Early history

The people of Afghanistan and Bangladesh have had connections for several millennia. Certain parts of both of these countries were formally part of the ancient Maurya Empire, from which they were introduced to Buddhism. In the 13th century, Khalaj tribesmen from Garmsir led by Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji led the first Muslim conquest of Bengal.^[1][2][3] Sultan Balkhi, a crown prince of Balkh, was an early missionary who settled in northern Bengal and contributed to the spread of Islam in the region.^[4] With the ultimate establishment of Bengal as a Dar al-Islam, there was a migratory influx of Afghans to the country, which continued up until the British colonial period.

During the reign of the Sultan of Bengal Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah, the Pashtun Lodi tribe led by Mahmud Lodi fled to Bengal to escape the Mughal invasion headed by Babur. The Bengali sultan offered large amounts of land to the Afghans, and even married the daughter of Ibrahim Lodi.^[5] The Sur tribe became the first Pashtun dynasty to take control of Bengal in 1539, but they were soon ousted by another Pashtun tribe, the Karranis, in 1564. Threatened by Mughal aggression in northern India once again, significant numbers of Afghans sought refuge in Bengal. The Afghans formed a confederacy with a group of Bengali nobles after Karrani rule had disintegrated, and this alliance came to be known as the Baro-Bhuiyan Confederacy led by Bengali chieftain Isa Khan. By 1612, however, the final Afghan leader Usman Lohani was defeated, and Mughal rule was finally established in Bengal. Nevertheless, most of the Afghans in Bengal remained and intermarried with Bengalis, eventually becoming culturally assimilated.^[6] In 1626, Afghan voyager Mahmud Balkhi mentioned in his diaries of how he came across numerous Bengali families in Rajmahal whose ancestry lay in areas in present-day Afghanistan like Balkh.^[7]

Bengalis formed a significant portion of belligerents in the Afghan–Sikh Wars, particularly at the Battle of Balakot against Ranjit Singh in 1831.^[8][9] During the colonial period, some Bengalis settled in Afghanistan as teachers. One such example is renowned Bengali author Syed Mujtaba Ali, who served as a professor at the Agricultural College of Kabul and wrote Deshe Bideshe (translated to English as In a Land Far from Home: A Bengali in Afghanistan).^[10]

Modern history

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Kingdom of Afghanistan provided a critical safe passage to Bengali civilians based in West Pakistan. The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan called for the swift recognition of the newly established state.^[11]

In 2010, former US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke requested Bangladesh to send combat troops to Afghanistan.^[12] A few days later, SITE intelligence group published a report headlined "Afghan Taliban reacts to US requesting troops from Bangladesh", where the Taliban called for rejecting the US request.^[13] Two days later, a press conference by the US embassy in Dhaka restated the request saying, "The United States has intensified its discussion on Bangladesh's engagement in Afghanistan for global peace and stability,".^[14] However, there was a general consensus among the politicians of different parties as well as civil society members that Bangladesh should not send its troops to Afghanistan without the UN mandate.^[13] Later, the government of Bangladesh declared that Bangladesh wouldn't send any troops to Afghanistan but offered assistance on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.^[15]