Afghanistan - a Timeline

of Recent History

Monarchy Overthrown in Coup

• 1973 -- Mohammed Daud seizes power in a coup and declares a republic. Tries to play off USSR against Western powers. His style alienates left-wing factions who join forces against him. (bbc.co.uk)

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• 1975 -- Unsuccessful uprising against President Mohammed Daud. Future Mujahideen leaders Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Masood are both participants. Both flee to Pakistan were they are "patronized" by the Islamabad government as leverage against the Daud regime. Both return to Afghanistan after Soviet invasion where they lead Mujahideen factions and both are favored by Pakistan funders. (Rashid, p.85)

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  Communist Coup

• 1978 April 27 -- General Daud is overthrown and killed in a coup by leftist People's Democratic Party. Coup "brings 61-year-old poet and self-declared Marxist idealist Nur Mohammed Taraki" to power. (Kaplan, p.115, 116)

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• 1978-1979 -- Khalq and Parcham factions of the People's Democratic Party's have a falling out, leading to purging or exile of most Parcham leaders. At the same time, the brutality and disasterous implementation of Taraki's land reform program leads to armed revolt in countryside by conservative Islamic and ethnic leaders. Crackdown against rebellion by government marks "the first instance of organized, nationwide repression in Afghanistan's modern history." A total of 27,000 political prisoners are executed during Taraki's 17 month rule at the sprawling Pul-i-Charki prison six miles east of Kabul. (bbc.co.uk; Kaplan, p.115, 116)

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  Soviet Invasion

• 1979 December -- Power struggle between leftist leaders Hafizullah Amin and Nur Mohammed Taraki in Kabul won by Amin. Revolts in countryside continue and Afghan army faces collapse. Soviet Union finally sends in troops to help remove Amin, who is executed. (bbc.co.uk)

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• 1979-80 -- Invasion by Soviets arrouses little or no opposition from Muslim states. "The P.L.O. observer at the United Nations defends the invasion ... South Yemen and Syria boycotted a [UN] meeting held to discuss the issue, Libya delivers an attack on the United States." (Lewis, Bernard)

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• 1980 -- Babrak Karmal, leader of the People's Democratic Party Parcham faction, is installed as ruler, backed by Soviet troops. Anti-regime resistance intensifies with various mujahedin groups fighting Soviet forces. US, Pakistan, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia supply money and arms to mujahedin. (bbc.co.uk)

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• 1981 January -- Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting at Taif, Saudi Arabia refuses to call for a jihad against Soviet invaders of Afghanistan as they have against Israel. Urges instead cooperation with the UN secretary general in bringing an end to a situation that is `prejudicial to the Afghan people.`" (source: see the text of the declaration of the OIC's third annual summit and the resolutions and recommendations in MECS 5 (Middle East Contemporary Survey 5) (1980-1981): 137-145) (Kepel, p.139)

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• 1982 Afghan mujahideen are now recieving $600 million a year in U.S. aid to fight Soviet forces and another $600 million/year from Saudi and other Gulf states. (Kepel, p.143)

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• 1984 October 5 -- Vitaly Smirnov, Soviet ambassador to Pakistan, tells Agence France Presse that journalists traveling with the mujahidin `will be killed, and our units in Afghanistan will help the Afghan forces to do it.` Threat helps lower media exposure of Soviet abuses. (Kaplan, p.10)

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• 1985 -- Bloodiest year of the Afghan-Soviet War. In that year, according to a survey conducted by Swedish relief experts, well over half of all the farmers who remained in Afghanistan had their fields bombed, and over a 1/4 had their irrigation systems destroyed and their livestock shot by Soviet or Afghan Communist troops." (Kaplan, p.11) Half of Afghan population now estimated to be displaced by war. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 1987 - Soviets carpet bomb Kandahar, Afghanistan's 2nd largest city, "for months on end." "After reducing part of the city center and almost all of the surrounding streets to rubble they bulldoze a grid of roads to enable tanks and armored cars to patrol the city in sectors, indiscriminately destroying shops and homes in the process. (Kaplan, p.188)

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• 1987 - Hekmatyar's mujahideen hijack a 96-horse caravan bringing aid into northern Afghanistan, stealing a year's supply of medicine and cash that was to be distributed to villagers to buy food with. (Kaplan, p.170)

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• 1987 - 127 terrorist incidents occur in Pakistani cities resulting in 234 deaths (US State Department reports). Attempt by Soviets to "destabilize the guerrillas' rear base, over the border in Pakistan." (Kaplan p.12)

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  Soviet Withdrawal

• 1988 April -- Soviet Union signs an agreement in Geneva to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
  Terrorists (strongly suspected to be Soviet or Aghan communist agents) blow up an ammunition depot outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, killing 100 and injuring more than 1000 people. (Kaplan, p.12)

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• 1989 -- Last Soviet troops leave, but civil war continues as mujahedin push to overthrow Najibullah. (bbc.co.uk)
  War ends with an estimated 1.3 million Afghans killed by the Soviets (study by the University of Geneva in Switzerland and the Gallup organization in Pakistan), `between 10 and 30 million` land mines laid (2 mines for every Afghan who survived the war and between 40 and 120 mines per square mile of Afghan territory (figure from U.S. State Department spokesman Charles Redmon, August 15, 1988)) and 5.5 million refugees having fled the country for Pakistan and Iran, (1/3 of the prewar population of the country) (Kaplan, p.18, 12, 11)

