Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land served as the source from which the Kushans, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Khiljis, Hotaks, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan.
The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire.
Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Neolithic, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians.
These tribes migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
The PDPA came to power through a coup known as the Saur Revolution, which ousted the government of Mohammad Daoud Khan. Daoud was succeeded by Nur Muhammad Taraki as head of state, soon after taking power a power struggle began between the Khalqists led by Taraki and Amin and the Parchamites led by Babrak Karmal. The Khalqists won and the Parcham faction was purged from the party, the most prominent Parcham leaders were exiled to the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union. After the Khalq–Parcham struggle, a struggle within the Khalq faction began between Taraki and Amin. Amin won the struggle, and Taraki was killed on his orders and his rule proved unpopular within his own country, and in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union intervened, supported by the Afghan government, in December 1979, Karmal became the leader of Afghanistan in his place. The Karmal era, lasting from 1979 to 1986, is best known for the Soviet war effort in Afghanistan, the war resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties, as well as millions of refugees who fled into Pakistan and Iran.
Karmals policies failed to bring peace to the country. Najibullah pursued a policy of National Reconciliation with the opposition, a new Afghan constitution was introduced in 1987, after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the government faced increasing resistance. On the military front, the government proved capable of defeating the opposition in open battle. Geographically, the DRA was bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, the Soviet Union in the north, Hafizullah Amin, a Khalq, was the coups chief architect. The first conflict between the Khalqists and Parchamites arose when the Khalqists wanted to give PDPA Central Committee membership to military officers who participated in the Saur Revolution. Amin, who opposed the appointment of military officers to the PDPA leadership, altered his position. The PDPA Politburo voted in favour of giving membership to the military officers, to make matters worse for the Parchamites, the term Parcham was, according to Taraki, a word synonymous with factionalism.
On 27 June, three months after the revolution, Amin managed to outmaneuver the Parchamites at a Central Committee meeting, the meeting decided that the Khalqists had the exclusive right to formulate and decide policy, which left the Parchamites impotent. Later, a coup planned by the Parchamites, and led by Karmal, was discovered by the Khalqist leadership, the discovery of the coup prompted a swift reaction, a purge of Parchamites began. Parchamite ambassadors were recalled, but few returned, for instance, when Taraki realized the degree of popular dissatisfaction with the reform he began to curtail the policy. Afghanistans long history of resistance to any type of strong centralized governmental control further undermined his authority, much of the land reform was not actually implemented nationwide
Kabul Province
Kābul, situated in the east of the country, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is Afghanistans capital, the population of the Kabul Province is nearly 4 million people as of 2012, of which almost 80 percent live in the urban areas. The current governor of the province is Hamid Karzai, Kabul is located between Latitude 34-31 North and Longitude 69-12 East at an altitude of 1800 m above sea level, which makes it one of the worlds highest capital cities. Kabul is strategically situated in a surrounded by high mountains at crossroads of north-south. One million years ago the Kabul region was surrounded from south-east between Lowgar and Paghman Mountains, Charikar in the north and the Ningai Ghar mountains in the west and this region formed an icy sea. Some deep wells in the region of todays Poli Charkhi in the east part of city are the evidence of that time, Kabul is surrounded by Koh-e Paghman Mountain from the east, Koh-e Qrough Mountain from the south-west and Koh-e Shirdarwaza Mountain from the north-east.
Kabul has only one river which is called Kabul River, Kabul River rises at the Paghman Mountain toward South Pass about 70 km west of Kabul. It flows in a direction, past Kabul, and through Jalalabad city. The climate within region of Kabul is considered to be arid to semi-arid steppe, because of the very low amounts of precipitation, especially from May to November, Kabul can be very dry and dusty. Extreme temperature changes occur from night to day, season to season, the chief characteristic of Afghanistans climate is a blue cloudless sky with over 300 days of sunshine yearly. Even during the winter, skies usually remain clear between snowfalls, which are on average 15–30 cm annually, the daily temperature for Kabul city in winter is −1 °C and in summer 24 °C. The coldest month of the year is January and the hottest month is July, the maximum temperature has been recorded as +42.7 °C in July and the minimum as -26.3 °C in January. Kabuls history dates back more than 3,500 years and it was once the center of Zoroastrianism and subsequently a home for Buddhists and Hindus.
