Afghanistan Background History

          Afghanistan was first invaded by the army of Alexander the Great and the Persian empire around 328 BC. The Islamic religion was introduced in 642 AD by Arabs that invaded the region. Afghanistan was also invaded by Genghis Khan in 1219 until 1227 which was the year that he died. There was a struggle for who was going to be the leader of Afghanistan until the 14th century when Tamerlane took control of Afghanistan and made it to an Asian empire. Afghanistan was founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747.
 
          During the 19th century Russia and Great Britain were fighting for land in Afghanistan. There were a lot of conflicts that caused Afghanistan to be very unstable over the years and eventually they made their boundaries to what we know today as Afghanistan. After that there was a fight for power in Afghanistan in which they wanted to gain their independence from England. In august 1919 they finally gained their independence.

          After Afghanistan gained independence form England, King Amanullah took power and established relations with other countries and tried to reform Afghanistan and make it more modern. When he came to power he abolished the veil that Muslim women had to wear and created co-educated school which caused outrage with religious leaders. He was later abdicated because of his actions in 1929. This one of the reasons Afghanistan was held back throughout the years.

              From 1933 to 1973, Mohammad Zahir Shah ruled Afghanistan. During this time period Afghanistan was divided into the Khalq and the Parcham thanks to different ideological ideas within the government. These caused a social division within the people in Afghanistan. This is another reason why Afghanistan is not a stable country in the present.

                 Afghanistan was later invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979 but in 1986 the Afghan army managed to defeat the Soviet troops. After a decade the Taliban rose to power in Afghanistan, the Taliban wanted to impose an extreme interpretation of Islam. Leaders like Osama Bin Laden caused terrorist threats to other countries like the United States and created the "All Muslims are terrorist" stereotypes thanks to his actions. Afghanistan has always been an unstable country with corruption within the government and that's why it is as it is today.

http://motherearthtravel.com/afghanistan/history.htm
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5380.htm
http://www.historyofnations.net/asia/afghanistan.html