“For too long the dominant narrative surrounding Afghanistan has been trapped in the idea of its conquest, taming and manipulation by those who seek to control it. Images of violence and catastrophe almost always prevail. The inference in all these images is one of a nation far too hostile and foreign, too ‘other’, to engage with, or a wasteland to be pitied. And, though it is true that many Afghan people have suffered over generations, the reasons for this suffering are intimately linked to prevailing narratives that consign and reduce the region, and the people in it, to a position that is distant and irreconcilable.”
Durkhanai Ayubi[1]
I am writing this blog from my own position of privilege, I am an educated white male living in an affluent country and I enjoy the conveniences from that affluence. I acknowledge my privilege and that I can only speak from my own perspective and my own experiences. I do not profess to understand the experience of those without the privilege I have, especially the Afghanistan people who have suffered at the hands of war, conflict and violence for the last 42 years. I do not profess to be an expert on Afghanistan, or imperialism for that matter, but I have spent many hours learning what I can and trying to gain an understanding on how we got to the situation that has played out over the last few weeks.
This blog has been primarily inspired by reading ‘Parwana’, a wonderful book written by Durkhanai Ayubi. It was at Adelaide Writers Week earlier this year when I first heard of this book and where I had the privilege to hear Durkhanai speak. Parwana has been instrumental in my learnings about Afghanistan and the story of its people, and this book will be referenced and quoted regularly in this story. I love books such as Parwana, which not only details a family history, as well as the history of Afghanistan, but also contains many of their family recipes of traditional Afghan cuisine. This is similar to another book I purchased several years ago by Joanne Toscano called ‘Toscano’s Family Table’, which details their family history and migration story to Australia as well as many of their delicious traditional Italian recipes. These books highlight how important food is for creating understanding and appreciation for all the cultures that make up humanity and I may touch on my thoughts on the importance of food later in this blog.
Please read this blog in the spirit it was shared; with love, compassion and a desire to learn. I wish to state that in no way am I wanting to impose myself on others with my writing but I feel a deep desire to share my thoughts and inspirations with whoever may be reading this and I am very grateful that you are, I warmheartedly wish you all the very best.
My aim is to improve myself and strive to be better each day. Writing is one way I am trying to meet this aim and it is one way I can contribute towards my wish to live in a society that sustainably exists within our planetary limits and that has a loving heart at its core. Hopefully my writing will go some way to showing why this is important and how we can achieve this.
I hope my words inspire some understanding and reflection and above all, some hope. So without further ado, here is my blog about Afghanistan.
The recent news coming from Afghanistan due to the American and Allies (including Australia) withdrawal coupled with the rise of the Taliban who have now taken control of the country has raised many questions, thoughts and feelings of heartache within me. Reflecting on it all has reinforced the notions of the futility of war and the arrogance of imperialism.
The people never win a war, no matter what side you are on.
Before I try to get my head around the implications and learnings from the recent events in Afghanistan, I think it is important to get an appreciation for the country and its history, which as I have learned recently, is extremely interesting and quite pertinent for us all when considering what sort of future we wish to create for humanity.
“Historically and geographically positioned as a witness to the ebb and flow of shared cultural evolution, Afghanistan serves as an icon of this cross pollination, now largely forgotten, that underpins the human story.”
Durkhanai Ayubi[2]
Afghanistan has a population of around 39 million, of which approximately 46% are under 15 years of age and 74% of all Afghans live in rural areas. It is located at a strategic crossroads between West and East with the Kyber Pass within the Hindu Kush mountains being one of the most important strategic locations in the world. Afghanistan is a land locked country, bordered by Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China and Pakistan.
It is estimated that the first humans to inhabit the Afghan region did so some 50,000 years ago. These people were probably attracted by the many rivers and fertile valleys that traverse this extremely mountainous region. By 7000 BC farmers and herders settled in the foothills of the Hindu Kush making this one of the first places where animals and plants were domesticated. Given the isolating nature of the terrain, distinct cultures evolved in each of the valleys so for most of its history, Afghanistan was not a single country but an assortment of cultures each with their own gods, languages and customs. Hence today, Afghanistan is made of many distinct ethnic groups including the Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbeks, Nuristanis, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch and others.
