History of Afghanistan

thumb|Present-day location of Afghanistan in Asia

The history of Afghanistan covers the development of Afghanistan from ancient times to the establishment of the Emirate of Afghanistan in 1822 and Afghanistan in modern times. This history is largely shared with that of Central Asia, Middle East, and northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Human habitation in Afghanistan dates back to the early Middle Paleolithic era, and the country's strategic location along the historic Silk Road has led it to being described, picturesquely, as the ‘roundabout of the ancient world’. The land has historically been home to various different peoples and has witnessed numerous military campaigns, including those by the Persians, Alexander the Great, the Maurya Empire, Arab Muslims, the Mongols, The Mughal Empire, the British, the Soviet Union, and most recently by a US-led coalition. The various conquests and periods in the Iranian cultural spheres made the area a center for Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, and a small community of Hinduism, and later Islam throughout history.

The Durrani Empire, established in 1747, is considered to be the foundational polity of the modern nation state of Afghanistan, with Ahmad Shah Durrani being credited as its Father of the Nation. Following the Durrani Empire's decline and the death of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1772) and Timur Shah (1793), it was divided into multiple smaller independent kingdoms, including but not limited to Herat, Kandahar and Kabul. Afghanistan would be reunited in the 19th century after seven decades of civil war from 1793 to 1863, with wars of unification led by Dost Mohammad Khan from 1823 to 1863, where he conquered the independent principalities of Afghanistan under the Emirate of Kabul. Dost Mohammad Khan is sometimes considered to be the founder of the first modern Afghan state. Dost Mohammad died in 1863, days after his last campaign to unite Afghanistan, and Afghanistan was consequently thrown back into civil war with fighting amongst his successors. During this time, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the Great Game between the British Raj in South Asia and the Russian Empire. The British Raj attempted to subjugate Afghanistan but was repelled in the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842). However, the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880) saw a British victory and the successful establishment of British political influence over Afghanistan. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, Afghanistan became free of foreign political hegemony, and emerged as the independent Kingdom of Afghanistan in June 1926 under Amanullah Khan. This monarchy lasted almost half a century, until Zahir Shah was overthrown in 1973, following which the Republic of Afghanistan was established.

Since the late 1970s, Afghanistan's history has been dominated by extensive warfare, including coups, invasions, insurgencies, and civil wars. The conflict began in 1978 when a communist revolution established a socialist state, and subsequent infighting prompted the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan in 1979. Mujahideen fought against the Soviets in the Soviet–Afghan War and continued fighting amongst themselves following the Soviets' withdrawal in 1989. The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban controlled most of the country by 1996, but their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan received little international recognition before its overthrow in the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan. The Taliban returned to power in 2021 after capturing Kabul and overthrowing the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, thus bringing an end to the 2001–2021 war. Although initially claiming it would form an inclusive government for the country, in September 2021 the Taliban re-established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan with an interim government made up entirely of Taliban members. The Taliban government remains largely internationally unrecognized.

Prehistory

thumb|Tents of Afghan [[nomads in the northern Badghis Province of Afghanistan. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan about 7,000 years ago.]]

Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and others at Darra-e Kur in 1966 where 800 stone implements were recovered along with a fragment of Neanderthal right temporal bone, suggest that early humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 52,000 years ago. A cave called Kara Kamar contained Upper Paleolithic blades Carbon-14 dated at 34,000 years old. Farming communities in Afghanistan were among the earliest in the world. Artifacts indicate that the indigenous people were small farmers and herdsmen, very probably grouped into tribes, with small local kingdoms rising and falling through the ages. Urbanization may have begun as early as 2000 BCE. Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom from the Vedic period and its capital city located between the Hindu Kush and Sulaiman Mountains (mountains of Solomon), although Kandahar in modern times and the ancient Gandhara are not geographically identical.

Early inhabitants, around 3000 BCE were likely to have been connected through culture and trade to neighboring civilizations like Jiroft and Tappeh Sialk and the Indus Valley Civilisation. Urban civilization may have begun as early as 3000 BCE and it is possible that the early city of Mundigak (near Kandahar) was a part of the ancient Helmand culture. The first known people were the Indo-Iranians, to 1500 BCE. (For further detail see Indo-Iranians.)

