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Part of the book series: The Statesman’s Yearbook ((SYBK))

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Abstract

Excavations near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan have revealed Neolithic settlements dating to 5000 BC. Later settlements indicate trade links with cities in the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia. Aryan tribes that settled in Afghanistan’s northern plains near Balkh (Bactria) from around 1500 BC gave way to successive Persian dynasties, including the Acaemanid Empire (550 BC-330 BC) ruled by Darius the Great from Persepolis after 515 BC.

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Further Reading

  • Cowper-Coles, Sherard, Cables from Kabul: The Inside Story of the West’s Afghanistan Campaign. 2011

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  • Dalrymple, William, The Return of a King: Shah Shuja and the First Battle for Afghanistan, 1839–42. 2013

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  • Ewans, Martin, Afghanistan, A New History. 2001

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  • Goodson, Larry, Afghanistan’s Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the Rise of the Taliban. 2001

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  • Griffiths, John, Afghanistan: A History of Conflict. 2001

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  • Hopkins, B. D., The Making of Modern Afghanistan. 2008

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  • Hyman, A., Afghanistan under Soviet Domination, 1964–1991. 3rd ed. 1992

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  • Magnus, Ralph H. and Naby, Eden, Afghanistan: Mullah, Marx and Mujahid. Revised ed. 2002

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  • Maley, William, The Afghanistan Wars. 2nd ed. 2009

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  • Margolis, Eric, War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet. 2001

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  • Nojumi, Neamatollah, The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. 2001

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  • Steele, Jonathan, Ghosts of Afghanistan: The Haunted Battleground. 2011

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  • Vogelsang, Willem, The Afghans. 2002

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  • National Statistical Office: Central Statistics Office, Ansar-i-Watt, Kabul. Website: http://www.cso.gov.af

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Authors

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Barry Turner

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© 2013 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Turner, B. (2013). Afghanistan. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-59643-0_161

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