Timeline

50,000-20,000 BC
Early plant and animal domestication in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountain ranges.

2000-1500 BC
The city of Kabul is established.

522-486 BC
Afghanistan becomes part of the Persian empire under Darius the Great.

229 BC
Invaded, but not entirely conquered by Alexander the Great.

652 AD
Arabs introduce Islam. Over the next 300-400 years, Afghanistan becomes a centre of Islamic power and civilisation.

1219-21 AD
Genghis Khan invades: his armies destroy the country's irrigation systems, creating permanent deserts.

1504-19 AD
The Moghul dynasty takes over Kabul.

1747
Modern Afghanistan is founded.

1839-42
First Anglo-Afghan war ends with an extremely bloody victory against the British.

1873
Border between Russia and Afghanistan established.

1878
Second Anglo-Afghan war begins, ending with British retaining control over Afghan foreign relations.

1907
Russia and Britain sign Treaty of St Petersburg, declaring Afghanistan outside Russia's sphere of influence.

1919
Afghanistan's king proclaims the country's independence.

1947
India becomes independent from Britain and Pakistan is carved out of Indian and Afghan lands.

1955
Afghanistan and the USSR start to form close ties.

1973
Former Prime Minister Mohammed Daud stages a coup and declares a republic. The Mujahideen rebellion begins, and many refugees flee the country.

1978
Daud is assassinated. President Nur Mohammed Taraki takes power.

1979-1980
Taraki ousted, Hafizullah Amin takes over and is, in turn, ousted by a coup. Soviet troops invade and the Soviet Union installs Bagrak Karmal as president.

1989
After a long war with the Mujahideen, the Soviet Union withdraws its troops from Afghanistan. Communist-backed President Najibullah remains in power.

1992
Najibullah hands over power to the Mujahideen. Civil war follows.

1994
The Taliban, a faction of the Mujahideen emerge in the refugee camps of Peshawar in Pakistan.

1996
The Taliban take power and execute Najibullah, imposing an extreme fundamentalist regime. Civil war among the Mujahideen continues.

1998
A major earthquake kills around 4,000 in the north of Afghanistan.

2000-01
The Taliban's regime continues.

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