The ancient history of
Afghanistan
can be traced from the Achaemenid Empire of Darius the Great (500 BC).
Herat
(earlier known as Aria),
Balkh
(
Bactria
),
Kandahar
(Arachosia) were regional provinces, or satrapies under the rule of Darius I.
Alexander the Great overthrew the Achaemenians rule in 329 BC and conquered most of the Afghan provinces. After his death, the eastern provinces came under the control of the Seleucid dynasty that ruled from
Babylon
. By the beginning of 300 BC, the territories south of the
Hindu Kush
became part of the Maurya dynasty ruling northern
India
. After Ashoka, the greatest Maurya ruler, the Greeco-Bactrian rulers conquered parts of
Afghanistan
and established their rule in
Kabul
around 180 BC. The Parthians of eastern
Iran
, during the same period, established their rule in
Kandahar
. At about 135 BC, the Yue-Chi tribes of Central Asia, under the leadership of Kadphises I, crossed the Hindu Kush and occupied the Kabul River valley and Gandhara from the Bactrian Greeks.
Later, Kanishka (78-144 AD), the most famous Kushana ruler, established control over
Bactria
and under him the Kushana Empire stretched from
Mathura
in
India
to
Bactria
. During the rule of the Kushanas, the
Silk Route was established to carry to
Rome
from
China
and
India
and
Bactria
became as major transit point. Indian pilgrims also traveled in the
Silk Route and introduced Buddhism in
China
. The Buddhist Gandhara art flourished during this period and the famous Bamian Buddha figures (the world’s tallest at 175 and 120 feet tall and recently destroyed by the Taliban) were carved during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.
After Kanishka, though the Kushana rulers ruled the various provinces of
Afghanistan
, the Sasanians of Persia established control over parts of it in 241 AD.
Afghanistan
was ruled by Hepthalites (nomadic tribes from
Central Asia
) and Sasanians till the 6th century. Parts of
Afghanistan
, especially
Kabul
and Ghazni, were under the control of the Hindu Shahi kings.
Arab invasion started in 642 AD and Islam, for the first time, was introduced in
Afghanistan
with these invasions. During the ninth and tenth centuries a number of local Muslim dynasties were established and the Tahirids of Khorasan, with their capital at Nishapur, were one of the earliest. Their kingdom included
Bactria
and
Herat
and were the first to establish complete independence from the Abbasid Caliphate in 820AD. The native Saffarids, with their capital at Nimroz, and the Samanids, with their capital at Bukhra, succeeded the Tahirids in 867 AD, but soon became feudatories of the the Samanids who ruled from
Bukhara
.
The Ghaznavids replaced the Samanids rule in the 10th century. The Ghurids replaced the Ghaznavids in 1150. Muhammad of Ghur, the most famous Ghurid ruler, invaded
India
in 1175 and after his death the Khwarezm-Shah conquered
Afghanistan
.
In 1219, Genghis Khan invaded
Afghanistan
and overthrew the Khwarezm-Shah dynasty. After his death in 1227, local rulers established independent principalities, while acknowledging Mongol princes as suzerains. By the end of the 14th century, Timur-i-Lang, a Mongol ruler from Samarqand, conquered most of
Afghanistan
and established his rule with Heart as capital.
In 1504, Babur, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, made Kabul the capital of an independent principality; captured Kandahar in 1522; invaded and established the Mughal Empire in India. The Mughal Empire lasted till the British conquered
India
and included all areas of eastern
Afghanistan
south of the
Hindu Kush
.
The western parts of
Afghanistan
were under the control of Safavids of Persia and both the Persian and Mughal empires had been fighting each other to control
Afghanistan
. In between, local tribes attempted to overthrow the foreign rule. The Ghilzay tribe under Mir Wais Khan revolted against the Persian rule and established independent rule in 1709 in
Kandahar
. However, this was short lived as Nadir Shah ran over the Afghan provinces and conquered
Herat
in 1732 and
Kandahar
in 1738. After his assassination in 1747, Ahmad Shah Abdali, (who later became Ahmad Shah Durrani) was elected as the King of Afghanistan by a tribal council and the first independent Afghan kingdom was formed.
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