ABSTRACT
Afghanistan could almost be said to have been designed by nature for conflicts, both national and international. Despite the forbidding characteristics, the country has been used historically as a path from one country to another and therefore, inevitably, as a temptation for foreign invaders. As for religion, more than 90 percent of the 17 or 18 million inhabitants are Sunni Muslims; plus a few thousand Hindus or Sikhs. The ancient invaders of this complex country include the Greeks, the Iranians, the Turks and the Chinese, and Mongol hordes under Genghis Khan. In 1965, a partly pro-Soviet group was set up in Kabul. It called itself the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Unlike so many parties using the magic word "People", it was neither totally nor unconditionally pro-Soviet, being in fact divided into two factions: a pro-Soviet one calling itself Parcham ("Banner") and a more nationalist one, Khalq ("Masses").
