Page "Pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan" Paragraph 1

Afghanistan was inhabited by the Aryan tribes and controlled by the Medes until about 500 BC when Darius the Great ( Darius I ) marched with his Persian army to make it part of the Zoroastrian Achaemenid Empire.

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great ( Alexander III of Macedon ) invaded the land after defeating Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela and Afghanistan became part of the new Greco-Bactrian kingdom.

Some eastern parts of the country were controlled by the Indian Maurya Empire whose main religion was Hinduism.

In the 1st century, the land became part of the Kushan Empire whose official religion was Buddhism.