Ahmad Shah Massoud was an Afghan politician and military commander. He was a powerful guerrilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989. In the 1990s, he led the government's military wing against rival militias; after the Taliban takeover, he was the leading opposition commander against their regime until his assassination in 2001.
Abdul Rashid Dostum is an Afghan exiled politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish-e Milli. Dostum was a major army commander in the communist government during the Soviet–Afghan War, and in 2001 was the key indigenous ally to U.S. Special Forces and the CIA during the campaign to topple the Taliban government. He is one of the most powerful warlords since the beginning of the Afghan wars, known for siding with winners during different wars. Dostum has also referred to as a Kingmaker due to his significant role in Afghan politics.
The history of Afghanistan, preceding the establishment of the Emirate of Afghanistan in 1823 is shared with that of neighbouring Iran, central Asia and Indian subcontinent. The Sadozai monarchy ruled the Afghan Durrani Empire, considered the founding state of modern Afghanistan.
The Military history of Afghanistan began before 1709 when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by the Durrani Empire. The Afghan military was re-organized with assistance from the British in 1880, when the country was ruled by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. It was modernized during King Amanullah Khan's rule in the early 20th century, and then during King Zahir Shah's forty-year rule; the Soviet Union supplied almost all weapons, training and military needs between the 1950s and 1970s. From 1978 to 1992, the Soviet-backed Afghan Armed Forces engaged in heavy fighting with the multi-national mujahideen groups who were then backed by the United States, Pakistan and others. After President Najibullah's resignation in 1992 and the end of Soviet support, the Afghan military dissolved into portions controlled by different factions. This era was followed by the Taliban regime, whose leaders were trained and influenced by the Pakistan Armed Forces.
The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a militant organization in Afghanistan with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi current of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the American invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 following the departure of most coalition forces, after nearly 20 years of insurgency, and currently controls all of the country. However, its government is not recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so called after Mohammad Yunus Khalis split from Hezbi Islami in 1979 to found Hezb-i Islami Khalis. He has twice served as Prime Minister during the 1990s.
Yerida is emigration by Jews from the State of Israel. Yerida is the opposite of aliyah, which is immigration by Jews to Israel. Zionists are generally critical of the act of yerida and the term is somewhat derogatory. The emigration of non-Jewish Israelis is not included in the term.
The history of the Jews in Afghanistan goes back at least 2,500 years. Ancient Iranian tradition suggests that Jews settled in Balkh, an erstwhile Zoroastrian and Buddhist stronghold, shortly after the collapse of the Kingdom of Judah in 587 BCE. In more recent times, the community has been reduced to complete extinction due to emigration, primarily to Israel. At the time of the large-scale 2021 Taliban offensive, only two Jews were still residing in the country: Zablon Simintov and his distant cousin Tova Moradi. When the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was re-established by the Taliban in August 2021, both Simintov and Moradi made aliyah on 7 September 2021 and 29 October 2021, respectively, leaving Afghanistan completely empty of Jews. Today, the overwhelming majority of the Afghan Jewish community resides in Israel, with a small group of a few hundred living in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, was a military alliance of groups that operated between early 1992 and 2001 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many non-Pashtun Northerners originally with the Republic of Afghanistan led by Mohammad Najibullah became disaffected with Pashtun Khalqi Afghan Army officers holding control over non-Pashtun militias in the North. Defectors such as Rashid Dostum and Abdul Momim allied with Ahmad Shah Massoud and Ali Mazari forming the Northern Alliance. The alliance's capture of Mazar-i-Sharif and more importantly the supplies kept there crippled the Afghan military and began the end of Najibullah's government. Following the collapse of Najibullah's government the Alliance would fall with a 2nd Civil war breaking out however following the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's (Taliban) takeover of Kabul, The United Front was reassembled.
Masoud Khalili, also Massoud Khalili and Masud Khalili is an Afghan diplomat, linguist and poet. Khalili is the son of the famous Persian language and Afghan poet laureate, Ustad Khalilullah Khalili. In the war against the Soviets from 1980 to 1990, he was the political head of the Jamiat-e Islami Party of Afghanistan and close advisor to Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. In the internal conflict that followed, he chose to be the Special Envoy in Pakistan to President Burhannudin Rabbani. Deported from the same country for his high rank in the Northern Alliance, he went to New Delhi in 1996 as the Ambassador of the Afghanistan (Anti-Taliban) where he stayed for many years. He was non-resident Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Nepal at the same time.
Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee from their country as a result of wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution, followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion, marked the first major wave of internal displacement and international migration to neighboring Iran and Pakistan; smaller numbers also went to India or to countries of the former Soviet Union. Between 1979 and 1992, more than 20% of Afghanistan's population fled the country as refugees. Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, many returned to Afghanistan, however many Afghans were again forced to flee during the civil war in the 90s. Over 6 million Afghan refugees were residing in Iran and Pakistan by 2000. Most refugees returned to Afghanistan following the 2001 United States invasion and overthrow of the Taliban regime. Between 2002 and 2012, 5.7 million refugees returned to Afghanistan, increasing the country's population by 25%.
The 1996–2001 Afghan Civil War, also known as the Third Afghan Civil War, took place between the Taliban's conquest of Kabul and their establishing of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 27 September 1996, and the US and UK invasion of Afghanistan on 7 October 2001: a period that was part of the Afghan Civil War that had started in 1989, and also part of the war in Afghanistan that had started in 1978.
Afghan Arabs are Arab and other Muslim Islamist mujahideen who came to Afghanistan during and following the Soviet–Afghan War to aid the war efforts of native Muslims in the DRA. Despite being called "Afghan" they were not from Afghanistan nor legally citizens of Afghanistan.
The Baháʼí Faith in Afghanistan was possibly introduced in 1880s when some Baháʼís are believed to have visited Afghanistan. However, it wasn't until the 1930s that a Baháʼí community was established there. The first Baháʼí administrative institution Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1948 in Kabul and then was re-elected in 1969. Though the population had perhaps reached thousands, under the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the harsh rule of the Taliban the Baháʼís lost the right to have any institutions and many fled. Although the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated there were some 16,541 Baháʼís in 2010, the Baháʼís in Afghanistan number at approximately 400 according to a more recent 2007 US estimate.
Afghans in Pakistan are temporary residents from Afghanistan who are registered in Pakistan as refugees and asylum seekers. They fall under the jurisdiction of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Most of them were born and raised in Pakistan during the last four decades. Additionally, there are also Special Immigrant Visa applicants awaiting to immmigrate to the United States.
Afghanistan–Israel relations refer to the bilateral ties between Afghanistan and the State of Israel. The two countries have never had formal diplomatic relations, and Afghanistan has never recognized Israel since the latter's independence in 1948. Zablon Simintov, who lived in Kabul and managed Afghanistan's only remaining synagogue, was thought to be the last Jew still living in Afghanistan. However, shortly after the 2021 Taliban offensive, it was discovered that his lost relative, Tova Moradi, was actually the last Jew in Afghanistan after Israeli businessman Mordechai Kahana arranged for Simintov's evacuation to Israel on 7 September 2021; Moradi also made aliyah to Israel on 29 October 2021. Simintov's desire to leave Afghanistan stemmed from his concerns over possibly being attacked by more radical Islamist terrorist groups such as the Islamic State – KP rather than the Taliban.
The Afghan conflict refers to the series of events that have kept Afghanistan in a near-continuous state of armed conflict since the 1970s. Early instability followed the collapse of the Kingdom of Afghanistan in the largely non-violent 1973 coup d'état, which deposed Afghan monarch Mohammad Zahir Shah in absentia, ending his 40-year-long reign. With the concurrent establishment of the Republic of Afghanistan, headed by Mohammad Daoud Khan, the country's relatively peaceful and stable period in modern history came to an end. However, all-out fighting did not erupt until after 1978, when the Saur Revolution violently overthrew Khan's government and established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Subsequent unrest over the radical reforms that were being pushed by the then-ruling People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) led to unprecedented violence, prompting a large-scale pro-PDPA military intervention by the Soviet Union in 1979. In the ensuing Soviet–Afghan War, the anti-Soviet Afghan mujahideen received extensive support from Pakistan, the United States, and Saudi Arabia in a joint covert effort that was dubbed Operation Cyclone.
Afghan diaspora refers to the Afghan people that reside and work outside of Afghanistan. They include natives and citizens of Afghanistan who have immigrated to other countries. The majority of the diaspora has been formed by Afghan refugees since the start of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979; the largest numbers temporarily reside in Iran. As stateless refugees or asylum seekers, they are protected by the well-established non-refoulement principle and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The ones having at least one American parent are further protected by United States laws.
The Hazara people are an ethnic group who are mostly from Afghanistan, primarily from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat, they established a large diaspora that consists of many communities in different countries around the world as part of the later Afghan diaspora. There are currently a million Hazara who live in the Balochistan province of Pakistan mostly in Quetta, many of whom have been settled in the country for generations and are now Pakistani citizens. A similarly large Hazara community is also present in Mashhad, Iran, as part of the Hazara and Afghan diaspora.
Afghans in Ukraine are the country's largest diasporic community with origins outside of the former Soviet Union.
