197-497: Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia . It is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south , Iran to the west , Turkmenistan to the northwest , Uzbekistan to the north , Tajikistan to the northeast , and China to the northeast and east . Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land,
394-653: A coup d'état in 1973 ), and subsequent infighting prompted the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan in 1979. Mujahideen fought against the Soviets in the Soviet–Afghan War and continued fighting among themselves following the Soviets' withdrawal in 1989 . The Taliban controlled most of the country by 1996, but their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan received little international recognition before its overthrow in
591-693: A jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the community ( ummah ). The widespread use of the word in English began with reference to the guerrilla-type militant groups led by the Islamist Afghan fighters in the Soviet–Afghan War (see Afghan mujahideen ). The term now extends to other jihadist groups in various countries. In its roots, the Arabic word mujahideen refers to any person performing jihad . In its post-classical meaning, jihad refers to an act that
788-703: A proxy war as the Pakistani government provided these rebels with covert training centers, the United States supported them through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the Soviet Union sent thousands of military advisers to support the PDPA regime. Meanwhile, there was increasingly hostile friction between the competing factions of the PDPA ;– the dominant Khalq and the more moderate Parcham . In October 1979, PDPA General Secretary Taraki
985-727: A stringed instrument —in Kyrgyzstan, a three-stringed komuz , and in Kazakhstan, a similar two-stringed instrument, the dombra . Photography in Central Asia began to develop after 1882, when a Russian Mennonite photographer named Wilhelm Penner moved to the Khanate of Khiva during the Mennonite migration to Central Asia led by Claas Epp, Jr. Upon his arrival to Khanate of Khiva , Penner shared his photography skills with
1182-470: A century, until Zahir Shah was overthrown in 1973 , following which the Republic of Afghanistan was established. Since the late 1970s, Afghanistan's history has been dominated by extensive warfare, including coups, invasions, insurgencies, and civil wars . The conflict began in 1978 when a communist revolution established a socialist state (itself a response to the dictatorship established following
1379-573: A closer relationship with the Soviet Union . Afterward, the 1964 constitution was formed, and the first non-royal prime minister was sworn in. Zahir Shah, like his father Nadir Shah, had a policy of maintaining national independence while pursuing gradual modernization, creating nationalist feeling, and improving relations with the United Kingdom. Afghanistan was neither a participant in World War II nor aligned with either power bloc in
1576-438: A distinct region of the world was Alexander von Humboldt . The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions. Historically, political geography and culture have been two significant parameters widely used in scholarly definitions of Central Asia. Humboldt's definition comprised every country between 5° North and 5° South of the latitude 44.5°N. Humboldt mentions some geographic features of this region, which include
1773-730: A key role in the transfer of the Avesta to Persia and is thus considered by some to be the "second homeland of Zoroastrianism". Alexander the Great and his Macedonian forces arrived in Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier in the Battle of Gaugamela . Following Alexander's brief occupation, the successor state of the Seleucid Empire controlled the region until 305 BCE, when they gave much of it to
1970-433: A large body of water, temperature fluctuations are often severe, excluding the hot, sunny summer months. In most areas, the climate is dry and continental, with hot summers and cool to cold winters, with occasional snowfall. Outside high-elevation areas, the climate is mostly semi-arid to arid. In lower elevations, summers are hot with blazing sunshine. Winters feature occasional rain or snow from low-pressure systems that cross
2167-507: A local student Khudaybergen Divanov, who later became the founder of Uzbek photography . Some also learn to sing the Manas , Kyrgyzstan's epic poem (those who learn the Manas exclusively but do not improvise are called manaschis ). During Soviet rule, akyn performance was co-opted by the authorities and subsequently declined in popularity. With the fall of the Soviet Union , it has enjoyed
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#17327910707812364-797: A member state for their official spokesman in Doha , Suhail Shaheen . The United Nations did not recognize the previous Taliban government and chose to work with the then government-in-exile instead. Western nations suspended most of their humanitarian aid to Afghanistan following the Taliban's August 2021 takeover of the country; the World Bank and International Monetary Fund also halted their payments. More than half of Afghanistan's 39 million people faced an acute food shortage in October 2021. Human Rights Watch reported on 11 November 2021 that Afghanistan
2561-544: A more heterogeneous region with increasing East Asian ancestry through Turkic and Mongolian groups in the past thousands years, including extensive Turkic and later Mongol migrations out of Mongolia and slow assimilation of local populations. In the 8th century AD, the Islamic expansion reached the region but had no significant demographic impact. In the 13th century AD, the Mongolian invasion of Central Asia brought most of
2758-517: A movement and militia of students ( talib ) from Islamic madrassas (schools) in Pakistan , who soon had military support from Pakistan. Taking control of Kandahar city that year, they conquered more territories until finally driving out the government of Rabbani from Kabul in 1996, where they established an emirate . The Taliban were condemned internationally for the harsh enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic sharia law, which resulted in
2955-468: A myriad of campaigns to unite most of Afghanistan in his reign, launching numerous incursions including against the surrounding states such as the Hazarajat campaign , conquest of Balkh , conquest of Kunduz , and the conquest of Kandahar . Dost Mohammad led his final campaign against Herat , conquering it and re-uniting Afghanistan. During his campaigns of re-unification, he held friendly relations with
3152-634: A pretext for intervention. Russian ground forces invaded Chechnya again in 1999. The separatists were less successful in the Second Chechen War. Russian officials claimed that the separatists had been defeated as early as 2002. The Russians also succeeded in killing the most prominent mujahideen commanders, most notably Ibn al-Khattab and Abu al-Walid . Although the region has since been far from stable, separatist activity has decreased, though some foreign fighters remain active in Chechnya. In
3349-523: A resurgence, although akyns still do use their art to campaign for political candidates. A 2005 The Washington Post article proposed a similarity between the improvisational art of akyns and modern freestyle rap performed in the West. As a consequence of Russian colonisation, European fine arts – painting, sculpture and graphics – have developed in Central Asia. The first years of the Soviet regime saw
3546-462: A scarcity of research on climate impacts in Central Asia, even though it experiences faster warming than the global average and is generally considered to be one of the more climate-vulnerable regions in the world. Along with West Asia , it has already had greater increases in hot temperature extremes than the other parts of Asia, Rainfall in Central Asia had decreased, unlike elsewhere in Asia, and
3743-514: A series of events that would dramatically turn Afghanistan from a poor and secluded (albeit peaceful) country to a hotbed of international terrorism. The PDPA initiated various social, symbolic, and land distribution reforms that provoked strong opposition, while also brutally oppressing political dissidents. This caused unrest and quickly expanded into a state of civil war by 1979, waged by guerrilla mujahideen (and smaller Maoist guerrillas) against regime forces countrywide. It quickly turned into
3940-585: A small power like Afghanistan, which is like a goat between these lions [Britain and Russia] or a grain of wheat between two strong millstones of the grinding mill, stand in the midway of the stones without being ground to dust? During the First World War , when Afghanistan was neutral, Habibullah Khan was met by officials of the central powers in the Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition . They called on Afghanistan to declare full independence from
4137-580: A state-supporting elite of Abdālī / Durrānī Afghans, the Sadūzāʾī Durrānī polity that came into being in 1160 / 1747 was not called Afghanistan in its own day. The name became a state designation only during the colonial intervention of the nineteenth century. The term "Afghanistan" was officially used in 1855, when the British recognized Dost Mohammad Khan as king of Afghanistan . Excavations of prehistoric sites suggest that humans were living in what
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#17327910707814334-597: A united front against the DRA. The AIG became a failure, partly because it could not solve the differences between the factions; partly because of limited public support as it excluded the Iran-backed Shia mujahideen factions, and the exclusion of supporters of ex-King Mohammed Zahir Shah ; and the mujahideen's failure in the Battle of Jalalabad in March 1989. In 1992 the DRA's last president, Mohammad Najibullah ,
4531-534: Is $ 81 billion by purchasing power parity and $ 20.1 billion by nominal values. Per capita, its GDP is among the lowest of any country as of 2020. Some scholars suggest that the root name Afghān is derived from the Sanskrit word Aśvakan , which was the name used for ancient inhabitants of the Hindu Kush . Aśvakan literally means "horsemen", "horse breeders", or " cavalrymen " (from aśva ,
4728-638: Is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and a founding member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation . Due to the effects of war in recent decades, the country has dealt with high levels of terrorism, poverty , and child malnutrition. Afghanistan remains among the world's least developed countries , ranking 182nd on the Human Development Index . Afghanistan's gross domestic product (GDP)
4925-830: Is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak (near Kandahar in the south of the country) was a center of the Helmand culture . More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilization stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. After 2000 BCE successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan; among them were many Indo-European -speaking Indo-Iranians . These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, and toward Europe via
