Claim: Afghanistan is the source of the Ghaznavid dynasty which ruled between 699 and 799 AD.
Evidence: The land also served as the source from which the Kushans , Hephthalites , Samanids , Saffarids , Ghaznavids , Ghorids , Khiljis , Mughals , Hotaks , Durranis , and others have risen to form major empires.
The Ghaznavid dynasty -LRB- غزنویان ġaznaviyān -RRB- was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin at their greatest extent ruling large parts of Iran , Afghanistan , much of Transoxiana , and northwest Indian subcontinent from 977 -- 1186.