The Battle of Britain

Afghanistan in the Twentieth Century

Poster of Ahmad Shah Massoud; Poster of General Ahmad Shah Massoud on display in the Olympic Stadium, Kabul, 2002. General Ahmad Shah Massoud fought with the Mujahideen against the Soviet Union and then served as Defence Minister of Afghanistan under President Rabbani. Following the rise of the Taliban regime, Massoud became the military leader of the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan. He was assassinated by al-Qaeda agents in September 2001 and named a national hero by President Hamid Karzai in 2002.

Poster of Ahmad Shah Massoud

photographs

Poster of General Ahmad Shah Massoud on display in the Olympic Stadium, Kabul, 2002. General Ahmad Shah Massoud fought with the Mujahideen against the Soviet Union and then served as Defence Minister of Afghanistan under President Rabbani. Following the rise of the Taliban regime, Massoud became the military leader of the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan. He was assassinated by al-Qaeda agents in September 2001 and named a national hero by President Hamid Karzai in 2002.

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For more than a hundred years, British soldiers, diplomats, and spies and their Russian counterparts competed for influence over Afghanistan in what became known as ‘the Great Game.’ Britain fought wars in Afghanistan between 1838 and 1842, 1878...

For more than a hundred years, British soldiers, diplomats, and spies and their Russian counterparts competed for influence over Afghanistan in what became known as ‘the Great Game.’ Britain fought wars in Afghanistan between 1838 and 1842, 1878 and 1880 and in 1919.

After 1933, Afghanistan was ruled by Mohammed Zahir Shah, who stayed neutral during the Second World War and managed to avoid falling under either Soviet or US influence during the Cold War. In 1973 his brother-in-law, Mohammed Daoud Khan, seized power. Daoud began a brief experiment in democracy which ended with a Soviet-sponsored communist coup in 1978. The following year, Soviet troops invaded to prop up Afghanistan’s new and unpopular communist government. Western-sponsored mujahideen rebels began an insurgency against the Afghan and Soviet forces.

The USSR withdrew in 1989. After a series of civil wars, Kabul fell to the Taliban, a Pakistani-sponsored movement which promised to end the civil war and bring stability through strict Islamic law.

On 11 September 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people. Afghanistan was identified as the base of al-Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden. The Taliban leadership refused to reveal his whereabouts and the United Nations authorised a NATO-led military intervention in Afghanistan.

In December 2001, a new Afghan government was established under the leadership of Hamid Karzai. Today, NATO forces remain in the country and Taliban insurgents continue to launch attacks against these international troops and against the security forces of the new regime. 

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  • The Kabul Gate, Jellalabad

    photographs

    The Kabul Gate, Jellalabad; The Kabul Gate in the city wall of Jellalabad during the Second Afghan War, 1878-1880.

  • Rug made by Afghan refugees

    souvenirs and ephemera

    Rug made by Afghan refugees; Rug made by Afghan refugees in Pakistan, following the 1979 Soviet invasion. Many of the mujahideen who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan were recruited from the refugee camps along the border and trained in Pakistan. Western intelligence agents actively assisted them on the border. They provided training and support for the rebels and the foreign jihadis who came to Afghanistan to help them. One of these foreign jihadis was Osama Bin Laden.

  • Victoria Cross and medal group

    decorations and awards

    Victoria Cross and medal group; Lieutenant John Smyth, 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, Indian Army, was awarded the Victoria Cross for 'most conspicuous bravery near Richebourg on 18th May 1915' during the Battle of Festubert. For the remainder of the First World War he served in Egypt, North Africa and on the North-West Frontier. This medal group includes a Military Cross and campaign medals for his service during the Third Afghan War (1919-1920).

  • A local policeman

    photographs

    A local policeman; A local policeman keeps watch during a football match at the Olympic Stadium in Kabul on 15 February 2002. This match between Kabul United and a team representing the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) was watched by 30,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium in Kabul on 15 February 2002. The match was the first international sporting event to take place in Afghanistan in five years. The Taliban regime had used the stadium for public executions.