Invasions of Afghanistan
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Afghanistan has been invaded many times, and in fact its boundaries and legitimate government have almost always been in dispute. Between the Mughal rulers of South Asia, the Russian Tsars and later Communist government, British Empire and now America and the Western Coalition, everyone seems interested in this territory.
From a geopolitical sense, controlling Afghanistan is vital in controlling Central Asia. It played an important part in the Great Game power struggles. Current struggles over Afghanistan can be viewed as an extension of the struggle over control over Central Asia and its natural resources, as well as its strategic location in the middle of Eurasia. Historically, the conquest of Afghanistan has also played an important role in the invasion of India from the West through the Khyber Pass.
The first historically documented invasion of Afghanistan was made by Alexander the Great in 330 BC as part of his string of conquests. Among the cities conquered was Herat.
Afghanistan was invaded from the west by the Arabs under the Abbasid Dynasty, causing the conversion of most of its inhabitants to Islam. Later, Afghanistan was invaded twice from the north and east by the Mongols (once by Genghis Khan, once by Timur) in a drive to conquer both India and the heartlands of Dar al-Islam.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan happened in 1979, prompting a Western boycott of the Olympics, and kickstarting US funding for radical, armed Islamic resistance groups. Mujahadeen eventually succeeded in forcing the Soviets out, in the USSR's most humiliating military defeat, and was a factor in the dissolution of Soviet communism.
Most recently, the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was a stated attempt to capture Osama bin Laden, the man they claim masterminded the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. Although they did not capture him, they succeeded in toppling the radical Islamic government of the Taliban, who gave shelter to Bin Laden and were accused of acts of cruelty. The Taliban leadership survives in hiding and continues, along with many other factions, to keep Afghanistan unstable.