Afghanistan has long held a pivotal place in regional geopolitics, its strategic location making it a prize and a battleground for competing powers. From the 19th-century “Great Game” between Britain and Russia to the Cold War proxy wars of the 20th century, external influence has continuously shaped its trajectory.

Following independence in 1919, successive governments sought to modernise while balancing tribal, religious, and regional interests. Yet instability persisted, deepened by ideological divides and foreign interventions.

The 1970s marked a turning point, from ending King Zahir Shah’s monarchy in 1973, to the Soviet invasion in 1979. What followed was a decade-long conflict that drew in the United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, leaving the country fractured after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

In this first part of our three-part series on Afghanistan, we trace the country’s transformation from a buffer state to a theatre of global rivalries, and examine how decades of intervention and internal division have shaped the nation it is today.

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