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The historical dictionaries present essential information on a broad range of subjects, including American and world history, art, business, cities, countries, cultures, customs, film, global conflicts, international relations, literature, music, philosophy, religion, sports, and theater. Written by experts, all contain highly informative introductory essays of the topic and detailed chronologies that, in some cases, cover vast historical time periods but still manage to heavily feature more recent events. Brief A–Z entries describe the main people, events, politics, social issues, institutions, and policies that make the topic unique, and entries are cross-referenced for ease of browsing. Extensive bibliographies are divided into several general subject areas, providing excellent access points for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more. Additionally, maps, photographs, and appendixes of supplemental information aid high school and college students doing term papers or introductory research projects. In short, the historical dictionaries are the perfect starting point for anyone looking to research in these fields.
HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF ASIA, OCEANIA, AND THE MIDDLE EAST Jon Woronoff, Series Editor Guam and Micronesia, by William Wuerch and Dirk Ballendorf. 1994. Palestine, by Nafez Y. Nazzal and Laila A. Nazzal. 1997. Lebanon, by As’ad AbuKhalil. 1998. Azerbaijan, by Tadeusz Swietochowski and Brian C. Collins. 1999. Papua New Guinea, Second Edition, by Ann Turner. 2001. North Korea, by Ilpyong J. Kim. 2003. Cambodia, by Justin Corfield and Laura Summers. 2003. Iraq, by Edmund A. Ghareeb with the assistance of Beth K. Dougherty. 2004. Saudi Arabia, Second Edition, by J. E. Peterson. 2003. Nepal, by Nanda R. Shrestha and Keshav Bhattarai. 2003. Kyrgyzstan, by Rafis Abazov. 2004. Syria, Second Edition, by David Commins. 2004. Indonesia, Second Edition, by Robert Cribb and Audrey Kahin. 2004. Republic of Korea, Second Edition, by Andrew C. Nahm and James E. Hoare. 2004. Turkmenistan, by Rafis Abazov. 2005. Philippines, Second Edition, by Artemio Guillermo. 2005. Thailand, Second Edition, by Harold E. Smith, Gayla S. Nieminen, and May Kyi Win. 2005. New Zealand, Second Edition, by Keith Jackson and Alan McRobie. 2005. Vietnam, Third Edition, by Bruce Lockhart and William J. Duiker. 2006. India, Second Edition, by Surjit Mansingh. 2006. Burma (Myanmar), by Donald M. Seekins. 2006. Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR, by Ming K. Chan and Shiu-hing Lo. 2006. Pakistan, Third Edition, by Shahid Javed Burki. 2006. Iran, Second Edition, by John H. Lorentz. 2007. People’s Republic of China, Second Edition, by Lawrence R. Sullivan. 2007. Taiwan (Republic of China), Third Edition, by John F. Copper. 2007. Australia, Third Edition, by James C. Docherty. 2007. Gulf Arab States, Second Edition, by Malcolm C. Peck. 2008. Laos, Third Edition, by Martin Stuart-Fox. 2008. Israel, Second Edition, by Bernard Reich and David H. Goldberg. 2008. Brunei Darussalam, Second Edition, by Jatswan S. Sidhu. 2010. Malaysia, by Ooi Keat Gin. 2009. Yemen, Second Edition, by Robert D. Burrowes. 2010. Tajikistan, Second Edition, by Kamoludin Abdullaev and Shahram Akbarzadeh. 2010. Mongolia, Third Edition, by Alan J. K. Sanders. 2010. Bangladesh, Fourth Edition, by Syedur Rahman. 2010. Polynesia, Third Edition, by Robert D. Craig. 2011.
Singapore, New Edition, by Justin Corfield. 2011. East Timor, by Geoffrey C. Gunn. 2011. Postwar Japan, by William D. Hoover. 2011. Afghanistan, Fourth Edition, by Ludwig W. Adamec. 2012. Philippines, Third Edition, by Artemio R. Guillermo. 2012.
Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan Fourth Edition Ludwig W. Adamec
The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2012
Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2012 by Ludwig W. Adamec All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Adamec, Ludwig W. Historical dictionary of Afghanistan / Ludwig W. Adamec. — 4th ed. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8108-7815-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-7957-7 (ebook) 1. Afghanistan—History—Dictionaries. I. Title. DS356.A27 2012 958.1003—dc23 2011020528 ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America
To Rahella
Editor’s Foreword Few countries have as much history to both boast of and regret as Afghanistan. Part of this is due to repeated conflicts and quarrels between the various peoples making up a rather heterogeneous state. But much has been imposed from the outside, as the country was conquered by neighboring kingdoms and also attacked them over the vast span of 3,500 years. More recently, Afghanistan has been drawn into the imperial rivalry between Great Britain and Russia, with the Soviet Union taking over from the latter and then the United States and United Nations taking over from the former—liberating or dominating it yet again, depending on your point of view. Of course the Afghanis have not been quiescent during these periods, fighting back against their oppressors or allying with the latest great power as they see fit, even if it pits one segment of the population against another. The most recent examples of this are the Taliban and Hamid Karzai’s government, which explains why of all the volumes in this series none has shown more change and needed more updates than the Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. The new fourth edition has been substantially expanded because so much has taken place in such a short period of time. The introduction provides an overview, while numerous details are contained in the chronology. The most important changes, however, have been made to the dictionary section, with hundreds of added or substantially revised entries on important people, places, events, institutions, practices, ethnic and religious groups, political parties, and Islamist movements, as well as significant aspects of Afghanistan’s politics, economy, society, and culture. There are also more appendixes. As always, the bibliography is extremely important, since it directs readers to more specialized works on a variety of topics. The author of this fourth edition also wrote the first three, a definite plus in maintaining consistency and identifying the necessity for new additions. Professor Ludwig W. Adamec is one of the leading authorities on Afghanistan, which he visits periodically. Now professor emeritus, he taught Near Eastern studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson for more than 30 years and was director of its Near Eastern Center for 10 years. During his long career, he has commented extensively on Afghanistan politics, foreign relations, and society in his lectures and writings. He has written numerous articles and several books, including a historical gazetteer and biographical dictionaries. In related series he has also contributed the Historical Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies and the Historical Dictionary of Islam. Dr. Adamec’s abiding interest in one of the world’s most newsworthy countries is clearly revealed here and offers his latest take on the continuing and not always readily comprehensible history of Afghanistan. Jon Woronoff Series Editor
Reader’s Notes ALPHABETIZATION AND SPELLINGS Names beginning with Abdul (A., abd-al, “servant” or “slave”) followed by one of the names of Allah (God), as for example Abdul Ahad (Servant of the One) or Abdul Hakim (Servant of the Wise), form a unit and should not be taken as first and last names. Abdul Hakim will therefore be found under A not H. Similarly, the name of Ghulam (A., “slave”) and its complement, as for example Ghulam Muhammad, is found under G not M. Compounds with Allah, like Fazlullah (Fazl Allah), Nurullah (Nur Allah), and Habibullah (Habib Allah), will be found in alphabetical order under their compound versions. Although not forming a construct, Afghan practice considers names beginning with Muhammad, as for example Muhammad Daud, Muhammad Afzal, etc., one unit; therefore the names will be found under M. The arrangement of entries in alphabetical order treats headings as if they were one word, disregarding punctuation marks; for example, Afghani is preceded by Afghan Hound and followed by Afghan Interim Government. Muhammadi is preceded by Muhammad Hashim and followed by Muhammad Ishaq, and Tanai, Lieutenant General Shah Nawaz is preceded by Tanai Coup. Names of individuals are spelled in a modified form of transliteration, even if the person described has his own idiosyncratic spelling; for example Cher Ali, or Scher Ali, is spelled Shir Ali; Kayeum and Kayum are spelled Qayyum; and Abaucy is Abbasi. Variant spellings of names are cross-listed. Titles and honorifics are not included in the entry headings, except in the case of medical doctors. STATISTICS Population statistics are estimates amounting to about 26 million people. No complete census has been taken in Afghanistan; therefore we depend on estimates by the United Nations and other sources. Measurements are mostly in the British rather than the metric system. The population of Afghan towns and cities has fluctuated as a result of war and movement of internal refugees, contributing to an increase in urbanization. NOMENCLATURE Afghan rulers of the Sadozai branch of the Durranis (1747–1818) held the title shah, “king,” but the succeeding Barakzai rulers were known as amirs, which means “chief, prince, commander,” as well as “king.” Amanullah assumed the title king in 1926; in order to avoid referring pedantically to Amanullah’s title at a particular time, I have employed the appellation of “King” throughout. REFERENCES
Cross-references within each entry are indicated in bold or are appended to the end of the entry as See also. A straight reference to another entry (without any text) is indicated with a See cross-reference. SCOPE The purpose of this volume is to provide a concise reference work on Afghanistan, including entries on major historical events, including places, leading personalities—past and present— and significant aspects of culture, religion, and economy. The focus is on the political history of contemporary Afghanistan. The reader who desires more extensive biographical information may refer to this author’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Afghanistan (2008). Additional information on tribes, places, rivers, mountains, and other geographical features can be found in this author’s six-volume Historical and Political Gazetteers of Afghanistan (1975–1985). An updated bibliography lists recent publications about Afghanistan. The lack of security during decades of war has prevented extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan; therefore, many older publications are still indispensable.
Acronyms and Abbreviations A. af. AGSA AIG AIHRC AISA AKF ANA ANBB ANDS ANP AUAF AWC BNA br.o. CENTO CIA D. DOD DRA ECC est. Gaz. Harakat Hizb (H) Hizb (K) IEC IMF ISAF ISI Ittihad Jabha KAM KHAD Khalq LCSFA
Arabic Afghani (monetary unit) Afghanistan Security Service Afghan Interim Government Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission Afghanistan Investment Support Agency Aga Khan Foundation Afghan National Army Afghanistan’s New Beginning Program Afghan National Directorate of Security Afghan National Police American University of Afghanistan Afghan Women Council Bakhtar News Agency Brother of Central Treaty Organization Central Intelligence Agency Dari, the dialect of Persian in Afghanistan Department of Defense (U.S.) Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Electoral Complaints Commission Estimate Gazetteer, Adamec (vols. 1–6) Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami of Muhammadi Hizb-i Islami (Hekmatyar) Hizb-i Islami (Khales) Independent Election Commission International Monetary Fund International Security Force for Afghanistan Inter-Services Intelligence Ittihad-i Islami Berayed Azadi-yi Afghanistan of Sayyaf Jabha-i Milli Najat-i Afghanistan of Mujaddidi Workers’ Information Service State Information Service Faction of the PDPA and its newspaper Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan
LWA MAHAZ MR MRD Nasr NATO NDA NFF NFROA NGO NIFA NMAA NRP NWFP OA 1, 2, 3 P. Parcham PDP PDPA PP. PRC PRT r. R. RAWA ROA SAMA SCCIRA SCDH SEATO Shu’la s.o. T. UN UNAMA UNDDR UNDP
Ludwig W. Adamec Mahaz-i Milli of Pir Gailani Military report Motorized rifle division Sazman-i Nasr of Shaikh Mir Husain Sadeqi North Atlantic Treaty Organization National Directorate of Security National Fatherland Front National Front of the Republic of Afghanistan, formerly NFF Nongovernmental organization Mahaz-i Milli-yi Afghanistan, National Islamic Front of Afghanistan National Military Academy of Afghanistan National Revolutionary Party Northwest Frontier Province of India, now Pakistan Official Account, First, Second, and Third Anglo-Afghan War Pashtun Faction of the PDPA and its newspaper Progressive Democratic Party People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, later Watan Party Parliamentary Papers People’s Republic of China Provincial Reconstruction Teams Ruled Rupee (Indian monetary unit) Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan Republic of Afghanistan, formerly DRA Sazman-i Azadibakhsh-i Mardom-i Afghanistan Supreme Coordination Council of the Islamic Revolution in Afghanistan Supreme Council for the Defense of the Homeland Southeast Asia Treaty Organization Shu’la-yi Javid, name of a newspaper and political party Son of Turkic United Nations United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Program United Nations Development Program
UNESCO UNOCA UNODC U.S. USAID USSR WAD
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian and Economic Assistance Programmes Relating to Afghanistan United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime United States United States Agency of International Development Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Ministry of State Security, formerly KHAD
Chronology ca. 2000–1000 B.C. Aryans move from northern Afghanistan to northern India. 522–486 Darius I rules Afghan territory, which becomes part of the Achaemenid Empire. 330–327 Alexander the Great rules Bactria (Balkh), which becomes a province of the empire. 305 The Seleucids are defeated and the Maurians establish rule. ca. 250 Maurian kingdom under Asoka. 250–128 Greco-Bactrian kingdom at Balkh. ca. 50 A.D.–250 Afghanistan area is part of Kushanid Empire. ca. 225–600s Sassanids establish control. 652–664 First Muslim-Arab conquests. 8th–10th cent. Hindushahis rule Kabul and eastern part of Afghan territory. 871 Yaqub b. Laith, Saffarid, defeats Hindushahis. 997–ca. 1150 Ghaznavid rule. 1186 Ghorids succeed Ghaznavids. 1221–1222 Genghis Khan devastates Balkh, Bamian, and Herat. 1227–1350 Kurt dynasty in Balkh, Ghazni, and Sarakhs. 1370 Timur-i Lang crowned in Balkh. 1405–1506 Timurid rule in Herat and Balkh. 1504–1525 Babur invades; establishes capital in Kabul. 1600 British East India Company founded. 1648 Persians take Kandahar. 1709–1738 Ghilzais establish a dynasty that also rules Iran. 1713 Mir Wais revolts in Kandahar. 1716 Abdali revolt in Herat. 1747 Ahmad Shah crowned, begins 26-year rule during which he unites Afghan tribes under the Sadozai dynasty. 1748 Durranis move against Lahore. November: Ahmad Shah begins third invasion of India. 1757 January: Khutba read in name of Ahmad Shah at Delhi, India, and coins are struck in his name, making him suzerain ruler of India. 1761 Afghans defeat Maratha confederacy at Battle of Panipat, marking greatest extent of Ahmad Shah’s empire, which included Kashmir, the Panjab, and parts of Baluchistan. 1769–1770 Ahmad Shah moves into Khorasan. 1772 17 October: Ahmad Shah dies at Toba Maruf.
1773 Timur Shah begins 20-year rule. Moves capital from Kandahar to Kabul. Campaigns in Sind and Bukhara. 1793 Zaman Shah begins six-year rule. 1798 Britain, fearing Afghan invasions of India, initiates policy of containment, enlisting Persia to keep Afghanistan in check. 1800 Shah Mahmud deposes Shah Shuja, rules for three years. 1803 Shah Shuja deposes Shah Mahmud. 1805 Persian attempt to take Herat fails. 1807 At Tilsit, Alexander II and Napoleon plan joint Russian-French invasion of India through Persia. 1809 British envoy Mountstuart Elphinstone and Shah Shuja sign defensive alliance in first official contact between Afghanistan and a European power. Shah Mahmud defeats Shah Shuja at Gandomak and rules until the blinding of Fateh Khan, his Barakzai wazir, causes Barakzai revolt and Shah Mahmud’s downfall in 1817. 1816 Persian attempt to capture Herat fails. 1818 Civil war results in division of Afghanistan into virtually independent states until 1835. Ranjit Singh seizes Peshawar. 1819 Ranjit Singh conquers Kashmir. 1826 Dost Muhammad, ruler of Ghazni, takes Kabul. 1833 Persians besiege Herat. 1834 Dost Muhammad defeats Shah Shuja and captures Kandahar. 1835 Dost Muhammad begins his first rule of Afghanistan. 1837 Lord Auckland appointed governor general. Akbar Khan, son of Dost Muhammad, defeats Sikhs at Jamrud. August: Eldred Pottinger arrives at Herat. 20 September: Alexander Burnes arrives in Kabul on a diplomatic mission for British. 23 November: Commencement of second siege of Herat. 19 December: Ivan Vitkewich (Vickovich), emissary from Russia, arrives in Kabul. 1838 26 April: Burnes leaves Kabul. 26 June: Tripartite Treaty signed by Ranjit Singh, the British East India Company, and Shah Shuja to restore the latter to the Afghan throne. 9 September: Siege of Herat raised. 1 October: British break relations with Dost Muhammad and declare war. 1839 First Anglo-Afghan War. 25 April: Sir John Keane’s force arrives at Kandahar. 23 July: British capture Ghazni. 2 August: Amir Dost Muhammad flees. 7 August: Kabul occupied by the Army of the Indus. 15 October: Bengal troops begin return march to India. 18 October: Bombay troops begin return march to India. 1840 August: Dost Muhammad escapes from Bukhara. 2 November: Surrender of Amir Dost Muhammad. 12 November: Dost Muhammad leaves for India.
