Afghanistan is a weak and poor country. It has no oil and natural gas resources, nor does it have the ambition to dominate the world and expand externally. Why do British Empire , the Soviet Union and the United States feel unhappy about it and want to attack it. How can Afghanistan defeat the strong with the weak and become the imperial cemetery?
1. Britain attacks Afghanistan
Afghanistan is located at the most center of Asia, at the junction of South Asia, East Asia, West Asia and Central and North Asia. Afghanistan is a plateau mountain country. Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia are all flat lands. Afghanistan is a natural barrier in Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia, which makes Afghanistan a must-pass place for major Asian empires to expand territory and a place that military strategists must fight for. The strategic location is very important.
18th century, Britain completed the first industrial revolution of . After becoming stronger, it embarked on the road of external expansion. Britain used its strong ships and cannons to turn many regions such as Africa, Asia, and the Americas into its own colonies. At its peak, Britain had a land area of 35.5 million square kilometers and a population of 413 million. British colonies are spread all over the world, and the country has a place in the daytime every moment, so Britain is also known as the "Empire of the Sun". That is, "In my territory, the sun will never set."
at that time Tsarist Russia was a "European gendarmerie" and was also very powerful. Moreover, Tsarist Russia was greedy for its territory and seized a large amount of land in Europe through foreign wars, which made European countries very afraid of Tsarist Russia. Britain, France, Ottoman Empire and other countries had joined forces to fight Tsarist Russia.
From the 16th century to the end of the 19th century, Tsarist Russia successively destroyed Central Asian countries such as Kazakh Khanate , Kokhan Khanate , Bukhara Khanate , and Shiva Khanate, and occupied a vast Central Asian region. After Central Asia fell into the hands of Tsarist Russia, Afghanistan became the next target of Tsarist Russia.
Tsarist Russia can open up the road to West Asia and South Asia, and then invade West Asia and South Asia, and expand its own territory. At the same time, you can also get the sea outlet that Tsarist Russia dreams of. But at this time, Britain was nervous. Afghanistan borders British India. British India is the most important colony in Britain and is known as the "jewel in the crown" of the Queen of England. Britain attaches great importance to India.
After Tsarist Russia acquires Afghanistan, it will face a flat British India and West Asia region. Britain is worried that Tsarist Russia will invade British India and West Asia. At the same time, the UK also wanted to establish a power belt from , North Africa, to India, to curb Tsarist Russia's strategic space and suppress Tsarist Russia. Therefore, the UK decided to take the initiative first, invade Afghanistan, and to block Tsarist Russia in the area north of Afghanistan and prevent Tsarist Russia from moving south.
Afghanistan is a mountainous country, easy to defend but difficult to attack.
At the same time, Tsarist Russia is also worried that after Britain occupied Afghanistan, it will threaten its Central Asia region and make it enemies on both sides, so it forms an alliance with Afghanistan to jointly resist Britain. From 1839 to 1919, the British Empire invaded Afghanistan three times, but with the help of Tsarist Russia, they all failed.
2. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan
0 Tsarist Russia's coastline is very long, and there are sea outlets in its southeast, west and north. The estuary of the Arctic Ocean and Pacific Ocean in the north and east of Tsarist Russia is located in a high latitude area with a cold climate. It is in a state of freezing for many hours a year, which is not an ideal harbor. The Baltic Sea 's estuary is warm, but it is relatively narrow and not ideal. The Black Sea 's estuary is good, but entering and leaving the Black Sea must pass through the Turkish Strait controlled by Turkey. In the 17th and 19th centuries, 10 large-scale wars broke out in order to compete for the Caucasus , the Balkans, Crimea, the Black Sea and other regions. Russian ships entered and exited the Black Sea and were subject to their rival Türkiye.
After the Soviet Union had difficulty obtaining an ideal seaport in the direction of Europe, it focused on Afghanistan and wanted to go south to get an seaport in Indian Ocean .
1953, King of Afghanistan Zahir appointed Prince Dawud as Prime Minister of Afghanistan. Dawude had received higher education in Europe, but he was pro-Soviet in thought.After Dawud came to power, he began modernization reforms in Afghanistan, but he chose to move closer to the Soviet Union politically, which allowed Afghanistan to receive a lot of aid from the Soviet Union. In order to prevent Afghanistan from turning completely to the Soviet Union, the United States also provided Afghanistan with 100 million dollars in aid. Afghanistan has gained a lot of benefits through repeated jumps between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Dawud's reforms have benefited the poor lower-class people in Afghanistan, but have moved the interests of conservative forces, and they have begun to fight back against Dawud. At the same time, Dawude also suffered from excessive power and great achievements, which aroused the fear of King Zahir, and he took the opportunity to dismiss Dawude.
After Dawude was removed, his reforms went bankrupt immediately, but Dawude did not withdraw from Afghanistan politics, but chose to lie dormant.
1973, Dawude launched a coup with his own pump, overthrew the king and established a republic. After taking control of Afghanistan, Dawude began to fully implement the reforms he had not completed 10 years ago in Afghanistan. He confiscated the land of the royal family and aristocrats and promoted national land reform; promoted the nationalization of enterprises, banned usury in a comprehensive manner, and exempted the debts of the poor; anti-corruption, anti-smuggling, protecting the rights and interests of workers, liberating women, and providing jobs to women. Although Dawud's reform is beneficial to the lower class people, it is too eager. The people have not yet enjoyed the dividends of the reform, but because they have moved the interests of many people, it has aroused fierce resistance in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has risen and embarked on the road to confront Dawude.
