(Major World Leaders) Anne M. Todd-Hamid Karzai (2003)

Modern World Leaders
Hamid Karzai

Tony Blair
George W. Bush
Hugo Chvez
Jacques Chirac
Hamid Karzai
Hosni Mubarak
Pervez Musharraf
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope John Paul II
Vladimir Putin
The Saudi Royal Family
Ariel Sharon
Viktor Yushchenko
Hamid Karzai
Dennis Abrams
Hamid Karzai
Copyright 2007 by Infobase Publishing

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1. Karzai, Hamid, 1957- 2. AfghanistanPolitics and government20013. PresidentsAfghanistanBiography. I. Title.
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Table of Contents
Foreword: On Leadership
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
A New Beginning
Roundabout of the Ancient World
A Battle for Influence
A Time of Turmoil
Resistance
Taliban Rule
9/11 Changes Everything
Rebuilding a Nation
100
Chronology
115
Bibliography
119
Further Reading
121
Index
123
12
18
30
45
62
80
89
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
On Leadership
eadership, it may be said, is really what makes the world

go round. Love no doubt smoothes the passage; but love
is a private transaction between consenting adults. Leadership is a public transaction with history. The idea of leadership affirms the capacity of individuals to move, inspire, and
mobilize masses of people so that they act together in pursuit
of an end. Sometimes leadership serves good purposes, sometimes bad; but whether the end is benign or evil, great leaders
are those men and women who leave their personal stamp
on history.
Now, the very concept of leadership implies the proposition
that individuals can make a difference. This proposition has never
been universally accepted. From classical times to the present day,
eminent thinkers have regarded individuals as no more than the
agents and pawns of larger forces, whether the gods and goddesses
of the ancient world or, in the modern era, race, class, nation, the
dialectic, the will of the people, the spirit of the times, history itself.
Against such forces, the individual dwindles into insignificance.
So contends the thesis of historical determinism. Tolstoys
great novel War and Peace offers a famous statement of the case.
Why, Tolstoy asked, did millions of men in the Napoleonic Wars,
denying their human feelings and their common sense, move
back and forth across Europe slaughtering their fellows? The
war, Tolstoy answered, was bound to happen simply because
it was bound to happen. All prior history determined it. As for
leaders, they, Tolstoy said, are but the labels that serve to give
a name to an end and, like labels, they have the least possible
ON LEADERSHIP
connection with the event. The greater the leader, the more
conspicuous the inevitability and the predestination of every act
he commits. The leader, said Tolstoy, is the slave of history.
Determinism takes many forms. Marxism is the determinism of class. Nazism the determinism of race. But the idea of
men and women as the slaves of history runs athwart the deepest human instincts. Rigid determinism abolishes the idea of
human freedomthe assumption of free choice that underlies
every move we make, every word we speak, every thought we
think. It abolishes the idea of human responsibility, since it is
manifestly unfair to reward or punish people for actions that are
by definition beyond their control. No one can live consistently
by any deterministic creed. The Marxist states prove this themselves by their extreme susceptibility to the cult of leadership.
More than that, history refutes the idea that individuals make
no difference. In December 1931, a British politician crossing Fifth
Avenue in New York City between 76th and 77th streets around
10:30 p.m. looked in the wrong direction and was knocked down
by an automobilea moment, he later recalled, of a man aghast,
a world aglare: I do not understand why I was not broken like an
eggshell or squashed like a gooseberry. Fourteen months later an
American politician, sitting in an open car in Miami, Florida, was
fired on by an assassin; the man beside him was hit. Those who
believe that individuals make no difference to history might well
ponder whether the next two decades would have been the same
had Mario Constasinos car killed Winston Churchill in 1931
and Giuseppe Zangaras bullet killed Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.
Suppose, in addition, that Lenin had died of typhus in Siberia in
1895 and that Hitler had been killed on the western front in 1916.
What would the twentieth century have looked like now?
For better or for worse, individuals do make a difference.
The notion that a people can run itself and its affairs anonymously, wrote the philosopher William James, is now well
known to be the silliest of absurdities. Mankind does nothing
save through initiatives on the part of inventors, great or small,
FOREWORD
and imitation by the rest of usthese are the sole factors in
human progress. Individuals of genius show the way, and set the
patterns, which common people then adopt and follow.
Leadership, James suggests, means leadership in thought as
well as in action. In the long run, leaders in thought may well make
the greater difference to the world. The ideas of economists and
political philosophers, both when they are right and when they
are wrong, wrote John Maynard Keynes, are more powerful than
is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.
Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from
any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct
economist. . . . The power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated
compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas.
But, as Woodrow Wilson once said, Those only are leaders of men, in the general eye, who lead in action. . . . It is at
their hands that new thought gets its translation into the crude
language of deeds. Leaders in thought often invent in solitude
and obscurity, leaving to later generations the tasks of imitation.
Leaders in actionthe leaders portrayed in this serieshave to
be effective in their own time.
And they cannot be effective by themselves. They must act
in response to the rhythms of their age. Their genius must be
adapted, in a phrase from William James, to the receptivities
of the moment. Leaders are useless without followers. There
goes the mob, said the French politician, hearing a clamor in
the streets. I am their leader. I must follow them. Great leaders turn the inchoate emotions of the mob to purposes of their
own. They seize on the opportunities of their time, the hopes,
fears, frustrations, crises, potentialities. They succeed when
events have prepared the way for them, when the community is
awaiting to be aroused, when they can provide the clarifying and
organizing ideas. Leadership completes the circuit between the
individual and the mass and thereby alters history.
It may alter history for better or for worse. Leaders have
been responsible for the most extravagant follies and most
ON LEADERSHIP
monstrous crimes that have beset suffering humanity. They
have also been vital in such gains as humanity has made in individual freedom, religious and racial tolerance, social justice, and
respect for human rights.
There is no sure way to tell in advance who is going to lead
for good and who for evil. But a glance at the gallery of men and
women in Modern World Leaders suggests some useful tests.
One test is this: Do leaders lead by force or by persuasion? By
command or by consent? Through most of history leadership was
exercised by the divine right of authority. The duty of followers
was to defer and to obey. Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but
to do and die. On occasion, as with the so-called enlightened
despots of the eighteenth century in Europe, absolutist leadership was animated by humane purposes. More often, absolutism
nourished the passion for domination, land, gold, and conquest
and resulted in tyranny.
The great revolution of modern times has been the revolution of equality. Perhaps no form of government, wrote the
British historian James Bryce in his study of the United States,
The American Commonwealth, needs great leaders so much as
democracy. The idea that all people should be equal in their legal
condition has undermined the old structure of authority, hierarchy, and deference. The revolution of equality has had two contrary effects on the nature of leadership. For equality, as Alexis de
Tocqueville pointed out in his great study Democracy in America,
might mean equality in servitude as well as equality in freedom.
I know of only two methods of establishing equality in
the political world, Tocqueville wrote. Rights must be given
to every citizen, or none at all to anyone . . . save one, who is
the master of all. There was no middle ground between the
sovereignty of all and the absolute power of one man. In his
astonishing prediction of twentieth-century totalitarian dictatorship, Tocqueville explained how the revolution of equality
could lead to the Fhrerprinzip and more terrible absolutism
than the world had ever known.
10
FOREWORD
But when rights are given to every citizen and the sovereignty of all is established, the problem of leadership takes a
new form, becomes more exacting than ever before. It is easy to
issue commands and enforce them by the rope and the stake,
the concentration camp and the gulag. It is much harder to use
argument and achievement to overcome opposition and win
consent. The Founding Fathers of the United States understood
the difficulty. They believed that history had given them the
opportunity to decide, as Alexander Hamilton wrote in the first
Federalist Paper, whether men are indeed capable of basing government on reflection and choice, or whether they are forever
destined to depend . . . on accident and force.
Government by reflection and choice called for a new style
of leadership and a new quality of followership. It required
leaders to be responsive to popular concerns, and it required
followers to be active and informed participants in the process. Democracy does not eliminate emotion from politics;
sometimes it fosters demagoguery; but it is confident that, as
the greatest of democratic leaders put it, you cannot fool all of
the people all of the time. It measures leadership by results and
retires those who overreach or falter or fail.
It is true that in the long run despots are measured by results
too. But they can postpone the day of judgment, sometimes
indefinitely, and in the meantime they can do infinite harm. It
is also true that democracy is no guarantee of virtue and intelligence in government, for the voice of the people is not necessarily the voice of God. But democracy, by assuring the right
of opposition, offers built-in resistance to the evils inherent in
absolutism. As the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr summed it up,
Mans capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but mans
inclination to justice makes democracy necessary.
A second test for leadership is the end for which power
is sought. When leaders have as their goal the supremacy of a
master race or the promotion of totalitarian revolution or the
acquisition and exploitation of colonies or the protection of
ON LEADERSHIP
greed and privilege or the preservation of personal power, it is
likely that their leadership will do little to advance the cause of
humanity. When their goal is the abolition of slavery, the liberation of women, the enlargement of opportunity for the poor
and powerless, the extension of equal rights to racial minorities, the defense of the freedoms of expression and opposition,
it is likely that their leadership will increase the sum of human
liberty and welfare.
Leaders have done great harm to the world. They have also
conferred great benefits. You will find both sorts in this series.
Even good leaders must be regarded with a certain wariness.
Leaders are not demigods; they put on their trousers one leg
after another just like ordinary mortals. No leader is infallible, and every leader needs to be reminded of this at regular
intervals. Irreverence irritates leaders but is their salvation.
Unquestioning submission corrupts leaders and demeans followers. Making a cult of a leader is always a mistake. Fortunately
hero worship generates its own antidote. Every hero, said
Emerson, becomes a bore at last.
The single benefit the great leaders confer is to embolden the
rest of us to live according to our own best selves, to be active,
insistent, and resolute in affirming our own sense of things.
For great leaders attest to the reality of human freedom against
the supposed inevitabilities of history. And they attest to the
wisdom and power that may lie within the most unlikely of us,
which is why Abraham Lincoln remains the supreme example
of great leadership. A great leader, said Emerson, exhibits new
possibilities to all humanity. We feed on genius. . . . Great men
exist that there may be greater men.
Great leaders, in short, justify themselves by emancipating
and empowering their followers. So humanity struggles to master its destiny, remembering with Alexis de Tocqueville: It is
true that around every man a fatal circle is traced beyond which
he cannot pass; but within the wide verge of that circle he is
powerful and free; as it is with man, so with communities.
11
C H A P T E R
A New
Beginning
Tuesday, December 7, 2004, was a cold, overcast morning in Kabul,
the capital city of Afghanistan. But for 46-year-old Hamid

Karzai and the people of Afghanistan, it was a day bright with
hope and promise. Karzai was about to be inaugurated as the
first democratically elected president in Afghanistans history.
It was a true milestone for the Afghan people.
As head of the powerful Popolzai subtribe, the group that
had provided most of Afghanistans leaders since the 1770s,
Karzai was born to be a leader, and actually had been serving
as the countrys leader since December of 2001. He first served
as chairman of the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) for a sixmonth period. Then, he was elected president by a nationwide
loya jirga (a traditional meeting of Afghanistans tribal leaders,
representing every Afghan ethnic group). But today was different. Previously, Karzai had been named or appointed president
12
A New Beginning
On October 9, 2004, Hamid Karzai was elected president of Afghanistan,

becoming the first-ever democratically elected Afghan leader. In December of
that year, Karzai was officially sworn in as president, an event that indicated a
new beginning for the once-unstable nation. Above, Karzai is photographed in
the capital city of Kabul, as he casts his ballot in the presidential election.
13
14
HAMID KARZAI
by a select group of people. This time, hed been elected to the
presidency by the entire nation. All eyes were upon him. The
hopes and dreams of his exhausted and war-torn nation rested
on his shoulders.
The use of the clichd phrase war-torn is, in fact, a bit
of an understatement. Hamid Karzai was about to be inaugurated as the first elected president of a nation on the verge of
collapse. Years of misrule, war, and chaos had helped to make
Afghanistan one of the poorest nations on the planet, with up
to two-thirds of the population living on less than two dollars a
day. Millions of its citizens were living as refugees. Its cities had
been heavily bombed. In the countryside, landmines were an
ever-present danger. And all throughout the country, criminals
and warlords ruled.
Chaotic is a good word to describe Afghanistans recent
political history. Since 1973 alone, it had seen its national
leader deposed (1973), executed (1978), executed (1979),
removed (1987), overthrown (1992), overthrown (1996), and
finally, overthrown (2001).
Afghanistan had been invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979.
This brought about a 10-year revolt by the mujahideen (often
defined as holy warriors) and forced nearly 5 million Afghans
to flee their homes and become refugees in the neighboring
countries of Iran and Pakistan. Following the Soviet defeat and
withdrawal in 1999, six years of near-chaos followed, as various
mujahideen factions, tribal groups, and warlords all fought and
jockeyed for power. This turmoil led directly to the rise of the
infamous Taliban.
With its promises to bring order and stability to Afghanistan,
the Taliban seized power in 1996, eventually controlling up to
90 percent of the country. (The remaining 10 percent, mostly
the northeast section of the country, was largely controlled by
the Northern Alliance.) As soon as it took power though, the
Taliban imposed its strict interpretation of Islamic law on the
country, banning, among other things, television and music,
A New Beginning
childrens toys, kite flying, and the Internet. The Taliban also
made it illegal for women to go to school, to work, to show
their ankles, to wear makeup, or even to laugh in public. In
addition, the Taliban gave aid and refuge to numerous terrorist organizations, including Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.
The terrorist attacks by al Qaeda against the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, spelled the
beginning of the end for the Taliban. U.S. and allied military
action, along with the opposition forces of the Northern
Alliance quickly drove the Taliban from power, leading ultimately to Hamid Karzai winning Afghanistans first presidential elections, on October 9, 2004.
So it was that at 11:30 on the morning of December
7, 2004, Hamid Karzai entered the reception hall of the
presidential palace. There he received a tumultuous standing ovation from 600 invited guests. Government officials,
bearded tribal elders in traditional turbans, as well as foreign
guests cheered the man whom they saw as the best hope of
the Afghan nation. Karzai was accompanied into the hall
by Mohammed Zahir Shah, 90 years old, the former king of
Afghanistan whose ouster in 1973 had begun the nearly 30
years of unfortunate history that followed.
After placing his right hand on the holy Koran and taking
the oath of office, Karzai gave his 15-minute inaugural address.
Vowing to disarm regional militias, stomp out corruption, conduct fair parliamentary elections in 2005, and eliminate poppy
cultivation (poppy cultivation had made Afghanistan the
worlds leading opium producer), Karzai went on to acknowledge the past, but also to look hopefully to the future:
Every vote that was cast in the elections was a vote for
Afghanistan whether I received it or another candidate. I
am confident and proud that this nation is determined to
rebuild Afghanistan and build it fast; to live in security, and
to stand on its own feet.
15
16
HAMID KARZAI
On December 7, 2004, newly elected Afghan president Hamid Karzai (left), shakes
hands with Afghan Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari (right) during
his inauguration. Many public officials attended this memorable ceremony, including Afghanistans former king, Zahir Shah, and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
As Merajuddin Patan, the governor of Khost province

said in an interview shortly before the ceremony, This is the
birth of our nation. I believe the real history of Afghanistan
modern historywill begin with this.
A New Beginning
Karzais election and inauguration may have spelled a new
beginning for Afghanistan, but a country can never completely
break away from its past. A nation, in effect, is its past. All its
history, the good as well as the bad, is what makes a nation what
it is. And, Afghanistans history has made Hamid Karzai who
he is. People are the products of their country: Its history and
culture help make them who they are. (Compare, for example,
George W. Bush of the United States and Vladimir Putin of
Russia. Each man is very much a product of his countrys history and culture.) So to explain and to hope to understand the
life of Hamid Karzai, we also have to learn about the history
and culture of Afghanistan. We have to try to understand how
it became the nation that gave rise to both the Taliban and
Hamid Karzai. To do that, well have to go over several thousand years of Afghan history and learn how geography helped
make Afghanistan the country it is today. Well have to start at
the beginning.
17
C H A P T E R
Roundabout
of the
Ancient World
Geography is destiny. Where a country is located and who its
neighbors are go a long way toward determining its history, culture, and, eventually, what a country ultimately becomes. Take
the United States, for example. It is blessed with long, navigable
rivers (the Mississippi for one) that provide easy transportation
of goods and people. With only one major mountain range (the
Rockies) its relatively easy to travel from one section of the
county to another. The nations relatively temperate climate,
rich soil, and abundant water make it an extraordinarily fertile
area for a wide range of agriculture. It is a land rich in natural
resources. Its Atlantic and Pacific coasts allow for easy shipping
with both Europe and Asia. Yet, until 9/11, those same oceans
and the nations distance from Europe and Asia also helped
keep the U.S. mainland safe from foreign threat. This rich and
18

secure environment allowed the United States to develop into
a world superpower.
Now consider Afghanistan. Its rivers are considered mostly
unnavigable. The longest river is the Helmand, running southwest across the country from the Hindu Kush to the Iranian
border. Its most famous river, the Kabul, runs along the capital
and leads through the Khyber Pass (the most famous pass in the
Hindu Kush mountain range), on to Pakistan and the Indian
subcontinent. The country is crisscrossed with mountains. In
fact, Afghanistans high mountain ranges have served through
the centuries to make transportation and communication difficult, cutting off one group from another. This in turn led to a
strong tribal culture, or tribalism. Tribalism means a sense of
loyalty or connection to ones group or tribe, rather than to the
nation as a whole. This culture has made unifying and ruling
the country difficult at best. (It also has made it difficult for any
invaders to gain long-term control of the country.)
The country has a continental climate, meaning it has hot,
dry summers and cold winters. There are some fertile mountain
valleys in the eastern part of the country, as well as plains and
grasslands in the north. But deserts and semideserts abound in
the west and southwest. Despite the scarcity of fertile ground,
the majority of the population still earns its keep from the land,
by farming (mostly growing grains such as wheat, although
cotton, fruit, and poppies for opium are grown as well), or by
raising goats and sheep.
Its a difficult existence. Water, even in the greenest area,
is scarce, and severe droughts are frequent. In the center and
northeast sections of the country, famine caused by drought
has not been an uncommon occurrence. Even grazing land can
be so scarce that approximately 2.5 million people, known as
the Kuchis, live as nomads. They survive by moving themselves
and their flocks from the uplands to the plains in search of
vegetation. Most of the land is, in fact, so dry and barren that
Martin Ewans, in his book Afghanistan: A Short History of its
19
20
HAMID KARZAI
People and Politics, described the landscape thusly: From the
air it resembles a vast moonscape, with only the occasional
green of an oasis or a narrow patch of vegetation snaking along
a valley.
Geographically, Afghanistan, roughly the size of Texas, is
a completely landlocked country, with no access to the sea.
It is bordered on the north by the former Soviet republics of
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Along the far northeast section of the country is a 50-mile (80-kilometer) border
with China. From there runs the Durand Line, the border that
divides Afghanistan from Pakistan. This border goes from
southwest to west, until it finally meets the Iranian border,
which is the western border of Afghanistan.
The historian Arnold Toynbee described the region where
Afghanistan is situated as the roundabout of the ancient
world. Over the centuries, waves of migrating people have
passed through the region, each of them leaving their ethnic
and cultural imprint. In more modern times, many of the
worlds great armies have passed through the area as well.
Sometimes these armies managed to gain temporary control.
But no nation has ever, for long, been able to control and subdue the fierce independence of the Afghan people.
The People of Afghanistan