1841 2 November: Assassination of Burnes. 7 November: Return of Akbar Khan to Bamian. 18 November: Sir William Macnaghten recommends holding out. 13 December: Evacuation of Bala Hisar. 22 December: Orders issued for the evacuation of Ghazni, Kandahar, and Jalalabad. 23 December: Assassination of Macnaghten. December: Mutiny at Kandahar. 1842 Treaty of Capitulation ratified. 6 January: Retreat from Kabul commences. 13 January: British last stand at Jagdalak. Arrival of Brydon at Jalalabad. 5 April: General Pollock forces the Khaibar Pass. 7 April: Battle at Jalalabad. 25 April: King Shah Shuja assassinated at Kabul. May: Pollock at Jalalabad. Relief of Qalat-i-Ghilzai. Akbar Khan captures Bala Hisar. June–October: Fateh Jang becomes Amir. 7 August: Evacuation of Kandahar. 20 August: Pollock sets out from Jalalabad. Action near Gandomak. 5 September: British reenter Ghazni. 15 September: Pollock arrives at Kabul. 19 September: William Nott arrives at Kabul. 12 October: British force leaves Kabul. End of First Anglo-Afghan War. December: Dost Muhammad returns to Kabul and rules for 21 years. 1855 Treaty of Peshawar reopens diplomatic relations between Britain and Afghanistan. 1856 October: Persians capture and hold Herat for a few months. 1857 January: Anglo-Afghan treaty signed in Peshawar. Provides subsidy for Dost Muhammad. 1863 Dost Muhammad takes Herat and dies. Shir Ali ascends Afghan throne. During next two years, Shir Ali puts down revolts by half brothers, Azam and Afzal, and his brother, Muhammad Amin. Abdur Rahman and his uncle, Azam, attack Kabul, liberate Afzal, Abdur Rahman’s father. 1866 Afzal becomes Amir. Shir Ali flees to Kandahar. 1867 Amir Afzal dies. 1868 Azam becomes amir. 1869 Shir Ali defeats Azam. Abdur Rahman goes into exile in Russia. British recognize Shir Ali as amir but refuse to recognize his son, Abdullah Jan, as successor. March: Ambala Conference held between Amir Shir Ali and Lord Mayo, viceroy of India. 1872 In Granville-Gorchakoff Agreement, Russia assures Britain that Afghanistan is outside Russia’s sphere of influence. British commission marks Sistan boundary. 1873 Abdullah Jan named heir to Afghan throne. Shir Ali’s oldest son, Yaqub Khan, revolts, flees to Herat. Russia takes Khiva. 1874 Yaqub Khan imprisoned in Kabul. 1876 British occupy Quetta. 1878 22 July: Russian mission under General Stolietoff arrives in Kabul. 21 September: Second Anglo-Afghan War. General Faiz Muhammad, commander of Ali Masjid, denies the British envoy, General Sir Neville Chamberlain, passage into Afghanistan. Amir Shir Ali is given an ultimatum to apologize for this “insult” and to meet certain conditions lest he be treated as an enemy. Lord Lytton denounces alliance with Amir Dost Muhammad. November:
Colonel Grodekoff arrives in Herat from Samarkand. 21 November: General Samuel Brown attacks the fort of Ali Masjid, General Frederick Roberts crosses the frontier at Thal, and an advance guard of General Donald Steward marches from Quetta against Kandahar. 22 November: Fort Ali Masjid is captured. 20 December: General Samuel Brown occupies Jalalabad. 23 December: Amir Shir Ali leaves Kabul and appoints his son Yaqub Khan governor of Kabul. 1879 12 January: General Donald Steward occupies Kandahar and takes Qalat-i-Ghilzai on January 21. 21 February: Amir Shir Ali dies at Mazar-i Sharif; Yaqub Khan is proclaimed king. 26 May: Treaty of Gandomak signed by Sir Louis Cavagnari and Amir Yaqub Khan. 24 July: Cavagnari arrives at Kabul to assume post of British envoy to amir. 3 September: Cavagnari and his staff are killed. 6 October: General Roberts’s Army of Retribution wins battle of Charasia. 12 October: General Roberts occupies Kabul. 28 October: Amir Yaqub abdicates; British take over the government of Kabul. 14 December: General Thomas Baker driven from Asmai hills with losses. General Roberts abandons the Bala Hisar and Kabul city and stations his forces at Sherpur. 15–22 December: Muhammad Jan cuts Roberts’s communications and lays siege to Sherpur. 23 December: Muhammad Jan’s forces are defeated and Roberts returns to Bala Hisar the next day. 1880 ca. 15 June: Sardar Ayub Khan moves from Herat against Kandahar. 10 July: A brigade under General Burrows moves against Ayub. 22 July: Britain recognizes Sardar Abdur Rahman as Amir of Kabul and its dependencies. 27 July: General G. R. S. Burrows is totally defeated in Battle of Maiwand, and the remnant of his brigade is forced to seek security in Kandahar. 6 August: Ayub Khan invests Kandahar. 8 August: General Roberts begins march from Kabul to Kandahar. 11 August: General Steward withdraws from Kabul, and Amir Abdur Rahman moves in. 16 August: Sortie of the British garrison of Kandahar is repulsed with great losses. 31 August: General Roberts arrives at Kandahar. 1 September: General Roberts defeats Ayub Khan at Baba Wali Kotal. 9 September: British troops return to India from the Paiwar Kotal and the Kurram Valley and begin withdrawal from Jalalabad. 1881 21 April: British troops withdraw from Kandahar. End of Second Anglo-Afghan War. 1882 Muslim agent appointed to represent British in Kabul. 1883 Russia occupies Tejend Oasis. Britain annexes Quetta district. Abdur Rahman occupies Shighnan and Roshan. Britain grants Abdur Rahman subsidy of 12 lakhs (1,200,000 rupees). 1884 Britain and Russia open negotiations on northern boundary of Afghanistan. Sir Peter Lumsden leads British mission to Herat. British again start building Quetta railroad. Russians occupy Pul-i Khatun. 1885 Russians occupy Zulfikar and Akrobat and take Panjdeh. 1886 British construct Bolan Railway to Quetta. October: British boundary mission returns to India by way of Kabul. 1887 Russia occupies Karki. Britain and Russia make final settlement and demarcation of Afghan-Russian frontier. Ayub Khan escapes from Persia, but rebellion in Afghanistan fails; he
surrenders at Mashhad and is exiled to India. 1888 January: British extend Quetta Railway to Kila Abdullah. July: Ishaq Khan, son of Azam, revolts in Turkestan, retreats to Samarkand. 1891 Abdur Rahman introduces oath of allegiance on the Koran among his councillors. 1892 Uprising of Hazaras suppressed. 1893 12 November: Afghanistan and Britain sign Durand Agreement that sets eastern and southern boundaries. British increase Amir Abdur Rahman’s subsidy by six lakhs and permit Afghanistan to import munitions. British occupy New Chaman as railway terminus. 1895 Abdur Rahman abolishes slavery in Afghanistan. Abdur Rahman accepts oaths of allegiance from whole state of Afghanistan and adopts title of “Zia ul-Millat wa ud-Din.” Sardar Nasrullah, second son of Abdur Rahman, visits England. Russia and Britain agree on Wakhan border. 1896 Kafiristan is brought under Afghan control by Amir Abdur Rahman; renamed Nuristan. 1900 Russia presses for direct Afghan-Russian relations along northern Afghan border in memorandum of February 6 to Britain. 1901 1 October: Abdur Rahman dies. 3 October: Habibullah proclaimed amir, rules 18 years. 1902 British envoy, Sir Henry Dobbs, supervises reerection of boundary pillars on AfghanRussian border during 1902 and 1903. 1903 A. H. McMahon leads British mission in demarcating Sistan boundary. Habibia College, first secular high school, opened in Kabul. British begin construction of Quetta–Nushki Railroad. 1905 British agreements of 1880 and 1893 with Abdur Rahman confirmed by treaty with Amir Habibullah. 1906 Shah of Iran rejects McMahon arbitration award. 1907 January: Amir Habibullah visits India. 31 August: Britain and Russia sign convention concerning spheres of influence in Afghanistan, Persia, and Tibet. 1909 Plot on Amir Habibullah’s life fails. 1910 First telephone line in Afghanistan built between Kabul and Jalalabad. 1911 Mahmud Tarzi begins publishing the newspaper Seraj al-Akhbar. 1914 General Muhammad Nadir Khan is named commander in chief of the Afghan army. Habibullah declares Afghanistan’s neutrality in World War I. 1915 September: Hentig-Niedermayer mission from Germany arrives in Kabul and remains nine months. 1918 Kabul Museum opened. 1919 20 February: Amir Habibullah assassinated in Laghman. Nasrullah Khan named amir in
Jalalabad. 25 February: Amanullah proclaimed amir in Kabul. 28 February: Nasrullah arrested. 3 March: Amanullah suggests new Anglo-Afghan agreement to viceroy of India. 13 April: Amanullah proclaims Afghanistan independent. 1 May: Saleh Muhammad Khan, the commander in chief, moves to the Indian border with two companies of infantry and two guns, for the ostensible purpose of inspecting the border. Third Anglo-Afghan War. 3 May: An escort of British Khaibar Rifles accompanying a caravan is stopped in the disputed area between Landi Khana and Torkham. 4 May: Afghan uniformed troops occupy Bagh and begin to cut the water supply to Landi Kotal. A fatwa proclaims jihad. 7 May: Afghan forces at Bagh strengthened, and Nadir Khan moves to Khost. 8 May: Peshawar uprising suppressed. 9 May: First Battle of Bagh, British forces stopped. 11 May: Second Battle of Bagh. 13 May: British occupy Dakka. 21 May: General Nadir Khan crosses Indo-Afghan boundary, marches on Thal. Decision made to evacuate the militia posts on the Waziristan front. 24 May: Kabul bombed by Royal Air Force. 27 May: Battle of Spin Boldak. 28 May: Wali Muhammad Khan arrives at Tashkent on way to Moscow and Europe as Amanullah’s envoy. 2 June: Armistice. 8 August: Preliminary Anglo-Afghan treaty signed at Rawalpindi Peace Conference. End of Third Anglo-Afghan War. September: Soviet envoy arrives in Kabul. 10 October: Muhammad Wali Khan arrives in Moscow. 1920 17 April: Mussoorie Conference opens. Mahmud Tarzi represents Afghanistan and Henry Dobbs, Britain. 18 July: Mussoorie Conference ends. 1921 Amir of Bukhara seeks asylum in Afghanistan. 20 January: Kabul conference between Afghanistan and Britain opens. 28 February: Treaty of friendship signed by Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. 1 March: Treaty of friendship signed by Afghanistan and Turkey. 30 May: Fundamental law of government of Afghanistan goes into force. 3 June: Treaty of friendship signed by Afghanistan and Italy. 22 June: Treaty of friendship signed by Afghanistan and Persia. 2 December: Kabul Conference ends. Britain recognizes Afghanistan as independent in internal and external relations. Diplomatic relations established between the two states. 1922 28 April: Treaty establishes diplomatic and commercial relations between France and Afghanistan. 9 September: Agreement gives France rights to conduct archaeological excavations in Afghanistan. 1923 January: Istiqlal Lycée founded. 10 April: First constitution adopted. 5 June: BritishAfghan trade convention signed. September: French legation opened in Afghanistan. October: Criminal code adopted. November: Statute governing marriage issued. December: Statute on civil servants confirmed. German legation opens in Afghanistan. 1924 January: Amani (Najat) High School founded. First hospital for women and children opened in Kabul. March: Uprising of tribes in Khost. 1925 January: Khost rebellion defeated. 1926 Afghani introduced as new monetary unit. Ten afghanis equal 11 Kabuli ropia. 3 March: Treaty of friendship signed by Afghanistan and Germany. 7 June: Amanullah adopts title of king. 15 August: Soviet Union agrees to cede Urta Tagai Islands in Amu River to Afghanistan.
31 August: Treaty of neutrality and mutual nonaggression signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 1927 Anis founded as fortnightly, later major national daily newspaper. 27 November: Treaty of neutrality and mutual nonaggression signed by Afghanistan and Persia. December: King Amanullah begins visit to India, Egypt, and Europe. 1928 25 May: Treaty of friendship and collaboration signed by Afghanistan and Turkey. July: King Amanullah returns to Afghanistan. July–September: Amanullah introduces reforms in dress. November: Uprising of Shinwari near Jalalabad. December: Habibullah Kalakani leads uprising in Kohistan. 1929 Islah newspaper founded. 14 January: Amanullah renounces the throne. His brother, Enayatullah, abdicates after three days. 18 January: Habibullah Kalakani proclaimed amir. 14 October: Kabul seized by Nadir Khan’s troops. 17 October: Nadir Khan proclaimed king. 3 November: Habibullah Kalakani caught and shot. 1930 May: Nadir Shah confirms validity of 1921 and 1923 Anglo-Afghan agreements and other international treaties. 20 September: Nadir Shah confirms statute governing elections of members of National Assembly. 1931 24 June: New treaty of neutrality and mutual non-aggression signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. July: Nadir Shah opens National Assembly session. Literary Society founded. 31 October: New constitution confirmed by Nadir Shah. 1932 Medical school founded; other schools closed by Habibullah Kalakani reopened. 5 May: Treaty of friendship signed by Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. 24 August: Statute setting up new administrative divisions issued. Five major and four minor provinces formed. October: Uprising begins in Khost. 8 November: Ghulam Nabi executed on charge of complicity in Dari Khel Ghilzai revolt. 1933 Road over Shibar Pass to north completed. 6 June: Muhammad Aziz, Afghan minister to Germany, assassinated in Berlin. 8 November: Nadir Shah assassinated. His son, Muhammad Zahir, becomes king, and brother of Nadir Shah, Muhammad Hashim, prime minister. The cabinet is composed of the following: Shah Mahmud
Minister of War
Faiz Muhammad
Foreign Affairs
Muhammad Gul Khan
Interior
Fazl Ahmad Mujaddidi
Justice
Mirza Muhd. Yaftali
Finance
Ahmad Ali Sulaiman
Education
Mirza Muhd. Yaftali
Commerce
Allah Nawaz
Public Works
Muhammad Akbar
Health
Rahimullah
Post, Telegraph, and Telephone
1934 16 February: Zahir Shah orders general election for National Assembly. March: State begins to control purchase and export of Qaraqul skins. Bank-i Milli founded. 21 August: United States formally recognizes Afghanistan. 25 September: Afghanistan joins League of Nations. 1935 April–May: W. H. Hornibrook accredited as nonresident American minister to Kabul. May: Turks arbitrate Afghanistan’s boundary dispute with Persia. 8 June: National Assembly session opened by Zahir Shah. September: Mohmand uprising. 1936 Pashtu proclaimed national language of Afghanistan. March: Treaty on commerce and noninterference signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 26 March: Treaty of friendship signed by Afghanistan and United States. 1937 Lufthansa starts weekly service between Berlin and Kabul: first regular air link between Afghanistan and Europe. Turkish military mission arrives at Kabul. 7 July: Treaty of Saadabad signed by Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. 1938 May: Afghan air force expanded by purchase of planes from Italy and Britain. Officers sent to Britain, Soviet Union, and Italy for training. Arms bought from Britain and Czechoslovakia. 1939 3 September: Beginning of World War II and Afghan armed forces mobilized as precautionary measure. 1940 12 January: All men over 17 obliged to do national service. Special taxes imposed to pay for arms, build radio station. Radio Kabul gets 20-kilowatt medium-wave transmitter. May: Joint stock company founded to handle ginning, spinning, and weaving of cotton. Sugar beet raising to be encouraged. 29 July: Trade agreement by Afghanistan and Soviet Union signed. 17 August: Zahir Shah declares Afghanistan’s neutrality in World War II in statement to National Assembly. 1941 28 July: Afghanistan reaffirms its neutrality in World War II. 19 October: Afghanistan agrees to expel German and Italian residents at demand of Britain and the Soviet Union. 1942 27 April: Cornelius van Engert, consul general in Beirut, named resident U.S. minister to Afghanistan. 5 November: Afghanistan reaffirms neutrality in World War II. 1943 16 May: Afghan consulate opens in New York. 5 June: Abdul Husain Aziz, first Afghan minister to United States, presents credentials. 28 December: Saadabad pact reported automatically renewed after five years. 1944 5 March: Treaty of friendship signed by Afghanistan and China. 1946 Kabul University established by combining already existing faculties, such as medicine and law. 22 January: King Zahir orders election of deputies for session of National Assembly to meet 21 April. 9 May: Muhammad Hashem Khan resigns as prime minister, citing poor
health as reason. Mahmud Khan, minister of defense, asked to form new government: Ali Muhammad
Foreign Affairs
Muhammad Daud
War (Defense)
Ghulam Faruq Osman
Interior
Mir Ata Muhammad
Justice
Mir Muhd. Haidar Husaini
Finance
Najibulla Torwayana
Education
Abdul Majid Zabuli
National Economy
Muhammad Kabir
Public Works
Ahmad Ali Sulaiman
Health
Abdullah Malikyar
Information
Ghulam Muhd. Sherzad
Mines
Muhd. Atiq Rafiq
Agriculture
Sayyid Qasim Reshtia
Press
13 June: Boundary treaty signed with Soviet Union. Soviet Union gets Kushka River water rights. 9 November: United Nations General Assembly approves entry of Afghanistan. 19 November: Abdul Husain Aziz, Afghanistan’s first representative to United Nations, takes seat. 1947 24 April: Afghan delegation arrives in Tashkent to start demarcation of Afghan-Soviet border. 13 June: Afghanistan sends note to British and Indian governments saying that inhabitants of region between Afghan-Indian border and Indus River are Afghans and must decide themselves whether to join Afghanistan, Pakistan, or India or become independent. 3 July: Britain replies it holds to Treaty of 1921 by which boundary was recognized by both nations and asks Afghanistan to abstain from any act of intervention on northwest frontier at time of transfer of powers to Indian government. 10 July: Afghanistan reiterates views on Pashtuns in second note to Britain. 26 July: Prime Minister Mahmud arrives in London. 3 August: Prime Minister Mahmud arrives in New York City. 18 September: Iran says diversion of Helmand waters in Afghanistan causes crop failures in Sistan. 30 September: Afghanistan casts only vote against admitting Pakistan to United Nations on grounds that Pashtuns have not had fair plebiscite. 1948 1 April: Muhammad Naim named Afghan ambassador to United States. 23 April: Sir Giles Squire named British ambassador to Afghanistan. 6 May: Faiz Muhammad named Afghan ambassador to Britain. 5 June: United States legation elevated to status of embassy. Ely E. Palmer presents credentials as first U.S. ambassador. 16 June: Pakistan arrests Abdul Ghaffar Khan and other Khuda-i Khetmatgar leaders. Afghanistan begins press and radio
campaign for independent Pashtunistan. 29 September: Afghan-Soviet mission completes demarcation of border. Agreement signed fixing revised boundary. 1949 24 March: Foreign ministry says statement of Pakistani governor general that tribal territory is integral part of Pakistan is contrary to pledges of Jinnah in 1948. 2 April: Chargé d’affaires in Karachi recalled after Pakistani bombing in Waziristan. 20 April: Louis G. Dreyfus named U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. 4 June: Afghanistan restricts movement of vehicles along border with Pakistan. 12 June: Pakistani plane bombs Moghalgai (inside Afghan territory), killing 23. 20 June: Alfred Gardener named British ambassador to Afghanistan. 30 June: Afghan National Assembly opens seventh session, known as “Liberal Assembly.” 11 July: Pakistani foreign minister says Pakistan will discuss economic cooperation with Afghanistan but rejects Afghanistan’s claims to tribal territory. 26 July: Afghan National Assembly repudiates treaties with Britain regarding tribal territory. 1950 4 January: Treaty of peace and friendship signed by Afghanistan and India. 13 January: Afghanistan recognizes People’s Republic of China (PRC). 8 March: Zahir Shah begins visit to Europe. 26 May: Recall of Pakistan embassy staff member for violating Afghan laws, requested by Afghanistan. 18 July: Four-year trade agreement signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 14 October: New cabinet announced by Prime Minister Shah Mahmud: Muhammad Daud
