Afghanistan has experienced the invasion of almost all major powers in history, but it has stood still and dragged down the opposite side. The most typical representative is the Soviet Union.
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Pashto:? ), referred to as Afghanistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia with a presidential system. ?
Afghanistan is located at the intersection of West Asia, South Asia and Central Asia, bordering Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, China in the northeast, Pakistan in the east and southeast, and Iran in the west.
Three fifths of the territory of Afghanistan is inaccessible. It has a continental climate, which is dry and rainy all year round. It is related to most neighboring countries in terms of nationality, religion, language and geography.
Extended data:
How Afghanistan became an imperial graveyard.
Although people today immediately think of a chaotic and desolate land when they talk about Afghanistan, it is actually just a long-term war caused by the successive invasions of the Soviet Union and the United States. Historically, Afghanistan is located on the commercial road connecting Central Asia with Persia and India, so a large number of famous commercial cities have emerged in this region.
But at the same time, as today, it is coveted by all major countries. Its prosperous business and important geographical location make Afghanistan a strategic focus of various empires in history.
The biggest influence on Afghanistan is their two neighboring countries-Persia and India. Many empires established by Persia have always been a great threat to Afghanistan, but they are also the source of many religions and technologies. For example, the Greeks who first established the city-state in Afghanistan were the Macedonian troops who arrived here from the west via Persia.
Although the plateau mountains in Afghanistan are a huge obstacle compared with India, it is not a big problem for Persia. The reason is that, geographically, the Iranian Plateau is connected with the Pamirs.
So the altitude difference from Persia to Afghanistan is much smaller than that from Central Asia or India. This also created great convenience for conquerors to enter Afghanistan from Persia.
Afghanistan is undoubtedly very important to the Indian regime. Many conquerors, including Guishuang, Sultanate of Delhi and Mughal Empire, came from Afghanistan. After conquering India, although they moved their political center to India, they still tried to control Afghanistan in their own hands.
On the one hand, it is to control the commercial road in a wider scope, thus bringing greater benefits to the regime itself. At the same time, for the Indian regime, the occupation of Afghanistan actually has very serious military considerations.
Before the institute of cold weapons, this ancient civilization was always rubbing on the ground? The article "Why India is Particularly Vulnerable to Invasion and Conquest" says that Afghanistan itself is often the outpost of the invasion of India. Therefore, however, in order to prevent other conquerors from invading India, all powerful regimes rising in India often take turns to control Afghanistan.
The advantage of doing so, in addition to actively defending the enemy, will also become an outpost of India's external expansion. Moreover, India, a big country, can be conquered by religion or direct force through Afghanistan, Central Asia and even the Eastern Persian Empire, thus exerting influence. Therefore, whether Persia or India controls Afghanistan, it is undoubtedly a sword that blocks the way to Central Asia, and even exerts direct influence on each other.
However, once the Indian regime collapses or declines, their close relationship will double the threat of Afghanistan to the Indian regime. Due to the limitation of its geographical environment, it is very expensive for India to control Afghanistan. Once Afghanistan is out of control, it is easy to control the political power in Afghanistan and invade India through khyber pass.
The terrain in this area is too steep for large-scale and long-term garrison, so it is naturally impossible to effectively resist foreign invaders for a long time. Invaders from Afghanistan can easily master Indian intelligence through long-term exchanges between the two sides, thus making India's invasion of Afghanistan more passive.
The complex relationship among Afghanistan, Persia and India has also had a great influence on the ethnic and political situation in Afghanistan. Afghanistan's mountainous plateau itself is very easy to breed such a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and mostly tough regional culture as the Caucasus.
This is aggravated by the constant cultural and political infiltration of Persian and Indian civilizations.
Great powers have fought for a long time, local tribal forces have existed for a long time, and the terrain is steep. All these factors, without exception, make it difficult for Afghanistan to be called a good land.
Especially with the decline of the Silk Road since the beginning of the15th century, the economy of Afghanistan, which has long relied on commercial trade, has declined greatly, thus becoming a real "barren land". The British have something to say about this. ...
With the advent of the 20th century, Afghanistan, as one of the few independent countries in Asia, still started its own modernization process with stumbling, until the invasion of a huge neighbor in the north, which caused devastating damage.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Afghanistan