The people themselves come from many different ethnic
groups, although there are only four major ones. The Pashtuns
are the majority, estimated to be approximately 50 percent of
the population. (Hamid Karzai himself is Pashtun.) Some
historians trace the origins of the Pashtuns to the Indo-Aryan
invasions of India. Others believe they are descendents of the
Hun invaders of the fifth century a.d.
The Pashtuns are divided into different tribes. The two
major tribes are the Durrani (who were formerly known as
the Abdalis) and the Ghilzai. Both of these tribes are further
subdivided into smaller subtribes, and then into even smaller
Afghan nomads called Kuchis travel toward Lowgar, an eastern Afghan

province, on March 26, 2002. The Kuchis are the nomadic sect of
Pashtuns, an ethnic group that makes up approximately 50 percent of
Afghanistans population. Due to a history of war and ethnic conflict,
approximately 200,000 Kuchis have been displaced, unable to continue
their migratory lifestyle.
21
22
HAMID KARZAI
clans. For example, the Durrani are divided into nine different
subtribes. The Popolzai subtribe, which Hamid Karzai and his
family are from, contains the Saddozai clan, from which came
Ahmad Shaw, the first ruler of the first dynasty of rulers of
modern Afghanistan. To illustrate how far back the ties between
the Popolzai and the rulers of Afghanistan goconsider this.
In 1761, King Ahmad Shaw Durrani received a gift of land
where he built the city of Kandahar. That gift of land came
from the Popolzai.
All Pashtuns refer to themselves as Afghans and their language as Afghan. But the members of the other ethnic groups
refer to themselves by their group name first, and as Afghans
second, if at all. The Pashtuns live primarily in the south and
east of the country, while an equal number (if not actually
greater), live on the other side of the Durand Line, in the frontier areas of Pakistan. (These are the very areas where Osama
bin Laden is purported to be hiding.)
The Pashtuns, like 99 percent of all Afghans, are Muslim.
They also hold to a strict tribal code of conduct, called the
Pushtoonwali. This code establishes tribal obligations for sanctuary (nanawati), hospitality (melmastia), and revenge (badal).
The obligatory call for revenge, whether for matters of honor,
or personal or financial disputes, has meant that vendettas and
fighting have been a constant theme in Pashtun life.
After the Pashtuns, the next most numerous group is the
Tajiks, at approximately 20 percent of the population. They are
commonly believed to be of Persian origin and are scattered
throughout the country, but they tend to be concentrated in
the cities as traders and artisans.
In the northern part of the country are the Uzbeks. They
share similar ethnic origins with the peoples who live directly
across the northern border in the former Soviet states. The
Uzbeks are mainly farmers and breeders of horses and sheep.
Along with the Tajiks, they have a much weaker sense of tribal
identity than the Pashtuns.
[Afghanistan] has long been a

highway of conquest between
west, central, and southern Asia.
The final major group is the Hazaras, who inhabit the
mountainous areas of central Afghanistan. It was commonly
believed that the Hazaras were descendants of Genghis Khans
soldiers. But some historians now believe that they are the
descendants of earlier migrations from central Asia. They are
often sheep breeders, although some have moved into the cities. And, unlike the vast majority of Afghanistans Muslims,
who are Sunni, the Hazaras are Shiite. (Sunnism and Shiism
are the two major branches of Islam; Sunni are in the majority
worldwide.)
Early Afghan History

In any case, archaeological evidence shows that the region
where modern-day Afghanistan now exists has been inhabited
since the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. Agriculture was probably practiced there as long as 10,000 years ago. Precious stones
like lapis lazuli and minerals like tin appear to have been traded
from Afghanistan through the ancient world. So, even from the
earliest times, the regions commercial links spread both to the
west and east.
As Martin Ewans points out, however, due to its prime
location along the trade routes, it has long been a highway of
conquest between west, central, and southern Asia. The country itself has long been incorporated into numerous empires,
as streams of migrations and invasions have moved into and
through it.
Afghanistan first appears in recorded history in the sixth
century b.c. It was then that the Persian monarchs Cyrus the
Great and his son Darius conquered these areas at the beginning of the century. Persian rule continued until Alexander of
23
24
HAMID KARZAI
The first recorded rulers of Afghanistan were Persian monarchs Cyrus the Great
and his son Darius I. In 331 b.c., Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, defeated
Darius III and conquered the Persian Empire in the Battle of Guagamela. In the
painting above, Darius III engages in battle.
Macedonia, more commonly known as Alexander the Great,

conquered the region.
In 330 b.c., Alexander conquered the area on his march
of conquest toward India. As he advanced, he founded cities,

including Alexandria Ariana near what is now Herat, and
what he considered his most remote city, Alexandria-Eschate
(Alexandria at the end of the world). After conquering the
area, Alexander moved toward, and then into what is now
India. Eventually though, tired of war, his troops rebelled.
Alexander was forced to return to Greece, but he died along the
way, in Babylon, in 323.
Following Alexanders occupation, the Hellenic (Greek)
states of the Seleucids and then the Bactrians controlled the
area. At the same time, the Indian Marayan Empire, under
its great king Asoka, moved into the southern part of the
region, introducing Buddhism before being beaten back by the
Bactrians. The Bactrians, in turn, fell to the Parthians and various rebellious tribes (primarily the Saka).
Up until this point, the migrations and invasions had
primarily been from the east to the west, but the area that
would become Afghanistan now saw the first great migrations
of people out of central Asia. Why did these people suddenly
begin migrating? Historians speculate that climate changes
may have caused their traditional pasturelands to dry up. Also,
with the recent construction of the Great Wall of China, they
were unable to move their flocks to the east.
So, during the first and second centuries of what is known
as the Christian era, the Yueh-chih, or the Kushans, as they
came to be known, extended their rule over a large part of
India, through Afghanistan, and north to the Caspian and Aral
seas. Their great king, Kanishki, built a northern capital of his
empire, near what is Peshawar. During this time, trade with the
Mideast revived, along with the Silk Route east to China.
In a largely forgotten part of the areas history, Buddhism
was once the dominant religion of the region. Monasteries
flourished as sites of education. Beautiful statues were built
in a combination of Greek and Buddhist styles known as
Gandharan. Two of the most famous and spectacular examples
of this art were the sandstone images of Buddha at Bamiyan.
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HAMID KARZAI
Carved into the side of a cliff in the third century, the taller
statue stood 175 feet (53 meters) high, the second one 120 feet
(36.5 meters). These statues, which withstood nearly 2,000
years of wind, sand, and time, were destroyed by the Taliban in
March 2001.
The Kushan Empire lasted for nearly five centuries, until it
began to break up into smaller, arguing dynasties. This left them
fragmented and unable to resist the invasion of the White Huns
in the fifth century. Previous invaders had moved through the
country, adjusting themselves to what was already there. Not so
the Huns. They went on a war of destruction, decimating the
cities and killing everyone in their path. They also destroyed the
Buddhist culture, which never recovered.
The White Huns, also known as the Ephthalites, ruled for
almost 100 years. They in turn were defeated by a combined
army of the Sassanids and the Turkish people of central Asia.
Thats how things stood until the middle of the seventh century. It was then that a major change was to take place in the
region. Arab armies were about to introduce Islam.
The Introduction of Islam

The first Arab forays into the country were rather tentative,
with important battles against the Sassanids in 637 and 642. By
the year 650, they were in control of the major cities of Herat
and Balkh. Their forward movement into Afghanistan was
slow. It wasnt until the Ghaznavid Dynasty (9621149) that
Islam was firmly established throughout the region.
The Ghaznavid Empire was founded by a local Turkic
ruler from Ghazni. His name was Yamin ul-Dawlah Mahmud,
and his empire ultimately expanded over a huge area from
Kurdistan to northern India. The empire weakened somewhat after the death of its greatest ruler, Mahmud (998
1030), and was supplanted by the Ghorids, who sacked the
city of Ghazni in 1150 and moved their capital to Herat. This
empire, too, would not last. The years 12191221 saw the

invasion of the Mongol hordes under their ruthless leader,
Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan was one of the most brilliant military commanders the world has ever seen. At its peak, his empire ranged
from the China Sea all the way west to Hungary, and from
northern Siberia to the Indian subcontinent. What he brought
to Afghanistan was little short of absolute destruction.
Razing whole cities, massacring all of their inhabitants, he
left nothing but devastation in his path. As an example, he initially treated the city of Herat relatively well, when it first surrendered to him. After a rebellion six months later, every one
of its inhabitants, man, woman and child, were executeda
process that took seven days. Throughout the country he tore
down what were considered some of the worlds most beautiful
mosques. He also destroyed irrigation systems, turning once
fertile land into desert. He left in his wake an Afghanistan that
was heavily depopulated, physically devastated, and in economic ruin.
Following the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, most of
Afghanistan came under the rule of his son, Jaghati, whose
descendents ruled from the cities of Kabul and Ghazni. By 1364
though, the western part of the region had fallen under the
control of the dreaded Turko-Mongul ruler Tamerlane.
Tamerlanes name is a corruption of Timur-i-Leng, meaning Timur the Lame. He claimed (apparently falsely) to be a
descendant of the great Genghis Khan himself. By 1400, he
had extended his empire throughout Afghanistan and on into
India. Although not an actual descendant, Tamerlane was
nearly as bloodthirsty as Genghis himself. He was known for
taking the heads of those he had massacred and piling them up
into pyramids.
His empire, too, began to collapse after his death in 1405.
By 1504, Uzbeki-born Babur had established a new empire
based in Kabul. Babur was a descendant of both Genghis Khan
and Tamerlane. His empire expanded into south Asia in 1525.
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HAMID KARZAI
In 1219, mongol warrior Genghis Khan invaded and destroyed the buildings,
mosques, resources, and people in Afghanistan. A detail of Genghis Khan and his
sons is shown above.
This established what is known as the Mughal Empire through

what is now Pakistan and northern India by the year 1527. As
Baburs empire moved to the east and south, the Safavids of
Persia moved in from the west, challenging Mughal rule. As
would occur again and again through its history, Afghanistan
found itself trapped between two rival superpowers. For the
next hundred years, the Persians and the Mughals fought over
Afghanistan, with the Persians finally gaining control by the
mid-seventeenth century.
Local Ghilzai Pashtun tribesmen, led by Khan Nashir, overthrew Safavid rule. Under the Hotaki Dynasty, they briefly controlled even Persia itself from 17221736. The Persians fought
back though, and control of the area reverted back to Persia
under the rule of Nadir Shah (17361747).

In 1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated, quite possibly by one
of his military officers, Ahmad Shah Abdali, Pashtun of the
Abdali tribe. He called for a loya jirga to take place in Kandahar,
where in 1747, Ahmad Shah (who changed his last name to
Durrani, meaning pearl of pearls) was named the new ruler
by the assembled tribal leaders.
The Persian Empire was in disarray following the death of
Nadir Shah. The Mughal Empire was in a weakened state. This
gave Ahmed Shah all the opportunity he needed. The Durrani
Empire quickly expanded out of the traditional Pashtun territories and ultimately included all of what is todays Afghanistan,
plus a portion of Persia (todays Iran), and all of Pakistan and
Kashmir. With that, the modern nation-state of Afghanistan
was established.
29
C H A P T E R
A Battle
for Influence
At its peak, the Durrani empire was one of the largest Islamic
empires in the world. Perhaps most significant, Ahmed Shah

had been able to unite all the Afghan tribes into one nation.
This achievement though, was short lived.
After Ahmad Shahs death in 1772, his descendants were
unable to hold his empire together. They ruled so ineptly, that
in only 50 years, much of the land that had been conquered
was lost to rival regional powers. The country itself was soon
wracked with civil war, as his son, Timur Shah, and then
Timurs 20 sons, including Shah Shuja, fought each other for
control of the throne. From 1818 until 1826, Afghanistan splintered into smaller and smaller pieces and finally ceased to exist
as a single unified nation.
The year 1826 saw the rise of Dost Mohammed, who
brought some semblance of order to the area. With him, the
Mohammedzai subtribe of the Pashtuns took control. But
30
A Battle for influence

another period of foreign influence in Afghanistan was about
to begin. This period is known to Westerners as the Great
Game. To the Afghans though, it was anything but a game.
The Great Game

At this time, Afghanistans internal affairs were slowly becoming
more and more influenced by the areas two superpowers. These
were Czarist Russia to the north, and the British Empire to the
southeast in the Indian subcontinent. The British looked to the
Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan as a natural barrier to
any political invasion of India from the north.
For their part, the Russians were busily expanding their
empire to the south and east. They had absorbed several formerly independent states of central Asia into their empire.
Their main concern was about Britain gaining control in an
area they considered theirs to exploit.
Taking advantage of a seemingly weakened Afghanistan
(and convinced of Russian plans to do the same thing), British
armies in India actually invaded Afghanistan on two separate
occasions. The British hoped to install governments that
would be friendly to their interests, and not so friendly to
Russian interests. What would be best for Afghan interests was
not a topic of serious consideration.
The first attempt, now known as the First Anglo-Afghan
War, took place in 1839. Furious at the presence of a single
Russian diplomat in Kabul, the British used that as an excuse
to demand that Afghanistan end any and all contact with
either Russia or Persia. They also demanded that large areas of
Pashtun-controlled land (what is now northwest Pakistan) be
handed over to the British. Dost Mohammed agreed in principle to these terms, but nothing was ever put in writing. At
that point, it really didnt matter; the British were determined
to have their war.
The British goal was, as Lord Auckland, the governorgeneral of India put it, to raise up an insurmountable and, I
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HAMID KARZAI
hope, lasting barrier to all encroachments from the Westward,
and to establish the basis for the extension and maintenance
of British influence throughout Central Asia. To do so, Dost
Mohammed would have to be deposed and the former ruler,
Shah Shuja, enthroned as a British puppet.
In 1838, British troops set out from India for Afghanistan.
By August of 1839, the British controlled most major cities.
They then installed Shah Shuja as emir in Kabul, some 30 years
after he had previously been deposed. Dost Mohammed was
exiled to India.
It quickly became clear to the British that Shah Shuja was
unable to earn popular support. He could only be kept in
power by the long-term presence of British troops. To help
keep up military morale, British soldiers were encouraged to
bring their wives and families to Afghanistan. This further
enraged the Afghans, now convinced that the British were planning to stay permanently.
As it turned out, even British troops couldnt keep Shah
Shuja in power. By October of 1841, the tribes were unifying
in their support of Dost Mohammeds son, Mohammed Akbar
Khan. British heavy-handed rule further unified the Afghan
people, and an angry mob in Kabul murdered a senior British
official and his aides. The British chief representative to Kabul
tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement, but he too was killed by
a mob, and his disemboweled body was then paraded through
the streets of Kabul.
British troops garrisoned in Kabul, along with other officials and their families, some 16,000 in all, began what was
to be a negotiated, safe retreat out of Afghanistan. But as the
British marched south through the snowy mountain passes,
they were attacked by Ghilzai warriors. Legend has it that only
one person, a Dr. Boyden, survived the onslaught. Everyone
else, men, women and children, were allegedly killed in bitterly
cold, rugged terrain.
The truth is nearly as bad. A few survived to be brought
back to Kabul as prisoners of war. A mere 100 British were
Following British invasion, Afghan ruler and founder of the Barakzai Dynasty,
Dost Mahommad Khan, surrenders to Sir William Hay Macnaghten Bart, pictured above. Dost Mahommad Khan was held as a prisoner until 1843, when
Afghanistan regained its independence.
found the following year when the British Army of Retribution

reentered Kabul to rescue the prisoners. Along the way, the
Army of Retribution did find time to burn the Great Bazaar,
long considered one of the wonders of central Asia. They also
found the time to visit the village of Istalif, where they killed
all the adult males, raped and killed many of the women, and
destroyed buildings and trees.
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HAMID KARZAI
The destruction in Afghanistan caused by the war was
immense, as was the damage to the Afghan psyche. The Afghans
had always been considered to be a friendly and tolerant people.
But the First Anglo-Afghan War changed that. The British (as
well as other foreigners) were now distrusted and considered
potential aggressors, as well as infidels and immoral people.
Xenophobia (a fear or distrust of foreigners or strangers) had
become an important part of the Afghan state of mind.
In 1843, after the annihilation of the British troops,
Afghanistan was once again independent. The exiled emir, Dost
Mohammed, returned to reclaim his throne. He ruled peacefully until his death in 1863 and remains one of the very few
Afghan leaders to die of natural causes. He was succeeded by
his third son, Sher Ali.
Sher Ali was offered arms and money from the British, but
no other aid. Russia, in an agreement with Britain, had agreed
to honor Afghanistans northern borders. But Britain offered
Sher Ali no guarantees of assistance in case of attack. Fear and
distrust led to 10 years of deteriorating relations between the
two nations.
In the summer of 1878, an uninvited Russian diplomatic mission arrived in Kabul. Outraged, the British demanded that the
Afghans receive a British mission as well. The emir refused, but a
mission was sent anyway. The mission was turned back militarily as it approached the Khyber Pass. This was just the excuse the
British needed to start the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
Forty thousand British troops entered Afghanistan at three
different points. Sher Ali attempted to plead in person to the
Russian czar for assistance but was unable to do so. He died in
the city of Mazar-e Sharif the following February.
With British troops occupying much of the country, Sher
Alis son and chosen successor, Yaqub Khan, was forced to
sign the Treaty of Gandamak in May of 1879. Yaqub gave up
control of Afghanistans foreign affairs to the British. British
representatives were installed in Kabul and other cities. The

