Citizen Writers Fighting Censorship by Helping Americans Understand Issues Affecting the Republic.
They called Afghanistan “The Graveyard of Empires,” and by the time the Soviets showed up, it already had a headstone collection. The Persians, the Greeks, the Mongols, and the British were all buried there in one form or another. Still, the Soviets thought they could be different. They always do.
Fast-forward another century, and the players have changed — but the mountains haven’t. After 9/11, the United States and its NATO allies, including Britain, marched into Afghanistan to root out the Taliban and rebuild the nation.
Part II — The Empire That Wouldn’t Quit (1878–1880, 1919) Most nations learn from pain. Empires just reload. Four decades later, London decided another Afghan “adjustment” was needed. The Russians were sniffing around again, and Britain wanted control of Kabul’s foreign policy. Cue Round Two, where British troops marched back into Afghanistan and once again …
They called it the Great Game — the 19th-century chess match between Britain and Russia for control of Central Asia. Somewhere between tea time and arrogance, the British decided Afghanistan would make a lovely buffer zone between their Indian colony and the advancing Russians.