Afghanistan in Pictorial History

Afghan Flag



Afghan Emblem



Location of Afghanistan on the Globe






Afghan soldiers of the Durrani Empire. The name "Afghaunistan" is written on this 1847 Lithograph by James Rattray.



Topography



Snow Covered Mountains


Scenic View in western Afghanistan

History of Afghanistan

A 5th century BC carving of Median and Achaemenid soldiers, at a time when the region was known as Ariana.

Bilingual (Greek and Aramaic) edict by Emperor Ashoka from the 3rd century BCE was discovered in the southern city of Kandahar.

One of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, Buddhism was widespread in the region before the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan

Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the geographical area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by the culture of and trade with neighboring regions to the east, west, and north. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages have been found in Afghanistan. Urban civilization may have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak (near Kandahar in the south of the country) may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization.


A miniature from Padshahnama depicting the surrender of the Safavid garrison of Kandahar in 1638 to the Mughals, which was re-taken by the Safavids in 1649 during the Mughal-Safavid war.


Built during the Ghurids era, the Friday Mosque of Herat or Masjid Jami is one of the oldest mosques in Afghanistan


Mir Wais Hotak revolted against the Safavid rule and declared the Kandahar region an independent Afghan kingdom in 1709, which was later expanded by his son Mahmud to include Persia


Prince Akbar Khan, victor of the 1837 Battle of Jamrud and a general officer in the First Anglo-Afghan War against the British-led Indian forces

 
British and allied forces at Kandahar after the 1880 Battle of Kandahar, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The large defensive wall around the city was removed in the early 1930s by the order of King Nadir



King Amanullah sitting next to German President Paul von Hindenburg in February 1928. His six-month European tour initiated an alliance between Afghanistan and Germany


Amānullāh Khān with Turkish president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Ankara,1928


Outside the Presidential Palace (Arg) in Kabul, a day after the Marxist revolution in April 1978

Soviet troops (in right row) withdrawing from Afghanistan in 1988. Afghan military BTR on the left

A section of Kabul during the civil war in 1993

Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir interviewing al-Qaida spiritual leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1997

US Army Chinook helicopters on their way to Bagram Air Base



Soldiers of the Afghan National Army, including the ANA Commando Battalion standing in the front



Clockwise: Admiral and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, standing with other top NATO military officials including David Petraeus, James Mattis, John Allen, Marvin Hill and Wolf Langheld of the German Army



Hamid Karzai standing next to Faisal Ahmad Shinwari and others after winning the 2004 presidential election. The last king of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah is sitting at the right