Afghanistan: Crossroads of History and the Geopolitical Magnitude of the Country Term Paper

Introduction

The geopolitical magnitude of Afghanistan is very significant due to it is the door to central Asia, the Indian peninsula, and the Russian coastal region. History evidenced that Afghanistan has been the victim of aggression, conspiracy, and controversy among the imperialists and religious radicalism for more than a century. In this era, the US and its European collaborators turned the country into a native land of terrorism and threat to humanity. Taliban- the terrorist force of Afghanistan, which has given birth by the Americans to combat against Russians and has turned its gun against the USA after the Russian’s back. In 2001, the U.S. military toppled Al-Qaeda, which has controlled by the Taliban. In 2004, modern Afghanistan became the Islamic Republic, as a demographic region of Afghan citizens. With this new government, Afghans are facing collapsed economic system, continuous attacks of opium drug, enlarging terrorist activities, recovering land mines, returning home of refugees every year, etc. However, the future vision of Afghanistan is to become the land of optimism, freedom, and a new era of beginning. In this paper, from the history to the current situation, Afghanistan would be focused on analyzing the future expectations of this country for Afghan people and other people related to this region (Library of Congress 2008). As the land is too ancient, the history would be drawn from the 9th century to the 21st century, with its assets, territories, industrializations, emporium, 9/11 problems, U.S. attacks, and much more remarkable situations.

Overview of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is an Islamic republic situated in Central Asia (Library of Congress 2008). It has borders with many Asian countries and is located in the west of Pakistan, East of Iran, South of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. It has also a border with China through the Wakhan Corridor, which extends from the northeastern part of it. Thus, it has the most land border with Pakistan, which is about 2430 kilometers, and the least border with china of 76 kilometers (Library of Congress 2008). The total area occupied by Afghanistan is almost 647,500 square Kilometers. Kabul is the capital city and there are some other cities with economic and political importance like Hirat, Jalalabad, Qandahar, Kunduz, and Mazar-e-sharif. According to the 2008 estimation, it has almost 32.7 million populations with a growth rate of about 2.6% per year (Library of Congress, 2008). About 75% of the total population is located in rural areas. The birth rate is almost 45.8 and the death rate is 19.6 per 1000 population (Anon 2009). Life expectancy is more than 44 years. According to Anon (2009), Pashtuns are the major ethnic group holding about 42%. Other ethnicities are Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimak, Turkmen, Baloch, and Kuchis. With these differentiations in ethnicity, Afghanistan has more than 30 languages spoken by the people. However, the official languages are Pashtu and Dari where about 50% of people can speak Dari and 35% can speak Pashtu. The third most spoken language is Turkic. Muslims religiously dominate it and around 99% of the total population is following Islam as their religion. Among these around 85% are Sunni Muslims and 15% are Shia Muslims. There are small numbers of Hindus and Sikhs. Indexmundi (2009) reported that Afghan people are mostly illiterate with a literacy rate of around 43% for men and only 13% for women.

Thus, the workforce of the country is unskilled and not educated which is the main barrier for the economic progress until 2001. It has a poor economy and recent statistics that. Its economy is dependent on foreign aid and has been disrupted massively by smuggling and other illegal means. According to indexmundi (2009), the GDP estimated for the fiscal year 2006-07 was 8.8 billion USD having an inflation rate of about 13%. Agriculture-based economy engaged almost 80% of the population in agricultural activities.

However, it has also problems with agriculture, as the lands are not appropriate for cultivating key agricultural products like rice, wheat, corn, and many others (Library of Congress 2008). Though it has some rivers like the Amu Darya, Harirud, Helmand, and Kabul, It is a land lock country with little water supply for agriculture. It is supposed to have some mineral resources like copper, coal, chrome, and iron, which remain unexploited because of the geographic characteristics, continuous political instability, the indifference of the government, conflicts among the tribes, and incessant wars (Library of Congress 2008).

Afghanistan became independent on August 19, 1919, from British rule but wars became its fate since its ancient history. These wars prevented the nation from becoming better both politically and economically. Many dynasties, emperors, and rulers have ruled the Afghans but all had to engage in wars, which have been remaining now also. After 9/11, United Nations allied forces, led by the USA, started wars against the Taliban and thus Afghans witnessed another disastrous war (Library of Congress 2008).

