| Period or Event | King | Time-Frame | Overview |
| Darius the Great | 500 BC | Hegemony extends to present-day Afghanistan. | |
|---|---|---|---|
Bactriana, with its capital at Bactria (later Balkh) was reputedly the home of Zoroaster, who founded the religion that bears his name.
Filed Under: Bactriana| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview |
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| Ethnic Group | Language | Religion | Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pashtun | Pashto | Hanafi Sunni Turi are Shi’a |
Basic physical type: Mediterranean substock of Caucasoid stock. |
| Tajik | Dari, Tajik | Mostly Hanafi Sunni Isma’iliya Shi’a, especially in north |
Concentrated in northeast where they usually refer to themselves by the valley or region in which they live. Those living in areas dominated by other ethnic groups refer to themselves as Tajik. Term Tajik from old Persian “Taz” or “Taj” meaning “Arab.” Basic physical type: mediterranean substock; Mongoloid attributes increase from south to north. |
| Farsiwan | Dari | Imami Shi’a | Mainly agriculturalists living near the Iranian border, Herat, Qandahar, Ghazni and southern and western Afghan towns. Often mistakenly referred to as Tajik in literature. Basic physical type: Mediterranean substock. |
| Qizilbash | Dari | Imami Shi’a | Primarily an urban group scattered throughout Afghanistan. Descendents of military and administrative personnel left behind by Nadir Shah Afshar in the 18th century AD. Today many hold important bureaucratic and professional appointments. Among the more literate groups in Afghanistan. Some use the Shi’a prctice of taqiya and pass for Sunni to escape discrimination. Basic physical type: Mediterranean substock. |
| Hazara | Hazaragi Dari | Some Imami Shi’a Some Isma’ilya Shi’a Few are Sunni |
Probably arrived in Afghanistan between AD 1229-1447 (Bacon, 1951) and are not descendants of army of Genghis Khan, as popularly believed. Basic physical type: Mongoloid, some Mediterranean admixture in ethnic gray zones. |
| Aimaq | Dari + Turkic vocab | Hanafi Sunni | Usually incorrectly referred to as Chahar Aimaq (Chahar, Dari “four”; Aimaq, Turkish “tribe”). People themselves never use “chahar” unless prompted by an interrogator. They refer to themselves with tribal designations. Some slough over into Iran and are called Barbari. Basic physical type: Mongoloid (less so than Hazara) with much Mediterranean admixture. |
| Moghol | Dair with Mongolian loan words. Elders consider Mogholi to be mother tongue. Some southern Moghol speak Pashto. | Hanafi Sunni | Originally concentrated in Ghor, several thousand Moghol now live scattered throughout central and southern Afghanistan, probably breaking up about the mid 19thth century or even earlier. The Moghol may be the descendants of the armies of Genghis Khan. Basic physical type: Mongoloid with occasional Mediterranean admixture; ie, blue or mixed eye combinations with blond or reddish hair. |
| Uzbek | Uzbeki (or Jagatai) Turkic dialects |
Hanafi Sunni | Mainly sedentary agriculturalists in north Afghanistan. Refer to themselves with old tribal names: Haraki, Kamaki, Mangit, Ming, Shesh Qara, Taium. Basic physical type: Mongoloid with much Mediterranean admixture in ethnic grey zones. |
| Turkoman | Turkic Dialects | Hanafi Sunni | Primarily semisedentary and seminomadic in north Afghanistan. Brought in qarakul sheep (Persian lamb) and Turkoman rug industry to Afghanstan in the 1920s during the Basmachi revolts against the Bolsheviks. Major groups are: Tekke, Yomud, Tariq, Lakai (Herat area); Tekke, Ersari (Aq Chah area), Saroq, Chakra (Andkhui); Salor (Maimana); Ersari, Mawri (Daulatbad); Salor (Maruchak). Basic physicl type: aquiline Mongoloid. |
| Kirghiz | Kipchak Turkic (U/A) dialects | Hanafi Sunni | Several thousand transhumants live in the Afghan Pamir Mountains. Basic physical type: Mongoloid. |
| Pamiri (Ghalcha or Mountain Tajik) | Various Pamiri or East Iranian (I/E) dialects | Some Isma’iliya Shi’a; some Hanafi Sunni | Several thousand mountain farmers, mainly in Badakhshan, Wakhan. Major groups: Parachi, Munji, Roshani, Sanglichi, Shughni, Yaghnobi, Ormuri, Wakhi, Iskashimi. Basic physical type: Mediterranean substock, with Mongoloid admixture. |
