India And Afghanistan Ties Are As Ancient As History [Video]

The relations between the people of Afghanistan and India traces to the IndusValley Civilisation[1] Following Alexander the Great’s brief occupation, thesuccessor state of the Seleucid Empire controlled the region known today asAfghanistan. In 305 BCE, they ceded much of it to the Indian Maurya Empire aspart of an alliance treaty.

In the late 2nd century BCE, much of Afghanistan has been influenced byBuddhist, Hindu and Zoroastrian cultures until the arrival of Islam in the 7thcentury. But despite many Afghans converting to Islam, the Muslims and Hinduslived side by side.[2]

The Mauryans brought Buddhism from India and controlled the area south of the Hindu Kush. Over the mighty Hindu Kush and through the forbidding Khyber Pass, monks, merchants and monarchs have linked us through knowledge, culture, religion, commerce and kingdoms. In the timeless Buddhist symbols of Aynak and Bamyan of Afghanistan and in the …