History of Afghanistan

Runion (2007) argued that from the very beginning of the history of humanity, evidence was found about the existence of civilizations in Afghanistan. Evidence showed that people were in Afghanistan until the Old Stone Age, which is almost a million years ago from the present time. He also added that they lived in caves, hunted for life, settled in steppe plains with a harsh and brutal environment. The Aryans established the city Kabul the present capital of Afghanistan in between 2000 to 1500 B.C. at the time when Afghans used tools of the Old Stone Age. Runion (2007) mentioned that Aryans had started to migrate from Central Asia to Afghanistan in that time They traveled from one place to another to settle and make shelters but the first civilization of Afghanistan was established named as “Indus Civilization”, as the civilization was in Indus Valley. It has been ruled by different dynasties and empires. Alexander the great, Asoka and many other Heroes of history ruled Afghanistan for many periods (Runion, 2007). The history of Afghanistan could divide into 4 segments and these are:

• Pre-Islamic era
• Islamic rule
• Afghanistan in 20th century
• In the recent years

Pre-Islamic era

Alexander ruled Afghanistan for a very short time, which was 331 to 327 B.C. However, in this short time, he established many cities, new political infrastructure and brought massive Greek influences in every part of Afghanistan. Runion (2007) argued that the great emperor “Asoka”, who is still remembered as the most successful emperor in the Indian subcontinent, conquered the southern part of Afghanistan and added this to his massive Mauryan Empire in 225 B.C. He ruled from the Hindu Kush to Qandahar through Kabul. However, the Mauryan Dynasty ruled Afghanistan from the regime of Emperor Chandragupta Mauryan, who received a significant amount of Afghan lands from the fragile Greek emperor Seleucid in exchange for only 500 elephants (Runion, 2007). However, Asoka’s contribution to building the Afghan religious and political movement throughout his regime was outstanding. He was a vigorous supporter of Buddhism and promoted the beliefs and teachings of Buddhism in Afghan territory. Asoka was a great humanitarian who influenced the Afghan people to take Buddhist beliefs termed as Dharma. Asoka did not believe in battles rather he tried to serve and work for the betterment of humankind and so he did. For his non-violent movement, the Mauryan Army did not capture the other part of Afghanistan though the Armed forces were ten times than the fragile Greek army (Runion, 2007). After the death of Asoka, ineffective and ruthless Mauryan emperors failed to keep the massive empire united and lastly, the empire came to an end by the Sunga coup in 185 B.C., which started the Sunga dynasty in Afghanistan (Runion, 2007)

However, significant changes have been made after the introduction of Islam in Afghanistan. The table below showed the dynasties, their emperors, and their ruling period in Afghanistan.

Table 1: Who occupied the territory and different dynasties before 9^th century
Source: (Library of Congress 2008)

The Islamic Rule

In the year 570, the great prophet Muhammad was born in Arab. He preached the religious beliefs of Islam for about 30 years and these beliefs started to spread out from Arab to almost all parts of Asia. The second caliph of Islam Omar started to conquer the Middle East from the Sassanian, Parthinian, and Byzantine Empire (Library of Congress, 2008). In 637 Islamic forces defeated the Sassanian force in the battle of Qadisiya. In addition, in 652 Third caliphs, Usman conquered Afghanistan and added this with the massive Islamic empire. However, they did not force the Afghans to become Muslims rather the attractiveness of the message of the Holy Quran and Hadith, the people started to convert to Muslims. After Usman and the last caliph, Ali also conquered many parts of Afghanistan but the Muslims in between 706 to 709 A.D. invaded entire Afghanistan, and the Afghan people embedded Islam vastly and within a very short time period maximum of the population has influenced by Islamic beliefs (Anon 2009).

In the regime of the Umayyad Caliphate, which was from 661-750 A.D., Afghanistan became a significant part of the Islamic empire (Library of Congress 2008). After that Afghanistan was ruled by the Abbasid caliphate from 750 to 821 A. D. and Samanid Dynasty from 860-960 A.D. However, the Ghaznavid Dynasty who made Afghanistan the centre of Islamic rule brought revolutionary changes. Anon (2009) mentioned that Alptigin, who was from Ghazni revolted against the Samanids and established the Ghaznavid Empire and they were mainly Sunni Muslims and added different Sunni beliefs in the Afghan culture. Muhammad Ghazni ruled Afghanistan from 970 A.D. and made Afghanistan the centre of Islamic power and civilization. The Ghaznavid named the then Afghan territory as “Khurasan”. The Greatest Ghaznavid ruler was Mahmud who conquered from Iran to Punjab of India and ruled up to 1030 (Library of Congress, 2008). In 1039 after the death of Mahmud, the battle of Dandanaqan with Seljuks started the fall of the Ghaznavid dynasty. Seljuks were also muslims but they were Turkish. Later Masoud ruled the shortened Ghaznavid Empire from 1030 to 1040 and after that time, the dynasty has started to demolished. Ghaznavid Dynasty was the first ever Islamic Dynasty who spread out in almost all parts of Asia and helped to spread out the religion of Islam. They established Islam id India where Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zarathurstism were in great effort (Anon 2009).

