspected him to be traitor working with the US. This was another reason they wanted to invade and install Karmal
• The KGB and the Soviet Army knew it was a bad idea, but the Soviet leadership ignored their advice
• the Soviets were hated so much by ordinary Afghans
  • random civilians would assassinate Soviet soldiers patrolling Kabul. This happened so much that the Soviets stopped patrolling the streets
• the Soviet presence was a unifying reason for the Afghans of all religions and ethnicities to fight against them
• The Soviets did not expect the resistance to be this strong. This is why their 6 month trip lasted almost a decade.
• Karmal rolled back many of the changes to win Afghan support, but the people still saw him as a Soviet puppet
• as the years went by, the Soviets employed more violent tactics as well as bribing tribal leaders
  • none of it helped them!
• The Afghan Army barely helped the Soviets - they themselves didn’t believe in the cause and were just soldiers to make a living
• in 1987 the Soviets announced their retreat
• the Soviets placed the blame on Karmal for not strengthening his country and government. They killed him and installed Najibullah, former chief of KHAD (secret police)
• Najibullah, under Soviet guidance, rolled back the communist changes and presented himself and his state as Islamic
• in 1988, the US, Soviets, Afghanistan, and Pakistan signed a treaty to initiate the retreat process. Soviet and US promised they won’t interfere in Afghanistan anymore
• right before the Soviets left, the attacked Panjshir once more
• The US stopped supporting Mujahideen once the Soviets retreated
• very quickly various provincial capitals fell to Mujahideen groups. Najibullah couldn’t control them all on his own
• in 1992, the Soviets collapsed. This led to the quick collapse of Najibullah’s government
• the Mujahideen victory and subsequent Soviet collapse inspired people all over the world, leading some groups to duplicate their Jihad in their own countries. Many of the fighters were foreigners, so now that they had battle experience they could do Jihad at home.
  • good example is the First Chechen War

Chapter 6: Afghanistan in the 21st Century

• Operation Enduring Freedom was the name of the military operation of the US where they invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the Taliban
  • The Iraq invasion in 2003 was an extension of this
• Enduring Freedom began after the Taliban refused the accept the US governments 5 point ultimatum
  • hand over all Al Qaeda leaders
  • release foreign nations who were imprisoned
  • close every terrorist training camp
  • hand over terrorists
  • give US access to all terrorist training camps
• The US defeated the Taliban quickly, but the Taliban still had support from Pakistan
• Afghanistan needed to choose a new leader and government, so several prominent Afghans met in Germany (The Bonn Agreement) to elect one: they chose Hamid Karzai
  • he was the head of the Popalzai Durrani tribe in Kandahar, so he had a lineage advantage
• another prominent person who was in the race to get elected was Abdul Haq
  • he was a prominent Mujahideen commander and opposed to the Taliban
  • he was also opposed to US intervention, unlike Karzai. He was worried that Afghanistan would become a puppet state
• Afghanistan post-2001 was a fractured and disunited state
  • most areas were fully controlled by tribal leaders
• Karzai’s rule was full of issues
  • many claims of corruption were levied against him
  • his often left warlords to rule their own lands, and even appointed them into positions of power
  • he chose Pashtuns to become governors rather than someone of the local population
    • this led to ethnic monitories hating him
• Many Pashtuns started to dislike Karzai, especially those in Kandahar. Karzai wasn’t providing them with any support (economic, security, etc)
  • this set the stage for Taliban resurgence.
  • On top of that, the Taliban had the advantage of “fighting off the foreign invader”, which as we know by reading Afghan history, is a popular way to get the population to fight for you
• Karzai, in 2009, attempted peace talks with Taliban. He always wanted peace with the Taliban and wanted to include them in the state building process
• the Taliban started implementing a new tactic: suicide bombing. This was around 2003 and later
  • this was a technique borrowed from the Arab jihadists like Al Qaeda
• Trump started peace talks in 2020 so he could pull troops out of Afghanistan

Taliban Offensive, 2021

• it started in May 2021. They took provincial capital after capital
• it ended in Aug 2021 when they took Kabul
• the Afghan military and Ghani disappeared it seems
• no one expected the Afghan government to fall so quickly so many foreigners and diplomats were in Kabul when the Taliban entered
• so why were the Taliban so successful?
  • they focused on the rural / tribal areas, that were neglected by the US and Afghan governments
    • it is these areas where true power lies
    • every rebellion in Afghan history was started in the rural areas by tribal chiefs
  • the Ghani government failed in unifying the people. There was a lack of local representation in the central administration, so the local chiefs and tribes turned to the Taliban to consolidate their power
  • they effectively used social media to recruit and disparage the Ghani government
• The Taliban are trying to portray a new image: Taliban 2.0, but unfortunately they still have elements of their old government ideas in their current government
  • they banned girls from going to school and working
  • they banned women from playing sports
  • they shut down women shelters

Pakistan’s Role in Afghanistan

• Pakistan has been supporting Taliban since the 90s.
  • they provided money, oil, and training to Taliban fighters
• Pakistan has an interest in Afghanistan being an ally, or at least destabilizing the country so it isn’t a threat to them
  • India has been getting close with Karzai which Pakistan did not like. This is why they were funding the Taliban so Afghanistan could continue to be unstable
• Pakistan supported the Taliban in 2021 because they needed an ally there. Reasons:
  • Pakistan had an influx of Pashtun refugees, so by allying with the Taliban government they could send those refugees back
    • the increase in Pashtun refugees is a threat to Pakistan because it could cause internal turmoil
  • Pakistan needed to ensure the Durand line would not be breached by an Afghan government
  • Pakistan doesn’t want a rebellion of their own, and they know many fighters would come from Afghanistan. So by allying with the Taliban government, the Taliban wouldn’t want to lose their only ally so they’ll make sure no fighters go to Pakistan

Opium Production

• opium production started in the 1800s by the British in the Indian region. They were growing it in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, and selling it to smugglers in China and elsewhere
• later on, the Mujahideen and Taliban used opium trade to make money
• in 2000, the Taliban banned it calling it un-Islamic, despite making all their money off of it
• in 2001, post Taliban fall, the Taliban once again used opium to make money
• the provinces biggest in opium production post-2001 were also Taliban strongholds
  • mainly the south: Kandahar, Helmand, Farah, Nimroz, Zabul, Uruzgan
  • they would tax opium farmers
  • they would charge ‘protection fee’, farmers would pay Taliban to protect their fields and drug shipments

Conclusion

• in 1843, after the First Anglo-Afghan war, Army Chaplain George Gleig said:
  • “a war begun for no wise purpose… brought to a close after suffering and disaster, without much glory to the government… not one benefit, political or military, has been acquired with this war. Our evacuation of the country resembled the retreat of an army defeated”
• it is astonishing how this quote from George could be applied to any period of time after him, all 150 years…
  • it applies to the British, the Soviets, and the US

This land that seems to defy time, in the shadow of the Hindu Kush, known as the Graveyard of Empires

Main Idea of the Book

This is a very high-level overview of Afghan history going back to the time of Alexander the Great.

It’s not too in-depth unlike some other books I’ve read on the same topic, but still provides good insight.