Due to its location, Afghanistan has been a hub of diverse cultures, prompting one historian to dub it the ‘roundabout of the ancient world’. Those who settled included the Persians, under Darius the Great (522-486 BCE); and the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE). Many present-day towns are built on Greek foundations. A Buddhist civilization flourished from the late first century CE, its kings reigning in Bamiyan until the end of the 10th century. An Arab raid on Kandahar in 699-700 brought Islam, strengthened as the Turks gained power in Iran, Afghanistan and India. The Mongolian Genghis Khan invaded in the 13th century. For the next few hundred years Afghanistan was fought over by various Indian and Persian empires. Finally, in the 18th century, a group of Pashtun tribes under Durrani (aka Ahmad Shah Abdali) defeated the Moghuls and the Persians and consolidated its own large but unstable empire.
During the 19th century Afghanistan was caught up in the Anglo-Russian power struggle known as ‘The Great Game’. Britain tried to bring Afghanistan under direct rule, but suffered resounding defeat in the first Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42). The imperial power tried again in 1878-80; this time Afghanistan lost much territory and control of its external affairs to Britain. To keep Russia at bay and protect its Indian colony, Britain provided modern weapons and an annual subsidy to Afghanistan’s rulers. One of these was Abdur Rahman Khan (1881-1901), known as the ‘Iron Amir’ and ‘Unificator of Afghanistan’. He created a powerful army. In 1893 the Durand line fixed the border with British India, but tribal areas were split, leaving half in what is now Pakistan. At his death in 1901 Abdur Rahman Khan was succeeded by his son, Habibullah.
