Afghanistan is a landlocked country between Central Asia and South Asia. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010). This country is located between East Asia and West Asia (Middle East) and has Kabul as its capital. Afghanistan’s neighbors are Iran to the west, Pakistan to the south and east, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the north, and China to the northeast. With an area of around 652 square kilometres, Afghanistan is the 41st largest country in Afghanistan. largest country in the world. No accurate census has been conducted in this country at any point in history. International organizations estimate its population at more than 30 million. Although this country has many underground resources, long wars have made it one of the poorest and most insecure countries in the world.
The name of Afghanistan
The word Afghanistan as the official name of this country is not very old. Ariana Encyclopedia writes: The country known as Afghanistan in modern world history was known as Ariana in ancient times and Khorasan in the Middle Ages. (Ariana Encyclopedia, 1969, p. 17).
For the first time in 1923, during the reign of Emir Amanullah Shah, this name was included in the constitution as the official name of this country. Finally, in 1964, the name Afghan was imposed on other ethnic groups living in Afghanistan. Before that, the name Khorasan was known as the name of this country. (Tajikistanweb, 2008).
This designation has greatly fuelled ethnic discrimination. Because Aghanistan means the land of the Afghans, which originally derives from the name of the tribe of Pashtuns. (Erinn, Banting, 2003). Afghan or Pashtun politicians suppressed in the 19th century. In the nineteenth century, when they gained political and military superiority with the help of colonialism, other ethnic groups and called this country Afghanistan. Before that, the term “Afghans” was, historically, synonymous with the “Pashtuns” people. Currently, this term is used in the local literature of other regions of Afghanistan to refer to Pashtuns. Pashtuns or Afghans make up about thirty percent of the people in Afghanistan. For this reason, this designation of the total population is highly questionable.
Today, the majority of people in the country (Afghanistan) do not want to be called Afghans. In many cases, this naming causes them great discomfort. They are often called “Afghanistani” in international tradition. Like other nations like Pakistani, Saudi, Saumali, Swiss, American…
In recent decades, the designation “Afghanistan” has created many challenges on the path of “nation building” in Afghanistan . And this is one of the main reasons for the conflicts in Afghanistan. Many believe that this word is the source of all the misery of the people of this country.
Languages
The official languages of Afghanistan are Persian and Pashto. Persian belongs to the Indo-European family and is a subgroup of the Iranian languages. Less than sixty percent of people in Afghanistan speak Persian as their mother tongue. Persian is the native language of ethnic groups such as Tajik, Hazara, Imaq, Qazalbash, Sadat, Arab, Jogi etc. In a new estimate conducted by the CIA in 2017 in the form of a survey asking about the first two languages of Afghan citizens, the Persian language was described as Mother tongue and used by 77% of the Afghan population. Persian is the first or second language of 77% of the people in Afghanistan [6]. In fact, the Persian language is known as the language of other ethnic groups in Afghanistan. In addition, Persian is the official language of Iran, Tajikistan and parts of Uzbekistan. Pashtuns, Uzbeks and other ethnic groups in Afghanistan speak Persian well, but the opposite is not true.
In addition to Persian, Pashto is another official language of Afghanistan. The speakers of this language are Pashtuns/Afghans and live in certain regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Pashto language is widespread in the southern regions of Afghanistan. Pashto is strongly influenced by the Persian and Arabic languages In addition, different tribes have different dialects. The vast majority of Pashtuns live in tribes, and for this reason their language, culture, religiosity … strongly influenced by the social and cultural tribal structures.
Therefore, the Pashto language is very backward. Compared to other languages, there are fewer scientific works and materials in this language. Some Pashtun state employees cannot speak Pashto. For this reason, many Pashtuns produce their written works in Persian.
In this article, the words Afghan and Pashtun are equal and mean only Pashtuns. The word Afghanistani is used for other ethnic groups.
Ethnic groups living in Afghanistan
Since the ethnic issue is one of Afghanistan’s main problems, I would like to focus more on it. Afghanistan is a country with a multi-ethnic and multi-ethnic society. The population of this country consists of many ethnic and linguistic groups, including Tajiks, Pashtuns, Hazara, Uzbeks, Imaq, Turkmens, Baloch, Nuristani , etc. Officially, about 32 ethnic groups are recognized. A group of researchers views Afghanistan as a museum of different races and nations. However, there are four major ethnic groups: Tajiks, Pashtuns, Uzbeks and Hazaras.
Tajik
However, there are no accurate statistics on ethnic groups in Afghanistan. All statistics are influenced by political intentions and are based solely on assumptions. According to statistics from international organizations, Afghanistan is a country of minorities. Nevertheless, some statistics consider the Tajiks to be the largest ethnic group with a population of 47% of Afghanistan’s population. Tajiks speak Persian. Most Tajiks live in northeastern, northern and western regions and in major cities such as Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Takhar, Badakhshan, Farah, etc. The absolute majority of Tajiks are city dwellers and belong to the “white race” and one of the Indo-European language groups.
Pashtuns (Afghans)
Pashtuns/Aghane are a different ethnic group in Afghanistan. Pashtuns live in the southern regions of Afghanistan and in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. This tribe lives mainly in the south of the country, its population is estimated at about 30% of the total population of Afghanistan. In terms of intra-ethnic structure, Pashtuns are divided into two major tribes, “Ghalzai” and “Darani,” which have long competed for political power. This has caused many ethnic wars among them.
Hazara
Hazaras form another ethnic group of Afghanistan, living mainly in central Afghanistan known as Hazarakat. Hazaras speak Persian [10]. Hazaras make up about 10% of Afghanistan’s population. Some Hazara scholars consider the Hazaras to be the survivors of the Mongols.
The Uzbeks
Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group of Afghanistan. The Uzbeks of Afghanistan speak Uzbek and Persian is their second language.[ 11] Uzbeks make up about eight percent of Afghanistan’s
Population.
other ethnic groups
Turkmen, Ghazalbash, Kyrgyz, Baluchis, etc. belong to the other ethnic groups living in Afghanistan. In fact, it can be said that these other ethnic groups from the 32 known ethnic groups in Afghanistan are statistically less than the four major ethnic groups.
Peace in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has experienced many ups and downs in its long history. The country that is now called Afghanistan has experienced periods of both peace and war, but I do not intend to deal with the long history of this country. . What I think is important is the contemporary history of Afghanistan. I believe that the roots of many current crises in this country can be found in the contemporary history (1890 to present) of this country. Apart from that, I believe that the solution to the current crisis of this country is also based on knowing the history, society and culture of the people of this country. I have been researching in this field for many years and wrote my master’s thesis on “Obstacles to modernization and development in Afghanistan”.
I believe that peace is perhaps one of the words that has been most frequently used in the political and cultural literature of the Afghan people. If someone goes through the course of the contemporary history of this country in his mind, he will notice that many times large projects have been created under the title of peace, which ended after a period of activity without result.
First of all, the peace process between the Communists and the Mujahideen was set in motion, and for this reason extensive institutions were created under the title of peace, resulting in high losses and costs, and the most obvious result was the Geneva Peace Agreement of 1988 between the Communist Government of Afghanistan and the Government of Pakistan. This agreement was signed in the presence of the United States and the Soviet Union. As a result of this agreement, the armed forces of the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, but it did not lead to any peace and tranquility for the people of Afghanistan.
After that, the peace process between different mujahideen groups in the civil wars was discussed, the most famous result being the Islamabad agreement of 1993, which was not implemented. The war in Afghanistan continued. After that, the peace process between the Mujahideen government led by Burhanuddin Rabbani and the Taliban group was proposed, which ended without result after years of follow-up.
Finally, after 2001, the well-known peace process was proposed, and other institutions such as the Supreme Peace Council were created, which cost millions of dollars. This process ended in a catastrophe that is unique in the history of the world. Perhaps you will not find a country in history past and future where people, fearing a ruling group, clung to the wings of an airplane and fell to the ground from a height of several thousand meters.
