Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agrees to help Afghanistan, and the two countries become close allies. The Afghan Communist Party secretly forms. Khan overthrows the last king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, in a military coup. Khan abolishes the monarchy and names himself president. Khan proposes a new constitution that grants women rights and works to modernize the largely communist state. He also cracks down on opponents, forcing many suspected of not supporting Khan out of the government.
Khan is killed in a communist coup. Nur Mohammad Taraki, one of the founding members of the Afghan Communist Party, takes control of the country as president, and Babrak Karmal is named deputy prime minister.
They proclaim independence from Soviet influence, and declare their policies to be based on Islamic principles, Afghan nationalism and socioeconomic justice. Taraki signs a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union. But a rivalry between Taraki and Hafizullah Amin, another influential communist leader, leads to fighting between the two sides. At the same time, conservative Islamic and ethnic leaders who objected to social changes introduced by Khan begin an armed revolt in the countryside.
In June, the guerrilla movement Mujahadeen is created to battle the Soviet-backed government. American Ambassador Adolph Dubs is killed. The United States cuts off assistance to Afghanistan.
Taraki is killed on Sept. On Dec. Deputy Prime Minister Babrak Karmal becomes prime minister. Widespread opposition to Karmal and the Soviets spawns violent public demonstrations. Some 2. Afghan guerrillas gain control of rural areas, and Soviet troops hold urban areas. Although he claims to have traveled to Afghanistan immediately after the Soviet invasion, Saudi Islamist Osama bin Laden makes his first documented trip to Afghanistan to aid anti-Soviet fighters.
Withdrawal of six Soviet regiments from Afghanistan began October 15, This official Soviet picture shows units of the first tank regiment to leave the country beginning their withdrawal. The U. Following Soviet withdrawal, the Mujahadeen continue their resistance against the Soviet-backed regime of communist president Dr.
Mohammad Najibullah, who had been elected president of the puppet Soviet state in Afghan guerrillas name Sibhatullah Mojadidi as head of their exiled government. The Mujahadeen and other rebel groups, with the aid of turncoat government troops, storm the capital, Kabul, and oust Najibullah from power. Ahmad Shah Masood, legendary guerrilla leader, leads the troops into the capital. The United Nations offers protection to Najibullah.
The Mujahadeen, a group already beginning to fracture as warlords fight over the future of Afghanistan, form a largely Islamic state with professor Burhannudin Rabbani as president. Newly formed Islamic militia, the Taliban, rises to power on promises of peace. Most Afghans, exhausted by years of drought, famine and war, approve of the Taliban for upholding traditional Islamic values.
The Taliban outlaw cultivation of poppies for the opium trade, crack down on crime, and curtail the education and employment of women. Women are required to be fully veiled and are not allowed outside alone. Islamic law is enforced via public executions and amputations. The United States refuses to recognize the authority of the Taliban. Continuing drought devastates farmers and makes many rural areas uninhabitable. More than 1 million Afghans flee to neighboring Pakistan, where they languish in squalid refugee camps.
The attacks miss the Saudi and other leaders of the terrorist group. By now considered an international terrorist, bin Laden is widely believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, where he is cultivating thousands of followers in terrorist training camps. The United States demands that bin Laden be extradited to stand trial for the embassy bombings. The Taliban decline to extradite him.
The United Nations punishes Afghanistan with sanctions restricting trade and economic development. Ignoring international protests, the Taliban carry out their threat to destroy Buddhist statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, saying they are an affront to Islam. A month after arresting them, the Taliban put eight international aid workers on trial for spreading Christianity. Under Taliban rule, proselytizing is punishable by death.
The group is held in various Afghan prisons for months and finally released Nov. Days later, U. An interfaith ceremony was held at ground zero in conjunction with the one month anniversary of the attacks, marked by the short prayer service and a moment of silence at am. Following unanswered demands that the Taliban turn over bin Laden, U. American warplanes start to bomb Taliban targets and bases reportedly belonging to the al-Qaida network. The Taliban proclaim they are ready for jihad.
After weeks of intense fighting with Taliban troops, the Northern Alliance enters Kabul. The retreating Taliban flee southward toward Kandahar. Hamid Karzai, a royalist and ethnic Pashtun, is sworn in as the leader of the interim government in Afghanistan. Karzai entered Afghanistan after living in exile for years in neighboring Pakistan.
At the U. Afghanistan Interim Authority Chairman Hamid Karzai 2nd from R speaks while the Afghanistan flag blows in the wind during the official flag raising event at the Afghanistan Embassy in Washington, January 28, Joining Karzai are U.
In June, the Loya Jirga, or grand council, elects U. Karzai chooses the members of his government who will serve until , when the government is required to organize elections. Landlocked and mountainous, Afghanistan has suffered from such chronic instability and conflict during its modern history that its economy and infrastructure are in ruins, and many of its people are refugees.
The Taliban, who imposed strict Islamic rule following a devastating civil war, were ousted by a US-led invasion in , but made a rapid comeback to take over almost all of the country after US forces left in Taliban leader : Hibatullah Akhundzada. Hibatullah Akhundzada became the supreme commander of the Taliban in , and is now head of state of their interim government in Kabul, called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
He fought in the resistance to the Soviet military occupation in the s, and went on to lead the Islamic courts during the Taliban's last period in government in A lively private media scene, including dozens of TV networks and more than radio stations, emerged after the fall of the Taliban in The return to power of the Islamist movement in saw great pressure on the media to conform with strict Taliban rules.
Some key dates in Afghanistan's history:. More than a million people die in the ensuing war. US- and Pakistan-backed mujahideen push to overthrow Soviet-installed Afghan ruler Najibullah triggers devastating civil war.
Taliban are ousted from Kabul and Hamid Karzai becomes head of an interim power-sharing government. NATO formally ends its combat mission in Afghanistan, handing over to Afghan forces, who face a growing insurgency. President's office.
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