“I bet they’re contacts.” –Charlie Malcolm

1. A Brief History of Afghanistan “I bet they’re contacts.” –Charlie Malcolm By: Charlie Malcolm, Alice Cifuentes, Sheldon Tran, Garrett Mabel, and Chelsea Hamilton.

2. Our super-awesome, multi-slide timeline. 1901 Habibullah Khan, son of Abdu Rahman Khan, became Amir of Afghanistan. He brought western medicine, brought back political exiles and repealed many of the harsh criminal penalties. Yay, humanitarianism! 1907 Great Britain and Russia sign the convention of St Petersburg. Good for them! 1918 Mahmud Tarzi introduces modern journalism, newspapers are created in Afghanistan.

3. Let's keep on truckin'! 1919 Habibullah is assassinated, and his son Amanullah becomes amir. A surprise attack on the British is led by Amanullah, which began the Third Anglo-Afghan war. Afghanistan’s first museum is built in Baghe Bala. And lastly, Mahmud Tarzi negotiated the Treaty of Rawalpindi which fixed the Afghan-Indian border and secured Britain’s recognition of Afghan independence. 1921 Amanullah Khan decided to adopt western ideas for both social and political reasons. What a cool dude!

4. We're only showing you the important stuff! 1926 Amanullah Khan proclaims himself Padshah. 1929 Amanullah Khan was overthrown by Habibullah Kalakani, then he totally got thrown over by Nadir Khan IN THE SAME YEAR!!! Then, Habibullah Kalakani got killed along with some of his and Amanullah’s supporters because Nadir was like, “I don’t like you.”

5. All their names are unpronouncable! 1930 There was a pro-Amanullah Khan uprising that Nadir Khan supressed… EFFECTIVELY! Nadir then very rudely abolished all those nice modern reforms that Amanullah made. 1933 Nadir totally got what was coming to him: he was assasinated. Zahir Shah replaces him as Padshah.

6. Wear a burqa! 1934 The U.S. finally recognized Afghanistan as a country. 1939 Just one more pro-Amanullah Khan uprising. It was only a small one, though. 1940 Zahir Shah proclaimed Afghanistan as neutral for the duration of WWII.

7. So much desert terrain! 1947 Pakistan was invented! The whole thing was kind of mean because they took Afghan and Indian land. 1949 Afghanistan refused to recognize the Durand Line as the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. 1953 Prince Mohammad Daoud becomes Prime Minister.

8. We ♥ Kabul! 1955 Prince Mohammad Daoud becomes Prime Minister, and issues flare up with Pashtunistan, which was occupied Afghan land whose citizens tried to proclaim independence from Afghanistan. 1956 Bulgaria and Kruschev help Afghanistan with the Pashtunistan issue, which led to close ties between Afghanistan and the USSR. 1959 Women begin entering the work force.

9. "Harami" is a mean word! 1973 Mohammad Daoud Khan peacefully took over Afghanistan and became its first president while Zahir Shah was away on an official overseas trip. This marks the establishment of the Republic of Afghanistan. 1976 Women’s rights are confirmed.

10. '78 was a pretty big deal! 1978 The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan—who were initially partnered with Mohammad Daoud Khan—overthrew his regime in a bloody coup, and assassinate him. PDPA official Nur Mohammad Taraki was named the new president of Afghanistan, and under his and the regime of the PDPA, there are mass killings, tortures, and arrests, and the Afghan flag was changed. The country’s name is also changed to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. This year also marks the beginning of the Mujahideen movement.

11. 1980- The leader of the People’s Democratic Party, Babrak Karmal, is placed in control with the support of the Soviet troops. Mujahideen groups intensify their hate against Soviet forces. 1985- Mujahideen groups join with Pakistan to form a partnership in order to fight Soviet Forces. New Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev claims he will remove troops from Afghanistan. 1986- Supplies, such as missiles, are being supplied from the U.S. to the Mujahideen. Babrak Karmal replaced by Najibullah as leader of Soviet-backed regime. 1988 – A peace accord was signed by Afghanistan, USSR, the US and Pakistan. Soviet Union commences the removal of troops. 1989 – February: Soviet troops leave Afghanistan. Civil war remains as the mujahideen try to remove Najibullah. 1992- April: The Mujahideen take Kabul and free Afghanistan; Najibullah is sheltered by the UN. 1993 - Mujahideen agree on a Tajik government. Burhanuddin Rabbani as the president. 1994- Taliban forms as a challenger to the Rabbani government. 1996 - Taleban grab hold of Kabul and establish strict Islamic practice, outlawing women from work, and introducing punishments such as stoning to death and amputations. Rabbani escapes to join anti-Taliban northern alliance. 1998 - US initiate missile strikes at alleged bases of militant Osama bin Laden, accused of bombing US embassies in Africa. 1999- UN demands that Afghanistan hand over Osama Bin Laden. 2001- Taliban destroys enormous Buddha statues. Mullah Mohammad Rabbani dies of cancer.  Taliban order religious minorities to wear tags. Ahmad Shah Masood, guerrilla and head of the major resistance to the Taliban, is assassinated. September 11 incident. December: Afghan groups settle on an agreement in Bonn for interim government. 2002- War persists against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Loya Jirga elects Hamid Karzai as President of a Transitional Government. 2003- Security in Kabul is taken into the control of Nato. 2004- Loya Jirga adopts a constitution which gives a strong presidency to Afghanistan. October-November: Presidential elections. Hamid Karzai is victorious with 55% of the vote. December, he is sworn in. New parliament holds its inaugural session. 2006- Vicious anti-US protests in Kabul. Nato is now responsible for security in all of Afghanistan. 2007- Opium production has soared to a record high. 2008- More troops are sent over. 2009- About 20 Nato countries pledge to boost military and other commitments in Afghanistan after USA announces dispatch of 17,000 extra troops. A lot happened. The end.

12. '78 was a pretty big deal! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afganistan http://www.afghan-web.com/history/chron/index3.html