History Of Wars In Afghanistan
Today, Americans know Afghanistan because of 9/11. That tragic day led the US to attack Taliban forces in Afghanistan in the hopes of capturing Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attacks in the US. The Taliban was protecting Bin Laden, who was the head of the terrorist organization, Al Qaeda. However, Afghanistan is not new to war. Wars have been part and parcel of the country's history since time immemorial. |
The 500 BC, Afghanistan was under the control of the Medes and the people inhabiting the region were Aryans. However, then Darius I came from Persia and conquered the region and made it part f the Zorastrian Achaemenid Empire. Then, in the year 330 BC, Alexander the Great came and conquered the region after fighting the Battle of Gaugamela against Darius III. This ended up making Afghanistan an integral part of the Greco Bactrian Kingdom. However, Alexander did not control the entire region. Some of the regions in the eastern part of Afghanistan were under the Maurya Empire of India. Then in the first century, Afghanistan was absorbed into the Kushan Empire and Buddhism was the official religion of this empire.
The Aryans came to Afghanistan some time between 2000 and 1200 BC. Their origins are disputed, but according to historical and archaeological evidence, the Aryans were composed of Persians, Indians and Nuristanis. On the other hand, the Medes were from the western part of Persia and they arrived in Afghanistan some time in 700 BC. It is believed that they were the first ones to begin an empire in the region and were known for their rivalry with the Persians, as the Persians were the dominating force in the region. However, the Medes took over and continued to rule until the Persians once again began ruling the region.
The Aryan people became followers of Zoroastrian and it was to stay their religion for centuries. In fact, this religion was the official religion in Persia too until Yazdegerd III, a Sassanian king, was defeated by the Islam following Arabs. The Persians gained supremacy over the Medes, and by the year 550 BC, they were ruling the region. While the people of Bactria were not happy under the Persians, they did take up arms to fight against Alexander the Great. Unfortunately, the Persians lost and ancient Afghanistan came under the rule of the Greeks.
However, Alexander's path to ruling Afghanistan was not easy. It took him around 3 years to conquer the country. And after Alexander's death, his empire fell apart, and one of his commanders named Seleucus took over the control of Afghanistan and went on to form the Seleucid dynasty. However, most of Alexander's soldiers did not want to stay in Afghanistan and so, Seleucus brought Greeks from Ionia to Bactria in the third century BC.
Seleucus also tried to invade the Maurya Empire, but was met with resistance. So, he signed a peace treaty with the Maurya king, Chandragupta, and handed over Gandhara, Arachosia and Bagram to the Maurya Empire. These cities were in the southern part of Afghanistan and the Mauryans ruled it for around 120 years, spreading Buddhism among the people. During this period, art, trade, infrastructure and architecture flourished in the region.
However, by the middle of the third century, a Hellenistic state was formed in Bactria and this state went on to take over the empires of the Maurya and Seleucus. This state grew in size and extended from the north eastern part of Iran all the way to Punjab in India. However, the state fell due to the problems between the Greek and Hellenized kings and the constant wars with the Indian kings.
This paved way for the Kushan Empire in the third and second centuries. This empire was formed by a nomadic tribe from Iran and was known as Parthian. By the first century BC, Afghanistan was the head of the empire, which extended all the way from the Arabian Sea until Kashmir and modern-day Tibet. During this period, Buddhism was spread.
The Kushan Empire began to fall apart in the third century and turned into independently controlled kingdoms. The Sassanians saw this as an opportunity and made Afghanistan a part of their kingdom in 300 AD. However, the Kushans and Sassanians never got along and as a result they could not evade the attacks by the Indo-European nomads, the Hephthalites. By the fourth century, the Hephthalites controlled the region but continued to fight the Sassanians.
The Hephthalites had to face defeat some time in the middle of the sixth century by Amu Darya, which was a tribe of nomads from central part of Asia, and Gokturks, who were Sassanians.
Afghanistan has seen many wars from ancient times, and some history experts believe that the country got its name because of its courage and chivalry. In modern times, the country had to face the wrath of the Russians and thereafter of the Talibans. Today, the Taliban is no longer controlling the country, but insurgency is still a huge problem and suicide bombings and grenade throws are common occurrences.
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The main reason for the initiation of war in Afghanistan was the September 11 attacks in the year 2001, when the United States was governed by President George W. Bush. The US demanded that Afghanistan should turn in the Taliban supported Al Qaeda head Osama Bin Laden, who was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. 