Why were all these peace processes unsuccessful? Why have most war-torn countries ended devastating wars and achieved peace, but Afghanistan has not succeeded?
Why in the last four decades have all the efforts of political actors in the region and the world, such as neighboring countries, international organizations, some Arab countries, the Soviet Union, the United States, NATO, the European Union, been unsuccessful in establishing peace in Afghanistan?
Summing up in one sentence the lack of success of the efforts of all these countries and organizations, it can be said that most of them did not have a detailed understanding of Afghanistan’s problems, at least not of the problems in the context of the history and the political and social culture of the people of this country. For this reason, all the efforts and solutions they proposed were alien to the cultural, social, historical and political background of this country.
The germ of a crisis
Perhaps it is better to first identify the crisis in the country and then offer a suitable solution. The fact is that Afghanistan in today’s geographical area was created by the British in 1880 as a buffer zone between the British and Russian Empires. (Reinkowski Maurus, 2022). Afghanistan became a buffer state in the “Great Game” between the British Empire and the Russian Empire [29].
The sovereignty of this country, in accordance with British colonial policy, was entrusted to Abdurrahman Khan, the head of one of the Afghan or Pashtun tribes.
Abdur Rahman suffered seriously from gout and did not have the patience and tolerance for government business. In addition, the composition of Afghanistan was a diverse The country, as mentioned, consisted of different tribes and groups. On the one hand, the monopoly of power in the hands of one tribe was intolerable for the majority of the Afghan ethnic groups. Although Abdurrahman himself was an Afghan or Pashtun, other Afghan tribes were unwilling to accept his rule. In addition to the Afghan tribes, other ethnic groups such as the Tajiks, Hazara, Uzbeks, etc., which form the absolute majority of the Afghan people, were not willing to accept Abdul Rahman’s rule. Moreover, his style of government was not based on rational management. For this reason, poverty and corruption were widespread. The majority of the country’s population suffered from poverty and corruption. All this had led to people’s discontent and protests.
But Abdurrahman had no reasonable solution, and in the end, the only solution for Abdurrahman was brutal murder. During his nearly 21-year rule, he carried out brutal ethnic cleansing. According to historical documents, he killed thousands of people. According to published statistics, he killed up to 67% of some ethnic groups that were not Afghan/Pashtuns, such as the Hazaras, for ethnic cleansing. (1) . Abdurrahman built a minaret from the heads of the killed people. According to some authors, the Abdurrahman massacre is considered the greatest genocide of the 19th century (2). He killed many Tajiks and Uzbeks in the north of the country. He massacred Hazaras in the center.
Abdurrahman was less harsh with his internal tribal opponents than with other ethnic groups. Instead of killing them, he exiled them to other places, including Ottoman Turkey. He eventually died in 1901 and in the same year his son named Habibullah Khan was installed as ruler of Afghanistan. Habibullah announced a general amnesty. For this reason, some exiled families returned to Afghanistan. One of these returnees was Mr. Mahmoud Tarzi, whose family had been exiled to Ottoman Turkey during the reign of Abdurrahman.
The beginning of a crisis
The family of Mahmoud Tarzi, one of the leaders of the Afghan tribes and political opponent of Abdurrahman, who was saved from death and exiled to Ottoman Turkey, returned to Afghanistan after the death of Abdul Rahman. Mahmoud Tarzi lived in Istanbul for many years and travelled to Europe several times. During his stay in Turkey, Tarzi witnessed the advent of modern values in Turkey and the emergence of Turkish nationalism, which is why he was strongly influenced by Turkish nationalism. Upon his return to Afghanistan, Tarzi established a close relationship with Habibullah, King of Afghanistan (1901-1919), and for this reason his two daughters married Habibullah’s two sons. Eventually, he found a prominent position in the government of Habibullah and took many measures.
He was more influenced by Turkish nationalism than anything else. For this reason, the circle of Afghans/Pashtuns gathered his thoughts and made many changes. At the same time as Tarzi, under the influence of developments in Europe, another trend called the “constitutionalism trend” emerged in Afghanistan.
But this trend was strongly suppressed by Mahmoud Tarzi’s coordination with the government. In fact, Tarzi was not looking for modernity, but for the realization of his own ethnic goals. The repression of the constitutionalists opened the way for Tarzi and consolidated his position in the first circle of power. Mahmoud Tarzi and some of his relatives became prominent figures in journalism and took over the leadership of social reforms.
Apart from this, Mahmoud Tarzi, taking advantage of his extensive political influence, hired a large number of Turkish nationalists as advisers in the departments of education, health and military academy. In fact, Mahmoud Tarzi personally led cultural and social reforms by suppressing the movement or group of reforms.
Soon after, Shah Habibullah was mysteriously killed. Many experts consider Amanullah Khan, one of the king’s sons and Mahmoud Tarzi, to be the perpetrators of this murder. After the death of Habibullah Khan, Amanullah, Tarzi’s son-in-law, became the head of Afghanistan. During the reign of Amanullah Shah, Mahmoud Tarzi was practically the all-rounder of his government. He was foreign minister, advisor and all-rounder to Amanullah Shah. Amanullah Khan also strongly believed in Afghan nationalism. Although Amanullah Shah is known as a modernist king, his modernism and friends, according to many experts, can only be summarized within the framework of Afghan nationalism.
Otherwise, they did not seek to ensure democratic values in society, social justice, the rule of law, equal rights for the country’s citizens, freedom of the press and media, fair distribution of resources, the isolation of extremists and traditional religious leaders, the presence of women in the power structure, etc. The main goal of Mahmoud Tarzi, Shah Amanullah and other like-minded people was to shape Afghan nationalism. They wanted Afghanistan to be transformed, but that transformation was to take place within the framework of Afghan-Pashtun nationalism. This idea was first learned by Mahmoud Tarzi of Nasion Nalisim Turk during his stay in Turkey and then taught to Amanullah and others. Amanullah also traveled to Turkey for this reason and met with Ataturk.
In fact, it was at this stage that the Afghan crisis began. To promote his ideas, Tarzi revived the previously closed magazine and gave himself the title “Father of Afghan Journalism”. The magazine “Siraj Al-Akhbar” was one of them. Tarzi changed the name of this publication and called it “Seraj Al-Afghaniyeh”. “Siraj” was the name of the king and “Afghani” was the name of his people. This publication was actually a means of disseminating Mr Tarzi’s views, which were a mixture of pan-Islamist views and Afghan nationalism. With this point of view, he tried to steer social changes with modern values.
Tarzi’s ethnocentric worldview led him to put the word “Afghanistan” on the name of the existing newspaper, rather than using a word accepted by all. It means the name of his people.
Afghan and Pashto were synonymous in Mahmoud Tarzi’s eyes, and the word (Afghanity) was increasingly seen as Pashto and the Pashto language.
Indeed, the enduring and important aspect of Mahmoud Tarzi’s political vision was the promotion and spread of the new national identity; a struggle that earned him the title of “father of Afghan nationalism.” Tarzi’s view on nationalism was mainly influenced by the formulation of the political philosophy of Turkish youth.
The basic premise on which Tarzi based his desired nationalism was the term and the defining word “Afghanistan”. Being Afghan and Afghanism, which is synonymous with being Turkish or Turkish. Moreover, Mahmoud Tartsi, although a Pashtun, did not know Pashto. Although Persian has been the court language of Afghan kings since ancient times and the language of trade and diplomacy, many urban Pashtuns were more carriers of the Persian language and culture than the Pashto culture and language. But Mahmoud Tarzi argued that the Pashto language should be “landlanguage”. All people in Afghanistan should learn Pashto and speak Pashto. Since the Pashtun language was a tribal language and it was not possible to write scientific material in Pashto, even Pashtun nationalists did not know Pashto and they published their materials in Persian and promoted anti-Persianism.
