Author: Abdul Qadeer Fitrat
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1640273689
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 501
Book Description
The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is the story of a massive fraud, deception and betrayal by a group of crony capitalists aided and abetted by the then highest political authorities of Afghanistan. It is an expose of rampant greed and excessive risk taking that shocked the world and caused enormous damage to Afghanistan's economy and image. The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is a narrative of a notorious case of corruption in post-Taliban Afghanistan, recipient of the largest foreign aid since European reconstruction. The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is a minute by minute account of multiple crises occurring at the same time and in quick succession and the panic that precipitated the largest bank run the country had ever seen. It is also an astonishing story of sacrifice and bravery by staff of the Central Bank who faithfully investigated members of the most powerful mafia in order to track and recover the stolen funds, but fell prey themselves. As the then Governor of the Central Bank, Fitrat struggled hard against impossible odds, but failed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Faced with imminent threats to his safety, he fled to the United States in June 2011. He and his innocent colleagues at the Central Bank became the subject of persecution by the ruling cliques experiencing enormous pain and suffering that has continued to this day. The alleged perpetrators who stole nearly one billion dollars of depositors' money and caused the bank's downfall largely escaped justice. Many of them including relatives of political elites were not even in the prosecution list and received no verdict. The most shocking episode came when President Karzai invited the alleged perpetrators for a luncheon in the Presidential Palace and instead of sending them to prison assured them of his unwavering support. The failure to prosecute the perpetrators became a major source of discontent for the international donor community and the Afghan people alike.
The Tragedy of Kabul Bank
Author: Abdul Qadeer Fitrat
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1640273689
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 501
Book Description
The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is the story of a massive fraud, deception and betrayal by a group of crony capitalists aided and abetted by the then highest political authorities of Afghanistan. It is an expose of rampant greed and excessive risk taking that shocked the world and caused enormous damage to Afghanistan's economy and image. The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is a narrative of a notorious case of corruption in post-Taliban Afghanistan, recipient of the largest foreign aid since European reconstruction. The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is a minute by minute account of multiple crises occurring at the same time and in quick succession and the panic that precipitated the largest bank run the country had ever seen. It is also an astonishing story of sacrifice and bravery by staff of the Central Bank who faithfully investigated members of the most powerful mafia in order to track and recover the stolen funds, but fell prey themselves. As the then Governor of the Central Bank, Fitrat struggled hard against impossible odds, but failed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Faced with imminent threats to his safety, he fled to the United States in June 2011. He and his innocent colleagues at the Central Bank became the subject of persecution by the ruling cliques experiencing enormous pain and suffering that has continued to this day. The alleged perpetrators who stole nearly one billion dollars of depositors' money and caused the bank's downfall largely escaped justice. Many of them including relatives of political elites were not even in the prosecution list and received no verdict. The most shocking episode came when President Karzai invited the alleged perpetrators for a luncheon in the Presidential Palace and instead of sending them to prison assured them of his unwavering support. The failure to prosecute the perpetrators became a major source of discontent for the international donor community and the Afghan people alike.
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1640273689
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 501
Book Description
The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is the story of a massive fraud, deception and betrayal by a group of crony capitalists aided and abetted by the then highest political authorities of Afghanistan. It is an expose of rampant greed and excessive risk taking that shocked the world and caused enormous damage to Afghanistan's economy and image. The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is a narrative of a notorious case of corruption in post-Taliban Afghanistan, recipient of the largest foreign aid since European reconstruction. The Tragedy of Kabul Bank is a minute by minute account of multiple crises occurring at the same time and in quick succession and the panic that precipitated the largest bank run the country had ever seen. It is also an astonishing story of sacrifice and bravery by staff of the Central Bank who faithfully investigated members of the most powerful mafia in order to track and recover the stolen funds, but fell prey themselves. As the then Governor of the Central Bank, Fitrat struggled hard against impossible odds, but failed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Faced with imminent threats to his safety, he fled to the United States in June 2011. He and his innocent colleagues at the Central Bank became the subject of persecution by the ruling cliques experiencing enormous pain and suffering that has continued to this day. The alleged perpetrators who stole nearly one billion dollars of depositors' money and caused the bank's downfall largely escaped justice. Many of them including relatives of political elites were not even in the prosecution list and received no verdict. The most shocking episode came when President Karzai invited the alleged perpetrators for a luncheon in the Presidential Palace and instead of sending them to prison assured them of his unwavering support. The failure to prosecute the perpetrators became a major source of discontent for the international donor community and the Afghan people alike.
