Kanishka rules the Kushan empire of Afghanistan and northern India from his capital at Peshawar

Mahmud, a Turk, builds an empire based on Ghazni (in modern Afghanistan)

The Seljuk Turks win a victory at Dandanqan, which gives them a base in the north of Iran and Afghanistan

Timur begins twenty years of almost continuous conquest with the capture and destruction of Herat

Shah Rukh, son of Timur, begins rebuilding the city of Herat

Herat, under Timurid princes, succeeds Tabriz as the main centre of Persian art

Babur captures Kabul, making it and eastern Afghanistan the first possession of the Mughal empire

A tribal leader, Ahmad Shah Abdali, is elected king of the Afghans in an event seen as the foundation of the Aghan nation

A British army invades Afghanistan and instals a puppet ruler, Shuja Shah, as the Afghan amir

The British abandon Kabul, losing most of the garrison force in the withdrawal to India and bringing to an end the first Anglo-Afghan war

Three British armies invade Afghanistan, beginning the second Anglo-Afghan War

The British withdraw from Afghanistan, having achieved nothing in the Second Anglo-Afghan War

Afghanistan finally achieves international recognition as an independent nation

Zahir Shah allows the first elections in his kingdom of Afghanistan

A military coup deposes Zahir Shah and brings to an end the hereditary monarchy in Afghanistan

Communist measures in Afghanistan provoke a Muslim jihad and the murder of more than 100 Russians in Herat

Soviet troops invade Afghanistan to suppress anti-communist anarchy

The Saudi fundamentalist Osama bin Laden joins the mujaheddin in their fight against the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan

Seven groups of Afghan mujaheddin form a united front against the Soviet army

Osama bin Laden's involvement in the fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan leads to his development of al-Qaeda

The USSR completes the phased withdrawal of its troops from Aghanistan

Mohammad Najibullah, Russia's puppet ruler in Afghanistan, is finally overwhelmed in Kabul by the mujaheddin

The mujaheddin, after removing from power the Soviet-backed president Najibullah, proclaim an Islamic state

Mullah Mohammed Omar, in Kandahar, forms a group devoted to fundamentalist Islam and calls it Taliban (meaning students of the Qur'an)

Expelled from Sudan, Osama bin Laden moves to Afghanistan where he builds training camps for al-Qaeda