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Third Anglo-Afghan War
The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. Amanullah led a surprise attack against the British, but the British ended up with the victory. For the British, the Durand Line was reaffirmed as the political boundary between the Emirate of Afghanistan and British India and the Afghans agreed not to foment trouble on the British side. Soon after, the Afghans were able to have the right to conduct their own foreign affairs as an independent state. -
New control over Afghanistan
Mohammed Nadir Shah became a general under King Amanullah and led the Afghan National Army in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. After the war, Nadir was made Minister of War and Afghan Ambassador to France. Nadir was exiled due to disagreements with King Amanullah. Amanullah's monarchy was overthrown by Habibullah Kalakani. Nadir returned to Afghanistan with his Afghan army and took most of Afghanistan. By October 1929, Nadir captured Kabul and subsequently sacked the city. -
Soviet War in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan lasted nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. In September 1979, Deputy Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin seized power after a palace shootout that resulted in the death of President Taraki. Over 2 months of instability overwhelmed Amin's regime as he moved against his opponents and the growing rebellion. Fearing the collapse of the Amin regime, the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan. The decade long war resulted in millions of Afghans fleeing their country. -
Abdul Ali Mazari killed
Abdul Ali Mazari was a political leader of the Hezbe Wahdat during and following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Mazari was an ethnic Hazara, and believed the solution to the internal divisions in Afghanistan was in a federal system of governance. In March 1995, the Taliban invited him for a political dialogue on an alliance against the Islamic State but then arrested him along with his five companions in Chaharasyab, near Kabul. The following day, the Taliban tortured and killed Mazari. -
Buddhas of Bamiyan destroyed
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddha carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan. The statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. They were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were idols. -
Hamid Karzai elected President
Hamid Karzai took office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001. Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as Chairman of the Interim Administration. After the 2004 presidential election, Karzai was declared winner and became President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He won a second five-year term in the 2009 presidential election.