Runion (2007) argued that the last emperor of the Ghaznavid dynasty, Sultan Bahram Shah faced antagonism and opposition from the Ghorid Dynasty established by Muhammad Ghori. King Alauddin Ghori conquered Ghazni in 1151 A.D. and till then Ghorid dynasty ruled Afghanistan to 1219 A.D. After that, the Mongolians conquered Afghanistan and started Shah Dynasty’s rule. Anon (2009) stated that the great Mongolian ruler Genghis Khan sent almost 200,000 Mongol soldiers into Afghanistan and conquered the Afghans from Khwarizmi Empire who were the last shahs in Afghanistan between 1219 to 1221. Genghis got a huge Asian land to rule, which has not been attained by his forewords. His third son Ogedei was a good-for-nothing king when his wife ruled the small Mongolian empire for ten years. His nephew Halagu Khan conquered Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq from him. The later Muslim rule in Afghanistan has drawn in the table below:

Table 2: Major Muslim dynasties, ruling period and contribution:
Source: Self generated from Runion (2007) & Library of Congress (2008)

Russian and English Invasion

Russian and British empires had cherished adding Afghanistan with their empire. In the regime of Dost Mohammad Khan, the British tried to replace him and set a puppet king, which led to the first Anglo-afghan war from 1838 to 1842 (Library of Congress 2008). Along with this, Dost Mohammad had to fight against Shikhs and many other rebel Muslim forces, which lessen his strength to war against the strong British Army. Thus, he surrendered to the British in 1339 and the British took the power of Afghanistan and established Shah Shuja as a puppet king. In 1842 rebel Afghans killed Shah Shuja and then Dost Mohammad khan’s son, Mohammad Akbar Khan again tried to regain the lost Afghan lands from the British. However, he was killed in 1944 at the age of 29 and there was a rumor that his father Dost Mohammad Khan poisoned him. After his death, His father regained the Afghan land and declared independence from the British. However, with alliances with the British, he lost Baluchistan to the British and thus Afghanistan became a land lock country. After his death, Sher Ali (1863-1866 and 1868-1879), Mohammad Afzal (1866-1867), Mohammad Azam (1867-1868), Amir Mohammad Yaqub Khan (1879-1880), and Abdur Rahman (1880-1901)ruled as the successor of Dost Mohammad till 1901. Within this period, Russia took the control of Bukhara, Tashkhand, and Samarkand in 1865 and also tried to get many other Afghan lands but failed due to the British alliances with the Amirs (Library of Congress 2008). In 1873, Russia established a fixed boundary with Afghanistan and agreed to respect the integrity of Afghan independence. In the regime of Sher Ali British started, their second invasion and the second Anglo-afghan war started in 1878 and within 1880 all the major cities of Afghanistan were invaded by the British. Anon (2009) stated that British forces occupied Kurram, Khyber, Michni, Pishin, Sibi, and Kabul but they recognized Abdur Rahman as Amir and went to an agreement with him to give him some rights to rule Afghanistan though the British controlled the foreign business affairs fully. Then the British fixed the Durand Line to separate the lands of Afghanistan and British India in 1893. Besides Russia seized Panjdeh Oasis in 1885 and in 1895 they guaranteed the northern border of Afghanistan. Therefore, before the starting 20th century, Afghan territories had been surrounded by British and Russian lands and faced a severe threat from the two Empires (Library of Congress 2008).

Afghanistan in 20th century

The monarchism in Afghanistan continued in the 20th century also But Afghans witnessed development in all sectors in this century. Though the terrible effect of drug production, the rise of fundamentalism, and continuous civil wars prevented the development, Afghanistan was ruled by some better rulers in this century. They are:

Habibollah Khan

Runion (2007) stated that between 1901–1919, Habobollah Khan, the son of Amir Abdur Rahman, ruled Afghanistan. He was a progressive thinker and peace lover who denied joining in the First World War. He tried to do the betterment of the Afghans. His effort to unite the Afghan tribes was outstanding and he forms the tribal-state council. He introduced new technologies, education systems, advanced medical systems, electricity, and automobile. As he denied joining with the anti-British force of Turkey, many Afghans misread him and treated that he did not want to protect Islam from the British. He had thus assassinated by his family members in 1919.

Amanullah Khan

According to Runion (2007), after the death of Habibollah Khan, his brother Nasarullah Khan became the king. However, Habibollah’s son Amanullah Khan denied accepting him as a king and declared Nasarullah as the killer of his father. Thus, Amanullah and his followers revolted against the king. Later he also protested the British aggression and anti-Islamic activities (Runion 2007). Amanullah introduced Afghan Nationalism against the King’s orthodox political movement. Thus, the mass nationalist, nobility, and general people made him king replacing his uncle. Amanullah ruled until 1929.

Third Anglo-Afghan War

King Amanullah with highly influenced by nationalism attempted to control Afghan’s own foreign policy which was governed by the British until 1895. Amanullah attacked India in 1919 and declared the independence of Afghanistan but the British were not ready to accept it and thus the third time in history, Afghans started to fight against the British. However, the British were not successful this time and settled by an agreement named the Treaty of Rawalpindi where the British declared Afghanistan as Independent. According to this treaty, The British did not cross the border of Khyber Pass Runion (2007).

