I Would Never Forget Your Beautiful Gardens

Germans have a long history in the Kingdom of Afghanistan, going back almost a hundred years to the Interbellum when King Amanullah Khan's economic reforms required educated advisers, overseers and administrators. At the time Afghanistan was stuck between a rock and a hard place - the Soviet Union in Central Asia and the British Empire in India - and despite initial friendliness between Amanullah Khan and Chairman Lenin, Amanullah was soon disillusioned with the Soviet's utopia due to increasing persecution of Muslims under Stalin. Convinced that if Afghanistan was going to get foreign help and investment it should come from a country not interest in Afghanistan's subservience or conquest, Amanullah turned to Germany. Though recently defeated, Germany was still an economic powerhouse and a highly industrial nation with an effective and advanced military tradition. Due to the recent deconstruction of its empire and armed forces, it also posed no reasonable threat to Afghanistan.

Amanullah Khan had long been a friend to Germany, once advocating Afghanistan joining the First World War on their side, though this suggestion was rejected by his father, Habibullah Khan. He used this fact to garner support for his newly-independent kingdom, sparking the beginning of numerous industrial and infrastructure projects including the building of a national rail network, paving roads, the construction of oil fields in northern Afghanistan, and numerous mining and agricultural projects. Additionally hundreds of German officers came to Afghanistan to help reform the armed forces, advise the government, and teach in military academies - reportedly even tutoring Amanullah Khan and other members of the royal family.

Though Afghanistan did not side with Germany during the Second World War, their connection with Germany continued on into the Cold War era. Many Germans who were deported from territories in the east - which had been annexed by the Soviet Union and Poland - migrated to Afghanistan rather than West or East Germany, due to their belief that both were puppets of different powers.

Following its annexation of various Princely States and the North-West Frontier Province during the break up of British India, and the population explosion brought on by the Green Revolution, Afghanistan's population has exploded to over 98,000,000 by 2014. Though people of German descent make up only about 580,000 of that - only 0.5% of the population - they are still the largest European ethnic group in Afghanistan by far. Most of the current German inhabitants are descended from the advisors and administrators that migrated to Afghanistan during the Interbellum, but recently German immigration has increased due to Afghanistan's popularity as a retirement destination, and due to immigration restrictions being relaxed for foreign workers working on the Helmand Valley Irrigation Project.



I'm rather light-headed right now, as I've been staring at my computer for about 15 hours straight making this map, but I'd like to note three things quickly:

1. This map is set in the same world as a couple of my previous maps, specifically that one of Afghanistan and that one of the Idel-Ural Federation (the one of Turkestan is set in the same world, but is sorta non-canon until I can make a better researched version).

2. Originally the PoD for this timeline was that Amanullah Khan makes an earlier break with the Soviets, and British agents do not agitate people into revolting against him. However I've done more research now and believe that something must change about Amanullah's personality, priorities, and manner of rule for Afghanistan to be this successful. Now the PoD is instead that Habibullah Khan dies earlier of natural causes, and though there is initial conflict between Amanullah and his brothers (conflict that ends with Amanullah victorious) they are later found innocent of any accusation regarding Habibullah's murder, and Amanullah decides to use the support they have amongst various factions to strengthen his own position by reconciling with his brothers and involving them in his government. This teaches Amanullah compromise and delegation, generally leading to better decision-making, a more meritocratic government, and less strife due to pointless "Westernisation" projects (i.e. things like demanding people wear European clothes, as opposed to something useful like banking systems and industry).

3. I've forgotten what my third point was.

Okay, I need to go sleep, but if you have any comments or questions feel free to post them and I'll respond on the morrow!