Indus Valley Civilisation (c. 3300 to 1300 BCE)

The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) spanned from parts of Afghanistan to modern-day Pakistan and north-western India. An Indus valley site has been found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in Afghanistan, which is the northernmost site of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Bactria–Margiana (c. 2200 – 1700 BCE)

The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, also known as the Oxus civilisation, became prominent between about 2200 and 1700 BCE. The city of Balkh (Bakhlo in Bactrian) in northern Afghanistan was founded around this time (c. 2000–1500 BCE).

During the 6th century BCE, Gandhāra was an important imperial power in north-west South Asia, with the valley of Kaśmīra being part of the kingdom, while the other states of the Punjab region, such as the Kekayas, Madrakas, Uśīnaras, and Shivis being under Gāndhārī suzerainty. The Gāndhārī king Pukkusāti, who reigned around 550 BCE, engaged in expansionist ventures which brought him into conflict with the king Pradyota of the rising power of Avanti. Pukkusāti was successful in this struggle with Pradyota.

By the later 6th century BCE, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus, soon after his conquests of Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, marched into Gandhara and annexed it into his empire. The scholar Kaikhosru Danjibuoy Sethna advanced that Cyrus had conquered only the trans-Indus borderlands around Peshawar which had belonged to Gandhāra while Pukkusāti remained a powerful king who maintained his rule over the rest of Gandhāra and the western Punjab.

Kamboja Kingdom (c. 700 – 200 BCE)

The Kambojas were an ancient southeastern Iranian peoples who lived in the southern region of modern Afghanistan. They were mentioned by a number of Indo-Aryan inscriptions and literature, being first attested during the later part of the Vedic period. The ancient Indian emperor Ashoka mentioned the Kambojas between 268 and 232 BCE in his Major Rock Edicts. The people known in Classical sources as Aspasioi, Aśvaka and Assakenoi, were likely tribes of the Kamboja people. The region south of the Hindu Kush that was inhabited by the Kambojas went under the rule of many different groups over the centuries, starting with the Achaemenid Persians.

The descendants of the Kambojas have mostly been assimilated into various newer groups. However, some tribes possibly remain today that still retain the names of their ancestors. There are some theories and speculation about the possible descendants of the Kamboja people. The Yusufzai Pashtuns are said to be related to the Aspasioi or Aśvaka people from the Kamboja age. The Kom/Kamoz people of Nuristan retain their Kamboj name. The Ashkun of Nuristan also retain the name of Aśvakas. The Yashkun Shina dards are another group that retain the name of the Kamboja Aśvakans. The Kamboj of Punjab are another group that still retain the name however have integrated into new identity. The country of Cambodia derives its name from the Kamboja.

Achaemenid Empire

thumb|Much of the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan was subordinated to the Achaemenid Empire

thumb|[[Arachosia, Aria and Bactria were the ancient satraps of the Achaemenid Empire that made up most of what is now Afghanistan during 500 BCE.]]

The area of modern Afghanistan fell to the Achaemenid Persians after it was conquered by Darius I of Persia. The land was divided into several provinces called satrapies, which were each ruled by a governor, or satrap. These ancient satrapies included: Aria: The region of Aria was separated by mountain ranges from the Paropamisadae in the east, Parthia in the west and Margiana and Hyrcania in the north, while a desert separated it from Carmania and Drangiana in the south. It is described in a very detailed manner by Ptolemy and Strabo and corresponds, according to that, almost to the Herat Province of today's Afghanistan; Arachosia, corresponds to the modern-day Kandahar, Lashkargah, and Quetta. Arachosia bordered Drangiana to the west, Paropamisadae (i.e. Gandhara) to the north and to the east, and Gedrosia to the south. The inhabitants of Arachosia were Iranian peoples, referred to as Arachosians or Arachoti. It is assumed that they were called Pactyans by ethnicity, and that name may have been in reference to the ethnic Paṣtun (Pashtun) tribes.

