The conquests of Alexander the Great in Asia (334-323 BC) paved the way for Greek expansion into Afghanistan and South Asia. However the extent and location of Greek rule varied. Immediately after Alexander, Seleucus, one of Alexander’s generals, dominated much of west and central Asia. In the mid-3rd century BC, Seleucid power began to disintegrate and a series of independent Greek kingdoms emerged. The Indo-Greek kings issued coins with Indian iconographic elements and bilingual legends, features documenting their assimilation into Indian cultural and religious life.

Independent Greek rule in Bactria (northern Afghanistan) lasted until about 130 BC when the kingdom was lost to invaders from central Asia. Demetrius I (reigned around 200-190 BC) and his successors extended Greek control over the Hindu Kush mountains into south-east Afghanistan and north-west Pakistan. Eucratides (reigned around 174-145 BC) was the last Indo-Greek to control territory both north and south of the Hindu Kush. By around 70 BC, south-east Afghanistan had been lost to invaders, though Indo-Greek rule survived in the Punjab until about AD 10.