Kabul and Related Topics

Afghanistan

76 links

Landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and South Asia.

Tents of Afghan nomads in the northern Badghis province of Afghanistan. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan about 7,000 years ago.

The extent of the Indus Valley Civilization during its mature phase

A "Bactrian gold" Scythian belt depicting Dionysus, from Tillya Tepe in the ancient region of Bactria

Approximate maximum extent of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, formed by the fragmentation of Alexander the Great's Empire, circa 180 BCE

Saffarid rule at its greatest extent under Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar

Mongol invasions and conquests depopulated large areas of Afghanistan

Map of the Hotak Empire during the Reign of Mirwais Hotak, 1715.

Map of the Hotak Empire at its height in 1728. Disputed between Hussain Hotak (Centered in Kandahar) and Ashraf Hotak (centered in Isfahan)

Afghan tribesmen in 1841, painted by British officer James Rattray

Map of Afghanistan (Emirate) and surrounding nations in 1860, following the conquest of [[Principality of Qandahar|
Kandahar]], and before the conquest of Herat.

Emir Amanullah invaded British India in 1919 and proclaimed Afghanistan's full independence thereafter. He proclaimed himself King of Afghanistan in June 1926.

King Zahir, the last reigning monarch of Afghanistan, who reigned from 1933 until 1973.

Development of the civil war from 1992 to late 2001

U.S. troops and Chinooks in Afghanistan, 2008

A map of Afghanistan showing the 2021 Taliban offensive

Taliban fighters in Kabul on a captured Humvee following the 2021 fall of Kabul.

The mountainous topography of Afghanistan

The snow leopard was the official national animal of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

A 2005 CIA map showing traditional Afghan tribal territories. Pashtun tribes form the world's largest tribal society.

Ethnolinguistic map of Afghanistan (2001)

Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif is the largest mosque in Afghanistan

UNESCO Institute of Statistics Afghanistan Literacy Rate population plus15 1980–2018

The Daoud Khan Military Hospital in Kabul is one of the largest hospitals in Afghanistan

The Arg (the Presidential palace) in Kabul

U.S. representative Zalmay Khalilzad (left) meeting with Taliban leaders, Abdul Ghani Baradar, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Suhail Shaheen, unidentified. Doha, Qatar on 21 November 2020.

Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces, which are further divided into a number of districts

Workers processing pomegranates (anaar), which Afghanistan is famous for in Asia

Afghan rugs are one of Afghanistan's main exports

Afghan saffron has been recognized as the world's best

Afghanistan electricity supply 1980–2019

The Minaret of Jam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, currently under threat by erosion and flooding

The Salang Tunnel, once the highest tunnel in the world, provides a key connection between the north and south of the country

An Ariana Afghan Airlines Airbus A310 in 2006

An Afghan family near Kholm, 1939 – most Afghans are tribal

A house occupied by nomadic kochi people in Nangarhar Province

Kabul skyline, displaying both historical and contemporary buildings

Non (bread) from a local baker, the most widely consumed bread in Afghanistan

Haft Mewa (Seven Fruit Syrup) is popularly consumed during Nowruz in Afghanistan

The ancient national sport of Afghanistan, Buzkashi

Kabul is the country's largest city and serves as its capital.

Taliban

34 links

Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, and jihadist political movement in Afghanistan.

President Ronald Reagan meeting with Afghan Mujahideen leaders in the Oval Office in 1983

The Taliban emerged in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar around September 1994.

Map showing political control in Afghanistan in late 1996, following the capture of Kabul by the Taliban

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Northern Alliance in early 2000, when the Taliban was at the height of its power

The Taliban were removed from power in October 2001 by a unified effort of United Islamic Front (Northern Alliance) ground forces, small US Special Operations teams and US air support.

A Northern Alliance fighter wraps a bandolier around his body while assisting US forces at a compound in Helmand Province in Afghanistan, January 2002.

Development of a then-small Taliban insurgency in 2002 until 2006, the year which saw an escalation in Taliban attacks

US representative Zalmay Khalilzad (left) meeting with Taliban delegation in Doha, Qatar on 21 November 2020

The Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, India, where the Deobandi movement began

Taller Buddha in 1963 and in 2008 after destruction

November 1999 public execution in Kabul of a mother of five who was found guilty of killing her husband with an axe while he slept.

Taliban religious police beating a woman in Kabul on 26 August 2001

Members of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan protesting against the Taliban, in Peshawar, Pakistan in 1998

Afghans in Germany protesting against Taliban violence, 14 August 2021

Taliban police patrolling the streets of Herat in a pick-up truck

Afghanistan-Pakistan border region pictured in Paktia Province

US soldiers burning a suspected Taliban safehouse in March 2007

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meeting with Taliban delegation in Doha, Qatar, on 12 September 2020

Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir interviewing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, between circa 1997 and circa 1998.

