Afghanistan

Afghanistan, a landlocked multi-ethnic country located in the heart of South Central Asia. Located along important trade routes linking South and East Asia with Europe and the Middle East, Afghanistan has long been a prize sought after by empire builders, and for millennia, armies. The greats tried to conquer it, leaving traces of their efforts in the great monuments that have now fallen into their hands. ruin. The hostile landscape of the country's deserts and mountains put an end to many imperial ambitions, as well as the tireless resistance of fiercely independent peoples - so independent that the country could not consolidated into one nation, which instead perpetuated as a patchwork of rival ethnic groups. factions and alliances are always changing.

The modern frontiers of Afghanistan were established in the late 19th century amid rivalry between the British Empire and Tsarist Russia that Rudyard Kipling called the "Great Game". Modern Afghanistan has become a pawn in contests for political ideology and commercial influence. During the last quarter of the 20th century, Afghanistan suffered the devastating consequences of a civil war exacerbated by the Soviet invasion and military occupation (1979-1989). During the armed struggles that followed, a surviving Afghan communist regime fought off Muslim insurgents (1989-1992) and, after a short period of rule by mujahideen groups, an austerity movement. of religious students - the Taliban - rose up against the country's ruling parties and warlords. and established a theocracy (1996-2001), which quickly fell under the influence of a well-funded Islamist group led by Osama bin Laden, a Saudi Arabian exile. The Taliban regime collapsed in December 2001 following a protracted US-dominated military campaign targeting fighters from the Taliban and bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization. Soon after, anti-Taliban forces agreed to a transitional leadership and management phase that would lead to a new constitution and the establishment of a democratically elected government.

The capital of Afghanistan is its largest city, Kabul. A serene city of mosques and gardens during the legendary reign of Emperor Bābur (1526-1530), founder of the Mughal dynasty, and for centuries an important warehouse on the Road Silk, Kabul lies in ruins after the fierce and long war in Afghanistan. The same goes for much of the country, the economy is ruined and the population is scattered and depressed. At the turn of the 21st century, an entire generation of Afghans has reached the age of knowing nothing but war.