1839-42 First Anglo-Afghan war.
1878-80 Second Anglo-Afghan war. Britain wins control of Afghanistan’s foreign affairs.
1880-1901 Amir Abdul Rahman Khan conquers Afghanistan. Current borders of Afghanistan are determined.
1933-73 King Mohammed Zahir Shah rules.
1959 Prime Minister Daoud and other government ministers appear at national celebrations with their wives and daughters unveiled, sparking riots led by religious leaders.
1964 Constitution proclaiming legal equality of men and women prompts more unrest.
July 1973 King Zahir Shah is overthrown by Daoud while on holiday in the Bay of Naples.
April 1978 Marxist-Leninist military coup. People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan takes power.
December 1979 Soviet troops invade. Mujahideen fighters launch battle against the occupiers.
February 1986 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev describes Afghanistan as a “bleeding wound,” indicates that he wants to pull troops out.
February 1989 Soviet troops withdraw.
April 1992 Mujahideen government takes power in Kabul. President Najibullah seeks refuge in UN compound.
1993 Some ten thousand civilians die in battles between President Rabbani and Gulbuddin Hikmetyar, a fundamentalist Mujahid leader.
November 1994 Taliban conquer Kandahar.
September 1995 Taliban conquer Herat.
November 1995 Taliban bomb Kabul before government troops force them back.
September 1996 Taliban conquer Jalalabad and Kabul. Taliban hang Najibullah and his brother.
August 1998 Osama bin Laden blamed for bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Mullah Omar pledges to give protection to bin Laden. U.S. cruise missile attack on bin Laden camps in Jalalabad and Khost.
June 1999 FBI places bin Laden at top of list of ten most wanted outlaws.
January 2001 Taliban massacre about three hundred civilians in Yakaolang.
March 2001 Taliban destroy giant Buddha statues in Bamiyan Valley.
September 2001 Bin Laden blamed for airplane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
October 2001 United States and Britain lead bombing offensive against Al’Qaida, bin Laden’s organization, in Afghanistan.
November 2001 Northern Alliance conquers Kabul.