A Historical Timeline of

Afghanistan
Updated on Aug 30, 2021 5:27 PM EDT — Published on May 4, 2011
Politics 

12:00 PM EDT
The land that is now Afghanistan has a long history of domination by foreign
conquerors and strife among internally warring factions. At the gateway
between Asia and Europe, this land was conquered by Darius I of Babylonia
circa 500 B.C., and Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 329 B.C., among
others.

Mahmud of Ghazni, an 11th century conqueror who created an empire from

Iran to India, is considered the greatest of Afghanistan’s conquerors.

READ MORE: Afghan children get left behind, go missing amid chaos at

Kabul’s airport

Genghis Khan took over the territory in the 13th century, but it wasn’t until the
1700s that the area was united as a single country. By 1870, after the area
had been invaded by various Arab conquerors, Islam had taken root.

During the 19th century, Britain, looking to protect its Indian empire from
Russia, attempted to annex Afghanistan, resulting in a series of British-Afghan
Wars (1838-42, 1878-80, 1919-21).

1921

The British, beleaguered in the wake of World War I, are defeated in the Third
British-Afghan War (1919-21), and Afghanistan becomes an independent
nation. Concerned that Afghanistan has fallen behind the rest of the world,
Amir Amanullah Khan begins a rigorous campaign of socioeconomic reform.

1926

Amanullah declares Afghanistan a monarchy, rather than an emirate, and

proclaims himself king. He launches a series of modernization plans and
attempts to limit the power of the Loya Jirga, the National Council. Critics,
frustrated by Amanullah’s policies, take up arms in 1928 and by 1929, the
king abdicates and leaves the country.
1933 

Zahir Shah becomes king. The new king brings a semblance of stability to the
country and he rules for the next 40 years.

1934

The United States formally recognizes Afghanistan.

1947

Britain withdraws from India, creating the predominantly Hindu but secular
state of India and the Islamic state of Pakistan. The nation of Pakistan
includes a long, largely uncontrollable, border with Afghanistan.

1953

The pro-Soviet Gen. Mohammed Daoud Khan, cousin of the king, becomes
prime minister and looks to the communist nation for economic and military
assistance. He also introduces a number of social reforms including allowing
women a more public presence.

1956

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agrees to help Afghanistan, and the two
countries become close allies.

1957

As part of Daoud’s reforms, women are allowed to attend university and enter
the workforce.

1965

The Afghan Communist Party secretly forms. The group’s principal leaders
are Babrak Karmal and Nur Mohammad Taraki.
1973

Khan overthrows the last king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, in a military coup.
Khan’s regime, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, comes to
power. Khan abolishes the monarchy and names himself president. The
Republic of Afghanistan is established with firm ties to the USSR.

1975-1977

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.

1978

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.

1979

American Ambassador Adolph Dubs is killed. The United States cuts off
assistance to Afghanistan. A power struggle between Taraki and Deputy
Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin begins. Taraki is killed on Sept. 14 in a
confrontation with Amin supporters.

The USSR invades Afghanistan on Dec. 24 to bolster the faltering communist

regime. On Dec. 27, Amin and many of his followers are executed. Deputy
Prime Minister Babrak Karmal becomes prime minister. Widespread
opposition to Karmal and the Soviets spawns violent public demonstrations.
By early 1980, the Mujahadeen rebels have united against Soviet invaders
and the USSR-backed Afghan Army.

1982

Some 2.8 million Afghans have fled from the war to Pakistan, and another 1.5
million have fled to Iran. Afghan guerrillas gain control of rural areas, and
Soviet troops hold urban areas.

1984

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.

The United Nations investigates reported human rights violations in

Afghanistan.

1986

The Mujahadeen are receiving arms from the United States, Britain and China
via Pakistan.
Withdrawal of six Soviet regiments from Afghanistan began October 15, 1986. This official Soviet picture shows units of the
first tank regiment to leave the country beginning their withdrawal. Photo provided by REUTERS/APN

1988

In September, Osama bin Laden and 15 other Islamists form the group al-
Qaida, or “the base”, to continue their jihad, or holy war, against the Soviets
and other who they say oppose their goal of a pure nation governed by Islam.
With their belief that the Soviet’s faltering war in Afghanistan was directly
attributable to their fighting, they claim victory in their first battle, but also
begin to shift their focus to America, saying the remaining superpower is the
main obstacle to the establishment of a state based on Islam.

1989
The U.S., Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union sign peace accords in
Geneva guaranteeing Afghan independence and the withdrawal of 100,000
Soviet troops. 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 1986. Afghan guerrillas name Sibhatullah Mojadidi as head of their
exiled government.

1992

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.

1995

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.

1995-1999

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.

1997

The Taliban publicly executes Najibullah.

