Editing History of Tajikistan (section)

===Arab Caliphate (710–867)===
[[Image:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|thumb|The Age of the Caliphs {{legend|#a1584e|Muhammad, 622–632}} {{legend|#ef9070|Patriarchal Caliphate, 632–661}} {{legend|#fad07d|Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750}}]]
The Transoxiana principalities never formed a viable confederacy. Beginning in 651, the Arabs organized periodic marauding raids deep into the territory of Transoxania, but it was not until the appointment of Ibn Qutaiba as Governor of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] in 705, during the reign of Walid I, that the Caliphate adopted the policy of annexing the lands beyond the Oxus. In 715, the task of annexation was accomplished. The entire region thus came under the control of the [[Caliph]] and of Islam, but the Arabs continued to rule through local Soghdian Kings and ''[[dihqan]]s''. The ascension of the [[Abbasids]] to rule the Caliphate (750–1258) opened a new era in the history of Central Asia. While their predecessors the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]] (661–750) were little more than leaders of a loose confederation of Arab tribes, the Abbasids set out to build a huge multi-ethnic centralized state that would emulate and perfect the Sassanian government machine. They gave the Near East and Transoxiana a unity, which they had been lacking since the time of Alexander the Great.