The native citizens of Kabul as per the records of the British Museum are Pashtuns, the city was invaded by Arab Muslims in the 7th century by introducing Islam but was slowly taken back by the Hindu Shahis of Kabul. It was re-invaded by the Saffarids and Samanids in the 9th century followed by Mahmud of Ghaznavi in the 11th century and it became part of the Ghurids after defeating the Ghaznavids, and it was invaded by the Mongols under Genghis Khan. Timur, founder of the Timurid dynasty, invaded the region in 14th century, in 1504, the city fell to Babur from the north of the country and was made into his capital, which became one of the principal cities of his Mughal Empire. In 1525, Babur described Kabulistan in his memoirs by writing that, In the country of Kābul there are many and its valleys and plains are inhabited by Tūrks, Aimāks, and Arabs. In the city and the part of the villages, the population consists of Tājiks
Chehel Sotoun
Chehel Sotoun is a pavilion in the middle of a park at the far end of a long pool, in Isfahan, built by Shah Abbas II to be used for his entertainment and receptions. In this palace, Shah Abbas II and his successors would receive dignitaries and ambassadors, as with Ali Qapu, the palace contains many frescoes and paintings on ceramic. Many of the panels have been dispersed and are now in the possession of major museums in the west. A more recent painting depicts Nader Shahs victory against the Indian Army at Karnal in 1739, there are less historical, but even more aesthetic compositions in the traditional miniature style which celebrate the joy of life and love. The Chehel Sotoun Palace is among the 9 Iranian Gardens which are registered as one of the Iran’s 21 registered World Heritage Sites under the name of the Persian Garden. Stud. vii, pp. 511–42 S. Babaie, ‘Shah ‛Abbas II, the Conquest of Qandahar, the Chihil Sutun, and its Wall Paintings’, Muqarnas, xi, pp. 125–42 Chehel Sotoun
Pavilion
In architecture a pavilion has several meanings. In architectural terminology it refers to a building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often its function makes it an object of pleasure, such configurations provide an emphatic visual termination to the composition of a large building, akin to bookends. Pavilions may be small outbuildings, similar to a summer house or a kiosk, small rooms on the roof of a large house. These were particularly popular up to the 18th century and can be equated to the Italian casina and these often resembled small classical temples and follies. Especially if there is space for food preparation, they may be called a banqueting house. A pavilion built to take advantage of a view may be referred to as a gazebo, bandstands in a park are a class of pavilion. A pool house by a swimming pool may have sufficient character, a sports pavilion is usually a building adjacent to a sports ground used for changing clothes and often partaking of refreshments.
Often it has a verandah to provide protection from the sun for spectators, in cricket grounds, as at Lords, a cricket pavilion tends to be used for the building the players emerge from and return to, even when this is actually a large building including a grandstand. Externally, pavilions may be emphasised by any combination of a change in height, colour, internally they may be part of a rectangular block, or only connected to the main block by a thin section of building. The two 18th-century English country houses of Houghton Hall and Holkham Hall, illustrate these different approaches in turn, in the Place des Vosges, twin pavilions mark the centers of the north and south sides of the square. They are named the Pavillon du Roi and the Pavillon de la Reine though no royal personage ever lived in the square, with their triple archways, they function like gatehouses that give access to the privileged space of the square. French gatehouses had been built in the form of such pavilions in the preceding century, in some areas, a pavilion is a term for a hunting lodge.
