Kaveh Farrokh (Ph.D.) (Langara College) —
To rule over ancient Afghanistan was to be the Kushans, an offshoot of the Yueh-Chi briefly discussed earlier. After their expulsion of he Sakas the Yeuh-Chi had settled in Bactria. More specifically, Chinese sources state that the Yueh-Chi had been situated to the north of the Oxus (Kuei) River in Bactria to then move southwards to fully occupy the region by sometime in 100 BCE. Basing their capital in Bactra (Lan-Shih), the Yueh Chi divided up Bactria into five principalities or princes (Yagbu or Hsi-hou) known as the Shuang-mi, Tu-Mi, Hsi-tun, Hsiu-mi and Kuei-shuang. After the passage of almost 150 years, the Kuei-shuang to henceforth be known as the Kushans, attacked and subjugated the other principalities. The principal Kushan military leader at this time is Kadphises (Kujula Kadphises) I (r. 30-80 CE) who fanned out from Bactria into Afghanistan and further southeastwards to the Indian marches during the 1st century CE. The Kushan empire under the leadership of Kadphises was becoming increasingly powerful by 59 CE, invading the Punjab region by 60-61 CE conquering Taxila by c. 64 CE with Kushan control possibly having even extended to Merv by the early 60s CE. Parthian interests certainly clashed with those of the Kushans notably in the Taxila region which had entered a period of confusion in the 50s CE following the death of the local Parthian ruler after 46 CE.
The Kushans were also threatening the Parthian empire’s northeast and southeast marches. It is possible that Kadphises I may have allied himself with the Hyrcanean revolt in northern Iran against Parthian king Vologases (Valaksh) I (r. 51-80 CE) in c.58-61 CE. An anti-Parthian Hyrcanian-Kushan alliance was certainly possible at this time, which would have made the Hyrcanian delegation to the Roman military leader Corbulo (who was attacking the Parthians from the West) the military allies of the Kushans. It is very possible that the Hyrcanian delegation to the Romans may have included Kushans.
By the early 2nd century CE, the Parthian Empire continued to face the threat of the rising Kushan empire with eastern sources mentioning a major war having broken out between the Parthians and Kushans. The Parthians themselves had recently been forced to fight against a very dangerous and costly Roman invasion led by Emperor Trajan (r. 98-117 CE) in 114–117 CE which lessened their abilities at fully focusing their military attentions to the east against the Kushans. Meanwhile, the political and military power of the Kushan Empire was to reach its zenith by around the 150s CE, having absorbed all of the petty Iranian and Greek dynasties of Central Asia. The Kushan realms with its core in Bactria and Afghanistan encompassed much of modern-day Pakistan, Kashmir and northern India with the Kushan marches to the north reaching Soghdia and possibly encompassing Ferghana. It was within the Kushan milieu where ancient Afghanistan was to not only continue its cultural achievements, but to also achieve a civilizational zenith to be felt far beyond its boundaries. A central figure in the achievements of the Kushans was king Kanishka the Great (r. 127-144 CE) who solidified the power of the Kushan Empire. Kanishka expanded Kushan authority by entering Khotan and Yakand (modern-day Xinjiang populated mainly by Tajiks and Uighurs) which were Chinese dependencies at the time.
The cosmopolitan Kushans adopted the Indian Brahmi script for their imperial administration. The Kushans also made notable strides in the arts and as well as theology. The achievements of the Kandahar School of Arts (especially by the 3-4th centuries CE) developed contemporaneously with the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire just as Buddhism was also spreading in China (a process which the Kushans greatly contributed to). The Kandahar School blended Iranian and Indian-Hindu arts with the fine polished style of Greek sculptural arts. Several examples of this include the Greco-Roman style statue of a corpulent man identified as “the genius bearing flowers” (in Greco-Roman attire) from Hadda near Kandahar (2nd-3rd centuries CE); the royal banquet scene at Chakhil-Goundi in Eastern Afghanistan, and the Indian-Iranian and Corinthian acanthus-leaf capital featuring the Buddha at Kandahar (3rd-4th century CE). The Kushans were to also work vigorously in the promotion of Buddhism, with Kanishka having ordered the restoration of the sacred Buddhist texts. More specifically Kanishka ordered the Buddha Council to meet in the Punjab (or Kashmir) in the 1st century CE in order to harmonize the doctrines of the eighteen opposed sects that had emerged out of Buddhism. This is remarkably similar to the Roman Emperor Constantine (and his son Crispus) who two centuries after Kanishka ordered the First Council of Nicea in 325 CE in order to have religious scholars debate the ecumenical doctrines of Christianity. This allowed for Christianity to arrive at a theological consensus which by the early 4th century CE had evolved into a number of diverging sects. Just as the Romans played the defining role in the codification and spread of Christianity, so too would Afghanistan become a major center for the promotion of Buddhism in human civilization.