British gained control of the Khyber Pass. Afghanistan gave up
its long-disputed frontier areas to the British. In return, the
Afghans were given nothing but an annual financial subsidy
and vague promises of assistance in case of foreign invasion.
Once again, the tribes rebelled against the foreign occupation. And once again, the entire British garrison in Kabul was
annihilated. By 1881, the British had once again had enough
and left. This time, though, they gained some territory. Also,
they placed on the throne the grandson of Dost Mohammed,
Abdur Rahman Khan, a man of such flexible political loyalties
that he was acceptable to the British, the Russians, and even the
Afghan people.
Afghanistan would remain a British protectorate until
1918. Abdur Rahman himself ruled until 1901, and, in doing
so, helped create the modern state of Afghanistan. He beat back
several attempts at rebellion. He helped to temporarily break
the tribal stranglehold on power by forcibly moving tribes from
one area of the country to another. He also created provincial
governorships along boundaries that did not coincide with traditional tribal lines, further weakening the tribes power.
Abdur Rahman also made the first tentative steps towards
modernization. He brought foreign physicians, engineers, geologists, and printers to Afghanistan. He brought in European
machinery and encouraged the building of small factories. He
also built some of the first roads in Afghanistan, which also
contributed to unifying the country.
It was during his reign that the treaty creating the Durand
Line was signed. This treaty established once and for all the
boundary between Afghanistan and British India. The Durand
Line cut through Pashtun tribal areas, splitting the population
between Afghanistan and British India (the area would later
become Pakistan after the Partition of 1947, dividing British
India into two nationsIndia and Pakistan.)
This border has held long-term ramifications, leading to
constant strife between Afghanistan and British India, and
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HAMID KARZAI
This border has held long-term

ramifications, leading to
constant strife between
Afghanistan and British India,
and later between Afghanistan
and Pakistan.
later between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even American foreign
policy would become enmeshed in this rugged mountainous
region.
At Abdur Rahmans death in 1901, there was a peaceful
succession of power to his son, Habibullah Khan. As Abdur
Rahman Khans eldest son, even as a child of a slave mother,
Habibullah had been groomed to power.
The power to run his countrys foreign affairs was still
out of his hands. In 1907, the last stage of the Great Game
ended without any Afghan participation. At the 1907 AngloRussian Convention, Russia conceded that Afghanistan was
outside of its sphere of influence. It further agreed that Russia
would negotiate directly with Britain on all matters relating to Afghanistan. For its part, Britain agreed that it would
not occupy any Afghan territory or interfere in its internal
domestic affairs.
The Reign of Amanullah

Habibullah Khan was assassinated while on a hunting trip on
February 20, 1919. He had not named a successor. But he had
left his third son, Amanullah Khan, in charge of Kabul. Because
Amanullah controlled both the national treasury and the army,
within a few months he had gained the support of most tribal
leaders. With their backing, he was able to establish control in
cities throughout the country.
Amanullahs 10-year reign was a period of dramatic change
in Afghanistan. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917,

Amanullah signed an agreement of aid with Vladimir Lenin
in May of 1919. Amanullah then declared independence from
Britain, and his armies launched a surprise attack against
British troops.
After the bombing of Kabul by the Royal Air Force (the
first aerial bombing in Afghanistans history) and a period of
border skirmishes ended in stalemate, the British conceded
Afghanistans independence. The 1919 Rawalpindi Agreement,
a temporary armistice agreement, gave Afghanistan, somewhat
ambiguously, self-determination in its foreign affairs.
In 1921, Britain and Afghanistan signed a second treaty,
guaranteeing Afghan sovereignty. However, the British would
not give way to Afghanistan on the Pashtun question, refusing
to turn over to Afghanistan control of the tribes on the British
side of the line. Since that was a point the Afghans insisted
upon, they considered the 1921 agreement to be only informal,
and not a permanent agreement.
In May of 1921, Afghanistan signed the first agreement
with a foreign country: a true Treaty of Friendship with the
Soviet Union. The Soviets promised to provide the struggling
nation financial support, technology, and military equipment. Amanullah was happy to receive the assistance. But he
quickly grew unhappy with the Soviet governments suppression of Muslims in the Soviet states on Afghanistans northern border.
Amanullah (who in 1926 gave up the title of emir for
that of king), soon embarked on an ambitious program of
modernization and Westernization. He established an air
force (equipped with Soviet-built planes and flown by Soviet
pilots). At the same time, he also managed to alienate many
in the army by taking away tribal control over who joined
the service. General Mohammad Nadir Khan, Amanullahs
minister of war, opposed this affront to tribal sensitivities and
left the inner circle of government to become Afghanistans
ambassador to France.
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HAMID KARZAI
If Amanullah had achieved his goals, Afghanistan would
have become a very different country from what it is today.
Under Amanullah, for the first time, a constitution was written, creating a secular, not a religious government. The new
constitution defined the relationship between religion and the
state. This meant that religion and Islamic law would be just
one aspect of the government, but not the foundation.
Amanullah also attempted to reform the legal system by
creating an independent judiciary to enforce secular (versus
tribal or Islamic) penal, civil, and commercial codes. He also
opened up secular education to both boys and girls and enacted
laws guaranteeing limited legal rights for women.
As might be expected in such a conservative country,
traditional Muslims were outraged at the proposed changes.
They felt that Islamic law, or sharia, should be the basis of all
law, and indeed of the Afghan government. They violently
opposed any attempts to create a secular government that
put the laws of man before what they considered to be the
laws of God. These reforms and others were imposed too
rapidly on a population not ready for such drastic changes.
Amanullah lost the support of the army as well as tribal and
religious leaders.
And, upon returning from a grand tour of the West,
Amanullah managed to further enrage tribal leaders at a loya
jirga in July 1928. He insisted that the thousand assembled
leaders wear their hair and beards neatly trimmed, not in the
long and bushy traditional style. He also ordered that instead
of traditional wear, they wear black coats, vests and pants, shirts
and ties, black boots, and even homburg hats. His days as king
were numbered.
In November 1928, Shinwari Pashtun tribesmen revolted in Jalalabad. When the tribal forces advanced on the
capital, many of the kings troops fled. At the same time, an
army of Tajik tribesmen moved toward Kabul from the
north. In January 1929, Amanullah faced the inevitable and
abdicated the throne to his older brother, Inayatullah.
Amanullah Khan is photographed with his cabinet dressed in European clothing. Named ruler of Afghanistan in 1919, Amanullah Khan wanted to westernize and modernize Afghanistan, but his eagerness for change was not well
received by the conservative Muslims in the country. His program for modernization caused revolt within Afghanistan.
Inayatullah in turn ruled for only three days, before fleeing to

exile in India. Amanullah fled to India as well. He finally
settled in Zurich, Switzerland, where he died in 1960.
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HAMID KARZAI
It was a Tajik, Kala Khan, who seized the reins of power,
renaming himself Habibullah Khan. His rule, though, was
cut short: Just nine months later, Pashtun tribes, unhappy
about being ruled by a non-Pashtun, drove Habibullah from
power. They placed Nadir Shah, Amanullahs former minister of war, on the throne as the new king. Habibullah fled
Kabul, but he was captured in Kohistan and executed on
November 3, 1929.
Mohammed Nadir Shah wasted no time in abolishing
many if not most of Amanullahs reforms. He did attempt to
continue modernization, albeit at a somewhat slower pace,
with improved communications and road construction. In
1930, a loya jirga confirmed his ascension to the throne. A new
constitution was put forth. This version, while making gestures toward democracy, made it clear that the kings rule was
supreme. This constitution stayed in effect as the foundation of
Afghanistans government for the next 34 years. Nadir Shahs
major accomplishment though, was something of which his
great-great-uncle Dost Mohammed would have very proud: He
reunited a fragmented Afghanistan.
It was simple personal vengeance and retribution that
led to the kings downfall. In 1932, Nadir Shah had a meeting
with Ghulam Nabi Charki, in which he accused Ghulam of
involvement in an uprising in the east of the country. Ghulam
responded angrily and defiantly, and, in a fit of rage, Nadir
ordered Ghulams immediate execution. Exactly one year later,
Nadir himself was assassinated. It is still unclear whether the
assassin was Ghulam Nabis natural son, an adopted son, or
even a family retainer. At any rate, for the Nabi family, vengeance had been achieved.
King Zahir Shah

Nadir Shahs son, Mohammed Zahir Shah, became Afghanistans
king. And, interestingly, it was Hamid Karzais grandfather,
Khair Mohamed Karzai, who was the chairman of the Wulfi

Jirga that authorized King Zahir Shahs rule. At this time, the
country was an absolute monarchy, meaning that the king
alone had the final say on all decisions.
Zahir was only 19 years old when he ascended the throne.
During the early years of his reign, he relied heavily on the
advice of his older uncles who held important government
positions, including that of prime minister.
During the years 19391945, World War II involved and
engulfed most of the nations in the world, but not Afghanistan.
A loya jirga was called in 1939, and, on August 17, 1940, the king
proclaimed Afghan neutrality. This meant that Afghanistan
refused to take sides in the war. It decided to support neither
the United States, Britain, and the Allied powers nor the Axis
powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. This neutrality allowed
Afghanistan to emerge undamaged from the war. It also found
itself in a stronger position than before, supplying India with a
growing amount of agricultural exports.
During the postWWII era, attempts at political liberalization continued. In 1949, the prime minister allowed relatively
free elections to Parliament to be held for the first time. He also
accepted the activity of political groups opposing the policies
of the royal government, as well as the formation of student
unions.
The opposition movement spread more quickly than the
prime minister had intended or imagined. He quickly applied
the brakes to the movement. Newspapers that criticized the
government were shut down, the Kabul student union was
disbanded, and many opposition leaders were jailed. The new
parliament elected in 1952 was much more to the governments liking.
The government crackdown served to alienate an entire
generation of young reform-minded Afghans from their government. They were no longer able to believe that the monarchy
could reform itself. Reform would have to come from outside
the present governmentby revolution if necessary.
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HAMID KARZAI
Still, modernization continued, if at a slower pace. The
1950s saw an end to the forced wearing of veils by women.
Islamic fundamentalists who believed that the Koran required
Muslim women to appear veiled in public responded by throwing acid in the faces of non-veiled women, often scarring them
for life. But the fundamentalists lost the struggle, as more and
more women stopped wearing veils.
On the foreign policy front, there was also continuing
anguish over the Durand Line and the whole Pashtun question. In 1947, India gained its independence from Britain and
was quickly portioned, or split, into two separate countries:
India, with a majority Hindu population, and Pakistan in the
northwest, on the Afghan border. Pakistan retained the Pashtun
areas that had been given to British India and finalized with the
Durand Line.
Afghanistan was unhappy with these arrangements. After
tribal rebellions in Pakistan forced the Pakistani air force to
bomb villages on the Afghan side of their shared border, a loya
jirga was called. The tribal elders declared that all agreements
in regard to the disputed areas were null and void. Continuing
border skirmishes led, in 1950, to Pakistan halting petroleum
shipments to Afghanistan for a period of three months. This
was a major factor in Afghanistan turning to the Soviet Union
for aid.
Close financial ties developed with the signing of a major
trade agreement, exchanging Soviet oil, textiles, and manufactured goods for Afghan wool and cotton. In addition, the
Soviets offered construction aid for roads, schools, and irrigation systems, and gained the right to explore gas and oil reserves
in northern Afghanistan. The king was wary, about receiving so
much Soviet assistance. He was afraid that it would come with
a pricepolitical and economic domination, and the ultimate
Communization of his country.
In 1953, the days of political influence of the kings uncles
came to an end. The kings cousin and brother-in-law, the
King Mohammed Zahir of Afghanistan (right foreground) is photographed

during a two-week visit to Russia at the Kremlin, in Moscow, on July 19, 1957.
In 1955, King Zahir signed an agreement with the Soviets, granting loans for
construction projects in Afghanistan.
Western-educated Mohammed Daoud Khan became prime

minister. Daoud had no reluctance to receiving aid from the
Soviet Union, but he hoped to balance it off with financial aid
from the United States.
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet
Union was at its peak, and both nations were looking to expand
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HAMID KARZAI
their areas of influence. The Soviets hoped to move south
towards India, and the United States wanted to keep Soviet
influence out of Afghanistan. Daoud hoped to use this to his
advantage by obtaining as much assistance as possible from
both nations.
As part of this strategy, in 1955 he signed a new and
expanded agreement with the Soviets. The agreement once
again guaranteed crucial imports of petroleum and cement.
The agreement also provided loans for road construction
(including one from Kabul straight through the Hindu Kush all
the way to the Soviet border) and other construction projects.
Daouds strategy paid off when the United States, not
willing to allow the Soviets a free hand in Afghanistan, began
providing major amounts of aid as well. The United States
helped build the roads from Herat to the Iranian border, the
road between Kandahar and Kabul, among others. Teachers
were sent to Afghanistan, and Afghan students were brought to
study in U.S. colleges. The United States even helped start the
Afghan national airline, Airana.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Afghanistan
was in a period of flux. It was a traditional Islamic nation torn
between a desire to liberalize and modernize, yet it wanted to
retain its traditions and firm government control. It was independent but dependent on foreign aid. No longer a part of the
Great Game struggle between Britain and Russia, it was now
playing both sides against each other in the ongoing Cold War
between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was at this
time, on December 24, 1957, that Hamid Karzai was born.
C H A P T E R
A Time
of Turmoil
Hamid Karzai was born in the village of Karz, near the city of
Kandahar. Kandahar had been built on the very same land that
Karzais subtribe, the Popolzai, had given to Ahmad Shawn
Durrani, nearly 200 years earlier.
The Karzai family had long been involved in the nations
politics. They were even related to the royal Shah family. Both
families were from the same clan. Over the years, both families had intermarried. Karzais grandfather, Khair Mohamed
Karzai, had served during Afghanistans war of independence.
Years later he was the deputy speaker of the Senate.
Karzais father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, was also a significant
political figure. He served as deputy of the Parliament during
the 1960s. Then, after the Soviet invasion, he was an important
figure in the Afghan resistance.
Abdul Ahad Karzai was a greatly respected and loved figure
among southern Pashtun tribes. Indeed, he was so admired
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Hamid Karzai
that the Popolzai made Abdul their chief. He retained this
honor until his death in 1999.
Large families are common in Afghanistan, and Hamid
was the fifth of eight children. His siblings are Abdul Ahmad,
Qayum, Faozia Roya (his only sister), Mahmood, Shah Wali,
Ahmad Wali, and Abdul Wali. Several members of his family
have moved to the United States, where they have opened a
number of Afghan restaurants.
In the early 1960s, Kandahar was a fairly prosperous city. It
was here that Hamid Karzai lived and attended his first three
years of primary school. By Afghan standards, the Karzais were
well-to-do. As Karzai recalled in an interview, By Afghan standards, we were a very well-off family. The kind of life we had
and also other Afghans had was really too good for the countries around usbig homes and lots of fun.
For fun, young Hamid played sports, including baseball
and cricket. (Cricket is a sport involving a bat and ball played
by two teams of eleven players each. Originating in Britain, it
is extremely popular throughout areas formerly under British
rule, including India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It is especially
popular among the urban classes.) Karzai also enjoyed riding
his horse around the courtyard near his home.
When Hamids father became deputy of the Parliament, he
moved the family to Kabul, Afghanistans capital. Kabul sits at
an elevation of about 5,900 feet (1,800 meters), which makes
it one of the highest capital cities in the world. An ancient city,
Kabul was known for its beautiful mosques and architecture, its
schools, and its markets.
Before the Soviets and then the Taliban took over, Kabul
was a city known for its extraordinary beauty. As Nicolas
Bouvier described it in his 1953 book, The Way of the World,
When the traveler from the south beholds Kabul, its rings of
poplars, its mauve mountains where a fine layer of smoke is
smoking, and the kites that vibrate in the autumn sky above
A Time of Turmoil
This photograph of a crowded sidewalk was taken in November 1961 in

Afghanistans capital city, Kabul. During the 1960s, Kabul was becoming a
bustling city with European shops and the opening of the Afghan Zoo.
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Hamid Karzai
the bazaar, he flatters himself that he has come to the end of
the world. On the contrary, he has just reached its center.
Kabul in the 1960s was also becoming more cosmopolitan.
The first Marks and Spencer store (a popular British department store) in central Asia was built there. Also, with the
help of German zoologists, the Afghan Zoo opened its gates
in 1967, focusing on Afghan fauna. It was an exciting time,
alive with a sense of possibilities and hope for the future. As
Karzai described it in an interview, In Kabul of course, life
was very good. We had so much access to good music and
movies, which at that age most people really wantas any
kid would have in Europe or America, and a good education,
a fairly good life.
Hamid Karzais Early Education

Hamid was a hard-working student. His family honored
and respected education, and Hamid did his best to live
up to his familys high expectations. After studying at the
Mahmood Hotaki Elementary School, Hamid attended the
Sayed Jamaluddin School, and then Habibia High School.
Habibia High School had opened in 1903 and was the oldest
and most-respected school in Kabul.
As Karzai grew up, like most young people anywhere in the
world, he was unsure exactly what he wanted to do with his
life. A serious and quiet student, his plans for the future were
continuously changing. But even at an early age, hed inherited
his familys interest in politics.
I think I partially wanted to do the kind of parliamentary
stuff that my father was doing. I was interested in the
University of Kabul, which at that time was a very prestigious institution. The professors there were very well
respected and they had very nice lives. The environment
A Time of Turmoil
of the university was so enchanting. That was the kind of
life I wanted.
Science, though, also sparked his interest for a time.