The Pavillon de Galon in Luberon, France is a typical 18th century aristocratic hunting pavilion, the pavilion, located on the site of an old Roman villa, includes a garden à la française, which was used by the guests for receptions. Notes Media related to Pavilions at Wikimedia Commons
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was a politician who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, Khrushchevs party colleagues removed him from power in 1964, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier. Khrushchev was born in the village of Kalinovka in 1894, close to the border between Russia and Ukraine. He was employed as a metalworker in his youth, and during the Russian Civil War was a political commissar, with the help of Lazar Kaganovich, he worked his way up the Soviet hierarchy. He supported Joseph Stalins purges, and approved thousands of arrests, in 1938, Stalin sent him to govern Ukraine, and he continued the purges there. During what was known in the Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War, Khrushchev was again a commissar, Khrushchev was present at the bloody defense of Stalingrad, a fact he took great pride in throughout his life. After the war, he returned to Ukraine before being recalled to Moscow as one of Stalins close advisers, in the power struggle triggered by Stalins death in 1953, after several years, emerged victorious.
On 25 February 1956, at the 20th Party Congress, he delivered the Secret Speech, denouncing Stalins purges and his domestic policies, aimed at bettering the lives of ordinary citizens, were often ineffective, especially in agriculture. Hoping eventually to rely on missiles for defense, Khrushchev ordered major cuts in conventional forces. Despite the cuts, Khrushchevs rule saw the most tense years of the Cold War, flaws in Khrushchevs policies eroded his popularity and emboldened potential opponents, who quietly rose in strength and deposed the premier in October 1964. However, he did not suffer the fate of previous losers of Soviet power struggles, and was pensioned off with an apartment in Moscow. His lengthy memoirs were smuggled to the West and published in part in 1970, Khrushchev died in 1971 of heart disease. Khrushchev was born on 15 April 1894, in Kalinovka, a village in what is now Russias Kursk Oblast and his parents, Sergei Khrushchev and Ksenia Khrushcheva, were poor peasants of Russian origin, and had a daughter two years Nikitas junior, Irina.
Sergei Khrushchev was employed in a number of positions in the Donbas area of far eastern Ukraine, working as a railwayman, as a miner, and laboring in a brick factory. Wages were much higher in the Donbas than in the Kursk region, Kalinovka was a peasant village, Khrushchevs teacher, Lydia Shevchenko, stated that she had never seen a village as poor as Kalinovka had been. Nikita worked as a herdsboy from an early age and he was schooled for a total of four years, part in the village parochial school and part under Shevchenkos tutelage in Kalinovkas state school. She urged Nikita to seek education, but family finances did not permit this. In 1908, Sergei Khrushchev moved to the Donbas city of Yuzovka, fourteen-year-old Nikita followed that year, while Ksenia Khrushcheva and her daughter came after
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David Ike Eisenhower was an American politician and Army general who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He was a general in the United States Army during World War II. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43, in 1951, he became the first Supreme Commander of NATO. Eisenhower was of mostly Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry and was raised in a family in Kansas by parents with a strong religious background. He graduated from West Point in 1915 and married Mamie Doud, after World War II, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff under President Harry S. Truman and accepted the post of President at Columbia University. Eisenhower entered the 1952 presidential race as a Republican to counter the non-interventionism of Senator Robert A. Taft, campaigning against communism, Korea and he won in a landslide, defeating Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson and temporarily upending the New Deal Coalition.
Eisenhower was the first U. S. president to be constitutionally term-limited under the 22nd Amendment, Eisenhowers main goals in office were to keep pressure on the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. He ordered coups in Iran and Guatemala, Eisenhower gave major aid to help the French in the First Indochina War, and after the French were defeated he gave strong financial support to the new state of South Vietnam. Congress agreed to his request in 1955 for the Formosa Resolution, after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower authorized the establishment of NASA, which led to the space race. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Eisenhower condemned the Israeli and French invasion of Egypt and he condemned the Soviet invasion during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 but took no action. Eisenhower sent 15,000 U. S. troops to Lebanon to prevent the government from falling to a Nasser-inspired revolution during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. Near the end of his term, his efforts to set up a meeting with the Soviets collapsed because of the U-2 incident.