Defense
Ali Muhammad
Foreign Affairs
Abdul Ahad Malikyar
Interior
Muhammad Nauruz
Finance
Mir Sayyid Qasim
Justice
Abdul Majid
Education
Mir Muhd. Haidar
National Economy
Ghulam Faruq
Public Health
Muhammad Akram
Public Works
Muhd. Naim Ziai
Mines
October: Emigration of Afghan Jews to Israel authorized by Afghan government. 1951 9 February: Agreement for technical assistance under Point Four program signed by Afghanistan and United States. 19 March: George R. Merrell appointed U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. 25 April: Prime Minister Shah Mahmud arrives in United States. 28 May: United Nations assists in drilling exploratory oil wells in north. 1952 15 January: United States suspends economic and technical aid to Afghanistan until bilateral agreement under Mutual Security Act signed. 23 September: Soviet note expressing concern over activities of UN technical assistance experts in areas near Afghan-Soviet border
rejected by Afghan government. 1953 8 January: United States extends loan of $1.5 million for emergency purchase of wheat and flour from it. 18 March: Sultan Muhammad named foreign minister to succeed Ali Muhammad who remains deputy prime minister. 6 September: Shah Mahmud resigns as prime minister, citing poor health. Zahir Shah asks cousin, Muhammad Daud, present defense and interior minister, to form new cabinet. 20 September: Prime Minister Muhammad Daud announces cabinet members: Ali Muhammad
Deputy Prime Minister
Muhammad Arif
Defense
Muhammad Naim
Foreign Affairs
Abdul Malik
Acting Finance
Abdul Hakim
Public Works
Abdul Majid
Education
Ghulam Faruq
Health
Muhammad Yusuf
Mines
Shamsuddin Majruh
Tribal Affairs
Mir Muhd. Yusuf
Agriculture
Salahuddin Saljuqi
Press
26 October: Muhammad Hashim, prime minister from 1929 to 1946, dies. November: U.S. Export-Import Bank makes loan of $18.5 million for development of Helmand Valley. 30 December: Prime Minister Daud describes proposed U.S. military aid to Pakistan as a “grave danger to security and peace of Afghanistan.” 1954 27 January: Soviet Union makes loan of $3.5 million for construction of two grain mills and two silos. Soviet technicians to help carry out projects. 8 February: Muhammad Atiq Rafiq named Afghan ambassador to Pakistan. Abdul Husain Aziz named Afghan ambassador to India. 20 April: Afghanistan becomes member of United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. 17 September: Foreign Minister Naim arrives in Karachi to continue talks begun in Kabul on improving relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 7 November: Foreign Minister Naim says Pashtunistan issue is not question of territorial adjustment but of giving Pashtuns an opportunity to express their wishes. 1955 14 January: Former prime minister Shah Mahmud meets Pakistan prime minister. 19 January: Afghanistan and the PRC establish diplomatic relations at embassy level. 25 January: Legislation strengthening armed forces approved by upper house of parliament. 2 March: Fine arts college opened under A. G. Breshna. 29 March: Prime Minister Daud warns Pakistan of “grave consequences” if Pashtun areas of the Northwest Frontier Province are
included in unified West Pakistan. 30 March: Demonstrators march on Pakistani embassy and ambassador’s residence in Kabul. 31 March: Demonstrators march on Pakistani consulate in Kandahar. 1 April: Demonstrators march on Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad. Afghan consulate in Peshawar attacked. 4 April: Britain, Turkey, and United States protest attack on Pakistan embassy in Kabul. 12 April: Pakistan rejects Afghan replies to its protests, evacuates families of diplomats and nationals, closes Jalalabad consulate. 18 April: Foreign Minister Naim goes to Bandung Conference. 29 April: Gamal Abdul Nasser, prime minister of Egypt, visits Afghanistan. Afghanistan says it is willing to apologize, pay compensation for damage, and make amends for the insult to Pakistani flag if similar amends are made for the insult to its flag. 1 May: Pakistan demands closing of all Afghan consulates in Pakistan, says it will close its consulates in Afghanistan. 4 May: Afghanistan mobilizes troops. 13 May: Afghanistan and Pakistan accept Saudi Arabian offer of mediation. 21 June: Five-year agreement signed with Soviet Union allowing goods of each nation free transit across territory of other. 28 June: Saudi Arabian mediator announces his proposals have been rejected. 5 July: Thin Kuo Yu, PRC ambassador to Afghanistan, presents credentials. 14 July: Afghanistan tells Pakistan it will be held responsible for any loss or damage to goods held up in transit to Kabul or Quetta. Afghanistan becomes member of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. 28 July: State of emergency ended; Afghan army demobilized. 14 August: Postal agreement signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 9 September: Foreign Minister Naim and Pakistan ambassador negotiate agreement to stop hostile propaganda. 13 September: Pakistan flag raised over Pakistani embassy in Kabul. 15 September: Afghan flag raised over consulate in Peshawar. 11 October: Afghan leaders request meeting with Pakistani leaders on condition one-unit act can be postponed. Pakistan says postponement impossible. 17 October: Afghanistan recalls ambassador from Karachi. 18 October: Pakistan recalls ambassador from Kabul. 8 November: Afghanistan protests further restrictions by Pakistan on transit of goods to Afghanistan. 20 November: During five-day session, Loya Jirga gives its approval to resolutions calling for plebiscite to decide future of Pashtun area disputed with Pakistan, recommending government find means to reestablish balance of power upset by Pakistan’s decision to accept arms from the United States, and refusing to recognize Pashtunistan as part of Pakistan. 6 December: Defense Minister Muhammad Arif resigns. 15–18 December: Soviet prime minister Bulganin and Soviet Communist Party secretary Nikita Khrushchev make official visit to Kabul. 16 December: Soviet Union backs Afghanistan in Pashtunistan dispute. 18 December: Three agreements signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union: a loan of $100 million, a protocol extending 1931 treaty of neutrality and nonaggression, and a statement of foreign policy matters. Foreign Minister Naim says agreements do not weaken Afghan determination to remain neutral. 21 December: United States confirms it has offered to mediate Pashtunistan dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 1956 8 January: Afghan consul in Quetta recalled at request of Pakistan. Pakistan military attaché requested to leave Afghanistan. 24 January: Soviet economic delegation begins talks with Afghan government on use of $100 million loan. The following cabinet changes are announced:
Abdul Hakim
Interior
Sayyid Abdullah
Acting Justice
Abdul Zahir
Acting Health
Muhammad Hashim
Deputy Foreign Affairs
30 January: Soviet Union presents Ilyushin 14 to Zahir Shah. 18 February: Technical cooperation agreement signed by Afghanistan and the United States for 1956. 1 March: Technical assistance agreement signed by Afghanistan and the Soviet Union for building of hydroelectric plants, highway through Hindu Kush, air fields, motor repair shop, and reservoirs. 6 March: SEATO powers declare region up to Durand Line is Pakistani territory and within treaty area. 21 March: Afghanistan formally protests SEATO decision to uphold Durand Line as Afghan-Pakistani border. 26 March: United States International Cooperation Administration announces grant of $997,000 to Teachers College of Columbia University to set up English-language program for Afghan secondary schools and train English teachers. 31 March: Gift of 15 buses and equipment for 100-bed hospital to Kabul municipality from Soviet Union arrives. 4–18 April: Afghan military mission visits Czechoslovakia. 7 May: Regular air service available to Europe through Karachi, after air agreement signed by Afghanistan and Pakistan. 27 June: Agreement for $14 million to develop Afghan civil aviation signed by Afghanistan and the United States. 26 July: Soviet Union agrees to carry out Nangarhar irrigation project. 7–11 August: Pakistan president Iskander Mirza visits Kabul. 25 August: Prime Minister Daud announces military arms agreements with Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union. 12 September: Pan American Airlines to supervise pilot and ground crew training of Ariana Afghan Airlines. A $2.5 million contract to be part of $14 million program announced earlier which also includes $5.5 million for Kandahar airport. 24 September: Air service to Iran inaugurated. 27 September: First installment of arms from Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia arrives. 17–30 October: Prime Minister Daud visits Soviet Union. 28 October: Afghan air force receives 11 jet planes from Soviet Union. 5 November: Afghans call attention of United Nations to Israeli-British-French attack on Suez as violation of charter. 10 November: General Muhammad Omar named Afghan ambassador to India. 16 November: Afghanistan offers troops for UN police force in Suez. 24 November: Prime Minister Daud discusses Pashtunistan question with Pakistani leaders during visit to Karachi. 1957 8 January: Trade protocol signed with Soviet Union. 19–23 January: Zhou Enlai, PRC prime minister, visits Afghanistan. 27 January: M. C. Gillett is named British ambassador to Afghanistan. 10 February: Radio Moscow inaugurates Pashtu program. 31 March–3 April: United States ambassador to the Middle East James P. Richards visits Kabul. Joint AfghanU.S. statement says Afghanistan welcomes President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s program of economic aid to the Middle East. 14 April–19 May: Prime Minister Daud visits Turkey, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, and Egypt. Foreign Minister Naim visits Turkey and Pakistan. 8–11 June: Pakistani prime minister Suhrawardy visits Kabul. Afghanistan and Pakistan agree to restore diplomatic relations. 30 June: United States makes loan of
$5,750,000 for Helmand Valley Authority and $2,860,000 for building roads and training personnel. 17–31 July: Communiqué says Soviet Union will aid Afghanistan in prospecting for oil, that a special commission to regulate boundary questions will be created, and that an agreement was reached regarding use of waterways crossing the two countries. 28 July: Trade agreement signed by Afghanistan and PRC. 31 August: Foreign Minister Naim says Afghanistan to receive about $25 million in military assistance under arms agreement signed with Soviet Union in 1956. 22 October: Prime Minister Daud begins visit to People’s Republic of China. 21 December: Andrei Gromyko, Soviet foreign minister, meets Afghan mission in Moscow to negotiate new frontier agreement. 1958 8 January: Soviet Union agrees to survey oil deposits in Afghanistan. 18 January: Treaty regulating Afghan-Soviet border signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 1–6 February: Zahir Shah visits Pakistan. 11–27 February: Zahir Shah arrives in India for twoweek visit. 26 June: Cultural agreement signed by Afghanistan and United States. Protocol on utilization of Amu Daria signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 30 June: Prime Minister Daud begins U.S. visit. United States agrees to help Afghanistan improve highway from Spin Boldak to Kabul and makes $7,708,000 grant to Pakistan to improve its transport lines with Afghanistan. 17 July: Agreement on transport of goods by road signed by Afghanistan and Pakistan. 1–5 October: Marshal Klementi Voroshilov, president of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, visits Afghanistan. 18 November: Foreign Investment Law promulgated. 1959 1–6 January: Foreign Minister Naim visits the USSR. 12 January: United States agrees to ship 50,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan. 20 January: Henry A. Byroade is named U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. 5–13 February: Prime Minister Daud visits India. 9 March: Prime Minister Daud calls Baghdad Pact an aggravation of international tension. 23 April: Afghanistan and Soviet Union sign protocol on exchange of goods. 18–22 May: Prime Minister Daud visits USSR. 28 May: Afghanistan and Soviet Union sign agreement on building of 750 km Kandahar–Herat–Kushka Highway. 15 July: Afghan military mission visits Turkey and United Arab Republic. 23 August: Soviet Union agrees to provide assistance to complete Nangarhar irrigation project. 31 August: Afghan women appear unveiled in public at Jashen celebration. 5 September: Foreign Minister Naim begins visit to PRC. 14 September: Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru visits Afghanistan. Afghan women appear without veils at dinner for Nehru. Henceforth veil is no longer obligatory. 28 October: Afghan-Soviet Friendship Society founded. 1 December: Afghanistan and Soviet Union to begin joint survey of Amu Daria for construction of dam to provide electricity and water for irrigation. 9 December: U.S. president Eisenhower spends six hours in Kabul; assures Afghanistan of continued economic support. 21 December: Police and army units suppress rioting in Kandahar. 1960 19 January: Afghanistan and Soviet Union sign agreement for construction of irrigation and power project on Kabul River. 2–5 March: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev visits Kabul, inspects Soviet aid projects, signs cultural cooperation agreement, and assures support for Afghanistan on Pashtun question. 6 March: Pakistan calls Soviet support of Afghanistan on
Pashtun question interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs. 7 March: Prime Minister Daud says Pakistan is putting out propaganda against reforms in Afghanistan such as the emancipation of women; says Afghan monarchy has decided to give Afghans complete freedom to choose form of government and to organize political parties. 3 April: Construction work begins on Kandahar–Herat–Kushka Highway. 26 April: Former king Amanullah dies in Switzerland. 13 May: Prime Minister Daud meets Soviet premier Khrushchev while in Moscow for medical treatment. 15 July: Soviet prospecting team announces discovery of petroleum and natural gas deposits in northern Afghanistan. 10 August: Two-year AfghanSoviet barter agreement signed. 18 August: Darunta Canal opened. Built with Soviet assistance. 21–26 August: Chen Yi, PRC foreign minister, visits Afghanistan. 26 August: Treaty of friendship and nonaggression signed by Afghanistan and People’s Republic of China. Commercial and payments agreement renewed. 3 December: Agreements on trade and transit signed with Iran during visit of Iranian prime minister to Kabul. 1961 5 April: Prime Minister Daud confers with Soviet premier Khrushchev in Moscow on return from Rome where Daud underwent a spinal operation. Pravda article says Pashtun situation is not a matter of indifference to Soviet Union. 18 April: Cultural agreement signed by Afghanistan and Federal Republic of Germany. 19 May: Afghanistan denies Pakistani reports that Afghan soldiers are taking part in border fighting. 6 June: Prime Minister Daud says Pakistan has savagely bombarded Afghan populations with aid of arms furnished by United States and has confined more than 1,200 leaders of Pashtunistan in Peshawar in past five days; denies that Afghanistan has pushed Pashtun tribes to revolt. 8 June: King Zahir Shah opens National Assembly session with speech stressing economic development and selfdetermination for Pashtunistan. Dr. Abdul Zahir is named president of the assembly. 15 June: Pakistan protests acts of provocation and aggression in note to Afghan government. 22 June: Pakistan says nomads will no longer be allowed to enter Pakistan without valid passports, visas, and international health certificates. 23 June: Pakistan says friendlier atmosphere should exist between Afghanistan and Pakistan before any summit meeting held. 26 June: Prime Minister Daud confers with British foreign secretary Lord Home and is received by Queen Elizabeth during visit to London. 28 June: Foreign Minister Naim tells news conference that Pashtun self-determination is the only problem in Afghan-Pakistani relations that requires negotiation. 23 July: Muhammad Hashem Maiwandwal, ambassador to the United States, expresses his government’s grave concern over Pakistan’s use of American arms against Pashtun tribes during meeting with President John F. Kennedy. 23 August: Pakistan announces it is closing Afghan consulates and trade offices in Pakistan and is considering prohibiting transit facilities given to Afghanistan. 30 August: In reply to Pakistani note of August 23, Afghanistan says it considers decision to close consulates an inimical act and threatens to break diplomatic relations. Prime Minister Daud leaves for Belgrade Conference of Nonaligned Nations. 3 September: Afghanistan seals border. Transfer of merchandise suspended between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 6 September: Afghanistan breaks diplomatic relations with Pakistan. 12 September: Islamic Congress of Jerusalem appeals to Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their differences. 16–20 September: Foreign Minister Naim visits
Soviet Union. 18 September: Pakistan accepts Iranian offer of mediation in dispute. 19 September: Saudi Arabia agrees to look after Pakistani interests in Afghanistan. 21 September: United Arab Republic agrees to look after Afghan interests in Pakistan. 27 September: Foreign Minister Naim says Afghanistan will not allow its transit trade to pass through Pakistan unless its trade offices and consulates in Pakistan are reopened. 29 September: Pakistani president Ayub Khan rejects possibility of reopening Afghan consulates and trade offices, saying they were used for subversive activities. 4 October: U.S. president Kennedy sends message to Zahir Shah and Pakistan president Ayub Khan, suggesting that the United States might make proposals to help improve relations. 11 October: Soviet delegation arrives in Kabul for 11-day visit. 16 October: Afghan-Soviet technical and economic cooperation agreement signed. 19 November: Supplementary transit agreement, providing expansion of facilities for Afghan foreign trade, signed with Soviet Union. 1962 23 January: Four-year agreement signed with Soviet Union to develop Afghan meteorological services. 24 January: John M. Steeves named U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. 29 January: Afghanistan opens border with Pakistan for eight weeks to allow entry of U.S. aid goods. 14 April: Prime Minister Daud announces second five-year plan. Calls for spending afs. 31.3 billion for economic development. 20 April: Five-year transit agreement signed by Iran and Afghanistan. 6 May: Pul-i Khumri power station opened. Built with Soviet assistance. 1 July: Pakistan accepts Shah of Iran’s offer to mediate its dispute with Afghanistan. 12 July: Afghanistan accepts Shah of Iran’s offer to mediate its dispute with Pakistan. 27–31 July: Formal talks held in Kabul between Shah of Iran and Zahir Shah and in Rawalpindi between the Shah and President Ayub Khan in effort to settle Afghan-Pakistani dispute. 6 August: During meeting in Quetta, Pakistani president Ayub Khan suggests a confederation of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. 6–15 August: Zahir Shah makes visit to Soviet Union. 1963 5 February: Cabinet approves establishment of nation’s second university—Nangarhar University, to be started in Jalalabad with a medical school. 12 February: United States decides to ship all its foreign aid goods to Afghanistan via Iran because of the continuing dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 25 February: Trade and assistance agreement signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 10 March: Resignation of Prime Minister Daud announced. 14 March: King Zahir Shah asks Muhammad Yusuf, former minister of mines and industries, to form new government. Prime Minister Yusuf’s first cabinet includes the following: Ali Ahmad Popal