5122-730: Is between the Oxus and Jaxartes, and the Karakum Desert is between the Oxus and Kopet Dagh in Turkmenistan. Khorasan meant approximately northeast Persia and northern Afghanistan. Margiana was the region around Merv. The Ustyurt Plateau is between the Aral and Caspian Seas. To the southwest, across the Kopet Dagh, lies Persia. From here Persian and Islamic civilisation penetrated Central Asia and dominated its high culture until
5319-466: Is considered the "crossroads of Asia", and the country has had the nickname Heart of Asia. The renowned Urdu poet Allama Iqbal once wrote about the country: Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia bounded by the Caspian Sea to the southwest, European Russia to the northwest, Western China and Mongolia to the east, Afghanistan and Iran to the south, and Siberia to
5516-852: Is known as "Mujahids". Many militant groups have been involved in the war in North West Pakistan, most notably the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , Al Qaeda , and ISIS Khorasan Province . These groups refer to themselves as the mujahideen in their war against the Pakistani military and the west. Several different militant groups have also taken root in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. Most noticeable of these groups are Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). A 1996 report by Human Rights Watch estimated
5713-480: Is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in the area were among the earliest in the world. An important site of early historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in the historical value of its archaeological sites. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic , Mesolithic , Neolithic , Bronze , and Iron Ages have been found in Afghanistan. Urban civilization
5910-469: Is one of the four founders of the Taliban and was a deputy prime minister of the previous emirate; his appointment was seen as a compromise between moderates and hardliners. A new, all-male cabinet was formed, which included Abdul Hakim Haqqani as minister of justice. On 20 September 2021, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres received a letter from acting minister of foreign affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi to formally claim Afghanistan's seat as
6107-476: Is played throughout the Central Asian region, the countries sometimes organise Buzkashi competition amongst each other. The First regional competition among the Central Asian countries, Russia , Chinese Xinjiang and Turkey was held in 2013. The first world title competition was played in 2017 and won by Kazakhstan . Association football is popular across Central Asia. Most countries are members of
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6304-501: Is spiritually comparable in reward to promoting Islam during the early 600s CE. These acts could be as simple as sharing a considerable amount of one's income with the poor. The term continued to be used throughout India for Muslim resistance to British colonial rule . During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , these holy warriors were said to accept any deserting Indian sepoys and recruit them into their ranks. As time went by,
6501-567: The 2003 invasion of Iraq . Some groups also use the word mujahideen in their names, like Mujahideen Shura Council and Mujahideen Army . Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq as part of the George W. Bush administration's post 9/11 foreign policy, many foreign Mujahideen joined several Sunni militant groups resisting the U.S. occupation of Iraq. A considerable part of the insurgents did not come from Iraq but instead from many other Arab countries, notably Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Among these recruits
6698-525: The 2014 presidential election where for the first time in Afghanistan's history power was democratically transferred. On 28 December 2014, NATO formally ended ISAF combat operations and transferred full security responsibility to the Afghan government. The NATO-led Operation Resolute Support was formed the same day as a successor to ISAF. Thousands of NATO troops remained in the country to train and advise Afghan government forces and continue their fight against
6895-603: The Abdullah Azzam Brigades in Lebanon admitted that his group had sent fighters to Syria. On 12 November 2018, the United States closed its financial system to an Iraqi named, Shibl Muhsin 'Ubayd Al-Zaydi and others over concerns that they were sending Iraqi fighters to Syria and financial support to other Hezbollah activities in the region. The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC)
7092-530: The Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya group active during the 1990s. In July 2006, a Web-posted message purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to build an Islamic state in the country and warned western states that his al-Qaeda network would fight against them if they intervened there. Foreign fighters began to arrive, though there were official denials of the presence of mujahideen in the country. Even so,
7289-580: The Badakhshan region. During the first century BCE, the Parthian Empire subjugated the region but lost it to their Indo-Parthian vassals. In the mid-to-late first century CE the vast Kushan Empire , centered in Afghanistan, became great patrons of Buddhist culture, making Buddhism flourish throughout the region. The Kushans were overthrown by the Sassanids in the 3rd century CE, though
7486-655: The Battle of Jamrud . Akbar Khan and the Afghan army failed to capture the Jamrud Fort from the Sikh Khalsa Army , but killed Sikh Commander Hari Singh Nalwa , thus ending the Afghan-Sikh Wars . By this time the British were advancing from the east, capitalizing off of the decline of the Sikh Empire after it had its own period of turbulence following the death of Ranjit Singh , which engaged
7683-700: The Central Asian Football Association , a region of the Asian Football Confederation . However, Kazakhstan is a member of the UEFA . Wrestling is popular across Central Asia, with Kazakhstan having claimed 14 Olympic medals, Uzbekistan seven, and Kyrgyzstan three. As former Soviet states, Central Asian countries have been successful in gymnastics . Mixed Martial Arts is one of more common sports in Central Asia, Kyrgyz athlete Valentina Shevchenko holding
7880-621: The Cold War . However, it was a beneficiary of the latter rivalry as both the Soviet Union and the United States vied for influence by building Afghanistan's main highways, airports, and other vital infrastructure. On a per capita basis, Afghanistan received more Soviet development aid than any other country. In 1973, while the King was in Italy, Daoud Khan launched a bloodless coup and became
8077-618: The Emirate of Kabul in the first major conflict during " The Great Game ". In 1839 a British expeditionary force marched into Afghanistan, invading the Principality of Qandahar , and in August 1839, seized Kabul . Dost Mohammad Khan defeated the British in the Parwan campaign , but surrendered following his victory. He was replaced with the former Durrani ruler Shah Shuja Durrani as
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8274-842: The Great Game between the British Empire and the Russian Empire . From India, the British attempted to subjugate Afghanistan but were repelled in the First Anglo-Afghan War ; the Second Anglo-Afghan War saw a British victory. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, Afghanistan became free of foreign political hegemony, and emerged as the independent Kingdom of Afghanistan in 1926. This monarchy lasted almost half
8471-750: The Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami to confuse investigators and cover the tracks of the Students Islamic Movement of India , or SIMI, a radical Islamist movement with aim to establish Islamic rule over India. In the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir , Kashmiri Muslim separatists opposing Indian rule are often known as mujahideen . The members of the Salafi movement (within Sunni Islam ) in the south Indian state of Kerala
8668-420: The Ilkhanate in the northwest while the Khalji dynasty administered the Afghan tribal areas south of the Hindu Kush until the invasion of Timur (aka Tamerlane), who established the Timurid Empire in 1370. Under the rule of Shah Rukh , the city of Herat served as the focal point of the Timurid Renaissance , whose glory matched Florence of the Italian Renaissance as the center of a cultural rebirth. In
8865-420: The Indo-Sassanids continued to rule at least parts of the region. They were followed by the Kidarites who, in turn, was replaced by the Hephthalites . They were replaced by the Turk Shahi in the 7th century. The Buddhist Turk Shahi of Kabul was replaced by a Hindu dynasty before the Saffarids conquered the area in 870, this Hindu dynasty was called Hindu Shahi . Much of the northeastern and southern areas of
9062-421: The Iron Age . Certain Turkic ethnic groups, specifically the Kazakhs , display even higher East Asian ancestry. This is explained by substantial Mongolian influence on the Kazakh genome, through significant admixture between blue eyes, blonde hair, the medieval Kipchaks of Central Asia and the invading medieval Mongolians. The data suggests that the Mongol invasion of Central Asia had lasting impacts onto
9259-455: The Karzai administration and provide basic security. By this time, after two decades of war as well as an acute famine at the time, Afghanistan had one of the highest infant and child mortality rates in the world, the lowest life expectancy, much of the population were hungry, and infrastructure was in ruins. Many foreign donors started providing aid and assistance to rebuild the war-torn country. As coalition troops entered Afghanistan to help
9456-503: The Kashmir Valley of India may also be included. The Tibetans and Ladakhis are also included. Most of the mentioned peoples are considered the "indigenous" peoples of the vast region. Central Asia is sometimes referred to as Turkestan . Central Asia is a region of varied geography, including high passes and mountains ( Tian Shan ), vast deserts ( Kyzyl Kum , Taklamakan ), and especially treeless, grassy steppes . The vast steppe areas of Central Asia are considered together with
9653-441: The Kopet Dagh near the Persian border. East of the Kopet Dagh is the important oasis of Merv and then a few places in Afghanistan like Herat and Balkh . Two projections of the Tian Shan create three "bays" along the eastern mountains. The largest, in the north, is eastern Kazakhstan, traditionally called Jetysu or Semirechye which contains Lake Balkhash . In the center is the small but densely-populated Ferghana valley . In
9850-411: The League of Nations in 1934. The 1930s saw the development of roads, infrastructure, the founding of a national bank , and increased education. Road links in the north played a large part in a growing cotton and textile industry. The country built close relationships with the Axis powers , with Nazi Germany having the largest share in Afghan development at the time. Until 1946 King Zahir ruled with
10047-409: The Maurya Empire as part of an alliance treaty. The Mauryans controlled the area south of the Hindu Kush until they were overthrown in about 185 BCE. Their decline began 60 years after Ashoka 's rule ended, leading to the Hellenistic reconquest by the Greco-Bactrians . Much of it soon broke away and became part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom . They were defeated and expelled by the Indo-Scythians in
