your name

Introduction to Afghanistan

The Kite Runner

By Khaled Hosseini

your name

The Road to Bamiyan, Afghanistan © 2008 Carl Montgomeryhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/carlmontgomery/3068056966

your name

Geography

• Landlocked and rugged- ¾ of the land is mountainous

• Smaller than Texas• Borders China, Iran,

Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

• Divided by high passes restricting travel- 72 hours by road from Jalabad to Peshawar before the tunnel

• Continental extremes in temperature- -25 to 46

your name

Afghanistan

your name

Ethnic Groups

your name

Ethnic and Religious Divisions

• Afghanistan is made up of many different ethnic and religious groups- Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara

• People of different races and faiths

• Islam is the main religion- divided into Sunnis and Shi’as

• Political rather than religious division

your name

Branches of IslamThe division between Sunnis and Shi'as is the largest

and oldest in the history of Islam.

• They both agree on the fundamentals of Islam and share the same Holy Book (The Qur'an), but there are differences mostly derived from their different historical experiences, political and social developments, as well as ethnic composition.

• These differences originate from the question of who would succeed the Prophet Muhammad as leader of the emerging Muslim community after his death. To understand them, we need to know a bit about the Prophet's life and political and spiritual legacy.

• When the Prophet Muhammed died in the early 7th century he left not only the religion of Islam but also a community of about one hundred thousand Muslims organised as an Islamic state on the Arabian Peninsula. It was the question of who should succeed the Prophet and lead the fledgling Islamic state that created the divide.

your name

Branches of Islam• The larger group of Muslims chose Abu Bakr, a close Companion

of the Prophet, as the Caliph (politico-social leader) and he was accepted as such by much of the community which saw the succession in political and not spiritual terms. However another smaller group, which also included some of the senior Companions, believed that the Prophet's son-in-law and cousin, Ali, should be Caliph. They understood that the Prophet had appointed him as the sole interpreter of his legacy, in both political and spiritual terms. In the end Abu Bakr was appointed First Caliph.

• Muslims who believe that Abu Bakr should have been the Prophet's successor have come to be known as Sunni Muslims. Those who believe Ali should have been the Prophet's successor are now known as Shi'a Muslims. It was only later that these terms came into use. Sunni means 'one who follows the Sunnah' (what the Prophet said, did, agreed to or condemned). Shi'a is a contraction of the phrase 'Shiat Ali', meaning 'partisans of Ali'.

your name

History• The area is ruled by warlords and

unstable due to conflict between rival ethnic groups- physical geography means establishing overall control is near impossible.

• Inequalities exist between ethnic groups- i.e. Hazaras are persecuted by Pashtuns and used in slavery

• 19th Century: British interests in the territory lead to the Anglo-Afghan war

• 20th Century- country is secular and forward thinking. Kabul is compare d to Paris. 1978- becomes a republic.

• Social, economic and political inequalities persist for the Hazara- e.g. in the 1940’s an exclusive Hazara tax was enforced.

your name

Hazara People• Of Mongol descent-

possibly from Gengis Khan

• Name means 1000- from military past

• Occupy mountainous areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran

• Hazarajat is main area of settlement in Afghanistan

• Secular (like most of country) until the late 1970’s

• Shi’a

your name

History Cont.• 1979- the new Republic courts left-wing

communist ideals• US are anti-communist- see

McCarthyism – as they fear the influence of Russia- the largest communist state

• US (and Pakistan) bankroll and support the right-wing and Sunni Mujahideen

• US use the Mujahideen to fight against Russia in the escalating Cold War

• Focus on young, Islamic fundamentalists

your name

Cold War

• Soviet Union intervene and send 100,000 troops to invade

• Afghanistan is an unstable patchwork of tribes who can’t agree on leadership

• Soviet occupation resulted in the killing of between 600,000 and 2,000,000 Afghanis

• More than 5,000,000 fled to Pakistan and Iran

your name

The Emergence of the Taliban

• Soviets realise the terrain has beaten them and withdraw in 1988, leaving a power vacuum

• Seen as a victory by the US and their Mujahideen. They leave the country to internal fighting to resolve the leadership crisis

• Elites and intellectuals flee the civil war as warlords battle for control

• 1994- 10,000 die in Kabul alone• The Taliban from the Mujahideen.

They finally take Kabul in 1996 and establish a state- The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

• By the end of 2000, they control 95% of the country and its resources

your name

7 year reign of terror• Taliban gain control of

unstable country through enforcement of strict Sharia law

• Restricted freedom• Communists punished• Cultural icons not Sunni

Islamic destroyed- e.g. Bamiyan Bhuddas

• Shi’as as seen as infidels and persecuted

your name

Living under the Taliban

•Sharia (Arabic: 'شريعة Šarīʿah) is the body of Islamic religious law. Sharia deals with many aspects of day-to-day life, including politics, economics, banking, business, contracts, family, sexuality, hygiene, and social issues.

• Privileges which women, by right, must have are equal education, job security, health services, and free time to rear a healthy generation for building the future of the country … Educating and enlightening women is now the subject of close government attention.”

your name

Living Under the Taliban• Muslims feel that Shariah has been misunderstood by Christians,

who have tended to concentrate on the demands for harsh punishments such as amputation of a hand or foot for theft and public flogging for people caught drinking alcohol.

• Under the Shariah laws in Afghanistan, the Taliban's religious police, formally known as the Department for Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, enforce the Shariah laws.

• For example, a man’s beard must be long enough to protrude from a fist clenched at the base of the chin. If it is not, he is subject to punishment.

• Women are not allowed to work in any field except the medical sector.

• Women should not go outside their residences with the exception of those working in the medical sector.

• It forbids women from wearing jewelry and make-up and from making noise with their shoes when they walk. If a woman does work outside the home, she is forbidden to sit beside the driver when traveling to and from work. Stylish dress and decoration of women is forbidden.

your name

Persecution of the Hazara• One the Taliban have turned

their focus from expelling the Soviets, they turn to Hazara ethnic nationalism

• Hazaras form the Northern Alliance, and try to defend themselves. Leader killed by Taliban in 1996. They are isolated from the world and targeted by the Talib state.

your name

Taliban Atrocities

“Hazaras are not Muslim, they are Shi’a. They are kafir (infidels). The Hazaras killed our force here, and now we have to kill Hazaras…If you do not show your loyalty, we will burn your houses, and we will kill you. You will either accept to be Muslim or leave Afghanistan…Wherever you go we will catch you. If you go, we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair.” 1998, Incitement of Vilence against Hazaras by Govenor Niazi.

your name

Mazar-i Sharif

August 8, 1997, as vengence for earlier ethnic conflict, Taliban massacre 8000 Hazaras

• Hundreds suffocated in crates• Shot in homes and on street• Hospital patients killed in their beds• House to house searches• Throats slit- “the Halal way”• Children packed into a crateNews leaks out a year later

your name

Present Day• Regime continues• 2001 Taliban refuse to

hand over Bin Laden and West invades

• 2001 Shi’as kill 2000 Pakistani Sunni soldiers left behind by the fleeing Taliban- in Mazar-i Sharif

• War continues in present day but Taliban influence is much reduced, much of country is released from Taliban rule and is a democracy