By
Cyrus Campbell and Bérengère Greenland
Key points:
Historical
overview of Afghanistan
The
Great Game - competition between Britain and Russia over Central Asia
Afghanistan
as an independent kingdom
Political
strife and attempts at liberalisation
Afghanistan
under communism
Taliban
rule
Since 2001, Afghanistan has featured
on our screen as a bloody front in the War on Terror. While the Taliban are
nothing if not famous, very few people could begin to explain who they are,
where they came from, or why New Zealand should have sent soldiers to fight
them. As foreign troops leave Afghanistan and the votes of the Presidential
election are counted, many commentators are looking ahead and considering what
the future holds for this war torn country. Instead, this article will look
backwards, and search for themes in Afghanistan’s history which may provide
some context for what comes next.
Afghanistan is situated on a
geo-political highway between east and west. The Hindu Kush mountain range
bisects the country from the southeast to the northeast and the passes in this
range have long given Afghanistan it strategic importance. These passes were
utilized by the Greeks, the Mongols, the Timurids and other groups throughout
history.[1] Today, the country remains ethnically diverse (Pashtuns (42%), the
Tajiks (27%), the Hazaras (9%) and the Uzbeks (9%)).[2] This ethnic and linguistic
diversity as well as the dividing effect of the Hindu Kush mountains prevented
Afghanistan from becoming an independent and unified country until the
mid-eighteenth century.[3]
Independent Kingdom
Prior to 1747, the Persian Empire
exercised extensive control over what is now Afghanistan. Independence from
Persia was declared following a meeting of various tribes near Kandahar (now
Afghanistan’s second city).[4] Early attempts at forming a central government
were hampered by tribal loyalties and poor communications. The economies within
Afghanistan remained localized and unindustrialized.[5] At the time Britain
occupied neighbouring territories in India and Pakistan. The British feared an
Afghan invasion of India in the late eighteenth century. Furthermore, the British recognized that
French and Russian influence in Central Asia could threaten British control of
the Orient and its colony in India. Consequently an East India Company agent in
Afghanistan (Mehdi Ali Khan) was tasked with fomenting civil war in the
country.[6]
From 1814 onwards, Russia’s growing
power in the Middle East alarmed the British. They regarded Afghanistan as the
frontier of India and aimed to prevent other European powers from engaging in
political or commercial activity there. To this end, the British intervened
militarily in Afghanistan and installed a puppet ruler: Shah Shuja.[7] The
British were unpopular with the Afghans who objected to proselytizing by
British missionaries and the involvement of British men with Afghan women. Shah
Shuja lost all support amongst the Afghans when it became clear that he was a
British puppet.[8] When British subsidies to the Afghan tribes were
discontinued in September 1839, the tribes cut off their contact with the
British-run government in Kabul.[9] The British suffered a crushing defeat at
the hands of the Afghans and were forced out of Afghanistan.
The second Anglo-Afghan war started
in 1878 after the British discovered that the Russians were sending emissaries
to Kabul. They once again invaded Afghanistan and established a British
protectorate that would remain in place until 1919. That year, King Amanullah
Khan came to power and launched yet another war with the British. The war ended
in a stalemate as the British were unable to continue fighting after the Great
War. Subsequently Afghanistan was completely independent from the British and
regained control over its foreign policy. Amanullah Khan signed a friendship
treaty with the newly formed Soviet Union thus establishing a special relationship
between the two countries that would last until 1979.[10]
Political strife
Over the course of the 20th century,
Afghanistan would have short periods of liberalisation that were often hampered
by opposition from religious and tribal leaders. King Amanullah Khan for
instance fought to make elementary education compulsory, permitted the
establishment of coeducational schools and abolished compulsory veiling for
women. However these reforms created unrest and opposition and he was forced to
abdicate in 1929 after a civil war broke out. Nadir Khan who took over power in
Afghanistan a year later chose to implement change in Afghanistan more
gradually. He introduced a new constitution that would appease religious
conservatives but also introduced elections for a National Council. Although the country had the appearances of a constitutional monarchy, in practice
it remained strongly oligarchic.[11] Despite his attempts to satisfy
conservatives, Nadir Khan was assassinated four years after ascending to power.