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#173279107078110244-406: The Mayu peninsula in northern Arakan, Burma (present-day Rakhine State , Myanmar ) secede from the country, so it could be annexed by East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh ). During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the mujahideen lost most of their momentum and support, resulting in most of them surrendering to government forces. In the 1990s, the well-armed Rohingya Solidarity Organisation
10441-450: The Middle Paleolithic era. Popularly referred to as the graveyard of empires , the land has witnessed numerous military campaigns , including those by the Persians , Alexander the Great , the Maurya Empire , Arab Muslims , the Mongols , the British , the Soviet Union , and a US-led coalition . Afghanistan also served as the source from which the Greco-Bactrians and the Mughals , among others, rose to form major empires. Because of
10638-402: The Mughal empire , Maratha empire , and then-receding Afsharid empire . Ahmad Shah had captured Kabul and Peshawar from the Mughal appointed governor, Nasir Khan. Ahmad Shah had then conquered Herat in 1750, and had also captured Kashmir in 1752. Ahmad Shah had launched two campaigns into Khorasan , 1750–1751 and 1754–1755. His first campaign had seen the siege of Mashhad , however, he
10835-434: The Northern Alliance , later joined by others, to resist the Taliban. Dostum's forces were defeated by the Taliban during the Battles of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1997 and 1998; Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf , began sending thousands of Pakistanis to help the Taliban defeat the Northern Alliance. By 2000, the Northern Alliance only controlled 10% of territory, cornered in the northeast. On 9 September 2001, Massoud
11032-455: The Palestinian Territories ; to quote the summary of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia judgment: The evidence shows that foreign volunteers arrived in central Bosnia in the second half of 1992 with the aim of helping Muslims. Mostly they came from North Africa , the Near East and the Middle East. The foreign volunteers differed considerably from the local population, not only because of their physical appearance and
11229-461: The Principality of Qandahar , Emirate of Herat , Khanate of Qunduz , Maimana Khanate , and numerous other warring polities. The most prominent state was the Emirate of Kabul , ruled by Dost Mohammad Khan . With the collapse of the Durrani Empire, and the exile of the Sadozai Dynasty to be left to rule in Herat , Punjab and Kashmir were lost to Ranjit Singh , ruler of the Sikh Empire , who invaded Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in March 1823 and captured
11426-400: The Punjab region The Durranis lost Multan in 1772 after Ahmad Shah's death. Following this victory, Timur Shah was able to lay siege to Multan and recapture it, incorporating it into the Durrani Empire once again, reintegrating it as a province until the Siege of Multan (1818) . Timur Shah was succeeded by his son Zaman Shah Durrani after his death in May 1793. Timur Shah's reign oversaw
11623-404: The Sanskrit and Avestan words for "horse"). Historically, the ethnonym Afghān was used to refer to ethnic Pashtuns . The Arabic and Persian form of the name, Afġān , was first attested in the 10th-century geography book Hudud al-'Alam . The last part of the name, " -stan ", is a Persian suffix meaning "place of". Therefore, "Afghanistan" translates to "land of the Afghans", or "land of
11820-423: The Soviet Union and the Weimar Republic . He proclaimed himself King of Afghanistan on 9 June 1926, forming the Kingdom of Afghanistan . He introduced several reforms intended to modernize his nation. A key force behind these reforms was Mahmud Tarzi , an ardent supporter of the education of women. He fought for Article 68 of Afghanistan's 1923 constitution , which made elementary education compulsory. Slavery
12017-587: The Soviet withdrawal , the civil war ensued until the communist regime under People's Democratic Party leader Mohammad Najibullah collapsed in 1992. The Soviet–Afghan War had drastic social effects on Afghanistan. The militarization of society led to heavily armed police, private bodyguards, openly armed civil defense groups, and other such things becoming the norm in Afghanistan for decades thereafter. The traditional power structure had shifted from clergy, community elders, intelligentsia, and military in favor of powerful warlords . Another civil war broke out after
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#173279107078112214-428: The Taliban ("students" in Pashto ), referring to how most Taliban had grown up in refugee camps in Pakistan during the 1980s and were taught in the Saudi-backed Wahhabi madrassas , religious schools known for teaching a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Even before independence, the Turkish Cypriot community maintained its own paramilitary force (the Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı , or TMT), trained and equipped by
12411-436: The Third Anglo-Afghan War , and entering British India via the Khyber Pass . After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War and the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi on 19 August 1919, Emir Amanullah Khan declared the Emirate of Afghanistan a sovereign and fully independent state . He moved to end his country's traditional isolation by establishing diplomatic relations with the international community, particularly with
12608-410: The Turkish Army . In 1967, this force was renamed the Mücahit ("Mujahideen"), and in 1975 the Mücahit was renamed the Turkish Cypriot Security Force . In 1974, Turkey led a land invasion of Northern Cyprus with the aim of protecting the Turkish minority population after a Greek-inspired coup brought a threat of union of the island with Greece. Since then there has been no major fighting on Cyprus and
12805-884: The UFC Flyweight Champion title. Cricket is the most popular sport in Afghanistan . The Afghanistan national cricket team , first formed in 2001, has claimed wins over Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe. Notable Kazakh competitors include cyclists Alexander Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin , boxer Vassiliy Jirov and Gennady Golovkin , runner Olga Shishigina , decathlete Dmitriy Karpov , gymnast Aliya Yussupova , judoka Askhat Zhitkeyev and Maxim Rakov , skier Vladimir Smirnov , weightlifter Ilya Ilyin , and figure skaters Denis Ten and Elizabet Tursynbaeva . Notable Uzbekistani competitors include cyclist Djamolidine Abdoujaparov , boxer Ruslan Chagaev , canoer Michael Kolganov , gymnast Oksana Chusovitina , tennis player Denis Istomin , chess player Rustam Kasimdzhanov , and figure skater Misha Ge . Since gaining independence in
13002-476: The Uppsala Conflict Data Program , at least 212,191 people were killed in the conflict. Though the state of war in the country ended in 2021, armed conflict persists in some regions amid fighting between the Taliban and the local branch of the Islamic State , as well as an anti-Taliban Republican insurgency . The Taliban government is led by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and acting prime minister Hasan Akhund , who took office on 7 September 2021. Akhund
13199-524: The West Bank . It had been reported in Israel that the AMB was formerly linked to the Fatah rather than the Hamas organization. Boko Haram has been active in Nigeria since it was founded in 2001. It existed in other forms before 2001. Although it initially limited its operations to northeast Nigeria, it has since expanded to other parts of Nigeria, and to Cameroon , Niger and Chad . Boko Haram seeks to implement sharia law across Nigeria. The currently active jihadist groups in Somalia derive from
13396-510: The collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent Chechen declaration of independence , foreign fighters began entering the region and associating themselves with local rebels (most notably Shamil Basayev ). Many of the foreign fighters were veterans of the Soviet–Afghan War . The mujahideen also made a significant financial contribution to the separatists' cause; with their access to the immense wealth of Salafist charities like al-Haramein , they soon became an invaluable source of funds for
13593-434: The creation of a dysfunctional coalition government between leaders of various mujahideen factions. Amid a state of anarchy and factional infighting, various mujahideen factions committed widespread rape, murder and extortion, while Kabul was heavily bombarded and partially destroyed by the fighting. Several failed reconciliations and alliances occurred between different leaders. The Taliban emerged in September 1994 as
13790-417: The rebuilding process , the Taliban began an insurgency to regain control. Afghanistan remained one of the poorest countries in the world because of a lack of foreign investment, government corruption , and the Taliban insurgency. The Afghan government was able to build some democratic structures, adopting a constitution in 2004 with the name Islamic Republic of Afghanistan . Attempts were made, often with
13987-576: The siege of Kandahar , the last Hotak stronghold, from Shah Hussain Hotak . Soon after, the Persian and Afghan forces invaded India , Nader Shah had plundered Delhi, alongside his 16-year-old commander, Ahmad Shah Durrani who had assisted him on these campaigns. Nader Shah was assassinated in 1747. After the death of Nader Shah in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani had returned to Kandahar with a contingent of 4,000 Pashtuns . The Abdalis had "unanimously accepted" Ahmad Shah as their new leader. With his ascension in 1747, Ahmad Shah had led multiple campaigns against
14184-475: The 10th century. By the 11th century, Mahmud of Ghazni had defeated the remaining Hindu rulers and effectively Islamized the wider region, with the exception of Kafiristan . Mahmud made Ghazni into an important city and patronized intellectuals such as the historian Al-Biruni and the poet Ferdowsi . The Ghaznavid dynasty was overthrown by the Ghurids in 1186 , whose architectural achievements included
14381-592: The 18th century as a result of a long struggle with the Dzungars . The Russian Empire conquered the lands of the nomadic Kazakhs, Turkmens, Kyrgyz and Central Asian khanates in the 19th century. A major revolt known as the Dungan Revolt occurred in the 1860s and 1870s in the eastern part of Central Asia, and Qing rule almost collapsed in all of East Turkestan. After the Russian Revolution ,
14578-555: The 18th century was Tibetan Buddhist and would sometimes travel from Beijing to other cities for personal religious worship. Central Asia also has an indigenous form of improvisational oral poetry that is over 1000 years old. It is principally practiced in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan by akyns , lyrical improvisationalists. They engage in lyrical battles , the aytysh or the alym sabak . The tradition arose out of early bardic oral historians . They are usually accompanied by