The Kushan promotion of Buddhism also acknowledged the role of Zoroastrian theology (i.e., Ormazd) as well as Hindu deities (e.g., Shiva). The Kushan arts were also cognizant of the Hellenic deities as exemplified by the 2nd-3rd centuries CE relief near Jalalabad in Afghanistan depicting the Greek god Atlas holding aloft the Buddha. The Kushans had sent presents to emperor Han-Huan Ti (r. 132-168 CE) of Han China in 158-159 CE, which resulted in the enhancement of Chinese-Kushan cultural exchanges. This allowed for Kushan Buddhist monks to evangelize in China, especially in Liang and Nanjing. Lokaksema (a Kushan Buddhist monk) is recognized as having been the first person to translate the Buddhist Mahayana scriptures into Chinese from sometime in 170 CE. The Indian-born Buddhist philosopher Ashvaghosha (c. 80-150 CE) had his works translated into Chinese with Fa Xian (337-422 CE) later having taken the Buddhist works of the Kushans to China in 414 CE.
The cultural ties of the Kushan empire also reached out far to the West, to the Roman Empire. It is notable that a coin of Roman Emperor Trajan has been discovered alongside coins of Kanishka at the Buddhist Monastery of Ahan Kosh (near Jalalabad, Afghanistan). Roman sources cite ambassadors sent by the “kings of Bactria and India” during 2nd century CE which in actuality meant the Kushans as these were the primary power in Bactria and India at the time. Interestingly in reference to Roman emperor Hadrian (117–138 CE) the Historia Augusta states the following: “Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices miserunt” [The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek his friendship.]
Interestingly, several objects of Roman origin have been discovered in Begram (in Parvan province. Afghanistan), the summer capital of the Kushans. This would indicate that some type of commercial (and even political) links existed between the Romans and the Kushans. With respect to Roman imports, Roman glassware was especially popular among the Kushans, as exemplified by a Roman glassware discovered at Begram which depicts (in a painting upon the glassware) a Roman gladiator. Interestingly the links between the Kushans and Romans are attested to in the 3rd century CE Chinese Hòu Hànshū sources: “Precious things from Da Qin [the Roman Empire] can be found there [in Tianzhu or Northwestern India], as well as fine cotton cloths, fine wool carpets, perfumes of all sorts, sugar candy, pepper, ginger, and black salt.”
The Kushans however were not destined to hold their power past the 2nd century CE which was the apex of their power. Their main nemesis was to be the Sassanian dynasty (224-651 CE), who led by Ardashir I (r. 224-242 CE) overthrew the Parthians in the battle of Hormzdgān on April 28, 224 CE. While exact dates are challenging to ascertain, Ardashir I, following his political and military consolidation over the former Parthian realms (except Armenia which remained defiant) was able to militarily deploy towards Afghanistan, southeast Iran and Central Asia in order to secure the submission of these regions. Interestingly, the Kushans had not supported the Armenian king Khosrov’s call to militarily join him against Ardashir I and the Sassanians. Ardashir apparently first defeated Vesachan of the Parthian Kārin clan in Gorgan (in northern Iran, below the Caspian coastline) possibly some time in 225 CE and from there possibly thrust eastwards to first fight against formidable opponents in Kerman in (south-central Iran) before marching into Seistan (Sakaistan). As per Khvānd-Mīr Ardashir Ardashir deployed eastwards towards Seistan (Sakaistan) after his campaign in Mosul, Kurdistan (with no actual mention of campaigns in Kerman however), to them swing northeast into Khorasan (northeast Iran), Nishabur (Nev-Shapur), and into Central Asia (Merv, Khwarazm, and Balkh) to then return to Fars (Persis) after this campaign.
