Timeline+of+Instability

​ Timeline of Instability Andrea Haberman, Thia Cabanela, Renee Horn, Anthony DiEleuterio            Afghanistan and Sierra Leone - Similarities
 *  1747: Afghanistan is created by Ahmad Shah Durrani by unifying the Pashtun tribes. Pashtuns are Muslims.
 * 1800s: Britain and Russia compete for the control of Afghanistan. Britain wins.
 * 1838-1842: Britain launches the first Anglo-Afghan War to place Shuja Shah on the throne in Kabul. The British stay until 1842 before withdrawing through the Khyber Pass. In the final year of the war a combined British and Raj force of 4,500 troops and more than 12,000 camp follwers in massacred after leaving Kabul in route for Jalalabad.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1878: Second Anglo-Afghan war breaks out after Afghanistan's ruler, Dost Mohammad's son Sher Ali, refuses to accept a British delegation at his court. Lasts until 1880 when the British withdraw having secured most of of their objectives.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1919: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">A month long war, the Third Anglo-African War, takes place around the boarder of Afghanistan. Afghanistan wins independence from Britain's control over Afghanistan's foreign affairs.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1919-1929: King Amanullah, a Pashtun, takes the throne and worked to end Afghanistan's isolation. People did not want change and the king is overthrown by Pashtun and Tajik tribes.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1933: Mohammad Zahir Shah becomes the king of Afghanistan.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">King Zahir Shah was a Pashtun who did not discriminate against ethnic groups; his ultimate goal was to unite Afghanistan. He died in July of 2007 at the age of 92.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1964: King Zahir Shah starts experimenting with democracy and the legislature is partly elected. At the same time, the communist People Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) emerges; this group has close ties to the Soviet Union.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">By 1965, the PDPA split into two factions. One faction was the Khalq faction which was led by Nur Mohammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin. Khalqs were Pashto-speaking, lived outside of Kabul, and had strong military ties. The other faction was the Parcham faction, lead by Babrak Karmal. Parchams were Persian-speaking and lived in Kabul. While the to factions had many differences, both groups were Pashtuns.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1973: Zahir Shah is overthrown by his cousin Sardar Mohammad Daoud, a Pashtun. Daoud abolishes the monarchy and proclaims Afghanistan as a republic with himself as president. His efforts to bring about social and economic reforms were unsuccessful.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1978: The communist coup, a.k.a. the April Revolution, takes place. The coup takes place because Daoud wanted to reduce Soviet influence. As a result, the PDPA murdered Daoud and his family. Taraki, a PDPA leader, takes power and employs a Marxist government.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">October 1979: Taraki is exectued and Amin, Afghanistan's prime minister and the other Khalq faction leader, becomes the new president. Amin had independent and nationalist tendencies.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">December 1979: The Soviets see Amin's tendencies as a threat and therefore kill Amin. The Soviets invade Afghanistan and Karmal, leader of the Parcham faction of the PDPA and an easily influenced man, becomes Afghanistan's new leader.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1980: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">Anti-regime resistance intensifies with various Mujahideen groups fighting Soviet forces. The United States, Pakistan, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia supply these groups with money and arms.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">Mujahideens were originally formed to fight the Soviet government. They have strong Islamic beliefs.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px;">1982: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px;"> Millions of Afghans flee from the war to Pakistan and Iran.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 20px;">1985: Resistance: Islamic fighters known as Mujahedeen intesify their resistance to the government and Soviet occupation. The U.S. provides financial backing to their cause in 1986 supplies them with Stinger missiles, enabling Mujahedeen to shoot down Soviet helicopters.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1986: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;"> Dr. Mohammad Najibullah replaces Karmal as leader.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">Najibullah was a member of the PDPA's Parcham faction. In 1980, he as appointed the head of the KHAD, the secret police.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1988: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">Osama bin Laden and 15 Islamists form al-Qaida ("the base") to continue their holy war against the Soviets. They also begin to shift their focus to the United States, their main obstacle to the establishment of a state based on Islam.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1989: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;"> The United States, Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union sign peace accords in Geneva, which guarantees Afghan independence and the withdrawal of the Soviet troops. The Mujahadeen continue their resistance against communist president, Najibullah.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1992: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;"> The Mujahadeen and other rebel groups storm Kabul and remove Najibullah from power.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">1995: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;"> The Taliban promises peace to the Afghans and rises to power. They enforce many rules upon the Afghani people. The Taliban formed because they did not like the doings of the Mujahadeens. Although the Taliban do not like the Mujahadeens, the Taliban are Muslims too.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">The Taliban outlawed the cultivation of poppies for the opium trade, cracked down on crime, and curtailed the education and employment of women. Women were required to be fully veiled and were not allowed to be outside by themselves.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> 1995-1999: More than a million Afghans flee to Pakistan.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">1996: The Taliban seize control and introduce extreme Islmaic law, banning women from work and using brutal punishments like stoning to death and amputations.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">September 2001: Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban execute their plan of terrorist attacks on the U.S. The U.S. and its allies begin attack on Afghanistan. Soon after, the Taliban are taken out of power.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">October-December 2001: The US and Britain launch air strikes in Afghanistan after the Taliban refuse to hand over bin Laden. Opposition forces seize most major cities including Kabul and the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">2002: A Grand Council made of tribal leaders select Pashtun tribal leader Hamid Karzai to be the acting president of Afghanistan.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">2004: A new consitution is implemented in Afghanistan. Karzai becomes Afghanistan's first democratically elected president.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">2005: 64 suicide attacks, killing 181 people
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">2006: NATO takes over military operations in Afghanistan to try gain government control over the Taliban's teritories.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">2007: Mullah Dadullah, a Talibani military leader is killed while fighting U.S. and Afghan soldiers.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">NATO and Afghan troops launch Operation Achilles, their largest offensive against the Tailban in the country's south.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">A bomber targets a parliamentary delgation in Baghlan. More than 40 people die in the country's worst suicide attack so far.
 * <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">2008-2010: Allies send more soldiers to Afghanistan.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 35px;">Examples of Afghani history seen in //the Kite Runner//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">Both were ruled by Britain.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">Both had civil wars due to the existance of groups with differing views on government.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">Many leaders over the years.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">Both have new governements in place.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">"In it, I read that my people, the Pashtuns, had persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had 'quelled them with unspeakable violence.' " (pg 9)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">"my people [the Pashtuns] had killed the Hazaras, driven them from their lands, burned their homes, and sold their women." (pg 9)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 23px; line-height: 35px;">The Pashtuns were always on the top, politically and socially, which is seen in Afghanistan's history.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> "Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi'a" (pg 9)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> "Afghanistan is the land of Pastuns." - Assef (pg 40)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> It's evident a strong sense of racism exists in the Afghani community.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> "Daoud Khan had ended the king's forty-year reign with a bloodless coup" (pg 36)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> "When the Taliban rolled in and kicked the Alliance out of Kabul, I actually danced on that street," Rahim Khan said. (pg 200)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> The Afghani's believed the Taliban were there to solve everything when they took over.

<span style="color: #b4b40e; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 170%;">Works Cited

BBC News. (2008, November 21). Afghanistan’s turbulent history. Retrieved from []

BBC News. (2010, February 13). Afghanistan – timeline. Retrieved from []

Cable News Network. (2001, October 23). Backgrounder: Afghanistan’s struggles have long history. Retrieved from []

Dewing, Michael. (2007, October 9). Afghanistan: history and system of government. Retrieved from []