Afghan history, shaped up to the 16th century by the incursion of Central Asian peoples who penetrated the Indian subcontinent via the Hindu Kush. In western historiography, the area of Afghanistan is referred to as a military and economic “transit country”, “Highway of Conquest” or “Crossroad of the Conquerors”.
Prehistory
According to payhelpcenter, the prehistory of Afghanistan has been little researched, and the chronology of the cultural stages has not been established. The first cave finds that suggest Mesolithic hunters and gatherers date back to around 7000 BC. Dated. The Neolithic Age began in southern Afghanistan with the Quetta-Zhob culture, which was mainly discovered in northern Pakistan. In the next cultural stage in the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC Disc-turned ceramics are proven, which often have black painting on a red background and suggest relationships with Iranian cultures. Various finds (e.g. adobe houses) also point to the first urban settlements (Mundigak, Deh Morasi). In the second half of the 2nd millennium, the Indo-Aryans migrated from the Iranian plateau and Bactria (northern Afghanistan) entered South Asia over the Khyber Pass. The Iranian influence in this region is evident in multicolored ceramics, some with plant motifs, and in the Bronze Age finds of the Daschli culture.
Soviet invasion
Referring to the friendship treaty signed with Afghanistan on December 5, 1978, on the orders of L. I. Brezhnev, Soviet troops marched into Afghanistan at the end of December 1979 in order to secure the influence of the USSR in Afghanistan and to eliminate Amin; he was overthrown and murdered on December 27, 1979. Karmal, who was deported to Prague as ambassador in 1978, became the new head of state and government and party chairman in 1980. He followed a more moderate, strictly pro-Soviet course. In March 1980, a contract for the stationing of Soviet troops was signed.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, justified by the USSR as aid to Afghanistan and as a measure for its own security, met with worldwide protest and exacerbated the East-West conflict. In several resolutions, the General Assembly of the United Nations called by an overwhelming majority since 1980 for the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops and the restoration of a sovereign Afghanistan. The allies of the USA joined the boycott measures initiated by the USA in January 1980 against the USSR (Olympic boycott 1980, temporary grain embargo) in various forms. At the suggestion of President J. Carter, the American Senate postponed ratification of the SALT II agreement (SALT). The Afghanistan crisis was also led by R. Reagana new phase in the arms race, which the Soviet Union was less and less able to cope with.
Against the Soviet invasion and the communist system of government, the Afghan resistance proclaimed the jihad and organized itself into several Islamic and partly monarchist groups, the mujahedin. Although they temporarily entered into alliances of convenience in the fight against the common enemy (including the establishment of an Islamic Alliance for the freedom of Afghanistan on March 21, 1980), they remained quarreled due to ethnic and religious differences as well as different political goals and personal rivalries and repeatedly supported each other fierce arguments about power and influence. The Sunni resistance groups were mainly supported by Pakistan, the USA and Saudi Arabia and acted as a 7-party coalition from Peshawar, Pakistan; an eight-party Shiite alliance operated out of Iran. In addition, militant Islamists (e.g. Osama bin Laden) fought on the side of the Mujahideen) from around the world. The Soviet intervention troops, which had grown to around 100,000 men, used massive military force against those who were fighting with guerrilla tactics, including those who fought with guerrillas. Mujahedin supported with arms deliveries from the USA, but could not achieve any sweeping success and had to accept high losses themselves (according to official data from the USSR, 13,310 Soviet war victims up to 1989).
In May 1986, sparked M. Najibullah General of the PDPA in the Official Karmal from; in September 1987 Najibullah also took over the chairmanship of the Revolutionary Council and in November 1987 the office of president. In view of the devastating consequences of the civil war and the Soviet invasion (around 1–1.5 million deaths and around 5 million Afghan refugees, especially in Pakistan and Iran), he announced a policy of national reconciliation and unilaterally declared a ceasefire (valid from January 15, 1987) and tried unsuccessfully to win over ex-king Sahir Shah and the Mujahideen for a transitional government.
A constitution passed by a Loya Jirga (Grand Council) in 1987 changed the state name back to the Republic of Afghanistan. Since the Soviet Union was unable to gain a foothold in Afghanistan, it was interested in a quick retreat after M. S. Gorbachev took office. According to an agreement concluded in Geneva on April 14, 1988 between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the guaranteeing powers of the USSR and the USA, the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan from May 15, 1988 to February 15, 1989.