At one stage within class nine and ten, I was very science
oriented. I was doing very good in chemistry, and I went
towards books about the evolution of mankind. Studies of
Darwin and what that theory was. I did too much of that.
Kept reading it, kept reading it. I got into trouble with my
professor of chemistry, because there were things that I
knew he didnt know, and he really got mad at me one day
in the classroom.
Hamids interests went beyond science. He loved great literature and had a particular fondness for great Russian writers
like Anton Chekhov and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. He also admired
English writers like Charles Dickens. And he read a great deal
about Afghan history and culture.
He learned much from his father, who was a major influence on him. Abdul Ahad, somewhat unusual for an Afghan
of his time, was firmly against the use of guns and violence in
settling disagreements. His home was open to one and all, and,
as the head of the Popolzai, he used his influence to settle arguments and disputes peacefully. Hamid respected this greatly.
Of course, given his fathers involvement in Parliament and
Afghan national affairs, young Hamid had a ringside seat to his
countrys ongoing political evolution.
Conflict with Pakistan

Throughout the late 1950s into the early 1960s, Prime Minister
Daoud continued to pressure Pakistan on the Pashtun question. He made payments to tribesmen on both sides of
the border to encourage rebellion. He sponsored a brief,
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Hamid Karzai
unsuccessful invasion of Pakistan in 1960. He maintained a
nonstop propaganda war, using the media to convince the
people of Afghanistan about the evils of Pakistan.
Things came to a head on September 6, 1961. On that
date, Afghanistan and Pakistan formally severed all relations.
Traffic between the two nations came to a halt. Afghanistan was
unable to ship goods to India, its primary trading partner and
major source of revenue.
The Soviet Union and the United States helped by airlifting Afghan goods, but exports and custom revenues fell
dramatically, and trade suffered. In addition, Ghilzai nomads
who normally spent winters in India and Pakistan before
returning home to Afghanistan were unable to cross the border.
Afghanistans economic situation rapidly deteriorated.
The king finally had enough. He realized that hed been
too out of touch. Hed been relying too much on others and
decided to take greater control of his own government. In
March 1963, King Zahir Shah asked for and received the resignation of Prime Minister Daoud. Within two months, a new
agreement was reached, reestablishing trade and diplomatic
relations with Pakistan.
The kings next step was to revise the countrys constitution. Two weeks after the resignation of Daoud, a commission
was formed. In September 1964, a 452-member loya jirga
approved and signed the document. Ten days later, the kings
signature made it into law.
The new constitution made major changes in Afghanistan.
It barred the royal family (with the sole exception of the king
himself) from participating in politics or government. (This
provision was thought to exist to keep Daoud out of politics.) Individual rights were championed. And, after much
debate, the term Afghan was applied to all Afghans, not just
to Pashtuns.
The constitution declared Islam as the sacred religion
of Afghanistan, and that no law could be enacted that was
A Time of Turmoil
Former prime minister Sardar Mohammed Daoud is photographed during

a meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, in March 1973. In July of that same year,
Sardar Mohammed Daoud ousted his cousin, King Mohammed Zahir Shah,
from the presidency. Following a bloody coup in 1978, he was executed in the
presidential palace.
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Hamid Karzai
repugnant to the basic principles of Islam. However, an independent judiciary (although with some religious judges) established the supremacy of secular law. Although the constitution
did provide for a constitutional monarchy (a form of government in which the monarchs power is not unlimited but exists
within legal limits), and there was a bicameral (two chamber)
legislature. As always, most of the power still remained with
the king.
This careful balancing act between individual and religious rights, between the monarchy and democracy, got off to
a good start with the 1965 elections. Described as remarkably
fair by most impartial observers, the elections for the lower
house of Parliament, known as the Wolesi Jirga, brought into
office representatives from all parts of the political spectrum.
There were supporters of the king and antiroyalists. There
were liberals, leftists, and conservative Muslim leaders still
opposed to secularization.
A new prime minister, Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal,
was named. He quickly established friendly relations with
the generally rebellious students, while making it clear that he
was in charge. It was understood that there would be definite
limits to student political activity. There was an attempt at a
balance between monarchy and democracy. It was also clear
that the monarchy would have the final say on just how far
democratic movements would be allowed to go.
Also in 1965, the Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan
(PDPA) was founded. The PDPA was made up of a small
group of followers of Nur Mohammad Taraki and Babrak
Karmal. They were both Marxist-Leninists (otherwise known
as Communists) with a pro-Moscow orientation. Taraki, who
was one of four PDPA members elected to Parliament in the
1965 elections, also started the countrys first major leftist
paper. The paper lasted only a month. It was then banned by
the government.
A Time of Turmoil
By 1967, the PDPA had split into several factions. The
two most important were the Khalq (meaning Masses or
People), which was headed by Taraki, and the Parcham
(Banner) faction headed by Karmal. The split was largely due
to personal differences between the two men.
Karmal had friends and supporters who were among the
upper-middle class. He was in favor of working within the
system to bring about political change. Taraki came from a
lower-class, rural background and believed in the purity of
lower-class revolutionary struggle against the upper classes.
There was also a split along tribal lines. Karmal attracted
supporters from all groups, while Tarakis group, Khalq,
became almost exclusively Pashtun. A third major player in
all this, Hafizullah Amin, was loyal to Taraki. All three men,
Karmal, Taraki, and Amin, would ultimately take turns becoming president of Afghanistan.
New elections in 1969 moved the Parliament further
to the right, as conservative tribal and land-owning leaders
exerted their influence at the polls. This move to the right
slowed down the movement toward liberalization. This in
turn caused continued unrest at the University of Kabul.
Conflicts spread between religious and leftist groups. This
demonstrated a split in the country, but not just along religious and political lines. It also showed a split between the
urban, educated middle class, and those who felt alienated
because they couldnt join their ranks. The split was also evident between the urban elite and the majority of the nation,
which was still trapped in rural poverty.
The economy, which had finally recovered from the break
in relations with Pakistan, began to falter again at this time as
well. Foreign aid began to dry up. The seasonal rains did not
fall from 19691972, causing widespread famine. An estimated
100,000 Afghans died.
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Hamid Karzai
End of the Monarchy
The king was still personally popular, but widespread dissatisfaction spread with regard to his government, seemingly
unable to cope with the nations continuing difficulties. On
July 17, 1973, while the king was in Italy for medical treatment,
former prime minister Daoud reemerged from relative obscurity. In a nearly bloodless coup, he took over the country.
With just a few hundred troops, the palace and key positions throughout Kabul were seized. The country, weary of
what it believed to be a weak and ineffective government,
initially welcomed Daoud back into power. People believed
that he was exactly the man who could bring order and get the
country moving again. Daoud assumed the offices of president,
prime minister, foreign minister, and minister of defense. The
days of the monarchy were over.
Soon the countrys prisons began to be filled with political
prisoners. Stories of torture and execution spread. Some executions were announced, notably that of former prime minister
Maiwandwal, who had been strangled during an interrogation.
Such reports spread shock and fear throughout the country.
Initially, Daoud was supported by the nations leftists. They
were happy to be finally rid of the monarchy. Initially, Daoud
also welcomed a close relationship with the Soviet Union and
had several of Karmals Parchams in his cabinet. Gradually,
however, Daoud moved to the right of the political spectrum.
Relations with the Soviets gradually deteriorated, and Parchams
were pushed out of the cabinet.
Despite the weakened state of relations between the Soviets
and the Afghans, the Soviets were still the biggest donors of
aid to the country. They used this influence to insist that no
Western activity be allowed in northern Afghanistan, along
the Soviet border. Daoud also accepted aid from other, oil-rich
Muslim nations.
It was during this period, in 1976, that Hamid Karzai
graduated from high school. He left Afghanistan to study in
India at a local college in Simla, and then at Himachal Pradesh
A Time of Turmoil
Following the violent coup that left President Sardar Mohammed Daoud and
others dead, tanks decorated with flowers stand in front of the Presidential
Palace in Kabul. On April 27, 1978, the president and many of his family member were shot dead in their home.
55
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Hamid Karzai
University. It was there that he studied international relations and political science. Karzai received his masters degree
in 1982.
While in Simla, Karzai lived at the local YMCA. Being away
from his conservative family was a great shock for him. Living
away from home gives kids of college age an opportunity to
meet new and different kinds of people. This period also allows
them to learn more about themselves. Karzai was no exception.
As he remembered in a 2002 interview:
I recognized when I went to India, when I mixed up with
other students there, that I was very reserved, very very,
reserved, and that was a handicap. I could not associate easily
with people. But on the other hand, it had benefits of selfrestraint and, you know, a level of respect to other people,
trying to make sure that nobody was offended, and respect
to others.
Besides learning to be more open to others, Karzai changed

in other ways as well. He grew his hair long and wore bellbottom pants. He also learned to speak English. When he first
arrived in Simla, before moving to the YMCA, he boarded with
a local family. The familys two daughters helped Karzai learn
to speak, read, and write English.
Hamid Karzai currently speaks six different languages:
Pushtu (the language that most Pashtuns speak), Dari (spoken
by Tajiks and some urban Pashtuns), Urdu (spoken by Hindu
merchants), French, Hindi, and English. His mastery of language has helped him a great deal in his life and career, and in
his world travels in support of Afghanistan. He is often able to
speak to his audience in their own language.
It was also in India that Karzai learned great respect and
admiration for Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi, known as the
Mahatma (great soul), was instrumental in helping India
gain independence from Great Britain. Most important to
Karzai, Gandhi did this through nonviolent means.
A Time of Turmoil
When I became an adult and

began to know the world more,
Gandhi was somebody that I
admired very much.
Through Gandhis own writings, Karzai learned to value
Gandhis nonviolent ways of solving problems. Like Gandhi
(and like Karzais own father), he believed that guns and violence were not the answer to solving problems. There are many
men that Karzai respects as role models, but none more than
Gandhi. He explained in an interview:
When I became an adult and began to know the world
more, Gandhi was somebody that I admired very much, and
[South Africas Nelson] Mandela. Hes still around, a magnificent man. Martin Luther King is somebody that came
very often to mind and was discussed in some circles.
But Im most affected by Gandhi. The struggle for independence of his country, and the way he did it through
non-violence, and the tolerance he preached, and the way
he respected mankind as a whole, and his self-restraint. A
wonderful human being.
Hamid Karzais dream of and belief in nonviolence would

be sorely tested in the years to come.
The Saur Revolution

By 1978, despite good harvests from 1975 on, little economic
progress had occurred in Afghanistan. The Afghan standard
of living had not improved. Most ominous for Prime Minister
Daoud, most major political groups had been alienated from
him by his refusal to allow dissent or to share any of his power.
In addition, Pashtuns were unhappy with Daoud for making peace with Pakistan. He was willing to accept Pakistani
rule over the disputed territories, something they would never
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Hamid Karzai
accept. The Communists, although still split into Parcham and
Khalq factions, had reconciled. Although they still distrusted
each other, they were united in their dislike of Daoud.
Things began to fall apart on April 19, 1978. A funeral
for Mir Akbar Khyber, a prominent Parcham who had been
murdered, served as a rallying point for Afghan Communists;
10,000 to 30,000 people gathered to hear fiery speeches from
both Taraki and Karmal. Daoud, dismayed at this demonstration of Communist unity, ordered the arrest of all PDPA
leaders.
But he moved too slowly. It took a full week to have
Taraki arrested. Amin was merely placed under house arrest.
According to PDPA writings discovered later, Amin sent out
the order for a coup from his home, using family members
as messengers.
On April 27, 1978, a coup detat began with troop movements at the military base at Kabul International Airport. Over
the next 24 hours, battles were fought against troops still loyal
to Daoud. On the next day, Daoud and most of his family were
shot in the presidential palace. The Saur (April) Revolution was
a success. The Communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
was born.
The Khalq faction emerged at the top of the new government. Taraki assumed the roles of president, prime minister,
and general secretary of the PDPA. Tarakis trusted second-incommand, Hafizullah Amin, was named deputy prime minister, along with Babrak Karmal, the Parcham leader. In addition,
Khalq dominated the Revolutionary Council, which was the
actual ruling body of the new government.
In its effort to gain absolute control of the country, the
government had tribal elders and leaders imprisoned or
killed. Hamid Karzais own father was imprisoned for two
years in the infamous Pol-e-Charki prison near Kabul. At the
urging of his family, Karzai remained in India, continuing his
studies. His family felt that there, out of the country, he would
remain safe.
A Time of Turmoil
This photograph of President Hafizullah Amin was released by his regime in

1979. Hafizullah Amin held reign as president for just a few months before
being assassinated by Soviet forces. Soviet-supported leader Babrak Karmal
succeeded Hafizullah Amin as president of Afghanistan.
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60
Hamid Karzai
It was not only tribal leaders who were at risk. The dominant Khalq faction began purging, or removing, members of
the Parcham faction from positions of power. (Parcham leaders
later claimed that at least 11,000 of its members were executed
during this time.) Tens of thousands of other Afghans, including many members of the traditional educated ruling class,
fled the country at this time. The loss of these people, educated
and politically moderate, largely left only Communists on the
left and Muslim fundamentalists on the right to fight over the
future of the country.
A power struggle also erupted within the government.
Taraki and Amin both fought for control of the Khalq faction. In September of 1979, Tarakis followers made several
attempts on Amins life. It was Taraki who ended up dead,
smothered with a pillow over his face. Amin quickly moved
to seize power.
Things went from bad to worse. Amin had tens of thousands
of Afghans executed as resistance grew against the government.
Hundreds of thousands more fled the country. Most went to
Iran and Pakistan, where they began organizing resistance
movements. These groups, largely centered around Peshawar,
Pakistan, were loosely divided into two major groups, each of
which was broken up into numerous factions.
One of the groups was the fundamentalists. Burhanuddin
Rabbani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and Abdul Rabb Rasuul alSayyaf (who would later invite Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan)
were among the fundamentalist leaders. They wanted to redefine the role of Islam in Afghanistan.
Among the traditionalist leaders was Sibghatullah
Mojadeddi. The traditionalists focused on the use of sharia as
the source of law. Some of them were willing to bring back the
monarchy and return King Zahir Shah, still in exile in Italy, to
the throne. The resistance fighters, regardless of group, were
labeled the mujahideen, or holy warriors.
A Time of Turmoil
The armed resistance and internal chaos right on their
border was more than enough to make the Soviets nervous.
But there was one more thing. Amin tried to rule Afghanistan
independently, without Soviet domination. He also wanted
to establish diplomatic relations with Pakistan and China. All
these factors combined made the Soviets feel that Amin was
too rigid, too erratic, and unable to calm the situation within
Afghanistan.
This was unacceptable to the Soviets, who desired nothing more than a stable ally on their southern border. On
December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
Within two days, they had taken Kabul. Amin was killed, and
Babrak Karmal, the exiled head of the Parchams, was named
the new president.
61
C H A P T E R
Resistance
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan set off shock waves throughout
the world. The move was condemned by the foreign ministers

of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The United
Nations General Assembly passed resolutions opposing the
Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. (The United Nations Security
Council was powerless to take any action. The Soviet Union, as
one of the five permanent members of the Security Council,
has veto power over anything going through the council.)
In the United States, President Jimmy Carter gave his
annual State of the Union address on January 23, 1980. In it,
he called Afghanistans neighbor Pakistan a front-line state
in the worldwide battle against Communism. He offered
Pakistan a large package of military and economic aid, but
only if it would allow the United States to work through it to
get aid to the mujahideen. President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
turned down Carters offer, but he later accepted a larger aid
62
resistance
package from Ronald Reagan, who became the U.S. president
in 1981.
Also in response to the Soviet invasion, President Carter
reinstated draft registration. This meant that all U.S. males
between the ages of 18 and 25 had to register with Selective
Service in the event that a draft should ever become necessary.
President Carter did this in an attempt to show that the United
States took Soviet action seriously.
In addition, President Carter announced that the United
States would boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics, which were
being held that year in Moscow. That meant that no U.S. athlete would be allowed to participate in the Games. Carter also
called for other countries to boycott. Nearly 60 other nations
refused to send their athletes to Moscow in protest of the
Soviet invasion.
In India, 22-year-old Hamid Karzai was shocked and dismayed to hear of his countrys invasion.
In 1979, one morning when I was going to universityI was
studying in Northern India in SimlaI saw the newspapers in
the morning, and the newspapers said that the Soviet Union
had invaded Afghanistan. My feeling at that moment suddenly was of a loss. I felt smaller. Much, much smaller than I
felt before when I was walking to my college. I heard people
talk about this invasion and suddenly I felt a loss of identity.
Who am I? Do I have a country? Do I have a name? Do I have
an identity? I said, No, I dont. I dont have a country. My
country is taken over. Lets do something about it.
Karzais immediate reaction was to do something.

Anything.
I took a bus as a student and went something like 3,000 kilometers [nearly 2,000 miles] to the eastern border of Afghanistan and I saw the first batch of refugees there, refugees that
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HAMID KARZAI
had left Afghanistan as a result of the Soviet invasion. The
situation they were in, but the pride they had! I was 18 or
17 when I left the country to study abroad, but the rest of
Asia doesnt really know what the character of [Afghan]
society is, how its people are. I had some money with
me. It was my stipend money that my mother had sent
me. I handed out some of that money to one of my fellow Afghans who was a refugee. He was insulted. He said,
What do you think of me? I said, Im trying to help.
He said, No. Dont help by handing me some money. If
you really want to help, you help the whole of Afghanistan.
Help me get back home.
This was a remarkable thing to hear, Help me go back
home. I stayed a few days there. I came back to India. I had
a year and a half to complete my graduate years. I did that,
and the moment I finished that I remembered the words that
the man had told me. Help me go home.
There was more than that memory driving Karzai. He came

from one of the leading families in Afghanistan. With that came
responsibility. As Karzai told Robert Kaplan in an interview for
his book, Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan
and Pakistan, something occurred when he visited the refugee
camp, located near Quetta, Pakistan.
They thought that just because I was the khans son, I had the
power to help them. I felt ashamed, because I knew I was just
a nave student who was spending his college years thinking only of himself and his ambition. I was not what they
thought I was. My goal from that moment on was to became
the man that those refugees thought I was. To become a man
like my father.
While Karzai was finishing his studies, the Soviets were

trying to solidify control of his country. It wasnt easy. They
did have some supporters. Communism had become popular
resistance
among some people in Afghanistan for economic reasons.
Warlords throughout Afghanistan owned large sections of
land. They protected this land by forming individual armies or
militias. They often fought among themselves and they were
constantly trying to gain even more power and land for themselves. Some were so powerful that they considered themselves
above the law. In fact, they often considered themselves to be
the law.
So although there was a small group of wealthy and powerful landowners, by far the majority of the rural population
(which was and is the majority of the nations population)
were poor. They were sharecroppers. They didnt own any
land themselves, but worked for the land-owning warlords.
The communists promised to break the economic stranglehold that the few had over the many. They promised to share
the wealth more evenly throughout the population. This was
an attractive idea to many people.
But, as attractive an idea as it was, many Afghans hated
even more a government imposed on them by foreign invaders. Karmals government was weak, still torn between rival
Parchams and Khalqis. (Even though the Parchams were now
in charge, the Khalqis had killed so many of them when they
were in charge that it was necessary to rely on Khalqi officers to
rebuild the Afghan army.)
Rebellion Against the Soviets

Resistance against the Soviet invaders grew. The Soviet army
in Afghanistan, originally just 30,000 troops, grew to more
than 100,000 in an attempt to quash the rebellion. For the
next ten years, the Soviet military and their Afghan allies
fought the mujahideen for control of the country. The Soviets
primarily used helicopters as their air attack force, along
with fighter planes and bombers, special forces, and ground
troops. In some areas, the Soviets conducted what is called a
scorched-earth policy. This meant that in areas of suspected
mujahideen strength, the Soviet military would destroy entire
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66
HAMID KARZAI
During the 1980 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, villages were burned to the
ground and families were run out of their homes. Above, an Afghan refugee is
photographed with his child at a refugee camp in the Kunar Province near the
Pakistan border.
villages, houses, and crops. They left nothing standing but the
very earth itself.
Refugees driven out of their homes in the countryside
then fled to the cities. Kabuls population swelled to more
than 2 million people. (That is a rough estimate, as no official
census was done. The estimated population of Kabul in 1970,
just 10 years earlier, was 472,000 people.) Millions more fled
resistance
the country entirely. Some Afghan refugees left for the United
States, including Karzais siblings. Five of the six who moved to
the United States opened the Helmand chain of Afghan restaurants. (The name Helmand comes from the river near where
the family grew up in Kandahar.) Karzais youngest brother,
Abdul Wali, teaches biochemistry at the State University of
New York at Stony Brook and does medical research in antibiotics. For many years, his family urged Karzai to move to the
safety of America as well, but he refused to abandon his native
land. Karzai still stays in close contact with his family living in
America. They visit each other whenever they can.
The majority of the nations refugees, fled to Iran and
Pakistan. Its estimated that nearly 5 million Afghan men,
women, and children were refugees in those two countries
alone. That is an estimated one-third of the nations prewar
population. Now consider the estimated 2 million Afghans
who were forced out of their homes by the war but stayed in
Afghanistan. What you have is a country torn apart, a country
nearly destroyed by war.
The rest of Karzais own family fled Afghanistan in 1981,
immediately after Abdul Ahad Karzais release from prison.
They settled in Quetta, Pakistan, before many of them ultimately
moved to the United States. They wanted to demonstrate their
faith in their ultimate return to a liberated Afghanistan. To do
so, they never bought, but always rented, their homes while
in exile. It was in Quetta that Hamid rejoined his family after
graduating university and receiving his masters degree.
Upon arriving in Pakistan, Karzai was delighted to be
reunited with his family. He also knew that the moment
had come for him to help in the fight against the Soviets.
He joined the Afghan Jihad wing of the Afghan National
Liberation Front (ANLF). The group, like many groups fighting the Soviet occupation, was based in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Peshawar is less than 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) from
the Afghan/Pakistan border.
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HAMID KARZAI
Mujahideen rebels, also known as holy warriors, rest in the mountains in

