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Modern Afghanistan was founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani, who rose to power in 1747.
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During the 19th century, Great Britain and Russia competed for control over Afghanistan. British forces invaded the country in 1839.
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Although the British took control over large parts of Afghan territory, they were met with fierce resistance. Afghanistan gained independence from Great Britain in 1919.
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In 1973, the last king of Afghanistan was overthrown, and the country became a republic. Five years later, a Communist party seized control of the country in another coup.
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In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded the Afghanistan in support of the failing Communist regime. The Soviet invasion was resisted by guerilla forces supported by the United States and other nations.
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In 1989, the last Soviet troops withdrew from the country, but civil war continued.
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In 1996, Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, fell into the hands of the Taliban, a strict Islamic regime that surfaced in 1994 to put an end to the chaos of civil war.
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By 2001, the Taliban controlled 90 percent of the country. The Taliban provided a base of operations for the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda, which was led by Osama Bin Ladin.
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In 2001, the Bonn Conference, sponsored by the United Nations, began the process of re-establishing a democratic government in Afghanistan.
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After Al Qaeda launched a devastating series of terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the United States and its allies, along with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces, invaded the country and brought down the Taliban.
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On December 7, 2004, Hamid Karzai became the country’s first democratically elected president.
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On December 19, 2005, the country’s National Assembly was inaugurated.
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There still remains a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. Skirmishes between Allied forces and Taliban forces continue today.