Since the Persian language was the language of the kings, courtiers, administration and also the general people of Afghanistan, almost most of the views of Tarzi and most Pashtun nationalists were published in Persian for this reason, otherwise the content would not have been understood. By spreading their thoughts in Persian, they simultaneously destroyed the Persian language. This controversy completely ignored the fact that more than 70% of Afghan citizens do not speak Pashto and this language is considered a foreign language for most of them. Even many urban Pashtuns did not know Pashto. Nevertheless, Mahmoud Tarzi insisted on his opinion, saying that Persian could not be the national language of Afghanistan.
By placing the Persian official language in second place, Mahmoud Tarzi actually degraded this language. In an attempt to establish a distance between Persian in Afghanistan and Iran, the government of the time officially changed the name of the “Persian” language in Afghanistan to “Dari”. Finally, after some time, Mahmoud Tarzi and his friends tried to present their poems and articles in Pashto and hired speakers of this language to translate the scriptures into Pashto.
Tarzi’s Afghanism, however, went far beyond merely strengthening the Pashto language and culture, arguing that “Afghan” should be the only official and national choice of all Afghan citizens. He ignores the fact that this country has culturally and ethnically diverse people and the majority of its population consists of ethnicities that are not ethnic Afghans. In this way , Mahmoud Tarzi tried to impose a false identity on ethnically and linguistically non-Afghan populations. Using this method, he directly and indirectly fueled and exacerbated many religious, regional and ethnic differences, turning a large part of the population into virtual outsiders and minorities. This behavior was similar to the announcement by the British government, which forced people in Scotland, Wales and Ireland to choose only the English name in their passports (Jonathan L. Lee, 2018).
The difference between Turkish nationalism and Afghan or Pashtun nationalism
For his national identity, Mahmoud Tarzi defined four intertwined elements such as religion, patriotism, country and Afghans. Most of Tarzi’s ideas came from the discourse of Turkish nationalists, but there were many differences between Turkey and Afghanistan that Tarzi did not understand.
Tarzi’s blind imitation of Turkish nationalism in presenting his Afghan version has not only blocked the path to the nation-state phenomenon and the modern world for the people of Afghanistan, but has also made this country a prisoner of the frozen chains of fascism and terrorism.
National identity: “Unlike in Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century, there was no understanding of national identity in Afghanistan, at least not in the European sense.”
Traditionally, ethnic and religious leaders individually swore allegiance to the emir with an obligation and oath of their people or followers, without having sworn allegiance to the government or even the monarchy. As was customary in medieval Europe, after the new ruler came to power, allegiance was sworn to the new ruler or governor.
In return, the “emir” was to repay the loyalty and commitment of the local leaders with his royal support by confirming their right to traditional autonomy. (Ibid.).
Religious leaders: In the case of religious leaders, they expected the emir to rule on the basis of their desired Sharia law. “A serious violation of Sharia law would provide sufficient justification for rebellion and condemnation, as well as the excommunication of the emir and his governor.
According to Islamic law, it is the religious responsibility of all believers to participate in the overthrow of a ruler who has been officially condemned by scholars or disregarded Islamic laws. When the country was involved in a war, the emir did not seek patriotism, national interests or the defense of territorial integrity and territory, but, on the contrary, referred to the loyalty and commitment placed in him. Traditionally, before starting a campaign, the emir tried to obtain a religious fatwa to make the war appear legitimate.” (Ibid.).
Historical background: Before the emergence of Turkish nationalism and the Young Turk movement, the Ottoman Empire had extensive territory and very large military, political and cultural institutions owned large parts of the world (??) for about six centuries. In fact, it was a multicultural and multilingual empire that included Southeastern Europe, parts of Central Europe and West Asia, parts of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, and large parts of the North and Horn of Africa, and was under Ottoman command [11].
Turkish nationalism and the founding of the Republic of Turkey were the result of a very powerful historical event. At that time, the Ottoman Empire was one of the world’s leading powers politically, militarily and culturally.
In other words, Turkish nationalism emerged when the empire descended from a large platform to a small platform. Turkish nationalism developed when Atatürk’s small Turkey emerged from a vast Ottoman territory. He thus had a broad historical, political, economic and cultural background. A strong army, a distinct language, a strong culture and a Turkish ethnic majority were the things inherited from Ottoman Turkey to Ataturk’s Turkey. These values were common in this vast empire for about six centuries. The Turkish nationalists did not invent or copy these things.
Nevertheless, Turkish nationalism has been extremely unsuccessful on ethnic issues and the Turkification of non-Turkic peoples and has not yet been able to solve the problems of other peoples, including the Kurds. In other words, the inclusion of Turkish nationalism is limited to ethnicity and religion, which in the case of the Kurds has failed in both cases.
But unlike Turkish nationalism, the Afghan nationalism or “Afghanism” of Tarzi, the Shah Amanullah and his co-thinkers was an incomplete, incongruent, fragmented idea and copy of Turkish nationalism. Moreover, Afghan nationalism had little understanding of Pashtun (Afghan) society in particular and Afghan society in general. It was more inconsistent, and merely an ideological copy of Turkish nationalism, and was not based on an understanding of Pashtun (Afghan) society in particular and Afghan society in general. Unlike the Turks, the rulers did not have a stable and armed army, no rich cultural background, no ancient historical background, no outstanding records of political leadership, art, architecture, science, literature, music, no relations with the Western world… . In other words, Afghan nationalism had no cultural, political, etc. background; no historical foundation. It was just an inappropriate imitation, a chimera that Mr. Tarzi and Shah Amanullah had longed for.
Ethnic minority: On the other hand, unlike Turks, Afghan nationalism referred to an ethnic minority opposed to the absolute majority of 70% of other ethnic groups. Moreover, the powerful Persian language, Khorasan’s long history, prominent and universal celebrities, rich culture, legacy of great non-Afghan emperors, poetry, literature, art, and broad territories found no inclusion in nationalism. Democracy and freedom, modernization, etc. were major obstacles to the realization of Afghan nationalism. But the Afghan nationalists believed that they should eliminate everything for their ethnic supremacy and build a new country with a new history and new values and under a new national identity and with the name Afghanistan. For this reason, they removed things like ethnicity, language, values, culture, history, religion, intellectual movements, freedom of the press, historical works, works of art, cultural works, literary works, scientific and literary celebrities, demographic contexts, etc. In the end, they did not hesitate to impose or destroy everything they could.
Destructive measures of Afghan nationalism against other ethnic groups
In the first act of Afghan nationalism, they changed the name “Khorasan” and introduced the name “Afghanistan”. They have changed the name of the national currency from “Kabul rupee” to “Afghani”. The national anthem was changed from Persian to Pashto. They forced the word Afghans, which is the name of a tribe, on all the citizens of the country. They officially wrote this issue into the 1964 constitution. After that, they tried to split the Persian language and changed the Persian name of Afghanistan to “Dari”. They continued to remove literary, historical and cultural works. The most obvious was the destruction of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, which included Buddha statues.
The large statues erected in the heart of the mountain in Bamyan province in Afghanistan. The standing buildings of these historical statues were carved into the rock walls. These two tall statues (Salsal, 53 meters) and (Shamame, 35 meters), along with a number of historical monuments at this site, have long been the main tourist attractions in Afghanistan. These statues are about two thousand years old and represent the ancient style of Greek and Buddhist art, one of the strangest and greatest cultural heritage of mankind. (BBC Farsi. Gall, Carlotta ,2006). Afghanistan International TV stated in the report: “One of former Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s most enduring legacies is the destruction of much of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. On his orders, two large Buddha statues in Bamyan and the huge treasure of the National Museum in Kabul were destroyed. (Afghanistan International, 2022). The destruction of Buddha statues was part of a series of targeted measures to destroy Afghanistan’s historical monuments. Abdul Hai Motamin, one of Mullah Omar’s spokespersons, wrote in the book “Mullah Muhammad Omar, Taliban and Afghanistan”, as did Vahid Mojdeh, one of the Taliban’s foreign ministry officials at the time, in the book “Afghanistan and five years of Taliban rule”, that the Taliban had such an intention years ago. This happened, according to Mr. Motamin, even though Mullah Omar knew that no one worshipped these figures and that there was no danger to Islam. In the winter of 2000, he ordered that much of the National Museum’s historical works be destroyed. Umrankhan Masoudi, the former head of this museum, said the Taliban destroyed 2,750 historical artifacts in this museum. These works of art included all kinds of human and animal figures, dishes, working tools, hunting tools, war tools, paintings and ornaments. In addition, the Taliban destroyed a large part of the works of the National Gallery.
