Editing History of Afghanistan (section)

===Mongol conquest===
{{Further|Mongol campaigns in Central Asia|Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire}}
[[File:Genghis Khan empire-en.svg|thumb|260px|[[Mongol invasions and conquests]] seriously depopulated large areas of Afghanistan]]

The Mongols invaded Afghanistan in 1221 having defeated the Khwarazmian armies. The Mongols invasion had long-term consequences with many parts of Afghanistan never recovering from the devastation. The towns and villages suffered much more than the nomads who were able to avoid attack. The destruction of irrigation systems maintained by the sedentary people led to the shift of the weight of the country towards the hills. The city of [[Balkh]] was destroyed and even 100 years later [[Ibn Battuta]] described it as a city still in ruins. While the Mongols were pursuing the forces of [[Jalal al-Din Mangburni]] they besieged the city of [[Siege of Bamyan|Bamyan]]. In the course of the siege a defender's arrow killed Genghis Khan's grandson [[Mutukan]]. The Mongols razed the city and massacred its inhabitants in revenge, with its former site known as the [[Shahr-e Gholghola|City of Screams]]. [[Herat]], located in a fertile valley, was destroyed as well but was rebuilt under the local [[Kart dynasty]]. After the Mongol Empire splintered, Herat eventually became part of the [[Ilkhanate]] while Balkh and the strip of land from Kabul through Ghazni to Kandahar went to the [[Chagatai Khanate]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tanner |first1=Stephen |title=Afghanistan: A Military History From Alexander The Great To The Fall Of The Taliban |date=2003 |publisher=DA CAPO PRESS |isbn=9780585482132 |pages=81–82}}</ref> The Afghan tribal areas south of the Hindu Kush were usually either allied with the [[Khalji dynasty]] of northern India or independent.