The Afghanistan Papers
Author: Craig Whitlock
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982159014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
A Washington Post Best Book of 2021 The #1 New York Times bestselling investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about America’s longest war, foreshadowing the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan, by Washington Post reporter and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Whitlock. Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives. Distracted by the war in Iraq, the US military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory. Just as the Pentagon Papers changed the public’s understanding of Vietnam, The Afghanistan Papers contains “fast-paced and vivid” (The New York Times Book Review) revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war from leaders in the White House and the Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. In unvarnished language, they admit that the US government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the Afghan government. All told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the US government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground. Documents unearthed by The Washington Post reveal that President Bush didn’t know the name of his Afghanistan war commander—and didn’t want to meet with him. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are.” His successor, Robert Gates, said: “We didn’t know jack shit about al-Qaeda.” The Afghanistan Papers is a “searing indictment of the deceit, blunders, and hubris of senior military and civilian officials” (Tom Bowman, NRP Pentagon Correspondent) that will supercharge a long-overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982159014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
A Washington Post Best Book of 2021 The #1 New York Times bestselling investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about America’s longest war, foreshadowing the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan, by Washington Post reporter and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Whitlock. Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives. Distracted by the war in Iraq, the US military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory. Just as the Pentagon Papers changed the public’s understanding of Vietnam, The Afghanistan Papers contains “fast-paced and vivid” (The New York Times Book Review) revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war from leaders in the White House and the Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. In unvarnished language, they admit that the US government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the Afghan government. All told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the US government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground. Documents unearthed by The Washington Post reveal that President Bush didn’t know the name of his Afghanistan war commander—and didn’t want to meet with him. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are.” His successor, Robert Gates, said: “We didn’t know jack shit about al-Qaeda.” The Afghanistan Papers is a “searing indictment of the deceit, blunders, and hubris of senior military and civilian officials” (Tom Bowman, NRP Pentagon Correspondent) that will supercharge a long-overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.
Patriarchal Hierarchy
Author: Kambaiz Rafi
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030984079
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 339
Book Description
This book examines the reconstruction of Afghanistan’s economy during the US and international occupation of the country between 2001 and 2021. Applying an institutionalist framework and based on extensive empirical data, it focuses on resource allocation by private individuals in manufacturing activities. As such, market-oriented policy adopted in this period is analysed to highlight its suitability in such a context for achieving relatively better and more productive resource allocation. The book underscores ‘socially contingent knowledge’ and its role in private resource allocation where the private sector’s involvement is fledgling, bringing out the limitations and possibilities that this feature entails. It raises important questions and deals with problems that are relevant to contemporary debates in economics and political economy of development.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030984079
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 339
Book Description
This book examines the reconstruction of Afghanistan’s economy during the US and international occupation of the country between 2001 and 2021. Applying an institutionalist framework and based on extensive empirical data, it focuses on resource allocation by private individuals in manufacturing activities. As such, market-oriented policy adopted in this period is analysed to highlight its suitability in such a context for achieving relatively better and more productive resource allocation. The book underscores ‘socially contingent knowledge’ and its role in private resource allocation where the private sector’s involvement is fledgling, bringing out the limitations and possibilities that this feature entails. It raises important questions and deals with problems that are relevant to contemporary debates in economics and political economy of development.