According to Vahid Mojdeh, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the current minister of higher education of the Taliban, and his friends attacked the statues with a tool (axe, big hammer) on the day the National Museum’s works were destroyed, destroying them all. Eventually, some of Afghanistan’s remaining historical monuments were auctioned off at the market of Peshawar, Pakistan. Some of these individuals are currently members of the current Taliban government. The destroyed works were created hundreds to thousands of years ago. A large part of them were created before Islam and a significant part of them emerged during the Islamic era. Unfortunately, many consider this behavior of the Taliban to be a religious behavior and a religious attitude, although all evidence shows that this behavior of the Taliban was not religious behavior, but this behavior was absolutely ethnic and nationalistic. This behavior arose from Mr. Tarzi’s theory of Afghan nationalism.
On the other hand, these works remained safe for hundreds of years in Islamic society and under the shadow of Islamic governments. The most important, obvious and largest of them were the Buddha statues in Bamyan, which were created for fourteen centuries before the eyes of Muslims. The leader of this group even ignored the demands of famous Islamic scholars such as Yusuf Qaradawi. On the day Buddha statues were destroyed, Qaradawi had traveled to Kandahar as part of a delegation of Islamic scholars to dissuade Mullah Omar. The delegation was also attended by Abdul Qadir Ammari, Head of the Court of Appeal of Qatar, and Farid Wasil, Grand Mufti of Egypt. The three Islamic countries that recognized the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate also sent high-level delegations to Kandahar to dissuade Mullah Omar from destroying the Buddha statues. UNESCO has made great efforts, calling the destruction of these works “barbaric”. Widespread international protests did not change the Taliban leader’s decision to destroy the Buddha statues.
Ali Karimi, a scholar of contemporary history of Afghanistan, believes this should be studied in the context of ethnic nationalism in Afghanistan. He says: “The destruction of Buddha statues in Bamyan was interpreted by an extremist religious group as the destruction of history on religious grounds. But we can also understand this incident as a distortion of history – a distortion of history for the reasons of ethnic nationalism. In the 20th century, ethnic nationalism in Afghanistan (Afghan nationalism) promoted a particular view of Afghanistan’s past.
According to him, “Part of this particular vision was to create a false story about this country’s past. Another part was the destruction of material artifacts that challenged the official nationalist narrative. The Buddha figures in Bamyan were a matirial part that challenged the official nationalist narrative in Afghanistan. That was one of the main reasons why the Taliban destroyed it.”
Mohammad Gul Khan Mohmand, the interior minister of Afghanistan, was one of the nationalist Pashtuns who was the ruler of Afghanistan’s northern regions (non-Pashtuns inhabited) in the 1950s. In line with his nationalist goals, he had set a reward for finding old works and old books. Because the people of the region were illiterate and ignorant, they did not know his main goal, so they gave away the historical works, including the exquisite and valuable books they had. Mr. Momand set fire to all the historical books and the old works. There are hundreds of reliable examples of this case that I don’t want to mention.
Institutionalization of Afghan Nationalism as Theory and Practice
“Afghanism and Islamism” means Afghan nationalism or the original idea of Mahmoud Tarzi that the main nationalist discourse of the monarchy, republic and emirate system was accepted by all Afghan or Pashtun rulers, which continues to this day. Moreover, this idea was justified with an intellectual and religious cover. According to this reasoning , the nationalists defined the sovereignty of the Afghans over Afghanistan, that is, the land of the Afghans or Pashtuns, as a religious and divine matter.
In the end, Mahmoud Tarzi’s nationalism became the cornerstone for justifying all discourses of the Afghan or Pashtunian rulers, and a large number of young Afghans expressed this opinion, and compared, like the Young Turks, the Afghan nationalist discourse with Social Darwinism, combined Hitler’s ideas of racial superiority of a particular population group.
Aryanism was a fascinating discourse in the early 20th century, born out of the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Eastern holy books, the comparative study of the Vedas and the Avesta by the German Orientalist Max Müller.
Based on the linguistic and religious similarities in the Indian and Persian scriptures, Müller hypothesized that there was a very ancient race, which he called the Aryan race, that is, a race that lived in a region of Central Asia and whose language was that of the ancestors. They spoke Sanskrit, Greek and Persian. According to Muller’s theory, the Aryans eventually migrated south and west, bringing the Vedic religion to the Hindus and the Zoroastrian religion to the Persian-speaking people, forming the ancestors of the Germanic race and the Scandinavian people in Europe. Mueller’s theory was later taken up to justify the racist theories of the German Nazi Party and other fascist movements.
While this theory had an enormous impact on Turkish and Afghan nationalism, it also led to the term Hindu being emphasized in the historical writings of nationalists in India as a place of acceptance of Aryan theory.
Undoubtedly, Mahmoud Tarzi first heard of Aryan theory or Aryanism from an Indian revolutionary and refugee, Mahendra Pratab, who was a member of the German mission in 1915 . As Afghan nationalism became more and more mixed with Aryanism, Afghan intellectuals claimed that the Pashto language was an original Aryan language. Although the theory of authenticity of the Pashto language was based on insufficient and unscientific evidence, it became the basis of Pashtun followers and fans to glorify the Pashto language, consider it older than the Persian language, and claim that the Achaemenid dynasty, which considered itself genuine Aryan, actually consisted of Afghans or Pashtuns. Then, in the 20th century, the members of “Pashto Tolaneh” considered the city of Balkh or ancient Bactria to be the main birthplace of the Aryans, and at the same time some of the most extreme Pashtunists claimed that the Pashtun race was part of the superior master race.
After the 1940s, the government began using the name Arya to name government institutions, including Ariana Airlines, Ariana Publications, etc. In fact, Afghan or Pashtun fascists believed that Afghans were a superior race according to this theory. Therefore, the superior race, the superior religion and the superior people are worthy of political sovereignty. In my opinion, due to the low literacy rate, the scientific and cultural understanding of Pashtun or Afghan society is insufficient to properly understand the historical and religious theories. This problem is still evident today.
The legitimacy of political rule can in most cases be exacerbated by the lack of literacy and the pronounced cultural poverty of Pashtun society. It interprets theories such as Aryan race, nation-state, communism, political Islam, etc. only within the framework of its cultural, ethnic tribal structures. They reduce these theories to the level of ethnicity and tribe, covering them with the clothing of the tribe.
When the violent and monopolistic spirit of tribal culture was breathed into the body of these theories, violence and antagonism were defined for them as normal and even sacred things. They do not accept ethnic, linguistic or religious differences. Anyone who is not from their tribe is, of course, a stranger and perhaps an unbeliever or (Kafer). Taking and conquering the rights of “aliens” and infidels is a reward for them. According to their religious beliefs, it is a reward for them to take and conquer the rights of “aliens” and “infidels”. Thus, even the killing of unbelievers is allowed and rewarded. The word “unbeliever” is a religious word used against “believers.” Tribesmen consider their own opinion to be correct and the opinion of others to be invalid. Therefore, those whose beliefs are false are infidels, and it is permissible to kill them.