Bactria was the area north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Tian Shan, with the Amu Darya flowing west through the center (Balkh); Sattagydia was the easternmost region of the Achaemenid Empire, part of its Seventh tax district according to Herodotus, along with Gandārae, Dadicae and Aparytae. It is believed to have been situated east of the Sulaiman Mountains up to the Indus River in the basin around Bannu. (Ghazni); and Gandhara which corresponds to modern day Kabul, Jalalabad, and Peshawar.

Alexander the Great and the Seleucids

thumb|Alexander the Great's Empire in South Asia.

thumb|220x220px|[[Bronze statuette of Alexander the Great from Bagram, Afghanistan.]]

Alexander the Great invaded the area of modern Afghanistan in 330 BCE after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier at the Battle of Gaugamela. His army faced strong resistance in the region's ancient tribal areas where Alexander is supposedly said to have commented that the land is "easy to march into, but difficult to march out of". He first conquered Bactria in northern Afghanistan between 329 and 327 BCE, and married Roxana of Bactria. He then conducted the Cophen campaign to the south near the Kabul valley, where his army fought against the Aspasioi and Assakenoi peoples. Although his expedition through Afghanistan was brief, Alexander left behind a Greek cultural influence that lasted several centuries. He founded and built many cities in the region, all named "Alexandria", including: Alexandria Ariana (modern-day Herat); Alexandria Arachosia (modern Kandahar); Alexandria in the Caucasus (near Bagram); and finally, Alexandria Eschate (near Khujand), in the far north. After Alexander's death, his loosely connected Macedonian empire was divided. Seleucus, a Macedonian officer during Alexander's campaign, declared himself ruler of his own Seleucid Empire, which also included present-day Afghanistan. The Hellenistic city of Ai-Khanoum was later founded in northern Afghanistan, likely by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus, the son of Seleucus in about 280 BCE.

Maurya Empire

File:Aramaic inscription of Laghman.jpg|Aramaic inscription of Laghman is an inscription on a slab of natural rock in the area of Laghmân, Afghanistan, written in Aramaic by the Indian emperor Ashoka about 260 BCE, and often categorized as one of Minor Rock Edicts of Ashoka.

File:Kandahar Greek inscription.jpg|Kandahar Greek Edicts of Ashoka is among the Major Rock Edicts of the Indian Emperor Ashoka (reigned 269–233 BCE), which were written in the Greek language and Prakrit language.

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The southern half of Afghanistan fell to the Maurya Empire, which was led by Chandragupta Maurya. The Mauryas further entrenched Buddhism, but also other religions such as Brahmanism to the region, and were planning to capture more territory of Central Asia until they faced Seleucid forces, who ruled in northern Afghanistan. Seleucus I is said to have reached a peace treaty with Chandragupta by giving control of the territory south of the Hindu Kush to the Mauryas upon intermarriage and 500 elephants.

The most famous Mauryan emperor was Ashoka who reigned around 268–232 BCE, and whose inscriptions such the Major and Minor Rock Edicts have been found in eastern and southern Afghanistan (for example in Kandahar). Supposedly also referred to by the name Piyadasi, he encouraged the propagation of Buddhism throughout the ancient world. In one of his edicts Ashoka states that the Hellenistic kingdoms to the north and west received his envoys and followed Buddhism:

Hellenistic and Later periods (c. 255 BCE – 565 CE)

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

thumb|Approximate maximum extent of the [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom circa 180 BCE, including the regions of Tapuria and Traxiane in the West, Sogdiana and Ferghana to the North, Bactria and Arachosia to the South.]]

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom, founded when Diodotus I, the satrap of Bactria (and probably the surrounding provinces) seceded from the Seleucid Empire around 255 to 250 BCE. Diodotus' dynasty was soon overthrown by Euthydemus I sometime around 230–220 BCE. After successfully repelling a Seleucid invasion, Euthydemus' son, Demetrius I of Bactria, started an invasion of the Indian subcontinent between 190 and 180 BCE.

