Afghan Turkestan, also known as Southern Turkestan, is a region in northern Afghanistan, on the border with the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. In the 19th century, there was a province in Afghanistan named Turkestan with Mazar-e Sharif as provincial capital. The province incorporated the territories of the present-day provinces of Balkh, Kunduz, Jowzjan, Sar-e Pol, and Faryab. In 1890, Qataghan-Badakhshan Province was separated from Turkestan Province. It was later abolished by Abdur Rahman.
Abdur Rahman Khan also known by his epithets, The Iron Amir, was Amir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for perpetrating the Hazara Genocide, but also uniting the country after years of internal fighting and negotiation of the Durand Line Agreement with British India.
Badakhshan is a historical region comprising the Wakhan Corridor in northeast Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Badakhshan lies within Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in the southeastern part of the country. The music of Badakhshan is an important part of the region's cultural heritage.
Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai, nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of the Durrani dynasty, he became the Emir of Afghanistan in 1826. An ethnic Pashtun, he belonged to the Barakzai tribe. He was the 11th son of Payinda Khan, chief of the Barakzai Pashtuns, who was killed in 1799 by King Zaman Shah Durrani.
Sher Ali Khan was Amir of Afghanistan from 1863 to 1866 and from 1868 until his death in 1879. He was one of the sons of Dost Mohammed Khan, founder of the Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan.
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the latter was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. The war was part of the Great Game between the British and Russian empires.
Sultan Ahmad Khan b. Sardar 'Azim Muhammadzai, also known as Sultan Jan was the ruler of the Principality of Herat from September 1857 to April 1863. He was a nephew of Dost Mohammad Khan. In 1855-56, Sultan Ahmad Khan sent a petition to the Shah, Nasir al-Din. If the Iranians would support Sultan Ahmad Khan with an army, he would overthrow the Amir-i Kabir and incorporate Afghanistan into the Guarded Domains. However, Sultan Ahmad Khan was intercepted by Dost Mohammad Khan, who exiled Sultan Ahmad Khan to Iran.
Mohammad Afzal Khan was the governor of Afghan Turkestan from 1849 to 1863 and Emir of Afghanistan from May 1866 to October 1867. The oldest son of Dost Mohammad Khan, Afzal Khan was born in Kabul in 1815. His father died on 9 June 1863 followed by a civil war among Dost Mohammad Khan's sons. In May 1866 he seized power from his brother Sher Ali Khan and captured Kabul. A year later he contracted cholera and died on 7 October 1867. Following Afzal Khan's death, Mohammad Azam Khan was proclaimed Amir of Afghanistan. He was an ethnic Pashtun and belonged to the Barakzai tribe.
Takhteh Pol, also known as Takhtapul, is a village in Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan. It was created by Afzal Khan as a cantonment after the Afghan conquest of the Balkh Wilayat in 1849-1850. Balkh was in ruins, so with materials from the ruined town of Balkh, he established the city of Takhtapul. Gardens and courts were created as well. Within three years the city was established.
Mohammad Nadir Shah was King of Afghanistan from 15 October 1929 until his assassination in November 1933. He became the king after his victory in the Afghan Civil War of 1928–29. Previously, he served as Minister of War, Afghan Ambassador to France, and as a general in the Royal Afghan Army. He and his son Mohammad Zahir Shah, who succeeded him, are part of the Musahiban.
Mohammad Azam Khan was briefly the Emir of Afghanistan, from October 7, 1867, to August 21, 1868. He was born in 1820 and was the fifth son of Dost Mohammed Khan. He was an ethnic Pashtun and belonged to the Barakzai tribe. Azam Khan succeeded his brother Mohammad Afzal Khan after the latter's death from cholera on October 7, 1867. Sher Ali Khan was reinstated as Amir of Afghanistan and his forces captured Kabul on August 21, 1868. Sher Ali himself entered Kabul on September 8, 1868. Mohammad Azam Khan fled to Sistan and then to Iran, where he died in 1870.
Turkestan Province was a province in Afghanistan.
Amir Ali Ahmad Khan, Shaghasi was an Afghan king from the Shaghasi family of the Barakzai tribe who was declared king of Afghanistan twice in 1929. He was first declared amir of Afghanistan by an influential cleric, Naqib Sahib on 20 January 1929, in eastern Afghanistan, but was defeated by Kalakani at Jagdalak on 19 February 1929. He was also declared as the amir of Afghanistan for the second time on 23 June 1929 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, by another highly influential Mufti Abd. Wasi Kandahari, but was defeated and captured by Kalakani on 3 July 1929.
The Herat campaign of 1862–1863 was a conflict between the Principality of Herat and the Emirate of Afghanistan, from March 1862, when Sultan Jan captured Farah from the Muhammadzai Emirs and continued through the 10-month long siege of Herat, ending on May 27, 1863, when the city fell to the Amir-i Kabir, thus completing the unification of Afghanistan.
The Hazarajat Campaign of 1843 began as a result of the post First Anglo-Afghan War situation in Afghanistan. Behsud and Bamiyan had broken away from Afghan rule as a result of the war, and Dost Mohammad sought to reconquer it following his resumption of power in Kabul.
The Afghan Turkestan Campaign of 1838-39 began in the winter of 1838 and ended in March 1839. The campaign was sent as a result of the tyranny of the Kunduz Khanate's ruler, Murad Beg. It was also launched for reasons such as additional revenue gain and tribute from many of the Uzbek states present in the region, including an attempt at subjugating the prominent states of Khulm and Qataghan. Dost Mohammad also feared the rise of Murad Beg and that the Kunduz Khanate was slowly enroaching on Bamiyan.
The Second Anglo-Afghan Treaty was signed in 1857, prior to the Indian Rebellion of 1857. This treaty saw significant gains for Dost Mohammad Khan. Following the signing of the treaty, Dost Mohammad Khan was pressured after the Sepoy Mutiny was begun in India. This was emphasized internally from the Ulama, and Afghan chiefs, while externally, Bukhara threatened conflict with Dost Mohammad if he did not declare war on the British.
The Afghan Conquest of Balkh took place from the spring of 1849, to January 1850. Dost Mohammad Khan returned to the throne following the First Anglo-Afghan War, and continued pursuing his ambitions for the complete reunification of Afghanistan following its collapse from the civil war among Timur Shah's sons. Dost Mohammad began had entered the region once again in 1843 after being restored to the throne in the Hazarajat Campaign of 1843, extending his influence to Bamyan and many other regions. Dost Mohammad continued his ambitions into the region especially due to external threats such as Bukhara and the Emirate of Herat.
The Afghan Conquest of Kunduz took place from May to June 1859. The conflict was between the Kunduz Khanate and the Emirate of Afghanistan. The conflict began after Mir Ataliq, the ruler of Kunduz, though nominally under Afghan rule, wished to remain under a degree of high autonomy. Mir Ataliq rejected many of the Afghan demands to re-enter their suzerainty, leading to Afghan forces under Afzal Khan to began mobilizing. The Afghans assembled their forces along the border of Kunduz, with an envoy delivering an ultimatum, which the Mir Ataliq did not respond to. This led to the Afghans invading in May 1859.