Government and History  

On July 17, 1973, a military coup overturned the two-century-old Afghan kingdom and established the Republic of Afghanistan. From 1964 to 1973 the country had been run as a true constitutional monarchy, with royalty barred from high public office. A prime minister appointed by the shah directed the government. This constitution was abolished in 1973 after the military coup. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was set up in 1978. A new constitution was approved in November 1987. The word Democratic was dropped from the republic's name. 

   The remains of buried cities indicate that settled peoples lived in Afghanistan more than 5,000 years ago. The land was invaded repeatedly by nomads and conquering armies. Historic figures who passed through Afghanistan included Darius I of Persia, Alexander the Great, the Muslim invaders, Genghis Khan, Timur Lenk (Tamerlane), and Baber (Babur). Through Afghanistan's mountain passes, China's trade flowed westward and southward on the ancient silk route. (See also Darius I; Alexander the Great; Genghis Khan; Timur Lenk; Baber.) 

   The modern Afghan kingdom dates from 1747, when Ahmad Shah Durrani freed the country from Persian domination. To preserve their independence, the Afghans shut off the outside world. 

   In the 19th century Afghanistan was caught in the rivalries of great empires. Russia, to the north, threatened Britain's domination of India to the east. After waging two bloody wars, from 1839 to 1842 and from 1878 to 1880, Britain bought Afghanistan's cooperation by paying a large annual subsidy to 'Abdor Rahman Khan and supporting his rule (see Afghan Wars). 

   When Amanollah Khan ascended the Afghan throne in 1919, he declared war on Britain. After the third Afghan War, Afghanistan gained its independence. Amanollah tried to modernize the country. The mullahs--religious teachers and leaders--incited a revolt against him, and he abdicated in 1929. Mohammad Zahir Shah became king in 1933. 

   The Westernization policy begun by Amanollah made significant advances. Under the 1964 constitution, women voted and ran for office for the first time in 1965. The separation of the state's executive, legislative, and judicial powers was completed when a supreme court was established in 1967. 

   From 1973 to 1978 the country was ruled by a military regime. A Revolutionary Council with leanings toward the Soviet Union, with whom a treaty of friendship was signed, gained control in 1978. The new government oppressed the Islamic majority, and civil war broke out. In December 1979 the Soviet Union claimed Western interference, invaded the country, and joined government forces against Muslim rebels. The council president was killed in the invasion, and the Soviets installed Babrak Karmal in his place. Opposition spread; demonstrations and violence increased. In 1986 Karmal was replaced by Mohammad Najibullah. The Soviet Union, honoring a 1988 agreement, completed its military pullout on Feb. 15, 1989. More than 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed during the nine-year occupation. 

   Three days after the Soviet troops pulled out, Najibullah declared a state of emergency and replaced the non-Communists in the cabinet with Communists. A March 1990 coup attempt failed to bring down Najibullah. The United States and the Soviet Union agreed in late 1991 to end military aid to the government and the rebels. In April 1992 the rebels captured Kabul, forcing Najibullah out. 

   Ethnic and political rivals vied for control of Afghanistan after the fall of Najibullah's government. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Hezb-i-Islami faction battled the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani for power. In late 1994, a powerful fundamentalist Islamic militia, the Taliban (Persian for "students"), emerged, gaining control of ten of the country's 30 provinces. The Taliban declared that they sought the establishment of an Islamic republic in Afghanistan. In June 1996, Hekmatyar and Rabbani made peace and formed an alliance against the Taliban. Hekmatyar became prime minister in Rabbani's government. 

   In September, members of the Taliban captured the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. With the victory the Taliban, who were widely considered the most conservative of Afghanistan's many fundamentalist Islamic parties, brought two thirds of Afghanistan under their control. Government officials and army members fled from Jalalabad to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Afghanistan President Burhanuddin Rabbani accused Pakistan, a long-time rival for regional power, of supporting the Taliban revolt, a charge that Pakistan denied. Rabbani's government resorted to bombing the city of Jalalabad in an attempt to slow the rebels' progress towards Kabul. The coalition government under Rabbani was forged from five Islamic factions that took part in the anti-Communist struggle, but it lost much popular support to the Taliban, which promised to impose strict fundamentalism. 

   In October, three former enemies joined to announce the creation of a military agreement designed to coordinate efforts against the newly formed Islamic government in Kabul. United by the threat of a common enemy in the form of the Islamic Taliban party, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, Ahmad Shah Massoud, and Abdul Karim Khalily forged the alliance to integrate the forces of the three largest ethnic minorities of northern Afghanistan. Uzbeks, led by General Dostum, Tajiks, led by Massoud, and Hazaras, led by Khalily, controlled ten provinces in the north of the country at the time of the agreement. The three ethnic groups had been embroiled in intermittent conflict since 1993, but each viewed a united front as the only means of stopping the Taliban advance. In the first days of the union, they launched decisive counterattacks against the advancing Taliban guerrillas, halting the Taliban's rapidly advancing expansion. The Taliban controlled the remaining 19 provinces of the country. 

   The Taliban received harsh criticism from both domestic and international voices after their virtual takeover of most of Afghanistan. Upon their successful capture of Kabul, they imposed rule by strict Islamic law. Public floggings for violations of Islamic law, combined with severely repressive policies toward Afghanistan's female population, drew the ire of the international community. The leaders of the anti-Taliban alliance pledged that, if victorious, they would restore a moderate Islamic state. 

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