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education
Abdullah Malikyar
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Sayyid Abdullah
Interior
Gen. Khan Muhammad
Defense
Shamsuddin Majruh
Justice
Gul Pacha Ulfat
Tribal Affairs
Abdul Hai Aziz
Planning
Abdul Rahim
Health
Sayyid Qasim Reshtia
Press
Prime Minister Yusuf to serve as own foreign minister. 28 March: Constitutional review committee named, headed by Minister of Justice Majruh. 18 April: At press conference, Prime Minister Yusuf says introducing democracy and improving economic conditions are major aims of the government. He estimates that the United States has furnished about $252 million and the Soviet Union an equivalent amount plus arms. 26 April: United States grants loan of $2,635,000 for purchase of a DC-6 and two convairs for Ariana Afghan Airlines. Purchase will bring Ariana’s fleet to nine planes. 29 April: Cultural cooperation agreement signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 11–15 May: Indian president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan visits Afghanistan. 25 May: Afghan and Pakistani representatives begin meetings in Tehran to resolve dispute over Pashtunistan. 28 May: Shah of Iran announces that Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to reestablish diplomatic and commercial relations. 29 May: Joint Afghan-Pakistani communiqué confirms reestablishment of relations. 14 June: Prime Minister Yusuf says at press conference that United States was asked to contribute $60 million to second plan but has promised $16 million. 18 July: Afghan delegation, led by Dr. Abdul Zahir, president of the National Assembly, visits United States. Dr. Zahir tells press conference that Afghanistan is planning a new form of government with distinct separation of legislative, executive, and judicial powers. 20 July: Afghan consuls reopen consulates in Peshawar and Quetta. Communication reestablished on Afghan-Pakistani border. 25 July: First trucks cross Afghan-Pakistani border in 22 months. Ariana Afghan Airlines resumes flights halted at same time. 12 August: Afghanistan and Pakistan exchange ambassadors. 15 August: Shah of Iran says confederation of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan is good idea but cites many obstacles. 2– 19 September: Zahir Shah and Queen Homaira visit United States. 6 September: Afghanistan and Soviet Union sign agreement for construction of atomic reactor in Afghanistan and training of specialists in peaceful use of atomic energy. 12–17 October: Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev visits Afghanistan; lays cornerstone for new polytechnic institute in Kabul. 16 October: Agreement signed with Soviet Union for technical assistance in extraction and exploitation of natural gas in northern Afghanistan. 2 December: Border treaty signed by Afghanistan and PRC. 1964 29 February: Consultative Constitutional Commission, headed by Abdul Zahir, begins sessions which last through May 14. 31 May: Zahir Shah opens new Aliabad campus of Kabul University, built with U.S. assistance. 29 June–14 July: Afghan military delegation visits Soviet Union. 1 July: During one-day stay in Kabul, Pakistani president Ayub Khan discusses ways to improve Afghan-Pakistani relations with King Zahir Shah and Prime Minister Yusuf. 4–5 July: Anastas Mikoyan, deputy prime minister of Soviet Union, visits Kabul. 8 July: Dr. Muhammad Anas, ambassador to India, named minister of education, replacing Ali Ahmad
Popal who becomes ambassador to Federal Republic of Germany. Sayyid Qasim Reshtia is named minister of finance, replacing Abdullah Malikyar. 13 July: Soviet Union makes loan of $25.2 million for Pul-i Khumri–Mazar-i Sharif–Shiberghan Highway. 21 July: Zahir Shah sets Loya Jirga session for September 9. Its 450 members will include members of the National Assembly, cabinet, High Judicial Council, and Constitutional Commission; 173 specially elected representatives; and 27 members appointed by the king. 26 July: Prime Minister Yusuf cautions students against engaging in political activity. 27 July: Cabinet approves new constitution. It allows freedom of speech and press and formation of political parties, calls for two-house parliament and independent judiciary, and bars members of royal family from serving as prime minister, cabinet member, chief justice, or parliament members. King appoints prime minister and commands armed forces. 3 September: Zahir Shah and Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin open Kabul–Doshi Highway over Salang Pass, built with Soviet assistance. 6 September: Delegation returns from demarcating 90 km border with People’s Republic of China. 9–19 September: Loya Jirga debates and approves constitution after adding that members of royal family cannot become members of political parties or renounce their titles to participate in politics. 1 October: Zahir Shah endorses new constitution. National Assembly dissolved. Transitional government to govern for a year. 27 October: Soviet Union agrees to loan $6.2 million to build polytechnic institute in Kabul. 29 October–12 November: Zahir Shah, accompanied by Queen Homaira, makes first visit to People’s Republic of China by any Afghan head of state. 18 November: Discovery of first Greek city found in Afghanistan announced by French archaeological team. 22–29 November: Walter Scheel, West German minister for economic cooperation, visits Afghanistan, assures Afghanistan of expanding economic assistance, particularly on Paktia regional project, and urges protocol to improve atmosphere for foreign investment. 19 December: Muhammad Hashim Maiwandwal, ambassador to Pakistan, named minister of press and information. 1965 1 January: Founding of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). 12 January: United States agrees to loan $7.7 million for construction of 121 km Herat–Islam Kala Highway. 18 January: Soviet Union agrees to loan Afghanistan $11.1 million over three years for import of consumer goods. 20 January: United Nations Special Fund makes grant of $7,178,200 for soil and water surveys, Hazarajat highway survey, telecommunications, and teacher training schools. 22 January: Water supply network to serve 110,000 of Kabul’s residents completed with Japanese assistance. 15 February: Protocol on exchange of goods and prices for 1965 signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 18–28 February: Prime Minister Yusuf holds talks with Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri during visit to India. 24 February: General Muhammad Aref named Afghan ambassador to Soviet Union. U.S. ambassador-at-large Averell Harriman meets Zahir Shah and Prime Minister Yusuf during stop in Kabul. 2 March: New five-year trade transit agreement, replacing 1958 agreement, signed by Afghanistan and Pakistan. 11 March: Zahir Shah and Soviet prime minister Dmitri Polyansky open Nangarhar irrigation and power project, built with Soviet assistance. 22–25 March: Chen Yi, PRC deputy prime minister and foreign minister, confers with Zahir Shah and Prime Minister Yusuf during a three-day visit. Boundary protocol, cultural agreement, and
economic and technical cooperation agreement signed. 5 April: High schools start requiring entrance exams to give all students equal chance, avoid overcrowding, and keep educational standards high. 18–20 April: Cultural agreement signed by Afghanistan and Britain during visit of Lord Walston, British parliamentary undersecretary of state for foreign affairs. 21–30 April: Prime Minister Yusuf makes official visit to Soviet Union; gets assurance of Soviet help with third plan. 11 May: New electoral law, providing for universal, direct vote by secret ballot for all Afghan men and women over 20, goes into effect. 23 May: Ariana Airlines begins weekly flight to Tashkent, its first to Soviet Union. 5 June: Mazar-i Sharif airport completed. Built with U.S. assistance. 6 June: First of three regional appellate courts established in Kabul. Others to be in Mazar-i Sharif and Kandahar. 22 June: Jangalak smelts its first iron ore mined in Afghanistan. 1 July: Land survey and statistics law goes into effect. 7 July: King Zahir Shah announces plan to rebuild old city of Kabul. 15 July: United States agrees to help increase wheat and provides credits for several projects. 18 July: Prime Minister Yusuf lays cornerstone for Jangalak Polytechnic Institute for 700 students, being built with Soviet assistance. 20 July: Cadastral survey of Kabul begins. Direct telephone link between Kabul, Rawalpindi, and Lahore inaugurated. 24 July: Soviet Union agrees to build 97 km pipeline from Shiberghan gas fields to Soviet border and 88 km line from fields to fertilizer and power plants in Balkh Province. 28 July: Soviet Union agrees to extend payment on loans to Afghanistan by 30 years and provide teachers for Polytechnic Institute. 3–14 August: Zahir Shah and Queen Homaira visit USSR. Afghanistan and Soviet Union agree to extend treaty on neutrality and mutual nonaggression of 1931 for 10 years. 8 August: First census of Kabul finds population of 435,203. 26 August–28 September: Election of parliament members held. Over 1,000 run for 216 seats in Wolesi Jirga (House of the People), and 100 for 28 elective seats in Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders). All run as independents. 9 September: New press law goes into effect allowing Afghan citizens freedom of expression while safeguarding the fundamental values of Islam and the principles embodied in the constitution. 12 October: Dr. Abdul Zahir is elected president of Wolesi Jirga. Zahir Shah names Abdul Hadi Dawai president of Meshrano Jirga. 13 October: Zahir Shah’s appointees to Meshrano Jirga are announced. Prime Minister Yusuf presents report of interim government and offers resignation. King asks him to form new government. 19 October: Wolesi Jirga decides that proposed cabinet members should submit lists of property they hold before vote of confidence is taken. 24 October: Prime Minister Yusuf’s presentation of his cabinet to Wolesi Jirga postponed when spectators crowd into deputies’ seats and refuse to leave. 25 October: Wolesi Jirga decides 191–6 to hold vote of confidence in secret session. Student demonstrations are dispersed by force by police and army; three persons are killed. Schools are closed and public meetings banned. Wolesi Jirga approves Prime Minister Yusuf’s cabinet, the vote reported to be 198 in favor and 15 abstaining. Ministers are as follows: Sayyid Shamsuddin Majruh
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Gen. Khan Muhammad
Defense
Muhd. Husain Masa
Interior
Abdullah Yaftali
Finance
Muhammad Anas
Education
Mir Muhd. Akbar Reza
Agriculture
Ghulam Dastagir Azizi
Public Works
Muhd. Hashem Waiwandwal
Press, Information
Nur Ali
Commerce
Abdul Samad Hamid
Planning
Abdul Majid
Health
Muhammad Haidar
Communications
Justice, Mines and Industries, and Tribal Affairs are left to be filled later. 27 October: King Zahir Shah receives cabinet. 29 October: In wake of demonstrations, Prime Minister Yusuf resigns, giving poor health as reason. King Zahir Shah asks Muhammad Hashem Maiwandwal to form cabinet. 2 November: Prime Minister Maiwandwal presents cabinet to Wolesi Jirga and gets vote of confidence of 190 to 7, with 3 abstaining and 16 absent. The entire proceedings are broadcast over Radio Afghanistan. Cabinet members are as follows: Nur Ahmad Etemadi
Foreign Affairs
Gen. Khan Muhammad
Defense
Abdul Satar Shalizi
Interior
Abdullah Yaftali
Finance
Abdul Hakim Tabibi
Justice
Mir Muhd. Akbar Reza
Agriculture
Ahmadullah
Public Works
Nur Ali
Commerce
Muhd. Osman Anwari
Health
Abdul Samad Salim
Communications
Maiwandwal is to act as his own minister of education and press and information. Planning and tribal affairs to be filled later. 4 November: Prime Minister Maiwandwal makes unexpected appearance at condolence ceremony on Kabul University campus for those killed during October 25 demonstrations; brings king’s message of sympathy and promises to consider student demands. Toryalai Etemadi is elected president of Kabul University by university senate. 6 November: Ministry of Interior announces that three people died during
demonstrations on October 25. 7 November: List of property belonging to ministers debated and accepted by Wolesi Jirga members. 27 November: Kabul University senate refuses to accept student demands for a lower passing grade and postponement of exams. 1 December: Prime Minister Maiwandwal announces five cabinet appointments: Muhd. Osman Anwari
Education
Mis Kubra Nurzai
Health
Muhd. Osman Sidqi
Press, Information
Abdul Hakim Ziayi
Planning
Muhammad Khalid Roshan
Tribal Affairs
13 December: Kabul University’s college of science closed because of continued disturbances. 14 December: Ministry of Interior forbids public gatherings after two days of demonstrations. 1966 1–2 January: President Ayub Khan of Pakistan makes stop in Kabul on way to Tashkent talks. 14–15 January: Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin stops in Kabul for talks on way from Delhi to Moscow. 17 January: Kabul University’s college of education graduates its first 58 students. 31 January: Wahdat publishes first edition. The Dari and Pashtu weekly edited by Khal Muhammad Khasta is the first privately owned newspaper published in Kabul in 14 years. 1–10 February: Prime Minister Maiwandwal visits Soviet Union. 10 February: Ghulam Muhammad Sulaiman named Afghan ambassador to Pakistan. 11 February: Payam-i Imruz, a twice-weekly newspaper published by Ghulam Nabi Khater, first issued. 15 February: Dr. Muhammad Asif Sohail named Afghan ambassador to PRC. 23 February: Nasir Zia named Afghan ambassador to India. 2 March: New Kabul University constitution approved by cabinet. 15 March: Khalilullah Khalili named Afghan ambassador to Saudi Arabia. 4–9 April: Liu Shaoqui, PRC president, makes official visit to Kabul. 5 April: Afghan Millat, a Pashtu newspaper owned by Ghulam Muhammad Farhad, starts publication. 11 April: Khalq, a Pashtu and Dari newspaper published by Nur Muhammad Taraki, puts out first issue. 13 April: Wolesi Jirga begins consideration of political parties draft law. 4 May: After debate on Khalq, Meshrano Jirga passes resolution saying any publication against values of Islam should be halted. 22 May: Wolesi Jirga passes resolution asking government to take action against Khalq for not following values of constitution. 23 May: Government bans distribution of Khalq under Article 48 of the press law. 20 June: Prime Minister Maiwandwal names Foreign Minister Etemadi and Interior Minister Shalizi first and second deputy ministers, respectively. 19 July: Wolesi Jirga approves political parties draft law. 17 August: Prime Minister Maiwandwal appoints Muhammad Haidar minister of justice and Abdul Karim Hakimi minister of communications. 20 August: Supreme judiciary committee set up as foundation of future supreme court. 24 August: Prime Minister Maiwandwal gives speech on eve of Jashen on Radio Afghanistan in which he explains his philosophy of progressive democracy. 28 August: Former prime minister Yusuf is named Afghan ambassador to the
Federal Republic of Germany. 20 September: Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, Afghan representative to the United Nations, is elected president of the UN General Assembly. 1967 25 January: Prime Minister Maiwandwal reshuffles cabinet, names Abdullah Yaftali minister without portfolio, Abdul Karim Hakimi minister of finance, and Muhammad Husain Masa minister of the interior. 12 February: Abdullah Malikyar is named Afghan ambassador to United States. Abdul Majid is named Afghan ambassador to Britain. 25 March–9 April: Prime Minister Maiwandwal visits United States. 10 May: Protocol on export of natural gas signed by Afghanistan and Soviet Union. 30 May–2 June: Nikolai Podgorny, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, visits Afghanistan. 13 June: Abdul Rauf Benawa is named minister of information and culture. Muhammad Osman Sidqi is named secretary general in Foreign Ministry. 27 July: Prime Minister Maiwandwal appoints Abdullah Yaftali minister of planning, Dr. Muhammad Anas minister without portfolio, and Muhammad Ehsan Rostamel minister of justice. 20 August: Direct telephone link between Kabul and Herat completed. 11 October: Prime Minister Maiwandwal resigns because of poor health. King Zahir Shah names Abdullah Yaftali acting prime minister. 15 October: Zahir Shah inaugurates supreme court. 1 November: Zahir Shah asks Nur Ahmad Etemadi to form new government. 13 November: Etemadi submits cabinet to Wolesi Jirga: Ali Ahmad Popal
First Deputy Prime Minister and Education
Abdullah Yaftali
Second Deputy Prime Minister
Gen. Khan Muhammad
Defense
Muhd. Omar Wardak
Interior
Muhammad Asghar
Justice
Muhd. Anwar Ziayi
Finance
Nur Ali
Commerce
Muhd. Husain Masa
Public Works
Muhammad Anas
Information
Muhd. Azim Gran
Communications
Mis Kubra Nurzai
Health
Abdul Samad Salim
Mines, Industries
Mir Muhd. Akbar Reza
Agriculture
Abdul Samad Hamid
Planning
Abdul Wahid Sorabi
Without Portfolio
Said Masud Pohanyar
Tribal Affairs
15 November: Prime Minister Etemadi gets vote of confidence 173 to 7, with 6 abstentions,
after three-day debate. Etemadi pledges to work against bribery and corruption. 1968 7 January: Yugoslav president and Mrs. Tito arrive for an official four-day visit. 25 January: Education commission organized to decide national education policy for Afghanistan. 31 January: Soviet premier Kosygin stops in Kabul to discuss economic questions. 4 February: Chakhansur Province renamed Nimruz, name given to the area in Pahlavi literature. 22 April: Shiberghan gas pipelines officially opened. 13 June: King Zahir Shah ends a 10-day visit to the USSR. 23 August: The country celebrates the 50th anniversary of its independence. 1969 25 May: U.S. secretary of state William Rogers pays a brief visit to Kabul for talks with government leaders. 10 June: Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi ends a five-day official visit. 22 June: Afghan government orders closing of all primary and secondary schools in Kabul after a wave of student unrest and a student boycott of Kabul University. 17 July: Soviet military delegation begins a visit. 17 November: New cabinet announced as follows: Nur Ahmad Etemadi
Prime Minister
Abdullah Yaftali
First Deputy
Abdul Qayyum
Second Deputy and Education
Khan Muhammad
Defense
Muhd. Bashir Lodin
Interior
Abdul Wahid Sorabi
Planning
Abdul Satar Sirat
Justice
Muhd. Akbar Omar
Commerce
Muhammad Aman
Finance
Mahmud Habibi
Information
Muhd. Azim Gran
Communication
Ibrahim Majid Siraj
Health
Amanullah Mansuri
Mines, Industries
Abdul Hakim
Agriculture
Ministers without portfolio are Shafiqa Ziayi and Ghulam Ali Ayin.
