| Year | Key events and incidents |
| 1953 | Mohammed Dawood Khan becomes prime minister. Turns to Soviet Union for economic and military assistance, introduces social reforms |
| 1964 | Constitutional monarchy introduced—but leads to political polarization and power struggles |
| 1979 | Soviet Army invades and props up communist government |
| 1988 | Afghanistan, the USSR, the US, and Pakistan sign peace accords and the Soviet Union begins pulling out troop |
| 1996 | Taliban seize control of Kabul and introduce a hard-liner version of Islam banning women from work and introduces Islamic punishments which include stoning to death and amputation |
| 1997 | Taliban recognized as legitimate rulers by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia |
| 1998 | US launches missile strikes at suspected bases of militant Osama bin Laden, accused of bombing US embassies in Africa |
| 2003 | NATO takes control of security in Kabul, its first-ever operational commitment outside Europe |
| 2005 | Afghans vote in first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years |
| 2008 | US President George Bush sends an extra 4500 US troops to Afghanistan, in a move he described as a “quiet surge” |
| 2009 | NATO countries pledge to increase military and other commitments in Afghanistan after US announces dispatch of 17,000 extra troops |
| 2011 | Burning of Koran by a US pastor prompts country-wide protests in which foreign UN workers and several Afghans are killed |
| 2012 | Taliban agree to open office in Dubai as a move towards peace talks with the US and the Afghan government |
| 2013 | Afghan army takes command of all military and security operations from NATO forces |
| 2014 | Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan reaches an all-time high |
| 2015 | Taliban representatives and Afghan officials hold informal peace talks in Qatar |
| 2015 | Powerful earthquake kills more than 80 people in northeast of country |
| 2016 | The Afghan government signs a peace agreement with the militant group Hezb-e-Islami and grants immunity to the group’s leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar |
| 2019 | Protracted peace talks between the Taliban and the United States break down |
| 2021 | Complete withdrawal of the US Army and other allied forces and Taliban seized the full control of Afghanistan government |