Afghanistan History

History

Afghanistan is a very diverse country ethnically. Tribal or local allegiances are strong, which complicates national politics immensely. The two largest linguistic groups speak Pushtu and Dari (Afghan Persian). Pushtu speakers predominate in the South and East, Dari in North and central Afghanistan. About 11% of the population have Turkic languages, Uzbek or Turkmen, as their first language. Many of them are in the North, near Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Baluchi tribesmen, still largely nomadic, can be found anywhere between Quetta Pakistan and Mashad Iran, including much of Western Afghanistan. They make marvellous, if often somewhat simple, rugs. Hazaris in the Central mountains look much more Asiatic than other Afghans. They are descended from Ghengis Khan's soldiers. Afghanistan has a long history of warfare, both among Afghans and against invaders from Alexander of Macedon, to the Mongol hordes, to the British empire. Recent history is no exception. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979, to support a local socialist government. They were forced to withdraw 10 years later by anti-Communist mujahidin forces supplied and trained by the US, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and others. Fighting subsequently continued among the various mujahidin fractions, giving rise to a state of warlordism. The Taliban grew out of this chaos, providing a ruthless solution to what was by this time a civil war. Backed by foreign sponsors, and inspired by a conservative sect of Islam, Taliban developed as a political force and eventually seized power. They captured most of the country, aside from ununified warlords in the northeast. The separation was partly along ethnic lines, with Taliban strength primarily in Pushtu areas. After the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, Taliban refused to give up the Al Quaeda people in Afghanistan. The US and allies therefore took military action with the support of the opposition, causing Taliban's downfall. In late 2001, major leaders from the Afghan opposition groups and diaspora met in Bonn, Germany and agreed on a plan for the formulation of a new government structure that resulted in the inauguration of Hamid KARZAI as Chairman of the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) on 22 December 2001. The AIA held a nationwide Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly) in June 2002, and KARZAI was elected President by secret ballot of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (TISA). The Transitional Authority has an 18-month mandate to hold a nationwide Loya Jirga to adopt a constitution and a 24-month mandate to hold nationwide elections. In December 2002, the TISA marked the one-year anniversary of the fall of the Taliban. In addition to occasionally violent political jockeying and ongoing military action to root out remaining terrorists and Taliban elements, the country suffers from enormous poverty, a crumbling infrastructure, and widespread land mines. In late 2001, a conference in Bonn, Germany, established a process for political reconstruction that ultimately resulted in the adoption of a new constitution and presidential election in 2004. On 9 October 2004, Hamid KARZAI became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. The new Afghan government's next task is to hold National Assembly elections, tentatively scheduled for April 2005.