On the domestic front, he covertly opposed Joseph McCarthy and contributed to the end of McCarthyism by openly invoking executive privilege and he otherwise left most political activity to his Vice President, Richard Nixon. Eisenhower was a conservative who continued New Deal agencies and expanded Social Security. Eisenhowers two terms saw considerable economic prosperity except for a decline in 1958. Voted Gallups most admired man twelve times, he achieved widespread popular esteem both in and out of office, since the late 20th century, consensus among Western scholars has consistently held Eisenhower as one of the greatest U. S. Presidents. The Eisenhauer family migrated from Karlsbrunn in the Saarland, to North America, first settling in York, Pennsylvania, in 1741, accounts vary as to how and when the German name Eisenhauer was anglicized to Eisenhower. Eisenhowers Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, who were farmers, included Hans Nikolaus Eisenhauer of Karlsbrunn
Abdur Rahman Khan
Abdur Rahman Khan was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901. He was the son of Mohammad Afzal Khan, and grandson of Dost Mohammad Khan. Abdur Rahman Khan re-established the writ of the Afghan government after the disarray that followed the second Anglo-Afghan war and he became known as The Iron Amir after defeating a number of rebellions by various tribes who were led by his relatives. At first, the new Amir was quietly recognized, but after a few months, Afzal Khan raised an insurrection in the north of the country, where he had been governing when his father died. This began a fierce internecine conflict for power between Dost Mohammads sons, which lasted for five years. The Musahiban are descendants of Dost Mohammad Khans older brother, Sultan Mohammad Khan Telai, Abdur Rahman distinguished himself for his ability and energetic daring. Sher Ali threw Afzal Khan into prison, and a serious revolt followed in southern Afghanistan, after some delay and desultory fighting, he and his uncle, Azam Khan, occupied Kabul in March 1866.
Notwithstanding the new Amirs incapacity, and some jealousy between the leaders, Abdur Rahman and his uncle, they again routed Sher Alis forces. When Afzal Khan died at the end of the year, Azam Khan became the new ruler, with Abdur Rahman installed as Governor in the northern province. But towards the end of 1868 Sher Alis return, and a rising in his favour, resulted in Abdur Rahman. Both sought refuge to the east in Central Asia, whence Abdur Rahman placed himself under Russian protection at Samarkand, Azam died eventually in Kabul in October 1869. Abdur Rahman lived in exile in Tashkent, the governor-general of Tashkent sent for Abdur Rahman and motivated him by bringing up the blessing of Jacob, Abdurs patriarch. He was being told to cross the Oxus and claim throne for Amir, after some negotiations, and an interview with Lepel Griffin, the diplomatic representative at Kabul of the Indian government. Griffin described Abdur Rahman as a man of middle height, with an exceedingly intelligent face and frank and courteous manners, the British evacuation of Afghanistan was settled on the terms proposed, and in 1881, the British troops handed over Kandahar to the new Amir.
