Lets start from 18th Century. Eastern
Afghanistan was under Mughals, Western Afghanistan was under Safavids and
Northern Afghanistan was part of Khanate of Bukhara. With the decline of
Mughals in India and fall of Safavids in Persia, Nadir Shah of Iran captured
whole Afghanistan. Nadir Shahs also raided & sacked Punjab & Delhi and
he permanently detached Afghanistan from India. After Nadir Shah, Afghanistan
& Western Indian (Now Pakistan) was captured by Durrani Empire. Durranis
were replaced by Barakzai dynersty (which ruled till 1973).
Khanate of
Bukhara (present day parts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmeistan, Kazakistan,
Afghanistan, Pakistan and East Turkmenistan (now in China)) was succeeded by
three dynesty - Durrani Empire,Empire of Bukhara and Khanate of Kokand. Empire
of Bukhara and Khanate of Kokand were captured by Russian Empire. Khanate of
Bukhara also lost some parts to China. Afghanistan under Durrani & later
Barakzai dynersty was squeezed by Russian & British Empire. Southern part was
taken by British (now Pashtun dominated area of Pakistan) and Northern part was
taken by Russians. A great game was played between Russian & British over
Afghanistan. Both wanted a buffer zone and that’s why Afghanistan remain
independent otherwise it would either become part of Russian Empire or British
India.
Even though
Norther part of Afghanistan was captured by Russians some Tazik, Uzbek, Turkmen
area remained under modern Afghanistan under Barakzai dynersty. Earlier under
Durranis, Afghans had controlled over larger area Tazik, Uzbek, Turkmen areas.
Herat Province was a bone of contention between Persians & Modern
Afghanistan (Durranis & Barakzai ) and it changed hands many times. In
1856, Afganistan with British help re-captured Herat province and thus Hazaras
live in Afghanistan.
The word
Pashtun word was hardly used in Indian history and the world Aghan was used for
Pashtuns or Pathans. the meaning of Afghanistan is “Land of Pashtunes”. But
Afghanistan lost a significant portion of southern Pashtun land to British
India and it held on some lands of Central Asia. So now they use Pashtun word
for Pathans and Afghan world is used for all person of Afghanistan as it has
significant non-Pashtun population
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