Afghanistan
A mountainous, land-locked country in south-central Asia, bounded on the west by Iran, on the south and east by Pakistan, and on the north by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Physical. Afghanistan's eastern region is dominated by the vast mountain range of the Hindu Kush, and most of the country is high plateau. In winter much of it is under snow; but in spring grass appears, soon to be scorched dry and swept by the dust storms of summer. Economy. Agriculture, mainly sheep-raising and subsistence farming, is the mainstay of the economy, which has been devastated by the civil war; there are widespread food shortages, giving rise to fears of famine, and illegal opium production is prevalent. History. Afghanistan was conquered by Alexander the Great, and after his death became part of the Bactrian state. A succession of foreign overlords was followed by Arab conquest from the 7th century. The territory was converted to Islam, and the most important Muslim ruler was Mahmud of Ghazna. The country was overrun by Mongols in 1222, only becoming united under an Afghan leader in 1747, when Ahmad Shah founded the Durrani dynasty at Kandahar. In the 19th and early 20th centuries Afghanistan was the focal point of conflicting Russian and British interests. A British attempt to replace the Kabul ruler Dost Muhammad was repulsed in the First Anglo-Afghan War, but Afghan foreign policy came under British control in 1879 by the Treaty of Gandamak, when Britain gained control of the Khyber Pass, an important route between India and Central Asia, thus alienating the Pathan tribes. In 1880 Abdurrahman Khan became amir. Under him a strong central government was established, and his heirs achieved some modernization and social reform. In 1953 General Mohammad Daoud Khan seized power and was Prime Minister until 1963, during which time he obtained economic and military assistance from the Soviet Union. There were border disputes with Pakistan, but it was Daoud's policy to maintain 'non-alignment' between the two super-power blocs. In 1964 Afghanistan became a parliamentary democracy, but a military coup in 1973 overthrew the monarchy and Daoud reasserted control. In 1977 he issued a constitution for a one-party state. Within a year, however, he had been assassinated and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan proclaimed, headed by a revolutionary council, whose first President was Nur Mohammad Taraki. The new regime embarked on reforms, but there was tension and rural unrest. In February 1979 the US ambassador was killed and one month later Taraki was assassinated by supporters of the deputy Prime Minister, Hafizullah Amin, who then sought US support. In December 1979 Soviet troops entered the country. Amin was killed and replaced by Babrak Karmal. Guerrilla Mujahidin forces, equipped with US arms, then waged a jihad or holy war against government troops armed and supported by Soviet forces. Some six million refugees fled to Iran and Pakistan. In 1987 the Soviet Union began to disengage, all troops being withdrawn by 1989. In 1992 Mujahidin guerrillas overthrew the Communist government of Mohammad Najibullah and proclaimed the Islamic State of Afghanistan. However, civil conflict between both rival Mujahidin factions and other militant groups continued; in 1996, the government was overthrown by the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban militia, who took control of Kabul and executed former President Najibullah. The north of the country remains under the control of anti-Taliban forces and fighting has continued.