Tabari reports that Ardashir (which he narrates as having followed his western campaigns in Mosul and Mesopotamia) arrived at Persis and from there deployed Sijistan (Seistan; Sakaistan), Gorgan and from there into Central Asia (Abarshahr, Merv, Balkh, Khwarazm), then to the limits of Khorasan’s boundaries, back to Merv to then return to Fars (Persis). Baḷʿamī states that following his Mosul and Mesopotamian campaigns Ardashir thrust to Seistan, Khorasan, Merv, Balkh, Herat and Nishabur to then return to Fars (Persis). Khvānd-Mīr outlines Ardashir’s eastern anabasis as having thrust into Seistan and then to Khorasan, Gorgan, Nishabur, Merv, Khwarazm and Balkh to then return to Fars (Persis).
Having secured the northeast regions and the marches facing Central Asia, Ardashir (as per Tabari) who was now at Persis, received the submission of the kings of Kushan, Turan (areas to the northeast of Khorasan in Central Asia) and Makran (in modern-day southeast Iran and western Pakistan).
It is possible that parts of Kushan remained independent of the Sassanians until the early 240s CE with Ardashir possibly having also raided Makran during his eastern Anabasis. Nevertheless, it would appear that these kings had evidently decided to pledge their allegiances to Ardashir, most likely out of a realization that they would be unable to successfully resist the formidable Sassanian military machine should this be deployed against them. Nevertheless, it would appear that not all of the Kushans had submitted, with regions in Central Asia and India retaining their independence. Ardashir’s son and successor Shapur I (r. 242-272 CE) campaigned vigorously to the east and northeast of the new Sassanian empire, securing the submission of the Kushans in Afghanistan and India by conquering the entire region of Peshawar (in Pakistan, near modern-day Afghanistan) and Sind (in Pakistan). Interestingly it was at the time of Shapur I where a 3rd century CE Sassanian inscription is found in which the term “Abgan” is actually mentioned. Three centuries later (6th century CE) the term Avagāṇa (in reference to the east-Iranian speaking Pashtuns) is cited by the Indian mathematician, astronomer and philosopher known as Varāha Mihira (505-587 CE) in his Sanskrit-language encyclopedia known as the Bṛhat-Saṃhitā.
It was from the 3rd century where a more codified version of Zoroastrianism would emerge in the Sassanian Empire, under the Magi priesthood and notably the Magus Kartir. Kartir played a major role in the suppression of the dualistic theology of Manichaeism (which combined Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Buddhism and Gnosticism) and the death of its prophet Mani around 276-277 CE in Sassanian Iran. This forced the movement to flee into the Roman Empire as well as Buddhist China. As in Sassanian Iran, the Romans and the Chinese were to also renounce and suppress the followers of Mani. Mani himself had journeyed to Afghanistan, Bactria and Soghdia during his missionary travels. Following the death of Mani and the fleeing of his followers to the east and west, it was in Afghanistan-Bactria where Mani’s philosophy was preserved and written, as well as adjusted with the strong Buddhist traditions of the “Land of the Kushans”.
Meanwhile Sassanian dominance of Afghanistan and Central Asia remained relatively stable until the time of Sassanian king Shapur II (r. 309-379 CE) when the Chionites invaded Central Asia, Afghanistan and northeast Iran in the 4th century CE. The Uralo-Altaic descendants of the Hsiang-Nou such as the Chionites were militarily ascending in Central Asia, continuing the process (since the Yueh-Chi expulsions in the 2nd century CE) of displacing the Iranian and Indo-European speaking populations of Central Asia.
The Hsiang-Nou empire had itself spanned from Korea (Chosen) all the way to the Altai mountains further west, thus bordering also Central Asia. By the 4th century CE, the Hun tribal confederations (of Hsiang-Nou descendant) had destroyed the Iranian-speaking regions of Central Asia. Afghanistan however was to retain its essentially Iranian cultural and linguistic links with the Iranian world, despite the waves of Hun-Turkic invasions to come across the centuries. Prior to the Chionite invasions, Shapur II had been leading a powerful military campaign against the Romans by placing the cities of Nisibis and Sinjara under siege in 337 CE or 338 CE. The Romans were essentially rescued from Shapur II’s campaign against them as the Chionites invaded the Sassanian empire’s northeastern marches just two months after the sieges of Sinjara and Nisibis. Shapur II was now forced to suspend his military operations, vacating his territorial gains in occupied Roman territory in order to redeploy the Sassanian army to northeast Iran and Afghanistan to battle against the new military menace emerging in Central Asia threatening Afghanistan and northeast Iran. Shapur II and the Spah campaigned intensely, notably in 349-350 CE, securing their final victory over the Chionites by 357 CE.