Afghanistan, for its impenetrability and for the failed attempts at its conquest by many foreign powers, has long been known as the ‘graveyard of empires’. Afghanistan has had several great empires that rose and fell on its lands – Achaemenid Persians, the Greeks of Alexander the Great, Mauryans of India, Turkic Tribes, the Mongols of Genghis Khan, the British, the Soviets and more recently the Americans and its Allies. For thousands of years, this pathway from West to East has been in a state of flux, punctuated with periods of conflict and episodes of peace and prosperity. The period that brought the most prosperity was between around 1000 and 1500 when the Silk Road was at its peak. Cities such as Bactra, Herat and Kabul grew rich on the thriving trade the Silk Road brought.
“The region today known as Afghanistan was a landscape in which many great civilisations met and metamorphosed through cultural integration. This was the meeting place of empires; as cultures melded together and evolved in proximity, Afghanistan gave birth to the new.”
Durkhanai Ayubi[3]
Throughout, the people of Afghanistan managed to create art, traditions of hospitality, poetry, spiritual experiences, and beautiful places. The town of Bactra (now known as Balkh) is recognised as the birthplace of Zoroastrianism which is the world’s first monotheistic religion and regarded as the precursor for today’s major religions. Later, during the reign of Ashoka the Great[4] from 269-232 BC Buddhism spread across Afghanistan. The Buddhas of Bamiyan were perhaps the most famous cultural landmarks of the region and they can be seen in the title picture for this blog. The smaller Buddha, called ‘Shahmama’, stood 38 metres and was built around 570 AD and the larger Buddha, called ‘Solsol’ measured 55 metres in height and was built around 618 AD. Despite the site being listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site the Taliban decided to destroy them in 2001.
One of my favourite poets is the mystic, Rumi who was born in 1207 and spent his childhood living in the towns of Balkh and Samarqand before his family migrated to Anatolia in Turkey to get away from the impending invasion by Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes who were making their way into central Asia at the time. Balkh was a major centre of Persian culture and Sufism had been developing there for several centuries.
“Rumi’s verses, dedicated to otherworldly love and entrenched in a deep mysticism derived from Sufism, endure as one of the most widely celebrated bodies of eastern poetry in the world.”
Durkhanai Ayubi[5]
Rumi believed in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God. It was from his ideas that the practice of the whirling Dervishes developed and upon his death in 1273, his followers and his son, Sultan Walid, founded the Mevlevi Order, also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes, famous for the Sufi dance known as the Sama ceremony. Sama represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love. A participant in this journey turns towards truth, grows through love, abandons ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the Perfect and returns from this journey with greater maturity, to love and be of service to all of creation without discrimination. Such an approach and outcome seems very pertinent when considering modern day Afghanistan, let alone the rest of the world. I could probably write a whole blog just on Rumi but instead I will just share a few of my favourite verses of his here.
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.”
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
The trait that draws me most to the people of Afghanistan is their hospitality and food. Food is rarely served as individual portions but is usually served on large platters from which everyone helps themselves. Alongside these platters would be an assortment of accompaniments of pickles, preserves, chutneys, vegetables, yoghurts and naan. The mixture of local and introduced ingredients has created an Afghan cuisine that is both familiar and unique and is comparable to our shared human evolution. Aside from the offering of food, the belief in hospitality is embedded in a spirit of servitude with guests treated with the utmost care and attention, ensuring the guest leaves with a sense of dignity greater than when they arrived.[6]
This focus on hospitality has developed over thousands of years and is best described by Durkhanai Ayubi when she wrote, “Given the long history of Afghanistan at the heart of the Silk Road – a place where many guests proclaimed themselves messengers of divinity, or were merchants and traders with riches to share, it is easy to see why the custom of hospitality has become so deeply engrained in the genetics of Afghans.”[7]
This hospitality was experienced by travelers who embarked on the ‘hippie trail’. The hippie trail was the name given to the overland journey that was popular amongst alternative types from the mid 1950’s to the late 1970’s. The journey generally started in Western Europe, passed through Istanbul in Turkey and then went through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and onto India and Nepal. The Afghans were welcoming of these westerners and are remembered for their great sense of fun.
