what is the history of kabul?

Answer 1

In the earlier records of Kabul are a mention of Kubha as the name of river around 1200 BCE and a reference to the settlement Kabura by the Persian Achaemenids around 300 BCE. Kabul was known as Chabolo in antiquity [citation needed]. According to other scholars, the Sanskrit name of Kabol or Kabul is Kamboj (Supplementary Glossary, p 304, H. M. Elliot).

It is mentioned as Kophes or Kophene in the classical writings. Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency 1904 maintains that ancient name of Kabol was Kambojapura which Ptolemy (160 CE) mentions as Kaboura (from Ka(m)bo(j)pura?). Hiuen Tsang refers to the name as Kaofeu, which according to Dr J. W. McCrindle, Dr B. C. Law, Dr R. K. Mukkerji and others is equivalent to Kambu (Kamboj/Kambuj). The Bactrians founded the town of Paropamisadae near Kabul, but it was later ceded to the Mauryans in the 1st century BCE.

Kabul (Gaofu) was conquered by the first Kushan Emperor, Kujula Kadphises in the early 1st century CE, and it remained Kushan territory until at least the 3rd century CE. [3] [4] Kabul was one of the two capital cities of Kushans. In 425 AD, Kabul was conquered by the Hephthalites. From the end of 6th century until the Islamic invasion in late 7th century, Kabulistan had its own kingdom called Kabulshahan or Ratbelshahan. [citation needed] They built a defensive wall around the city for the protection against eventual Arab attacks. Today, this wall is considered as an old historical site. The Islamic troops met the most strict defense in Kabul than any other city nearby.

In most of the historical books as well as the Dari (Persian) literature books, the word Kabulistan has been used 1. It indicates that Kabul contained a larger territory and region, and that it was sometimes considered a state of Khorasan. However, the last kingdom in Kabulistan was Kabulshahan or Ratbelshahan who were defeated by the Islamic troops. The word Kabulistan was attributed to the regions lying between Kapisa (in the north) and Peshawar (in the south) [5]

In 674, the Islamic invasions reached the region of Afghanistan and conquered Kabul. Over the next 900 years, the city was successively controlled by the Samanids, the Hindu Shahi dynasty, the Ghaznavids, the Ghorids, the Timurids and the Mughols.

In the 13th century the Mongol horde passed through. In the 14th century, Kabul rose again as a trading centre under the kingdom of Timur Lang, who married the sister of Kabul's ruler. But as Timurid power waned, the city was captured in 1504 by Emperor Babur and made into his headquarters. Haidar, an Indian poet who visited at the time wrote "Dine and drink in Kabul: it is mountain, desert, city, river and all else."

Nader Shah of Persia captured Kabul in 1738 but was assassinated nine years later. Ahmad Shah Durrani, an Afghan military commander and bodyguard of Nader Shah, took the throne in 1747, asserting Pashtun rule and further expanding his new Afghan Empire. His son Timur Shah Durrani, after inheriting power, transferred the capital of Afghanistan from Kandahar to Kabul in 1776.[6] Timur Shah died in 1793 and was succeeded by his son Zaman Shah Durrani.

In 1826 the throne was claimed by Dost Mohammed, but it was taken by the British army in 1839 (see Afghan Wars), who installed the unpopular puppet Shah Shuja. An 1841 local uprising massacred both the British mission and approximately 16,000 British-Indian army troops on their subsequent retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad. In 1842 the British returned, plundering Bala Hissar in revenge before retreating to India. Dost Mohammed returned to the throne.

The British returned in 1878 as Kabul was under Sher Ali Khan's rule, but its residents were again massacred. The British army came again in 1879 under General Roberts, partially destroying Bala Hissar before retreating to India. Amir Abdur Rahman was left in control of the country.

In the early 20th century King Amanullah Khan came to power. His reforms included electricity for the city and schooling for girls. He drove a Rolls Royce, and lived in the famous Darul Aman Palace. In 1919, after the Third Anglo-Afghan War, Amanullah announced Afghanistan's independence from foreign interventions at Eidgah Mosque. In 1929, Ammanullah Khan left Kabul due to a local uprise and his brother Nadir Shah took control. in 1933, Nadir Shah was assassinated and his son Zahir Shah was put in his place, who was only 19 years old and would remain as the last King of Afghanistan for a long time.

Kabul University opened for classes in early 1930s, and in 1940s, the city began to grow as an industrial center. The streets of the city began being paved in the 1950s.

In the 1960s, Kabul developed a cosmopolitan mood. The first Marks and Spencer store in Central Asia was built there, and Kabul Zoo was inaugurated in 1967. The Zoo was maintained with the help of visiting German Zoologists, and focused on Afghan fauna.

In 1969, a religious uprising at the Pulli Khishti Mosque protested the Soviet Union's increasing influence over Afghan politics and religion. This protest ended in the arrest of many of its organizers including Mawlana Faizani, a popular Islamic scholar.

In 1975 an east-west electric trolley-bus system provided public transportation across the city. The system was built with assistance from Czechoslovakia.

After Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, on December 23, 1979, the red army occupied the city turning it into their command center during the 10-year conflict between the Soviet-allied government and the mujahideen rebels. The American Embassy in Kabul closed on January 30, 1989. Kabul fell into the hands of local militias after the 1992 collapse of Mohammad Najibullah's pro-communist government. As these forces divided into warring factions, the city increasingly suffered. In December, the last of the 86 trolley buses in the city came to a halt due to the conflict. A system of 800 public buses continued to provide transportation to the population. By 1993 electricity and water in the city was completely out.

At this time, Burhannudin Rabbani's millitia (Jamiat-e Islami) held power but the nominal prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami began a five-year shelling of the city, which lasted until 1996. Kabul was factionalised, and fighting continued between Jamiat-e Islami, Abdul Rashid Dostum and the Hezbi Wahdat. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed and many more fled as refugees.

Kabul was captured by the Taliban in September, 1996, publicly lynching ex-president Najibullah and his brother. During this time, all the fighting between different militias came to an end. Burhannudin Rabbani, Gulbuddin Heckmatyar, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Ahmad Shah Masood, and the rest all fled the city.

Approximately five years later, in October 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan. The Taliban abandoned Kabul in the following months due to extensive American bombing, while the Afghan Northern Alliance (former militias) came to retake control of the city. On December 20, 2001, Kabul became the capital of the Afghan Transitional Administration, which transformed to the present government of Afghanistan that is led by US backed President Hamid Karzai.

You could get more information from the link below...

Answer 2

Here's a site that may help:

http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/kabul.html

Answer 3

a naughty