| Baluch | Baluchi (I/E) | Hanafi Sunni | Caraveeners, nomads (and slavers until the British ended slavery in the 19th century), the Baluch are now semisedentary or seminomadic. Some Baluch live in NW Afghanistan, others travel from Sistan to Herat in summer, returning to Sistan in winter. Most Baluch are Rakhshani, and main subgroups include: Sanjarani, Nahrui, Yamarzai, Sumarzai, Gumshazai, Sarabandi, Miangul, Harut, Salarzai. A specialist Baluch group of hunter-fishermen (called the Sayyad) live in the Sistan swamps. They are not a separate ethnic group as previously reported. Some Sayyad are Farsiwan. Another Baluch group, the Gaudar, specializes in cattle raising. Basic physical type: Mediterranean substock with more brachycephalic tendencies. |
| Brahui | Brahui (D); most also speak either Pashto or Baluchi | Hanafi Sunni | Located in southwestern Afghanistan, usually tenant farmers or hired herders for Baluch or Pushtun khans. Main Brahui groups include: Aidozi, Lowarzi, Yagizi, Zirkandi, Mamasani. Brahui often refer to themselves as a Baluch subgroup. Basic physical types: Veddoid, with much Mediterranean admixture. |
| Nuristani | Kafiri (I/E) dialects | Hanafi Sunni | Located in eastern Afghanistan, Amir Abdur Rahman Khan forcibly converted the Afghan Kafirs to Islam in the late 19th century AD. Refer to themselves by the valleys or region in which they live: eg, Waigali, Wamai, Krueni. Basic physical type: Mediterranean, with about one-third blondism in the population. |
| Kohistani | Dardic (I/E) | Hanafi Sunni | Distinct linguistic groups on the southern fringes of Nuristan: Pashai, Gawarbati, Sawoji, Deghani, Kuwar (Gabr). Most also speak Pashto. Basic physical type: Mediterranean. |
| Gujar | Dialect related to Hindustani | Hanafi Sunni | Cattlemen-farmers on eastern fringes of Nuristan. Most also speak Pashto. Basic physical type: Mediterranean. |
| Jat Guji (called Gujar in North) Changar Musali, Chalu, Sheikh Mohmandi (traders only; claim Arab descent) | Dialects related to Hindustani (I/E) | Hanafi Sunni | “Gypsy-like” bands of tradesmen, tinkers, musicians, fortune tellers. Most speak Dari and/or Pashto. many claim to be of “Arab” descent. Basic physical type: Mediterranean. |
| Arab | Primarily Dari (I/E) or Pashto (I/E) | Hanafi Sunni | Many have reported Arabic-speakers in Afghanistan. I have yet to meet a group with Arabic as mother tongue. Many groups, however, call themselves “Sayyid,” claim Arab descent, and speak some Arabic (S) or an arabized Persian. Basic physical type: depends on area, either Mediterranean, Mongoloid or admixture. |
| Hindu | Mother tongue either Hindustani (I/E), Punjabi (I/E) or Lahnda (I/E) | Hinduism | Mainly in urban centers as merchants, traders and moneylenders. Basic physical type: North Indian. |
| Sikh | Same as Hinud; mainly Punjabi or Lahnda. | Sikhism | About 10,000 scattered throughout cities and towns of Afghanistan as merchants, traders and moneylenders. Both Hindus and Sikhs speak Dari and/or Pashto, most are Afghan citizens, and worship without undue interference. Basic physical type: Mediterranean with extreem hirsuteness; Sikhs are world’s hairiest people. |
| Jew (Yahudi) | Few speak Hebrew (S); all speak Dari (I/E) and/or Pashto (I/E) | Judaism | Severel thousand living in Kabul, Qandahar, Herat as merchants, traders and moneylenders. Several hundred left for Israel but most subsequently returned. Evidence of early Jewish contacts (ca 5th century AD) with Afghan area recently discovered. Basic physical type: Mediterranean. |
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| Independent Rule | 1919 08 | he war-weary British relinquished their control over Afghan foreign affairs by signing the Treaty of Rawalpindi in August 1919. In commemoration of this event, Afghans celebrate August 19 as their Independence Day. |
|---|---|---|
| Habibullah Assasinated | 1919 | Habibullah assassinated, possibly by family members opposed to British influence. His third son, Amanullah, regained control of Afghanistan’s foreign policy after launching the Third Anglo-Afghan war with an attack on India in the same year. |
| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview |
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| Second Anglo-Afghan War | 1878-1880 | Sparked by Amir Sher Ali’s refusal to accept a British mission in Kabul. This conflict brought Amir Abdur Rahman to the Afghan throne. During his reign from 1880 – 1901, the British and Russians officially established the boundaries of what would become modern Afghanistan. The British retained effective control of Kabul’s foreign affairs |
|---|---|---|
| First Anglo-Afghan War | 1839-1842 | Resulted in the destruction of a British army and is remembered today as an example of the ferocity of Afghan resistance to foreign rule. |