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was known for its high level of Hellenistic sophistication and possessed many wealthy cities. The main cities of the kingdom were Bactra and Ai-Khanoum in northern Afghanistan. The Greco-Bactrians continued to dominate Central Asia until about 130 BCE, when the son of Eucratides I, named Heliocles I, was defeated and driven out of Bactria by the Yuezhi tribes from the east. After the collapse of Greek rule, the Yuezhi now had complete control of Bactria. It is thought that Eucratides' dynasty continued to rule in Kabul and Alexandria of the Caucasus until about 70 BCE when King Hermaeus was also defeated by the Yuezhi. It is possible that Hermaeus was the last Greek ruler in Afghanistan, or perhaps it was one of the later Indo-Greek rulers.

File:Diodotus I of Bactria wearing the diadem.jpg|Gold coin of the Greco-Bactrian king Diodotus I (reigned c. 255–235 BCE), wearing a royal diadem.

File:CapitalSharp.jpg|Hellenistic Corinthian capital found in Ai-Khanoum, c. 2nd century BCE.

File:Ai-Khanoum mosaic.jpg|Hellenistic floor mosaic from Ai-Khanoum, c. 2nd century BCE.

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Indo-Greek Kingdom

The Indo-Greek kingdom was founded when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I invaded north-western India in the early 2nd century BCE. One of Demetrius I's successors, Menander I Soter, brought the Indo-Greek Kingdom (now isolated from the rest of the Hellenistic world after the fall of Bactria) to its height between 165 and 130 BCE. He expanded the kingdom from Afghanistan and Pakistan to even larger proportions than Demetrius. After Menander's death, the Indo-Greeks steadily declined and the last Indo-Greek kings, either Strato II or Strato III, were defeated in c. 10 CE. The Indo-Greek Kingdom was succeeded by the Indo-Scythians.

Indo-Scythians

thumb|180px|The [[Bimaran casket, representing the Buddha surrounded by Brahma (left) and Śakra (right) was found inside a stupa with coins of Azes II inside. British Museum.]]

The Indo-Scythians were descended from the Saka (Scythians) who migrated from southern Siberia to Pakistan and Arachosia from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched from Gandhara to Mathura. One of the most important Indo-Scythian rulers was Azes I, who ruled between about 48–25 BCE. The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd century CE after the Scythians were defeated by the south Indian Emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty. Later the Saka kingdom was completely destroyed by Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire from eastern India in the 4th century.

Indo-Parthian Kingdom

alt=|thumb|290x290px|Coin of Indo-Parthian king [[Abdagases I (c. 46–60 CE), with Greek legend on the obverse, and Kharosthi legend on the reverse.]]

The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty, named after its eponymous first ruler Gondophares. They ruled parts of present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern India, during or slightly before the 1st century CE. For most of their history, the leading Gondopharid kings held Taxila (in the present Punjab province of Pakistan) as their residence, but during their last few years of existence the capital shifted between Kabul and Peshawar. These kings have traditionally been referred to as Indo-Parthians, as their coinage was often inspired by the Arsacid dynasty, but they probably belonged to a wider groups of Iranic tribes who lived east of Parthia proper, and there is no evidence that all the kings who assumed the title Gondophares, which means "Holder of Glory", were even related. Christian writings claim that the Apostle Saint Thomas – an architect and skilled carpenter – had a long sojourn in the court of king Gondophares, had built a palace for the king at Taxila and had also ordained leaders for the Church before leaving for the Indus Valley in a chariot, for sailing out to eventually reach Malabar Coast.

Kushan Empire

thumb|Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan dominions under Kanishka (dotted line), according to the [[Rabatak inscription.]]

