People of Arya Zamin (مردم آریا زمین) Professor Frank Holt, Professor of ancient Greek and Roman history wrote, Bactria (now Afghanistan) had been a center of civilization long before the rise of the Greek cities, he wrote. William Dalrymple a British historian wrote. The Great Mughals to regard Afghanistan as a far more elegantly cultured place than India, he wrote. Ariana- meaning "Land of the Aryans" Ariana (now Afghanistan) the name of the Iranian peoples mother country). Ariana was named after its one of provinces Aria, a region enclosed chiefly the valley of the Hari River which is modern day's Herat Province of Afghanistan.The modern name Iran represents the ancient name Ariana which has been used since 1959, and implies that Iran is the Ariana itself. a word itself of Avestan origin. a view which is borne out by the traditions of the country preserved in the Muslim writers of the ninth and tenth centuries. Since the Indo-Aryan peoples built their first Kingdom in Bactria (now Balkh) scholars believe that it was from this area that different waves of Indo-Aryan peoples spread to Iran and Seistan, where they became today's Persian, Pashtuns, and Baloch, The ones that stayed in Bactria became Tajiks, who are located in modern Balkh and surrounding areas. The period between 26th- 20th century BC was the most important period in the history of Balkh. Helen Saberi an English writer, Afghan dynasties, in their turn, have flourished and at various times extended their influence to parts of central Asia ,India, Iran, and China, from Kushans, to Ghaznavid sultans, to the Durrani rulers such spheres of influence contributed much to the rich patterns of civilization, she said. Greco-Bactrian Kingdom of Afghanistan, covering Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250 to 125 BC. The expansion of the Greco-Bactrians into northern India from 180 BC established the Indo-Greek Kingdom, which was to last until around AD 10. Afghanistan`s Kushans, spread from the Kabul River Valley to defeat other Central Asian tribes that had conquered parts of the northern central Iran, China, India, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan.and Tajikistan. Afghanistan`s Hephthalites also known as the White Huns, were a nomadic confederation in Afghanistan and Central Asia during the late antiquity period. The Hephthalite Empire, at the height of its power (in the first half of the 6th century), extended Afghan control from ,Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India and China. The Samanids, a dynasty of Tajik dehqan origin from Afghanistan, reigned for 180 years, encompassing a territory which included Greater Khorasan (including Kabul), Ray, Transoxiania, Tabaristan, Kerman, Gorgan, and west of these provinces up to Isfahan. At the peak of their power, the Samanids controlled territory extending as far south as the Sulaiman Mountains in Quetta, Ghazni and Kandahar, and as far as Qazvin in the west. The Ghaznavid dynasty ( غزنویان‎) was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Afghanistan, ruling (Persia - Iran), Transoxania, and the northern parts of the Indian, from 975 to 1186, The dynasty was founded by Sebuktigin, upon his succession to rule of Ghazna (modern-day Ghazni Province in Afghanistan) after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was a break-away ex-general of the Samanids from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Khorasan. The Khilji dynasty was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turko-Afghan, ruled over parts of modern day India, China, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The Saffarid dynasty ruled over parts of eastern Iran, Khorasan, Balochistan Kerman, Fars, and nearly reached Baghdad. The Ghurids or Ghorids, were a native Sunni Muslim dynasty of Afghanistan, possibly Tajik origin, which established ruled over parts of modern day Iran and Pakistan from 1148 to 1215. The dynasty succeeded the Ghaznavid Empire. Their empire was centered in Ghor Province or Mandesh, in the center of what is now Afghanistan. It encompassed Khorasan in the West and reached in the East to northern India, as far as Bengal. The Hotaki dynasty It was an Afghan monarchy, ruled over a wide area which is now Iran, and northwestern Pakistan. The Durrani Empire encompassed present-day,Iran,Turkmenistan (including the Panjdeh oasis), most of Pakistan, and India,including the Kashmir region. With the support of various tribal leaders, Ahmad Shah Durrani extended Afghan control from Khorasan in the west to Kashmir and Delhi in the east, and from the Amu Darya in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south.In the second half of the 18th century, after the Ottoman Empire the Durrani Empire was the second-largest Muslim empire in the world.

• published: 05 Oct 2013
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