The canard of Unconquered Afghanistan

In any Pakistani blog, the discussion around an unconquered Afghanistan rotates around the 2 superpowers defeated by the Afghans and the supposed fact that the 3'rd superpower is already on her knees.
A lot of Western commentators fall for the same story line given their view of history is driven by what happened to the British, to the Soviet Union and now to the US of A.

The facts are different.

From 1200 A.D till about 1500 AD, Afghanistan was under the yoke of the Mongols. These terrible steppe horsemen, exploded into a fairly civilized Afghanistan, under Genghis Khan the greatest conqueror the world has seen. The invasion of Afghanistan resulted in massive
slaughter of the local population and total destruction of many cities.

In 1220 the Mongols sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants and levelled all the buildings capable of defense. In 1221 it was the turn of Herat which was captured and razed to the ground. The same was the fate of Ghazni and Bamian.

Afghanistan was absorbed into the Ilkhanate empire after the conquest and so it remained until Timur the de-facto of the Chagatai Khanate conquered Afghanistan. From the 16th to the early 18th centuries, Afghanistan was divided, with the Uzbeks in the North, the west under the Safavid empire and the east ruled by the the Indian Mughals.

The Hazaras are a distinct racial group descended from the conquering Mongols and are the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. You cannot miss the fact that the Mongols were in Afghanistan. There is living proof of their passing.

Unconquerable Afghanistan. Absolutely NOT.


Note:
Russia is another country that historians claim to be the humiliator of world conquerors.
Napoleon's French army was defeated not just by the legions of Tsar Alexander, but also by the Russian Winter.
Hitler and the German Panzer were mired in the swamps of the Russian prairie and the famed blitzkrieg came to a shuddering stop when faced with Mother Russia and her lieutenant, General Winter.

The Mongol Invasion of Russia was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka river in 1223.In
the autumn of 1236, the Mongol Batu Khan crossed the Volga river and conquered Volga Bulgaria. In December 1237, Batu conquered Ryazan, Kolomna and Moscow. Then the Mongol horde laid siege to Vladimir on Feb 4'th 1238 and three days later, the capital was taken and burnt to the ground, setting the stage for 200 years of Mongol yokedom for Russia.

Interesting that the Mongols preferred to attack from the east in autumn or in deep winter, when the best armies of the 19'th and 20'th centuries failed miserably to carry battle into the enemy's ranks.

Afghanistan will be won when the West attacks the Taliban in winter. Winter is when all fighting stops and the Taliban retreats into the villages and regroup for a spring and summer offensive. Winter is the time to strike, when the West has superior arms, superior equipment and is better prepared to fight a hard and brutal winter campaign. Time will tell if the lessons of the Mongol conquests are learnt by the followers of Clauswitz.