The Afghanistan Wars
Author: William Maley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 135030767X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 543
Book Description
A whole generation has grown up in Afghanistan knowing little but the ravages of war. The dramatic overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001 was simply one event in a series of interrelated struggles which have blighted ordinary people's lives over the last three decades, and which continue to interfere with reconciliation and reconstruction. This new edition of The Afghanistan Wars provides a meticulously-documented history of these successive waves of conflict. From the roots of Afghanistan's slide into disorder in the late 1970s to the challenges faced by Afghan leaders following the substantial withdrawal of international forces in 2014, it explores military and diplomatic history while also offering valuable insight on humanitarian action, gender, medical and cultural themes. Thoroughly revised in the light of the latest research, the third edition also features a new final chapter which examines recent developments in Afghanistan, bringing the story up to the present day and mounting a strong case for continuing support for this troubled country. New to this Edition: - A final chapter on the recent developments in Afghanistan up to the present day - Revised to take into account the considerable amount of new material published on this topic since 2009 - Refreshed and updated throughout
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 135030767X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 543
Book Description
A whole generation has grown up in Afghanistan knowing little but the ravages of war. The dramatic overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001 was simply one event in a series of interrelated struggles which have blighted ordinary people's lives over the last three decades, and which continue to interfere with reconciliation and reconstruction. This new edition of The Afghanistan Wars provides a meticulously-documented history of these successive waves of conflict. From the roots of Afghanistan's slide into disorder in the late 1970s to the challenges faced by Afghan leaders following the substantial withdrawal of international forces in 2014, it explores military and diplomatic history while also offering valuable insight on humanitarian action, gender, medical and cultural themes. Thoroughly revised in the light of the latest research, the third edition also features a new final chapter which examines recent developments in Afghanistan, bringing the story up to the present day and mounting a strong case for continuing support for this troubled country. New to this Edition: - A final chapter on the recent developments in Afghanistan up to the present day - Revised to take into account the considerable amount of new material published on this topic since 2009 - Refreshed and updated throughout
Macroeconomic Policy in Fragile States
Author: Ralph Chami
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192594532
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 496
Book Description
Setting macroeconomic policy is especially difficult in fragile states. Political legitimacy concerns are heightened, raising issues such as who the policymakers are, what incentives they face, and how the process of policymaking is likely to work under limited legitimacy and high uncertainty both about the macroeconomic environment as well as policy effectiveness. In addition, fragility expands the range of policy objectives in ways that may constrain the attainment of standard macroeconomic objectives. Specifically, in the context of fragility policymakers also need to focus on measures to mitigate fragility itself - i.e., they need to address issues such as regional and ethnic economic disparities, youth unemployment, and food price inflation. Socio-political developments around the world have thus pushed policymakers to broaden their toolkit to improve the effectiveness of macroeconomic management in the face of these constraints. The chapters in Macroeconomic Policy in Fragile States address these issues, both by giving an analytical context from which policymakers can build to answer the questions they face in fragile situations as well as by providing lessons drawn from empirical analyses and case studies. The first section of the volume discusses the interactions between political economy considerations and macroeconomic policymaking. The second section covers the private sector environment in fragile states. The third section focuses on macroeconomic policy, especially fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rate policy, external flows, and aid effectiveness. The last section explains the role of the IMF in fragile states and concludes by presenting case studies from the Middle East and from Sub-Saharan Africa. The contributors to the volume are economists and political scientists from academia as well as policymakers from international organizations and from countries affected by fragility.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192594532
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 496
Book Description
Setting macroeconomic policy is especially difficult in fragile states. Political legitimacy concerns are heightened, raising issues such as who the policymakers are, what incentives they face, and how the process of policymaking is likely to work under limited legitimacy and high uncertainty both about the macroeconomic environment as well as policy effectiveness. In addition, fragility expands the range of policy objectives in ways that may constrain the attainment of standard macroeconomic objectives. Specifically, in the context of fragility policymakers also need to focus on measures to mitigate fragility itself - i.e., they need to address issues such as regional and ethnic economic disparities, youth unemployment, and food price inflation. Socio-political developments around the world have thus pushed policymakers to broaden their toolkit to improve the effectiveness of macroeconomic management in the face of these constraints. The chapters in Macroeconomic Policy in Fragile States address these issues, both by giving an analytical context from which policymakers can build to answer the questions they face in fragile situations as well as by providing lessons drawn from empirical analyses and case studies. The first section of the volume discusses the interactions between political economy considerations and macroeconomic policymaking. The second section covers the private sector environment in fragile states. The third section focuses on macroeconomic policy, especially fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rate policy, external flows, and aid effectiveness. The last section explains the role of the IMF in fragile states and concludes by presenting case studies from the Middle East and from Sub-Saharan Africa. The contributors to the volume are economists and political scientists from academia as well as policymakers from international organizations and from countries affected by fragility.