25 December: Soviet military delegation led by Defense Minister Andrei Grechko arrives for an official visit. 1970 21 January: The USSR signs a protocol for the export of 2.5 billion cubic meters of Afghan natural gas in 1970. 26 January: Defense Minister Khan Muhammad begins an official visit to the United States. 20 September: King Zahir Shah leaves for a state visit to Czechoslovakia. 20 October: King Zahir Shah arrives in Moscow for an “unofficial friendly”
visit. 1971 17 May: It is announced that the government of Prime Minister Nur Ahmad Etemadi has resigned. King Zahir Shah accepts the resignation and requests him to stay in office until a new government can be formed. 8 June: Former ambassador to Italy, Abdul Zahir, is asked to form a new cabinet: Dr. Abdul Zahir
Prime Minister
Dr. Abdul Samad Hamid
First Deputy
Gen. Khan Muhammad
Defense
Muhammad Musa Shafiq
Foreign Affairs
Amanullah Mansuri
Interior
Muhd. Anwar Arghandiwal
Justice
Dr. Ghulam Haidar Dawar
Finance
Hamidullah Enayat Siraj
Education
Muhd. Aref Ghausi
Commerce
Khwazak Khan
Public Works
Muhd. Ibrahim Abbasi
Information
Engineer Nasratullah Malikyar
Communications
Dr. Ibrahim Majid Siraj
Health
Engineer Muhd. Yaqub Lali
Mines, Industries
Abdul Hakim
Agriculture and Irrigation
Dr. Abdul Wahid Sorabi
Planning
Mrs. Shafiqa Ziayee
Without Portfolio
Dr. Abdul Wakil
Without Portfolio
Abdul Satar Sirat
Without Portfolio
Dr. Abdul Samad Hamid
Tribal Affairs
13 June: King Zahir Shah ends visit to the USSR with a joint communiqué reaffirming their mutual allegiance to the principles of peaceful coexistence. 26 July: The National Assembly gives Abdul Zahir a vote of confidence after a 17-day debate, and he takes office along with his cabinet. August: Afghanistan suffers the worst drought in its recorded history. 1972 3 January: The USSR signs an agreement for expanding natural gas refining and collection centers in the north. 11 January: Pakistan president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto arrives in Kabul for official talks. 3 April: Indian foreign affairs minister Swaran Singh leaves after a
three-day visit and talks on economic aid and cooperation. 15 April: It is announced that Minister of Education Enayat Siraj has resigned for “health reasons.” 16 May: Kabul Radio broadcasts a demand for Pashtunistan’s independence from Pakistan. 21 July: U.S. special envoy John Connally tells the government that the United States cannot make any further commitment of aid. 25 August: A natural gas discovery at Jarquduq is estimated to be the second largest in the country. 25 September: Prime Minister Abdul Zahir tenders his resignation, but it is refused by the king. 5 December: King Zahir Shah accepts the resignation of Prime Minister Abdul Zahir who agrees to remain in office until a new prime minister can be appointed. 9 December: Musa Shafiq is appointed to form a new government. 11 December: A new cabinet is announced, with Muhammad Musa Shafiq prime minister and foreign affairs minister. Members of cabinet include the following: Gen. Khan Muhammad
Defense
Nematullah Pazhwak
Interior
Muhammad Khan Jalalar
Finance
Khwazak Zalmai
Health
Sabahuddin Kushkaki
Information
Nasratullah Malikyar
Communications
Ghulam Dastagir Azizi
Mines, Industries
Abdul Wakil
Agriculture
Abdul Wahid Sorabi
Planning
1973 17 January: It is announced that diplomatic relations will be established with the German Democratic Republic. 13 March: Iranian prime minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda and Prime Minister Muhammad Musa Shafiq of Afghanistan sign a formal settlement of the Helmand River dispute. 21 April: A royal decree is issued setting general parliamentary election dates. 11 May: The border with Pakistan is ordered closed for two weeks for “administrative reasons.” 8 July: Zahir Shah arrives in Italy for a vacation. 17 July: Sardar Muhammad Daud deposes his cousin, the king, and proclaims a republic. 18 July: Muhammad Daud is proclaimed president and defense minister. 19 July: The Soviet Union and India extend diplomatic recognition of the new government. 27 July: President Daud abrogates the constitution of 1964 and dissolves parliament. 2 August: New cabinet announced with Muhammad Daud holding the portfolios of prime minister, defense, and foreign affairs: Muhd. Hasan Sharq
Deputy Prime Minister
Abdul Majid
Justice
Abdulillah
Finance
Faiz Muhammad
Interior
Nematullah Pazhwak
Education
Pacha Gul
Frontier Affairs
Abdul Qayyum
Mines, Industries
Abdul Hamid
Communications
Nazar Muhd. Sikandar
Health
Abdul Rahim Nawin
Information
Ghulam Jilani Bakhtari
Agriculture
24 August: Deposed king Zahir Shah announces his abdication. 23 September: It is announced that a plot to overthrow the government was discovered and a number of senior army officers arrested. Pakistan is accused of supporting the group. 30 October: Indian foreign minister Swaran Singh arrives for an official visit. 1974 5 April: It is reported that a new trade and payments agreement between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union was concluded after a visit to Moscow by Minister of Trade Muhammad Khan Jalallar. 7 July: A trade protocol is signed with India. 19 July: Soviet assistance in development of the Jarquduq natural gas field and in oil exploration is reported. 24 July: Iran and Afghanistan sign a protocol for cooperation in a large-scale development program in the “joint region of the Helmand River.” 1 November: U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger arrives and meets with Premier Muhammad Daud. 1975 26 February: The government issues a statement protesting the U.S. decision to lift the arms ban on Pakistan. 13 March: President Muhammad Daud concludes an official visit to India. 1 May: The government announces the nationalization of all banks and banking affairs. 11 July: Deputy Foreign Minister Wahid Abdallah flies to Saudi Arabia to attend the Islamic Foreign Ministers Conference. 28 July: Afghan security forces capture a “terrorist” group in Panjshir that was allegedly armed by Pakistan. 17 October: Iran signs an agreement to provide aid and technical assistance to construct a railroad system and Kabul airport and to build a meat processing plant. 21 November: New cabinet is appointed in October: Muhammad Daud
President, Prime Minister, Defense, and Foreign Affairs
Muhd. Hasan Sharq
First Deputy Prime Minister
Sayyid Abdullah
Second Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister
Abdul Qadir
Interior
Abdul Tawab Asefi
Mines, Industries
Azizullah Wasefi
Agriculture
Abdul Karim Atayi
Communications
Ali Ahmad Kurram
Planning
Nazar Muhd. Sikandar
Health
Abdul Majid
Justice
Abdul Rahim Nawin
Information
Faiz Muhammad
Frontier Affairs
2 December: Afghanistan denies Pakistani charges that it has mobilized troops along its border with Pakistan. 1976 2 January: An agreement is concluded with the Soviet Union for the development of the Jarquduq gas fields and the provision of gas production and processing facilities. 23 April: The League of Red Cross Societies says that about 100,000 people in Afghanistan have been left homeless by earthquakes, torrential rains, and floods. 7 June: Pakistani president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto begins a visit to Afghanistan. 8 June: Pakistani president Bhutto meets with President Muhammad Daud. 4 July: Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi arrives in Kabul for a three-day visit. 8 August: U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger meets with President Daud in Kabul. 9 December: According to reports, more than 50 people have been arrested and accused of a plot to overthrow the government. 1977 30 January: President Muhammad Daud convenes the Loya Jirga to approve the draft of a new constitution. 14 February: The new constitution is approved by the Loya Jirga. 15 February: Muhammad Daud is sworn in, and the Loya Jirga is dissolved. 24 February: President Muhammad Daud promulgates a new constitution. 26 February: President Daud disbands the cabinet and the central revolutionary committee. 13 March: The Afghan government announces formation of a new cabinet: Ghulam Haidar Rasuli
Defense
Sayyid Abdullah
Finance
Abdul Majid
Without Portfolio
Wafiyullah Sami’i
Justice
Abdul Qadir Nuristani
Interior
Ghulam Siddiq Muhibi
Higher Education
Ibrahim Majid Siraj
Education
Muhd. Khan Jalalar
Commerce
Azizullah Wasefi
Agriculture
Abdul Tawab Asefi
Mines, Industries
Ghausuddin Fayeq
Public Works
Abdul Rahim Navin
Information
Ali Ahmad Khurram
Planning
Abdul Karim Atayi
Communications
Abdullah Omar
Health
Juma Muhd. Muhammadi
Water, Power
Abdul Qayyum
Border Affairs
Wahid Abdullah
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
23 March: A Soviet trade delegation begins a trip to Afghanistan to hold talks on bilateral trade. 29 March: An agreement is reached in Kabul to resume air links between Pakistan and Afghanistan. 22 June: Pakistani premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto arrives in Kabul for talks with President Muhammad Daud. 29 July: Afghanistan and the USSR conclude a six-year consumer goods agreement in Kabul. 11 October: Pakistani chief martial law administrator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq meets with President Daud at the Presidential Palace. 7 November: President Daud appoints the following to the central council: Abdul Majid, State; Ghulam Haidar Rasuli, Defense; Sayyid Abdullah, Finance; and Abdul Qayyum, Border Affairs. 16 November: Minister of Planning Ali Ahmad Khurram is assassinated in Kabul. 1978 19 February: Sayyid Abdullah is appointed vice president. 21 February: President Muhammad Daud leaves Kabul for Belgrade on an official visit to Yugoslavia. 24 February: A trial of 25 people accused of plotting to assassinate President Daud begins in Kabul. 4 March: President Daud meets with Indian premier Morarji Desai in New Delhi. 17 April: Mir Akbar Khaibar, one of the founders of the PDPA, is assassinated in Kabul. 20 April: Thousands turn Khaibar’s funeral into an antigovernment demonstration. 26 April: President Daud has PDPA leaders arrested. 27 April: Communist coup. Members of the PDPA gain power in a coup led by insurgents in the armed forces. The military Revolutionary Council forms a new government. 29 April: The government radio reports that Defense Minister Ghulam Haidar Rasuli, Interior Minister Abdul Qadir Nuristani, and Vice President Sayyid Abdullah have been killed in the coup along with President Daud and his brother Muhammad Naim. 30 April: A “Revolutionary Council” is proclaimed. Nur Muhammad Taraki is named president and premier of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The Revolutionary Council selects the following leading ministers: Babrak Karmal
Deputy Prime Minister
Hafizullah Amin
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
Muhd. Aslam Watanjar
Deputy Prime Minister and Communications
Abdul Qadir Nuristani
National Defense
Shah Wali
Health
Nur Ahmad Nur
Interior
Dastagir Panjshiri
Education
Sultan Ali Keshtmand
Planning
Sulaiman Layeq
Radio, Television
Saleh Muhd. Zirai
Agriculture
Abdul Karim Misaq
Finance
M. Hasan Bareq-Shafi’i
Information, Culture
Abdul Hakim Shara’i
Justice, Attorney General
Anahita Ratebzad
Social Affairs
Abdul Quddus Ghorbandi
Commerce
Muhd. Isma’il Danesh
Mines, Industries
Muhammad Rafi’i
Public Works
Muhd. Mansur Hashimi
Water, Power
Mahmud Suma
Higher Education
Nizamuddin Tahzib
Tribal Affairs
1 May: Shah Muhammad Dost and Abdul Hadi Mokamel are named deputy ministers of foreign affairs. 6 May: Premier Taraki says Afghanistan is “nonaligned and independent.” 18 May: Foreign Minister Hafizullah Amin leaves Kabul for Havana for a meeting of nonaligned countries. May–June: First mujahedin camp set up in Pakistan. 5 July: Kabul Radio says that Interior Minister Nur Ahmad Nur has been named ambassador to Washington and that Vice President and Deputy Premier Babrak Karmal has been named ambassador to Czechoslovakia. 17 August: The central committee of the People’s Democratic Party decides that the president of the Revolutionary Council, Nur Muhammad Taraki, will assume the duties of minister of defense. 18 August: Kabul Radio announces that a plot to overthrow the government has been foiled and Defense Minister Abdul Qadir has been arrested for his role in the plot. 23 August: The politburo of the PDPA orders the arrest of Planning Minister Sultan Ali Keshtmand and Public Works Minister Muhammad Rafi’i for their parts in the conspiracy. 28 August: The following appointments are announced: Dastagir Panjshiri
Public Works
Abdul Rashid Jalili
Education
Sahibjan Sahrayi
Border Affairs
9 September: Pakistani chief martial law administrator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq meets with Chairman of the Revolutionary Council Taraki at Paghman, near Kabul. 17 September: The government announces it is breaking diplomatic relations with South Korea. 19 September:
Indian external affairs minister Anal Bihari Vajpayee meets with Taraki in Kabul. 22 September: Taraki dismisses six ambassadors who had been appointed in July. All were members of the Parcham section of the PDPA. 19 October: Afghanistan adopts a red flag as its new national emblem. 3 December: President Nur Muhammad Taraki arrives in Moscow for talks with Soviet leaders. 5 December: Afghanistan and the Soviet Union sign a 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation in Moscow. 1979 28 January: Guerrillas fight government troops in the eastern provinces bordering Pakistan. 2 February: It is reported that Afghan dissidents are undergoing guerilla training at a Pakistan military base north of Peshawar. 14 February: U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Adolph Dubs is taken hostage by terrorists in Kabul. Afghan forces rush the building in which he is held, and he is slain. The United States protests the use of force by the Afghan government to free the ambassador. 19 February: Foreign Minister Hafizullah Amin rejects U.S. protest over the incident leading to the slaying of the U.S. ambassador as “completely baseless.” 22 February: President Jimmy Carter orders American aid to Afghanistan reduced. 16 March: Revolt and uprising in Herat with the participation of the military garrison. Thousands are said to be killed in recapture of town by government troops. 23 March: A U.S. spokesman says Washington expects that the “principle of noninterference” in Afghanistan will be respected by all parties in the area, “including the Soviet Union.” 27 March: Foreign Minister Hafizullah Amin is named prime minister. 1 April: The new Afghan government is announced: Hafizullah Amin, premier and foreign affairs, and Shah Wali, deputy prime minister. Others included were as follows: Saleh Muhd. Zirai
Agriculture
Dastagir Panjshiri
Public Works
Abdul Karim Misaq
Finance
Mahmud Suma
Higher Education
Aslam Watanjar
Defense
Abdul Rashid Jalili
Education
Abdul Hakim Shara’i
Justice, Attorney General
Mahmud Hashemi
Water, Power
Khial M. Katawazi
Information, Culture
Muhd. Isma’il Danesh
Mines, Industries
Abdul Quddus Ghorbandi
Commerce
Hasan Bareq-Shafi’i
Transport
Sahibjan Sahra’i
Frontier Affairs
2 April: Washington denies Soviet charges that America is arming Afghan guerrillas. 8 April: Soviet vice minister of defense Aleksey Yepishev meets with President Nur Muhammad Taraki in Kabul. 30 April: Taraki says Pakistani president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was “involved” in attacks on border positions in eastern Afghanistan. 13 June: Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of involvement in a rebellion against the Afghan government. 23 June: Kabul Radio reports that antigovernment demonstrators (Hazaras) in Kabul were “annihilated and arrested” during the day. June: Soviet special forces occupy Bagram air force base. 28 July: The cabinet is reshuffled: Hafizullah Amin, prime minister and vice president of the Revolutionary Council; Shah Wali, deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Others included were as follows: Muhammad Gulabzoi
Post, Telegraph, and Telephone
Muhd. Aslam Watanjar
Interior
Abdul Rashid Jalili
Agriculture
Muhd. Siddiq Alemyar
Planning
Saleh Muhd. Zirai
Health
Muhd. Salim Masudi
Education
Abdul Quddus Ghorbandi
Commerce
Muhd. Hasan Bareq-Shafi’i
Transport
Dastagir Panjshiri
Public Works
Abdul Hakim Shara’i
Justice
Khial Muhd. Katawazi