This tribal spirit is quite prominently present at all social, cultural and political levels of Pashtun society. It is on this basis that they have built their domestic and foreign policies in this century. Tribal spirit or “Pashtunwali” is one of the common axes of other Afghans or Pashtuns. Sultans, Republicans, Communists, Mojahedin, Taliban, secularists and liberals usually share the same opinion on this issue. During this time, they completely switched to this spirit and killed all who resisted them, destroying everything they considered an obstacle.
Nader Shah (1929-1933), who became king, sealed and signed the corner of the holy book in the first act and sent it to the deposed king as a guarantee. He deceived him under the pretext of making peace and then shot him in the most brazen way or then hung her up. The body of the deposed king was publicly hung in the sports stadium for several times as a sign that the deposed king was not from the Pashtun people and the Pashtuns believed that none other than the Pashtuns had the right to rule this country.
The reign of Zahir Shah (1933 to 1973) was based on this. Daud Khan, the future president of Afghanistan (1973-1978), was the most prominent figure of the Afghan fascists and pursued a very extreme policy. He implemented this policy not only inside the country but also outside Afghanistan, and founded and supported Pashtun parties in Pakistan. He spent millions of dollars inciting Pakistani Pashtuns and questioned Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty.
During the communist era, the question of nationalists was seriously discussed, and for this reason the ideological communist party was divided into two groups, the “people” and the “flag”. The ethnic differences of the communists eventually led to their demise. Then, during the Mojahedin era, the question of Afghan nationalism was seriously raised and was the basis of all ethnic wars in Afghanistan.
Mujahideen were parties that had a common idea, a common religion, a common jihad and a common goal, and had fought together against the communists for years within the framework of an Islamic ideology. But as soon as their political rule began, ethnic differences became relevant again and the issue of Afghan nationalism regained priority. Ethnic wars were fueled. But the Taliban, who are carriers of Tarzi’s and Shah Amanullah’s nationalism, are currently implementing Tarzi’s principles. The Taliban group practices in an extreme way the principles of Afghan or Pashtun nationalism, i.e. Afghanism, Islamism, etc. Pashtun nationalists live in Europe and Americas understand this very well, and for this reason almost every secularist and Westerner is committed to strengthening the rule of Talibanism. They are trying to distort public opinion in the West and lobby for the Taliban.
The era of democracy and the presence of the West
Brown University has estimated that the United States has spent $2.26 trillion over the past 20 years, an average of $300 million per day, on the war in Afghanistan.
They add that in addition to 20,000 wounded Americans, the war in Afghanistan has caused the deaths of 2,500 American soldiers and nearly 4,000 American civilian contractors. At the same time, 69,000 Afghan soldiers and 71,000 civilians were killed. In total, about 241,000 people were killed in this war. Researchers at Brown University estimate that the cost of the war in Afghanistan to the U.S. government could reach $6.5 trillion by 2050. (IRNA, 5.6.2021).
Despite these high financial and human costs, the lack of a proper understanding of the cultural and social situation of Afghan society and understanding of Afghanistan’s main problem unfortunately meant that the result was a catastrophic failure. According to Mr. Kaofsky, “Highly paid experts read Khalid Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner” during the flight to Afghanistan and believed that they had complete information about Afghanistan. This was also stated by the American journalist Whitlock Craig in his book. Reinkowski,2022).
But during the West’s 20-year presence, Afghan nationalists took advantage of every opportunity to align all available facilities, such as military, financial and political restructuring, with their ethnic goals. . Mr. Karzai (2001-2014) and Ashraf Ghani (2014-2021), who were Pastunian presidents of Afghanistan, with the support of Mr. Khalilzad, engaged in realizing nationalist programs, and using them with their own Leuten to occupy. In other words, under the protection and money of the West, they have ridiculed the democratic values of the West. They did not respect the elections and the referendum. In the four presidential elections, the Afghan nationalists were the absolute losers, according to internationally documented statistics and reliable security sources. These show clear and widespread abuses of democratic processes. It took several months for the results of the Afghan elections to be announced. T he Americans granted the election of Mr. Karzai and Mr. Ghani as presidents by ignoring the undemocratic machinations of the main winners.
In my opinion, the first and most important reason for the “catastrophic failure of Westerners” in Afghanistan was their terrible betrayal of democratic values. The ears of the Afghan people were full of negative propaganda about “crusades,” British colonialism, Western support for Israel over the conquest of Muslim lands, “bloodthirsty imperialism,” and finally America’s cultural aggression and military invasion against Islamic countries. This propaganda began with Afghanistan’s wars with Britain and culminated in the rule of anti-Western communists in Afghanistan. On the other hand, Pakistan was one of the main sources of exports of religious values and the production of thousands of religious mullahs sent to Afghanistan, who strongly opposed the Western presence in Afghanistan and fomented anti-Western propaganda.
But the only legitimate reason justifying the Western presence in Afghanistan was the realization of democratic values and the liberation of the Afghanist people from the captivity of extreme ideologies of nationalism and terrorism. In other words, the people of Afghanistan knew the West as democracy and justice, but Westerners ignored and betrayed these values in practice. They acted contrary to them, which shocked and disappointed the people of Afghanistan.
The four presidential elections and the support of the West, despite the fraud of Afghan or Pashtun nationalists, was a severe blow that eliminated democracy and completely disappointed the people of Afghanistan with the West . AFghan nationalists presented Westerners as supporters of their ethnic projects and programs and threatened non-Pashtun ethnic groups by using the presence and military and political facilities of Westerners in Afghanistan. They also implemented several discriminatory programs, including quotas for university entrance exams in Afghanistan.
Unlike the nationalist Pashtuns, many non-Pashtuns are very interested in studying and learning modern sciences and going to university. This claim was intolerable for Pashtun nationalists. Thisis why they have rationed the entrance exam for the university. This quota system meant that a person of another ethnicity with a score of 250 points could not go to university, but a Pashtuner with 150 points could do. It is unbelievable that the Afghan nationalists have been able to carry out such racialdiscriminationin the presence of Westerners and translate them into law.
Since nationalist Pashtuns have less interest in university education than other ethnic groups, they have created educational barriers for other ethnic groups with this action. Finally, the solution of other countries was the development of private universities, but the nationalists killed thousands of young people and teenagers by assassinations in private scientific and academic centers, the last of which was on 7 September. October 2022 in the “Kaj School” and more than 60 students were killed and hundreds injured. The ruling nationalists continued to block the Totap power project because its route passed through the territories of the Hazara people. A suicide bomber blew up the peaceful and civilian protest gathering. Hundreds of people were killed and injured.
One of the next actions of Afghan nationalists was the assassination of influential figures and leaders of other ethnic groups. They murdered hundreds of prominent figures from other ethnic groups in the presence of Western intelligence services. Prominent and moderate personalities, who sought above all the realization of democracy and the creation of a just political system in Afghanistan, were murdered in an unsolved manner.
In recent years, Afghanistan’s political rulers have made suicide purchases and sales within security organizations the norm.
Afghan nationalists and Taliban are both Pashtuns and agree to suppress and crush other ethnic interests. They kept suicide bombers in private guesthouses and even the Afghan intelligence organization, and individuals and ethnic groups murdered others.
Using this method, they blew up dozens of civilian demonstrations against the government’s ethnic policies, killing hundreds of people. There are dozens of documents and valid documents on these incidents.
The Pashtun nationalists, who headed the military and political structures, were not honest with the security forces and the Afghan army. Most Afghan security and military forces consisted of non-Pashtun ethnic groups and fought against the Pashtun Taliban. This problem was annoying for the nationalists and they did not understand that the Pashtun Taliban were killed. Therefore, they were not honest with the security and military forces of Afghanistan and almost 7,00 0 0 of them were killed and more than 100,000 of them injured. They did not support the armed forces in times of need. One of the Pashtun representatives of the Afghan parliament asked President Ashraf Ghani why he remained silent in the face of the killing of security forces. In response, Mr. President said that the soldiers of the army are from other ethnic groups and there is nothing wrong with killing them (Ayoubi, Afghanistan International TV, 2022).