After Nadir Khan was assassinated
his son, Mohammed Zahir Khan, became Shah. For the first 30 years of his reign
he ceded power to his uncles who were successively nominated as prime
ministers. After the Second World War, Mohammad Zahir Shah’s Prime Minister
also tried to liberalise politics in Afghanistan. The 1949 elections for the
National Assembly were far less controlled than in the past and freedom of the
press was introduced.[12] However, the regime cracked down when its rule was
threatened. A more successful attempt at political liberalisation in the 1960s
gave extremist political parties, both communist and Islamic fundamentalist,
the freedom to engage in political activities and the opportunity to grow. This
culminated in a non-violent coup in 1973 that led to the abolition of the
monarchy and the establishment of a republic.
Under Communist rule
Another coup, this time a violent
one, saw the leftist People’s Democratic party of Afghanistan seize power with
Soviet backing. While they did instigate various modernizing reforms aimed at
promoting economic development and advancing the status of women, the government was extremely repressive, especially with regard to the Islamic
religion. Rural areas of Afghanistan were particularly opposed to the new
regime which soon sought and obtained Soviet military involvement in the
country. Religious and nationalist sentiments fuelled the rise of the
mujahedeen, Muslim resistance fighters bent on the defeat of the Soviets and
the removal of the secular, leftist government. The mujahedeen were armed by
the United States, as Americans saw an opportunity to defeat the Russians without
risking US lives. Once again, the Afghans paid the price for super-power
rivalries. When the Russians withdrew in 1989, they had lost 25,000 personnel
and had contributed to the deaths of approximately one million Afghans. What
followed was a brutal civil war during the early nineties as leaders of the
mujahedeen vied for power. The country descended into lawlessness.
Enter the Taliban. When we think of
the Taliban, we might associate them with lawlessness. After all, didn’t they
harbour the mass murdering leadership of Al-Qaeda? But the formation of the
Taliban was a response by conservative Pashtun religious leaders (such as
Mullah-Omar, the elusive, one eyed leader of the Taliban) to the lawlessness
which they saw around them. The Taliban took control of 90% of Afghanistan in
two years, a testament to the support or ambivalence of the war-weary Afghan
populace toward them. While the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam and
harsh repression led many inside and outside of Afghanistan to despise them,
one cannot ignore their rise to power and what it signifies. Namely, that the
Afghans desire security and stability. After being removed from power in 2001
by US-backed warlords, the Taliban regrouped in Pakistan’s tribal areas and
have come to control huge swathes of southern and eastern Afghanistan. The
Afghan government and the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force
have struggled to stabilize the country and establish effective central
government.
So where does the country stand
today? After more than a decade of foreign intervention, numerous groups
continue to fight the central government. We have seen that in Afghanistan’s
history, there has been consistent resistance to outside interference.[13]
President Karzai and his foreign backers have failed to establish a national
narrative which unites the Afghan people. Indeed, the association between
Karzai and foreign, non-muslim powers may have made this impossible. The future
President, which at the time of writing is likely to be former Prime Minister
Abdullah Abdullah [14], will take control of a fractious, dangerous and poor
country. Many see the withdrawal of foreign troops as a disaster in the making.
But with regard to Afghan history, we see that even when foreigners aim to
pacify Afghanistan, they tend to do the opposite. Therefore, as Afghans of all
ethnic groups and genders go to the polls to elect a new leader, one could be
forgiven for being cautiously optimistic.
[1] Arnold Fletcher, Afghanistan: Highway of Conquest (Cornell
University Press, New York, 1965) at 4.
[2] CIA “Afghanistan” (17 April
2014) CIA World Factbook < https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html>
[3] Vartan Gregorian, The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan
(Stanford University Press, California, 1969) at 10.
[4] Ibid, 46.
[5] Ibid, 52.
[6] Ibid, 93.
[7] Arnold Fletcher, Afghanistan: Highway of Conquest (Cornell
University Press, New York, 1965) at 90.
[8] Ibid, 100.
[9] Arnold Fletcher, Afghanistan: Highway of Conquest (Cornell
University Press, New York, 1965) at 101.
[10] Encyclopeadia Britanica, History of Afghanistan
[12] Ibid.
[13] Johnson, Robert. 2012. The afghan way of war: How and why they
fight. New York: Oxford University Press.