Information, Culture
Sherjan Mazduryar
Border Affairs
Mahmud Suma
Higher Education
Muhd. Isma’il Danesh
Mines, Industries
Abdul Karim Misaq
Finance
Mansur Hashemi
Water, Electricity
5 August: Heavy fighting breaks out in Kabul between loyal troops and a rebellious army unit at the Bala Hissar Fort. The rebellion is crushed, and a curfew is imposed on the city. 19 August: Premier Hafizullah Amin says there are “no more than 1,600 Soviet advisers” in Afghanistan. 15 September: Radio Kabul reports that Interior Minister Aslam Watanjar and Frontier Affairs Minister Sherjan Mazduryar have been removed from their posts. It is reported that gunfire and explosions occurred in Kabul following the announcement of the cabinet dismissals. 16 September: Radio Kabul reports that President Taraki has asked to be relieved of his government positions because of “bad health and nervous weakness.” Premier Amin assumes the additional post of president. Other appointments include Faqir Muhd. Faqir,
Interior, and Sahibjan Sahra’i, Frontier Affairs. 23 September: President Amin says that former president Taraki is “alive but definitely sick.” 8 October: Kabul announces that President Amin has commuted death sentences of former defense minister Abdul Qadir and former planning minister Sultan Ali Keshtmand to 15 years’ imprisonment. Rebel tribesmen say they have cut the road leading from Kabul to Gardez during fighting with government troops. 9 October: Radio Kabul announces that Taraki has died. President Amin publishes a list of 12,000 killed by the Taraki regime. 14 October: Heavy fighting takes place at Rishkhur barracks southwest of Kabul. 16 October: It is reported that the government has crushed an army mutiny near Kabul. Soviet forces take command of Shindand air force base. 9 November: It is reported that several ambush attacks have been launched on government troops near Kabul, killing 200 persons. 21 December: U.S. officials say that the Soviet Union has moved three army divisions to the border with Afghanistan and has sent about 1,500 combat soldiers to an air base near Kabul. 26 December: A U.S. government spokesman says that in the past 24 hours there has been “a large-scale Soviet airlift” to Kabul, raising Soviet military involvement in Afghanistan to “a new threshold.” 27 December: Fighting breaks out in Kabul, and President Hafizullah Amin is overthrown and assassinated. Former deputy premier Babrak Karmal assumes the post of president. It is reported that Soviet troops have taken part in the fighting in Kabul. 28 December: President Karmal says the Soviet Union has agreed to supply Afghanistan “urgent political, moral, and economic aid, including military aid.” U.S. president Jimmy Carter calls the Soviet military intervention “a grave threat to the peace” and a “blatant violation of accepted rules of international behavior.” A Cabinet is formed as follows: Babrak Karmal
Prime Minister, Chairman of Revolutionary Council, and Secretary General of Central Committee
Asadullah Sarwari
Deputy Prime Minister
Sultan Ali Keshtmand
Deputy Prime Minister and Planning
Muhammad Rafi’i
National Defense
Sayyid Muhd. Gulabzoi
Interior
Shah Muhammad Dost
Foreign Minister
Anahita Ratebzad
Education
Abdul Wakil
Finance
Sherjan Mazduryar
Transport
Faiz Muhammad
Borders and Tribes
Muhammad Khan Jalalar
Trade
1980 January: The Jimmy Carter administration requests about $30 million in covert aid to the Afghan guerrillas. The United States begins covertly channeling Soviet-made weapons, including Kalashnikov AK-47 automatic rifles, to the rebels in Pakistan. 1 January: Afghanistan says it has invited Soviet troops into the country “in view of the present aggressive actions of the enemies of Afghanistan.” 2 January: Karmal addresses government leaders near Kabul and calls on the Afghan people to “come together and support our glorious revolution.” 5 January: The UN Security Council opens a debate on Afghanistan. 7 January: The Soviet Union vetoes a UN resolution that called for the immediate withdrawal of “all foreign troops in Afghanistan.” The vote is 13 to 2 in favor of the resolution. 9 January: The Security Council votes 12 to 2 with one abstention for a resolution to move the issue of Afghanistan to the General Assembly. 10 January: The Afghan cabinet is expanded as follows: Muhd. Aslam Watanjar
Communications
Abdul Majid Sarbuland
Information, Culture
Abdul Rashid Arian
Justice
Muhd. Isma’il Danesh
Mines, Industries
Raz Muhd. Paktin
Water, Power
Guldad
Higher Education
Nazar Muhammad
Public Works
Muhd. Ibrahim Azim
Health
Fazl Rahim Mohmand
Agriculture, Land Reform
14 January: The UN General Assembly votes 104 to 18 with 18 abstentions for a resolution that “strongly deplores” the “recent armed intervention” in Afghanistan and that calls for the “total withdrawal of foreign troops” from the country. 23 January: President Carter announces sanctions against the Soviet Union, including a grain embargo. 27 January: A conference of Islamic foreign ministers opens in Islamabad to consider the situation in Afghanistan. 29 January: The conference adopts a resolution that condemns “the Soviet military aggression against the Afghan people.” 13 February: Egyptian defense minister Kamal Hasan ‘Ali says that Egypt is providing assistance to Afghan rebels and is “training some of them.” 14 February: The UN Human Rights Commission votes 27 to 8 with 6 abstentions to condemn the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan as “an aggression against human rights.” 15 February: The New York Times cites “White House officials” as saying the U.S. had begun an operation to supply light infantry weapons to Afghan insurgent groups. 19 February: Foreign ministers of
the European Economic Community (EEC) propose that Afghanistan be declared a neutral country under international guarantees if the Soviet Union withdraws its troops. 22 February: Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev says that the Soviet Union will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan “as soon as all forms of outside interference” are “fully terminated.” Demonstrations and rioting against the government and the Soviet Union take place in Kabul. 25 February: Shops remain closed in Kabul. 26 February: It is reported that mass arrests have been made in Kabul during the day. 28 February: Almost all shopkeepers open for business in Kabul. It is reported that striking civil servants have returned to work. 3 March: The Hizb-i Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of six Afghan insurgent groups negotiating an alliance, says it has withdrawn from the alliance. 7 March: Soviet soldiers appear on the streets of Kabul. Soviet fighter planes and helicopter gunships fly over the city. 10 March: Justice Minister Abdurrashid Arian says that 42 associates of former president Hafizullah Amin are being held for trial. 12 March: It is announced that the following ministers have been appointed: Muhd. Khan Jalalar, Commerce, and Fazl Rahim Mohmand, Agriculture. 13 March: Foreign Minister Shah Muhammad Dost arrives in Moscow on a “friendly visit.” April: Status of Soviet Armed Forces Agreement signed. 18 May: Indian foreign secretary R. D. Satha meets with President Babrak Karmal in Kabul. 22 May: A conference of Islamic foreign ministers, meeting in Islamabad, adopts a resolution that demands the “immediate, total and unconditional withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Afghanistan” and decides to establish a committee that will open “appropriate consultations” to seek a solution to the crisis in Afghanistan. 24 May: Demonstrators protesting the Soviet presence in Afghanistan march in Kabul. 8 June: Radio Kabul announces that 10 supporters and aides of slain former president Hafizullah Amin have been executed. 14 June: Kabul news service reports that former communications minister Muhammad Zarif, former frontier affairs minister Sahibjan Sahra’i, and former planning minister Muhammad Siddiq Alemyar have been executed. July: Sixty countries boycott the Moscow Olympics in protest over the invasion of Afghanistan. 2 July: The Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda says that for a political settlement of the situation in Afghanistan to take place, armed incursions by the “mercenaries of the imperialist and reactionary forces from the territory of neighboring states” must first be ended. 16 August: Radio Kabul reports that Justice Minister Abdurrashid Arian has been named to the additional post of deputy prime minister. 14 September: Frontier Affairs Minister Faiz Muhammad is killed earlier in the week while trying to enlist the support of Afghan tribes. October: The CIA provides some SAM-7 portable surface-to-air missiles to Ahmad Shah Mas’ud. 15 October–5 November: President Karmal and other high officials leave Kabul on a visit to the Soviet Union. 13 November: President Karmal says that those who are not working for the good of the party will be expelled “even if they had been heroes in the past.” 20 November: The UN General Assembly votes by 111 to 22 with 12 abstentions for a resolution that calls for the “unconditional” pullout of “foreign troops” from Afghanistan. 21 November: Foreign Affairs Minister Shah Muhammad Dost says the UN resolution is “a flagrant interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.” 25 December: Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat says that he has “sent weapons” and would “send more weapons” to Afghan insurgents. 27 December:
Deposed king Zahir Shah says in exile that he prays to God “to aid the Afghan people in its heroic struggle and its legitimate war for independence.” 1981 Pakistan government declares that henceforth it will recognize only six Pakistan-based resistance organizations. 18 February: President Babrak Karmal arrives in Moscow for talks with Soviet leaders. 9 March: U.S. president Ronald Reagan says that if Afghan “freedom fighters” who are fighting Soviet forces ask for weapons, it will be something “to be considered.” 7 April: Saudi Arabia announces it is severing diplomatic relations with “the current illegal regime” in Afghanistan. 9 May: Pakistani officials estimate the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan at two million. 11 June: President of the Revolutionary Council Babrak Karmal turns the post of prime minister over to Sultan Ali Keshtmand and removes Abdul Rashid Arian as deputy prime minister. 13 June: The Revolutionary Council elects as its vice presidents Nur Ahmad Nur and Abdul Rashid Arian. 12 July: Member of the national committee of the National Fatherland Front General Fateh Muhammad is killed by rebels. 22 July: Diplomatic sources in Kabul report heavy fighting between the rebels and Soviet forces in Paghman, 16 miles from the capital. 6 August: Foreign Minister Shah Muhammad Dost meets with UN representative Javier Perez de Cuellar. 12 August: Radio Kabul announces changes in the land distribution program that lift restrictions on acreage held by religious and tribal leaders. 22 August: Five Afghan resistance groups form an alliance and create a 50member advisory council. 9 September: Foreign Minister Dost meets with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. 22 September: Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat says in a U.S. television interview that the United States has been buying old Soviet-made arms from Egypt and sending them to rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have no comment. 18 November: By a vote of 116 to 23 with 12 abstentions, the UN General Assembly votes for the third time that the Soviet Union must withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. 15 December: President Karmal begins a visit to Moscow. 1982 6 January: In Washington, military analysts say Soviet troops in Afghanistan have grown to 110,000 or 120,000. 20 February: The Afghan government rejects the appointment of Archer K. Blood, designated U.S. chargé d’affaires to Kabul. In response, the U.S. State Department imposes travel restrictions on Afghan diplomats in Washington. 10 March: President Reagan proclaims March 21 “Afghanistan Day.” 1 April: The Revolutionary Council Presidium announces new appointments: Khalil Ahmad Abawi, vice chairman of council of ministers; Muhammad Yasin Sadiqi, director, local organizations committee, and director, council of ministers; Mehrabuddin Paktiawal, director, central bank. The UN World Food Programme announces additional $18.5 million in food aid to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. 8 June: Soviet and Afghan troops regain control of the key Panjshir Valley in a major offensive against mujahedin forces. 16 June: A two-day PDPA conference ends in Kabul with the 841 delegates endorsing resolutions aimed at purging dissidents and continuing a program of land reform. 16–25 June: The first UN-sponsored direct talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan begin in Geneva. 2 August: The Afghan government amends the conscription law, lengthening the term of service. 28 August: President Karmal approves four appointment changes:
Abdul Ghaffar Lakanwal
Agriculture, Land Reform
Abdul Samad Qayyumi
Local Government
Fazl Rahim Mohmand
Central Statistics
Najibullah Masud
Secretary, Council of Ministers
12 September: Minister of Education Guldad and Minister of Information and Culture Abdul Majid Sarbuland are removed from their posts but retain their positions as deputy prime ministers. 30 October: An explosion in the Salang Tunnel north of Kabul kills more than 1,000 people, including 700 Soviet troops. November: The UN General Assembly approves a resolution demanding “the immediate withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan” by a vote of 114 to 21 with 13 abstentions. December: It is reported that the CIA was ordered to provide the Afghan insurgents with bazookas, mortars, grenade launchers, mines, and recoilless rifles. 1983 19 January: UN deputy secretary general Diego Cordovez begins a peace mission to Geneva, Tehran, Islamabad, and Kabul to resolve the Afghan crisis. 16 February: The UN Human Rights Commission votes 29 to 7 with 5 abstentions for an immediate Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. 15 June: The foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan arrive in Geneva for a third series of talks on the withdrawal of foreign troops. 24 June: UNsponsored talks on Soviet troop withdrawal end in Geneva without progress. 23 November: The UN General Assembly calls for the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops by a vote of 116 to 20 with 16 abstentions. 27 December: The Afghan government says it will request the departure of 105,000 Soviet troops if it receives international guarantees that all opposition would end. 1984 24 January: President Karmal has replaced his three top military advisers. Chief of Staff Gen. Baba Jan is replaced by Lt. Gen. Nazar Muhammad; Deputy Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Khalilullah by Maj. Gen. Muhammad Nabi Azami; and Chief of Operations Gen. Nuristani by Maj. Gen. Ghulam Qadir Miakhel. 11 April: The Kabul government orders the expulsion of Third Secretary Richard S. Vandiver of the U.S. embassy in Kabul on charges of espionage. The United States denies the charge. 14 May: The National Olympic Committee announces that Afghanistan will boycott the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. 17 May: U.S. vice president George Bush visits the Khaibar Pass, where he condemns the Soviet invasion and expresses support for the Afghan resistance. 7 July: Radio Kabul announces nomination of Muhammad Kabir as minister of finance. 26 July: The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee approves $50 million in covert aid to Afghan resistance, according to intelligence sources. 27 August: The foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan meet separately in Geneva with a UN intermediary in talks on a political settlement to the Afghan war. 30 August: The third round of talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan adjourns in Geneva with no sign of progress. 31 August: A bomb explosion occurs at the Kabul airport. 4 November: Nine people are killed by the bomb explosion at Kabul airport. 3 December: Radio Kabul reports that President Karmal has appointed Army Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Nazar Muhammad
