Category:Afghanistan



Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747 A.D.. The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian empires until it won independence from notional British control in 1919 A.D.. A brief experiment in democracy ended in a 1973 A.D. coup and a 1978 A.D. Communist counter-coup. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 A.D. to support the tottering Afghan Communist regime, touching off a long and destructive war. The USSR withdrew in 1989 A.D. under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-Communist mujahedin rebels. Subsequently, a series of civil wars saw Kabul finally fall in 1996 A.D. to the Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 A.D. to end the country's civil war and anarchy. Following the September 11, 2001 A.D. terrorist attacks in New York City, a US, Allied, and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Osama Bin Ladin. The UN-sponsored Bonn Conference in 2001 A.D. established a process for political reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution and a presidential election in 2004 A.D., and National Assembly elections in 2005 A.D.. On December 7, 2004 A.D., Hamid Karzai became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. The National Assembly was inaugurated on December 19, 2005 A.D..

Afghan Persian (also known as Dari) and Pashto are the official languages; other Turkic languages and 30 minor languages are also spoken.