Herat was considered the first stop of the hippie trail following the more oppressive regimes in Iran and Turkey with Kabul at the heart of the trail in Afghanistan. Hippie hotels, coffee and smoke shops and other hangouts sprang up on what was known as Chicken Street in Kabul. Travellers also ventured to the cliffs of Bamiyam to see the giant Buddha statues.
Another attraction of the hippie trail in Afghanistan was its cannabis, which has grown wild in this region for millennia. The Hindu Kush and Afghani landraces are renown among cannabis users and would have been sought after by these alternative travellers in the 1960’s and 1970’s, as well as the legendary strain of hash called ‘Mazar’. These travellers may have also sought out opium which has been grown and traded in some provinces of Afghanistan for over 4,000 years.
So now I’d like to explore the current situation in Afghanistan which is marked by 42 years of conflict which really started back in 1979 with the Soviet invasion. But firstly, to get an appreciation of the impact of imperialism on Afghanistan I’ll go back to the 19th century and the first Anglo-Afghan war which started in 1839.
As mentioned, Afghanistan is located in a strategic location vital for access from West to East and in the 1800’s it found itself trapped between two empires, Russia to the north and British India to the east. This period of the 19th century and the relationship between Russia and Britain was known as the ‘Great Game’.
In 1839 the British invaded Afghanistan and initially they did not meet any resistance from the Afghans. During their occupation the British deposed Dost Mohammed and installed Shah Shujah to the throne. However, the Afghans weren’t too happy that the British occupied their land and in 1842 the British were forced to retreat from Kabul and were almost annihilated in the process. Whilst the British returned later that year to avenge the destruction of their previous forces and recover their prisoners, they withdrew by the end of the year learning that occupying Afghanistan was not a good idea. In similar fashion to the Taliban today, Dost Mohammed returned from exile and resumed his rule once the British had left. The significance of the initial Afghan defeat of the British is it was the only time during the 19th Century that a non-colonial power was able to see off a modern westernised army and, in the process, completely destroyed them. This was at a time that the British empire was at the height of its powers.
The British invaded again 1878 and whilst they eventually prevailed, they did suffer several defeats. One of the most notable being the Battle of Maiwand in July 1880. This battle is remembered by the Afghans for the actions of Malalai of Maiwand who is a national folk hero. Like many Afghan women, Malalai was there to help tend to the wounded and provide water and spare weapons however upon noticing that the Afghan forces were struggling she took the Afghan flag and inspired their forces to redouble their efforts and they eventually won the battle. Unfortunately, she lost her life at the battle. Her story is now taught in Afghan schools and there are many schools, hospitals and other institutions named after her. You may also know of Malala Yousafzai, commonly just referred to as ‘Malala’ who became well known for her activism for female education in Pakistan and is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She was named after Malalai of Maiwand. Given the rise of the Taliban and their disrespect and oppression of woman the stories of Malalai and Malala and their bravery and activism are very pertinent.
In 1893 the Durand Line was created by the British which is the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although the Durand Line is internationally recognised as the western border of Pakistan, it remains largely unrecognized by Afghanistan. Established towards the close of the British-Russian “Great Game”, the resulting line established Afghanistan as a buffer zone between British and Russian interests in the region. The line, as slightly modified by the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, was inherited by Pakistan in 1947, following the partition of India.
For me, the above events of the 18th century are indicative of the paranoia of empire and imperialism and how the people of a land, in this case Afghanistan, are treated with disrespect and seen as the ‘other’; and less worthy, how else could we regard war and conflict as a ‘game’. The arrogance of just imposing a border in this region without any regard for the ethnic and cultural make up is also astounding. The border effectively split the Pashtun people in half and as it is, the border doesn’t mean anything to these people. Approximately half the population of Afghanistan is Pashtun but around 40 million Pashtuns now live in Pakistan. This border is regarded one of the most dangerous places in the world and the movement of Pashtuns across this border is one of the reasons it is very hard to impose any central control over the people as we have found over the last 20 years. However, reflecting on this further, it wouldn’t surprise me if splitting the Pashtuns was a deliberate attempt to create instability in this region, similar to what the British and French did when deciding the create the countries of the Middle East after WWI whereby the borders create a situation where different ethnic groups are contained in each country with the result being a region that has been subject to instability and conflict ever since.