Tajik Rule

Amanullah strived for national reform and betterment after independence. He reformed Afghanistan socially but in 1928, the Shinwari Pashtun tribe revolted in Jalalabad against Amanullah. Along with this Tajik rebellion, captured Kabul and Amanullah fled. Then His brother Inayetullah, who ruled for only three days, and the Tajik conqueror Habiballah Khalkani established the Tajik dynasty. Amanullah tried to seize Kabul but failed and fled to Italy and died there in 1960 Runion (2007).

King Nadir Shah

After some tribal ruler, Mohammad Nadir Shah has declared the king of Afghanistan. He tried to follow the reform programs of Amanullah. He continued to modernize Afghanistan by creating roads and communication networks. He reformed the economy by introducing a Banking system, effort of regeneration, and established diplomatic relationships with many countries. He designed an army of 40,000 troops. Hence, the governmental system with the Royal oligarchy has been introduced. However, Nadir Shah did not believe in the right to free speech and the only negative work done by him was the killing of many intellectuals. He was shot and killed in 1933 Runion (2007).

King Zadir Shah

After the death of Nadir Shah, his 19 years old son Zadir Shah succeeded to the throne. He was the youngest, most lasted, and the last King of Afghanistan. He has been advised by experienced members of the royal family for 20 years. After that, he started to work for his country independently. Afghanistan joined the League of Nations in its regime of the year 1934. In the same year, USA recognized the Afghanistan. However, all these have been governed by his uncle Sordar Hashim, who served as prime minister. Zadir Shah denied joining the Second World War and declared Afghanistan a neutral country. Thus, the kingship became fade in Afghanistan and the westernized governmental system was in action by empowering Prime Ministers Runion (2007).

The Liberal Parliament of 1949

After the end of the Second World War, the political beliefs of Afghanistan started to become open, free, and liberal. Prime minister Sardar Shah Mahmud along with other leaders from different tribes thought about a free assembly to decide about national matters. Thus, the first parliament has established in Afghanistan in 1949.

Prime Minister Daoud and the Urbanization of Afghanistan

In 1953, Mohammad Daoud Khan became the prime minister. He was the first western educated person to become the center of power in Afghanistan. He started to become close with the Soviet Union and created distance from the newly established neighboring country Pakistan. He tried to develop the fate of the Afghan women. He encouraged the women to come out from home and join the workforce.

Relations with the Soviet Union

In The regime of Daoud, he convinced huge foreign aid from both Soviets and the USA. He tried to improve relations with the Soviet Union but not hampering the relation with the USA. Soviet president Khrushchev visited Kabul and he sanctioned Afghanistan for about 100 million USA in 1955. Though in this time, the Cold War between the USA and Soviets was in action, Afghanistan successfully did trade with both nations.

Relation with Pakistan: the Pashtunian issue

Daoud pointed out that the Pashtunian issue is the most significant issue to the declined relationship with Pakistan. Pakistan formed a conjoint government replacing the four different governments in 1955, which have opposed by Daoud. As a result, the Pakistan- Afghanistan border has closed in spring 1955. In 1960 Daoud marched his forces to Pakistan to overcome fully this Pashtunian issue. As a result, Pakistan sealed all possible borders in 1961, which affected the trade of both countries.

The End of Monarchism

From 1963 to 1973 and the emergence of Daoud as a prime minister the influence of the Royal family was decreased significantly. At this time King Zahir Shah was on the throne. As Daoud failed to develop the relationship with Pakistan, Zahir replaced Daoud with Muhammad Yusuf. Zahir then established an advisory council to restructure the government and economic policies of Afghanistan. In 1964, the new constitution has revealed for Afghanistan where humanitarianism has reflected as it made free all people to speak. With many other dramatic reforms and development, this constitution introduced a powerful parliamentary government, which lessens the power of king Zahir shah. Besides, some of his activities made Afghans dissatisfied. The election of 1969 forced Afghan politics into instability and volatility. As Zahir Shah failed to control this and the popularity of Daoud, the king has forced to resign and thus demolished the monarchism in Afghanistan in 1978.

Emergence of the Republic of Afghanistan

In 1973, Daoud seized the power by a military coup, and he exile Zahir shah to Italy. He has been extensively supported by the military and some political parties and started to act as prime minister of Afghanistan again. He put the 1964 constitution strictly in action. In 1976, he formed his own political party the national revolutionist party, and the next year he introduced the presidential system through the new constitution passed in the parliament “Loya Jirga”. He declared Afghanistan as a Republic of Islam (Library of Congress 2008).