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• 1989 March -- Reversal of collapse of Afghan Communist government. Demoralized Afghan Communist government troops negotiating surrender in the vicinity of Jalalabad are spurred on to greater effort after seeing what Salafi Arab Afghans have in store for them. Truck full of chopped up body parts of 60 recently surrendered government soldiers is driven into besieged Jalahbad "with the message that this would be the fate awaiting the infidels." Sight renews troops determination to fight on and results in "the first major government victory" and the lifting of the seige. (Sageman, p.58-9)

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• 1991 - US and USSR agree to end military aid to both sides. (bb.co.uk)

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• 1992 -- Resistance closes in on Kabul and Najibullah falls from power. Rival militias vie for influence. (bbc.co.uk)

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• 1993 -- Mujahideen factions agree on formation of a government with ethnic Tajik, Burhanuddin Rabbani, proclaimed president. (bbc.co.uk)

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• 1994 -- Factional contests continue and the Pashtun-dominated Taleban emerge as major challenge to the Rabbani government. (bbc.co.uk)

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• 1995 -- Sunni-Shia violence. Warlord Masud masacres Shia Hazaras in Kabul. (Rashid, p.83)

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• 1996 Summer -- Deteroration of living conditions in Afghanistan as result of the Soviet and Civil wars. `It was over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit and humid ... There was not electricity in Jellalabad, so no air-conditioning. No water in the taps, and nothing safe to drink. Kids are dying steadily of disease.` Report to Robert Kaplan by Ahmed Rashid. (Kaplan, Ends p.333)

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• 1996 September -- Example of Sunni-Shia violence. Among the Pashtoon population of Kurram [one of the tribal agencies of the Northwest Pakistan] a gun battle breaks out between teenage members of the two rival sects. It "escalates into a communal war in which more than 200 people are killed, and woman and children were kidnapped. ... militants even executed out-of-towners who were staying at a local hotel." (Kaplan, p.242)

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  Talaban Takeover

• 1996 October -- Taliban take control of most of Afghanistan. Relief from warlord fighting is welcome, but during the next 18 months strict deobandi Islamic regulations are implemented banning music, schooling for girls, then home schools for girls (which had been allowed to continue) and women's use of general hospitals." (Rashid, p.114)

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• 1997 -- Sunni-Shia violence. Hazaras massacre Taliban in Mazar. (Rashid, p.83)

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• 1998 February -- Example of Taliban justice stytem. Three men are sentenced to death for sodomy in Kandahar. They are "taken to the base of a huge mud and brick wall, which [is] then toppled over them by a tank. They remain buried under the rubble for half an hour." One manages to survive. (Rashid, p.115)

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• 1998 August -- Sunni-Shia violence. Taleban guards are reported to systematically kill "thousands of ethnic Hazara civilians in their homes or on the streets." (web.amnesty.org)

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• 1999 -- Spread of poppy cultivation. "According to a United Nations panel," Afghanistan is "the source of 79% of the world's opium." (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2001 March -- Taleban blow up giant Buddha statues in defiance of international efforts to save them. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2001 June -- Taleban announced that Hindus living in areas under their control will "be required to wear distinctive clothing or other markers", (web.amnesty.org)

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• 2001 September -- Eight foreign aid workers on trial in the Supreme Court for promoting Christianity. This follows months of tension between Taleban and aid agencies. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2001 September -- Ahmad Shah Masood, legendary guerrilla and leader of the main opposition to the Taleban, is killed, apparently by suicide-assassins posing as journalists. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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  Overthrow of Taliban by U.S.-Led "Coalition"

• 2001 October -- US, Britain launch air strikes against Afghanistan after Taleban refuse to hand over Osama bin Laden, held responsible for the September 11 attacks on America. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2001 November -- Opposition forces seize Mazar-e Sharif and within days march into Kabul and other key cities. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2001 December 5 -- Afghan groups agree deal in Bonn for interim government. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2001 December 7 -- Taleban finally give up last stronghold of Kandahar, but Mullah Omar remains at large. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2001 December 22 -- Pashtun royalist Hamid Karzai is sworn in as head of a 30-member interim power-sharing government. (http://news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2002 July -- Vice-President Haji Abdul Qadir is assassinated by gunmen in Kabul.
  U.S. air raid in Uruzgan province kills 48 civilians, many of them members of a wedding party. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2002 September -- Karzai narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in Kandahar, his home town. (news.bbc.co.uk) Former recipient of U.S. aid, Islamist mujahedin leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, active insurgency against U.S. forces and Kabul government.

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• 2002 December -- President Karzai and Pakistani, Turkmen leaders sign deal to build gas pipeline through Afghanistan, carrying Turkmen gas to Pakistan. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2003 -- 49 killed in clashes between Taleban and government forces in Kandahar province. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2003 August -- NATO takes control of security in Kabul, its first-ever operational commitment outside Europe. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2004 January -- Grand assembly - or Loya Jirga - adopts new constitution which provides for strong presidency. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2004 March -- Afghanistan secures $8.2bn (£4.5bn) in aid over three years. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2004 September -- Rocket fired at helicopter carrying President Karzai misses its target; it is the most serious attempt on his life since September 2002.(news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2004 October/November - Presidential elections: Hamid Karzai is declared the winner, with 55% of the vote. He is sworn in, amid tight security, in December. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2005 February -- Several hundred people are killed in the harshest winter weather in a decade. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2005 May -- Details emerge of alleged prisoner abuse by US forces at detention centres. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2005 September -- First parliamentary and provincial elections in more than 30 years. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2005 December -- New parliament holds its inaugural session. (news.bbc.co.uk)

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• 2006 January -- More than 30 people killed in a series of suicide attacks in southern Kandahar province. (news.bbc.co.uk)