Fast forward to 1979 and it is now the turn of the Russians to invade Afghanistan. In 1978 the Saur Revolution occurred in Afghanistan which brought a communist regime to power. They initiated a series of radical modernisation and land reforms throughout the country however these reforms were very unpopular among the conservative rural population. The new regime vigorously suppressed opposition and executed thousands of political prisoners which led to the rise of anti-government armed groups which were collectively called the Afghan Mujahideen. The Soviets didn’t want to look weak so came to the support of the new regime, initially planning to secure towns and roads, stabilise the government and withdraw within six months or a year. But they were met with fierce resistance from the Mujahideen, who were backed by the Americans who thought this would be a good way to undermine the Soviets. The war lasted nine years and dealt the Soviets a massive blow with the war contributing towards the dissolution of the Soviet Union and ending the Cold War.
Following the withdrawal of the Soviets, the country suffered further civil wars. In 1994, an Islamic militia, the Taliban formed, they were supported by Pakistan and apparently still are. By 1996 most of Afghanistan was captured by the Taliban who then went on to rule most of the country as a totalitarian regime for the next 5 years. Initially, most Afghans, exhausted by years of drought, famine and war approved of the Taliban who upheld traditional Islamic values and were happy with the crackdown on crime in particular. However, their harsh enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law resulted in the brutal treatment of many Afghans, especially woman who were unable to work or be educated and had to be fully veiled and always accompanied by a male when in public. The Taliban also banned music, television, filming, the internet, most forms of art such as painting and photography, participation in sport, recreational activities such as flying kites as well as keeping pigeons and other pets.
The 9/11 terrorist attack on America in September 2001 was the catalyst for the American invasion of Afghanistan and they had immediate success as by December that year the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were pretty much defeated bringing a feeling of optimism to the country with the opportunity for peace and prosperity. However the Americans and its allies stayed in the country with the aim to help rebuild the nation however other actions such as setting up the Guantanamo Bay Prison so the Americans could imprison people while removing all their rights and torturing them, invading Iraq on the basis of lies, enabling the creation of a kleptocracy in Afghanistan, mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib as well as soldiers disrespecting dead Afghan bodies and killing civilians, especially through drone strikes, all encouraged the radicalisation of the population against the occupying forces which played into the hands of the likes of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban.
As mentioned earlier, there is a lot of movement across the Afghan and Pakistan border and the Taliban were able bide their time and regroup in Pakistan (actually many of the current Taliban leaders spent time at Guantanamo Bay) while the Americans and their allies continued to occupy Afghanistan and essentially overstayed their welcome.
“If we are to have any hope of leading the world away from the callous social systems of extremists then we have to start thinking much more carefully about people’s hearts and people’s minds. Making enemies by refusing shelter and refuge, by torturing prisoners and executing bystanders in the heat of war, by ignoring cultural norms and by abandoning our friends, is surely the most expedient way of losing their hearts and their minds”
Ben Quilty[8]
The mood of some of the Afghan people is encapsulated by Gulbuddin Hekmatyer a former Mujahideen Leader when he said, “What’s the difference between the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the American occupation? Is there a difference? Can we call that one an occupation but not this one? Afghans are fighting the US presence in Afghanistan with the same motivation that they did the Soviets. There’s no difference between the two jihads. There’s no difference between the two occupations. There is no difference between the two resistances against the occupation. Yesterday, they called us freedom fighters. But when we do the same thing today, they call us their enemies and they call us terrorists.”
The American war in Afghanistan was its longest and lasted almost 20 years and in a repeat of history again, the Taliban, the regime that the Americans sought to remove, have now taken back the country even before the last of the American troops had left.