However, Ayub Khan, one of Sher Ali Khans sons, marched upon that city from Herat, defeated Abdur Rahmans troops and this serious reverse roused the Amir, who had not at first displayed much activity. He led a force from Kabul, met Ayubs army close to Kandahar, the powerful Ghilzai tribe revolted against the severity of his measures several times. In that same year, Ayub Khan made a fruitless inroad from Persia, Abdur Rahmans attitude at this critical juncture is a good example of his political sagacity. He published his autobiography in 1885, which served more as a guide for princes than anything else
Kabul River
It is the main river in eastern Afghanistan and is separated from the watershed of the Helmand by the Unai Pass. The major tributaries of the Kabul River are the Logar, Kunar, Bara, the Kabul River is little more than a trickle for most of the year, but swells in summer due to melting snows in the Hindu Kush Range. The Kunar meets the Kabul near Jalalabad, in spite of the Kunar carrying more water than the Kabul, the river continues as the Kabul River after this confluence, mainly for the political and historical significance of the name. The Kabul River is impounded by several dams, the Naghlu and Darunta dams are located in Kabul and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan. The Warsak Dam is in Pakistan, approximately 20 km northwest of the city of Peshawar, in Arrians The Campaigns of Alexander, the River Kabul is referred to as Κωφήν Kōphēn, the accusative of Κωφής Kōphēs. The word Kubhā which is the ancient name of the river is both a Sanskrit and Avestan word, many of the rivers of Pakistan and Afghanistan are mentioned in the Rig Veda.
The Sanskrit word changed to Kābul, al-Biruni called it the River of Ghorwand. The Kabul River gave its name to the region and to the settlement of Kabul, list of rivers of Afghanistan Rigvedic rivers Swat River Kabul River
Habibullah Khan
Habibullah Khan was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 until 1919. He was born in Samarkand, the eldest son of the Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, Habibullah was a relatively reform-minded ruler who attempted to modernize his country. During his reign he worked to bring modern medicine and other technology to Afghanistan, in 1903, Habibullah founded the Habibia school as well as a military academy. He worked to put in place progressive reforms in his country and he instituted various legal reforms and repealed many of the harshest criminal penalties. But one of his chief advisers Abdul Lateef was sentenced to death in 1903 for apostasy and he was stoned to death in Kabul. Other reforms included the dismantling of the internal intelligence organization that had been put in place by his father. He strictly maintained the countrys neutrality in World War I, despite efforts by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He greatly reduced tensions with British India, signing a treaty of friendship in 1905, Habibullah was assassinated while on a hunting trip at Laghman Province on February 20,1919.
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George –1896 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath –1907 Ancestry. com
Kabul
Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan as well as its largest city, located in the eastern section of the country. According to a 2015 estimate, the population of the city was around 3,678,033 which includes all the ethnic groups. Rapid urbanization had made Kabul the worlds 64th largest city and the fifth fastest-growing city in the world, Kabul is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. The city is at a location along the trade routes of South and Central Asia. It has been part of the Achaemenids, Mauryans, Kabul Shahis, Ghaznavids, Later, it was controlled by the Mughal Empire until finally becoming part of the Durrani Empire in 1747. The city is located high up in a valley between the Hindu Kush mountains. Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani, in the early 19th century, the British occupied the city but were compelled to abandon it. Relations between Afghanistan and Great Britain were established, the city was occupied by the Soviets in 1979 but they too abandoned it after the 1988 Geneva Accords were signed.
A civil war in the 1990s between various rebel groups destroyed much of the city, resulting in many casualties, since the removal of the Taliban from power in late 2001, the city gradually began rebuilding itself with assistance by the international community. Despite the many terrorist attacks by elements, the city is growing and developing. The city is divided into about 18 districts, the Kabul International Airport is located in the Wazir Akbar Khan district a few miles from the foreign embassies. The Parliament of Afghanistan, built by India, is located in the Kārte Seh district, spelled Cabool, Kabol, or Cabul. The word Kubhā is mentioned in the Rigveda, one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism, and the Avesta. The Rigveda praises it as a city, a vision of paradise set in the mountains. The area in which the Kabul valley sits was ruled by the Medes before falling to the Achaemenids, there is a reference to a settlement called Kabura by the rulers of the Achaemenid Empire, It became a center of Zoroastrianism followed by Buddhism and Hinduism.
The region became part of the Seleucid Empire but was given to the Indian Maurya Empire. The Greco-Bactrians captured Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BC, indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire about 100 years later. Some historians ascribe Kabul the Sanskrit name of Kamboja and it is mentioned as Kophes or Kophene in some classical writings
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