Key dates in modern Afghanistan history
1919: Afghanistan wins independence from nominal British control.
1973: Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan ousts his cousin King Zahir Shah in bloodless coup, becomes a president and declares Afghanistan a republic.
1978: Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan and 17 others are executed inside the presidential palace in a communist-inspired coup. Their bodies are buried in secret mass graves.
1979: Soviet Union troops invade Afghanistan.
1989: Soviet Union troops withdraw from Afghanistan.
1996: Taliban take over Kabul, following years of civil war that followed the Soviet departure.
2001: Following al-Qaida’s Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. troops invade, ousting the al-Qaida-allied Taliban.
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