The Pashtun nationalists who have ruled Afghanistan for the past twenty years have largely been returnees from Western countries, particularly the United States and Britain. They had close relations with Western politicians, especially those of the United States and England. They had won their trust. By justifying the killing of people and the explosion of civilian gatherings of non-Pashtun ethnic groups, they abused the trust of Westerners. For example, they declared that it was a “warlord” … . The newspaper Mandgar wrote: “The former US Secretary of Defense says: “Karzai drove out the Taliban in the north !” Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in his memoirbook that Hamid Karzai, the former president of Afghanistan (2001-2014), began defeating the Taliban of Pakistan in the same years of his second term. to northern Afghanistan . The former head of the Pentagon also wrote in this book that Mr. Karzai had asked him at a secret meeting at the presidential palace in Kabul to help him to eliminate and weaken the leaders of the Northern Front (Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks).
This book states: “Karzai told me: The greatest threat to my government is the ‘Northern Front’, not the Taliban. According to Gates , Karzai added that I will at least leave my hand free to strengthen the Taliban so that I can destroy the “masters in arms” in this way.” Mr Karzai, with the help of the United Kingdom and in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, under the guise of the Returnee Programme, had Transfer of armed Taliban men and their families from the tribal areas of Pakistan to Afghanistan has begun. ” (Mandegardaily, 2015). Indeed, the program for immigrant returnees was a cover for the transfer of extremist groups and their families to Afghanistan.
“Gun fans” was a term used by Afghan nationalists to distort Western public opinion toward non-Pashtun armed groups. They use their political influence in the West to use such labels to portray non-Pashtun nationals as supporters of the war. Because Westerners did not know enough about Afghanistan, they believed the words of Karzai, Khalilzad, Ashraf Ghani and other Pashtun nationalists who had lived in the West and whom they trusted. and who were brought to Afghanistan by the Westerners. Afghanistan’s President Karzai, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani, and Zalmay Khalilzad (the U.S. ambassadors and plenipotentiaries to Afghanistan) were all three of these people have extreme Afghan nationalist thinking. The West’s confidence in these people has not only destroyed twenty years of Western efforts and spending, buthas once again plunged the Afghanistan people into the abyss of misery under Taliban control. Khalilzad, an Afghan of American origin,occupiesa prominent position in the American diplomatic system. He has served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Iraq and Afghanistan . As an American, he was almost the most important decision-maker in Afghanistan. On the other hand, he firmly believes in Afghan nationalism. Although he had lived in the West, he wanted to establish absolute Pashtun rule and implement the nationalism of Mahmoud Tarzi. In this regard, he has been lobbying in America and the West for many years. Indeed, Khalilzad has directed and administered all American policy in Afghanistan for the past few decades. In other words, Khalilzad led the Americans, who in turn led the Europeans. In doing so, Western politics effectively turned its back on democratic values and indirectly supported Afghan or Pashtun nationalists.
In this regard, Mr. Khalilzad had persuaded the Americans to stop supporting Pakistan and to define Afghanistan as an alternative to Pakistan in their regional policy. He was somewhat successful with this policy and was able to disrupt the relationship between America and Pakistan in the early years. For this reason, China tried to fill the empty space of the US in Pakistan. On the other hand, since Pakistan had a decisive influence among the Pashtuns, it was able to neutralize this policy. The Pakistani secret service, which had serious and great influence among many Pashtun politicians, used this opportunity to fuel ethnic problems in Afghanistan in a complex and multidimensional game.
Pakistan, which knows Pashtun nationalism well, defined non-Pashtuns as the main enemies of Pashtuns by exacerbating the ethnic crisis in Afghanistan to provoke them. In addition, it promoted the presence of the West in Afghanistan as a strengthening of the power of other ethnic groups and the political isolation of Pashtun nationalism.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly spoken publicly about ethnic problems in Afghanistan. (Musharraf’s interview). The seizure of power by non-Pashtun ethnic groups was something Pashtun nationalists fear, and democracy is the best tool that forms the basis for the authority of other ethnic groups. Thatis why they disregarddemocracy.
During this period, Afghan politicians such as Mr. Karzai and Mr. Ghani used their extensive security and political influence to prevent and weaken the seizure of power by non-Pashtun communities, and they prepared the ground for the return of the Taliban in the northern regions of Afghanistan, where the majority of the population was non-Pastunian. They wanted to practically weaken the political power of the non-Pashtuns.
Under an official treaty, parts of Baghlan Province (Dand Ghori), one of the northern provinces, were officially handed over to the Taliban. (Afghanpeper, 2016). Eventually, the disclosure and criticism of this agreement by journalist Yama Siavash led to his murder (Afghanpaper, 2020). But on the external level, this was the strong slap in the face that Pakistan gave to America. In this way, Pakistan wanted to teach the Americans that Pakistan can never be ignored on Afghanistan. Eventually, it forced the West and America to return to Pakistan.
The West’s lack of understanding of Afghan society and history, the abuse of Mr Khalilzad, Karzai, Ghani and their team, the use of the West’s political, military, security and financial facilities for the benefit of the ethnic interests of the nationalist Pashtuns, and the Western confidence in Afghan nationalists were the main problems that led to the West’s defeat in Afghanistan.
These remarks are not intended to belittle America’s management and strategy problems and reduce them to Afghan nationalism. However, it can be said that if the Pashtun nationalist rulers responsible for the government of Afghanistan had respected democratic values and worked to create a unitary, democratic nation. , which consists of all ethnicities and reflects the values of all ethnicities , would definitely have achieved a better result. In other words, if they had believed in democratic values and tried to ensure social justice in an equal society, the West’s presence in Afghanistan would have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity . They could have used this opportunity to turn Afghanistan into a modern and prosperous country instead of returning it to the nationalist Taliban and the base of global terrorism.
Continuation of this scenario after failure
Most importantly, Western policy toward Afghanistan has been a prisoner of Afghan nationalist thinking. Throughout this time, Mr Khalilzad has led the Afghan peace process on behalf of the United States and, finally, by signing an agreement with the Taliban in Doha, has laid the foundations for The political rule of the Taliban was created. This man realized that the U.S. had fallen into a big hole and, after twenty years of war and spending billions and thousands of dead and wounded, was forced to evacuate Western forces from Afghanistan to forestall a continuation of this disaster. On the other hand, the isolation of Pakistan and the implementation of an Afghan nationalist government has failed with the presence of its friends and like-minded people.
In the end, he should have either respected democracy and agreed to the end of the absolute rule of Afghan nationalism and the presence of other ethnic groups in power, or he should have agreed to the presence of the Afghan Taliban with all shame.
But he chose the second because he considered the sovereignty of the Pashtuns, the removal of non-PashtunEtni from power, and the withdrawal of the United States from the quagmire of Afghanistan . He believes that the Taliban group is supported by Pakistan, and this topic was not pleasant for him, but on the one hand, this group definitely consolidates Afghan nationalism and the ethnic sovereignty of nationalist Afghans or Pashtuns. On the other hand, under Taliban rule, there is no chance of democracy emerging and non-Pashtun ethnic groups coming to power. Apart from that, Afghan nationalism is very concerned about the emergence and development of an educated middle class in Afghanistan. The middle class forms the basis for the strengthening of democracy and the presence of other ethnic groups in Afghanistan’s political structure and will eventually become the main obstacle to the ethnic domination of the Pashuns and the rule of Afghan nationalism. For this reason, for the consolidation of the rule of the Taliban and other nationalists, the flight of educated youth, the prohibition of the education of girls, the exclusion of young and educated women from the social structure is expedient. The middle class, which has emerged over the last two decades, is to be eliminated. Nationalists even convinced the West to evacuate this class. Because the presence of this class is a major obstacle for extremists.