A Kingdom of Their Own
Author: Joshua Partlow
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307962652
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 495
Book Description
The key to understanding the calamitous Afghan war is the complex, ultimately failed relationship between the powerful, duplicitous Karzai family and the United States, brilliantly portrayed here by the former Kabul bureau chief for The Washington Post. The United States went to Afghanistan on a simple mission: avenge the September 11 attacks and drive the Taliban from power. This took less than two months. Over the course of the next decade, the ensuing fight for power and money—supplied to one of the poorest nations on earth, in ever-greater amounts—left the region even more dangerous than before the first troops arrived. At the center of this story is the Karzai family. President Hamid Karzai and his brothers began the war as symbols of a new Afghanistan: moderate, educated, fluent in the cultures of East and West, and the antithesis of the brutish and backward Taliban regime. The siblings, from a prominent political family close to Afghanistan’s former king, had been thrust into exile by the Soviet war. While Hamid Karzai lived in Pakistan and worked with the resistance, others moved to the United States, finding work as waiters and managers before opening their own restaurants. After September 11, the brothers returned home to help rebuild Afghanistan and reshape their homeland with ambitious plans. Today, with the country in shambles, they are in open conflict with one another and their Western allies. Joshua Partlow’s clear-eyed analysis reveals the mistakes, squandered hopes, and wasted chances behind the scenes of a would-be political dynasty. Nothing illustrates the arc of the war and America’s relationship with Afghanistan—from optimism to despair, friendship to enmity—as neatly as the story of the Karzai family itself, told here in its entirety for the first time.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307962652
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 495
Book Description
The key to understanding the calamitous Afghan war is the complex, ultimately failed relationship between the powerful, duplicitous Karzai family and the United States, brilliantly portrayed here by the former Kabul bureau chief for The Washington Post. The United States went to Afghanistan on a simple mission: avenge the September 11 attacks and drive the Taliban from power. This took less than two months. Over the course of the next decade, the ensuing fight for power and money—supplied to one of the poorest nations on earth, in ever-greater amounts—left the region even more dangerous than before the first troops arrived. At the center of this story is the Karzai family. President Hamid Karzai and his brothers began the war as symbols of a new Afghanistan: moderate, educated, fluent in the cultures of East and West, and the antithesis of the brutish and backward Taliban regime. The siblings, from a prominent political family close to Afghanistan’s former king, had been thrust into exile by the Soviet war. While Hamid Karzai lived in Pakistan and worked with the resistance, others moved to the United States, finding work as waiters and managers before opening their own restaurants. After September 11, the brothers returned home to help rebuild Afghanistan and reshape their homeland with ambitious plans. Today, with the country in shambles, they are in open conflict with one another and their Western allies. Joshua Partlow’s clear-eyed analysis reveals the mistakes, squandered hopes, and wasted chances behind the scenes of a would-be political dynasty. Nothing illustrates the arc of the war and America’s relationship with Afghanistan—from optimism to despair, friendship to enmity—as neatly as the story of the Karzai family itself, told here in its entirety for the first time.
Shakespeare in Kabul
Author: Stephen Landrigan
Publisher: Haus Publishing
ISBN: 1907822488
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
In 2005, a group of actors in Kabul performed Shakespeare's Love’s Labour's Lost to the cheers of Afghan audiences and the raves of foreign journalists. For the first time in years, men and women had appeared onstage together. The future held no limits, the actors believed. In this fast-moving, fondly told and frequently very funny account, Qais Akbar Omar and Stephen Landrigan capture the triumphs and foibles of the actors as they extend their Afghan passion for poetry to Shakespeare's.Both authors were part of the production. Qais, a journalist, served as Assistant Director and interpreter for Paris actress, Corinne Jaber, who had come to Afghanistan on holiday and returned to direct the play. Stephen, himself a playwright, assembled a team of Afghan translators to fashion a script in Dari as poetic as Shakespeare's. This chronicle of optimism plays out against the heartbreak of knowing that things in Afghanistan have not turned out the way the actors expected.