The American response to 9/11 has really set the stage for perpetual war. The US President, be it Bush, Obama or Trump, has used their power under the ‘Authorization for Use of Military Force’, which was given by Congress in 2001 to defeat Al-Qaeda, 41 times in 19 countries not related to 9/11. It makes me wonder who are the actual terrorists in this world? Over the last several centuries the world has seen colonialism and imperialism on a scale never seen before. Prior to the American rise as a superpower the British Empire had invaded over 120 countries across the world, 61 of which celebrate the day the British left and they gained independence again. There appears to be no one in this whole mess who can take any morale high ground.
I included a quote earlier in this blog that says, “The people never win a war, no matter what side you are on” and the recent experience in Afghanistan is a poignant example of this. For the Afghans, millions have died since 1979 and several millions more have become refugees having fled the country. Many homes, businesses, villages and towns have been destroyed. For the Americans 2,400 have died with 50,000 wounded. For the Australians 41 of our soldiers died and 261 were wounded. I am finding it hard to find words to express my dismay and heartache for these people and their families and I cannot but think that the events of the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan coupled with the rise again of the Taliban will make many of those that served to ask the question, was it worth it? I am asking myself that question and my heart goes out to all the people of Afghanistan as well as our soldiers and their families. I am proud of our soldiers and I believe that the majority did the best they could to help the Afghan people. It is our politicians that lost this war and I hope they will be more wary before sending our people into a war again.
“Rather than a narrative of domination of one culture over another, perhaps the human story is better defined as a great exchange – at times in violence and conflict, but also in admiration and the adoption of ideas and philosophies.”
Durkhanai Ayubi[9]
I hope that our intense motivation towards hate, revenge and honour will end and maybe the experience of Afghanistan may be the catalyst for this to occur. Love should be the only response and no peace can ever be truly achieved through the use of guns and weapons. For humanity, our most important ambition should be to strive for ever lasting peace and I hope this becomes our number one motivation for our world. For this to occur we need to pack our egos away, forget about power and wealth and just be humane.
To wrap this blog up I want to return to some earlier thoughts about culture and food. The arts, culture, music, food, these are the things that give society its soul and its beauty. Whilst the essence of a healthy society is diversity, we should always remember that our similarities far outweigh our differences and one of the best ways to realise this is by sharing a meal and opening our minds to other perspectives and ideas. Before we dismiss the Afghan people as too hostile, or foreign, or other, perhaps we should try to imagine life in their shoes and contemplate how we would feel if Afghanistan was our home.
The Afghanistan story has been riddled by tragedy and conquest, but also times of peace and prosperity. I pray the Afghans can enjoy peace and prosperity again and we should do whatever they might need us to do to help them achieve it.
If you wish to make a contribution towards helping the Afghan people here is a LINK to a fundraiser started by Ben Quilty.
If you wish to learn more about Afghanistan, I thoroughly recommend Durkhanai Ayubi’s book, Parwana. I also recommend the documentaries, ‘Great Game – Part 1’ and ‘Great Game Part 2’ which can be found on YouTube. There is also a documentary recently released on Netflix called ‘Turning Point – 9/11 and the War on Terror’. For a quick summary of the history of Afghanistan there is ‘The History of Afghanistan Summarized’ which can be found on YouTube.
[1] Ayubi, D., 2021, ‘Parwana’, page 9
[2] Ayubi, D., 2021, ‘Parwana’, page 12
[3] Ayubi, D., 2021, ‘Parwana’, page 12
[4] Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, who ruled over the Indian subcontinent from 268 to 232 BCE. A grandson of the Maurya dynasty’s founder Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka promoted the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. Considered by many to be one of India’s greatest emperors, Ashoka expanded Chandragupta’s empire to reign over a realm stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. H.G. Wells wrote, “Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history, their majesties and graciousnesses and serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name of Ashoka shines, and shines, almost alone, a star.”
[5] Ayubi, D., 2021, ‘Parwana’, page 15
[6] Ayubi, D., 2021, ‘Parwana’, page 19
[7] Ayubi, D., 2021, ‘Parwana’, page 19
[8] Quilty, B., 2021, ‘Australia entered Afghanistan as bullies and left as cowards, but we, the people, can do better’, here is a link.
[9] Ayubi, D., 2021, ‘Parwana’, page 12