The History of Afghanistan:The history of Afghanistan has been largely influenced due to the country’s position at the crossroads of West, Central, and South Asia. Many different ethnical groups of people migrated to the area during ancient times as well as powerful armies who set up temporary control of the region. When the Aryan people arrived in Afghanistan, they left behind their Pashto and Persian languages and cultures, but it was the Middle Eastern influence of the Persian and Arab invasions that really defined the region. By 642 AD, the Arabs had taken control over much of Persia and later invaded Afghanistan, introducing the Islam religion as they went.At that time, Afghanistan had multiple independent rulers depending on the area and many more different empires and dynasties tried to take hold of the country over the next one thousand years. Afghanistan was not merged into a single political being until Ahmad Shah Durrani took power of the area and began his monarchy reign in 1747, uniting all of the tribes of the area and creating the Durrani Empire. After his death, the kingdom that Durrani had created soon disintegrated.During the 1800s, Afghanistan was in the center of the collision between the British and Russian Empires who were trying to expand their rule. In 1837, the Persians waged a war in attempt to take back Afghanistan and throw out the British and Russians. After the second Anglo-Afghan war ended in 1880, Amir Abdur Rahman reigned for the next twenty years. During this time, the British and Russians officially established the boundaries of the area that would become the modern day country of Afghanistan. However, the British kept an effective hold on Afghanistan’s foreign affairs.Abdur Rahman’s son and successor, Habibullah, was assassinated in 1919 by family members who were opposed to the British’s influence. His next son, Amanullah launched a third Anglo-Afghan war and regained control of Afghanistan’s foreign policy. During this time, the British became tired of the wars and gave up their control of Afghanistan’s foreign affairs when they signed the Treaty of Rawalpindi in August of that year. In memory of that event, the Afghans established August 19th as the country’s Independence Day.
Since then, the country of Afghanistan has been invaded by numerous nations including the Soviet Union and the United States of America, and has also had numerous wars waged against them, including the War on Terror which continues to be fought there to this day. Afghanistan is now under rule of their president, Hamid Karzai.
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