to replace Lt. Gen. Abdul Qadir as defense minister. 1985 18 January: The United States announces it will increase its aid to Afghan mujahedin in 1985 to approximately $280 million. Saudi Arabia, Israel, and China are also reportedly assisting the rebels. 26 January: The Afghan mujahedin leader, Khan Gul, is sentenced to death in Paktia Province. 29 January: Zabiullah, a leader of the Jam’iat-i Islami, is killed when his jeep hits a mine. 3 March: According to reports from Iran, five Shi’a mujahedin groups have merged: the Sazman-i Nasr, the Pasdaran, the Guards, the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, and the United Front of the Islamic Revolution. 8 April: Maulawi Abdul Wali is appointed minister of Islamic affairs. 23 April: President Karmal opens a grand tribal assembly (Loya Jirga) in Kabul in an effort to gain popular support in the government’s war against the mujahedin. 10 May: Leaders of three of the main mujahedin groups in Peshawar denounce the attempt by Abd al-Rasul Sayyaf to appoint himself for another term as head of the seven-member alliance of Afghan mujahedin. 17 June: U.S. and Soviet officials meet in Washington to discuss the war in Afghanistan. 20 June: UN-sponsored “proximity talks” begin in Geneva between Afghan and Pakistan governments regarding the war in Afghanistan. 30 August: UN mediator Diego Cordovez says progress has been made on three of four points in the UN plan for ending the Afghan war. The two sides remain divided on the question of withdrawing Soviet troops. 23 October: Afghan authorities order all males of up to 40 years of age to enlist for three years of military service. Afghan foreign minister Shah Muhammad Dost says Afghanistan cannot reach agreement on the withdrawal of Soviet troops unless Pakistan enters direct negotiations. 13 November: By a vote of 122 to 19 with 12 abstentions, the UN General Assembly adopts a Pakistani resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. 22 November: Three senior members of the PDPA are removed from the politburo: Maj. Gen. Abdul Qadir, Ghulam Dastagir Panjshiri, and Isma’il Danesh. 30 November: Sayyid Muhammad Nasim Maihanparast is appointed deputy chairman of the council of ministers. 6 December: Radio Kabul announces that Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi has been named director of the KHAD, Afghanistan’s secret police. 13 December: The State Department notifies the UN that the United States is ready to act as guarantor of a peace settlement in Afghanistan that would involve a Soviet troop withdrawal and an end to U.S. aid to the mujahedin. 19 December: In Geneva, Afghanistan and Pakistan suspend their latest round of peace talks to study new UN proposals for a timetable for Soviet withdrawal. 26 December: The council of ministers makes the following new appointments: Sayyid Amanuddin Amin, vice chairman, council of ministers; Sarjan Khan Zazai, tribal and nationalities affairs; Abdul Wahid Sorabi, social and cultural affairs; Abdul Ghaffar Baher, Islamic affairs; and Fazl Haq Khaliqyar, economic affairs. 31 December: The Afghan government presents an informal timetable for the withdrawal of Soviet troops as part of an overall accord during UN-sponsored Geneva talks from 16 to 19 December, according to the State Department. 1986 11 January: President Babrak Karmal rejects the U.S. offer to serve as guarantor of a peace settlement. 4 February: Guerrilla activity near Kandahar has reportedly declined in recent days after former rebel leader Asmatullah Achakzai Muslim and his militia decided to
back the Kabul government. 20 February: The Revolutionary Council Presidium appoints a 74-member commission to draft a constitution. 17 March: The Foreign Ministry rejects a UN report on human rights violations in Afghanistan as “a collection of groundless slanders and accusations.” 20 March: Pakistan lodges a “strong protest” over Afghan attacks on a border post and refugee camp in Khurram Agency that killed six people on 16 and 18 March. 2 April: The United States reportedly agrees to supply hundreds of Stinger missiles to Afghan mujahedin. 4 May: Babrak Karmal resigns as secretary general of the PDPA because of “ill health,” according to Kabul Radio. He is replaced by Najibullah, former head of KHAD, the secret police. Babrak retains the post of chairman of the Revolutionary Council and a seat in the seven-member politburo. 5 May: The seventh round of peace talks between the foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan opens at UN headquarters in Geneva. 15 May: Najibullah announces a collective leadership including himself as party leader, Babrak Karmal as head of the Revolutionary Council Presidium, and Prime Minister Sultan Ali Keshtmand. 28 May: Najibullah announces that a bicameral parliament will be established “within a few months” on the basis of “free and democratic elections.” 16 June: President Ronald Reagan meets with Afghan mujahedin in Washington and promises an “unshakable commitment” to their cause. 17 June: Mujahedin leaders Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Rasul Sayyaf criticize the four other Peshawar leaders for the Washington visit. 21 July: It was reported that hundreds of idealistic Arab men had joined the Afghan resistance. 28 July: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announces the withdrawal of six Soviet regiments by the end of the year. 8 August: UN-sponsored negotiations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are suspended because of the issue of the timing of a Soviet troop withdrawal. 5 November: The UN General Assembly passes its eighth annual resolution calling on the Soviet Union to withdraw from Afghanistan. 20 November: Babrak Karmal resigns as president of the Revolutionary Council and chairman of the Presidium. 23 November: Muhammad Chamkani is appointed acting president. 12 December: Mujahedin have begun using U.S. Stinger missiles. 23 December: Najibullah is elected president by the Revolutionary Council Presidium. 1987 1 January: President Najibullah offers a six-month “cease-fire and peace plan.” 3 January: Mujahedin groups reject peace plan as a trap. 5 January: Soviet foreign minister Edward Shevardnadze and Anatoliy Dobrynin arrive in Kabul on a two-day visit at the invitation of the Afghan government. 15 January: President Najibullah announces an amnesty for army deserters and calls on Afghan refugees to come home and live in peace. 17 January: The High Council of the Mujahedin alliance issued a communiqué calling for the withdrawal of Soviet forces, the defeat of the communist regime, and the establishment of an interim government by the mujahedin that will prepare free elections and the formation of a parliament and independent judiciary. 18 February: Prime Minister Sultan Ali Keshtmand arrives in Moscow for talks. 23 February: Pakistan’s foreign minister Yaqub Khan meets with Soviet foreign minister Shevardnadze in Moscow to discuss Afghanistan. 26 February: The 10th round of negotiations aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan opens in Geneva. 4 March: Mujahedin stage rocket attacks into Soviet territory from Imam Sahib in Kunduz Province. 20 July: Afghan leader Najibullah meets with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. 11 August:
Felix Ermacora, the UN special human rights investigator, is allowed to visit three Afghan prisons and interview political prisoners. September: Najibullah is elected president in a special session of the Revolutionary Council. 10 October: Najibullah authorizes the purchase of weapons from mujahedin who put down their arms. 13 October: Yunus Khales, leader of the Hizb-i Islami, denies reports that his commanders have sold Stinger missiles to Iranian Pasdaran. 18 October: Maulawi Yunus Khales is elected spokesman of the seven-party mujahedin alliance. 24 October: Shi’a groups headquartered in Iran announce a new coalition of mujahedin groups in Iran. 10 November: Kabul Radio announces that the Revolutionary Council Presidium endorses a decree providing for the formation and registration of political parties. 29 November: A Loya Jirga has been called to approve a new constitution. 30 November: The Loya Jirga confirms Najibullah as president under the new “Islamized” constitution. 6 December: Mujahedin leader Yunus Khales says the seven-party alliance will not accept communist participation in any future Afghan government. 10 December: UN envoy Diego Cordovez is reported to have opened negotiations between exiled King Zahir Shah and mujahedin leaders regarding formation of a transitional coalition government. 1988 6 January: In an interview with Afghan News Agency, Shevardnadze says the Soviet Union hopes to be out of Afghanistan by the end of 1988 regardless of the type of rule established there. He, however, links troop withdrawal to the cessation of U.S. aid to the mujahedin. 12 January: Pakistani president Zia-ul-Haq and Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo say in separate interviews that members of the pro-Moscow government must be allowed to participate in any future government as a condition for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. 17 January: Mujahedin leader Yunus Khales rejects statements by Pakistani leaders that the mujahedin would have to “coexist with remnants of a communist regime.” 20 January: At a press conference, Najibullah states that his government will be committed to nonalignment, following the withdrawal of Soviet forces, and that Kabul is willing to accept aid from any country willing to give it. 22 January: In Jalalabad at least 17 people are killed when two bombs explode at the public funeral of Khan Abd al-Ghaffar Khan, who died on 20 January. 8 February: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says Soviet troops will begin pulling out of Afghanistan on May 15 if a settlement can be reached by mid-March. 11 February: Sayyid Bahauddin Majruh, head of the Afghan Information Office in Peshawar, is assassinated in Peshawar. 23 February: The mujahedin alliance announces the formation of an interim government. 4 March: The Reagan administration says it will not halt aid to the mujahedin until Moscow stops its supply to the Afghan government. 14 March: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is reported appointed spokesman of the mujahedin alliance. 23 March: Nikolai Egorchev is reported to have replaced Pavel Mojayev as Soviet ambassador to Afghanistan after Mojayev suffers a heart attack. 26 March: The Reagan administration is reported ending its supply of Stinger missiles to the mujahedin in anticipation of a Geneva settlement. 29 March: President Najibullah promises opposition groups 54 of the 229 lower house seats and 18 out of 62 in the senate if they will participate in the coming parliamentary elections. 30 March: The mujahedin reject President Najibullah’s offer to form a coalition government. 3 April: The Kabul government creates Sar-i Pul Province and appoints Gharib Husain as
governor. The new province is part of the Hazarajat. 9 April: A mujahedin leader says that the mujahedin “[will] not be bound by the outcome of the Geneva agreements.” 14 April: Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union, and the United States sign the Geneva accords. Under the agreement the Soviet Union will withdraw its troops within nine months. The United States and the Soviet Union will be the guarantors of the agreement, which also provides for the return of Afghan refugees and a halt to military aid by both sides. 21 April: President Najibullah says that 1.55 million voted in the Afghan elections. 25 April: A UN “implementation assistance group,” headed by the Finnish Maj. Gen. Rauli Helminen, arrives in Islamabad to monitor the Geneva accords. 28 April: President Najibullah says that Soviet military advisers will remain after the Soviet troop withdrawal. 11 May: The United Nations appoints Sadruddin Agha Khan as coordinator for relief and resettlement in Afghanistan. 15 May: The Soviet Union begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. 25 May: The Soviet Union announces the following casualties in the Afghan war: 13,310 dead, 35,478 wounded, and 311 missing. 26 May: Muhammad Hasan Sharq is appointed prime minister, replacing Sultan Ali Keshtmand who becomes secretary of the PDPA central committee. 31 May: A State Department official says U.S. aid to the mujahedin will continue because the Soviet Union plans to leave $1 billion worth of equipment in Afghanistan. 3 June: The National Assembly approves the appointment of four vice presidents by presidential decree: Abdul Hatef, Defense Minister Muhammad Rafi’i, Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohtat, and Minister of Higher and Vocational Education Abdul Wahid Sorabi. 7 June: President Najibullah addresses the UN General Assembly, complaining that Pakistan continues to violate the Geneva accords. 9 June: President Najibullah says, according to the Bakhtar news agency, that 243,900 soldiers and civilians have died in 10 years of war. 15 June: Pir Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, head of the National Islamic Front, becomes spokesman of the seven-member mujahedin alliance. 16 June: President Najibullah announces the formation of a new government: Muhammad Hasan Sharq
Prime Minister
Abdul Wakil
Foreign Affairs
Sayyid Muhammad Gulabzoi
Interior
Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi
State Security
Hamidullah Tarzi
Finance
Muhammad Bashir Baghlani
Justice
Shah Muhammad Dost
UN Representative
Muhd. Aslam Watanjar
Communications
Muhd. Khan Jalallar
Commerce
Abdul Ghafur
Returnees Affairs
Sulaiman Layeq
Tribal Affairs
Sultan Husain
Planning
Muhd. Asef Zaher
Rural Development
Muhammad Ghofran
Agriculture, Land Reform
Abdul Fatah Najm
Public Health
Ghulam Rasul
Education
Nur Ahmad Barits
Higher Education
Muhd. Ishaq Kawa
Mines, Industries
Muhammad Aziz
Transportation
Nazar Muhammad
Construction
Pacha Gul Wafadar
Civil Aviation
Dost Muhd. Fazl
Light Industries, Foodstuffs
Raz Muhammad Paktin
Water, Power
Without Portfolio: Nematullah Pazhwak, Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi, Fazl Haq Khaliqyar, Shah Muhammad Dost, and Sarjang Khan Jaji. 9 July: Ahmad Bashir Ruigar is appointed minister of information and culture. 18 July: Sebghatullah Mujaddidi’s National Front for the Liberation of Afghanistan joins Sayyid Ahmad Gailani’s National Islamic Front of Afghanistan in expressing support for UN envoy Diego Cordovez’s peace plan to establish a neutral government. 23 July: President Najibullah approves the formation of a political organization called the Self-Sacrificing Afghan People’s Solidarity Movement (Nahjat-i Hambastagi-yi Mardom-i Afghanistan Fedaiyan). 27 July: The Kabul government announces permission for the formation of a new party, the Union of God’s Helpers (Ittehadia-ye Ansarullah). 1 August: The Constitution Council is set up to examine the constitutionality of laws and compliance with treaties and laws. 8 August: Soviet troops begin withdrawing from Kabul. 17 August: Lt. Gen. Shahnawaz Tanai is appointed defense minister, and Maj. Gen. Muhammad Asef Delawar is appointed chief of the Armed Forces General Staff. 13 October: Yuli Vorontsov, Soviet first deputy foreign minister, is appointed ambassador to Kabul. 17 October: Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the Jam’iat-i Islami, becomes spokesman of the seven-member mujahedin alliance. 21 October: Diego Cordovez calls on ex-king Zahir Shah to assist in establishing a national reconciliation government. 26 October: Herat governor Khaliqyar is also appointed governor of Badghis and Ghor provinces. 2 November: The Kabul government makes the following new appointments: Nizamuddin Tahzib, chief justice, and Abdul Karim Shadan, Special Court of National Security. 16 November: The appointment of Muhammad Aslam Watanjar as interior minister is approved. 19 November: Soviet military command in Afghanistan warns that if guerrillas escalate war, they will jeopardize the withdrawal of Soviet troops. 3 December: Alliance leaders, headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani, meet in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia, for talks with Soviet deputy minister Vorontsov. 25 December: Soviet deputy Yuri Vorontsov meets with ex-king Zahir Shah in Rome (at the request of Moscow).