Currently, countries such as China, Russia and the United States have established secret relations with the Taliban and want to use these terrorist factions against each other. The Taliban have several “tails” and each “tail” is under the feet of regional countries such as Pakistan, Russia, Iran, and terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS, etc. Therefore, trust in the extremist group of the Taliban and the continuation of their rule will lead to serious disasters not only in Afghanistan, but around the world.
The policy of purge the Taliban to distort public opinion in the West
In the end, by abusing the confidence of the American government in him, Mr. Khalilzad pursued the policy of purge and adaptation of the Taliban and propagated that the Taliban change and support their I would like to ask the Commissioner whether he is aware of the fact that the Commission Normally, Western policy was in many cases led by the US, and Western public opinion was strongly influenced by America . Therefore, in the last years of its presence in the scientific, political and cultural circles in Western countries, this belief has been greatly promoted. But time has made it clear that this opinion is not true and that the change of Taliban is more than a real thing, it was Mr. Khailzad’s political ideas that influenced public opinion in America and Europe.
The current reality of the Taliban and the neglect of the West
In addition to mono-ethnic rule and the removal of about seventy percent of non-Afghan ethnic groups from the country’s political structure, the Taliban has taken numerous brutal measures. They carried out bombings and suicideattacks in educational, cultural and political centres of non-Pashtun ethnic groups. They imposed on non-Afghans the culture and identity of the Afghan tribes, such as the ideological and very extreme reading of religion, the killing of people of other faiths, the exclusion of Afghan women from the political, social, scientific, cultural, economic, sporting spheresn …, the The deprivation of education for Afghanist girls, the destruction of the administrative and political structure of the country, the killing of thousands of security forces of the previous regime, the horrific murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of civilians in Panjshir, the forced murder of Migration of Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks and handing over their homes to the Afghan people, maintaining and breeding thousands of dangerous terrorists, housing terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and similar groups.
There are reliable documents that at present almost all technical issues and tasks of the security and military departments are managed by Taliban forces, the Al-Qaeda organization and other world-famous terrorists. Since the absolute majority of Afghanistan’s Taliban are illiterate people who are unable to perform advanced military and intelligence work, most of their strategists are members of Al Qaeda and other extremist organizations. For him, killing people who think differently is a religious duty. At present, almost most of the world’s terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS … have a visible presence and carry out influential military and security activities in Afghanistan. In addition, the Taliban group has trained a large number of suicide bombers and makes relevant information public. The masterminds behind most of these deadly and suicidal trainings are Al Qaeda members, and their relationship is based on a strong bond and religious brotherhood. Currently, the presence of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan is an obvious fact, and a clear example is the assassination of the Al-Qaeda leader in Kabul on August 2, 2021.
The most dangerous thing is that the Taliban have taken over Afghanistan’s education system. In 2021, more than ten million students were teaching in schools in Afghanistan, with an increase of half a million per year. In addition, more than 500,000 people studied at universities. Currently, this huge number of pupils and students is available to the Taliban. T he education system under their rule – along with the necessities of life – will turn them into extreme Taliban. In view of the violent and xenophobic educational system and educational content of the Taliban, who regard a large part of the people as “infidels” and consider their killing obligatory , It goes without saying thatafter ten years of Taliban rule, the future world is threatened with an estimated 15 to 20 million attacks. In the end, millions of “suicide bombers” will be scattered around the world , creating a human catastrophe. But at that time, no power and government will be able to remove them completely.
Consequences of Afghan nationalism outside Afghanistan’s borders
Pashtuns orAfgans are an ethnic group living in southern Afghanistan as well as in the northwestern regions of Pakistan, i.e. on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In some cases, these areas are referred to as “Pashtunistan”. According to United Nations statistics from 2001, Pashtuns make up between 12 and 15 percent of Pakistan’s population. The social structure of Pashtun societies is formed by tribal divisions. They are divided into about 350 to 400 trunks. Another consequence of the nationalism of Tarzi and Shah Amanullah was the emergence of the Pashtun movement. This movement worked for the political unity of the Pashtun tribes and ethnic groups on both sides of the “Durand Border Line”. Ende des 19. In the nineteenth century, there was no country called Pakistan, and today’s geography of Pakistan was part of India and a British colony. At the end of September 1893, Henry Mortimer Durand, the Foreign Secretary of British India, signed an agreement with Amir Abdul Rahman Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan, to establish the eastern and southern borders of Afghanistan, known as the “Durand Border” in the “Durand Agreement” [7].
Later, during the Rawalpindi Treaty in 1919, the Durand border was permanently accepted by Amanullah Shah .[ 2] Before and after, the kings of Afghanistan repeatedly accepted this agreement. Then in 1947 the country of Pakistan was founded and this border between Pakistan and Afghanistan was internationally recognized and confirmed and signed many times by the Pashtun kings of Afghanistan .
Nevertheless, the Pashtun nationalists have made a territorial claim, contrary to international law and the agreements of the Pashtun kings, even the consent of the Pashtun tribal chiefs living in Pakistan. and seriously questions the territorial integrity of the country of Pakistan. In fact, this issue seriously affected relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan after the establishment of Pakistan. T he Pashtun nationalism wants to annex most of the territory of Pakistan to the territory of Afghanistan and make it an absolutely Afghan or Pashtun country by forming a Pastunian majority. This is a request that worries Pakistan greatly. For Pakistan has already experienced a division once:t he war of 1971 led to the separation of West Pakistan and the formation of a new country called Bangladesh.
Nevertheless, Pakistan is a multi-ethnic country, and if it loses part of its territory due to the territorial claim of Pashtun nationalism, the country of Pakistan will no longer exist. For this reason, Pakistan is very aware of the danger of Pashtun nationalism. It has been fighting it for almost seven decades. During seven decades of Pakistani rule, Afghan nationalism has repeatedly challenged Pakistan’s territorial integrity and made territorial claims.
During the reign of Muhammad Zahir Shah (1933 to 1973), relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan deteriorated, so that Afghanistan prepared for war with Pakistan. To crack down on Pakistan, the Afghan government has set up special organizations in Afghanistan and taken in tens of thousands of Pakistani armed opposition members and separatists in Afghanistan . At the same time, the Afghan government was preparing a military attack on Pakistan.
Sardar Mohammad Daud (1973-1978) founded and seriously supported separatist political parties in Pakistan. “He has sacrificed all of Afghanistan’s financial, spiritual and political energy for the Pashtunistan cause. In doing so, he brought the other ethnic groups of Afghanistan into the radius and caused ethnocentrism to strengthen the ethnic superiority of the Pashtuns”.
Amin Sayqal, professor at the Australian National University and editor of the book “Contemporary Afghanistan”, writes that Sardar Daud, the president of Afghanistan (1973-1978), wanted to imitate Germany’s Hitler and adopted Hitler’s saying ” one people, one nation and one person”. Führer”. This idea of Hitler fascinated Sardar Daoud very much. with the difference that for Sardar Daud “people” and “nation ” were the people of the Pashtuns and not all the people of Afghanistan. Therefore, from 1947 to 1980, Pakistan was constantly under pressure from the Afghan governments. The Pakistani government wantedto protect the territory, the national security of the country was threatened by the rulers of Afghan nationalism. The Afghan government terminated all agreements between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Economic and political relations between the two countries were broken off, and the Afghan government laid claim to all of Balochistan in addition to Pashtunistan and demanded that the Formation of North and South Pashtunistan from the northwestern regions and the state of Balochistan and their annexation to the territory of Afghanistan. The efforts of the Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia and the mediation of the American president were also unsuccessful. When the Soviet Union supported the Pashtunistan issue of its ally Dawood, the Afghan government, in addition to Pashtunism, supported all opposition movements of the Pakistani government.
With the establishment of the communist government in Afghanistan? The Pakistani Government has addressed the issue of Pashtunistawith more passion and intensity than before. After that, there was no stable government in Afghanistan, but the claim of Pashtunism was demanded most of the time among Pashtun nationalists.