In order to ease the conflict, Dawud made concessions, slowed down and even suspended the reforms, but it made the Afghan People's Democratic Party , which supported him, dissatisfied.
Afghan economy relies heavily on the Soviet Union, but Daoud believes that Afghanistan's economic development needs to rely on the Soviet Union, nor can it rely solely on the Soviet Union. In order to reduce his dependence on the Soviet Union, he joined the Non-Aligned Movement and strengthened exchanges with Arab countries. Dawud also cleaned up the pro-Soviet forces in China, preventing the People's Democratic Party from growing bigger, and reducing the Soviet Union's influence on Afghanistan, which made the Soviet Union dissatisfied.
Dawud's approach made him offend various factions in Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. In 1978, the Afghan People's Democratic Party launched a coup, overthrew Dawud and established a socialist regime. After becoming the Prime Minister of Afghanistan, the pro-Soviet Taraki began to copy the Soviet model in Afghanistan, but this caused dissatisfaction among many people in Afghanistan, and some tribes rebelled.
At the same time, there was also serious internal strife within the new Afghan government, and conflicts broke out between Prime Minister Taraki and Deputy Prime Minister Amin . The Soviet Union wanted to help Taraki get rid of Amin and establish a pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan, but Amin took action in advance and got rid of Taraki. After Amin controlled the Afghan regime, the Soviet Union's decades of operations in Afghanistan were destroyed, which was something the Soviet Union could not tolerate. At the same time, in order to strengthen its influence in the Middle East and obtain an outlet in the Indian Ocean, the Soviet Union decided to send troops to occupy Afghanistan.
After the Soviet Union launched the Afghan war, the United States tried to prevent the Soviet Union from occupying Afghanistan in order to threaten Middle East and South Asia. At the same time, in order to consume the Soviet Union, it began to vigorously aid Afghanistan, providing Afghanistan with a large amount of funds and weapons to help Afghanistan defeat the Soviet Union.
3. The United States attacked Afghanistan
On September 11, 2001, a terrorist attack occurred in the United States, causing 2,996 deaths and economic losses of up to US$200 billion.
This made the United States very angry. After the incident of
911, the mastermind behind the scenes bin Laden fled to Afghanistan to avoid disaster. The angry US government demanded that the Afghan Taliban be handed over bin Laden and wanted to bring him to justice, but was rejected. In 2001, the United States launched the Afghan war on the grounds of counter-terrorism.
The United States launched the Afghan war on the grounds of anti-terrorism, with the aim of avenging more than 2,000 Americans who died in the 9/11 incident, but the deeper reason is still for its own core interests.
Afghanistan borders Iran, Central Asia and my country, and its geographical location is very important.
The Middle East has abundant oil reserves, accounting for more than half of the global total oil reserves. Oil is the "blood of industry". Whoever controls oil will control the world's economic lifeline. This has also made the world's major powers always want to get involved in the Middle East and control the Middle East. The United States has many allies in the Middle East, but Iran has been anti-US, which has caused great oil-producing countries to cause trouble to the United States. By occupying Afghanistan, the United States can deter Iran from both sea and land and strengthen its control over the Middle East. At the same time, in 1991, after the collapse of , Russia, a military power and nuclear power that inherited 70% of the Soviet Union's legacy, has always been regarded as an important opponent by the United States, constantly suppressing and curbing Russia. If the United States controls Afghanistan, it can exert influence on Russia's backyard Central Asian countries and compress Russia's strategic space.
After the United States launched a war against Afghanistan, Afghanistan received a lot of assistance from its neighbor Russia. Although the United States overthrew the Taliban government with its powerful military power, the Taliban Taliban uses the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan to fight guerrilla warfare with the US military. The war in Afghanistan lasted for 20 years. More than 2,200 U.S. troops killed more than 300 billion US dollars, and the United States consumed a lot of manpower and material resources, but they were unable to completely eliminate the Taliban. The United States could no longer afford it. In 2021, the United States ended the Afghan war.
After the US withdrawal, the Afghan government supported by the United States quickly collapsed and the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan.
4. Summary
Afghanistan is a nation with many disasters. In history, it has been invaded by many foreign races, which has also tempered the firm and tenacious character of the Afghans. In the face of the invasion of foreign enemies, they have never chosen to compromise. At the same time, Afghanistan is a mountainous country with continuous mountains, which is particularly conducive to fighting guerrilla warfare . Powerful countries such as Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States cannot eliminate all the sporadic guerrillas hiding in the mountains, which makes it impossible for the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries to completely occupy Afghanistan. At the same time, Afghanistan is a strategic location. Many major countries covet Afghanistan, but they do not want their opponents to get it. Therefore, when Afghanistan is invaded by other countries, other countries will spare no effort to aid Afghanistan and help Afghanistan resist foreign enemies. This has caused many major countries to fail in Afghanistan and turned Afghanistan into an imperial cemetery.