Afghanistan in May 1980. During the Soviet invasion, mujahideen warriors
fought Soviet forces for control over their home country. In February 1989,
after years of fighting, the last of the Soviet troops departed Afghanistan.
The ANLF was led by Sibghatullah Mojadeddi, one of the

traditionalist fighters against Soviet rule. Moderate groups like
the ANLF and NIFA (the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan),
wanted a return to Afghanistan as it was before the 1973 coup.
They hoped for a return to a traditional monarchy.
resistance
Even in exile, and as young as

he was, Hamid Karzai had
a look of power.
Other opposition groups, such as Yunus Khaliss Hizb-iIslami (Party of Islam), Gulbuddin Hekmatyars Hizb-i-Islam
(again, Party of Islam, but a different, more radical organization), and Burhanuddin Rabbanis Jamiat-i-Islami (Islamic
Society), had a different dream for Afghanistan. Rejecting
both monarchy and Communism, they wanted to create a new
Islamic state.
All seven of the major opposition groups were loosely
united under the banner of the Islamic Unity of Afghan
Mujahideen. There was much infighting and distrust among
the seven groups, though. It was claimed that Gulbuddin
Hekmatyars group killed more fellow mujahideen than it did
actual Soviets.
Karzai Fights the Soviet Occupation

In 1982, shortly after his arrival in Pakistan, Karzai became
director of operations for the ANLF. He did not fight directly
on the frontlines, but he was active in planning and strategizing
the organizations efforts against the Soviets.
Although he was living in exile, he wasnt living uncomfortably. He did, after all, come from a wealthy, powerful
family. Reporters often interviewed him at his familys villa in
Peshawar. It is reported that he dressed well, and, as Robert
Kaplan described him, He was tall and clean shaven, with a
long nose and big black eyes. His thin bald head gave him the
look of an eagle. Wearing a sparkling white shalwar kameez
(the traditional male Afghan costume of baggy cotton pants
and long shirtalthough he often wore Western clothes
like blazers and slacks), he affected the dignity, courtly manners, and high breeding for which the Popolzai are known
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HAMID KARZAI
throughout Afghanistan. Even in exile, and as young as he was,
Hamid Karzai had a look of power.
In 1986, he was sent to Lille, France, to attend a threemonth journalism course. Upon his return to Peshawar, he was
named deputy director of the political office of the National
Rescue Front, also led by Professor Mojadeddi. In this role,
Karzai traveled the world. He spoke to world leaders and organizations, pleading for aid for the mujahideen. Karzais calm,
persuasive, diplomatic manner helped bring much-needed
assistance to the opposition.
The opposition was creating problems for the Afghan government. Deciding a new leader was needed, Babrak Karmal
was forced out as the head of the PDPA by the Soviets, although
he was allowed to remain as president. The new head of the
party was Mohammed Najibullah. He had been serving as the
head of the KHAD, the Afghan secret police. He was known for
his skills as a mediator between the various political factions.
But disunity still ruled the Afghan government, much to the
dismay of the Soviets.
The period of 1985 to 1986 saw some of the very worst
fighting of the war. Soviet forces launched the largest and
most effective attacks against mujahideen supply lines coming out of Pakistan. Major campaigns were also launched near
Herat and Kandahar.
But at the same time, large amounts of military support
were reaching the mujahideen from the United States and
Saudi Arabia. The first FIM-92 Stinger ground-to-air missiles
arrived. These missiles denied the Soviets the air advantage
theyd enjoyed throughout the war, allowing the mujahideen to
fight the Soviets on a more even footing than ever before.
There were others besides Karzai, of course, who helped
convince the world to arm the mujahideen. In his book Soldiers
of God, Robert Kaplan recounted an incident that reminds us
that, in many ways, the Great Game of the nineteenth century
was still being played out. Abdul Haq, a Pashtun commander of
resistance
On April 26, 1988, newly appointed Afghan president Mohammed Najibullah

is photographed at a meeting of American and Soviet scholars in Kabul.
Najibullahs regime was extremely unstable due to disarray within the country.
Four years after he assumed the leadership position of Afghanistan, Najibullah
agreed to step down as president. In 1996, when Taliban forces took overtook
Kabul, Najibullah was executed.
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HAMID KARZAI
Yunus Khaliss Hizb-i-Islami, had gone to Britains prime minister Margaret Thatcher to plead for help. I told Mrs. Thatcher,
Haq said, that my great-grandfather and his father before
him fought the British who invaded Afghanistan to keep the
Russians out. So I asked her: Now that the Russians have finally
come, as the British once feared, why are you so quiet? Why did
you send everything a hundred years ago and yet now you send
nothing? The request worked. The Great Game continued.
Not only was there increased military opposition to the
Soviet military presence in Afghanistan, but also the Soviets
faced growing opposition at home to the war. Large numbers
of Russian soldiers were returning to Russia from Afghanistan.
They brought with them accounts of the war and of the large
number of Soviet casualties. The Soviet people finally learned
firsthand just how disastrous the invasion had been.
The End of the Soviet Occupation

In early 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the Soviet leadership position. He was young for a Soviet leader and not well
known. Because of that, he needed to prove his toughness to
the Soviet military. As much as he might have wanted to, he
couldnt start pulling Soviet troops out of Afghanistan. If he
had, he wouldnt have lasted long in office.
As a result, his first year in office saw some of the heaviest
fighting of the war. At the same time, Gorbachev was looking
for a way for his country to get out of Afghanistan. He knew
that the war could not be won. He knew that the mujahideen
would never surrender. He knew that the cost of the war was
causing a huge strain on the Soviet economy. There was one
more factor: Gorbachev was anxious to improve Soviet relations with the West. He knew that that would not happen until
Soviet troops had left Afghanistan.
In April of 1988, representatives of the United States,
the Soviet Union, Pakistan, and Afghanistan met in Geneva,
Switzerland, under the auspices of the United Nations. They
resistance
searched for a way for the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops
honorably, without looking like it had lost the war or was
surrendering. An agreement was reached, and Soviet troops
began pulling out of Afghanistan. On February 15, 1989, right
on schedule, the last Soviet troops departed.
The costs of the war were enormous. More than one million Afghans had been killed, mostly civilians. The Soviets lost
between 15,000 and 50,000 soldiers. The dead, the wounded,
the refugees, the destructionit was like Genghis Khan and his
Mongols had come through Afghanistan all over again.
The deaths did not end with the Soviet withdrawal. The
Soviets had left a gruesome, unwelcome souvenir behind.
During the occupation, the Soviets had planted millions of
land mines across Afghanistan. The U.S. State Department
estimated a number between 10 and 30 million. According to
Robert Kaplan, that would be the equivalent of two mines for
every Afghan who survived the war. That works out to between
40 and 120 mines per square mile of Afghan territory. Most of
these mines are unmarked. Although efforts have been made
to remove the mines, tens of thousands of civilians, many of
them children, have been killed and maimed, and continue to
be killed and maimed by them.
But the Soviets left far more behind than land mines.
When they left, the soldiers took with them only their personal
weapons and vehicles. This left the country awash in arms and
equipment. And, although they were no longer supporting the
Afghan government with troops, Soviet financial aid continued. It is estimated that this support amounted to between 3
and 4 billion dollars a year.
The Soviets also left behind Mohammed Najibullah, still in
charge of the Afghan government. It was predicted that, without the support of Soviet troops, his government would not last
for long. This proved not to be the case.
One reason was that 3 to 4 billion dollars in aid annually
can help a government buy a lot of support. Najibullah used a
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HAMID KARZAI
large portion of the aid as payoffs to tribal and guerilla leaders to get them to back his regime. In addition, he declared
a state of emergency and suspended civil rights through the
country. This gave him unlimited power to quash any potential rebellions. He also appointed a new Parcham-dominated
Supreme Council.
Another major factor in Najibullahs ability to last was the
disarray of the resistance groups. Faced with a common enemy,
the mujahideen had been relatively united. Once the Soviets
left, they lost their common enemy. At that point, the usual
tribal and religious differences came out into the open again.
A shara was called in February of 1989 to elect an
interim government. (This was meant to be a temporary
government in exile. It would be the government of those
opposing the continuing Communist rule and would exist
only until Najibullah was defeated and a new government
could be established.) The shara was allegedly manipulated
by the Pakistani ISI as well as by Saudi Arabian money.
Sibghatullah Mojadeddi was elected president of the Afghan
Interim Government. Abdul-Rab al-Rasul Sayyaf was named
prime minister. In recognition of his efforts and achievements during the fight against the Soviet occupation, Hamid
Karzai was appointed director of the Foreign Relations Unit
in the office of the president of the interim government.
His job was to establish relations with foreign governments around the world and to help gain recognition of the
interim government.
This turned out to be a difficult assignment. The interim
government was a government in name only. Based in
Peshawar, it lacked any kind of base within Afghanistan itself.
The United States would not recognize the AIG until it controlled a significant amount of territory within Afghanistan
and showed that it had popular support. Other countries
agreed. Although they sympathized with Karzai and the AIG,
they withheld recognition.
resistance
Gradually, the mujahideen gained control of the rural
Afghan countryside. The Afghan government kept control of
the major cities. Opposition groups in the northern part of the
country were made up of Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras. They
were led militarily by Ahmed Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid
Dostum. Their political leader was Burhanuddin Rabbani.
They wanted to run the Afghan government without Pashtun
involvement. The largest Pashtun faction, based in the south,
was led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the same man who had
killed so many of his fellow mujahideen.
The struggle for power continued until 1992. That year,
the Soviets were trying to cope with the end of Communist
rule within Russia and the loss of their empire. Facing financial
hard times themselves, they cut off financial aid to the Afghan
government.
That was the beginning of the end for Najibullah. By
April of 1992, Massouds troops were parked on the northern
outskirts of Kabul. Hekmatyars troops were based on the
southern outskirts. Najibullah fled to the relative safety of a
United Nations compound in Kabul. Moving first, Massouds
troops took control of Kabul. The Communist government of
Afghanistan was no more.
The mujahideen, though, could not manage to work
together to form a government. As Martin Ewans described it
in his history of Afghanistan,
The first three years of mujahideen rule, if it could be called
that, were characterized by the total inability of its leaders
to agree among themselves on any lasting political settlement and their readiness to fight one another at the slightest
provocation, or without any apparent provocation at all.
There were attempts made to form a viable government.

In June of 1992, Rabbani was named president. Fighting
promptly broke out between forces loyal to Rabbani and forces
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HAMID KARZAI
loyal to Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar, who thought he should have
been named president, began a series of missile attacks against
Kabul. The city, which had made it through the Soviet occupation relatively unscathed, was soon in ruins.
Coming Home
In 1992, Karzai returned to Afghanistan for the first time in many
years to work for the new government. He was named deputy
foreign minister. Again he traveled the world, struggling to gain
support for the new, fragile government. He was still optimistic
and hoped that the fighting would soon come to a stop.
Karzai often visited the United States on these foreign tours
and met with U.S. officials. His job was to let them know what
was going on in his country, while trying to get advice and
assistance. Karzai also took advantage of his time in the United
States to visit family. He often got the chance to stay at the
home of his brother Qayum and his wife, Pat. Karzai enjoyed
the opportunity to stay with his family and to unwind from his
stressful job in the beautiful Maryland countryside.
From 1992 to 1996, the struggles within Afghanistan continued nonstop. The fighting over Kabul was the most intense
militarily (30,000 Kabulians killed, 100,000 wounded), but
conditions in the countryside were difficult as well.
The government had little control outside the cities. The
country was splitting once again into different parts. Each part
of the country was under the control of a different warlord.
There was no central ruling authority. Power came to the group
with the most guns. Anarchy began to rule the country.
Karzai was disgusted by the continued fighting. He found
himself unable to work for a government without popular support. In 1994, he resigned his position as deputy foreign minister and returned to Pakistan. As the country spun further and
further out of control, a new political movement began. This
group promised to restore order and stability to Afghanistan.
They called themselves the Taliban.
resistance
The last of the Soviet troops leave Afghanistan on February 13, 1989. Although
the departure of Soviet forces marked the end to a decade of war, the fighting
only continued in Afghanistan. For the next four years, Afghanistan engaged
in a civil war, which resulted in the fall of the government.
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HAMID KARZAI
Talib means religious student. At the heart of the
movement were Afghan refugee students from the madrassas
(religious schools) across the border in the Northwest
Frontier Province of Pakistan. This is the same area that the
Afghans had long been claiming as their own. Many of these
schools were funded in part by the United States to help
encourage Afghan refugees to drive the Russian infidels, or
nonbelievers, out of Afghanistan.
The Taliban tells the following story of their origins. In
July of 1994, a guerilla leader in Kandahar raped and killed
three women. A mullah for the area, Maulvi Mohammed
Omar, was asked by the locals if he could do something about
the killings. Omar recruited a group of religious students.
They then murdered the commander and disbanded his militia. After this initial success, they were asked to help others in
the growing chaos that was Afghanistan. The Talibans ability
to bring order allowed it to take the place of the real Afghan
government, which had proved itself unable to protect
its citizens.
Like Hamid Karzai, Mullah Mohammed Omar had grown
up in Kandahar. Unlike Karzai, Omar grew up poor and
uneducated. Omar is said to have left Kandahar on only a few
occasions in his life. Indeed, like Mullah Omar, most members
of the Taliban were relatively uneducated and unaware of the
world outside of Afghanistan.
The only education most of them had received was at the
madrassas. At these schools, students learned Islamic law and
only Islamic law. No other subjects were taughtall learning
was geared to the students understanding of fundamentalist Islam. The schools also served as military training camps.
For hundreds of thousands of Afghan males, who were poor,
homeless, or orphaned by the war, the madrassas and the
Taliban gave them a sense of belonging. They provided them
with a sense of purpose.
resistance
That purpose was to free Afghanistan from Communist
tyranny and to stop the anarchy of warlord control. Omars
promise of safety and security sounded good to a people
exhausted from years of war and chaos. The Taliban quickly
gained control of Kandahar and used the city as their base of
operations. With financial support from Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia, the Taliban were able to gain control of larger and
larger parts of the country.
Hamid Karzai initially supported the Taliban. He felt that
they would be able to restore order and stability to his beloved
country. Karzai met with Mullah Omar on several occasions.
He also gave the Taliban $50,000, along with a large number
of weapons that had been acquired and stored away during the
war against the Soviet Union. It wasnt long, though, before
Karzai regretted his support. He soon realized that things in the
country were about to go from bad to worse.
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C H A P T E R
Taliban Rule
The Taliban rapidly expanded their control across the country. As
they did, it became clear that they had more in mind than simply bringing stability to the nation. Their ultimate goal was to
drive what they saw as foreign influences out of Afghanistan.
In doing so, they would turn Afghanistan into their extreme
vision of what an Islamic state should be. (Of course, the
Taliban didnt realize that Islam itself was a foreign influence
in Afghanistan. They didnt seem to understand that other religions, such as Buddhism, had been practiced there long before
the arrival of Islam.)
The Taliban are not the mainstream of Islamic thought. They
are not typical Muslims. They are the result of an extreme reaction caused by centuries of war, poverty, and destruction. They
see Western values and ideas as destructive to Afghan society.
They reject secular values and embrace their own extreme
80
taliban rule
interpretation of Islamic law. This radical interpretation of
Islamic law, combined with rural, male-centered Pashtun mores
(most members of the Taliban are Pashtuns from the countryside), proved to be a dangerous and deadly combination.
With power, the Taliban was able to impose and enforce
its rules across the country. In doing so, they committed a
huge number of violations against basic human rights
largely against women and girls. Most women were barred
from working outside the home. They were not allowed to
get an education. Most were not even allowed to leave the
house except in the company of a male relative. Women were
forced to wear the traditional burka, a garment that covers a
womans body from top to bottom, and were not permitted to
wear shoes that made noise when they were walking. Women
were denied hospital treatment to prevent them from being
seen by male doctors and attendants.
The Taliban attempted to cleanse Afghanistan of what
they considered to be dangerous Western influences (dangerous because they were considered a threat, or distraction,
from Islam). To do so, the Taliban issued a long list of things
that Afghans could not do or have. There would be no entertainment. Television, music, movies, and computers were
not allowed. There would be no newspapers or magazines.
Childrens toys were banned, as was the flying of kites. Men
were not allowed to cut or trim their beards. (If they did, they
could be beaten or jailed.) Wearing white shoes (the color of
the Taliban flag) was forbidden.
Members of the Talibans General Department for the
Preservation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice rode the streets
in pickup trucks. They would search homes at random, looking
for forbidden items. If found, the items would be destroyed and
the owners would be severely punished.
The Taliban was ruthless in imposing its laws. Anyone who
defied the laws was tortured or jailed. Some were executed.
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HAMID KARZAI
A burka, an outer garment that covers the entire body, was required dress for
women during the Taliban rule of Afghanistan. On April 21, 1996, widows dressed
in burkas register for food aid at a Red Crescent center in Kabul.
Punishments were harsh. Adulterers could be stoned to death.

