Afghanistan: between myth and history

Erroneously known as the graveyard of empires, Afghanistan in fact served as the battlefield of the world.

Long before the name Afghanistan appeared in written record, the region formed one of the great cultural corridors of the ancient world. Its earliest known inhabitants were Irano-Aryan tribes settled across a vast tract stretching from Herat and Balkh in the west to Kabul, Bamiyan and Ghazni in the centre, and down the river valleys leading toward present-day Pakistan. Classical sources referred to these lands as Ariana, Bactria, Gandhara and Arachosia - cosmopolitan zones of exchange rather than isolated frontier societies. Situated at the intersection of Persia, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the region was destined to become both a prize and a passage for successive empires.

The first major imperial power to establish structured rule here was the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the 6th century BCE. Under Cyrus the Great and Darius I, the region was organised into satrapies such as Bactria, Arachosia and Gandhara. Persian administration introduced roads, taxation systems and imperial oversight that endured for nearly two centuries, integrating these eastern lands into a wider imperial order and anchoring long-distance trade.

This Persian order was swept aside by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. His campaigns through Bactria and Arachosia introduced Hellenistic influences, visible in city foundations such as Alexandria-Arachosia (modern Kandahar). After Alexander's death, the Seleucids inherited much of the region, followed by the Greco-Bactrian kings who forged a synthesis of Greek and Iranian cultures. Their rule extended toward northern India, producing the Indo-Greek era whose artistic legacy - most notably the earliest human depictions of the Buddha - would shape Buddhist iconography across Asia.

From the steppes north of the Oxus came the Yuezhi, who consolidated into the Kushan Empire. Under Kanishka in the 2nd century CE, the Kushans ruled a vast domain stretching from Central Asia through Kabul to Peshawar and Taxila. This was among the most cosmopolitan periods in the region's history. Buddhist learning flourished in Bamiyan and Hadda, trade routes linked the Mediterranean world with China, and the cultural landscape blended Iranian, Greek, Indian and Central Asian influences. Afghanistan became a central artery of the Silk Routes, where commerce and ideas moved with unusual intensity.

As the Kushan order declined, Persian influence returned through the Sassanid Empire, which sought to reassert control over eastern Iranian lands. Yet Sassanid authority was frequently contested by local and nomadic powers such as the Kidarites and Hephthalites. These transitions added layers to the region's ethnic and linguistic mosaic, traces of which remain visible today.

Islam entered the region gradually after the 7th century through the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. Arab commanders established footholds in Herat, Balkh and Sistan, but geography and resistance limited direct rule. Conversion proceeded unevenly, often over centuries. As caliphal authority weakened, regional Persian-speaking dynasties - the Tahirids, Saffarids and Samanids - rose to prominence. Their courts nurtured the Persian language, refined administrative norms and laid the foundations of Persianate Islamic culture across the region.

From the 10th century onward, Afghanistan became the centre of powerful Islamic dynasties. Mahmud of Ghazni built an empire extending deep into northern India, transforming Ghazni into a major cultural capital. Scholars, poets and theologians gathered at his court, and Persian literary culture flourished. The Ghurids, emerging from the central Afghan highlands, succeeded the Ghaznavids and expanded their authority across northern India, paving the way for the Delhi Sultanate. Under these dynasties, Afghanistan was firmly integrated into a wider Persian-Islamic world.

The Mongol invasion of the early 13th century brought devastation. Cities were destroyed, populations displaced and agricultural systems disrupted. Yet from this destruction emerged the Timurid renaissance. Under Shah Rukh and the patronage of Queen Goharshad, Herat became one of the great cultural capitals of the Islamic world, renowned for architecture, calligraphy, miniature painting and learning.

Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Afghanistan became a contested zone between the Safavid Empire of Iran and the Mughal Empire of India. Kabul and Kandahar changed hands repeatedly, reflecting the region's strategic value. Throughout this period, Afghanistan remained ethnically diverse - Tajiks in the cities and valleys, Pashtun tribes across the south and east, Uzbeks in the north, and Hazaras in the central highlands - shaping later political and social dynamics.

Modern Afghanistan took shape in 1747 with Ahmad Shah Durrani. Chosen as leader by Pashtun chiefs in Kandahar, he founded an empire stretching from Mashhad to Kashmir and from Herat to the Arabian Sea. His reign consolidated Pashtun political leadership and marked the widespread administrative use of the name Afghanistan. Though the empire fragmented after his death, the Durrani lineage remained central to Afghan kingship well into the 20th century.

The enduring myth that Afghanistan cannot be conquered is largely a product of the last two centuries. The British, during the Anglo-Afghan Wars, sought influence rather than annexation, aiming to create a buffer against Russia. The Soviet intervention of 1979 was similarly constrained, focused on sustaining a friendly regime amid a Cold War proxy conflict. The American-led intervention after 2001 pursued counterterrorism and state-building, not imperial rule, but collapsed under the weight of insurgency and political fragility. These limited wars, rather than ancient history, produced the legend of Afghan indomitability.

In reality, Afghanistan has been ruled many times - firmly and effectively - by empires ranging from the Achaemenids and Kushans to the Ghaznavids and Durranis. What Afghanistan truly represents is not an unconquerable frontier but a historic meeting ground of civilisations, where empires converged, cultures intertwined and identities evolved across millennia. Let me share a verse of my own which reflects the greed of the Afghans for the greenbacks. This craving amply manifested during the occupation of their homeland by the US.

Harees e daam e khilat ban gai junoo qamat,

Kuja woh zauq e fana tha kuja yeh sauda gaari