14775-400: The 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan . The Taliban returned to power in 2021 after capturing Kabul , ending the 2001–2021 war . The Taliban government remains internationally unrecognized. Afghanistan is rich in natural resources, including lithium , iron, zinc , and copper. It is the second-largest producer of cannabis resin , and third largest of both saffron and cashmere . The country
14972-480: The 2020 and 2019 IWB World Competitiveness rankings. In particular, they have been modernizing the industrial sector and fostering the development of service industries through business-friendly fiscal policies and other measures, to reduce the share of agriculture in GDP. Between 2005 and 2013, the share of agriculture dropped in all but Tajikistan, where it increased while industry decreased. The fastest growth in industry
15169-469: The 7th Muslim Brigade was entirely made up of native Bosnians) and consisted of somewhere between 300 and 1,500 volunteers. Enver Hadžihasanović , Lieutenant Colonel of the Bosnian Army's 3rd Corps , appointed Mahmut Karalić (Commandant), Asim Koričić (Chief of Staff) and Amir Kubura (Assistant Chief for Operational and Curricula) to lead the group. Some of the mujahideen funnelled arms and money into
15366-549: The Afghan communist government during the Afghan War (1978–92). Rival factions thereafter fell out among themselves, precipitating the rise of the Taliban and the opposing Northern Alliance . Arguably the best-known mujahideen outside the Islamic world are the various, loosely aligned Afghan opposition groups who initially rebelled against the government of the pro-Soviet Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) during
15563-515: The Afghan government and quickly advanced in front of collapsing Afghan government forces. The Taliban captured the capital city of Kabul on 15 August 2021, after regaining control over a vast majority of Afghanistan. Several foreign diplomats and Afghan government officials, including president Ashraf Ghani, were evacuated from the country, with many Afghan civilians attempting to flee along with them. On 17 August, first vice president Amrullah Saleh proclaimed himself caretaker president and announced
15760-604: The Afghans, as well as accept Afghan sovereignty. Following this, Ahmad Shah sieged Nishapur once again, and captured it. Ahmad Shah invaded India eight times during his reign, beginning in 1748. Crossing the Indus River, his armies sacked and absorbed Lahore into the Durrani Realm . He met Mughal armies at the Battle of Manupur (1748) , where he was defeated and forced to retreat back to Afghanistan. He returned
15957-705: The American invasion. During the initial invasion, US and UK forces bombed al-Qaeda training camps, and later working with the Northern Alliance, the Taliban regime came to an end. In December 2001, after the Taliban government was overthrown, the Afghan Interim Administration under Hamid Karzai was formed. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established by the UN Security Council to help assist
16154-670: The Bosnian War. In 2015, former Human Rights Minister and Federation BiH Vice President Mirsad Kebo talked about numerous war crimes committed against Serbs by mujahideen in Bosnia and their links with current and past Muslim officials including former and current presidents of federation and presidents of parliament based on war diaries and other documented evidence. He gave evidence to the BiH federal prosecutor. The term mujahideen has often been used to refer to all separatist fighters in
16351-677: The British despite the First Anglo-Afghan War, and affirmed their status in the Second Anglo-Afghan treaty of 1857, while Bukhara and internal religious leaders pressured Dost Mohammad to invade India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 . Dost Mohammad died in June 1863, a few weeks after his successful campaign to Herat. Following his death, a civil war ensued among his sons, prominently Mohammad Afzal Khan , Mohammad Azam Khan , and Sher Ali Khan . Sher Ali won
16548-722: The Caspian Sea in the west, the Altai mountains in the north and the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountains in the South. He did not give an eastern border for the region. His legacy is still seen: Humboldt University of Berlin , named after him, offers a course in Central Asian studies . The Russian geographer Nikolaĭ Khanykov questioned the latitudinal definition of Central Asia and preferred a physical one of all countries located in
16745-511: The Chechen resistance, which had few resources of its own. Most of the mujahideen decided to remain in Chechnya after the withdrawal of Russian forces. In 1999, foreign fighters played an important role in the ill-fated Chechen incursion into Dagestan , where they suffered a decisive defeat and were forced to retreat back into Chechnya. The incursion provided the new Russian government with
16942-873: The El Mujahid Detachment. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment for his failure to prevent or punish the cruel treatment of twelve captured Serb soldiers by the Mujahideen. Delic remained in the Detention Unit while appellate proceedings continued. Some individuals of the Bosnian Mujahideen, such as Abdelkader Mokhtari , Fateh Kamel , and Karim Said Atmani , gained particular prominence within Bosnia as well as international attention from various foreign governments. They were all North African volunteers with well established links to Islamic Fundamentalist groups before and after
17139-537: The Government of Philippines and ASG , BIFM, MILF , and MNLF factions between 1989 and 2012. Abu Sayyaf is an Islamic separatist group in the southern Philippines , formed in 1991. The group is known for its kidnappings of Western nationals and Filipinos, for which it has received several large ransom -payments. Some Abu Sayyaf members have studied or worked in Saudi Arabia and developed relations with
17336-664: The Jihad" was particularly happy about the presence of Mujahedeens in Bosnia and gave them full support. El Mujahid members claimed that in Bosnia they only have respect for Alija Izetbegovic and the head of the Bosnian Army Third Corps, Sakib Mahmuljin. The number of foreign Muslim volunteers in Bosnia was estimated at 4,000 in contemporary newspaper reports. Later research estimated the number to be about 400. They came from various places such as Saudi Arabia , Pakistan , Afghanistan , Jordan , Egypt , Iraq and
17533-460: The Pakistani government ordered the expulsion of Afghans from Pakistan . Iran also decided to deport Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan. Taliban authorities condemned the deportations of Afghans as an "inhuman act". Afghanistan faced a humanitarian crisis in late 2023. On 10 November 2024, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry confirmed that Taliban representatives would attend the COP29 summit , marking
17730-612: The Pashtuns" in a historical sense. According to the third edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam : The name Afghanistan (Afghānistān, land of the Afghans / Pashtuns, afāghina , sing. afghān ) can be traced to the early eighth/fourteenth century, when it designated the easternmost part of the Kartid realm. This name was later used for certain regions in the Ṣafavid and Mughal empires that were inhabited by Afghans. While based on
17927-623: The Persian Gulf and international jihadists were called to join the holy war against the Somali government and its Ethiopian allies. Though Somali Islamists did not use suicide bombing tactics before, the foreign elements of al-Shabaab are blamed for several suicide bombings . Egypt has a longstanding policy of securing the Nile River flow by destabilizing Ethiopia. Similarly, recent media reports said that Egyptian and Arab jihadists were
18124-663: The Persian Gulf. Jason Burke recounts that "as little as 25% of the money for the Afghan jihad was actually supplied directly by states." Mujahideen forces caused serious casualties to the Soviet forces, and made the war very costly for the Soviet Union. In 1989 the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan. In February 1989 the seven Sunni mujahideen factions formed an Afghan Interim Government (AIG) in Peshawar , The Interim Government had been in exile in Pakistan since 1988, led by Sibghatullah Mojaddedi , as an attempt for
18321-476: The Russian conquest. In the southeast is the route to India. In early times Buddhism spread north and throughout much of history warrior kings and tribes would move southeast to establish their rule in northern India. Most nomadic conquerors entered from the northeast. After 1800 western civilisation in its Russian and Soviet form penetrated from the northwest. Because Central Asia is landlocked and not buffered by
18518-520: The Russian-Ukrainian steppe and eastward into the steppes and deserts of Dzungaria and Mongolia. Southward the land becomes increasingly dry and the nomadic population increasingly thin. The south supports areas of dense population and cities wherever irrigation is possible. The main irrigated areas are along the eastern mountains, along the Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers and along the north flank of
18715-554: The Soviet Central Asian Republics". An alternative method is to define the region based on ethnicity, and in particular, areas populated by Eastern Turkic , Eastern Iranian , or Mongolian peoples. These areas include Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Turkic regions of southern Siberia , the five republics, and Afghan Turkestan . Afghanistan as a whole, the northern and western areas of Pakistan and
18912-499: The Soviet Union in 1991, the leaders of the four former Soviet Central Asian Republics met in Tashkent and declared that the definition of Central Asia should include Kazakhstan as well as the original four included by the Soviets. Since then, this has become the most common definition of Central Asia. In 1978, UNESCO defined the region as "Afghanistan, north-eastern Iran , Pakistan , northern India , western China, Mongolia and
19109-495: The Soviet Union to Central Asia and Siberia . According to Touraj Atabaki and Sanjyot Mehendale, "From 1959 to 1970, about two million people from various parts of the Soviet Union migrated to Central Asia, of which about one million moved to Kazakhstan." With the collapse of the Soviet Union , five countries gained independence, that is, Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan . The historian and Turkologist Peter B. Golden explains that without
19306-591: The Soviet Union. Afghanistan remained relatively independent of major influence by the Soviet Union until the Saur Revolution of 1978. The Soviet areas of Central Asia saw much industrialisation and construction of infrastructure , but also the suppression of local cultures, hundreds of thousands of deaths from failed collectivisation programmes, and a lasting legacy of ethnic tensions and environmental problems. Soviet authorities deported millions of people, including entire nationalities, from western areas of
19503-490: The Soviets as basmachi ('bandits'). These groups called themselves mojahed , describing themselves as standing for Islam. Other proto-mujahideen include Usman dan Fodio , Jahangir Khoja , and Muhammad Ahmed Al Mahdi . The name was most closely associated, however, with the mujahideen in Afghanistan , a coalition of guerrilla groups in Afghanistan that opposed the invading Soviet forces and eventually toppled