Military situation as it was on 3 August 2021
Under control of the Afghan Government, NATO, and Allies
Under control of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Allies

In 1996, the group administered roughly three-quarters of the country, and established the First Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, with the Afghan capital transferred to Kandahar from Kabul.

Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by Emperor Ashoka, from Chilzina in Kandahar, 3rd century BC.

Kandahar ( Kandahār,, Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of 1010 m. It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118.

Pashtuns

32 links

Iranian ethnic group who are native to Central Asia and South Asia.

A Pashtun Tribesmen in Kurram, c. 1894 CE

Tents of Afghan nomads in Badghis Province who are known in Pashto language as Kuchian. They migrate from region to region depending on the season (transhumance).

The Arachosia Satrapy and the Pactyan people during the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BCE

Pactyans, present day Pashtunistan. The Oriental Empires about 600 B.C., Historical Atlas by William Shepherd (1923-26)

Heads of two males, discovered in Hadda (Pashto: هډه) 10km south of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Dated 3-4th century CE.

Bactrian document in the Greek script from the 4th century mentioning the word Afghan (αβγανανο): "To Ormuzd Bunukan from Bredag Watanan, the chief of the Afghans"

Afghan Amir Sher Ali Khan (in the center with his son) and his delegation in Ambala, near Lahore, in 1869

Leader of the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar, also referred to as "the Red shirts" movement, Bacha Khan, standing with Mohandas Gandhi

Malala Yousafzai, a Pashtana, recipient of 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad with Taliban officials Abdul Ghani Baradar, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai and Suhail Shaheen

President Hamid Karzai and Abdul Rahim Wardak

From left to right: Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai; Anwar ul-Haq Ahady; and Abdullah Abdullah

Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician and former Prime Minister, belongs to the Niazi tribe.

Pashtun-inhabited areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan (green) in 1980

Ethnolinguistic groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1982

Pashtun female festive dress in Faryab, Afghanistan

Khattak dance involves running and whirling. It is mainly performed in and around the Peshawar area of Pakistan.

Mahmud Tarzi, son of Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi, became the pioneer of Afghan journalism for publishing the first newspaper Seraj al Akhbar.

Shahid Afridi, former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team

The Bodhisattva and Chandeka, Hadda, 5th century CE

The Friday Mosque in Kandahar. Adjacent to it is the Shrine of the Cloak(also known as Kirka Sharif), and the tomb of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the 18th century Pashtun conqueror who became the founding father of Afghanistan.

Men doing Islamic salat (praying) outside in the open in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan

Two Pashtane (Pashtun women) from Kuch i tribe pictured in 1967 on the Helmand river (د هلمند سيند)

Zarine Khan, Indian model and actress in Bollywood films

Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Madhubala, Indian Bollywood actress and producer

The Pashtuns remain a predominantly tribal people, but the trend of urbanisation has begun to alter Pashtun society as cities such as Kandahar, Peshawar, Quetta and Kabul have grown rapidly due to the influx of rural Pashtuns.

Afghans fleeing Kabul Airport aboard a US Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during the fall of Kabul

Fall of Kabul (2021)

15 links

Taliban militants during the 2021 offensive

Taliban control of Afghanistan prior to the fall of Kabul

Evacuees load on to buses to be processed during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan

Fleeing civilians aboard a US Air Force transport plane at Kabul Airport on 19 August 2021

US Marines with SP-MAGTF-CR-CC at an evacuation checkpoint at Kabul Airport on 21 August

Protest in Rotterdam against the Taliban's take over, 21 August 2021

US President Joe Biden discussing the fall of Kabul with the National Security Council on 18 August 2021

American, British, and Turkish soldiers assist a child evacuating from Kabul Airport, 20 August 2021

Taliban fighters patrolling Kabul in a Humvee, 17 August 2021

Civilians preparing to be airlifted from Kabul Airport, 18 August 2021

Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul was captured by the Taliban on 15 August 2021, the culmination of a major insurgent offensive that began in May 2021.

Pakistan

14 links

Country in South Asia.

Indus Priest King Statue from Mohenjo-Daro.

Standing Buddha from Gandhara, Greco-Buddhist art, 1st–2nd century AD.

Clock Tower, Faisalabad, built by the British government in the 19th century

Queen Elizabeth II was the last monarch of independent Pakistan, before it became a republic in 1956.

Signing of the Tashkent Declaration to end hostilities with India in 1965 in Tashkent, USSR, by President Ayub alongside Bhutto (centre) and Aziz Ahmed (left)

President George W. Bush meets with President Musharraf in Islamabad during his 2006 visit to Pakistan.

The Friday Prayers at the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore

A satellite image showing the topography of Pakistan

Köppen climate classification of Pakistan

President of Pakistan Ayub Khan with US President John F. Kennedy in 1961

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan at the 2019 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit

Pakistan Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai signing the Treaty of Friendship Between China and Pakistan. Pakistan is host to China's largest embassy.

The areas shown in green are the Pakistani-controlled areas.

Hunza Valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan region is part of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

Pakistan Air Force's JF-17 Thunder flying in front of the 26660 ft Nanga Parbat

Statue of a bull outside the Pakistan Stock Exchange, Islamabad, Pakistan

Surface mining in Sindh. Pakistan has been termed the 'Saudi Arabia of Coal' by Forbes.

Television assembly factory in Lahore. Pakistan's industrial sector accounts for about 20.3% of the GDP, and is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Rising skyline of Karachi with several under construction skyscrapers.

Lake Saiful Muluk, located at the northern end of the Kaghan Valley, near the town of Naran in the Saiful Muluk National Park.

Badshahi Mosque was commissioned by the Mughals in 1671. It is listed as a World Heritage Site.

Tarbela Dam, the largest earth filled dam in the world, was constructed in 1968.

Pakistan produced 1,135 megawatts of renewable energy for the month of October 2016. Pakistan expects to produce 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy by the beginning of 2019.

The motorway passes through the Salt Range mountains

Port of Karachi is one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum)

Track of Islamabad-Rawalpindi Metrobus with adjoining station

Central Library of University of Sargodha

Malala Yousafzai at the Women of the World festival in 2014.

Pakistan hosts the second largest refugee population globally after Turkey. An Afghan refugee girl near Tarbela Dam

Faisal Mosque, built in 1986 by Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay on behalf of King Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia

Havana at Shri Hinglaj Mata temple shakti peetha, the largest Hindu pilgrimage centre in Pakistan. The annual Hinglaj Yathra is attended by more than 250,000 people.

Truck art is a distinctive feature of Pakistani culture.

People in traditional clothing in Neelum District

Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan's national poet who conceived the idea of Pakistan

The Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam is part of Pakistan's Sufi heritage.

Minar-e-Pakistan is a national monument marking Pakistan's independence movement.

Located on the bank of Arabian Sea in Karachi, Port Grand is one of the largest food streets of Asia.

Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore is the 3rd largest cricket stadium in Pakistan with a seating capacity of 27,000 spectators.

Upon the defeat of the Turk and Hindu Shahi dynasties which governed the Kabul Valley, Gandhara (present-day Khyber Pakhtunkwa), and western Punjab in the 7th to 11th centuries CE, several successive Muslim empires ruled over the region, including the Ghaznavid Empire (975–1187 CE), the Ghorid Kingdom, and the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526 CE).

Durrani Empire

13 links

Afghan empire that was founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747 and spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia.

The Afghan Empire at its height under Ahmad Shah Durrani, 1761

The Afghan Empire at its peak under Ahmad Shah Durrani, 1761

City of Kandahar, its principal bazaar and citadel, as seen from the Nakkara Khauna

Ahmad Shah Durrani and his coalition decisively defeat the Maratha Confederacy, during the Third Battle of Panipat and restored the Mughal Empire to Shah Alam II.

The Bala Hissar fort in Peshawar was one of the royal residences of the Durrani kings.

The main street in the bazaar at Kabul, 1842 James Atkinson watercolour painting.

Following Afshar's death in June 1747, Ahmad secured Afghanistan by taking Kandahar, Ghazni, Kabul, and Peshawar.

Timur Shah Durrani

11 links

The second ruler of the Afghan Durrani Empire, from November 1772 until his death in 1793.

Coin of Timur Shah Durrani as Nizam of the Punjab, minted in Lahore, dated 1757/8

Portrait of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, brother-in-law to Timur Shah.

His prominent reign would see the Durrani Empire being held through tough times, Timur Shah also notably changed the capital of the Durrani Empire from Kandahar to Kabul, which is what would affect the state of modern Afghanistan today, with Kabul as its Capital city.

Sir Mortimer Durand, diplomat of the colonial Indian Civil Service

Soviet–Afghan War

21 links

Conflict wherein insurgent groups known collectively as the Mujahideen, as well as smaller Marxist–Leninist–Maoist groups, fought a nine-year guerrilla war against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) and the Soviet Army throughout the 1980s, mostly in the Afghan countryside.

The existing Afghanistan–Pakistan border and maximum extent of claimed territory

Postage stamp from 1979 depicting the Arg, with the text reading "The Great Saur Revolution is the fruit of the class struggle"

Afghanistan Scout Association in the 1950s

Soviet infantry at the time of deployment

Soviet forces after capturing some Mujahideen

The headquarters of the Soviet 40th Army in Tajbeg Palace, Kabul, 1987. Before the Soviet intervention, the building was presidential palace, where Hafizullah Amin was killed.

Soviet ground forces in action, supported by Mi-24 helicopters and T-62 tanks, while conducting an offensive operation against the Afghan mujahideen, 1984.

Map of the Soviet intervention, December 1979

Soviet paratroopers aboard a BMD-1 in Kabul

A Mujahideen fighter in Kunar uses a communications receiver.

Mujahideen with two captured artillery field guns in Jaji, 1984

A Soviet Spetsnaz (special operations) group prepares for a mission in Afghanistan, 1988

The areas where the different Mujahideen forces operated in 1985

Darul Aman Palace in 1982, general headquarters of the Afghan Army

Mujahideen praying in Shultan Valley, 1987

A column of Soviet BTR armored personnel carriers departing from Afghanistan.

Soviet T-62M main battle tank withdraws from Afghanistan

CGen of 40th Army, Boris Gromov, announcing the withdrawal of Soviet contingent forces.

Painting of the 'first Stinger Missile kill in 1986'.

An Afghan village left in ruins after being destroyed by Soviet forces

A German database showing the channelling of the money and weapons, provided by ISI officer Mohammad Yousaf in his book: Afghanistan – The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower

U.S. President Reagan meeting with Afghan mujahideen at the White House, to highlight Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan

Charlie Wilson (D-TX), 2nd from the left, dressing in Afghan clothing (armed with AKS-74U) with the local Afghan mujahideen.

An Afghan mujahid carries a Lee–Enfield No. 4 in August 1985

A demonstration against the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, in The Hague, Netherlands, 1985

Soviet soldiers return from Afghanistan, October 1986

Spetsnaz troops interrogate a captured mujahideen with an RPG, rounds and AK47 in the background, 1986

A member of the International Committee of the Red Cross helping a wounded Afghan child walk in 1986

A PFM-1 mine, often mistaken for a toy by children. The mine's shape was dictated by aerodynamics.

Afghan guerrillas that were chosen to receive medical treatment in the United States, Norton Air Force Base, California, 1986

Two Soviet T-55 tanks left by the Soviet army during their withdrawal lie rusting in a field near Bagram Airfield, in 2002

U.S. troops in 2011 surveying the Salang Pass during the War in Afghanistan, the route used by Soviet forces during the invasion 32 years before

Afghans commemorating Mujahideen Victory Day in Kabul (2007)

20th Anniversary of Withdrawal of Soviet Military Forces from Afghanistan, stamp of Belarus, 2009

A meeting of Russian war veterans from Afghanistan, 1990

Memorial to soldiers located in Kolomyia, Ukraine

Afghans killed by Soviet forces in the 1980s, after a raid on a caravan

In 1974, Bhutto authorized another secret operation in Kabul where the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Air Intelligence of Pakistan (AI) extradited Burhanuddin Rabbani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud to Peshawar, amid fear that Rabbani, Hekmatyar and Massoud might be assassinated by Daoud.

Territorial control of Afghanistan at the end of the offensive (15 August 2021)
(See a more detailed map of the current military situation in Afghanistan.)

2021 Taliban offensive

19 links

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in June 2021

Afghan pro-government forces assemble in Jowzjan Province

Armed locals protest in support of the Afghan government in Jowzjan Province on 13 July 2021

Afghan National Army soldiers in combat with the Taliban

Taliban fighters resting at a village, August 2021

US President Joe Biden in a video conference with Vice President Harris and the US National Security team, discussing the situation in Afghanistan on 14 August 2021

British soldiers deploying to Kabul to assist in the NATO withdrawal, 13 August 2021

Taliban fighters in Kabul, 17 August 2021

US soldiers with Afghans evacuating Hamid Karzai International Airport on 21 August, after the Taliban captured Kabul.

On 8 July, US President Joe Biden stated: "The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely."

Afghans fleeing aboard a US Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during the Fall of Kabul, 15 August 2021. The Taliban offensive resulted in an exodus of Afghans.

Taliban militants and civilians in front of Hamid Karzai International Airport, 17 August 2021

A US Marine escorting Afghan evacuees during the Kabul airlift, 19 August 2021

Repatriation operations from Afghanistan in August 2021

US airmen evacuating their final CH-47 Chinook onto a C-17 Globemaster III at Kabul Airport in August 2021.

The 2021 Taliban offensive, also known as the summer offensive, was a military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and other allied militants against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan that led to the fall of the Republic based in Kabul and marked the end of the nearly 20-year-old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the United States invasion of the country.

A report on Kabul

247 related topics with Alpha