http://www.khaledhosseini.com/hosseini-books-splendidsuns.html
1953 |
General Mohammed Daud becomes prime minister. Turns to Soviet Union for economic and military assistance. Introduces social reforms, such as abolition of purdah (practice of secluding women from public view). |
1963 |
Mohammed Daud forced to resign as prime minister. |
1964 |
Constitutional monarchy introduced – but leads to political polarization and power struggles. |
1973 |
Mohammed Daud seizes power in a coup and declares a republic. Tries to play off USSR against Western powers. |
1978 |
General Daud is overthrown and killed in a coup. Start of armed revolt. |
December 1979 |
Soviet Red Army invades and props up communist government. |
1980 |
Babrak Karmal installed as ruler, backed by Soviet troops. But anti-regime resistance intensifies with various mujahideen groups fighting Soviet forces. US, Pakistan, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia supply money and arms. |
1985 |
Mujahideen come together in Pakistan to form alliance against Soviet forces. Half of Afghan population now estimated to be displaced by war, with many fleeing to neighboring Iran or Pakistan. |
1986 |
US begins supplying mujahideen with Stinger missiles, enabling them to shoot down Soviet helicopter gunships. Babrak Karmal replaced by Najibullah as head of Soviet-backed regime. |
1988 |
Afghanistan, USSR, the US and Pakistan sign peace accords and Soviet Union begins pulling out troops. |
1989 |
Last Soviet troops leave, but civil war continues as mujahideen push to overthrow Najibullah. |
1992 |
Najibullah’s government toppled, but a devastating civil war follows. |
1996 |
Taliban seize control of Kabul and introduce hard-line version of Islam, banning women from work, and introducing Islamic punishments, which include stoning to death and amputations. |
1997 |
Taliban recognized as legitimate rulers by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. They now control about two-thirds of the country. |
1998 |
US launches missile strikes at suspected bases of militant Osama bin Laden, accused of bombing US embassies in Africa. |
1999 |
UN imposes an air embargo and financial sanctions to force Afghanistan to hand over Osama bin Laden for trial. |
September 2001 |
Ahmad Shah Masood, leader of the main opposition to the Taliban – the Northern Alliance – is assassinated. |
October 2001 |
US-led bombing of Afghanistan begins following the September 11 attacks on the United States. Anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces enter Kabul shortly afterwards. |
December 2001 |
Afghan groups agree to a deal in Bonn, Germany for interim government. |
December 2001 |
Hamid Karzai is sworn in as head of an interim power-sharing government. |
January 2002 |
Deployment of first contingent of foreign peacekeepers – the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) – marking the start of a protracted fight against the Taliban. |
April 2002 |
Former king Zahir Shah returns, but makes no claim to the throne and dies in 2007. |
June 2002 |
Loya Jirga, or grand council, elects Hamid Karzai as interim head of state. Karzai picks members of his administration which is to serve until 2004. |
August 2003 |
NATO takes control of security in Kabul, its first-ever operational commitment outside Europe. |
January 2004 |
Loya Jirga adopts a new constitution which provides for strong presidency. |
October-November 2004 |
Presidential elections are held and Hamid Karzai is declared the winner. |
September 2005 |
Afghans vote in first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years. |
December 2005 |
Parliament opens with warlords and strongmen in most of the seats. |
October 2006 |
NATO assumes responsibility for security across the whole of Afghanistan, taking command in the east from a US-led coalition force. |
August 2007 |
Opium production has soared to a record high, the UN reports. |
June 2008 |
President Karzai warns that Afghanistan will send troops into Pakistan to fight militants if Islamabad fails to take action against them. |
July 2008 |
Suicide bomb attack on Indian embassy in Kabul kills more than 50. |
September 2008 |
US President George Bush sends an extra 4,500 US troops to Afghanistan, in a move he described as a “quiet surge.” |
January 2009 |
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates tells Congress that Afghanistan is new US administration’s “greatest test.” |
February 2009 |
NATO countries pledge to increase military and other commitments in Afghanistan after the US announces dispatch of 17,000 extra troops. |
March 2009 |
US President Barack Obama unveils new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat an increasingly “perilous situation.” An extra 4,000 US personnel will train and bolster the Afghan army and police, and there will also be support for civilian development. |
August 2009 |
Presidential and provincial elections are marred by widespread Taliban attacks, patchy turnout and claims of serious fraud. |
October 2009 |
Karzai declared winner of August presidential election, after second-placed opponent Abdullah Abdullah pulls out before the second round. |
December 2009 |
US President Barack Obama decides to boost US troop numbers in Afghanistan by 30,000, bringing the total to 100,000. He says US will begin withdrawing forces by 2011. |
December 2009 |
An Al-Qaeda double agent kills seven CIA agents in a suicide attack on a US base in Khost. |
February 2010 |
NATO-led forces launch major offensive, Operation Moshtarak, in bid to secure government control of southern Helmand province. |
July 2010 |
Whistleblowing website Wikileaks publishes thousands of classified US military documents relating to Afghanistan. |
July 2010 |
General David Petraeus takes command of US, ISAF forces. |
August 2010 |
Dutch troops quit. |
August 2010 |
Karzai says private security firms – accused of operating with impunity – must cease operations. He subsequently waters down the decree. |
September 2010 |
Parliamentary polls marred by Taliban violence, widespread fraud and a long delay in announcing results. |
November 2010 |
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January 2011 |
President Karzai makes first official state visit to Russia by an Afghan leader since the end of the Soviet invasion in 1989. |
February 2011 |
Number of civilians killed since the 2001 invasion hit record levels in 2010, Afghanistan Rights Monitor reports. |
April 2011 |
Burning of Koran by a US pastor prompts country-wide protests in which foreign UN workers and several Afghans are killed. |
April 2011 |
Some 500 mostly Taliban prisoners break out of prison in Kandahar. |
July 2011 |
The President’s half-brother and Kandahar governor Ahmad Wali Karzai is killed in Taliban campaign against prominent figures. |
September 2011 |
Ex-president Burhanuddin Rabbani – a go-between in talks with the Taliban – is assassinated. |
October 2011 |
As relations with Pakistan worsen after a series of attacks, Afghanistan and India sign a strategic partnership to expand cooperation in security and development. |
November 2011 |
President Karzai wins the endorsement of tribal elders to negotiate a 10-year military partnership with the US at a Loya Jirga traditional assembly. The proposed pact will see US troops remain after 2014, when foreign troops are due to leave the country. |
December 2011 |
At least 58 people are killed in twin attacks at a Shia shrine in Kabul and a Shia mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif. |
December 2011 |
Pakistan and the Taliban boycott the scheduled Bonn Conference on Afghanistan. Pakistan refuses to attend after a NATO air strike killed Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border. |
BBC News South Asia: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12024253