19700-466: The Stalinist period, the forced deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union resulted in a population of over 300,000 Koreans in the region. Central Asia has a population of about 72 million, in five countries: Kazakhstan (19 million), Kyrgyzstan (7 million), Tajikistan (10 million), Turkmenistan (6 million), and Uzbekistan (35 million). One of the first geographers to mention Central Asia as
19897-596: The Syrian government and may even fall into the hands of al-Qaeda or Hamas. American officials assumed already in 2012 that Qaidat al-Jihad (a.k.a. Al-Qaeda in Iraq) has conducted bomb attacks against Syrian government forces, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that al-Qaeda in Iraq members have gone to Syria, where the militants previously received support and weapons from the Syrian government in order to destabilize
20094-589: The Taliban. A report titled Body Count concluded that 106,000–170,000 civilians had been killed as a result of the fighting in Afghanistan at the hands of all parties to the conflict. On 19 February 2020, the US–Taliban deal was made in Qatar. The deal was one of the critical events that caused the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF); following the signing of the deal,
20291-659: The Turkification of Central Asia, while extending its cultural influence. The Tang Chinese were defeated by the Abbasid Caliphate at the Battle of Talas in 751, marking the end of the Tang dynasty's western expansion and the 150 years of Chinese influence. The Tibetan Empire would take the chance to rule portions of Central Asia and South Asia. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols conquered and ruled
20488-522: The Turkmens have a large percentage from populations to the east, their main components are Central Asian. The study further suggests that both migration and linguistic assimilation helped to spread the Turkic languages in Eurasia. The Tang dynasty of China expanded westwards and controlled large parts of Central Asia, directly and indirectly through their Turkic vassals. Tang China actively supported
20685-521: The US dramatically reduced the number of air attacks and deprived the ANSF of a critical edge in fighting the Taliban insurgency , leading to the Taliban takeover of Kabul. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on 14 April 2021 that the alliance had agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan by 1 May. Soon after NATO troops began withdrawing, the Taliban launched an offensive against
20882-493: The US occupation of Iraq. On 23 April, one of the leaders of Fatah al-Islam , Abdel Ghani Jawhar, was killed during the Battle of Al-Qusayr , after he unintentionally blew himself up while making a bomb. In July 2012, Iraq's foreign minister again warned that members of al-Qaeda in Iraq were seeking refuge in Syria and moving there to fight. It is believed that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri condemned Assad. A member of
21079-631: The United Kingdom, join them and attack British India, as part of the Hindu–German Conspiracy . The effort to bring Afghanistan into the Central Powers failed, but it sparked discontent among the population about maintaining neutrality with the British. Habibullah was assassinated in February 1919, and Amanullah Khan eventually assumed power. A staunch supporter of the 1915–1916 expeditions, Amanullah Khan invaded British India, beginning
21276-492: The appearance of modernism, which took inspiration from the Russian avant-garde movement. Until the 1980s, Central Asian arts had developed along with general tendencies of Soviet arts. In the 90s, arts of the region underwent some significant changes. Institutionally speaking, some fields of arts were regulated by the birth of the art market, some stayed as representatives of official views, while many were sponsored by international organisations. The years of 1990–2000 were times for
21473-712: The area from the Mediterranean Sea . Average monthly precipitation is very low from July to September, rises in autumn (October and November) and is highest in March or April, followed by swift drying in May and June. Winds can be strong, producing dust storms sometimes, especially toward the end of the summer in September and October. Specific cities that exemplify Central Asian climate patterns include Tashkent and Samarkand , Uzbekistan, Ashgabat , Turkmenistan, and Dushanbe , Tajikistan. The last of these represents one of
21670-682: The area north of the Caspian Sea . The region at the time was referred to as Ariana . By the middle of the 6th century BCE, the Achaemenids overthrew the Medes and incorporated Arachosia , Aria , and Bactria within its eastern boundaries. An inscription on the tombstone of Darius I of Persia mentions the Kabul Valley in a list of the 29 countries that he had conquered. The region of Arachosia , around Kandahar in modern-day southern Afghanistan, used to be primarily Zoroastrian and played
21867-411: The armed rebellion". Jihadist leaders and intelligence sources said foreign fighters had begun to enter Syria only in February 2012. In June, it was reported that hundreds of foreign fighters, many linked to al-Qaeda, had gone to Syria to fight against Assad. When asked if the United States would arm the opposition, Hillary Clinton expressed doubts that such weapons would be effective in the toppling of
22064-590: The assistance and support of the Saudi and Pakistani governments. These foreign fighters became known as " Afghan Arabs " and their efforts were coordinated by Abdullah Yusuf Azzam . Although the mujahideen were aided by the Pakistani , American , British , Chinese and Saudi governments , the mujahideen's primary source of funding was private donors and religious charities throughout the Muslim world—particularly in
22261-462: The assistance of his uncle, who held the post of prime minister and continued the policies of Nadir Shah. Another uncle, Shah Mahmud Khan , became prime minister in 1946 and experimented with allowing greater political freedom. He was replaced in 1953 by Mohammed Daoud Khan , a Pashtun nationalist who sought the creation of a Pashtunistan , leading to highly tense relations with Pakistan. Daoud Khan pressed for social modernization reforms and sought
22458-631: The attempted stabilization and consolidation of the empire. However, Timur Shah had over 24 sons, which plunged the empire in civil war over succession crises. Zaman Shah Durrani succeeded to the Durrani Throne following the death of his father, Timur Shah Durrani. His brothers Mahmud Shah Durrani and Humayun Mirza revolted against him, with Humayun centered in Kandahar and Mahmud Shah centered in Herat . Zaman Shah would defeat Humayun and force
22655-417: The brutal treatment of many Afghans, especially women . During their rule, the Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplies to starving civilians and conducted a policy of scorched earth , burning vast areas of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes. After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum formed
22852-460: The case of the First and Second Chechen Wars . However, in this article, mujahideen is used to refer to the foreign, non- Caucasian fighters who joined the separatists' cause for the sake of Jihad . They are often called Ansaar (helpers) in related literature dealing with this conflict to prevent confusion with the native fighters. Foreign mujahideen have played a part in both Chechen wars. After
23049-470: The city of Peshawar following the Battle of Nowshera . In 1834, Dost Mohammad Khan led numerous campaigns, firstly campaigning to Jalalabad , and then allying with his rival brothers in Kandahar to defeat Shah Shuja Durrani and the British in the Expedition of Shuja ul-Mulk . In 1837, Dost Mohammad Khan attempted to conquer Peshawar and sent a large force under his son Wazir Akbar Khan , leading to
23246-527: The country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest , which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's capital and largest city. According to the World Population review, as of 2023, Afghanistan's population is 43 million. The National Statistics Information Authority of Afghanistan estimated the population to be 32.9 million as of 2020. Human habitation in Afghanistan dates to
23443-595: The country remained dominated by Buddhist culture. Arab Muslims brought Islam to Herat and Zaranj in 642 CE and began spreading eastward; some of the native inhabitants they encountered accepted it while others revolted. Before the arrival of Islam , the region used to be home to various beliefs and cults, often resulting in Syncretism between the dominant religions such as Zoroastrianism , Buddhism or Greco-Buddhism , Ancient Iranian religions , Hinduism , Christianity, and Judaism. An exemplification of
23640-481: The country which Bosnia direly needed due to a United Nations-sanctioned arms embargo restricting the import of weapons into all of the republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . However, many of the mujahideen were extremely devout Muslims of the strict Salafi sect, which contrasted sharply with the relatively secular society of Bosnian Muslims . This led to friction between
23837-679: The defeat of his brother, Suleiman Mirza. Timur Shah Durrani ascended to the throne in November 1772, having defeated a coalition under Shah Wali Khan and Humayun Mirza. Timur Shah began his reign by consolidating power toward himself and people loyal to him, purging Durrani Sardars and influential tribal leaders in Kabul and Kandahar . One of Timur Shah's reforms was to move the capital of the Durrani Empire from Kandahar to Kabul . Timur Shah fought multiple series of rebellions to consolidate
24034-514: The diversion of water from rivers that feed them for irrigation and industrial purposes. Water is an extremely valuable resource in arid Central Asia and can lead to rather significant international disputes. Central Asia is bounded on the north by the forests of Siberia. The northern half of Central Asia (Kazakhstan) is the middle part of the Eurasian steppe . Westward the Kazakh steppe merges into
24231-728: The early 16th century Babur arrived from Ferghana and captured Kabul from the Arghun dynasty . Babur would go on to conquer the Afghan Lodi dynasty who had ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the First Battle of Panipat . Between the 16th and 18th century, the Uzbek Khanate of Bukhara , Iranian Safavids , and Indian Mughals ruled parts of the territory. During the medieval period, the northwestern area of Afghanistan
24428-401: The early 1990s, the Central Asian republics have gradually been moving from a state-controlled economy to a market economy. However, reform has been deliberately gradual and selective, as governments strive to limit the social cost and ameliorate living standards. All five countries are implementing structural reforms to improve competitiveness. Kazakhstan is the only CIS country to be included in