The April 1978 Coup

Daoud’s reforms have failed because of the political violence and declined relation with the Soviet Union. A leftist party named PDPA, which has banned earlier did a bloody coup in April 1978. The instability of political tolerance, the decreasing familiarity of Daoud, his torture over the communists, and hostile behavior of the Soviets, and the excessive spread of communist beliefs among the Afghans helped them to do the coup. The revolutionaries killed Daoud along with all of his family members in the presidential palace (Runion 2007).

PDPA Government

In between 1978 to 1980, the PDPA established a soviet backed government and declared the country as the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Nur Muhammad has appointed as the President along with the partition government system. The communist government ignored many Islamic rituals, which made the different tribes compel to revolt against the PDPA government, and thus Afghanistan became a land of revolutionaries.

The Soviet Invasion and Occupation

The PDPA government asked for Soviet invasion against the rebel tribes. Thus, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan and they made Karmal the new president in 1979. Soviets started to capture almost all cities and established Soviet influence massively. They destroyed the Afghan communication system, economic pattern, and political infrastructure saying these are necessary to protect the rebellion.

Retreat of Soviet Forces and the Afghan Civil War

The Soviet army faced extensive protest from the tribal attack and they became unstable against them though they have modern arms. Thus, when Michael Gorvechev became the president of the Soviet Union, he felt that to war in Afghanistan was not earning what the soviets predicted. The Soviet government claimed Karmal for the failure of the war and replaced him with Mohammad Najibullah. In addition, within February 1989, soviet troops completely left Afghanistan. Thus, the most strong tribe named Mujahedeen started to rule most of the parts.

The Rise of the Drug Trade in Afghanistan

During the Afghan civil war period, the people of Afghanistan broadly became dependant on the relief sent by Pakistan and other countries. The Mujahedeen’s prevented these reliefs to reach the people and sold them in the black market. The furious Mujahedeen’s compelled the farmers to cultivate poppies instead of crops and food. The ultimate purpose of this was to earn more money as the prices of drugs derived from poppies were huge in the international market. The Mujahedeen were indifferent about the foodless and shelter-less Afghans. Runion (2007) argued that they brutally killed those who denied cultivating poppies. Again, those who cultivate poppies received only a small amount of profits. Under this situation along with the help of the Mujahedeen, Afghanistan became the heaven of Drugs in the century. Drug production stimulated heavily and it started to ruin the young generation worldwide by providing a huge amount of Heroin and Opium. Afghanistan produced about 70% of the total drugs of the world.

In the time of the Taliban period, they also supported this unlawful production. Though the Taliban were strict in Islamic beliefs, they were indifferent to eliminate drug lords where the drug has banned in Islam. Moreover, the Taliban exerted taxes, levies on drug export, and made this a legal business. Taliban got a huge amount of money in this way. Though many Taliban leaders argued that they revealed drugs only for non-Muslims and they prevented the Muslims to use the drug.

Rise of Taliban

In between 1996, t0 2001 Taliban came into power by fighting against the Northern allied tribes. They were extreme fundamentalists who abandoned almost all achievements of previous reforms of Afghanistan. They prevented the women to out of the home and banned all activities, which have been barred in Islam. They received control of the city after city from the Mujahedeen. Taliban later formed a government and only three countries; Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia recognized the government. Under their extensive fundamentalist policies, various terrorist organizations have established like Al-Qaeda.

Asian Foundation has led a survey on the Afghan people regarding their outlook to the government and Taliban which demon estates that the Taliban has already established their integration with the people remarkably.

Rennie, et al (2008) addressed that the public confidence of Afghan people in the formal justice system and upon the Taliban to compel appropriate sanctions has been running parallel depending on the local control. When people were a victim of any violence such as criminal act, 56% people has much confidence in the governmental law-enforcing authority and the existing judicial system to get proper justice while 38% has no confidence in it but 15% people depend on the Taliban.

Afghanistan in Recent Years

The description of Jesus’ commented on Afghanistan was called the graveyard of empires, which has become evidence of the sword would perish by the sword. With the combination of civilian circles of Afghan and military, the war of Afghanistan could not win on the battlefield and the military of the U.S. can truly win the victory, which had failed by empires of Afghanistan (Howland & Surgenor 2009).

In recent times, Afghanistan has provided the US military to their resources with productive direction, which is too costly to make another strategic direction of democracy for the United States. The root of the War of Afghanistan was beginning from the 9/11 attack, injustice, and inequity, which is removing the peace of Afghans.

9/11, Unusual Attack of Al- Qaeda

Taliban, the group of Afghan people was being popular as terrorists. Within this group, the network of Al- Qaeda was continuously harboring with the help of Osama Bin Laden. They were taking their severe step on September 11, 2001, by attacking the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., in the United States. These attacks were responding quickly under the military campaign to Afghanistan. Taliban had removed their power and Laden had not been captured but heard to live as a refugee in Afghanistan by November 2001. After the attack of 9/11, Afghanistan is fighting a war with the US military for many years (Howland & Surgenor 2009).

Scenario of Afghanistan after 9/11

Stenersen (2009) stated that the situation of Afghanistan after 9/11, in the period within 2002-2006, has been attacked by the foreign fighters’ activities against international terrorism. Foreign fighters are playing a minor role in the current insurgency in Afghanistan. The situation is being very different and very similar after the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Afghans were claiming on Pakistanis as terrorists persist, where Durand Line has established as borderline between these two countries. Grare (2006) stated that Afghans are not officially satisfied after commitment with the entire international community. U.S. intervention was motivated Afghanistan to overthrow the government of the Taliban. After this situation, foreign policies of Afghanistan have created major and permanent tension to reconcile bilateral and regional objectives to meet the preservation and reassertion, which is considering strategic value for the United States. Grare (2006) mentioned that after this attack, U.S. officials are mainly emphasizing Al- Qaeda, where they were struggling from military actions after post-September. However, the US military was successful to lead a war against the Taliban regime according to the US moderate government. Stenersen (2009) stated that almost 18,000 military troops were searching for Al- Qaeda, and Taliban leaders and fighters against Afghanistan. However, the militaries failed to find Laden, who has escaped during this war into Pakistan to capture and arrange Pakistani forces and agents against US militaries (Grare 2006).

Route of Al- Qaeda

In 1988, Osama Bin Laden was the founder of Al- Qaeda in Afghanistan. Katzman (2005) mentioned that he was born in 1957, son of Yemeni origin. Bin Laden was studying at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah as other conservative Sunni Muslims are doing. His teacher, Muhammad Qutb was a major Sunni Islamist movement in the Muslim Brotherhood. Another instructor of Laden, Dr. Abdullah Azzam, was a major person in the Muslim Brotherhood in the Jordanian branch, whose main role was to design intellectual architect of Jihad against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979-1989. He was also taking attempts against non-Muslims to power them for Muslim territory and people.

As Afghans were ruled by Taliban’s rule for many years, which was informal with heroin trade and imposing gender inequalities, as a fake foundation, which was totally against democratic reformation. Katzman (2005) argued that Al- Qaeda was also the root of problematic results, which were against international human rights, judicial and national commissions with no significant changes in Afghan nations.

Therefore, it is clear that Al- Qaeda was involved in the revolution of the Afghan people, from the beginning of 2002. After the fall of the Taliban regime, the foreign fighters of Afghanistan and Al- Qaeda leaders have relocated to Pakistan in late 2001. Afghanistan has given priority to the leadership of Al-Qaeda after the fall of the Taliban. This happened because all high-ranked leaders are staying in Afghanistan to fight against US militaries after November 2001 (Katzman 2005).

From the previous studies, it is clear that the Taliban and Al- Qaeda are both terrorist groups, but they have been created for different reasons. Taliban was working as a political organization in their initial stage to rule Afghans, on the other hand, Al- Qaeda was established to terrorize the US to show their hatred towards them. These hatreds were born for many different reasons, one of the main reasons is to support Israel, which has been despised by Al- Qaeda. In recent times, Pakistanis have agreed to have control of the Swat valley of the Taliban, which has proven that, how the Taliban has returned from the defeat after 2001 but still, the Taliban is protecting Al- Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden (HSC 2009).

War of Afghanistan

DiCicco (2009) argued that most Afghans did not support the war between Afghanistan and United States. This war is also supporting Al- Qaeda and the Taliban for a longer period of time, whose aim is to defeat the US Government. Therefore, the war was working as counterproductive for them. This is the largest war in recent times with lots of human costs in Afghanistan. DiCicco (2009) also added that for this war, 18,000 Afghans are killed and more than 10,000 have been injured, who are non-combatants from 2001 by the leading of United States international intervention (Belasco 2009). In late 2009, an agency, Operating Enduring Freedom, has calculated the human costs of the United States, with 800 militaries and seriously injured more than 2,500 in recent years. The fighting forces of the US have also conducted drug and alcohol usage, to remove their stresses and being away from their missions and families. DiCicco (2009) mentioned that the war does not costs only the human lives of Afghans and American militaries, but also having huge financial costs, which is more than $237 billion every year, stated by the Center for Defense Information. Afghans can produce better results by spending on goods and services to bring peace, stability, and reduction of terrorism between them. They can also focus on their concentration on education, health care, and development of economic conditions, securing foods, reduction of poverty, and many more to remove the present condition of war. These would results in more effective and efficient than military enforcement (Belasco 2009).

