(1/9) The political instability that created the conditions for the eventual rise of the Taliban to power started in 1973. Mohammed Zahir Shah had been king since 1933. During his 40 years on the throne, the country had made steady progress and in 1963 adopted a new... 
(2/9) constitution that introduced an elected parliament and other reforms and that included women's rights provisions, so from 1963 onward Mohammed Zahir Shah ruled as a constitutional monarch. In July 1973, while the king was in Europe, his cousin and former prime minister...
(3/9) Mohammed Daoud Khan (PM 1953-1963) staged a coup, declared Afghanistan a republic, and declared himself president, thus ending the monarchy. Daoud Khan pursued progressive policies, including promoting women's rights, but he governed for only about 5 years (1973 to...
(4/9) 1978). His bloodless coup and transformation of #Afghanistan's government system had caused political instability. Daoud Khan faced pressure from communists at home and tensions with Pakistan abroad, among other challenges. Eventually, in April 1978, the communist...
(5/9) People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), staged a coup and assassinated Daoud Khan and much of his family. #Afghanistan now had a communist government headed by the PDPA, backed by the Soviet Union. The PDPA, however, struggled to gain legitimacy among much of...
(6/9) #Afghanistan's population, and there were divisions within the PDPA itself. The PDPA government appeared on the verge of collapse by late 1979, prompting the Soviet invasion that began in December 1979. Because @RobRakove and @conorntobin did such an excellent job...
(7/9) earlier this month detailing the 1979 invasion, I won't repeat that narrative here. Suffice it to say that the Soviet invasion plunged #Afghanistan into the decades of war it has suffered ever since. The Soviet-Afghan War lasted from 1979-1989, when the Soviets withdrew...
(8/9) in defeat. Countless Afghans died or were displaced. An entire generation grew up in refugee camps in neighboring countries, especially Pakistan. And women found themselves facing challenges and an erosion in their rights. More on the Soviet-Afghan War, women's rights...
(9/9) and, the Afghan civil war of the early 1990s tomorrow. - KJS @TheGingerProf
Image credits: All images from Wikimedia Commons
Image credits: All images from Wikimedia Commons
