Afghanistan: The Wounded Land
In 1737, the great Persian ruler Nadir Shah appointed a governor in Kabul named Ahmed Khan. He did so after major conquests that brought him to Delhi, where he stole the gem-covered peacock crown from the Great Moghul. Since then, that's the most important showpiece in Tehran. Ten years later, however, Ahmed Khan declared independence. He is a founder and designer of Afghanistan. His descendants remained on the throne until 1973, or actually until 1980, for the monarchy was overturned by a nephew of the last king, who then ruled as president until he lost his life because of a communist coup.
In the early 1970s, Afghanistan was at a crossroads between modernity and tradition, and Islam and Communism. When the Communists seized power, these opposites exploded and a never-ending war began.
The Soviet Afghan war was a conflict in which rebellious groups, as well as smaller Maoist groups, fought a nine-year guerrilla war against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet army during the 1980s, mainly in the Afghan countryside. The Mujahideen were alternately supported by the United States, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China and the United Kingdom; the conflict was a Cold War proxy war.
The film The 9th Company - The Final Battle is based on a true battle that took place at Elevation 3234 in early 1988, during the last large-scale Soviet military operation (Magistral) in Afghanistan.