The Kushan Empire expanded out of Bactria (in Central Asia) into the northwest of the subcontinent under the leadership of their first emperor, Kujula Kadphises, about the middle of the 1st century CE. They came from an Indo-European language-speaking Central Asian tribe called the Yuezhi, a branch of which was known as the Kushans. By the time of his grandson, Kanishka the Great, the empire spread to encompass much of Afghanistan, and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares). The Kushans inherited the Hellenistic culture of Bactria and their pantheon included a diverse group of deities, some Greek and some native Iranian. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism; however, and as the Kushans expanded southward, the deities of their later coinage came to reflect its new Hindu majority. They played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its spread to Central Asia and China. Historian Vincent Smith said about Kanishka:

The empire linked the Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of the Silk Road through the Indus valley, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between China and Rome. The Kushans brought new trends to the budding and blossoming Gandhara art, which reached its peak during Kushan Rule. By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating and their last known great emperor was Vasudeva I.

File:BuddhistTriad.JPG|Early Mahayana Buddhist triad. From left to right, a Kushan devotee, Maitreya, The Buddha, Avalokiteśvara, and a Buddhist monk. 2nd–3rd century, Gandhara.

File:Kumara, The Divine General LACMA M.85.279.3.jpg|Kumara or Kartikeya with a Kushan devotee, c. 2nd century CE.

File:Gandhara, omaggio di un re kushana al bodhisattva, II-III sec.JPG|Kushan prince, said to be Huvishka, making a donation to a bodhisattva.

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Sasanian Empire

thumb|260px|The [[Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent c. 620 CE, under the king Khosrow II.]]

The Sasanians ended the rule of the Kushans Empire. Officially known as the Empire of Iranians, the Sasanian Empire was the last Persian Empire before the rise of Islam. Named after the House of Sasan, it ruled from about 224 to 651 CE. In the east around 325 CE, Shapur II regained the upper hand against the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom and took control of large territories in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Much of modern-day Afghanistan became part of the Sasanian Empire, since Shapur I extended his authority eastwards into Afghanistan and the previously autonomous Kushans were obliged to accept his suzerainty.

From around 370 CE, however, towards the end of the reign of Shapur II, the Sasanians lost the control of Bactria and Afghanistan to invaders from the north. These were the Kidarites, the Hephthalites, the Alchon Huns, and the Nezak Huns. These invaders initially issued coins based on Sasanian designs.

Huna people

thumb|280x280px|A letter of the Alchon Hun ruler [[Mehama, written in the Bactrian language using a cursive Greek script. It says: "Meyam, King of the people of Kadag"; dated to 461–462 CE.]]

The Hunas were nomadic peoples who were of Central Asian origin. Four of the Huna peoples conquered and ruled Afghanistan: the Kidarites, Alchon Huns, Hephthalites, and the Nezak Huns.

Kidarites

The Kidarites were a nomadic clan, the first of the four Huna people to live in Afghanistan. They are supposed to have originated in Western China and arrived in Bactria with the great migrations of the second half of the 4th century.

Alchon Huns

The Alchon Huns (Alchono in Bactrian) were one of the four Huna people that ruled in Afghanistan. A group of Central Asian tribes, they rose to power around 400 CE. The first major ruler was Khingila, who emerged and took control of the routes across the Hindu Kush from the Kidarites. Coins of the Alchons rulers Khingila and Mehama were found at the Buddhist monastery of Mes Aynak, southeast of Kabul, confirming the Alchon presence in this area around 450–500 CE. Alchon ruler Toramana later overran the northern region of Pakistan and Northern India, and successfully occupied areas as far as Eran and greatly weakened the Gupta Empire. Mihirakula, the son of Toramana, a Saivite Hindu, then ruled from his capital of Sagala in modern Pakistan. Ancient Buddhist writers describe Mihirakula's merciless persecution of Buddhists and destruction of monasteries, though the description is disputed as far as the authenticity is concerned. The Huns were finally defeated by the Indian kings Yashodharman of Malwa and Narasimhagupta in the 6th century. Some of them were driven out of India and others were assimilated in the Indian society.