U.S. Military Enforcement in Afghanistan

Morris (2002) mentioned that the current situation of Afghanistan is growing the involvement of the military in a continuous trend from 1990. The US militaries have also operated in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor, and many more places (World affairs 2009). The main supporters of these US militaries are the NGO community to continue the war in Afghanistan. The US militaries and Afghans were conducting a bilateral agreement with the requirements of the US government and nations (Morris 2002). This agreement is not public and unclear according to the Bush administration but the legal obligations of the elected government of Afghanistan did not replace by US officials in this agreement, which has proven in 2003 when US military personnel immunity prosecuted in Afghan courts to make crimes outside of their duties. Morris (2002) mentioned that this agreement remains a force to the Afghan government.

Analysis and Conclusion

Analysis of History of Afghanistan

Menzies (2006) argued that the civilization had started between 2000 to 1500 B.C., named as Indus Civilization. However, time after time, it had declined, when Alexander the Great and other Macedonians had ruled Afghanistan. Then, great emperor, Asoka came to Afghanistan and ruled it with his the Mauryan Dynasty. For only 500 elephants, Afghanistan had been replaced in the hand of the Greek Emperor (Menzies 2006). However, Asoka really did lots of contributions to the religious and political movement of Afghans but after his death, other Mauryans had failed to keep the dynasty of Afghanistan. Menzies (2006) also stated that in the previous periods of the Islamic era, many dynasties came to rule with many cultural and religious features, for example, Hindu, Buddhist, Hellenistic, Roman, and Chinese cultures, influenced the people of this region. In the period of Islamic ruled by Prophet Mohammad, who spread his religious beliefs to Arab and other parts of Asia, including the Middle East. When he has announced Islam religion, the Holy Quran, and Hadith, many people of Afghanistan have converted their religions into Muslims. Therefore, it is clear that Afghans have very influenced by Islamic beliefs, for this reason, they were being involved in this religion within a very short period (Library of Congress 2008). After the death of Prophets, his Caliphs were successfully keeping the trends of Muslims in this region that is why; it became successful to build Islamic Emperor in this part. After a time, Ghaznavid Dynasty has ruled Afghans and successfully keeping Islamic Rule in this region and spreading its emporium within the whole of Asia, including India, where Islamic rule was very much unusual, with lots of other cultural aspects, like Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. However, when Mongolians were conquered Afghanistan, the great emperor, Genghis Khan has ruled this part but after him, his son was unsuccessful to keep the emporium of the Mongolians. Then Russian and British was feel free to capture the land of Afghan very easily to establish their empire. Morris (2002) mentioned that the British had tried to establish their power in the Middle East by conducting a fight against Shikhs and many other Muslim forces but failed to beat strong British Armies.

British were very tactful to establish a puppet king, named Shah Shuja and took all the power of Afghanistan in 1339. Then Russia also controlled this region, by respecting the Afghans’ independence within fixed boundaries. So, at the end of the 19th century, Afghanistan has ruled by different empires and dynasties. Within these dynasties, the region had earned many assets, cultures, and being civilized, but it had also lost numerous human lives in different wars, which conducted to establish an emporium in this place. As the place was full of assets and plenty of resources, most of the empires have attracted and tried to rule this region in their own way, but eventually, they were losing any part of Afghanistan from different states of wars conducted from the beginning of the history of Afghanistan.

Analysis of 20^th Century

Menzies (2006) argued that the 20th century has started with the rule of Monarchism but in this century, Afghanistan has faced terrible problems of drug trafficking, fundamentalism, and civil wars. In the initial stages, Habibollah Khan was ruled Afghanistan to bring a better situation to this country with the introduction of new technologies, medical facilities, electricity supply, and automobile facilities. He did not want to protect Islamic rule from the British, as he denied joining in anti-British force. After him, Amanullah Khan was being the king of this region, who introduced nationalism in this country by conducting the third Anglo-Afghan war, which has mainly controlled and maintained by Afghan foreign policies and the British. The Afghans won the battle, but the British were not ready to accept this so easily. Amanullah was doing many things for the betterment of this region, which socially focused on general people.

However, after that, the Pashtun tribe has ruled, named Tajik rule in Afghanistan to establish Tajik Dynasty. After this rule, King Nadir Shah had declared as king of this country, who was mainly modernize Afghanistan by building roads and a better communications network. He was also building 40,000 troops of army forces as a governmental system of his royalty. After him, the last king of Afghans was King Zadir Shah, who was the youngest to rule the region. For this reason, he had been advised for 20 years by his royal family. DiCicco (2009) mentioned that this king had denied joining Second World War and trying to build neutral government systems, and established-prime minister as head of the country to control. From 1949, Afghanistan had started a liberal parliament system and the first prime minister had elected who was building network with the Soviet Union and created a distance with Pakistan. He also tried to change the women’s fate in this region to involve them in the workforce. He had successfully get aid from the Soviets and the USA in a continuous manner, although these two countries were in the Cold war. In 1955, Daoud was trying re-building trade relationships with Pakistan, but he failed to make any relation with Pakistan. Within these periods, royal families have declined and the new prime Minster, King Zahir Shah has been elected as prime minister but in the period of 1973, Afghanistan has established the republic of Islam as a presidential system. However, this establishment has failed because of political violence and declined relationship with the Soviet Union. In 1980, the country has established as the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan according to the PDPA government as the land of revolutionaries. In this century, Afghanistan has faced the problem of drug addiction and production in this region, which was 70% of the total world. Menzies (2006) argued that another main problem was the rise of the Taliban in 1996, which were established conservative rules for this country and encouraging building more terrorist groups in this country.