It would appear that the Chionites had now been made vassals of the Sassanian empire, however there appears to have been an independent Chionite kingdom to the northeast of Iran in Central Asia as well as northern Afghanistan in sometime 360-370 CE. By this time direct Sassanian authority had extended to Merv in Central Asia as well as western Afghanistan. With the Central Asian frontier finally pacified, Sassanian military attentions were again (re)directed to the West against the Roman Empire, now accompanied by the Chionites who were now allies of Shapur II. It is notable that Shapur II’s siege of Amida also involved a powerful contingent of the Chionites who was led by their king Gumbrates, whose son was to be killed at Amida Also of note at Amida were a contingent of cavalry from Sakaistan whom Ammianus Marcellinus describes as “the bravest warriors of all”. Meanwhile, the Chionites themselves were to attack India’s northwestern regions (including much of modern-day Pakistan) sometime in 390 to early 400s CE by deploying from their settlements in northern Afghanistan.
Part 4
From Nomadic Invaders in Central Aisa
to the Islamic Conquests
The threat of new nomadic invaders was resumed by the early 400s CE, especially by the arrival of another confederation of invaders known as the Hephthalites or “White” Huns. These had possibly arrived from the modern-day Badakhshan region (northwest China, eastern Tajikistan and parts of northeast Afghanistan), and from there invaded Soghdia, the Tarim Basin (further east) and also southwards into Afghanistan and parts of northeast Iran. These territories, which were predominantly Iranian speaking were now forcibly subjugated to Hephthalite rule. Sassanian king Bahram Gur (r. 420–438 CE) however was able to launch a successful military campaign into the occupied territories by defeating the Hephthalite armies and forcing them to sue for peace. In appreciation for the defeat of the Hephthalite invasion the local rulers of Bukhara in Central Asia issued coins of Bahram Gur. While Hephthalite authority had been subdued at the time, these remained present in Central Asia and to the north of Afghanistan. Other groups of Huns to arrive in Afghanistan were the Alchon Huns, who replaced the Chionites and gained prominence in Afghanistan as well as Central Asia between the 4th to mid/late 6th centuries. It is known that Sassanian king Yazdegird II (r. 399-420 CE) was forced to conduct a military campaign against the “Chols”, obliging him to also construct a series of forts in Gorgan in northern Iran in order to bolster local defense works against their attacks. A number of Chols or Alchon Huns were to also enter service as light cavalry with the Sassanian army. The Alchon Huns also continued the attacks of their Chionite predecessors into Gupta India, significantly weakening that state. Interestingly there were still powerful remnants of Chionite power in Central Asia strong enough to menace the Sassanian empire, with these not totally eliminated until the reign of king Pirouz I (r. 459-484 CE) who finally captured the Chionite capital of Balaam (in Central Asia) in 468 CE. Pirouz’s success however had been made possible by his enlisting of the military aid of the Hephthalites who coordinated their actions with the Sassanians by attacking the Chionites in Transoxiana in 466 CE. Nevertheless, a pocket of Chionite authority was to survive in Kandahar, Afghanistan until the late 460s CE. Despite (or because of) the elimination of the Chionites and the successes of the Alchon Huns, the latter were soon to be eclipsed by the resurgent military power of the Hephthalite Huns who would soon menace once again Afghanistan, Central Asia and northeast Iran. The Hephthalites had expanded their domains to include the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea, a significant portion of Turkmenistan and all the way into the Murghab and Tejen rivers in northern Afghanistan. King Pirouz fought and lost against the Hephthalites in 474-475 CE and 476-477 CE to then fight for the third and final time in 484 CE, losing his life – with a large proportion of the Sassanian army also having been destroyed. Afghanistan, Merv (in Central Asia) and even territory as far as Taleghan (near Tehran, Iran) had all fallen under the control of the Hephthalites.
