Reaction Paper #1

Afghanistan: Beginnings to Civil War (1700-1989)

Though seemingly convoluted at first glance, Afghanistan’s story has not changed much over the years. Ever since the dawn of modern times, the enlightenment in Europe, and the industrial revolution the underlying conflict governing all economic, political, and cultural aspects of the nation has been the question of modernity versus tradition. It’s this theme that governs the history of this historically rich, yet mysterious country. This paper attempts to break down each source into separate contingents of a complete story by approaching each part from five angles: Economics, Politics, Culture, Demography, and Geography. Only then can the complete picture of Afghanistan within the context of this overarching theme begin to be understood.

Part I- Readings

Colonial Afghanistan (1700-1947)

Afghanistan has a historically agrarian economy, despite the fact that even to this day only 12% of the land is arable.[i] This fact has been exploited as a weakness by superpowers since the dawn of colonialism because occupying land was equivalent to occupying the economy. However, subsistence farming in the feudal style is by definition solitary. No singly family unit is accountable to anyone except their feudal lord. This historical arrangement of hierarchy as well as of economics does not lend itself well to the centralized cultures of the western nations that would come to occupy Afghanistan. Because agriculture could not strongly fund any kind of government in Kabul, the Amir would play off superpowers against each other for monetary benefit. For example, at one point the Afghanis, in the process of negotiating with the British, hedged their bets and sent a diplomatic mission to Moscow to secure soviet support in case of conflict with the British.

                Imperialism has been the driving force of Afghanistan’s political history as well. Manifest destiny was a popular subject in both America and the United Kingdom in the 19^th century and in Russia in the early 20^th century. The idea that bigger is better with regard to territory was the accepted doctrine of the time, though having such a large and spread out bureaucracy would eventually be the cause of the collapse of colonialism. The British Empire is great proof of this phenomenon. Though the sun apparently never set on the empire, it eventually failed because it was too costly for so small a nation to oversee the governing and protection of so many territories. A key problem in the occupation of Afghanistan is that the British, Americans, and eventually the soviets all mistook Afghanistan for a nation, instead of only a state.

                Politically, Afghanistan was under the influence of the British, especially the provinces along the Durand line. This was the arbitrary border drawn by the British between Afghanistan and the British Empire in India[ii] , although some Pashtun tribes and other Muslim ethnic groups that had historically been in the sphere of influence of the Afghan monarchy fell on the British side of this line. This line also cut Afghanistan off from water making it land locked.  But despite this near theft of land, the Afghanis managed to play it to their advantage. Because these treaties were made with the Amir in Kabul, the independent tribes basically ignored the official line, and continued as before. In addition, the king secured money from the Brits in exchange for these territorial changes. In the Treaty of Gandamak signed in 1879, Afghanistan gave up several territories, but received 60,000 pounds annually for their sacrifice.[iii]

                This playing off of the superpowers, sometimes even against each other, such as the Brits fighting to keep the Afghans out of soviet influence exemplified Afghani independence as an integral part of their culture. The autonomy of the individual tribes and ethnic groups was fairly constant over this period, aside from occasional unrest in Kabul and Kandahar. Only the Pashtun elite really participated in the government, and all the government really did was levy the occasional tax. The individual tribes, led by local leaders or elders governed their small group of people the same as they had since the 1500s. In Kabul, the government was in an ongoing cycle of traditionalism and modernism with regard to their government. Abdur Rahman was a traditionalist despite his desire to unify Afghanistan, but his son and grandson were both modernists, though they contributed a varied amount to modernity. They had been educated in the western tradition and looked towards the west for political influence.

                Another common theme was that of the White Man’s Burden. Kipling’s famous poem gave the name to the common belief that it was the duty of the civilized to educate and reform the uncivilized. This was used as the justification for most colonial conquests by European and American powers throughout Africa, Asia, and the American frontier, particularly the British in India, and of course later in Afghanistan. However, though the British made serious impact in India with this philosophy (English is an official language of India), they made little headway in Afghanistan. There are likely several reasons for this phenomenon, but the most important one is probably the independence of the Afghani people, on an individual level and as isolated communities that could resist external influence for centuries, and remain to resist today. There are at least 20 different distinct ethnic groups that coexist in what is now Afghanistan.[iv] The vast majority of these groups are Muslim, but within that category there are multiple religious sects. Most of the internal conflict can be traced to religious disagreements. The unified country of Afghanistan is largely a construct of western propaganda.