Publisher: Haus Publishing
ISBN: 1907822488
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
In 2005, a group of actors in Kabul performed Shakespeare's Love’s Labour's Lost to the cheers of Afghan audiences and the raves of foreign journalists. For the first time in years, men and women had appeared onstage together. The future held no limits, the actors believed. In this fast-moving, fondly told and frequently very funny account, Qais Akbar Omar and Stephen Landrigan capture the triumphs and foibles of the actors as they extend their Afghan passion for poetry to Shakespeare's.Both authors were part of the production. Qais, a journalist, served as Assistant Director and interpreter for Paris actress, Corinne Jaber, who had come to Afghanistan on holiday and returned to direct the play. Stephen, himself a playwright, assembled a team of Afghan translators to fashion a script in Dari as poetic as Shakespeare's. This chronicle of optimism plays out against the heartbreak of knowing that things in Afghanistan have not turned out the way the actors expected.
The Tragedy of Afghanistan
Author: Raja Anwar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
International Banking for a New Century
Author: Irene Finel-Honigman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131752716X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
This new textbook provides an up-to-date overview of international banking as the second decade of the twenty-first century unfolds. Integrating geo-economic, operational, institutional and regulatory changes in the financial sector, the volume’s methodology incorporates specific case studies and research, combining theory with practical examples to illustrate the impact and consequences of past and present financial crises. The volume considers the core aspects of international banking, including its structural and technical features, historical context, institutional evolution in core markets, and wholesale, retail, investment and private banking. It uses specific examples from past and present literature, post-2008 case studies and histories, and research materials, offering a fully updated overview of how international banks respond to global crises, the origin, efficacy and evolution of financial markets, and the regulatory framework within which they function. One chapter is devoted to the evolution and potential of new markets, including the financial sectors of the BRICS and other emerging economies. Each chapter examines background, causes, impact and resolution, focusing on specific cases and their broader implications for the sector. This textbook is a guide to the new, and at times unchartered, landscape to be navigated by large domestic, cross-regional and global banks, and will be invaluable reading for students of finance, business and economics, as well as for those in the financial sector.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131752716X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
This new textbook provides an up-to-date overview of international banking as the second decade of the twenty-first century unfolds. Integrating geo-economic, operational, institutional and regulatory changes in the financial sector, the volume’s methodology incorporates specific case studies and research, combining theory with practical examples to illustrate the impact and consequences of past and present financial crises. The volume considers the core aspects of international banking, including its structural and technical features, historical context, institutional evolution in core markets, and wholesale, retail, investment and private banking. It uses specific examples from past and present literature, post-2008 case studies and histories, and research materials, offering a fully updated overview of how international banks respond to global crises, the origin, efficacy and evolution of financial markets, and the regulatory framework within which they function. One chapter is devoted to the evolution and potential of new markets, including the financial sectors of the BRICS and other emerging economies. Each chapter examines background, causes, impact and resolution, focusing on specific cases and their broader implications for the sector. This textbook is a guide to the new, and at times unchartered, landscape to be navigated by large domestic, cross-regional and global banks, and will be invaluable reading for students of finance, business and economics, as well as for those in the financial sector.
A Concise History of Afghanistan in 25 Volumes
Author: Hamid Wahed Alikuzai
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490714464
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1019
Book Description
For 35,000 years ancient Afghanistan was called Aryana (the Light of God) has existed. Then in 747 AD what is today called Afghanistan became Khorasan (which means Sunrise in Dari) which was a much larger geographical area. In the middle of the nineteenth century the name Afghanistan, which means home of the united tribes, was applied originally by the Saxons (present day British) and the Russians. During the Great Games in the middle of nineteenth century, the Durand Line was created in 1893 and was in place until 1993. Saxons created the state of Afghanistan out of a geographical area roughly the size of Texas: in 1893 before which there were 10 million square kilometers, larger than the size of Canada, as means to act as a buffer zone between the Saxon-India & Tsarist-Russia and the Chinese.
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490714464
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1019
Book Description
For 35,000 years ancient Afghanistan was called Aryana (the Light of God) has existed. Then in 747 AD what is today called Afghanistan became Khorasan (which means Sunrise in Dari) which was a much larger geographical area. In the middle of the nineteenth century the name Afghanistan, which means home of the united tribes, was applied originally by the Saxons (present day British) and the Russians. During the Great Games in the middle of nineteenth century, the Durand Line was created in 1893 and was in place until 1993. Saxons created the state of Afghanistan out of a geographical area roughly the size of Texas: in 1893 before which there were 10 million square kilometers, larger than the size of Canada, as means to act as a buffer zone between the Saxon-India & Tsarist-Russia and the Chinese.