Countermeasures by Pakistan
“Bhutto”, the president of Pakistan, entered into a dialogue with the Afghan government to resolve the dispute and made many efforts, but he was unsuccessful. Finally, Bhutto ordered Pakistani intelligence to organize covert operations in Afghanistan. Christian Fier quoted Khaled Mahmoud Aref (Deputy Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Army): In the book “Fight to the Last Breath; Pakistan Army’s Way of War,” he explained: ” A room for Afghanistan was established in the government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the members of the department held regular meetings for three years and formulated the necessary guidelines.” And finally , the Pakistani secret service still does not allow a powerful government to form again in Afghanistan and for Afghan nationalism to destroy Pakistan.
Normally, the strategy of cultivating extremist Islamist forces has played a prominent role in Pakistan’s foreign policy, and Pakistan uses these extremist forces as leverage against countries like India. , Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and many countries in Central Asia and the world. Dozens of extremist Islamist groups from different countries of the world are present and militarily active in the regions of Pashtunistan with the support of Pakistan.
Mr. Obama said that Pashtunistan is the most dangerous place in the world because the radical forces of Pakistan, Kashmir, Pashtuns, Al-Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Movement of Tajikistan , the East Turkestan movement, Hizb-ul-Tahrir and the radical currents of the border state of Chechnya, etc. are present in the Pashtun territories (2009, Nawaz).
According to the Pakistani authorities, there are about 30,000 religious schools in Pakistan, almost 50% of which have completely independent activities. Extremism and the spread of hatred are the main activities of these schools. On the other hand, the social and cultural background of Pashtun society is the most appropriate place to cultivate these currents and promote extremist ideas. For this reason, Pakistan has been trying for several decades to preserve the social structure of the Pashtun community in the same traditional state. Because maintaining this cultural structure helps Islamabad’s political goals a lot.
To prevent the influence of Pashtun nationalism, Pakistan began to strengthen and develop extremism in Afghanistan and implemented this idea with the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
On the other hand, the US and its allies perceived the communist regime in Afghanistan, which was supported by the Soviet Union, as threatening. For this reason, the United States, with the financial support of some Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, and with the strategic support of Pakistan, has intervened to counter the Russian invasion. They have created and supported numerous armed forces and sent them to Afghanistan to fight against Russia.
Pakistan, the main executor of this scenario, strengthened and promoted an ideological and extreme reading of violent Salafi and Deobandi Islam in order to incite people against communist rule, against many concessions. of America and the Arabs. By creating numerous extremist currents in Pashtunistan, this country has created the basis for the establishment and deployment of forces to Afghanistan. Pakistan has stirred up the people emotionally and it has fomented the spirit of a violent religious ideology in accordance with the tribal structure of Pashtun society in the body of “Pashtunwali culture”. It turned against the Soviet Union and overthrew the Afghan nationalist-communist regime.
In fact , what we experience today as Taliban is a mixture of “Pashtun Wali culture”, Pashtun nationalism and violent and extreme religious ideology that has been promoted in society.
Result
According to the above description, peace in Afghanistan is not possible without finding the root causes of the conflict. In order to find peace in Afghanistan, Afghanistan’s main problem must be recognized.
Surveys show that Afghan or Pashtun nationalism has been the main cause of conflict in Afghanistan for about a century. The ideas of ethnic nationalism include common fascist ideas, exclusivity and other antagonisms. Normally, ethnic nationalism is active in the axis of a certain ethnicity and aimed to eliminate other ethnic groups. Such developments havebeen and are associated with conflicts and wars in most countries of the world. Moreover, Afghan nationalism is an imitation that does not fit Afghanistan’s multi-ethnic society.
Despite the fact that Afghan nationalism is a “groundless and unfounded thought,” it strives extremely for totalitarianism and absolute domination by the Pashtuns on the one hand, and after the elimination of the absolute majority of non-Pashtun ethnic groups from the political structure of Afghanistan.
In this regard, on the one hand, the Afghan nationalists began to distort and falsify history in favor of the Pashtuns, and on the other hand, they began to distort the history, culture and values of others. Afghanistan’s ethnicity. Since Pashtun society is basically a tribal society and violence has structural and cultural roots in tribal societies , the idea of Pashtun nationalism is naturally of tribal cultural values. influenced. ABangladeshi nationalists have used extreme violence to achieve their ethnic goals.
In other words, Pashtun nationalism is inherently hostile because of its tribalculture. The relatives see the land as a “valley” that is only there for the cattle of their tribe and no one has the right to participate in it. If someone calls for partnership, this should be answered with blood and violence.
Therefore, the range of enemies of a tribe is very wide and anyone who does not share their ethnic and religious tribal values is considered their enemy.
Their view is based on four circles. 1- Those who are not of their tribe. 2- Those who do not belong to their religion. 3- Those who are not Pashtuns or Afghans. 4- Those whose religion and Beliefs are not theirs. Their punishment is permissible if they stand firm and if they resist, theirkilling is also permitted. When the Holy Spirit of religion is breathed into the body of this “hard faith” and this hard faith wears the garb of holiness, the killing of others, of “Kaffar ” or ” “Unbelievers”, from “Christianse n”, “Jews”, “Shia”, ” Tajiks, Hazara, Turks”, from “other tribes”, and of the “other sex”…) as an ethnic and religious duty. For this reason, more than a hundred people are killed in tribal conflicts every year. In this culture, womendo not yet have rights in any area. Women have no social, political status.
After all, Afghanistan’s political power from 1880 until today has been in the possession of Pashtun tribes, and they have taken many measures to eliminate non-Pashtun tribes and to give them other major It is not a question of causing damage. Killing people, deprivation of social and political rights, expropriation of land and property, forced migration… are one of the most obvious approaches. But Pakistan, as a foreign country, was able to confront and challenge Pashtun nationalism. Initially, the Pakistanis created a crisis in Afghanistan with the aim of defending their country against the territorial claims of the Pashtuns, but later, for economic and energy interests, Pakistan neglected the dimension of security and territory and related to its economic and energy needs from Afghanistan. After all, as a result of the behaviour of Afghan or Pashtun nationalists, the entire people of Afghanistan became their victims – perhaps most importantly, the Pashtun people themselves.
Suggestions
1- The idea of Pashtun or Afghan nationalism .
Pashtun or Afghan politicians and cultural leaders should know that the realization of this monopolistic idea in Afghanistan is not only not possible, but over the course of a century has destroyed all the country’s opportunities for peace, development and progress. Therefore, it is better to combat Afghan nationalism, respect the multi-ethnic and multicultural realities of Afghan society, and stop promoting and practising ethnic and religious violence, paving the way for a stable Afghanistan.
Actually, Afghan nationalism, based on the “Afghan/Pashtun ethnicity”, seeks the absolute elimination of non-Afghan ethnic groups, which make up a majority of 70% of the total population, and the absolute supremacy of the Pashtun people.
In addition to killing, maiming and displacing millions of people, this idea has brought the country closer to the stage of disintegration and destruction.
2- Promoting and realizing democratic values in Afghanistan
The promotion and realisation of democratic values at the political and cultural level can be a reasonable solution to Afghanistan’s problems. Afghanistan is a very multi-ethnic and multicultural society. In other words, the society of Afghanistan is a society of minorities. There is no ethnic majority of more than 50%. Therefore, the realization of democratic values can form the basis for the presence of all ethnic groups in the political structure of the country and ensure social justice in Afghanistan , as well as lead to public peace and tranquility.
3- Creation of a system of direct democracy like in Switzerland
As I said, since Afghanistan is a multi-ethnicstate, the system of direct democracy is very helpful for the political system of this country. This system distributes power at the local, regional and provincial levels, and the people are practically decision-makers.
The last word is that I try to collect material to compile a pamphlet about the political system of Switzerland for Afghanistan. If anyone can help me with that, I’m grateful.
Author: Shamsurahman Feruten.