Thieves would have one of their hands cut off. Minority groups
like the Hazara were brutally oppressed by the Taliban, and
many thousands of them were killed.
Why did Hamid Karzai initially support the Taliban? He
explained his reasons in a 2002 interview:
taliban rule
When the country went to anarchy at the hands of various
warlords and commanders, one of these people [Taliban]
came to me and said, Hamid, we were friends when we
were fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Look at this
country. What happened to this country? War everywhere,
anarchy, looting, insults to women, insults to the sovereignty
of this country. Can we do something about it? I said, Sure.
But how? He said, Lets get together and get rid of these
commanders and make the country all right. I said, Fine.
That is how the process of the Taliban began.
They were very fine people. The U.S. supported them.
The UN supported them. They were very good people. Very
soon, they were taken over by foreigners, by the Pakistanis,
by the Arab elements, by radical Muslims, radical extremist
elements from all over the world, And then terrorists mixed
up with them. So the movement was completely sabotaged.
The good ones in it were somehow sidelined or assassinated
or killed or made to sit at home, and the bad ones kept rising and rising and rising. Thats how this movement that
could have been a good one, that could have been one that
could bring peace, turned into a killing machine, turned into
an instrument of terror and torture for Afghans. I began to
sense that within eight months of them coming to Afghanistan, and I began to speak to people about that. Nobody
believed me.
Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan

In 1996, shortly after the Taliban took control of Kabul, they
asked Karzai to be their representative to the United Nations.
He refused, and when they asked why, he replied, Because you
are giving sanctuary to terrorists.
Indeed, the Taliban was giving sanctuary to terrorists. From
the mid 1990s on, Osama bin Laden and his terrorist organization al Qaeda used Afghanistan as their base of operations. It
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HAMID KARZAI
was an arrangement that worked well for both. Al Qaeda had
a haven in which to train terrorists and plan future terrorist
attacks. In return, the Taliban received financial and political
support from bin Laden.
After turning down the Talibans request to be ambassador, Karzai knew he was no longer safe in Afghanistan. Once
again, he was forced to leave the country. He rejoined his father
in Pakistan. They worked together to campaign against the
Taliban regime.
Karzai spent the next few years traveling the world. He
spoke to as many leaders as he could, explaining to them
exactly what was happening in Afghanistan. He tried to get the
worlds attention focused on the killings, the abuses, the rising terrorist threat, and the misery of the Afghan people. But
nobody believed him. As he recalled in his 2002 interview:
I began to travel to Europe to tell the Europeans and the
Americans that Afghanistan is going through very difficult
times; that there is a danger in Afghanistan for Afghans and
for the rest of the world. Very few people believed me. They
said, This is not true. You are saying this because they are
not the type of people you are. They represent Afghanistan;
you represent another culture. You speak English, you are
educated, so you dont represent Afghanistan. The Taliban
do represent Afghanistan. We began in Afghanistan a campaign against them, a campaign to dislodge them, without
help from the world.
Karzai never gave up. He kept trying, constantly traveling

and speaking everywhere he could, trying desperately to get the
worlds attention focused on Afghanistan.
An Important Year for Karzai

The year 1999 was pivotal in Karzais life. In January of 1999,
he married his cousin, Zinat. He was 40 years old at the time
taliban rule
of his marriage. This is very old for an Afghan male, who traditionally marries while in his twenties. Afghan tradition also
holds that people do not choose their own spouses. Instead,
marriages are arranged by the parents. In Afghanistan, as in
many tribal societies, cousins are often selected as spouses.
Why did Karzai decide that now was the time to marry?
Hed always been too busy, too devoted to his country to allow
himself much of a personal life. But at this time, Karzais
mother became ill. She told her son that before she died, one
of her fondest wishes was to see him married. Karzai was only
too happy to oblige. So as arranged by his parents, he married
in a traditional Afghan ceremony.
Zinat Karzai was a doctor, specializing in gynecology. She
had often treated Afghan refugees. Since marrying Hamid, she no
longer practices medicine. She became a traditional Afghan wife.
In fact, for many years, Zinat never made a public appearance or was photographed with her husband. This was partially
due to safety concerns. But there was another reason. In traditional Afghan society, it is considered appalling for a high-born
man to share his wife with the public in any way. And no
matter how Western he may appear, Hamid Karzai is still an
Afghan male. He was unwilling to cause any trouble by not following his peoples traditions.
Karzais life quickly moved from happiness to tragedy. Six
months after his wedding, on July 14, 1999, his father was shot
and killed, most probably by the Taliban. Despite years living in exile, the Karzais were still considered a powerful and
influential family. As such, they were considered a potential
threat to the Taliban regime. And feeling threatened, they had
Abdul Ahad Karzai, the head of the Popolzai, murdered. Karzai
remembered the events in a 2002 interview:
My brother called me on the mobile phone, and said,
Hamid, our father was assassinated. Immediately, the
first question that came to me was if he saw the assassin
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HAMID KARZAI
In the photograph above, a Taliban soldier orders a bypasser to pray in a mosque

in Kabul. The Taliban, Islamic extremists, imposed strict regulations on Afghans. All
Western influences were banned from Afghanistan, including music, television, and
movies. Anyone who disobeyed the Talibans rules was subjected to harsh punishment, or even death.
or saw the gun that was pointed at him. And When I

came back to the hospital where my father was lying, I
asked my brother. I said, Did our father see the assassin or
the gunman?
taliban rule
He said, No, his back was to the gate. He was talking to
somebody and the assassin shot him from behind. I was
relieved that he didnt see the man, and he didnt see the gun
that was pointed at him, because he hated it so much. So that
pain he did not suffer. He was just shot.
Karzai was devastated at the loss of his beloved father. His

father, who had hated guns and believed in nonviolence, had
been shot. Karzai knew what he needed to do. He had to bring
his fathers body out of Pakistan and home to Afghanistan.
He wanted him to be buried in the family burial ground.
It was an extraordinary act of bravery and defiance. A procession of more than 100 cars left Pakistan for the Afghan city
of Karz. Karz is near Kandahar, which remained the center of
Taliban strength.
The Taliban, knowing how much respect Abdul Ahad
and Hamid Karzai had in the country, did nothing. As Karzai
described it:
It was risky, exactly, so risky. We had no guns, we had no
arms, we had nothing. We just moved in. But of course, the
Taliban were frightened. They were so frightened that they
brought tanks all around the city. They took all the city corners and crossroads and protected them with tanks. We were
just civilians there.
Karzais bravery brought him new stature and prominence as a leader of the resistance. His stature grew even
more on July 22, one week after his fathers assassination. On
that day, Hamid Karzai was named as the new leader of the
Popolzai, assuming the leadership left vacant by the death of
his father.
He also continued to travel extensively, trying to warn
the world about the Taliban and the rapidly growing terrorist
threat. While in Italy, Karzai met with former king Zahir Shah.
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HAMID KARZAI
The deposed ruler backed a plan for a broad-based government
in Afghanistan that would represent all the people and factions
of the country. The former king gave Karzai a holy Koran as a
gift and symbol of friendship and respect, and the two shared
their hopes for a new Afghanistan.
C H A P T E R
9/11 Changes
Everything
Afghanistan was in a constant state of turmoil from 1999 to 2001.
Although the Taliban claimed control of 90 percent of the

country, resistance continued against their rule. The Northern
Alliance, headed by former president Burhanuddin Rabbani,
still fought against the Taliban from their bases in the north.
Most of the world still considered Rabbani to be the lawful
president of Afghanistan. Only three nations, Pakistan, Saudi
Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, officially recognized
the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of the country. Indeed,
Burhanuddin Rabbani still held Afghanistans official seat the
United Nations.
The world was also becoming more and more aware of
the growing danger that bin Laden and his terrorist network
presented. In October of 1999, the United Nations Security
Council demanded that bin Laden be turned over for trial. He
was wanted in connection with the bombing of U.S. embassies
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Hamid Karzai
At the same time he came

to realize that the only way
to defeat a powerful, violent
group such as the Taliban
was with force.
in Kenya and Tanzania. When the Taliban refused, the Security
Council imposed economic sanctions against Afghanistan.
This brought even greater hardship to the beleaguered nation.
The sanctions did nothing to soften the Talibans resolve
to protect bin Laden. Their reasons for giving him sanctuary
were threefold: he was a Muslim like them; he had fought with
them against the Russians; and to turn him over to outside legal
authorities would violate the Pashtun code of hospitality. In
addition, bin Ladens followers were useful in the fight against
the Talibans opponents.
The world was further outraged by the Taliban in March of
2001. That was the month that the Taliban ordered the destruction of the two 2,000-year-old statues of the Buddha carved
into the cliffs at Banyan. Despite worldwide protests, the statues
were destroyed. To the Taliban, the statues violated Islamic laws
against the artistic representation of human form, and against
having false idols.
Throughout these years, Hamid Karzai tirelessly traveled
the world. He became a well-respected speaker and representative of the Afghan people. Handsome and stylishly dressed
in his lambs-wool hat (called a karakul), collarless tunic, and
trousers, with a sports coat draped over the tunic and a robe
draped over the overcoat, Hamid Karzai caught the eye. When
he spoke, his eloquence grabbed peoples attention.
Karzai knew, though, that speaking was no longer enough.
He was still a fervent believer in nonviolence. At the same
time he came to realize that the only way to defeat a powerful, violent group such as the Taliban was with force. So while
9/11 changes everything
The Buddhas of Bamyan were two ancient statues of Buddha that were carved
on the side of a cliff in Bamiyan valley, located northwest of Kabul. In 2001,
the Taliban destroyed the statues because they were believed to be un-Islamic.
Since the destruction of the statues, there has been worldwide support to have
the structures rebuilt.
continuing to speak out, Karzai also began making contact with

tribal warlords throughout Afghanistan. By doing so, he was
laying the groundwork for future military action.
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Hamid Karzai
Everything changed for Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan, and
the world on September 11, 2001. On that date, under orders
from Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda terrorists attacked the United
States, using hijacked commercial airliners as weapons. Two
planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City early
that morning. A third plane flew into the Pentagon, near
Washington, D.C. A fourth plane, probably also headed toward
Washington, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after the
planes passengers fought back against the hijackers.
By the end of that day, more than 3,000 people were dead.
The twin towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed into
smoking ruins, and Afghanistan found itself at the center of the
worlds attention.
The United States Retaliates

It quickly became evident that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda
were responsible for the attacks. Bin Laden himself issued videotapes, claiming responsibility and promising future attacks.
The world also blamed the Taliban for continuing to protect
bin Laden. The United States and its allies made clear their
intention to capture bin Laden and to drive the Taliban from
power. The people of Afghanistan would no longer be fighting
the Taliban alone.
In October of 2001, the United States, along with Great
Britain and a coalition of other nations, began military action
against the Taliban. They began with air strikes against Taliban
strongholds, and in areas where it was thought that bin Laden
was hiding. This operation, known as Operation Enduring
Freedom, also included U.S. ground forces fighting alongside
the Northern Alliance.
Just days before the fighting began, Hamid Karzai reentered
Afghanistan. He knew that now was the time to pick up a gun
and fight. He also knew that he was one person the Taliban did
not want inside Afghanistan. If he was discovered entering the
country he would be killed. But he felt that now the real battle
was about to begin. As head of the Popolzai, he needed to be

with his people. He recounted those days in a 2002 interview
with the Academy of Achievement:
By the first of October of 2001, just a month and a few days
after 9/11, I was one day sitting with four of my colleagues
and I told them that Afghanistan cannot have any more of
this. Lets move in and the world community might help
us. They said, No, the world will not help us. I said, They
will. They said, You have been telling us this for five or six
years. Nobody has helped. I said, This is a different time.
Think of New York. Think of what happened there. The
world has woken up. Lets move into Afghanistan. Lets move
into the heart of the Taliban.
In the morning before we moved into Afghanistan, I told
my colleagues, I said, Listen, friends, we are moving into
Afghanistan. Its taken over by terrorists. Its taken over by
Taliban. Its taken over by all sorts of foreign people that
have come to Afghanistan that are ruining life for us and
for the rest of the world. We might be captured the moment
we enter Afghanistan and be killed. Are you willing to face
that? I also said, we have 60 percent chance of death and 40
percent chance to live and survive. Winning was no consideration. I mean we could not even think of that. They said,
All right, lets do it. We got on two motor-bikes. We drove
into Afghanistan, straight from the Pakistani border.
It was not an easy journey. They had four flat tires but
avoided capture by the Taliban. They arrived, tired and hungry, in Kandahar City, the heartland of the Taliban. There they
spent the night in the house of a villager who offered his protection. The next morning the villager approached Karzai and
asked him what he planned to do. Karzai told the man that he
planned to get rid of the Taliban. Pointing out that Karzai had
only four supporters and two motorbikes, the villager told him
that if he stayed in Kandahar he was certain to be captured by
the Taliban. He urged Hamid to go to the mountainous central
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Hamid Karzai
On September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists crashed two planes into the towers
of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing approximately 3,000 people.
A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth
plane that was headed for the White House crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
Al Queda leader Osama bin Laden took responsibility for the terrorist attacks.

region of Afghanistan. There he would have a better chance to
hide from the Taliban and have time to organize a resistance.
Thats exactly what Hamid Karzai did. The next day,
the villagers cousin, a taxi driver, drove them into central
Afghanistan. In a village near the regional capital of Uruzgan,
he met with local tribal leaders. They urged Karzai to contact
the United States and ask for weapons to fight the Taliban,
something that Karzai was reluctant to do. They also urged
him to ask the United States to bomb Taliban command centers. This second request surprised Karzai. He was shocked to
learn that the Afghan people hated the Taliban so much that
they were willing to have the country bombedanything to
help get rid of them.
Karzai moved from village to village, speaking with and
attracting more and more people. He let them know that he
was back in the country and that he needed their help to fight
the Taliban. Unfortunately, the Taliban had also learned that he
was back in Afghanistan.
Fifteen hundred armed Taliban soldiers, including Arabs
and Pakistanis, were sent to attack Karzai and his supporters.
The villagers came to him and asked whether he wanted to face
the Taliban where he was or to go deeper into the mountains.
Unsure about what to do, Karzai asked one of the villagers what
he thought. He also asked him what he thought would happen
if he and his supporters remained where they were. As Karzai
told the Academy of Achievement:
He said, Hamid, if you face them here, they will come with
their rocket launcherswith the RP-7sRP-7 is a rocket
thingAnd they will blow up our women and children and
their flesh would be hanging on trees. When I heard this,
I was shaken, terrified. The imagination that the children
would be blown up and there would be these trees with
their flesh would be spread on trees? I said, No, no, no, of
course I dont want to face them here. Then what should I
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Hamid Karzai
On November 13, 2001, Kabul became free of Taliban rule. In this photograph an
Afghan man celebrates the removal of the Taliban by listening to music, an activity
that was once banned.
do? He said, Go to the mountains. I said, All right, lets go

to the mountains. I asked people, Who is willing to go with
me? Fifty people said, Well go with you. And we began
with the journey. We went into the mountains.
It took Karzai and his followers 13 hours to arrive at their

new hideout in the middle of the mountains. There they found

one man, his wife, and their two children. On that first day, that
one man and his family fed 50 people. The second day there
were 90 people. The third day there were 120. The villager fed
them all.
Karzais supporters were concerned about their lack of
weapons. How could they fight the Taliban basically unarmed?
Several of the elders approached Karzai. Once again, they
asked him if he could call the United States and ask for weapons. Karzai thought about it. He realized that without sufficient
weapons he and his supporters stood no chance against the
Taliban. He also knew that through years of travel to the United
States he had made many friends in high places. These friends
knew him and supported his struggle for Afghan freedom.
Karzai did call the United States. The Americans, knowing
who he was, did agree to send food, ammunition, and weapons. How were they going to get the supplies to him? Karzai
and his people were in a hard-to-reach mountainous region of
Afghanistan. Even the local tribespeople couldnt give him an
exact location of where he was. A solution was reached. Karzai
was able to give the United States a rough idea of his whereabouts. The United States told Karzai to light four fires that
night so they could pinpoint his location. The fires worked, and
U.S. forces were able to drop him his badly needed supplies.
Karzai received his equipment not a moment too soon. The
very next day, 400 Taliban troops attacked Karzais position.
Karzai had fewer than 200 untrained soldiers, but, with their
newly acquired weapons, they were able to hold off the attack.
Communications between his forces was sketchy, though, and
Karzai was not sure if theyd won or lost the battle. Fearing the
worst, they began to scatter. They quickly learned though that
the Taliban themselves had fled, and the area was now free.
Kabul Is Recaptured
On November 13, 2001, the Northern Alliance recaptured
Kabul from the Taliban. The city overflowed with happiness.
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Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai meets with tribal leaders in a house once occupied by Taliban
leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on December 10,
2001. Following the removal of the Taliban, Karzai became the leader of the
interim government until 2004, when he was elected president of Afghanistan.
People played long-banned music and threw flowers at the

allied troops. The Northern Alliance, with the assistance of the
U.S. military, had managed to recapture much of Afghanistan
from the Taliban. The city of Kandahar, though, was still in
Taliban hands.

Karzai and his militia, which had grown to nearly 4,000
strong, began moving toward the city. The United States offered
him supplies and armed security. Karzai was at first reluctant
to accept more American aid. He was afraid that the Afghan
people were leery of foreign military aid and involvement. He
felt that the Afghans should fight their own battles. He was
finally convinced, though, that the Taliban were too well armed
and that it would be impossible to defeat the Taliban entirely
on his own.
With the help of the U.S. Armys 5th Special Forces Group
and U.S. air strikes, Hamid Karzais militia was able to advance
to within 20 miles (32 km) of Kandahar. There, they received
word that Mullah Mohammed Omar agreed to surrender
Kandahar to Karzai. On December 5, 2001, the surrender
became official.
Hamid Karzai, with the aid and assistance of the United
States and its allies, had put an end to Taliban rule. But,
although the Taliban no longer were in charge of the country,
they remained (and still remain) a serious problem to Afghan
stability. Many members of the Taliban (as well as al Qaeda)
refused to give up their weapons as promised in the agreements
of surrender. They simply fled to the mountains and countryside to their homes. Mullah Mohammed Omar disappeared, as
did Osama bin Laden. To date, neither Omar nor bin Laden has
been found, but the search continues.
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C H A P T E R
Rebuilding
a Nation
With the Taliban defeated, Afghanistan once again found itself at
a crossroads. Who was going to rule the country? What form

would the government take? Should Afghanistan return to
being a monarchy? Could it become a democratic society? Who
would determine what Afghanistan would become? The most
pressing need was to establish an interim government that
could work to resolve those questions.
U.S. officials first instinct was to ask former king Zahir Shah
to take the job. Although an elderly man of 87, he was still in good
health. It was thought that he could serve as a much-needed symbol of unity for the nation. Another possibility was Burhanuddin
Rabbani, whom most of the world still considered Afghanistans
legitimate leader. Zahir Shah, though, thought it was time for a
new leader. Since Karzai had established excellent relations with
the United States, the former king thought that his old friend
should head Afghanistans interim government. Rabbani agreed.
100
rebuilding a nation
The United Nations organized a conference. There the
four major Afghan factions would meet and discuss who
would lead the new government. One of those factions was
the Northern Alliance, which represented the ethnic Tajik,
Uzbek, and Hazara groups.
The other three factions represented the Pashtuns,
Afghanistans largest ethnic group. One of these factions represented Zahir Shah. A second faction, called Cyprus Process, was
made up of politicians from the western part of Afghanistan.
They had close relations with Iran. The last faction was made
up of Afghan exiles living in Pakistan.
The group met for nine days. On December 5, 2001, an
agreement was reached. Hamid Karzai would lead the new
Afghan interim government for a six-month period. Moments
before learning the news, Karzai was nearly killed when a U.S.
missile went off-course and slammed into a building that
Karzai was in. He was wounded, and eight others were killed. In
fact, the nurses were still cleaning the blood from his face when
he got the phone call telling him of his appointment.
Where was he to begin? The economy was in shambles.
Public education had virtually ended. Society was in disarray,
with millions of Afghans living in the country as refugees, or
outside the country in exile.
Most of all, people were afraid. Crime was rampant. People
didnt feel safe in the street, or even in their own homes.
Bandits and warlords ruled vast sections of the country. One
prominent warlord was General Abdul Rashid Dostum. An
Uzbeki who had fought alongside both the Northern Alliance
and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, he announced he would not even
recognize the new government.
Start of a Presidency
Hamid Karzai took office on December 22, 2001. Despite the
enormity of the task ahead of him, Karzai set immediately to
work. Demonstrating to the world that Afghanistan could build
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HAMID KARZAI
On December 22, 2001, Hamid Karzai (right) takes the oath of office as the interim
prime minister of Afghanistan while former president Burhanuddin Rabbani (left)
looks on. Karzais inauguration as prime minister was a peaceful transfer of power,
a great change from the tumultuous past two decades in Afghanistan.
a stable government was one of his top priorities. To prove his