Hephthalites

The Hephthalites (Ebodalo in Bactrian), also known as the White Huns and one of the four Huna people to live in Afghanistan, were a nomadic confederation in Central Asia during the late antiquity period. The Hephthalites established themselves in modern-day Afghanistan by the first half of the 5th century, and were of either Turkic or Iranian ethnic origins. As they rose to prominence, the Hephthalites displaced the Kidarites and the Alchon Huns, and soon came into conflict with the Sasanian Empire, whom they defeated on a number of occasions. Buddhism was common in the region, and it is likely that the Buddhas of Bamiyan were constructed around this time. The Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang visited Bamiyan and ancient Kapisa (modern Parwan province) between 629 and 645 CE, and described the Buddhas of Bamiyan. However, during the time of Song Yun, who visited the chief of the Hephthalite nomads at his summer residence in Badakhshan and later in Gandhara, observed that they had no belief in the Buddhist law and served a large number of divinities." The 6th-century Roman historian Procopius of Caesarea (Book I. ch. 3) related the Huns of Europe with the Hephthalites or "White Huns" who subjugated the Sasanians and invaded northwestern India, stating that they were of the same stock, "in fact as well as in name", although he contrasted the Western Huns with the Hephthalites, in that the Hephthalites were sedentary and white-skinned, and possessed "not ugly" features.

Nezak Huns

The Nezaks were the last of the four Huna people that ruled in Afghanistan south of the Hindu Kush from about 484 to 665 CE. They rose to power and took control of the Zabulistan region after the defeat and death of the Sassanian Emperor Peroz I in 484 CE by the Hephthalites.

Middle Ages (c. 565–1504 CE)

thumb|Map of the region during the 7th century

From the Middle Ages to around 1750 the eastern regions of Afghanistan such as Kabulistan and Zabulistan (now Kabul, Kandahar and Ghazni) were recognized as being part of Indian subcontinent (Al-Hind). Its western parts were included in the regions called Khorasan, Tokharistan and Sistan. Two of the four main capitals of Khorasan (i.e. Balkh and Herat) are now located in Afghanistan. The countries of Kabul, Kandahar and Ghazni formed the frontier region between Khorasan and the Indus. This land, inhabited by the Afghan tribes (i.e. ancestors of Pashtuns), was called Afghanistan, which loosely covered a wide area between the Hindu Kush and the Indus River, principally around the Sulaiman Mountains. The earliest record of the name "Afghan" (as "Abgân") being mentioned is by Shapur I of the Sasanian Empire during the 3rd century CE which is later recorded in the form of "Avagānā" by the Vedic astronomer Varāhamihira in his 6th century CE Brihat-samhita. It was used to refer to a common legendary ancestor known as "Afghana", grandson of King Saul of Israel. Xuanzang, the Chinese pilgrim who visited the Afghanistan area several times between 630 and 644 CE also speaks about them. Among these were the Khalaj people which are known today as Ghilzai.

Kabul Shahi

The Kabul Shahi dynasties (also called Turk Shahi) ruled the Kabul Valley and Gandhara from the decline of the Kushan Empire in the 3rd century to the early 9th century. The Shahis are generally split up into two eras: the Buddhist Shahis and the Hindu Shahis, with the change-over thought to have occurred sometime around 870. The kingdom was known as the Kabul Shahan or Ratbelshahan from 565 to 670, when the capitals were located in Kapisa and Kabul, and later Udabhandapura, also known as Hund for its new capital.

The Hindu Shahis under ruler Jayapala, is known for his struggles in defending his kingdom against the Ghaznavids in the modern-day eastern Afghanistan region. Jayapala saw a danger in the consolidation of the Ghaznavids and invaded their capital city of Ghazni both in the reign of Sabuktigin and in that of his son Mahmud, which initiated the Muslim Ghaznavid and Hindu Shahi struggles. Sabuktigin, however, defeated him, and he was forced to pay an indemnity.

Before his struggle began Jaipal had raised a large army of Punjabi Hindus. When Jaipal went to the Punjab region, his army was raised to 100,000 horsemen and an innumerable host of foot soldiers. According to Firishta:

According to Human Rights Watch, numerous Iranian agents were assisting the Shia Hezb-i Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari, as Iran was attempting to maximize Wahdat's military power and influence. Saudi Arabia was trying to strengthen the Wahhabite Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittihad-i Islami faction. Again, Human Rights Watch writes: