Afghani timeline

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October 2001

An Afghani timeline
Arab Americans become targets for domestic reprisals
Does the U.S. understand the Muslim world?
Donors pledge more aid for Afghanistan as refugee crisis worsens
Pax Christi USA calls for a "healthy tension" between faith and citizenship
Some responses and resources related to September 11 attacks

An Afghani timeline
500 BC—Persian leader Darius the Great extends his empire into modern-day Afghanistan. But Persian leader face regular bitter and bloody tribal revolts.

329 BC—Macedonian-born Alexander the Great conquers Persia and Afghanistan. Greek rule continues in much of the area during the next two centuries, although unrest and revolts are common.

50 AD—The Kushan empire, and its Buddhist doctrines, begin to establish themselves in the region. By 220 AD, however, the empire devolves into a handful of petty dynasties.

400—The "White Huns" invade the region, wiping out much of the Buddhist culture and many urban and town centers.

550—After years of relative independence, Persian forces reassert control over the area but continue to face intermittent revolts from native Afghan tribes.

652—Arabs introduce the region to Islam, a religion that will eventually become dominant.

962—The Islamic era begins with the Ghaznavid Dynasty, founded by Turks and giving rise to Afghanistan's emerging role politically and culturally in Islamic civilization.

1030—The Ghaznavid empire begins to fall apart after the death of Mahmud Ghazni.

1219—Ghengis Khan, and his Mongol army, successfully invade Afghanistan in their epic and bloody march westward.

1273—Marco Polo crosses northern Afghanistan on his voyage from Italy to China. The area would become a critical, if at times dangerous stop on the "Silk Route" connecting the West to the East.

1370—A series of ventures to seize power, competing petty kingdoms and intermittent revolts mark the 14th and 15th centuries.

1504—Babur, a founder of India's Moghul dynasty, takes control of Kabul—and, in time, much of modern-day Afghanistan. Moghul rule introduces another religion, Hinduism, to the country and sets off more attempted nationalist revolts.

1600s—On the heels of the nationalist movement the previous century led by Bayazid Roshan, another nationalist-minded revolt—this one headed by Afghan warrior-poet Khushhal Khan Khattak—begins against the Moghul government in the late 1600s.

1708—Mir Wais, considered by some the father of Afghan independence, successfully takes over Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. His son, Mir Mahmud, invades Persia and liberates Herat. But by 1736, the Persians start to re-establish their grip on the region.

1750s—Ahmad Shah Durrani begins his rule, consolidating and enlarging Afghanistan while also governing much of India. But peace will be the exception over the next 100 years, as local leaders fend off Persian and Sikh invasions and fight amongst themselves.

1836—The British, in corroboration with ex-king Shah Shuja, invade Afghanistan in response to growing Russian and Persian influence in the region. Shuja re-takes the throne in 1839 only to be killed three years later. Afghan forces fight fervently against British forces, and by 1843 the nation reasserts its independence.

1878—The British launch their second war against Afghanistan but withdraw in the face of strong resistance two years later.

1885—Russian forces seize territory in northern Afghanistan. The Russians will keep most of the area, but thereafter pledge to respect Afghanistan's territorial integrity. Eight years later, another boundary agreement—this one between Afghanistan and British India—leaves several Afghan tribal areas in what is now Pakistan.

1921—A third Anglo-Afghan war breaks out after anti-British forces assassinate the king. But by 1919, the war-weary British relinquish control over Afghanistan's foreign affairs. The new king, Amanullah, establishes diplomatic relations with several major nations and introduces reforms aimed at modernizing the country. But the moves alienate many tribal and religious leaders and generate political turmoil.

1949—Afghanistan's parliament refuses to recognizes new boundaries drawn by Great Britain establishing an independent Pakistan. In the coming years, Afghanistan will develop close ties with the Soviet Union after the United States refuses to grant military aid.

1973—Daoud Khan and the Afghan Communist Party overthrow the ruling Afghan government and long-time king Mohammad Zahir Shah. Daoud, the former king's cousin, abolishes the monarchy, presents a new constitution, ousts suspected opponents from the government, and institutes economic and social reforms.

1978—Daoud is killed and his government falls in a bloody Communist-backed coup. Mass killings, arrests and tortures ensue, and the Afghan guerrilla (Mujahidin) movement is born.

1979—Anticommunist forces take control, prompting a Soviet invasion. The war becomes a steady drain on Soviet resources and saps the morale of it soldiers. Many observers say the war is unwinnable and compare the Soviet Union's experience if Afghanistan to the U.S. experience in Vietnam.

1980—Osama bin Laden makes first exploratory visit to Pakistan to meet with Afghani refugees, returns to Saudi Arabia to begin raising money and resources for Mujahedin resistance. Soviet troops install a puppet regime in Kabul. The U.S., Pakistan, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, offer support to various Mujahedin, or Islamic anti-communist resistance groups, as they begin a guerilla war against Soviet forces. The Soviets admit to losing 15,000 troops in constant fighting—experts say many more were actually lost—and withdraw by the late 1980s.

1982—Bin Laden goes inside Afghanistan with construction equipment and puts it at the disposal of the Mujahedin. He spends more and more time time in Afghanistan, occasionally joining actual battles but serves primarily as evidence of Saudi support for the Mujahedin fighters.

1984—Bin Laden establishes a "guest house" for Mujahedin.

1986—Bin Laden contructs the first of six training camps in Afghanistan.

1988—The Soviet Union and United States sign the Geneva Accords, calling for Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and the return of refugees without fear of persecution. But the Mujahidin do not take part in the negotiations, and do not accept it.

In an effort to keep track of the volunteers he was training at his facilities so that he could keep family members in other countries better informed of their status on and off the battle front, bin Laden reorganizes his guesthouse and camps. The whole complex is then termed Al-Qa'edah, an Arabic word simply meaning "the base."

1988 - 89—All Soviet troops are withdrawn.

1992—Mujahedin resistance forces finally remove the Soviet-installed regime from power, leaving rival militias to vie for influence in its wake.

1993—Mujahedin factions agree on the formation of a government with Burhanuddin Rabbani installed as president, but factional infighting continues.

1994—The staunchly conservative, ethnic Pashtun-dominated Taliban militia are appointed by Islamabad to protect a convoy trying to open up a trade route between Pakistan and Central Asia. The group—comprised of Afghans trained in religious schools in Pakistan along with former Islamic fighters or mujahedin—prove effective bodyguards, driving off other mujahedin groups who attacked and looted the convoy. Ultimately, the Taliban begins to rise up against Rabbani's government and its supporters. Over the next several years, the group will become the nation's dominant political force, although by 2001 only three other countries recognized its legitimacy.

As ethnic Pashtuns, a large part of their support came from Afghanistan's Pashtun community, disillusioned with existing ethnic Tajik and Uzbek leaders. But internal support for the Taliban was not purely a question of ethnicity. Ordinary Afghans, weary of the prevailing lawlessness in many parts of the country, were encouraged by Taliban successes in stamping out corruption, restoring peace, and allowing commerce to flourish again. Their refusal to compromise with the existing warlords whose rivalries had caused so much killing and destruction also earned them respect.

1996—The Taliban seize control of Kabul and implement fundamentalist Islamic law, barring women from work and education. Islamic punishment is introduced including amputation and death by stoning.

1996—Taliban militia offers exiled Saudi militant Osama bin Laden refuge in Afghanistan. Bin Laden had been a determined supporter of Mujahedin forces during the Soviet occupation.

August 7, 1998—U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania demolished in bomb attacks attributed to Osama bin Laden's network—more than 220 are killed, including 12 Americans.

1998—The U.S. launches missiles at suspected bases of Osama bin Laden, whom the US has accused of bombing two of its embassies in Africa. With 90 percent of the country under their control, the Taleban have continued to press claims for international recognition, but the Afghan seat at the United Nations continues to be held by former President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

November 1999—The U.N. imposes an air embargo and freezes Taliban assets in an attempt to force the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden for trial.

2000-2001—Record cold, drought and civil war push an estimated 200,000 Afghans into refugee camps, many of them in Pakistan.

January 2001—The U.N. adds an arms embargo against the Taliban in January to step up pressure on the regime and creates a panel to investigate how best to monitor sanctions.

March 12—Ignoring international pleas for their preservation Taliban authorities blow up two 2,000 year-old Buddha statues in the cliffs above the central town of Bamiyan.

May 22—Afghan religious minorities are ordered to wear tags identifying them as non-Muslims; Hindu women are required to veil themselves like other Afghan women.

July 13—Taliban authorities ban use of the Internet to stop access to material deemed vulgar, immoral and anti-Islamic.

July 19—Taliban authorities place bans on the import of 30 products including playing cards, computer discs, movies, satellite TV dishes, musical instruments, cassettes and chessboards, after declaring them "against the Sharia", or Islamic law.

August 5—The Taliban arrests international aid workers on charges of spreading Christianity, an offense punishable by death under the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic law.

September 11_Attacks on New York and Washington.

September 12—The Taliban condemn the hijacking attacks against the United States and urge the U.S. not to attack them in retaliation, saying the Afghan people are already in a great deal of misery.

September 13—United Nations airplanes depart Kabul with international diplomats, aid workers and reporters amid growing fears the country may be involved in retribution attacks by the U.S.

September 14—Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance confirms that Massoud, its military commander, has been killed in a suicide bombing attack.

Who are the Taleban?

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