Afghanistan

Gandhara — the Buddhist crossroads of the ancient world

Gandhara (c. 600 BCE – 1000 CE) was the ancient kingdom at the heart of the Silk Road — encompassing modern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, it blended Greek, Persian, Indian, and Central Asian cultures into a unique civilisation that produced the first human images of the Buddha.

Babur in Afghanistan — the road to the Mughal empire

Babur's decade in Kabul (1504–1525 CE) was the preparation for his conquest of India and the founding of the Mughal dynasty — the prince who had lost Samarkand to the Uzbeks found in Afghanistan a base from which to launch the campaign that created an empire ruling 100 million people and leaving the Taj Mahal as its monument.

Ahmad Shah Durrani — the father of Afghanistan

Ahmad Shah Durrani's founding of the Durrani Empire (1747 CE) is considered the birth of modern Afghanistan — a Pashtun military commander who rose from prisoner to emperor after the assassination of Nader Shah, he unified the Afghan tribes and at his peak ruled an empire stretching from eastern Iran to Delhi.

First Anglo-Afghan War — Britain's greatest colonial disaster

The First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842) ended with the complete annihilation of a British army retreating from Kabul — of 16,500 soldiers and camp followers who left Kabul in January 1842, one man reached the British garrison at Jalalabad alive, making it the most catastrophic British military defeat of the 19th century.

Soviet-Afghan War — the USSR's Vietnam

The Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989) was the conflict that hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union — the Red Army's decade-long attempt to prop up a communist government against the US-backed mujahideen resulted in 15,000 Soviet dead, one million Afghan dead, and a humiliating withdrawal that shattered Soviet prestige.

The Taliban and the fall of Kabul — 2021

The Taliban's reconquest of Afghanistan (August 2021 CE) — completed in 11 days as the US-backed government collapsed without significant resistance — ended America's 20-year military presence and returned Afghanistan to the movement that had hosted al-Qaeda before 9/11, vindicating the country's reputation as the "Graveyard of Empires."