The Never Ending War...............................

The History of Afghanistan is Extremely Convoluted.

Let me try to break it up.

1. The History of the tribes.

Due to its location, Afghanistan has been a hub of diverse cultures, prompting one historian to dub it the ‘roundabout of the ancient world’.

Afghanistan consisted of  many Pashtuns in 18 Century (They had other populations too).

Pashto is classified under the Eastern Iranian sub-branch of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Those who speak a Southern dialect of Pashto refer to themselves as Pashtuns, while those who speak Northern Dialect call themselves Pukhtuns. These native people compose the core of ethnic Pashtuns who are found in southeastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan.

As all problems had to  start somewhere, this is now like a template. One country had invaded Afghanistan  in  the 19th century (Everyone knows its the Great Britain ).

  

Wait weren't they busy conquering India?

As it goes, I would like to congratulate you for sleeping through all your history sessions in your middle school. India was sort of a sub continent back then(India included Pakistan, Bangladesh, and also the troubled legally binding Jammu and Kashmir and other smaller states.)

The Afghans started fighting the British, enters the first Anglo-Afghan war (1839-42(had to google the year, so , not so great in history am I?)).

Interestingly the British lost the first one. They couldn't take the defeat. They were ruling over India at that time. This could sport mutiny in India as well. 

So, they waged a war again in 1878-80 which the British now had won.

So remember, British were the first to ruin them.

To keep Russia away, British had started providing and raised a person called Iron Amir, for whom they provided weapons.

So why were they trying to gain control over Afghanistan?

OPIUM (Till now Afghanistan makes money out of opium).

2. 19th century Afghanistan power struggle:

So Iron Amir basically created a unified army.

After he died , his son came in Habbibullah Khan. 

He was a liberal, he was pro education and he wanted welfare of the people and he wanted upliftment of people. All this happened as the British were helping habbibullah.

The people of afghan didn't want the British heling them. So a sort of British go away moment took place.

They wanted full independence. Habibullah was killed in 1919. A third Anglo Afghan war broke out. (1919-1921).

Afghanistan had broke free. After that Amanullah Khan 

from the family of habbibullah had taken the reigns of the country. He was a liberal and he was working on a constitution.

3. The New Democracy

In 1938 his govermnet toppled.  Nadir shah had taken over the reigns now. Later nadir died. His son Zahir shah had taken over, he was just 19. Just as another movie script about regimes since he was 19 his uncles had taken over. 

In 1950's , Zahir's cousin came Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan came into power  with Zahir's team. 

Then 1978 something called the Saur revolution happened. With the support and assistance of minority political party People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan , Daoud Khan had taken power in the 1973 Afghan coup by overthrowing the monarchy of Zahir Shah and had established the first Republic of Afghanistan.

He wanted arms and ammunition. Why arms? Because weapons' were the ultimate control cohort.

Then came Russia into the picture.

He went in deal with Russia for arms, which gave him power as the president.

As USSR was in the picture, Their foe US came into the picture. The Afghans had funds of both the nations. The education system had flourished.

People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan now had two factions

1. Parcham

2. Khalq (Was a newer faction).

4. Communism in Afghan?

Then came Nur Muhammad Taraki 

He was of the Khalq faction. He was again  a liberal.  Taraki was the one funded by ussr. He was lenient Muslim he was not very popular.

As the fight between them grew. US had been funding the groups against Taraki.

So in 1979 USSR Prsident Breshnav had sent troops for 6 months over to Afghan to maintain their power over there. USSR troops began killing the afghans.

So Hafizullah Amin was against Taraki and killed him and took over the reigns.

USSR killed Amin, for retaliation. Babrak Karmal was appointed by USSR for the throne of Afghan. He was an extremist pro Islam.

People started hating USSR for putting leaders they didn't like. So they started mutiny. USSR started destroying Agriculture and live stock in the hopes that people will come under the USSR regimn.

People who hated the USSR started rebelling against them. Then USA gave the rebels money and arms to help them in their venture.

5. USSR Withdrawal

Finally in 1989 USSR withdrew (This was supposed to be a 6 month operation, nut it was 6 months).

Remember the faction which rebelled against USSR? The group that got funding from USA?

6. Enter the Taliban

They are TALIBAN.

They were supposed to be students who studied Islam. (Taliban literally translates to students).

Taliban followed what was the in their view purest form of the religion. The didn't allow women to go to schools after they started menstruating. They wanted women to fully wear the Burkha (Even the eyes were supposed to be netted so that others cant see them).

Let me give you some scenarios.  

1. If women wanted to visit a male doctor both the doctor and patient were shot dead. (Irony - They didn't allow women to become doctors by killing them if they went to school, an infinite loop).

2. If women went out without a Burkha they were shot dead.

3. They had a system of courts where if they find out that you were at the wrong side of law you would be shot dead.

The Taliban had funds from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Why?  Because Taliban was best source of the religion they believed.

Then came in Osama Bin Laden in 1996 , he was with Al-Qaeda.

He wanted jihad, so he wanted a war with the west. As they were corrupt, in the minds of Jihadists. 

They supported logistical network to support Muslims fighting against the Soviet Union during the Afghan War; members were recruited throughout the Islamic world. When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the organization dispersed but continued to oppose what its leaders considered corrupt Islamic regimes and U.S. presence in Islamic lands. Based in Sudan for a period in the early 1990s, the group eventually reestablished its headquarters in Afghanistan under the patronage of the Taliban militia.

In 1998 Laden attacked the US Embassy. In retaliation USA wanted the Taliban to hand over Laden as he was hiding in Afghanistan. Taliban said that they cant hand him over as they considered laden as some sort of leader in the religion.

In in 2001, the September 11 attacks happened. Al Qaeda said that they had done the attacks.

US had lost its temper, They dropped nearly 12000 bombs in Afghanistan. They invaded afghan to maintain peace.

Irony.

7. What Now?

So what happened now?

Biden in 2020 said we'll pack up from Afghanistan by August 31,2021.

Taliban now has claimed back all the grounds.

8. Who Lost?

The USA? No. The people of Afghan.  Even after all these steps taken Afghan will go back 40 years where they started. Afghanistan is back to square 1. 

People like Us. For not supporting them.

All We could do is pray from them.

PS: As always I have stolen pics from various websites I do not own them.