In history, who conquered Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires?

From ancient times to the present, from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan, from the British Empire to today’s United States.

Afghanistan has experienced almost all invasions by major powers in history, but it has always stood firm and dragged its opponent down. The most typical representative is the Soviet Union.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Pashto: ?), referred to as Afghanistan, is a landlocked country in central Asia that implements a presidential political system. ?

Afghanistan is located at the intersection of West Asia, South Asia and Central Asia, bordering Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north, China in a protruding narrow strip to the northeast, Pakistan to the east and southeast, and Iran to the west. .

Three-fifths of Afghanistan is inaccessible. It has a continental climate, with dry weather and little rainfall throughout the year. It shares ethnic, religious, linguistic and to some extent geographical connections with most of its neighboring countries.

Extended information:

How Afghanistan became the graveyard of empires.

Although when people today think of Afghanistan, they immediately think of a chaotic and desolate land, but in fact this is only due to the long war brought about by successive invasions by the Soviet Union and the United States. Historically, Afghanistan was located on the trade route connecting Central Asia to Persia and India, so this region produced a large number of famous commercial cities.

But at the same time, just like today, it is coveted by all major powers. Its prosperous commerce and important geographical location have made Afghanistan a strategic location that various empires competed for throughout history.

The ones that have the greatest impact on Afghanistan are undoubtedly their two neighbors to the east and west - Persia and India. The many empires established in Persia have always been a huge threat to Afghanistan, but they are also the source of many religions and technologies. For example, the first Greeks to establish city-states in Afghanistan were the Macedonian troops who came from the west and arrived here via Persia.

Although the plateau and mountainous areas of Afghanistan are a huge obstacle to India, they are not a big problem for Persia. The reason is that geographically, the Iranian Plateau is connected to the Pamir Plateau.

For this reason, the altitude difference when entering Afghanistan from Persia is much smaller than when entering Afghanistan from Central Asia or India. This also created great convenience for conquerors from Persia to enter Afghanistan.

For the regimes in the Indian region, Afghanistan is undoubtedly very important to them. Many conquerors, including the Kushans, the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire, were from Afghanistan. After conquering India, although they moved their political center to India itself, they still worked hard to control Afghanistan in their own hands. .

On the one hand, this is to control the trade routes on a larger scale, thereby bringing greater benefits to the regime itself. At the same time, for the Indian regime, there are actually very serious military considerations in occupying Afghanistan.

In the previous article by the Cold Weapon Research Institute, "This ancient civilization is always pressed to the ground and rubbed?" In the article "Why India is Particularly Easily Invaded and Conquered", it was mentioned that Afghanistan itself is often an outpost for the invasion of India. Therefore, any powerful regime that rises in India often controls Afghanistan in order to prevent other conquerors from invading India.

The advantage of this is that in addition to being able to actively defend against enemies, it will also serve as an outpost for India's external expansion. And it can also allow India's power to exert influence through Afghanistan, Central Asia, and even the eastern part of the Persian Empire through religious or direct military conquest. Therefore, whether it is Persia or India, controlling Afghanistan is undoubtedly the sword of Damas that leads to Central Asia and even directly exerts influence on the other party.

However, once India's regime collapses or declines, the close connection between the two will double Afghanistan's threat to the regime in India. Because it is limited by its geographical environment, it will be extremely costly for India to control Afghanistan. Moreover, once Afghanistan loses control, the regime that controls Afghanistan will easily invade India through the Khyber Pass.

The terrain in this area is too steep, so it is not suitable for large-scale and long-term garrisoning. Therefore, it is naturally impossible to effectively resist foreign invaders here for a long time. The invaders from Afghanistan can easily master the intelligence of the Indian region through long-term exchanges between the two sides, thus making India more passive against the invasion of Afghanistan.

The complex relationship between Afghanistan, Persia and India has also had a great impact on the ethnic and political situation in Afghanistan. The mountainous terrain of Afghanistan's plateau makes it very easy to give birth to a regional culture like the Caucasus, which is multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and most of the people have strong customs.

The continuous cultural and political penetration of the two civilizations of Persia and India has intensified this problem.

Long-term competition among great powers, long-standing tribal forces in the local area, and rugged terrain. These factors, without exception, make it difficult for Afghanistan to be called a good land.

Especially with the decline of the Overland Silk Road starting in the 15th century, Afghanistan, which had long relied on commercial trade, led to a great economic decline, and thus it became a real A place where "poor mountains and harsh waters breed unruly people". The British have something to say about this...

With the advent of the 20th century, Afghanistan, one of the few independent countries in Asia, is still falteringly starting to modernize its country until its huge neighbor to the north The invasion caused devastating damage.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Afghanistan