Analysis of Recent Times

After analyzing recent times of Afghanistan, the US government and United Nations are nothing but wasting time, money, and human lives by conducting bilateral relations for post-conflict reconstruction with the Afghan people. The recent violence’s in Afghanistan has been seen as the success story of the US government and United Nations. On the other hand, the opposition of the U.S., the Taliban is not being alone, because of gathering more soldiers from East Timor and foreign troops to spark violence against them. However, over these times, the post-conflict situation is being reverted by 44% of countries as a peace settlement. Therefore, it is the right way to improve the ongoing response of violence with better anticipation and plan. To reconstruct the conflict into success is not an easy task for the United States and Afghanistan.

Under the recent political economy of Afghanistan has shaped informal monitory service providers which named ‘hawaladars’, played an enhanced role as the economic handling both local transaction and foreign exchange. Under the rule of the Taliban, the hawala system has fully replaced and criminalized the formal banking system. Moreover, drug money laundering, opium export value of about US$ 40 billion, and illegal arms trade has seriously injured the formal economy. The following figure demonstrates the opium export trend of few years.

However, the success is depending on the proper timeframe and measurement to indicate chaotic, fluid, and politicized settings in Afghanistan. According to measure progress of Afghanistan, high level of the working group should determine an indicator of progress or perils. In 2005, such a team has built to measure progress in Afghanistan. However, these successes have been hampered because they depend on unreliable information and poor analysis of Afghans for ideological biases towards them. International management systems have a very poor understanding of dynamics prior to the engagement of Afghanistan in their current situation. As a result, the essential progress of Afghanistan would measure based on local groups of people for defining and measuring progress for Afghans, which has the same value as the previous one, in the time of the Taliban (Belasco 2009).

Therefore, this part could argue that Al- Qaeda was involved in the insurgency of Afghans from 2002 for the withdrawal of foreign fighters to Pakistan, made new groups, and started a guerilla war against US military forces and nations, with the name of Afghanistan. Their strategic movement was different from the Taliban, but at the same time, they were involved in the active war from 2002 to 2006 continuously with US forces. In this period, many militaries have died, who were also involved in the guerilla warfare at a local level for well-being of Afghans, like by ambushes and rocket attacks but very few of them have died in suicide operations or terrorists’ attack by Al- Qaeda. However, all the people of Afghanistan, including the foreign fighters’ community, had given the label of Al- Qaeda, which is hampering Afghans image on an international level.

DiCicco (2009) stated that in the emergency need of swift revolution on the problem of Afghanistan, this was resulting situations to work under Security Council, for having a peaceful resolution of the problems regarding Afghans and US Nations. The major concentration of Afghanistan for the resolution to present of Soviet troops in here. Thus, it can solve to delegate work for dealing with the Soviets in Afghanistan. The international community should also find ways for dealing with the current situation caused by the mass migration of refugees in this region. US Nations and Security Council are currently dealing with peace revolution operations with Afghanistan in the situation of war, which can continue further instability within these two regions. Besides Afghanistan, the neighbor country Pakistan should also be careful to determine stabilization in the region, which also engaged in a power struggle with India. The international community should also focus on the investigations of US conduct in Afghanistan, under the Administration of Obama. An institution, ICC involves in the detailed statements regarding investigations in Afghanistan, which is also conducting Taliban groups and US nationals.

Conclusion

This current situation does not indicate any further solution to overreaching the challenges to build peace within the Afghan nation by the sustainable movement of the international community. The United Nations are also targeting missions of peacebuilding to establish a people-faced government to rule over the country. The World Bank is also establishing core planning and resources management for peacebuilding in Afghanistan.

There are numerous impediments and problems have faced by Afghans, who are very much optimistic about their future in the land of war-torn, Afghanistan. They are also rebuilding their economic systems with numerous obstacles for eliminating the continuous growth of opium drugs, but the farmers are being unemployed and falling into poverty. For this reason, they have involved themselves in terrorist activities. Therefore, to unify this country from war, violence, and terrorist activities, it has to foster Afghanistan for the successful implementation of restoring stability in the country. So, it can be hoped that, the democratic government election and transformation of peace and prosperity in Afghanistan in 21^st century.

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