A key question for historians is the identity of the Hephthalites as their ethnicity as “Huns” remains disputed. Unlike the Asiatic Huns they are described by Procopius as having had a white complexion with Indo-European type features. It is possible that the Hephthalites had originally been of Xiang-Nou or Hun-Turkic descent but were to adopt Bactrian (East Iranian language written in Greek script) upon their arrival into Central Asia and Afghanistan. In practice the Hephthalites were most likely a collective of tribal confederations (Hun-Turkic and Iranian) who came to adopt the Iranian language of the settled peoples they had subjugated. Culturally the Hephthalites were in ways somewhat opposite to the previous rulers of Afghanistan (notably the Kushans) in that they opposed Buddhism mainly as shown by their invasions of India. The Hephthalites also practiced the social custom of polyandry (a single wife with several husbands). The general mass of the population of Afghanistan remained Zoroastrian as well as polytheist during the Hephthalite tenure. Buddhism of course continued to be practiced in Afghanistan as well, which would suggest that in Afghanistan at least, the Hephthalites were tolerant and even supportive of local Buddhist traditions.
The great Hephthalite victory over the Sassanians in 484 CE also led to the arrival of another Hun confederation known as the Nezak Huns. These appear to have arrived in the southern portions of Afghanistan, roughly corresponding to the modern-day provinces of Ghazni and Zabul. It is possible (based on coins minted at Kandahar) that these may have had cultural and/or ethnic links with the Alchon Huns. In practice the Nezak state became bound to the powerful Hephthalitie kingdom. The Sassanian Empire in turn was to gradually recover from its devastating defeats at the hands of the Hephthalites. Sassanian king Kavad (r. 488-496 CE, 498-531 CE) led the recovering Sassanian army eastwards to liberate Khorasan (in northeast Iran) and possibly sections of modern-day Afghanistan from the Hephthalites. The complete destruction of Hephthalite power in Afghanistan and Central Asia would occur during the reign of Kavad’s son, Khosrow I (r. 531-579 CE) who struck a military alliance with the Gok [celestial/blue] Turks, having arrived relatively recently in Central Asia to the northeast of the Hephthalites. Evidence for the recency of Turkish arrivals is verified by Chinese sources which are the first to mention the term “Gok Turk” in 552 CE. Khosrow led a powerful strike against the Hephthalites in 577-558 CE with the Turks attacking from the north. The Sassanians proved highly successful by seizing Bactria by 560 CE, with the Turks now dominating the Central Asian regions to the north of Bactria.
The victorious Sassanians were to also apparently eject the Nezak Huns from Afghanistan’s Ghazni and Zabul regions, at least as attested by the Sassanian coins minted at Kandahar during the reign of Ohrmazd (or Hormuz) IV (r. 579-590 CE) in the later 6th century CE. Interestingly despite the destruction of their kingdom, pockets of Hephthalite authority appear to have remained in Afghanistan. These however were most likely paying at least nominal allegiance to the Sassanians at this time. The ongoing cultural role of the Hephthalities is evidenced by the construction of the two giant statues of the Buddha in Bamiyan, Central Afghanistan which were built under Hephthalite authority. Perhaps the most vivid testament to ancient Afghanistan’s Buddhist legacy, the Bamiyan statues were largely destroyed by the Taliban forces in March 2001.
Despite their mutual alliance against the Hephthalites, relations between the Sassanians and the Gok Turks were to steadily break down. A core issue was control of the lucrative profits of the Silk Route trade which both the Sassanians and Gok Turks sought to dominate. As relations steadily deteriorated Sizabul or Ishtemi Khan, the Khagan of the Gok Turkish Khanate, dispatched an embassy to Justin II (r. 565-578 CE) in 568 CE to propose a Romano-Byzantine and Turkish military alliance against the Sassanians. It is possible that a Turkish attack towards northeast Iran and Afghanistan did take place sometime in 572-573 CE with the Sassanian lines having successfully blocked the Turkish assaults at Merv and Nishabur. Despite this defeat Turkish power was to expand and consolidate, especially in eastern Afghanistan where local Hephthalite rulers were integrated into the Khagan’s military machine. Once again, the Sassanian empire was to be threatened by what may be characterized as the Turco-Hephthalite invasion. Much like the Hephthalites in the early 400s CE and 480s CE, the Turkish led invasion into the Sassanian empire’s eastern realms in the early part of 588 CE proved devastating by rapidly occupying western Afghanistan (including Herat), northeast Iran and Bactria. The Sassanian Spah (army) however launched a devastating counterattack that same year with a relatively small force of elite cavalry (Savaran) led by general Bahram Chobin. The decisive battle occurred near Herat where the Savaran scored a crushing victory, leading to the liberation of Balkh and Herat in Afghanistan and northwest Iran. The surviving Turco-Hephthalites refused to surrender with Bahram crushing their resistance in Central Asia.