| 1747 | Ahmad Shah Durrani is elected king by a tribal council. Founds what is known today as Afghanistan. Consolidates chieftainships, petty principalities, and fragmented provinces into one country. His rule extended from Mashad in the west to Kashmir and Delhi in the east, and from the Amu Darya (Oxys) river in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. Except for nine months in 1929, all of Afghanistan’s rulers until the 1978 coup were from Durrani’s Pashtun tribal confederation, and all were members of that tribe’s Mohammadzai clan after 1818. | |
| Nadir Shah Assassinated | 1747 | Persian ruler Nadir Shah is assassinated at Khabushan. |
| Keyword | Latinized | Overview |
|---|---|---|
| ملا عمر | Mullah Omar | |
| بن لادن | Bin Laden | |
| Northern Alliance | ||
| احمد شاه مسعود | Ahmed Shah Masud | Military commander of the Northern Alliance. |
| Ismail Khan | ||
| Abdul Rashid Dostum | ||
| جميعت الإسلامي | Jamiat-e-Islami | جميعت الإسلامي (Islamic Organization) |
| برهانالدين رباني | Burhanuddin Rabbani | President of Afghanistan during 1992-1996. |
| نجيب الله | Najibullah | Ex-communist strongman who for four years had been living in a UN compound under UN protection before the Taliban tortured and then publicly hanged him in كابل. |
| طالبان | Taliban | |
| قلب الدين حكمتيار | Gulbuddin Hikmetyar | Founder of الحزب الإسلامي (Hezb-e-Islami). |
| الحزب الإسلامي | Hezb-e-Islami | الحزب الإسلامي (Islamic Party) |
| شالوار قمىض | Shalwar Kameez | Traditional wear worn by men and women, consisting of baggy pants and a long shirt to the knees or lower. |
| الباشتون | Pashtunwali | Pashtun tribal code of behavior. How much of طالبان interpretation of Islamic law is owed to the Sharia and how much is owed to Pashtunwali is disputed by many Muslim theologians within Afghanistan and beyond. |
| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview |
| 2009 12 |
During a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in December, 2009, Obama pledged to boost the number of American troops in the country by 30,000. But he also detailed a plan to start a drawdown within 18 months. “Taken together … additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011,” he said. Supporters of the July 2011 date to start withdrawing forces, conditions permitting, say it conveys a needed sense of urgency to Kabul. Afghans must quickly ramp up the size of their security forces for a gradual handover. This more nuanced assessment of Obama’s plans for the war in Afghanistan was in line with others in the administration, NBC News Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski said. “Nobody in (the Pentagon), nobody in this administration, except perhaps (Vice President) Joe Biden, nobody thinks that July 2011 will be the start of a great exodus” from Afghanistan, he said. The administration has been trying to appease the left of the Democratic Party, which largely supports a speedy exit from Afghanistan, he said. “The White House has been purposefully ambiguous … they wanted to have it both ways,” Miklaszewski said. Critics in Afghanistan say Obama’s strategy has backfired. “There is still a threat which unfortunately has not been eliminated, and the withdrawal (deadline) will … invigorate the terrorists,” said Siamak Herawi, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. |
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| Mid 2010 | NATO commanders have sharply curtailed airstrikes and night raids to reduce the number of civilian deaths. But special forces commandos are sent on missions at a high tempo, in a campaign to kill midranking Taliban leaders. Those commandos often carry out their raids at night, exploiting the elements of darkness and surprise. Afghanistan is a tribal society, and the results of botched raids are often difficult to overcome. Mahmood Haqmal, a spokesman for the governor of Baghlan Province, put it this way: “If coalition forces kill one civilian, 20 other family members will pick up weapons and stand against them.” (link) | |
| 2010 08 22 |
Mohammed Ismail, governor of Tala Wa Barfak, a district in Baghlan Province, said 8 civilians were killed and 12 wounded in the village of Naik early Sunday by what appeared to have been a raid carried out by special forces. The governor said a group of tribal elders he had sent to the village had returned with details. Among the dead were two women and a child, he said. Six of the dead were found in Naik, and two more villagers were found later in a field farther away, he said. “It was a cruel act against the civilians,” he said. Witnesses said the raid began Sunday at 2 a.m., when a number of helicopters descended on Naik. Groups of commandos entered a pair of houses, where the gunfire began, the witnesses said. “As they entered our neighbor’s house, we heard some shouting and yelling and then gunshots,” said Ahmad Shah, a resident of Naik. In Kabul, a spokesman for the American-led coalition said a team of investigators had been sent to the scene. They arrived Tuesday. (link) |