ability to rule, the leadership of the new government was made
up from a wide spectrum of Afghan society, including two
women. Sima Samar was named minister of womens affairs,
and Suhaila Seddigi became minister of public health. This was
rebuilding a nation
an important step for the government to take, demonstrating
to the world Karzais deep commitment to womens rights.
Getting the worlds approval was essential. Afghanistan
was almost totally dependent on the worlds support. One
of the first things that Karzai did upon taking office was to
travel the world in search of financial support, as he had done
so many times. The world responded, anxious to rebuild an
Afghanistan that would no longer serve as a sanctuary for terrorists. U.S. financial aid, Turkish peacekeeping troops, and
German vows to rebuild Afghanistans police force were some
of the results.
Karzai also began the slow process of reopening schools,
opening them to both boys and girls. He established a banking
system. He also made the first of many attempts to disarm the
warlords and their militias.
Millions of Afghan exiles responded to Karzais efforts to
rebuild the country. In the first few months of his chairmanship, more than 200,000 exiles returned to their homes. By
March of 2003, nearly one million refugees had returned from
camps in Pakistan and Iran.
Those that returned to Kabul found a city in ruins, with
little water, electricity, available housing, or other basic necessities. They often found themselves living in conditions worse
than the refugee camps theyd been in. Those that returned to
the countryside found that four years of drought had left most
farmland parched and arid. Three-quarters of Afghanistans
livestock had died during the drought. Despite the hardships,
people still wanted to return to their country. They were anxious to contribute to the nations reconstruction.
In April of 2002, the former king, Zahir Shah, returned
to the land he ruled for 40 years. It was his first time back
in Afghanistan since his overthrow in 1973. It was a time of
great celebration throughout the nation. By coming home, he
showed his hope for Afghanistans future and demonstrated
his belief in Karzais leadership. To this day, he lives in the
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HAMID KARZAI
presidential palace. He remains a symbol of the countrys past,
before the days of war and terrorism.
At the end of Karzais six-month term in office, the country
could see changes for the better, and hope was in the air. Because
of this, Hamid Karzai was easily reelected as head of the government. This time, though, he was chosen by a nationwide loya
jirga. Close to 1,500 delegates, representing nearly every walk of
Afghan society, elected him as the nations president.
In name Karzai was president of all of Afghanistan. The
reality was something quite different. Warlords still controlled much of the country. They ruled areas where the
central government still had little or no power or influence.
In an attempt to unify the nation, Karzai named some of the
best-known warlords to positions of prominence in the new
government.
By doing so, he hoped to have some measure of control
over them and to show them that a unified government was in
the best interests of the people as a whole. The appointments
angered others, however. They felt that the warlords were criminals who should be brought to justice. Karzai knew that justice
was important, but he felt that rebuilding a stable country had
to take priority.
For the next year and a half, along with his other responsibilities as president, Karzai oversaw the creation of Afghanistans
new constitution. After much debate, the new Afghan constitution was approved in a loya jirga and signed by Karzai on
January 26, 2004.
Major Changes in Afghanistan

The new constitution calls for a strong presidency and a bicameral (two chamber) parliament. Direct elections are to be held
for the presidency and the lower house, the Wolesi Jirga. The
upper house, the Meshramo Jirga, will consist of diplomats and
experts to be named by provincial councils, district councils,
and the president.
rebuilding a nation
Former Afghan king, Mohammed Zaher Shah (left) looks on as newly elected
President Hamid Karzai (right) implements Afghanistans first democratic constitution on January 26, 2004. The constitution called for a government with a
presidency, and a two-chamber parliament.
The constitution names Islam as Afghanistans sacred and

state religion and states that no laws may contradict the beliefs
and provisions of Islam. Followers of other religions are free to
exercise their faith and perform their religions rites, but only
within the limits of the law.
Citizens are guaranteed the right to liberty, privacy,
peaceful assembly, and expression, as well as freedom from
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HAMID KARZAI
torture. Women are protected equally before the law; however, the tenets of Islam are given the most moral significance. The new constitution was one more attempt to
carefully balance the demands of the reformists and those of
traditional Muslims.
In addition, the nations first presidential elections were set
for July 5 of that year. Due to ongoing security concerns and
the difficulty of registering millions of first-time voters, the
elections were postponed twice. Nationwide presidential elections finally took place on October 9, 2004.
That day was a milestone in Afghan history. Despite traditions and the threat of Taliban violence, more than threequarters of Afghanistans nearly 10 million registered voters
turned out to vote. Eighteen candidates were in the running,
including warlords, religious candidates, monarchist candidates, and Northern Alliance candidates. Against them, Karzai
won a smashing victory. He garnered 55.4 percent of the total
votes and received three times more votes than any other candidate. Despite the countrys continuing problems, the majority
of voters still trusted President Karzai to lead them.
Parliamentary elections were held the following year, on
September 18, 2005. The process was marred by violence (19
polling places were attacked by the Taliban, and one dozen
people were killed) and a lower voter turnout than the presidential elections of the previous year. But the overall success
of the elections proved that Afghanistan and its people are still
committed to democracy.
Having a democratic government is definitely a positive
step in Afghanistans development. The government, though, is
still not in control of large parts of the country. Because of this,
Karzais presidency is under constant threat.
Since 2002, Karzai, as well as other government officials,
has faced several assassination attempts. In late 2002, one of
Karzais three vice presidents, the warlord Haji Abdul Qadir,
was assassinated. He and his son-in-law were attacked by two
rebuilding a nation
gunmen who fired 48 bullets into the car, killing them both.
Security forces were unable to protect them.
Qadirs assassination caused many former warlords to question their commitment to the new government. If government
security forces could not keep them safe, how could they help
keep the people of Afghanistan safe? Why should the warlords
risk their lives working for a unified government? If they were
home in their own territories, theyd be safely protected by their
own militia. Karzai quickly moved on this problem by asking
the United States to help provide more security. Although this
did help solve the initial problem, it created a new one. His
growing reliance on America made him look weaker and more
dependent on America then ever before.
Attempts on Karzais Life

Even with U.S. assistance, the violence continued. The country
celebrated the eighty-third anniversary of its independence
from Great Britain in August of 2002. The next month, a bomb
exploded in a taxi in Kabul, killing 26 and injuring more than
150. It is believed to have been the work of al Qaeda, although
this has never been proven.
On the same day, Karzai was in Kandahar, attending the
wedding of his youngest brother, Abdul Wali. Four hours after
the bomb exploded in Kabul, a government security worker
named Abdul Rahman walked up to Karzais open car window
and fired four times. One of the bullets, it was later determined, missed Karzai by mere inches. Rahman was shoved to
the ground by a bystander, and U.S. Special Forces leapt out
of their car and into action. By the time the dust had settled,
Rahman, the bystander, and one U.S. bodyguard were dead.
Karzai remained calm and unruffled by the attack. He told
reporters, Ive been through this before. Ive been hit three
times at summits. Did that stop us from fighting? My father
was assassinated by terrorists. Did that stop him from fighting
against them? I will not stop. Ill continue.
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HAMID KARZAI
Two months later, Karzai narrowly avoided assassination
once again. An Iraqi Kurd named Bokam Akram Khorani was
sent by the Taliban on a suicide mission. He was ordered to
kill Karzai when he returned to Afghanistan after a trip to the
United States.
Khorani arrived too late to kill Karzai. He changed his plans
and attempted to kill Defense Minister Mohammad Qassem
Fahim. Security forces captured him before he could act; he
had 18 pounds of explosives strapped to his body.
In addition to suicide bombers, Karzai was facing a nation
still ruled in large part by warlords and awash with weapons.
It is estimated that the warlords controlled more than 8 million guns throughout the country. This has helped give them
control over the vast majority of the nation. International aid
workers have had difficulty working outside of Kabul due to
safety concerns. Dozens of relief workers have been assassinated. Hamid Karzai has been called the mayor of Kabul
because his control barely exists beyond the Kabul city limits.
He realized that he must effectively disband and disarm the
warlords militias. This had to happen if he was to have any
hope of making the government the sole source of power and
security in Afghanistan.
Progress has been made in disarming the militias. In
2003, Karzai announced a plan called DDR (demilitarization,
demobilization, and reintegration). He promised that this
would demobilize the militias by mid-2004, just before the
presidential elections. Progress was slow, however, and, on
July 14, 2004, Karzai signed an additional decree threatening
the warlords.
The decree stated that if they failed to comply with DDR,
they will be considered disloyal and rebellious. This, along
with assistance from the United States, seems to have helped
turn the tide. By 2006, 63,000 (out of an estimated 100,000)
former rebels had been disarmed and demobilized, and 97 percent of known heavy weapons were collected and secured.
rebuilding a nation
Karzai has also reached out through the Taliban reconciliation program. This offers amnesty and reintegration into
society for Taliban members who have not committed serious
crimes. Although these efforts have worked, the last months of
2005 and the first quarter of 2006 have seen a renewed upswing
in violence, with increased use of improvised explosive devices
and suicide bombs. In April of 2006, Mullah Omar was quoted
as saying, We will intensify suicide attacks to the extent that
we will make the land beneath their feet like a flaming oven.
Throughout 2006, the Taliban intensified its efforts to regain
control of Afghanistan. In November 2006, U.S. Central
Intelligence Director General Michael V. Hayden warned that
both the Taliban and al Qaeda were in a bloody insurgency in
the southern and eastern regions of the country.
The second major problem facing Karzai is Afghanistans
illicit narcotics trade. Afghanistan is the worlds largest single
producer of opium poppies, which are the raw ingredient used
to manufacture heroin. More than 90 percent of the heroin sold
in Europe comes from Afghanistan. Approximately 2.3 million
Afghans, 10 percent of Afghanistans population of approximately 29 million, are involved in the drug trade. Since 2001
and the fall of the Taliban, the poppy harvest has skyrocketed.
During their rule, the Taliban had banned all poppy
products throughout the country. But after the Taliban were
defeated, Afghan farmers quickly reverted to poppy farming.
Poppies bring in huge amounts of money, more than almost
any other crop. In addition, poppies are relatively easy to grow.
They require little labor and very little water, which is especially
valuable given Afghanistans arid and often drought-ridden
landscape.
Solving the opium problem is going to be difficult. For
one thing, the Taliban was able to arrest a poppy farmer and
release him with the understanding that he would immediately destroy his crop. Karzai is unable and unwilling to use
this tactic. Second, the sheer amount of profits that poppies
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HAMID KARZAI
provide makes farmers unwilling to turn to less profitable
crops. Finally, the huge amount of money that poppies bring
in allows the drug lords to bribe government officials to avoid
prosecution.
Attempts are being made to move Afghan farmers to other
crops, including wheat and almonds. The United States has
contributed $321 million to support programs that provide
long-term rural development. In addition, in 2005, 247 conversion labs were shut down, and 42.9 metric tons of opium and
5.5 metric tons of heroin were seized. The United States is also
working on effective elimination and eradication programs,
seeking to reduce the level of poppy cultivation by convincing
farmers not to plant poppies and by eradicating crops that have
already been planted.
Despite the continuing difficulties and violence, many
aspects of life in Afghanistan have improved during Karzais
presidency. In 2005, nearly 5 million children, including nearly
2 million girls, were attending school. In 2001, only one million students total were able to attend school. Many countries
from around the world have helped build new schools and
have donated textbooks and badly needed supplies. The United
States alone has distributed more than 48.5 million textbooks
throughout the countryside and has provided training for
75,000 new teachers.
Even this hasnt always gone smoothly. The Taliban has
made continued attempts to disrupt the educational system
with attacks and bombings of girls schools. Karzai responded
to this by saying, The people who destroyed and burned those
schools are our enemies. They want the nation to be poor and
needy. Hamid Karzai continues his pleas for parents to send
their children to school, knowing that in Afghanistans public
education system lies the hope for the countrys future.
The rights of women have greatly improved. In an Islamic,
male-dominated society such as Afghanistan, women traditionally serve a subservient role as wife and mother. Their
rebuilding a nation
Following the end of Taliban rule, the treatment of women in Afghanistan has
greatly improved. Women are now allowed to vote and to work outside of the
home. In the photograph above, a female teacher holds a class in a partially
damaged building in Kabul.
sole purpose is to take care of the family. Under the Taliban,

the treatment of women was far worse than under traditional Islam.
Under Karzai, 4 million Afghan women are registered to
vote, and 3 of Karzais 32 cabinet ministers are women. In addition, at a recent ceremony in Kabul in honor of International
Womens Day, Karzais wife, Zinat, made her first-ever public
appearance. This event had great symbolic meaning to millions
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HAMID KARZAI
of Afghan women. By attending this event with her husband,
they made public his commitment to equal rights for women.
Zinat Karzai also makes a political statement by choosing
not to wear a burka. Instead, she opts for a simple white scarf
wrapped around her head. She does not believe that other
women should wear burkas, either. She has also expressed an
interest in returning to work as a doctor. Although many traditionalists oppose this, many other people hope that she will be
able to do so. They would like to see her become a role model
for Afghan women.
Financial aid from around the globe, including pledges
totaling nearly $7 billion from the United States, has been
essential to Afghanistans growth. Because of this aid, the
Afghan army now stands at 26,500 troops and is an ethnically
balanced force from all areas of the country. It is beginning to
achieve great success in stopping factional fighting in the north
and west of Afghanistan.
Sixty thousand national, border, and highway police are
being trained, and more than 60,000 others have completed at
least basic training. These are the people who will provide dayto-day security throughout the nations provinces and in Kabul
itself. As they step up, U.S. and other international troops will
be able to begin pulling out.
In addition, roads are being built, courthouses are under
construction, and health care coverage is rapidly expanding.
The economy grew at a healthy rate of 13.6 percent from 2005
to 2006. Some of the strongest growth has been in construction, telecommunications, hotels and services, and agriculture.
In March of 2003, Afghanistan even activated its first internet
domain.af. The arts, too, are returning to the country. In
addition, an effort is being made to rebuild the historic buildings and sites destroyed by the long years of war.
Since childhood, Hamid Karzai dreamed of Afghanistan
becoming a free, independent, and successful nation. He
truly wants nothing but the best for his people. His life has
rebuilding a nation
President Hamid Karzai arrives at Orly, France, in October 2005, to meet

French president Jacques Chirac. A contributing factor to Karzais success is
his skillful diplomacy.
been devoted to his country, and, under his presidency, real

progress has been made. Under his leadership, and with assistance from allies around the world, Afghanistan has a chance
to turn away from centuries of turmoil and civil war, and
become truly one nation.
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HAMID KARZAI
Hamid Karzais skills as diplomat and mediator have served
him well in his efforts to bring his nation together. But like
Shah Shuja in 1839, he relies on the presence of foreign troops
to help keep him in power. To achieve continued progress, he
will need to demonstrate stronger leadership and show his
people that he is able to lead his nation independent of
Americas help. He will need to beat back the growing resurgence of the Taliban and al Qaeda, and take a stronger stand
against warlords and narcotics dealers. He has the determination and intelligence to make that happen. His vision of progress for Afghanistan and its people can become a reality.
Chronology
Alexander the Great conquers the territory that would
later become Afghanistan enroute to the Indian
subcontinent.
330 b.c.
400
White Huns invade, destroying the Buddhist culture

and leaving most of the country in ruins.
652
Introduction of Islam.
9621149
12191221
Genghis Khan invades Afghanistan, leaving the

country once again in ruins.
13641405
Tamerlane.
17471773
Rule of Ahmad Shah; the beginning of the Durrani

Dynasty.
1800s
18391842
1878
Start of Second Anglo-Afghan War.
1893
The Durand Line establishes the border of

Afghanistan and British India.
1921
Ghaznavid Dynasty; Afghanistan becomes the center

of Islamic power and civilization.
Persia, Great Britain, and Russia all vie for control

of Afghanistan.
First Anglo-Afghan War.
The line divides Afghan tribal areas, causing longtime hostilities between Afghanistan and what would
become Pakistan.
Third Anglo-Afghan War. Once again, the British
are defeated.
Afghanistan gains independence and full control of its
foreign affairs.
115
1933
Zahir Shah ascends to throne. He will remain king

until 1973.
1957
Hamid Karzai is born on December 24.
1973
The government of King Zahir Shah is overthrown by

Mohammed Daoud.
19761982
1978
Daoud is executed and Afghanistan is declared the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
Late 1970s
The Afghan government, with assistance from the

Soviets, kills and imprisons many Afghan leaders.
Karzais father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, is imprisoned.
1979
On December 24, the Soviet army invades

Afghanistan. It will occupy the country for the next
10 years.
1981
Abdul Ahad Karzai is released from prison. He and his

family flee to safety in Quetta, Pakistan.
1982
After earning his masters degree from Himachal

Pradesh University,
Karzai joins his family in Quetta. He joins the Afghan

National Liberation Front and quickly becomes its
director of operations.
Early 1980s
The former king remains in exile in Rome, and Daoud

declares Afghanistan to be a republic.
Hamid Karzai attends college in Simla, India.
The Communist PDPA, the Peoples Democratic Party
of Afghanistan, overthrows Prime Minister Daoud in
the Saur (April) Revolution.
Karzai supports the Afghan resistance movement.

These fighters become known as the mujahideen or
holy warriors.
116
1988
Facing continuing mujahideen resistance, the Soviets

agree to a cease-fire and to withdraw their troops
from Afghanistan.
1989
The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan.
1992
Communist president Sayed Mohammed Najibullah

is overthrown by the mujahideen. Burhanuddin
Rabbani becomes president and declares Afghanistan
an Islamic state. Karzai returns to Afghanistan to serve
as deputy foreign minister.
1994
As rival warlords continue to fight against Rabbanis

government, lawlessness and anarchy spread
throughout Afghanistan. Disgusted by the violence,
Karzai resigns as deputy foreign minister and returns
to Pakistan.
1996
Taliban influence spreads throughout Afghanistan.

