The first settlers of present-day Afghanistan date from the Middle Palaeolithic, as witnessed by the archaeological sites of Dara-i Kur and Aq Kupruk. Excavations of prehistoric sites by Louis Dupree and other archaeologists suggest that early humans lived in what is now Afghanistan approximately 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities in Afghanistan were among the first in the world. millennium BC. C. began the first agricultural activities and with it, the first permanent establishments. The first cities would appear with the Shortugai culture in the IV millennium BC. C ..

Zoroastrianism predominated as a religion in the area; Even the modern Afghan solar calendar shows the influence of Zoroastrianism on the names of the months. Other religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, came late to the region.

The first inhabitants, around the year 3000 a. C. were related through the culture and the commerce with the neighboring civilizations like Jiroft and Tappeh Sialk, and even maintained relations with the culture of the Indus Valley (in present-day Pakistan). The earliest known peoples were Indo-Iranians; it has been estimated that they arrived in this region around the year 3000 a. C. and 1500 B.C., very possibly moved by the Indo-Aryan migration.