WHY AFGHANISTAN IS CALLED 'GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES'

The United States is a superpower and Russia is no less than its western rival but the commonality both the rivals share in Afghanistan will never bring glee to their mighty military empire --both their forces were thrown out of the Afghan soil with the great defeat and besides the passing of decades, nothing has changed in Afghanistan as the war-torn country has proven that it won't be in a store of dominance possessed by these two powers. Be it rebels, extremists, long-stretching mountain ranges, and irking climate, the dream of foreign forces in winning Afghanistan has been dissipated and ruined. 

For global empires with military prowess, governing Afghanistan has always been an ordeal and despite deploying overwhelming cavalry and arsenal, the powerful countries have faced a big blow, making them eventually flee the territory without accomplishing their mission. This historical tendency that foreign powers fail in their invasions of Afghanistan had brought the country the byname 'Graveyard of Empires' - implying that these empires would lose their troops and mission. Besides being one of the oldest countries, Afghanistan is a notoriously different country to govern and it has a unique landscape, perplexing the world of how the territory has been ruled.

From the Republic of Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the Islamic State of Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, it will probably be the only country to have its name changed whenever a new regime comes to power. However, in all these regimes, the foreign forces were mostly humiliated and fled from the country as Afghanistan still serves justice to its by name, though the lives of people and the process of nation-building have always been trailing. 

Empire after empire and nation after nation, Afghanistan only gave disappointed and graveyard for these forces in their invasions. Though these forces would advance initially in a war against terrorists and in a battle against the rebels, the end result would be a debacle. Historically speaking, there were successful invasions in Afghanistan before the 1700s, until it was united as a single country. It is recorded that Alexander the Great had conquered the region in 329 BC as did Genghis Khan in the 13th century. However, Afghanistan had become the graveyard of empires during the 18th and 19th centuries when the British Empire fell to the country in all its three wars. The British Empire had fought three wars in Afghanistan between 1839 and 1919. 

Anglo-Afghan wars: 

The first Anglo-Afghan war was fought from 1839 to 1842 between the British Empire and the Emirate of Afghanistan as the British invaded in an attempt to annex Afghanistan. In the beginning, the British and East India company forces had defeated the forces of Afghan Emir Dost Mohammed Barakzai and captured Kabul in 1839, restoring the former ruler Shah Shujah Durrani as emir. However, years later, British commander Major General Sir William Elphinstone had withdrawn the garrison stationed in Kabul after the city had witnessed an uprising, which put their position on the brink of collapse. Elphinstone made an agreement with Wazir Akbar Khan, the son of ousted Mohammed Barakzai and the British commander had agreed to move his forces out of Kabul and his fleet has begun its march towards Jalalabad and on its way, it came under attack from Afghan tribesmen and British forces have also endured harsh winters. 

In what has been called the 'Massacre of Elphinstone's Army', many British troops were massacred by Afghans in the winter snows of the Hindu Kush range and some of the personnel had died of frostbite and starvation. Out of 16,000 people in the garrison commanded by Elphinstone, a few Indian sepoys had managed to reach Jalalabad in extreme winter. Eventually, Afghanistan had won the war and 4,700 British troops and over 12,000 civilians had died in the First Anglo-Afghan war. The British Empire then called the defeat the Disaster in Afghanistan. The second Anglo-Afghan war was fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880. During this time, Afghanistan was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. 

The second Anglo-Afghan war was part of the Great Game Between the British and Russian Empires. It was the second British invasion in Afghanistan and the British forces had managed to oust Sher Ali Khan from power. After ousting Ali Khan, the British Empire had signed the Treaty of Gandamak on 26 May 1879 with Ali Khan's successor Mohammad Yaqub Khan. This treaty had marked the official end of the first phase of the second Anglo-Afghan war. The British Empire had then sent an envoy and mission led by Sir Louis Cavagnari to Kabul as the Afghans agreed to admit a British representative to Kabul as per the treaty. On September 3, 1879, Cavagnari and other members of the mission were killed by Afghan troops led by Ayub Khan after he refused their demands.