                The practical problem with Afghanistan having such varied demographics is that they are all shoved together in an area roughly the size of Texas.[v] In addition, most of this space is taken up with the Hindu Kush Mountains and arid plains with limited drinking water or natural resources. Furthermore, during the colonial period, Afghanistan shared a border with the Russian (later Soviet) empire, China, British India, and the Ottoman Empire – an area of the world that was experiencing great turmoil during the 19^th and early 20^th century. The fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean War, Indian Independence, The Communist Revolution in China, and both World Wars all occurred during this period and all affected Afghanistan in various intensities.

                Modern Afghanistan (1947-1978)

                Leaders in the 20^th century began to take a new approach under western influence. Wanting to form stronger ties to the west for political reasons, the new leader Daoud turned to the USSR for financial help after the US declined to assist in generating a new Afghani economy.[vi] The Soviets built roads, grain silos, resulting in a very strong infiltration of the Kabul government. Seeing this, the US began to offer economic support as well. Playing the US and USSR off against each other brought a great deal of financial assistance to the Kabul government, but at the price of losing political control. The seeking of assistance from these superpowers unfortunately ended any hope of staying out of cold war conflict. As Rasanayagam says, “Its first victim was Afghan neutrality; its second, Afghan Independence”.[vii] The biggest issue that resulted in foreign involvement was the problem of Pashtunistan. Afghani conflict with Pakistan was the turning point that allowed the USSR to force Afghanistan into its sphere of influence with the promise of economic and military support. The economic result of all of this modernization and foreign money was centralization to a modest extent. But the lack of modernization still held back most bureaucratic initiatives. The simple problem of communication slowed down any government influence in the independent agricultural provinces. The economic and political influence of the West and the USSR inevitably led to cultural influence as well. Communism was being forced on to the Afghani people with considerable difficulty. Especially since the Kabul government had little or no mandate from the majority of Afghanis.

                This would change after Daoud Stepped down from office in 1963 and the new government decided to write a new constitution. The Loya Jirga, historically a group of Pashtun elite that served as advisors to the monarchy, was now the most representative group of Afghanis that had ever been established where a majority were illiterate farmers.[viii] Culturally, the small tribes had a well developed oral tradition because of the lack of formal education in most cases. This seeming disadvantage actually did have a positive outcome, however. Because the new constitution could not just be read and voted on, it sparked a great deal of verbal debate. More importantly, it was the first time the term “Afghan” was used to describe a citizen of Afghanistan. The cultural implications of this seemingly small change were great. Never before had there been any kind of national identity.[ix] The practical result of these debates was Afghanistan’s first socialist-leaning constitutional monarchy, which positively benefitted the economy even though the state still required a great deal of external financial assistance.

                The constitutional monarchy was overthrown by Daoud in 1973, in favor of democracy. Though this had a great many benefits, the future of Afghanistan would still be bleak. Weakness in leadership resulted in the abandonment of the Pashtunistan dream. The Durand line, which cut Afghanistan off from the sea, became the official international border. (However, the change to democracy and the overthrow of a system that looked like it might work was not the ultimate cause of the future revolution, the real cause had happened awhile before. The ultimate mistake was the abandonment of Afghan neutrality in exchange for economic and political assistance from the USSR and USA back in the 1950s. The cold war would turn Afghanistan into its battlefield at the expense of many lives  and their new effective political system, beginning with the communist Saur Revolution in 1978.[x]

Part II - Viewings             

“Soldiers of God”

The documentary Soldiers of God showed the impact of Soviet and US involvement in the Afghani civil war. Both countries provided support in different ways. The soviets, who had been directly involved in Afghani politics, were not afraid to hide their involvement and sent Afghani soldiers in the Soviet army to the front lines to fight the revolutionists. The US, whose sole aim was to prevent Soviet influence, subtly gave military assistance in the form of arms, communication devices, and training to the insurgents to help them fight of the Soviets. In retrospect, and even perhaps at the time it’s extremely clear that their involvement was only a new manifestation of the cold war, just as Vietnam had been in the early 70s.