By the end of the 1990s the Taliban will control nearly
90 percent of the country.
1999
In January, Hamid Karzai marries his cousin, Zinat.
1999
On July 14, Hamid Karzais father is assassinated

in Quetta, Pakistan, while leaving a mosque after
evening prayers. In a display of defiance against the
Taliban, Karzai returns his fathers remains home to
Afghanistan to be buried.
2001
On September 11, the World Trade Center and

Pentagon are attacked by al Qaeda terrorists. In
early October, Karzai crosses the border into
Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. Days later, U.S.
air strikes against Afghanistan begin in an effort to
remove the Taliban from power and to destroy
117
al Qaeda. On November 13, the Northern Alliance

recaptures Kabul from the Taliban. On December
5, remaining Taliban officials surrender to Hamid
Karzai at Kandahar. On December 22, Karzai takes
office as a leader of an appointed six-month interim
government.

2002
Hamid Karzai is reelected president for an

18-month term of office by a nationwide loya
jirga. Schools begin to reopen to both boys and girls.
There are continuing Taliban and warlord attacks
against the new government. One vice president is
killed, and several unsuccessful attempts are made on
Karzais life.
2003
Nearly 2 million refugees have returned to

Afghanistan, facing overcrowded cities unable to
provide basic services and a countryside ravaged by
years of drought.
2004
Hamid Karzai is elected president in Afghanistans

first free and democratic nationwide elections.
2005
Despite continuing Taliban resistance, education and

health care systems gradually improve. Nationwide
lections are successfully held to choose a new
Parliament.
2006
The Karzai governments control barely extends

beyond Kabul, but the Afghan people remain
optimistic about their future. The Taliban vows to
continue the fight.
118
Bibliography
Afghanistan. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Afghanistan.
Amanpour, Christiane, and Andrea Koppel. Hamid Karzai
No Stranger to Leadership. CNN. December 21, 2001.
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/12/21/ret.karzai.profile.
Anderson, Jon Lee. The Man in the Palace. The New Yorker
(June 6, 2005).
Chronological History of Afghanistan. Afghanistan Online.
http://www.afghan.web.com/history.
Ewans, Martin. Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and
Politics. New York: Perennial, 2002.
Heir Apparent. Al-Ahram Weekly Online. December 2026
2001, Issue No. 565. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg./2001/565/
8war2.htm.
Interview: His Excellency Hamid Karzai President of Afghanistan. Academy of Achievement, June 7, 2002. http://www.
achievement.org/autdoc/printmember/kar0int-1.
Kaplan, Robert. Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors In
Afghanistan and Pakistan. New York: Vintage Books, 2001
Lancaster, John. At Inauguration, Karzai Vows Action on
Tough Issues. Washington Post.com. December 8, 2004.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A421322004/Dec7.html.
Onishi, Norimitsu. For Afghan Clan, a Full Circle Back to
Power. New York Times. December 9, 2001. http://www.
pulitzer.org/year/2002/public-service/works/story3/html.
119
Quinn, Maureen. Statement of Ambassador Maureen Quinn

Coordinator for Afghanistan Before the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on International Relations SubCommittees on Middle East and Central Asia and Oversight
and Investigations. March 9, 2006. http://wwwc.house.gov/
international_relations/109/qui030906.pdf.
Todd, Anne M. Hamid Karzai. Philadelphia: Chelsea House
Publishers, 2004.
Tyson, Ann Scott. Red Carpet Leads Back to a Nation in
Tatters. Christian Science Monitor. January 31, 2002. http://
www.csmonitor.com/2002/0131/p03s01-usgn.htm.
120
Further Reading
Akbar, Said Hyder, and Susan Barton. Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenagers Story. New York: Bloomsbury
USA, 2005.
Anderson, Jon Lee. The Man in the Palace. The New Yorker
(June 6, 2005).
Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA,
Afghanistan, and Bin Laden.
Ewans, Martin. Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and
Politics. New York: Harper Perennial: 2002.
From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. New York:
Penguin Press: 2004.
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead
Trade, 2004.
Lamb, Christine. The Sewing Circles of Heart: A Personal
Voyage Through Afghanistan. New York: Harper
Perennial, 2004.
Seirstad, Asne. The Bookseller of Kabul. New York: Back
Bay Books, 2004.
121
Photo Credits
page:
Frontis: JEAN-MARC LOOS

13: AP Photo/David
Guttenfelder

16: AP Photo/Ahmad
Masood, POOL

21: AP Photo/Suzanne
Plunkett

24: Erich Lessing/Art
Resource, NY

28: Art Resource, NY

33: Library of Congress

39: Library of Congress

43: AP Photo

47: AP Photo/Henery S.
Bradsher

51: AP Photo

55: Kapoor Baldev/Sygma/
Corbis

59: AP Photo

66: AP Photo
68: AP Photo
71: AP Photo/Liu Heung
Shing
77: AP Photo/Laurent
Rebours
82: AP Photo/Zahid
86: AP Photo/Dmitri
Messinis
91: Bromeo/Art Resource,
NY
94: AP Photo/Chao Soi
Cheong
96: AP Photo/Amir Shah
98: AP Photo/6076482
102: AP Photo/Marco
Di Lauro
105: AP Photo/Ed Wray
111: Melanie Frey/WpN
113: AFP/Getty Images
Cover: Andreas Altwein/dpa/CORBIS
122
Index
Amanullah Khan, 3639
Amin, Hafizullah, 53, 58, 59,
60, 61
Army of Retribution, 33
Asoka, 25
assassinations, 29, 55, 58, 106108
Abdali, Ahmad Shah, 29

Abdul Wali (brother), 46
Abdur Rahman Khan, 3536
Afghan Interim Authority (AIA),
head of, 12
Afghan jihads, 6769
Afghan languages, 22
Afghan National Liberation Front
(ANLF), 6768, 6970
Afghanistan
Amanullah and, 3640
Britain, Russia and, 3136
early history of, 2326
end of monarchy in, 5457
geography of, 1820
Hamid Karzai as leader of,
101104
invasion of, 14, 61, 6263
Islam introduction into, 2629
Mohammed Zahir Shah and,
4044
Osama bin Laden in, 8384
Pakistan and, 4951
people of, 2023
rebellion of against Soviet
Union, 6572
rebuilding of, 108114
recent changes in, 104107
agriculture, 23, 110
Ahmad Shah Abdali, 29
Ahmad Shah Durrani, 22, 29, 30
al Qaeda. See also bin Laden,
Osama
continued efforts of, 109
Kabul bombings and, 107
September 11 attacks and,
9297
Taliban and, 15, 84
Alexander the Great, 2425
Alexandria-Eschate, 25
Babur, 2728
Bactrians, 25
Bamiyan statues, 2526, 9091
Bart, William Hay Mcnaghten, 33
beards, Taliban and, 81
bin Laden, Osama
in Afghanistan, 8384
embassy bombings and, 8990
in Pakistan, 22
9297
birthday of Hamid Karzai, 44, 45
Bouvier, Nicolas, 4648
boycotts, 63
Britain, 3136, 37, 42
Buddhism, 2526
burkas, 82, 112113
Carter, Jimmy, 6263
China, Great Wall of, 25
Chirac, Jacques, 112
cleansing, 81
Cold War, 4344
Communist Party, 52, 58
constitution, democratic, 104106
Cyprus Process, 101
Cyrus the Great, 23, 24
Daoud Khan, Mohammed
coup by, 51, 54, 55
execution of, 5758
financial aid and, 4344
Pakistan and, 4950
123
Ghaznavid Dynasty, 26
Ghazni, 26
Ghengis Khan, 23, 27, 28
Ghilzai Pashtuns, 20, 28, 3233
Ghorids, 26
Ghulam Nabi Charki, 40
Gorbachev, Mikhail, 72
government, secular, 38
Great Bazaar, 33
Great Game, 3136, 72
Great Wall of China, 25
Guagamela, Battle of, 24
Darius I, 23, 24
DDR (demilitarization,
demobilization, and
reintegration) program, 108
109
deposed leaders, 14
Dost Mohammed Khan, 3033,
34
Dostum, Abdul Rashid, 75
drugs, 109110
Durand Line, 20, 22, 3536, 42
Durrani, Ahmad Shah, 22, 29, 30
Durrani Empire, 29
Durrani Pashtuns, 20, 22
Habiba High School, 48

Habibullah Khan, 36, 40
Haq, Abdul, 7072
Hayden, Michael V., 109
Hazaras, 23, 82
Hekmatyar, Gulbuddin, 60, 69,
7576
Helmand chain of restaurants, 67
Helmand River, 19
heroin, 109110
Himachal Pradesh University,
5456
Hindu Kush Mountains, 19,
3136
history, 17, 1820
hospitality, 22
Hotaki Dynasty, 28
human rights violations, 81
Huns, 26
economic growth, 113

education
of Hamid Karzai, 4849,
5456
recovery of Afghanistan and,
103, 110
Taliban and, 78, 81
elections, 1214, 106
entertainment, Taliban and, 81,
86
Ephthalites, 26
Ewans, Martin, 23
Fahim, Mohammad Qassem, 108
famines, 53
farming, 19
First Anglo-Afghan War, 3134
Foreign Relations Unit, 74, 76
fundamentalists, 60
India, independence of, 42

internet, 113
invasions, 14, 2325, 3136,
6165
Islam
introduction of, 2627
as religion of Afghanistan,
51, 105
Taliban and, 1415, 78, 8081
Gandaharan art, 25
Gandamark, Treaty of, 34
Gandhi, Mohandas Mahatma,
5556
Genghis Khan. See Khan,
Ghengis
geography, influence of, 1820
124
veils and, 42
women and, 106, 110111
Islamic Society, 69
Islamic Unity of Afghan
Mujahideen, 69
Istalif, 33
Jirga, 4041
Kabul
Amanullah Khan and, 3637
bombings in, 107
Great Game and, 3233, 3435
Karzai family and, 4648
recapture of from Taliban,
9799
refugees in, 6667
Kala Khan. See Habibullah Khan
Kandahar, recapture of from
Taliban, 99
Kanishki, 25
karakuls, 90
Karmal, Babrak, 5253, 59, 61, 70
Karzai, Abdul Ahad (father),
4546, 49, 8587
Karzai, Abdul Ahmad (brother),
46
Karzai, Abdul Wali (brother), 46,
67, 107
Karzai, Ahmad Wali (brother), 46
Karzai, Faozia Roya (sister), 46
Karzai, Mahmood (brother), 46
Karzai, Qayum (brother), 46, 76
Karzai, Shah Wali (brother), 46
Karzai, Zinat (wife), 85, 111113
Karzai subtribe, 45
KHAD, 70
Khair Mohmed Karzai, 4041, 45
Khalis, Yunus, 69
Khalq faction of PDPA, 53, 58, 60
Khan Nashir, 28
Khorani, Bokam Akram, 108
Khyber Pass, 19, 3435

kites, Taliban and, 81
Kuchis, 19, 21
Kushans, 2526
land mines, 73
languages, 22, 55
legal system, Amanullah Khan
and, 38
Lenin, Vladimir, 37
loya jirga, defined, 12
Mahmood Hotaki Elementary
School, 48
Mahmud. See Yamin ul-Dawlah
Mahmud
Maiwandwal, Mohammad
Hashim, 52
Marayan Empire, 25
marriages, arranged, 85
Massoud, Ahmed Shah, 75
Meshramo Jirga, 104
mines, 73
Mir Akbar Khyber, 58
modernization, 42
Mohammad Nadir Khan, 2829
Mohammed Akbar Khan, 32
Mohammedzai Pashtuns,
3031
Mojadeddi, Sibghatullah, 6061,
68, 70, 74
monarchy, end of, 5457
Mongols, 27
mountains, 19
Mughal Empire, 28
mujahideen, 14, 6061, 6769, 75
Muslims, 22, 23
Nadir Shah, Mohammed, 37, 40
Najibullah, Mohammed, 70, 71,
7375
Nashir. See Khan Nashir
125
Rabbani, Burhaduddin, 60, 69,

7576, 89, 102
Rahman, Abdul, 107
Rawalpindi Agreement, 37
Reagan, Ronald, 63
reconciliation program, 109
refugees, 6567
resistance movements, 6061,
6769
Retribution, Army of, 33
revenge, 22
rivers, 19
Russia, Great Game and, 3136
Russian Revolution (1917), 3637
National Islamic Front of

Afghanistan (NIFA), 68
National Rescue Front, 70
nomads, 19, 21
nonviolence, belief in, 5556,
9091, 108109
Northern Alliance, 9799, 101,
106
Olympics, boycott of, 63
Omar, Maulvi Mohammed,
7879, 98, 99, 109
opium, 109110
opposition groups, 6061, 6769
Osama bin Laden. See bin Laden,
Osama
Saddozai clan, 22
Safavids, 28
Samar, Sima, 102
sanctuary, 22
sandstone statues, 2526, 9091
Sassanids, 26
Saudi Arabia, aid from, 70, 74
Sayed Jamaluddin School, 48
Sayyaf, Abdul Rabb Rasuul al-,
60, 74
scorched-earth policy, 6566
Second Anglo Afghan War, 3435
secret police, 70
Seddigi, Suhaila, 102
Seleucids, 25
September 11 attacks, 15, 9297
sharas, 74
sharecroppers, 65
Sher Ali, 34
Shiite Muslims, 23
Shinwari, Fazl Hadi, 16
Shinwari Pashtuns, 3839
shoes, Taliban and, 81
Shuja Shah, 32
Silk Route, 25
Simla, college in, 54
Soviet Union
Pakistan
aid to, 6263
conflict with, 4951
creation of, 3536, 42
resistance movements in,
6061, 78
Parcham faction of PDPA, 53, 60
Partition of 1947, 3536
Party of Islam, 69
Pashtuns, 2022, 53, 101
Patam Merajuddin, 16
Peoples Democratic Party of
Afghanistan (PDPA), 5253
Persians, 28
Peshawar, Pakistan, 6061, 67
petroleum imports, 44
Pol-e-Charki prison, 58
police, training of, 113
Popolzai subtribe, 12, 22, 87
poppy plants, 109110
prisons, 58
purges, 60
Pushtoonwali, 22
Qadir, Haji Abdul, 106107
126
Karzai family and, 46, 67, 76

support of Karzais efforts
against Taliban by, 97
trade and, 50
Uruzgan, 95
Uzbeks, 22
aid from, 4244, 54

Amanullah Khan and, 3637
end of occupation by, 7276
invasion by, 14, 61, 6265
rebellion against, 6572
trade and, 50
suicide bombings, 108, 109
Sunni Muslims, 23
Tajiks, 22, 38, 40
Taliban
amnesty for, 109
assassination attempts and,
108
Bamiyan statues and, 26, 9091
continued efforts of, 109, 110
creation of, 7679
defeat of, 9799
Osama bin Laden and, 8990
reasons for Karzais initial
support of, 83
rise of, 1415, 8083, 89
9297
terrorists and, 84
women and, 111
Tamerlane, 27
Taraki, Nur Mohammad, 5253,
58, 60
terrorism, Taliban and, 15, 84
Thatcher, Margaret, 72
Timur Shah, 30
Toynbee, Arnold, 20
toys, Taliban and, 81
trade routes, 2325, 50
traditionalists, 6061, 68
Treaty of Friendship, 37
tribalism, 19, 22, 95
United States
aid from, 70, 97, 99, 107,
110, 113
veils, Islam and, 42

vendettas, 22
violence, disagreement with,
5556, 9091, 108109
voting, 111
warlords, 107, 108109
weapons left after wars, 73,
108109
White Huns, 26
Wolesi Jirga, 52, 104
women
improved rights of, 110112
Islam and, 106
in new government, 102103,
111
protection of, 106
Taliban and, 15, 8182, 111
World War II, 41
Wulfi, 4041
Yamin ul-Dawlah Mahmud, 26
Yaqub Khan, 34
Zahir Shah, Mohammed
constitution and, 5051
election of Hamid Karzai and,
15, 16
friendship of with Hamid
Karzai, 88
rebuilding of Afghanistan
and, 100101, 103105
rule of, 4044
zoos, 48
127
About the Authors

attended Antioch College, where he majored in
English and communications. A voracious reader since the age
of three, Dennis is a freelance writer who has written several
biographies for young adult readers. He lives in Houston,
Texas, with his partner of 19 years, along with their two dogs
and three cats.
Dennis Abrams
is the leading American historian of

our time. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his books The Age of
Jackson (1945) and A Thousand Days (1965), which also won
the National Book Award. Professor Schlesinger is the Albert
Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities at the City University
of New York and has been involved in several other Chelsea
House projects, including the series Revolutionary War Leaders,
Colonial Leaders, and Your Government.
ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER, JR.
128

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Modern World Leaders

Modern World Leaders

Modern World Leaders

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

eadership, it may be said, is really what makes the world

the capital city of Afghanistan. But for 46-year-old Hamid

On October 9, 2004, Hamid Karzai was elected president of Afghanistan,

As Merajuddin Patan, the governor of Khost province

Roundabout of the Ancient World

The People of Afghanistan

Roundabout of the Ancient World

Afghan nomads called Kuchis travel toward Lowgar, an eastern Afghan

Roundabout of the Ancient World

[Afghanistan] has long been a

Early Afghan History

Macedonia, more commonly known as Alexander the Great,

Roundabout of the Ancient World

The Introduction of Islam

Roundabout of the Ancient World

This established what is known as the Mughal Empire through

Roundabout of the Ancient World

empires in the world. Perhaps most significant, Ahmed Shah

A Battle for influence

The Great Game

A Battle for influence

found the following year when the British Army of Retribution

A Battle for influence

This border has held long-term

The Reign of Amanullah

A Battle for influence

A Battle for influence

Inayatullah in turn ruled for only three days, before fleeing to

King Zahir Shah

A Battle for influence

A Battle for influence

King Mohammed Zahir of Afghanistan (right foreground) is photographed

Western-educated Mohammed Daoud Khan became prime

This photograph of a crowded sidewalk was taken in November 1961 in

Hamid Karzais Early Education

Science, though, also sparked his interest for a time.

Conflict with Pakistan

Former prime minister Sardar Mohammed Daoud is photographed during

Besides learning to be more open to others, Karzai changed

When I became an adult and

Hamid Karzais dream of and belief in nonviolence would

The Saur Revolution

This photograph of President Hafizullah Amin was released by his regime in

the world. The move was condemned by the foreign ministers

Karzais immediate reaction was to do something.

There was more than that memory driving Karzai. He came

While Karzai was finishing his studies, the Soviets were

Rebellion Against the Soviets

Mujahideen rebels, also known as holy warriors, rest in the mountains in

The ANLF was led by Sibghatullah Mojadeddi, one of the

Even in exile, and as young as

Karzai Fights the Soviet Occupation

On April 26, 1988, newly appointed Afghan president Mohammed Najibullah

The End of the Soviet Occupation

There were attempts made to form a viable government.

Punishments were harsh. Adulterers could be stoned to death.

Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan

Karzai never gave up. He kept trying, constantly traveling

An Important Year for Karzai