24625-440: The early 2000s, the Chinese government engaged in a series of human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang . At the crossroads of Asia, shamanistic practices live alongside Buddhism . Thus, Yama , Lord of Death, was revered in Tibet as a spiritual guardian and judge. Mongolian Buddhism , in particular, was influenced by Tibetan Buddhism . The Qianlong Emperor of Qing China in
24822-409: The empire, and he also led campaigns into Punjab against the Sikhs like his father, though more successfully. The most prominent example of his battles during this campaign was when he led his forces under Zangi Khan Durrani – with over 18,000 men total of Afghan, Qizilbash, and Mongol cavalrymen – against over 60,000 Sikh men. The Sikhs lost over 30,000 in this battle and staged a Durrani resurgence in
25019-404: The end of the 20th century, Central Asia was colonised by the Russians , and incorporated into the Russian Empire , and later the Soviet Union , which led to Russians and other Slavs migrating into the area. Modern-day Central Asia is home to a large population of European settlers , who mostly live in Kazakhstan: 7 million Russians, 500,000 Ukrainians , and about 170,000 Germans . During
25216-435: The establishment of contemporary arts. In the region, many important international exhibitions are taking place, Central Asian art is represented in European and American museums, and the Central Asian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale has been organised since 2005. Equestrian sports are traditional in Central Asia, with disciplines like endurance riding , buzkashi , dzhigit and kyz kuu . The traditional game of Buzkashi
25413-452: The ethnic Pashtun and Baloch territories were divided by the Durand Line , which forms the modern-day border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Shia -dominated Hazarajat and pagan Kafiristan remained politically independent until being conquered by Abdur Rahman Khan in 1891–1896. He was known as the "Iron Amir" for his features and his ruthless methods against tribes. He died in 1901, succeeded by his son, Habibullah Khan . How can
25610-400: The exception of Tajikistan and areas where Tajik is spoken. The Silk Road trade routes crossed through Central Asia, leading to the rise of prosperous trade cities. acting as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Europe and the Far East . Most countries in Central Asia are still integral to parts of the world economy. From the mid-19th century until near
25807-467: The first president of Afghanistan , abolishing the monarchy. In April 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in a bloody coup d'état against then-President Mohammed Daoud Khan , in what is called the Saur Revolution . The PDPA declared the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan , with its first leader named as People's Democratic Party General Secretary Nur Muhammad Taraki . This would trigger
26004-464: The first time the country participated since the Taliban's return to power in 2021. Afghanistan had been barred from previous summits due to the lack of global recognition of the Taliban regime. However, the Taliban's environmental officials stressed that climate change is a humanitarian issue, not a political one, and should be addressed regardless of political differences. Afghanistan is located in Southern-Central Asia. The region centered at Afghanistan
26201-460: The formation of an anti-Taliban front with a reported 6,000+ troops in the Panjshir Valley , along with Ahmad Massoud . However, by 6 September, the Taliban had taken control of most of Panjshir province , with resistance fighters retreating to the mountains. Clashes in the valley ceased mid-September. According to the Costs of War Project , 176,000 people were killed in the conflict, including 46,319 civilians, between 2001 and 2021. According to
26398-407: The frequency and intensity of dust storms had grown (partly due to poor land use practices). Droughts have already become more likely, and their likelihood is expected to continue increasing with greater climate change. By 2050, people in the Amu Darya basin may be faced with severe water scarcity due to both climate and socioeconomic reasons. Although, during the golden age of Orientalism
26595-445: The full genome of Uzbeks and other Central Asian populations found that about ~27-60% of the Uzbek ancestry is derived from East Asian sources, with the remainder ancestry (~40–73%) being made up by European and Middle Eastern components. According to a recent study, the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and Turkmens share more of their gene pool with various East Asian and Siberian populations than with West Asian or European populations, though
26792-509: The genetic makeup of Kazakhs. According to recent genetic genealogy testing, the genetic admixture of the Uzbeks clusters somewhere between the Iranian peoples and the Mongols . Another study shows that the Uzbeks are closely related to other Turkic peoples of Central Asia and rather distant from Iranian people. The study also analysed the maternal and paternal DNA haplogroups and shows that Turkic speaking groups are more homogenous than Iranian speaking groups. Genetic studies analyzing
26989-419: The government while the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ( MILF ), a splinter group from the MNLF, was established to seek an Islamic state within the Philippines and is more radical and more aggressive. The conflict is ongoing ; casualty statistics vary for the conflict however the conservative estimates of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program indicate that at least 6,015 people were killed in armed conflict between
27186-495: The great trading cities of Bokhara and Samarkand . The other great commercial city was Tashkent northwest of the mouth of the Ferghana valley. The land immediately north of the Oxus was called Transoxiana and also Sogdia , especially when referring to the Sogdian merchants who dominated the silk road trade. To the east, Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin were united into the Manchu-Chinese province of Xinjiang (Sinkiang; Hsin-kiang) about 1759. Caravans from China usually went along
27383-428: The highly decentralized nature of Afghan society and strong loci of competing mujahideen and Pashtun tribal groups , particularly in isolated areas among the mountains. Eventually, the seven main mujahideen parties allied as the political bloc called Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen . However the parties were not under a single command and had ideological differences. Many Muslims from other countries assisted
27580-588: The imperial manipulations of the Russian Empire but above all the Soviet Union, the creation of said republics would have been impossible. In nearly all the new states, former Communist Party officials retained power as local strongmen. None of the new republics could be considered functional democracies in the early days of independence, although in recent years Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia have made further progress towards more open societies, unlike Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, which have maintained many Soviet-style repressive tactics. Beginning in
27777-480: The incidents involving mujahideen. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber noted that the relationship between the 3rd Corps and the El Mujahedin detachment was not one of subordination but was instead close to overt hostility since the only way to control the detachment was to attack them as if they were a distinct enemy force. The ICTY Trial Chamber convicted Rasim Delic , the former chief of the Bosnian Army General Staff. The ICTY found that Delic had effective control over
27974-423: The language they spoke, but also because of their fighting methods. The various foreign, Muslim volunteers were primarily organized into an umbrella detachment of the 7th Muslim Brigade , which was a brigade of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina , based in Zenica . This independent subdivision colloquially known as El-Mudžahid , was composed exclusively of foreign nationals and not Bosnians (whereas
28171-439: The largest contiguous empire in recorded history. Most of Central Asia fell under the control of the Chagatai Khanate . The dominance of the nomads ended in the 16th century, as firearms allowed settled peoples to gain control of the region. Russia , China , and other powers expanded into the region and had captured the bulk of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. The Qing dynasty gained control of East Turkestan in
28368-467: The last months of 2007, the influence of foreign fighters became apparent again when Dokka Umarov proclaimed the Caucasus Emirate being fought for by the Caucasian Mujahadeen , a pan-Caucasian Islamic state of which Chechnya was to be a province. This move caused a rift in the resistance movement between those supporting the Emirate and those who were in favour of preserving the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria . The neologism jihadists may correspond to
28565-510: The late 1970s. At the DRA's request, the Soviet Union brought forces into the country to aid the government in 1979. The mujahideen fought against Soviet and DRA troops during the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989). Afghanistan's resistance movement originated in chaos and, at first, regional warlords waged virtually all of its fighting locally. As warfare became more sophisticated, outside support and regional coordination grew. The basic units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect
28762-449: The late 2nd century BCE. The Silk Road appeared during the first century BCE, and Afghanistan flourished with trade, with routes to China, India, Persia, and north to the cities of Bukhara , Samarkand , and Khiva in present-day Uzbekistan. Goods and ideas were exchanged at this center point, such as Chinese silk, Persian silver and Roman gold, while the region of present Afghanistan was mining and trading lapis lazuli stones mainly from
28959-488: The loyalty of Mahmud Shah Durrani. Securing his position on the throne, Zaman Shah led three campaigns into Punjab . The first two campaigns captured Lahore , but he retreated due to intel about a possible Qajar invasion. Zaman Shah embarked on his third campaign for Punjab in 1800 to deal with a rebellious Ranjit Singh. However, he was forced to withdraw, and Zaman Shah's reign was ended by Mahmud Shah Durrani. However, just under two years into his reign, Mahmud Shah Durrani
29156-418: The mujahideen and the Bosnians. Foreign volunteers in Bosnia have been accused of committing war crimes during the conflict. However, the ICTY has never issued indictments against mujahideen fighters. Instead, the ICTY indicted some Bosnian Army commanders on the basis of superior criminal responsibility. The ICTY acquitted Amir Kubura and Enver Hadžihasanović of the Bosnian 3rd Corps of all charges related to
29353-435: The mujahideen members while fighting and training in the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The 1990s are a transitional period between the Mujahideen outfits forming part of the proxy wars between the Cold War superpowers and the emergence of contemporary jihadism in the wake of the US " War on Terror " and the " Arab Spring ". Al-Qaeda saw its formative period during this time, and jihadism formed part of
29550-435: The nation continues to be an independent country, though strongly linked with Turkey militarily and politically. While more than one group in Iran has called itself mujahideen, the most famous is the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI; Persian : Mojāhedin-e Khalq), an Islamic organization that advocates for the overthrow of the leadership of the Iranian Republic . The group has taken part in multiple well-known conflicts in
29747-465: The new ruler of Kabul , a de facto puppet of the British. Following an uprising that saw the assassination of Shah Shuja , the 1842 retreat from Kabul of British-Indian forces and the annihilation of Elphinstone 's army, and the punitive expedition of The Battle of Kabul that led to its sacking, the British gave up on their attempts to try to subjugate Afghanistan, allowing Dost Mohammad Khan to return as ruler. Following this, Dost Mohammad pursued
29944-460: The new Amir, leading to Britain gaining control of Afghanistan's foreign relations as part of the Treaty of Gandamak of 1879, making it an official British Protected State . An uprising however, re-started the conflict, and Yaqub Khan was deposed. During this tumultuous period, Abdur Rahman Khan began his rise to power, becoming an eligible candidate to become Amir after he seized much of Northern Afghanistan . Abdur Rahman marched on Kabul , and
30141-470: The next year in 1749 and captured the area around Lahore and Punjab , presenting it as an Afghan victory for this campaign. From 1749 to 1767, Ahmad Shah led six more invasions, the most important being the last; the Third Battle of Panipat created a power vacuum in northern India, halting Maratha expansion. Ahmad Shah Durrani died in October 1772, and a civil war over succession followed, with his named successor, Timur Shah Durrani succeeding him after
30338-466: The north or south side of the Tarim basin and joined at Kashgar before crossing the mountains northwest to Ferghana or southwest to Bactria. A minor branch of the silk road went north of the Tian Shan through Dzungaria and Zhetysu before turning southwest near Tashkent. Nomadic migrations usually moved from Mongolia through Dzungaria before turning southwest to conquer the settled lands or continuing west toward Europe. The Kyzyl Kum Desert or semi-desert
30535-405: The north. It includes Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan . The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian suffix " -stan " (meaning 'land') in both respective native languages and most other languages. In the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras ( c. 1000 and earlier) Central Asia
30732-411: The number of active mujahideen at 3,200. In Bangladesh , the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen was an Islamist organisation that was officially banned by the government of Bangladesh in February 2005 after attacks on NGOs . It struck back in mid-August when it detonated 500 bombs at 300 locations throughout Bangladesh. The term mujahideen is sometimes applied to fighters who joined the insurgency after
30929-429: The original Arabic mujahedeen . In India , an outfit calling itself the Indian Mujahideen came to light in 2008 with multiple large scale terror attacks. On 26 November 2008, a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for a string of attacks across Mumbai . The Weekly Standard claimed, "Indian intelligence believes the Indian Mujahideen is a front group created by Lashkar-e-Taiba and
31126-496: The picture in regional conflicts of the 1990s, including the Yugoslav Wars , the Somali Civil War , the First Nagorno-Karabakh War , the First Chechen War , etc. During the Bosnian war 1992–1995, many foreign Muslims came to Bosnia as mujahideen. Muslims around the world who shared mujahideen beliefs and respected the author of Islamic Declaration come to the aid of fellow Muslims. Alija Izetbegovic , author of Islamic Declaration and in his younger days author of poem "To
31323-405: The place of Central Asia in the world history was marginalised, contemporary historiography has rediscovered the "centrality" of the Central Asia. The history of Central Asia is defined by the area's climate and geography. The aridness of the region made agriculture difficult, and its distance from the sea cut it off from much trade. Thus, few major cities developed in the region; instead, the area
31520-513: The region landlocked from water, including Afghanistan , Khorasan (Northeast Iran), Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uyghuristan (Xinjiang), Mongolia , and Uzbekistan . Russian culture has two distinct terms: Средняя Азия ( Srednyaya Aziya or "Middle Asia", the narrower definition, which includes only those traditionally non-Slavic, Central Asian lands that were incorporated within those borders of historical Russia) and Центральная Азия ( Tsentralnaya Aziya or "Central Asia",
31717-712: The region under Mongolian influence, which had "enormous demographic success", but did not impact the cultural or linguistic landscape. Once populated by Iranian tribes and other Indo-European speaking people , Central Asia experienced numerous invasions emanating out of Southern Siberia and Mongolia that would drastically affect the region. Genetic data shows that the different Central Asian Turkic-speaking peoples have between ~22% and ~70% East Asian ancestry (represented by "Baikal hunter-gatherer ancestry" shared with other Northeast Asians and Eastern Siberians), in contrast to Iranian-speaking Central Asians, specifically Tajiks , which display genetic continuity to Indo-Iranians of
31914-402: The region's cities. Major rivers of the region include the Amu Darya , the Syr Darya , Irtysh , the Hari River and the Murghab River . Major bodies of water include the Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash , both of which are part of the huge west-central Asian endorheic basin that also includes the Caspian Sea . Both of these bodies of water have shrunk significantly in recent decades due to
32111-526: The region, and has been at odds with the conservative government of the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 1979 Iranian Revolution . Another mujahideen was the Mujahedin-e Islam, an Islamic party led by Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani . It formed part of the Iranian National Front during the time of Mohammed Mosaddeq 's oil nationalization , but broke away from Mosaddeq over his allegedly un-Islamic policies. From 1947 to 1961, local mujahideen fought against Burmese government soldiers in an attempt to have
32308-450: The remote Minaret of Jam . The Ghurids controlled Afghanistan for less than a century before being conquered by the Khwarazmian dynasty in 1215. In 1219 CE, Genghis Khan and his Mongol army overran the region . His troops are said to have annihilated the Khwarazmian cities of Herat and Balkh as well as Bamyan . The destruction caused by the Mongols forced many locals to return to an agrarian rural society. Mongol rule continued with
32505-440: The resulting Afghan Civil War (1863–1869) and ruled Afghanistan until his death in 1879. In his final years, the British returned to Afghanistan in the Second Anglo-Afghan War to fight perceived Russian influence in the region. Sher Ali retreated to northern Afghanistan, intending to create a resistance there similar to his predecessors, Dost Mohammad Khan, and Wazir Akbar Khan. His untimely death however, saw Yaqub Khan declared
32702-473: The sect grew ever larger until it was not only conducting bandit raids but even controlling areas in Afghanistan. The first known use of the word mujahideen to refer to insurgent Islamic extremism (what has neologically been called jihadism ) was supposedly in the late 19th century, in 1887, by Thomas Patrick Hughes (1838–1911). In Central Asia from 1916 to the 1930s, Islamic guerrillas were opponents of Tsarism and Bolshevism and were referred to by
32899-466: The south is Bactria , later called Tocharistan, which is bounded on the south by the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan. The Syr Darya (Jaxartes) rises in the Ferghana valley and the Amu Darya (Oxus) rises in Bactria. Both flow northwest into the Aral Sea . Where the Oxus meets the Aral Sea it forms a large delta called Khwarazm and later the Khanate of Khiva . North of the Oxus is the less-famous but equally important Zarafshan River which waters
33096-453: The steppes of Eastern Europe as a homogeneous geographical zone known as the Eurasian Steppe . Much of the land of Central Asia is too dry or too rugged for farming. The Gobi Desert extends from the foot of the Pamirs , 77° E, to the Great Khingan (Da Hinggan) Mountains, 116°–118° E. Central Asia has the following geographic extremes: A majority of the people earn a living by herding livestock. Industrial activity centers in
33293-425: The support of foreign donor countries, to improve the country's economy, healthcare, education, transport, and agriculture. ISAF forces also began to train the Afghan National Security Forces . Following 2002, nearly five million Afghans were repatriated. The number of NATO troops present in Afghanistan peaked at 140,000 in 2011, dropping to about 16,000 in 2018. In September 2014 Ashraf Ghani became president after
33490-448: The syncretism in the region would be that people were patrons of Buddhism but still worshipped local Iranian gods such as Ahura Mazda , Lady Nana , Anahita or Mihr (Mithra) and portrayed Greek gods as protectors of Buddha. The Zunbils and Kabul Shahi were first conquered in 870 CE by the Saffarid Muslims of Zaranj. Later, the Samanids extended their Islamic influence south of the Hindu Kush. The Ghaznavids rose to power in
33687-448: The threat of jihad was made openly and repeatedly in the months preceding the Battle of Baidoa . On 23 December 2006, Islamists, for the first time, called upon international fighters to join their cause. The term mujahideen is now openly used by the post-ICU resistance against the Ethiopians and the TFG. Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen is said to have non-Somali foreigners in its ranks, particularly among its leadership. Fighters from
33884-545: The vacuum. Soviet troops in more substantial numbers were deployed to stabilize Afghanistan under Karmal, marking the beginning of the Soviet–Afghan War . Lasting nine years, the war caused the deaths of between 562,000 and 2 million Afghans, and displaced about 6 million people who subsequently fled Afghanistan, mainly to Pakistan and Iran . Heavy air bombardment destroyed many countryside villages, millions of landmines were planted, and some cities such as Herat and Kandahar were also damaged from bombardment. After
34081-406: The various conquests and periods in both the Iranian and Indian cultural spheres, the area was a center for Zoroastrianism , Buddhism, Hinduism, and later Islam. The modern state of Afghanistan began with the Durrani Afghan Empire in the 18th century, although Dost Mohammad Khan is sometimes considered to be the founder of the first modern Afghan state . Afghanistan became a buffer state in
34278-437: The various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan. Some groups of these veterans became significant players in later conflicts in and around the Muslim world. Osama bin Laden , originally from a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia , was a prominent organizer and financier of an all-Arab Islamist group of foreign volunteers; his Maktab al-Khadamat funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the Muslim world into Afghanistan, with