Soviet involvement was resisted because communism was at odds with Islamic tradition. Universal equality very nearly offended the Muslim population, and was a main reason why the rebels went to war in the first place. Despite the differences in ethnicity, one unifying characteristic of the population of Afghanistan is their common belief in Islam. This served to unite the rebels of different groups to fight the Soviets together. The fact that Islam is a unifying force could have been utilized to strengthen the centralized government if not for the soviet infiltration of the government. Despite this, the documentary shows how ethnic issues were still pervasive in some ways. When arms were distributed, they were done so unequally, with certain ethnic groups favored. The war went on for nearly a decade, exemplifying how Afghanistan was the USSR’s Vietnam. It was a war that by definition could not be won, and most soviets had no desire to do so. The soviet propaganda machine could only work so hard. By the time Gorbachev came to power and established Glasnost and Perestroika, it was clear that there was virtually no support for the war and the Soviets eventually pulled out. This military failure was probably a key catalyst for the fall of the USSR. It showed the soviet people how their government was failing. 

Most Hated Family in America

The Phelps family and most people in the Westboro Baptist Church are middle class, but the church has a great deal of money that funds their videos, signs, and travel to protests. This is oddly ironic, considering that much of what they protest comes down to capitalism – the same capitalism that funds their protesting. Politically speaking, their beliefs are based on an opposition to the separation of church and state. This means that they believe the government should be enforcing biblical law, as seen in their opposition to homosexuality, Obama, and virtually everything. Culturally, they are religious fundamentalists and may be considered a cult, though whether or not the term applies may be ambiguous, depending on the definition of cult. There is no diversity in their group, though, a fact which does point to being cult-like. They are all white middle class, and almost all of them are born and raised in the Bible belt. The odd thing about this group is that they do not aim to recruit at all – they aim simply to get their message to the greatest amount of people. Also, ironically, they strengthen the people they attack, causing great rallies of support for gay rights wherever they protest. Recently, The Westboro Baptist Church picketed a Foo Fighter concert, and the band wrote and performed a song in front of the protest supporting gay rights. In general, the group is not successful at their aim; and they are getting taken less and less seriously the more they gain attention in the media.

Part III – Class Discussions

 Historiography (8/30, 9/6)

                Historiography refers to the actual act of recording and interpreting history. Because history is so interpretive, it is important to consider the historian and their interpretive style when analyzing the history itself. For example, Louis Theroux is atheist. This is important to know to understand the way he made his documentary about a fundamentalist Christian church. It is also worth noting that there are biases between east and west, and even in what areas of history are being focused on. In this paper, history was analyzed from 5 points of view: Economics, Politics, Culture, Demography, and Geography. Though these groups encompass most points of interest, it must be understood that they may overlook a certain aspect of an event that prevents a truly complete analysis. Even differences in time are important. Analysis in the retrospective is much different from analyzing the present. It is key to not let these biases affect a proper analysis of history.

Nationalism (9/13)

The most relevant definition of Nationalism as it applies to Afghanistan is, “the desire for national advancement or independence” (Dictonary.com). The distinct absence of this ideology in Afghanistan is key to their history, because it synonymous with imperialism and ethnocentrism in some cases. In the case of Afghanistan, their lack of nationalism is due to the varieties of ethnic groups and lack of a powerful centralized government. Though nationalism has a negative connotation for Afghanistan because it represents the imperialist governments that oppressed them for years, nationalism is not always negative. New Zealand’s rugby team, the All Blacks, is a source of national pride and is a unifying force for the country which has diverse ethnic backgrounds. Nationalism can powerful for good or evil; it is a force that must be harnessed correctly.

 Imperialist Ideology (9/20)

                Imperialism and colonialism governed most of international politics for over a century, and is largely responsible for both modernity in the third world and also civil war. It is almost always true that an occupying superpower holds its own western standards to the occupied country. This manifestation of ego on another country is usually damaging because it overlooks the culture and established systems that may already be present and functioning. In Afghanistan, British policies regarding the Afghani government assumed that it was one nation governed by the Amir in Kabul, when in fact the majority of the people were part of autonomous agricultural communities, and the government really only applied to the Pashtun elite. Had the British understood this, likely both they and the Afghanis would be better off. However, there are cases when this imperialist Ideology does some good. The infrastructure in Afghanistan, including roads, bridges, and tunnels, were nearly all funded by imperialist superpowers. Furthermore, Afghanistan has modernized somewhat since the involvement of the superpowers. If they had been left alone, they would not have access to better health care methods, drinking water, or education.

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[i] CIA World Factbook. August 23, 2011

[ii] Rasanayagam, “Afghanistan: A Modern History” pp. 10

[iii] Ibid, pp. 8.

[iv] Ibid, pp. xvi.

[v] CIA World Factbook, August 23, 2011

[vi] Rasanayagam, pp. 27

[vii] Ibid, pp. 29

[viii] Ibid, pp 38

[ix] Ibid, pp 39

[x] Ibid, pp 62