CHARSADDA, Nov 2: The Afghan history reveals that there is a great resemblance between first Western onslaught on Afghanistan and the present US-led airstrikes.

The first Anglo-Afghan war, which was fought in 1839, and the ongoing Anglo-US attacks against Afghanistan have the following common points:

Like the present supreme leader of Taliban, Mulla Mohammad Omar, the title of Amir-ul-Momineen was also bestowed on the king of Afghanistan, Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, in 1839. Though unlike the present situation, Amir Dost Mohammad was not representing Ulema, the title of Amir-ul-Momineen was bestowed on him by a Loya Jirga, which the king had convened to seek a fatwa (religious decree) about Jihad against the Sikhs and raising an army of tribal Pukhtoons for recapturing Peshawar and other areas of the NWFP from them. And it was for the first time in the history of Afghanistan that this title was used for the ruler of the country.

Like the present Taliban, Amir Dost Mohammad had also refused to accept the dictates of the then superpower, Great Britain, and was subsequently attacked.

Like the present circumstances wherein efforts are being made by the US and its allies to install the exiled king, Zahir Shah, after removing the Taliban from power, the then superpower had also installed an ex-king, Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk, on the throne of Kabul after defeating Amir Dost Mohammad. If the plans of the United States and its allies succeed, Zahir Shah would return to his country after three decades.

Interestingly, Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk was also enabled by the British India to reclaim his throne in Kabul after exactly 28 years in exile.

The similarity of the events between these two wars against Afghanistan shows that history is repeating itself in the country . Though the results of the first Anglo-Afghan war are known and the British empire had confessed that it was the gravest misadventure of the history of the British India, the results of the ongoing Anglo-US attacks are yet to be known.