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Afghanistan War
Afghanistan War 1978-92, conflict between anti-Communist Muslim Afghan guerrillas (mujahidin) and Afghan government and Soviet forces. The conflict had its origins in the 1978 coup that overthrew Afghan president Sardar Muhammad Daud Khan, who had come to power by ousting the king in 1973. The pres...
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Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden , 1957?-, Saudi-born leader of Al Qaeda [Arab.,=the base], a terrorist organization devoted to uniting all Muslims and establishing a transnational, strict-fundamentalist Islamic state. The youngest son of a wealthy Yemeni-born businessman, bin Laden was trained as a civil engineer (...
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, republic (2005 est. pop. 29,929,000), 249,999 sq mi (647,497 sq km), S central Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Iran on the west, by Pakistan on the east and south, and by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan on the north; a narrow strip,...
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Khyber Pass
Khyber Pass Mountain pass in the Safid Kuh range, on the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan, linking the Kabul valley in Afghanistan (w) with Peshawar in Pakistan (e). Height: 1073m (3520ft). Length: 50km (30mi)....
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Pul-i-Khumri
Pul-i-Khumri or Pol-e Khomri , town, capital of Baghlan prov., central Afghanistan. It is a trading center and a stopping place for trucks and caravans traveling to N Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics.
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Taliban
Taliban or Taleban , Islamic fundamentalist militia of Afghanistan and later Pakistan, originally consisting mainly of Sunni Pashtun religious students educated and trained in Pakistan. The Taliban emerged as a significant force in Afghanistan in 1994 when they were assigned by Pakistan to prote...
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Ahmad Shah
Ahmad Shah , c.1723-1773, Afghan ruler (1747-73), founder of the Durani dynasty. His success in commanding Afghan forces in India for Nadir Shah of Iran won him the rule of Afghanistan on Nadir's death (1747). He twice (1756, 1760) occupied and sacked Delhi, the capital of the Mughal empire. He co...
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Dost Muhammad
Dost Muhammad , 1793-1863, emir of Afghanistan. He and his family struggled to get the emirate for years before he finally succeeded in establishing himself in 1826. He waged continual war with the Sikhs, and trouble with the British, beginning in 1838, led to the first (1839-42) of the Afghan Wars....
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Pathans
Pathans , group of seminomadic peoples consisting of more than 60 tribes, numbering approximately 10 million in Pakistan and 6 million in Afghanistan, where they form the dominate ethnic group (historically known as Afghans and now typically as Pashtuns). Pathans are Muslims and speak Pashto (or Pus...
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Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev , 1931-, Soviet political leader. Born in the agricultural region of Stavropol, Gorbachev studied law at Moscow State Univ., where in 1953 he married a philosophy student, Raisa Maksimovna Titorenko (1932?-99). Returning to Stavropol, he moved gradually upward in the lo...
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