The British had then abdicated the authority of Mohammad Yaqub Khan after the killing of Cavagnari and the second phase of the second Anglo-Afghan war has ended in September 1880 when the British army had defeated Ayub Khan outside Kandahar. The British Empire had appointed Abdur Rahman Khan as the next Emir of Afghanistan and confirmed the treaty of Gandamak once more. The Afghans had agreed to let the British attain all of their geopolitical objectives when the British soldiers had withdrawn. Though the British Empire has lost 9,850 troops in this war, it has eventually won the Second Anglo-Afghan war. The Third Anglo-Afghan war, also known as the War of Independence, had begun on 6th May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan invaded British India and ended with an agreement to stop the conflict on 8th August 1919. The war was fought in the North-West Frontier of British India and Afghanistan and the war had ended with Afghans winning back control of foreign affairs from Britain and the British Empire had recognized Afghanistan as an independent nation. 

Soviet Union Invasion (1979 - 1989): 

The term 'Graveyard of Empires' had resurrected during the Russian invasion. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan during the Cold War and there were more adversaries for Russia from the alliance of Afghan Mujahideen to smaller Maoist groups. The nine-year-old war was fought between these groups against the Soviet Army and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The Mujahideen alliance was backed by the United States, Pakistan, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom. Leaders like Osama Bin Laden and Mohammed Omar were part of the Mujahideen alliance backed by the United States to defeat the Russian invasion. However, the US wasn't aware that it is watering the growth of whom it would later fight against the insurrection and terror attacks. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978. 

On December 24, 1979, the Soviet army had organized a massive military airlift into Kabul and its fleet had involved 280 transport aircraft and three divisions of almost 8,500 men each. The war had caused grave destruction in Afghanistan and majorly contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Between 5,62,000 and 2,000,000 Afghans were killed and millions more had fled the country as refugees, mostly to Pakistan and Iran. The Mujahideen and rebels had used guerilla tactics and the nine-year-old war had also birthed Afghan civil war. According to Statista, the Soviet war from 1979 to 1989 had seen 14,453 military deaths and over 53,753 soldiers had injured. Being dissipated by the grouping of Mujahideen and rebels, the Soviet Union had withdrawn from Afghanistan after getting defeated in 1989, becoming a major power to fell in Afghan's Graveyard of Empires. The war did not end with the withdrawal of the Soviet Army as it had triggered a civil war between the rebels and Afghan Mujahideen's Mohammed Najibullah had come to power and remained in power until 1992. 

The US - Taliban War (2001-2021): 

Several leaders in the alliance of Afghan Mujahideen had scattered and established outfits and among those is the Taliban, founded by Mohammed Omar. It was founded in September 1994 and after expanding its base across the country, the Taliban had moved towards Kabul in early 1995 and initially, they had suffered a defeat by the government forces under the command of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Following the defeat, the Taliban had killed many civilians and the group was supported and funded by Pakistan and it was also said that it has been developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests. After serious of setbacks, the Taliban had established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 27 September 1996 after capturing Kabul. 

The Taliban took over the country in 1996 and was in power till 2001 during which the extremist group had taken the country to the medieval period by curbing the right to education, enforcing stringent Sharia laws, and severing and killing civilians. The US had invaded Afghanistan in 2001 aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City by Bin Laden's al Qaeda. The American forces declared the war on Afghanistan against the Taliban after the extremist group had provided safe haven to Bin Laden and his affiliates. Through a sophisticated military arsenal, the United States had ousted the Taliban from power and formed a government and backed the elections in the country after three decades. However, the US forces suffer from the camouflages of the Taliban as the insurgents had got among the public.

After killing Bin Laden in 2011 in Pakistan, the United States had developed a mind to withdraw from Afghanistan and the western country has later realized that it has been fighting an 'unwinnable' war against the Taliban as the group wasn't fully destructed and was ready to take back the regime. The United States had negotiated the peace deal with the Taliban in 2018 and finally, it has agreed to withdraw the troops after recording over 3000 deaths and throwing trillions of dollars into its war in Afghanistan. The decision of withdrawing the troops without winning the war had relished the Taliban to advance its base towards regaining control. 

In past months, there were incessant exercises where the US and NATO troops had begun leaving the country while the Taliban has again come to the global limelight by ruling Afghanistan after 20 years. The rapid advancement of the Taliban was unprecedented and on Sunday, the fighters had captured Kabul and recouped the control as President Ghani has fled the country. As the future of the Afghan people had become their past, the Taliban has announced that the war has come to an end with its victory as the US and NATO allies had left the country by letting the extremist group have a terrifying triumph. It was then Russia and now the US, as the withdrawal had once again proven that Afghanistan is the Graveyard of Empires. One of the main factors behind the exit of the foreign forces is that they have always been 'outsiders'. As the Taliban is all set to rule the country, it has now become the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.