Ethnic groups in the north, under Masood’s Northern Alliance, and the south,
aided in part by Hamid Karzai, continue to battle the Taliban for control of the
country.

1998

Following al-Qaida’s bombings of two American embassies in Africa,

President Clinton orders cruise missile attacks against bin Laden’s training
camps in Afghanistan. The attacks miss the Saudi and other leaders of the
terrorist group.

2000

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.

March 2001

Ignoring international protests, the Taliban carry out their threat to destroy
Buddhist statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, saying they are an affront to Islam.

Sept. 4, 2001

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. 15.

Sept. 9, 2001

Masood, still head of the Northern Alliance and the nation’s top insurgent, is
killed by assassins posing as journalists.
Sept. 11, 2001

Hijackers commandeer four commercial airplanes and crash them into the
World Trade Center Towers in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington,
D.C., and a Pennsylvania field, killing thousands. Days later, U.S. officials say
bin Laden, the Saudi exile believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, is the prime
suspect in the attack.
A fireman walks amongst the rubble and the smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center 11 October 2001 in New York.
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 8:48am. Photo GARY FRIEDMAN/AFP/Getty Images

Oct. 7, 2001

Following unanswered demands that the Taliban turn over bin Laden, U.S.
and British forces launch airstrikes against targets in Afghanistan. American
warplanes start to bomb Taliban targets and bases reportedly belonging to the
al-Qaida network. The Taliban proclaim they are ready for jihad.

Nov. 13, 2001

After weeks of intense fighting with Taliban troops, the Northern Alliance
enters Kabul. The retreating Taliban flee southward toward Kandahar.

Dec. 7, 2001

Taliban fighters abandon their final stronghold in Kandahar as the militia

group’s hold on Afghanistan continues to disintegrate. Two days later, Taliban
leaders surrender the group’s final Afghan territory, the province of Zabul. The
move leads the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press to declare “the rule of
the Taliban in Afghanistan has totally ended.”

Dec. 22, 2001

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.N.-sponsored conference to
determine an interim government, Karzai already has the support of the
United States and by the end of the conference is elected leader of the six-
month government.
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, 2001. Joining Karzai are U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (far L) and Afghanistan Charge d’affairs Haron Amin (far R). Photo by Larry
Downing LSD/ME/REUTERS

2002
In June, the Loya Jirga, or grand council, elects U.S.-backed Hamid Karzai as
interim leader. Karzai chooses the members of his government who will serve
until 2004, when the government is required to organize elections.

2003

Amid increased violence, NATO takes over security in Kabul in August. The
effort is the security organization’s first-ever commitment outside of Europe.

January 2004

The Loya Jirga adopts a new constitution following input from nearly 500,000
Afghans, some of whom participate in public meetings in villages. The new
constitution calls for a president and two vice presidents, but the office of
prime minister is removed at the last minute. The official languages, according
to the constitution, are Pashto and Dari. Also, the new constitution calls for
equality for women.

October 2004

Presidential elections are held. More than 10.5 million Afghans register to vote
and choose among 18 presidential candidates, including interim leader
Karzai. Karzai is elected with 55 percent of the vote.

2005

The nation holds its first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years. The
peaceful vote leads to the parliament’s first meeting in December.

2006

Amid continuing fighting between Taliban and al-Qaida fighters and the
Afghan government forces, NATO expands its peacekeeping operation to the
southern portion of the country. After the forces take over from American-led
troops, Taliban fighters launch a bloody wave of suicide attacks and raids
against the international troops.
2007

The Afghan government and NATO confirm that Taliban commander Mullah
Dadullah was killed during a U.S.-led operation in southern Afghanistan.

2008

The international community pledges more than $15 billion in aid to

Afghanistan at a donors’ conference in Paris, while Afghan President Hamid
Karzai promises to fight corruption in the government.

2009

President Barack Obama names Richard Holbrooke as a special envoy to

Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr. Obama announces a new strategy for the
Afghanistan war that would dispatch more military and civilian trainers to the
country, in addition to the 17,000 more combat troops he previously ordered.
The strategy also includes assistance to Pakistan in its fight against militants.

2010

President Barack Obama accepts Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s resignation as

the top commander in Afghanistan, over critical comments he made in a
Rolling Stone article, and nominates Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S.
Central Command, as his replacement.

2011

U.S. forces overtake a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and kill al-Qaida

leader Osama bin Laden on May 2 local time.

2012

President Hamid Karzai calls for American forces to leave Afghan villages and
pull back to their bases after a U.S. soldier kills 16 Afghan civilians inside their
homes.
2013

The Afghan army takes over all military and security operations from NATO
forces.

May 2014

Obama announces timetable for significantly reducing U.S. troop sizes in

Afghanistan by 2016.

September 2014