34475-405: The west and the Sikh Empire in the east. Fateh Khan , leader of the Barakzai tribe , installed many of his brothers in positions of power throughout the empire. Fateh Khan was brutally murdered in 1818 by Mahmud Shah . As a result, the brothers of Fateh Khan and the Barakzai tribe rebelled, and a civil war brewed. During this turbulent period, Afghanistan fractured into many states, including
34672-405: The western Central Asian regions were incorporated into the Soviet Union . The eastern part of Central Asia, known as Xinjiang , was incorporated into the People's Republic of China , having been previously ruled by the Qing dynasty and the Republic of China . Mongolia gained its independence from China and has remained independent but became a Soviet satellite state until the dissolution of
34869-447: The wettest climates in Central Asia, with an average annual precipitation of over 560 mm (22 inches). Biogeographically, Central Asia is part of the Palearctic realm . The largest biome in Central Asia is the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. Central Asia also contains the montane grasslands and shrublands , deserts and xeric shrublands and temperate coniferous forests biomes. As of 2022, there has been
35066-404: The wider definition, which includes Central Asian lands that have never been part of historical Russia). The latter definition includes Afghanistan and ' East Turkestan '. The most limited definition was the official one of the Soviet Union , which defined Middle Asia as consisting solely of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, omitting Kazakhstan . Soon after the dissolution of
35263-818: Was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , a Jordanian national who would go on to assume the leadership of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Various Islamic groups, often referred to as mujahideen and jihadists, have participated in the Syrian civil war . Alawites , the sect to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs, are considered to be heretics in Sunni Muslim circles. In this sense, radical Sunni jihadist organizations and their affiliates have been anti-Assad. Jihadist leaders and intelligence sources said foreign fighters had begun to enter Syria only in February 2012. In May 2012, Syria's U.N. envoy Bashar Ja'afari declared that dozens of foreign fighters from Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Britain, France elsewhere had been captured or killed, and urged Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to stop "their sponsorship of
35460-599: Was abolished in 1923. King Amanullah's wife, Queen Soraya , was an important figure during this period in the fight for woman's education and against their oppression. Some of the reforms, such as the abolition of the traditional burqa for women and the opening of co-educational schools, alienated many tribal and religious leaders, leading to the Afghan Civil War (1928–1929) . King Amanullah abdicated in January 1929, and soon after Kabul fell to Saqqawist forces led by Habibullah Kalakani . Mohammed Nadir Shah , Amanullah's cousin, defeated and killed Kalakani in October 1929, and
35657-452: Was achieved was most probably due to the influence of the Silk Road , which traveled along Central Asia. Periodically, great leaders or changing conditions would organise several tribes into one force and create an almost unstoppable power. These included the Hun invasion of Europe, the Five Barbarians rebellions in China and most notably the Mongol conquest of much of Eurasia . During pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia
35854-459: Was assassinated by two Arab suicide attackers in Panjshir Valley . Around 400,000 Afghans died in internal conflicts between 1990 and 2001. In October 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power after they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden , the prime suspect of the September 11 attacks , who was a "guest" of the Taliban and was operating his al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan. The majority of Afghans supported
36051-502: Was assassinated in an internal coup orchestrated by then-prime minister Hafizullah Amin , who became the new general secretary of the People's Democratic Party . The situation in the country deteriorated under Amin, and thousands of people went missing. Displeased with Amin's government, the Soviet Army invaded the country in December 1979, heading for Kabul and killing Amin. A Soviet-organized regime, led by Parcham's Babrak Karmal but inclusive of both factions (Parcham and Khalq), filled
36248-431: Was declared Amir, being recognized by the British as well. Another uprising by Ayub Khan threatened the British, where rebels confronted and defeated British forces in the Battle of Maiwand . Following up on his victory, Ayub Khan unsuccessfully besieged Kandahar , and his decisive defeat saw the end of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, with Abdur Rahman secured firmly as Amir. In 1893, Abdur Rahman signed an agreement in which
36445-518: Was declared King Nadir Shah. He abandoned the reforms of King Amanullah in favor of a more gradual approach to modernization, but was assassinated in 1933 by Abdul Khaliq . Mohammed Zahir Shah succeeded to the throne and reigned as king from 1933 to 1973. During the tribal revolts of 1944–1947 , King Zahir's reign was challenged by Zadran , Safi , Mangal , and Wazir tribesmen led by Mazrak Zadran , Salemai , and Mirzali Khan , among others – many of whom were Amanullah loyalists . Afghanistan joined
36642-400: Was deposed by his brother Shah Shuja Durrani on 13 July 1803. Shah Shuja attempted to consolidate the Durrani Realm but was deposed by his brother at the Battle of Nimla (1809) . Mahmud Shah Durrani defeated Shah Shuja and forced him to flee, usurping the throne again. His second reign began on 3 May 1809. By the early 19th century, the Afghan empire was under threat from the Persians in
36839-483: Was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. Department of State . On 12 November 2018, the Department of State blacklisted the Al-Mujahidin Brigades (AMB) over its alleged Hezbollah associations, as well as Jawad Nasrallah, son of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah , from using the United States financial system and further naming him a terrorist associated with evidence of his involvement in attacks against Israel in
37036-611: Was facing widespread famine due to an economic and banking crisis. The Taliban have significantly tackled corruption, now being placed as 150th on the corruption watchdog perception index. The Taliban have also reportedly reduced bribery and extortion in public service areas. At the same time, the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated. Following the 2001 invasion, more than 5.7 million refugees returned to Afghanistan; however, in 2021, 2.6 million Afghans remained refugees, primarily in Iran and Pakistan, and another 4 million were internally displaced. In October 2023,
37233-408: Was for millennia dominated by the nomadic horse peoples of the steppe . Relations between the steppe nomads and the settled people in and around Central Asia were long marked by conflict. The nomadic lifestyle was well suited to warfare , and the steppe horse riders became some of the most militarily potent people in the world, limited only by their lack of internal unity. Any internal unity that
37430-429: Was forced to retreat after four months. In November 1750, he moved to siege Nishapur , but he was unable to capture the city and was forced to retreat in early 1751. Ahmad Shah returned in 1754 ; he captured Tun , and on 23 July, he sieged Mashhad once again. Mashhad had fallen on 2 December, but Shahrokh was reappointed in 1755. He was forced to give up Torshiz , Bakharz , Jam , Khaf , and Turbat-e Haidari to
37627-412: Was inhabited predominantly by Iranian peoples , populated by Eastern Iranian -speaking Bactrians , Sogdians , Chorasmians , and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Dahae . As the result of Turkic migration , Central Asia also became the homeland for the Kazakhs , Kyrgyzs , Tatars , Turkmens , Uyghurs , and Uzbeks ; Turkic languages largely replaced the Iranian languages spoken in the area, with
37824-546: Was inhabited predominantly by speakers of Iranian languages . Among the ancient sedentary Iranian peoples , the Sogdians and Chorasmians played an important role, while Iranian peoples such as Scythians and the later on Alans lived a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle. The main migration of Turkic peoples occurred between the 6th and 11th centuries, when they spread across most of Central Asia. The Eurasian Steppe slowly transitioned from Indo European and Iranian -speaking groups with dominant West-Eurasian ancestry to
38021-565: Was observed in Turkmenistan, whereas the services sector progressed most in the other four countries. Mujahideen Mujahideen , or Mujahidin ( Arabic : مُجَاهِدِين , romanized : mujāhidīn ), is the plural form of mujahid ( Arabic : مُجَاهِد , romanized : mujāhid , lit. 'strugglers or strivers, doers of jihād'), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in jihad ( lit. ' struggle or striving [for justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc.] ' ), interpreted in
38218-443: Was overthrown and most mujahideen factions signed the Peshawar Accords . However, the mujahideen could not establish a functional united government, and many of the larger mujahideen groups began to fight each other over power in Kabul . After several years of devastating fighting, in a small Pashtun village, a mullah named Mohammed Omar organized a new armed movement with the backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as
38415-430: Was referred to by the regional name Khorasan , which was commonly used up to the 19th century among natives to describe their country. In 1709, Mirwais Hotak , a local Ghilzai tribal leader, successfully rebelled against the Safavids . He defeated Gurgin Khan , the Georgian governor of Kandahar under the Safavids, and established his own kingdom. Mirwais died in 1715, and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Aziz , who
38612-418: Was soon killed by Mirwais's son Mahmud for possibly planning to sign a peace with the Safavids. Mahmud led the Afghan army in 1722 to the Persian capital of Isfahan , and captured the city after the Battle of Gulnabad and proclaimed himself King of Persia. The Afghan dynasty was ousted from Persia by Nader Shah after the 1729 Battle of Damghan . In 1738, Nader Shah and his forces captured Kandahar in
38809-457: Was the main perpetrator of attacks on Burmese authorities positioned on the Bangladesh–Myanmar border . In 1969, political tensions and open hostilities developed between the Government of the Philippines and jihadist rebel groups. The Moro National Liberation Front ( MNLF ) was established by University of the Philippines professor Nur Misuari to condemn the killings of more than 60 Filipino Muslims and later became an aggressor against
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