History of Afghanistan in the context of "Geostrategy"

Medieval India was a long period of post-classical history in the Indian subcontinent between the ancient and modern periods. It is usually regarded as running approximately from the break-up of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century to the start of the early modern period in 1526 with the start of the Mughal Empire, although some historians regard it as both starting and finishing later than these points. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the early medieval and late medieval eras.

In the early medieval period, there were more than 40 different states on the Indian subcontinent, which hosted a variety of cultures, languages, writing systems, and religions. At the beginning of the time period, Buddhism was predominant throughout the area, with the Pala Empire on the Indo Gangetic Plain sponsoring the Buddhist faith's institutions. One such institution was the Buddhist Nalanda mahavihara in modern-day Bihar, a centre of scholarship which brought a divided South Asia onto the global intellectual stage. Another accomplishment was the invention of Chaturanga, which later was exported to Europe and became chess.In Southern India, the Tamil Hindu Cholas gained prominence with an overseas empire that controlled parts of modern-day Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Indonesia as overseas territories, and helped spread Hinduism and Buddhism into the historic cultural area of Southeast Asia. In this time period, neighbouring regions such as Afghanistan, Tibet, and Southeast Asia were under South Asian influence.

Shāh (/ʃɑː/; Persian: شاه [ˈʃɒːɦ] ) is a royal title meaning 'king' in Persian. Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Persianate societies, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Khanate of Bukhara and the Emirate of Bukhara, the Mughal Empire, the Bengal Sultanate, and various Afghan dynasties, as well as among Gurkhas. With regard to Iranian history, in particular, each ruling monarch was not seen simply as the head of the concurrent dynasty and state, but as the successor to a long line of royalty beginning with the original Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great. To this end, he was more emphatically known as the Shāhanshāh (شاهنشاه [ˌʃɒːhænˈʃɒːɦ]), meaning 'King of Kings', since the Achaemenid dynasty. A roughly equivalent title is Pādishāh (پادشاه; lit. 'Master King'), which was most widespread during the Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent.

The Indian campaign of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1748–1769) was a series of invasions by the Afghan Emperor, Ahmad Shah Durrani against the declining Mughal Empire, the Maratha Empire, Sikh Confederacy, Jat Kingdom and numerous other Indian kingdoms. The primary basis of the invasions originated after the political independence of the Afghan Empire following the end of the Naderian Wars and persisted until Durrani's last invasion in 1769. The campaign is categorised into Four wars: Afghan–Mughal War, Afghan–Maratha War, Afghan–Sikh War, Afghan–Jat war and an array of local conflicts aimed at the subjugation of politically independent states such as Kalat and Kashmir.

Ahmad Shah led a total of nine invasions into India between 1748 and 1769. His objectives were met through the raids (taking the wealth and destroying sacred places belonging to the Indians) and deepening the political crisis in India. Of the invasions, the most significant attacks were in 1757 and 1761; sacking the city of Delhi in 1757, and defeating the Maratha confederacy at the decisive Third Battle of Panipat. His later invasions focused on conflicts with the Sikhs and stability of Durrani domains in Punjab.

The Saur Revolution, also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was a violent coup d'état and uprising staged on 27 and 28 April 1978 by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which overthrew Afghan president Mohammad Daoud Khan, who had himself taken power in the 1973 Afghan coup d'état and established an autocratic one-party system in the country. Daoud and most of his family were executed at the Arg presidential palace in the capital city of Kabul by Khalqist (a PDPA faction) military officers, after which his supporters were also purged and killed. The successful PDPA uprising resulted in the creation of a socialist Afghan government that was closely aligned with the Soviet Union, with Nur Muhammad Taraki serving as the PDPA's General Secretary of the Revolutionary Council. Saur (also rendered Sowr) is the Dari-language name for the second month of the Solar Hijri calendar, during which the events took place.

The uprising was ordered by PDPA member Hafizullah Amin, who would become a significant figure in the revolutionary Afghan government. At a press conference in New York City in June 1978, Amin claimed that the event was not a coup d'état, but rather a "popular revolution" carried out by the "will of the people" against Daoud's government. The Saur Revolution involved heavy fighting throughout Afghanistan and resulted in the deaths of as many as 2,000 military personnel and civilians combined. It remains a significant event in Afghanistan's history as it marked the beginning of decades of continuous conflict in the country.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the history of South Asia.

The broader region in and around the historical Indian subcontinent, which includes the contemporary geopolitical entities of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and the island countries of Maldives and Sri Lanka.

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was the government of Afghanistan between 1978 and 1992. It was recognised diplomatically by only eight countries which were allies of the Soviet Union. It was ideologically close to and economically and militarily dependent on the Soviet Union, and was a major belligerent of the Afghan Civil War.