Despite these successes Bahram was compelled to crush the eastern Turkish khanate which was allied to the western khanate recently defeated by the Savaran. Bahram then crossed from northern Bactria across the Oxus River into Sogdhia and decisively defeated the armies of the eastern Turkish khanate. The Turks (or Turco-Hephthalites) were to again attack the Sassanian empire into Afghanistan and northeast Iran in 619 CE just as Sassanian armies were on the march into Egypt as part of their extended war against the Romano-Byzantine empire. The Turco-Hephthalites however were to again be disastrously defeated this time by a combined Sassanian-Armenian force led by the Armenian general Smbat Bagratuni who by 619 CE had concluded his campaign by advancing to Balkh in northeastern Afghanistan. By the early 7th century CE Balkh (like much of Afghanistan) remained as a major center for both the Zoroastrian faith and Buddhism.
A major cultural, historical and political shift was to take place from the mid-7th century CE due to the Arab-Islamic invasion of the Sassanian empire. The Sassanian and Romano-Byzantine empires had fought an exhaustive war for almost three decades (602/603-628 CE) which led to the serious weakening of both empires. The Roman-Byzantines lost all of their possessions in the Near East, Palestine and Egypt with the Sassanian empire collapsing after a series of defeats in the battles of Qadissiya (637 CE), Jalula (638 CE) and Nihavand (642 CE). As Arab forces advanced further east into Afghanistan they pushed towards Herat and Balkh. The last Sassanian monarch Yazdegird III (r. c.632-651 CE), his retinue and the last Sassanians fled before the Arab-Islamic invaders into Afghanistan and Central Asia. The last Sassanian king was himself to be killed at the hands of a Christian miller sometime in 651 CE in Balkh or Merv, with Herat conquered by the Arabs a year later in 652 CE and the rest of Afghanistan overrun by the Caliphate by sometime in 657 CE. Despite this, Afghanistan remained far from subdued. Much like Iran (and especially the north which became a bastion of anti-Arab resistance), the population of Afghanistan, regardless of whether they were Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Shamanist or Hindu, offered very determined resistance against the Arab-Islamic invaders. The city of Balkh for example was to be liberated by a certain Nazak (himself a Buddhist), who ejected the Arabs from the Balkh region sometime in 670-671 CE with Balkh not falling again to the Arabs until sometime in 715 CE. The determined and persistent nature of Afghan resistance against Islamization would help explain as to why the caliphate had to send Arab expeditionary forces into Afghanistan as late as the reign of Caliph al-Mamoun (r. 813-833 CE) with the Islamification of Afghanistan not being achieved until the 10-11th centuries CE.
The legacy of Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic heritage has endured among the people of a region to the far east of Afghanistan known as “Kafaristan” (New Persian: province of unbelievers/non-Muslim/infidels) until the late 1890s. The region was finally Islamicized in 1895-1896 by Afghan king (or Emir) Abdul Rahman Khan (r. 1880-1901) who invaded the region to finally hoist the Muslim faith, a task which the Arabs had been unable to accomplish since the 7th century CE. The region was henceforth known as “Nooristan” (New Persian: province of light) which had been predominantly following a variety of Hinduism.
As before the Abdul Rahman Khan conquests, modern Nooristan continues to host various Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages with many of the pre-Islamic traditions enduring as part of local cultures. Interestingly a closely related ethnic group to the modern Nooristanis are the Kalash located in northeast Pakistan, who speak an Indo-Aryan language. In the middle of the 20th century determined efforts were made to convert the Kalash to Islam, however only approximately half converted with the remainder continuing to practice their ancient faiths. In summary, the pre-Islamic heritage of Afghanistan can be traced to early pre-History which in turn was to become one of the major loci of Iranian and wider world civilizations.