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| 2010 08 24 |
Officials said Tuesday that the week prior, in northern افغانستان (Afghanistan) a group of 21 Taliban fighters surrendered their weapons and gave up fighting last week. The surrender offered a glimpse of what Afghan and American officials hope might one day grow into a larger movement. The fighters, led by a Taliban commander named Mullah Obeidi, gathered Friday at a government building in Muqoor, a district in Badghis Province, and promised to fight no more. Each of the erstwhile fighters received a “re-integration certificate” and congratulations from several hundred tribal elders who had gathered to celebrate. Most important, the provincial governor, Delbar Jan Arman, promised to provide the men with jobs to help ensure that they would not return to fighting. “All of our angry brothers came in,” said Sharafuddin Majidi, a spokesman for the Badghis governor. “And we hope we will get some more.” One of the fighters who gave up was Abdul Karim, a 45-year-old father of three who had been fighting with the Taliban for more than four years. In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Karim said he had lost heart over what the Taliban were doing to his fellow Afghans. Mr. Karim said he had initially been persuaded to fight by Taliban recruiters who told him the Afghan government was backed by non-Muslims. Mr. Karim said his salary was $12 per month, not enough to feed his family. His commander, Mr. Obeidi — as well as Taliban advisers who had traveled from Pakistan — urged him to attack construction crews upgrading the national highway. The road runs through Badghis and links the province to the rest of Afghanistan. “ ‘If you see the engineers or the laborers, try your best to kill them,’ ” Mr. Karim said. “This is what our Pakistani advisers were telling us.” Also, Mr. Karim said, the Taliban’s local leaders were earning large sums smuggling opium. “When I heard all these things, I thought this is not the fight of Islam,” he said. “Why would we blow up a school or a clinic or a road — these things are for all of us?”(link) |
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| 2010 08 25 | About 40 schoolgirls became ill and were taken to hospital after a suspected gas poisoning in the Afghan capital Wednesday, another apparent attack by hardline Islamists opposed to female education. Wednesday’s incident followed a similar pattern to other recent attacks at girls’ schools involving an airborne substance which officials said could be some form of gas. Asif Nang, a spokesman for the Education Ministry, said the girls, of differing ages from a school in Kabul’s east, were being treated in hospital. Their illnesses were not believed to be serious. “It looks like it is another case of gas poisoning, but it is being investigated now,” he said. (link) | |
| 2010 08 25 | There are currently almost 100,000 American troops and 45,000 foreign soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan. (link) | |
| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview |
| Safavid Dynasty Established | 1501 |
The Safavid Dynasty was established by Shah Isma’il (شاه اسماعیل), the young but charismatic leader of the dervish brotherhood founded by his ancestor, Shaykh Safi al-Din. Isma’il reunited Iran and made a branch of Islam known as Shi’ism the religion of the state, which it has remained until today. Many of Shah Isma’il’s successors, including his son Tahmasp, were great patrons of the arts. They developed a dynastic style in which human figures played an important role, in strong contrast to their main rivals, the Sunni Ottomans, who generally avoided such motifs. The first Safavid capital was Tabriz, followed by Qazvin and Isfahan, from where Shah Abbas the Great (ruled 1588 – 1629) reorganized the state on more efficient lines. The country was opened up to international trade and the economy grew. In 1722, however, Isfahan fell to Afghan invaders and the Safavid state collapsed. |
|---|---|---|
| Shah Abbas the Great شاه عباس بزرگ |
1588-1629 | |
| Safavid Collapse | 1722 | Isfahan fell to Afghan invaders. |
| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview |
| Lahore Suicide Blast | 2010 03 08 | Pakistan police says a powerful suicide car bomb attack has rocked the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 50 others. Hospital officials say a woman and a child are among those killed in the attack. The Monday morning rush hour explosion left a large crater outside the Federal Investigation Agency, which houses the main police investigation offices. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Officials say the blast bore all the hallmarks of an operation by al-Qaida-backed Pakistani Taliban militants. Pakistan authorities say several other buildings were damaged in the blast. (link) |
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| Americans Arrested | 17 03 2010 | The men — Chaudhry, 24; Ramy Zamzam, 22; Ahmad A. Minni, 20; Waqar Khan, 22; and Aman Hassan Yemer, 18 — are all Americans and have told the Pakistani court that they neither sought nor established contact with extremist groups and traveled to the region only to help other Muslims. They have also said they were being tortured in jail, and Zamzam told reporters before an earlier hearing that the men were jihadists, “not terrorists . . . and jihad is not terrorism.” (link) |
Adam Gadahn is an American spokesman for al Qaeda (القاعدة)
| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview |
| Gadahn grew up on a California farm, and was home-schooled until age 17. | ||
| At 18 he moved in with his paternal grandparents, who were secular Jews. | ||
| He converted to Islam at the Islamic Society of Orange County, California, but was banned from the mosque two years later after hitting its chairman, Haitham Bundjaki. | ||
| 1997 | Gadahn began working for a California charity suspected of having ties to al Qaeda. | |
| Moves to Pakistan | 1998 | He moved to Pakistan in 1998. |
| Ends Family Contact | 2002 | His family has said they last heard from him in 2002. |
| Involvement in Plot | 2004 | FBI identified him as part of an al Qaeda cell that was planning attacks aimed at disrupting that year’s presidential election in the United States. |
| Video Appearance | 2004 10 27 | He began appearing in disguise in al Qaeda videos. |
| Video Message | 2006 09 11 | |
| Drops Disguise | 2006 | Gadahn dropped the disguise in 2006. |
| Indictment | 2006 | He was indicted on charges of treason and providing material support to terrorists. The U.S. government has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture. |
| Video Message | 2008 | He renounced his U.S. citizenship and destroyed his passport in another al Qaeda video. |
| Video Message | 2009 12 | Gadahn released a video message in English offering condolences to “unintended Muslim victims” killed in attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. It was a rare example of al Qaeda offering condolences to the families of those killed in the group’s own attacks. |
| Video Message | 2010 03 07 | In his video message posted online Sunday 2010 03 07, Gadahn says Muslims should emulate the alleged Fort Hood shooter. “I believe that defiant Brother Nidal is the ideal role model for every repentant Muslim in the armies of the unbelievers and apostate regimes,” Adam Gadahn says in English in the video. “The Mujahid brother Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers and yearns to discharge his duty to Allah and play a part in the defense of Islam and Muslims.” Gadahn also cites in Sunday’s video the U.S. and allied buildup in Afghanistan, where the United States is in the process of adding about 30,000 troops. “It is rapidly becoming clear that this already hot global battle is about to get even hotter,” he says. “This is a war which knows no international borders and no single battleground, and that’s why I am calling on every honest and vigilant Muslim in the countries of the Zionist-Crusader alliance in general and America, Britain and Israel in particular to prepare to play his due role in responding to and repelling the aggression of the enemies of Islam.” |
| Not Captured | 2010 03 08 | Pakistani intelligence officials claimed to have captured Adam Gadahn but reversed their position later in the day, claiming to have instead captured Pennsylvania native and al-Qaeda (القاعدة) operative Abu Yahya Mujahideen Adam. (link) |
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/07/pakistan.alqaeda.american/?hpt=Sbin
Abu Yahya Mujahideen Adam is an American operative for al-Qaeda (القاعدة)
| Period or Event | Time-Frame | Overview |
| Capture in Pakistan | 2010 03 08 | After initially claiming that day to have captured Adam Gadahn, Pakistani intelligence officials reversed themselves and said the man arrested was actually Abu Yahya Mujahideen Adam, a Pennsylvania native and operative for Al Qaeda. The intelligence officials said Adam had been transferred to Islamabad for interrogation but would not give further details. |
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