1989 1 January: The newspaper Haqiqat-i Saur Inqilab (Truth of the April Revolution) appears for the first time under the new name Payam. 2 January: Sebghatullah Mujaddidi succeeds Rabbani as spokesman of the alliance. 13 January: Soviet foreign minister Edward Shevardnadze arrives in Kabul. 18 January: Sebghatullah Mujaddidi returns from Iran where he unsuccessfully tries to invite the Shi’a mujahedin groups to join an interim government. 25 January: The United States decides to close its embassy in Afghanistan. 26 January: A mujahedin delegation, headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, meets with Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati in Tehran. 27 January: Britain, France, Japan, and Italy announce their decision to withdraw their diplomats from Kabul. 28 January: Soviet defense minister Dimitri Yazov ends two days of talks with President Najibullah. He says Moscow will “not abandon its friends.” 30 January: The United States formally closes its embassy. 2 February: President Najibullah denounces the closing of Western embassies as “psychological war.” In Peshawar some 500 Afghans demonstrate for the return of ex-king Zahir Shah. 7 February: A mujahedin commander says that the “Pakistanis are pushing us now to do an all-out attack on Jalalabad,” but the mujahedin want to wait to prevent a bloodbath. 13 February: President George Bush signs a National Security Directive pledging continued financial and military support. 14 February: The last Soviet soldier leaves Kabul airport. 15 February: The United States rejects a Soviet call for an end to arms shipments to Afghanistan. 18 February: The Afghan government declares a nationwide state of emergency. President Najibullah appoints new cabinet members: Burhanuddin Ghiasi
Commerce
Sherjan Mazduryar
Civil Aviation
Abdul Baher
Light Industries, Foodstuffs
Isma’il Danesh
Higher and Vocational Education
Sayyid Amin Zara
Public Health
Sayyid Akram
Returnees Affairs
Abdul Ghafur Baher
Islamic Affairs, Endowments
Nur Ahmad Barits
Without Portfolio
Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi becomes spokesman of the mujahedin alliance. 20 February: Prime Minister Sharq resigns. 21 February: Sultan Ali Keshtmand is appointed chairman of the executive committee of the council of ministers. 23 February: Mujahedin leaders elect Abdul Rasul Sayyaf as acting prime minister and Sebghatullah Mujaddidi as acting president of the interim government. The portfolios are distributed as follows: Muhd. Nabi Muhammadi
Defense
Muhd. Shah Fazli (Harakat)
Scientific Research
Maulawi Islamuddin (Harakat)
Agriculture
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Hizb)
Foreign Affairs
Ali Ansari (Hizb-H)
Frontier Affairs
Qazi Najiulla (Hizb-H)
Justice
Yunus Khales (Hizb-K)
Interior
Haji Din Muhd. (Hizb-K)
National Security
Maulawi Abdul Razzaq (Hizb-K)
Religious Affairs
Burhanuddin Rabbani (Jam)
Reconstruction
Najibullah Lafra’i (Jam)
Islamic Guidance
Ishan Jan (Jam)
Mining, Industries
Ahmad Shah (Ittihad)
Communications
Sayyid Nadir Khurram (Jabha)
Health
Pir Sayyid Gailani challenges the legitimacy of the government. 5 March: The mujahedin launch an offensive against Jalalabad. 16 March: Afghan army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Asef Delawar is reported in Jalalabad supervising its defense. 20 March: Mujahedin attempt to capture Jalalabad fails. 24 March: An 85-truck government convoy breaks through to Jalalabad. 27 March: President Najibullah offers mujahedin commanders autonomy if they end the war. A council of 35 commanders rejects the offer. 6 April: U.S. secretary of state James Baker recommends Peter Tomsen as special envoy to the mujahedin with the rank of ambassador. 12 April: The mujahedin cabinet begin a three-day session in Afghan territory. 24 April: Afghan foreign minister Abdul Wakil accuses Pakistan of aggression. 6 May: Valentin I. Varennikov, Soviet deputy minister of defense, ends a four-day visit to Kabul. 9 May: Sayyid Ahmad Gailani challenges the legitimacy of the interim government. 16 May: KHAD chief Abdul Rahman is said to have defected to Yunus Khales’s mujahedin group. 17 May: Government troops reopen Jalalabad–Kabul road. 21 May: President Najibullah invites mujahedin leaders and commanders to take part in the Loya Jirga. 24 May: President Najibullah offers regional autonomy to mujahedin commanders if they agree to stop fighting. A convoy of Soviet-made tanks and artillery arrives in Kabul. 24 June: President Najibullah appoints Mahmud Baryalai as first deputy prime minister. 5 July: Government troops recapture Tor Kham. 19 July: Units of Burhanuddin Rabbani and Muhd. Nabi Muhammadi are fighting over turf in Helmand Province. 24 July: Defense Minister Shahnawaz Tanai is said to be under house arrest. 26 July: Najmuddin Kawiani, head of foreign relations committee of the National Assembly and politburo member, reports secret peace talks with the “opposition.” 29 July: Nur Ahmad Nur is appointed ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations. 1 August: Defense Minister Tanai is reported to be implicated in coup attempt. 11 August: Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, prime minister, rejects Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s suggestion that the rebels should take control by backing an army coup. 14 August: Government spokesman Muhammad
Nabi Amani says 183 civilians were killed in Kabul by rockets in one week. 25 August: Jam’iat-i Islami commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ud accuses Hizb-i Islami of collusion with Kabul government. 29 August: Fighters of Sayyaf and Muhammadi battle over control of a bridge in Helmand Province that produces lucrative tax and toll revenues. 30 August: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i Islami withdraws from the mujahedin alliance. 11 October: Muhammad Asghar becomes president of the 15-member National Salvation Society, which was formed to seek a peaceful solution to the war. 17 October: Boris Nikolayevich Pastukhov, Soviet ambassador, presents his credentials. 7 November: Lt. Gen. Ali Akbar is killed in fighting in Kandahar. 14 November: Mujahedin launch a three-pronged attack on Jalalabad that is repulsed. 21 November: President Najibullah extends the state of emergency for another six months. 30 November: Mujahedin leaders Burhanuddin Rabbani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar announce a cease-fire and exchange of prisoners and captured land. 2 December: The Kabul government arrests 127 people suspected of plotting a coup. Brig. Gen. Ghulam Haidar is killed in fighting at Jalalabad. 21 December: Jam’iat executes four members of Hizb, including Sayyid Jamal, who had ambushed Jam’iat commanders. 31 December: President Najibullah calls for PDPA to change its name. 1990 24 January: President Najibullah says that he will step down if his government is defeated in UN-supervised elections. 2 February: Some 10,000 refugees demonstrate in favor of the return of Zahir Shah in Quetta. 12 February: Farid Ahmad Mazdak is appointed acting chairman of the National Front’s central council, replacing Abdur Rahim Hatif. 5 March: Trials begin of some 124 Afghans arrested in December and charged with plotting a coup. 6 March: Defense Minister Shahnawaz Tanai launches a coup against President Najibullah. 7 March: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar says his forces are supporting the Tanai coup. 9 March: Government troops recapture the Bagram air base. Other mujahedin groups refuse to support the Tanai coup. 6 April: Two generals and 11 other people are killed at a ceremony when a mujahedin group that promised to surrender opens fire on government troops. Fazl Haq Khaliqyar, governor of Herat, is wounded. 14 April: The Kabul government accuses the United Nations of failing to monitor alleged violations of the Geneva accords. 21 May: Prime Minister Khaliqyar presents his new cabinet: Mahmud Baryalai
First Deputy Prime Minister
Abdul Wahid Sorabi
Deputy Prime Minister
Nematullah Pazhwak
Deputy Prime Minister
Abdul Qayyum Nurzai
Deputy Prime Minister
Sarwar Mangal
Deputy Prime Minister
Mahbubullah Kushani
Deputy Prime Minister
Nur Ahmad Barits
Adviser
Faqir Muhd. Yaqubi
Adviser
Shah Wali
Adviser
Sayyid Akram Peigir
Adviser
Muhd. Aslam Watanjar
Defense
Raz Muhd. Paktin
Interior
Abdul Wakil
Foreign Affairs
Muhammad Hakim
Finance
Abdul Wahid Sorabi
Planning
Mas’uma Esmati Wardak
Education
Anwar Shams
Higher and Vocational Education
Faqir Muhd. Nikzad
Construction
Zakim Shah
Commerce
Bashir Ruigar
Information, Culture
Mehr Muhd. Ejazi
Health
Sayyid Nasim Alawi
Communications
Anwar Dost
Light Industries, Foodstuffs
Muhd. Siddiq Sailani
Islamic Affairs
Khalilullah
Transport
Hamidullah Tarzi
Civil Aviation
Hayatullah Azizi
Reconstruction, Rural Development
Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi
State Security
Sarjang Zazai
Border Affairs
Muhammad Ghufran
Agriculture, Land Reform
Ghulam Muhyiuddin
Justice
Shahbaz
Statistics
Saleha Faruq Etemadi
Social Affairs
Fath Muhammad Tarin
Repatriation
Abdul Samad Saleh
Mines, Industries
Abdul Ghafur Rahim
Water, Power
28 May: Kabul government convenes a Loya Jirga in preparation for amending the constitution. 16 June: Nine Shi’a mujahedin parties unite in the Hizb-i Wahdat, Party of Unity. 22 June: Conference of mujahedin commanders in Paktia Province. 27 June: Opening of the
second party congress that reelects Dr. Najibullah and changes the name of the party to “Homeland Party” (Hizb-i Watan). 30 June: Meeting of former prominent government officials at the invitation of President Mujaddidi. Members invited include: Muhammad Yusuf
prime minister
Abdul Samad Hamed
minister
Rawan Farhadi
minister and diplomat
Sabbahuddin Kushkaki
minister and writer
Abdul Hakim Tabibi
minister and diplomat
Nangyalai Tarzi
diplomat
Humayun Asefi
diplomat
Agha Jan Barakzai Sayyid Ishaq Gailani
mujahedin leader
Sayyid Makhdum Rahin
poet and writer
Abdul Ahad Karzai
member of parliament
Abdul Hai Tokhi (Tukhay) Abdur Rahman Ulfat
adviser
Ihsanullah Mayar Sayyid Asadullah Nuktadan Abdul Aziz Firogh Abdul Qadir Nurzai Wali Ahmad Sherzai Enayatullah Iblagh Ishaq Akhlaqi Muhammad Akram
scholar and diplomat
Muhammad Anwar Sherzai Siddiq Rashid Saljuqi Muhammad Gulab Nangarhari
minister and poet
Muhammad Hashim Mujaddidi
educator and senator
Muhammad Yahya Nauruz
general
Members of the Shi’a Wahdat alliance of mujahedin groups also participated. 9 July: Nizamuddin Tahzib, a Parjami, is relieved from his post as chief justice of the supreme court.
25 July: Beginning of UN-assisted repatriation of refugees from Pakistan. 29 July–25 August: Najibullah visits the Soviet Union; Abdur Rahim Hatef is acting president. 5 September: Kabul government removes unruly militias from the city. 11 September: Najibullah decrees legalization of political parties. 30 September: Alliance of democratic parties of the left dissolves itself. 5 October: Tirin Kot, administrative center of Oruzgan Province, captured by mujahedin forces. 15 October: Mas’ud, the Jam’iat commander, visits Islamabad where he meets the Pakistani head of state and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. 25 October: U.S. Congress reduces its aid to the Afghan resistance. 19 November: President Najibullah arrives in Switzerland for discussions with Afghan personalities. 1991 7 February: President Najibullah appoints new ministers: Ghulam Muyiuddin Shahbaz, planning; Muhammad Nazir Shahadi, statistics; and Wadir Safi, civil aviation and tourism. 8 February: Afghan resistance sends 300 mujahedin to Saudi Arabia in war with Iraq. Sayyaf and Hekmatyar protest. 31 March: Khost captured by mujahedin forces headed by Commander Haqani, 2,200 prisoners taken and seven generals (including Col. Gen. Muhammad Zahir Solamal, deputy minister of defense; Maj. Gen. Ghulam Mustafa, chief of political affairs of the armed force; Maj. Gen. Muhammad Qasim, commander of artillery, special guards; Maj. Gen. Muhammad Azam, an air force commander; and Lt. Gen. Shirin, commander of the Khost militia units). 2 April: Kabul government declares a “Day of Mourning.” 6 April: Muhammad Nurzad is elected mayor of Kabul to replace Abdul Karim Misaq who defected and moved to Germany. 10 April: Vice President Sultan Ali Keshtmand is dismissed. 16 April: President Najibullah offers a new amnesty to all Afghans living abroad who return to Afghanistan. 20 April: Explosion at Jamilurrahman’s Asadabad (Wahhabi) headquarters in Kunar Province results in some 500 killed and 700 wounded. 22 April: Afghan foreign minister Abdul Wakil to visit Moscow and New York. 26 April: Representatives of the Pakistani military intelligence service (ISI) meet in Geneva with representatives of the Kabul government. 21 May: Javier Perez de Cuéllar, UN secretary general, issues a five-point proposal for a political settlement in Afghanistan. 27–28 May: Soviet-Pakistan talks in Moscow about Afghanistan. 20 June: Babrak Karmal returns to Afghanistan from exile in the Soviet Union. 1 July: The Kabul regime omits all references to the Saur Revolt from official documents. 22 July: Mas’ud takes Ishkashem and shortly thereafter the Wakhan Corridor. 13 September: USSR and United States agree to end delivery of weapons to Afghan combatants as of 1 January 1992. 14 October: The supreme justice of Kabul declares that all legal decisions must conform to Islamic law. 4 November: Former king Zahir Shah is slightly wounded in an assassination attempt. 5 December: UN agrees on solution for transfer of government. 15 December: Soviet Union stops arms deliveries to Afghanistan. 1992 14 January: Najibullah annuls Decree 14, depriving the royal family of its property. 6 February: Gens. Dostum, Shah Nasir Naderi, and Momen rebel against Najibullah government. 15 March: Mujahedin seize Samangan Province. 18 March: President Najibullah agrees to resign as soon as interim government is installed. 29 March: Wahdat Party takes Sari Pul. 8 April: General Dostum takes over Mazar-i Sharif. 12 April: Mas’ud takes control of Salang Tunnel. 15 April: Dostum militia takes Kabul airport. 16 April: Najibullah takes refuge
in UN compound. Ghazni and Gardez are taken by the resistance. 18 April: Kunduz and Jalalabad fall to the resistance. Rahim Hatef is nominated as interim president. 21 April: Pul-i Alam in Logar taken by Hizb-i Islami. Gardez taken by Jalaluddin Haqani. 24 April: Resistance leaders set up interim Islamic council of 51 members. Sebghatullah Mujaddidi assumes provisional control. Jalalabad taken by mujahedin. 25 April: Resistance enters Kabul; partisans of Mas’ud and Hekmatyar fight. 26 April: Mas’ud takes presidential palace and takes barracks from Hizb-i Islami. Shi’a Harakat-i Islami takes missile base of Darulaman. 28 April: Mujaddidi arrives in Kabul, proclaims Islamic State of Afghanistan, and announces general amnesty. 29 April: Hizb-i Islami fighters ejected from interior ministry. Mas’ud arrives in Kabul. 3 May: Egypt recognizes Islamic State of Afghanistan. Hekmatyar threatens to attack if Dostum does not leave Kabul. 6 May: First session of the Jehad Council under the presidency of Prof. Rabbani. 10 May: Sayyid Ahmad Gailani arrives at Kabul. 21 May: Mas’ud and Hekmatyar conclude cease-fire. Yunus Khales arrives at Kabul. 14 May: Mujaddidi nominates Dostum general (setar genral, 4 stars) and Naderi (dagar genral, 3 stars). 30 May: Dostum and Hekmatyar fight for control of Karte Nau district. 19 June: Dostum militia and Mas’ud’s forces clash. 28 June: Mujaddidi surrenders presidency to Rabbani. 4 July: Violent artillery combat between forces of Dostum and Hekmatyar. 2 August: Khales resigns from Jehad Council. 27 August: Cease-fire concluded between Rabbani and Hekmatyar. 5 September: Uzbek militia quits Kabul. 17 September: Agreement of Paghman between Rabbani and Hekmatyar, designation of an assembly for choosing the successor of Rabbani. 27 October: Leadership Council, headed by President Rabbani, elected to extend Rabbani’s term by two months. 12 December: Interim president Rabbani announces that he will hold his post beyond his term until a successor is chosen. 30 December: The Resolution and Settlement Council vote to keep Rabbani in power. Five of the nine mujahedin factions refuse to participate. 1993 2 January: Rabbani steps down as head of the Jam’iat Party. 3 January: During swearing-in ceremonies of President Rabbani, six rockets hit Kabul. The Resolution and Settlement Council is dissolved, as its duties have been completed. 3 February: UN suspends its aid shipments by way of south and eastern Afghanistan. 6 February: General Dostum is nominated deputy minister of defense. 11 February: The imam of Al-Azhar University calls on the mujahedin to stop fighting and direct their efforts to areas where Muslims are still oppressed. 16 February: Shooting in Kabul stops for the first time since January 19. 7 March: The Islamabad Accord between Afghan parties (except Khales and Dostum) nominates Rabbani president for 18 months and Hekmatyar prime minister. A defense council of all parties is to be in charge of the Ministry of Defense; all heavy weapons are to be removed from the capital; a council is to be elected in eight months, and presidential and legislative elections are to be held in mid-1995. The Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Afghan parties, and Pakistan should supervise the cease-fire. 8 March: Hizb-i Islami and Wahdat fire 70 missiles on Kabul. 11 March: The leaders assemble at Mecca to fix the details of the prerogatives of the prime minister, the control of the defense council, and the power of the Uzbek militia. The accord is countersigned by King Fahd. 19–20 March: Reunion at Jalalabad fails to achieve agreement. 22 March: Fighting between Wahdat and Ittihad continues in
Kabul. 23 March: Hizb-i Islami captures Naghlu dam from Harakat-e Inqilab-i Islami. Pakistani militia seize Stinger missiles from Mulla Abdul Salam (Mulla Roketi), and the mulla takes 27 hostages in reprisal. 28 March: General Fauzi, a spokesman of Dostum, declares that there will not be any peace without representation of Dostum in the Kabul government. 1 April: Jam’iat and Hizb form a committee to resolve their problems. 2 April: Jam’iat and Wahdat agree to release prisoners and restore quiet. 7 April: Afghan defense minister claims that Hekmatyar and Sayyaf supply weapons to Tajik Islamists. 9 April: First break in the cease-fire between Jam’iat and Wahdat. 15 April: The governors of Herat and Khorasan, Iran, sign an accord of cooperation against drug trafficking. 9–10 May: Heavy fighting between forces of Ittihad and Wahdat in Kabul. 11 May: Kabul Museum burns. 12 May: Bombardment of Kabul resumed. 13 May: Mas’ud gains help of Dostum against Hizb-i Islami forces. 19 May: Rabbani and Hekmatyar agree to a cease-fire. 20 May: Mas’ud resigns as defense minister. 6 June: Hekmatyar presides at the first meeting of his government at Charasiab. 17 June: Government meets in Paghman. 21 June: Council of ministers meets in Darulaman. 23– 28 June: Fighting between Wahdat and Mas’ud forces. 3 July: President Rabbani receives General Dostum. 12 July: Dostum and Hekmatyar meet and agree to a cease-fire. 15 July: Mas’ud and Hekmatyar forces fight near airport. 26 July: Mas’ud’s forces take Bagram air base from Ittihad. 31 August: Cease-fire between Ittihad and Wahdat. 14 September: Hizb-i Islami bombards eastern Kabul. 15 September: The Afghan Communist Party is said to have had a meeting in Microrayon and elected Mahmud Baryalai to head the party. 19 October: Kabul–Jalalabad Highway is reopened for traffic. 24 October: Afghanistan and Tajikistan sign an agreement to export natural gas to Tajikistan. 9 November: Ms. Robin Raphel, American undersecretary of state for South Asia, visits Kabul regarding economic and humanitarian aid. She meets Rabbani, Hekmatyar, Mas’ud, and Dostum. 21 November: Islamist ideologue Hasan Al-Turabi visits Kabul. 3 December: Telephone connection with Kabul restored. 23 December: General Dostum regains Sher Khan Bandar without a fight. 1994 1 January: Forces of Dostum and Hekmatyar attack Kabul forces. 5 January: Rabbani forces take Kabul airport. General Momen killed in helicopter accident. 6 January: Fighting around Bala Hisar and Microrayon. Mujaddidi supports Dostum-Hekmatyar alliance. 10 January: Pul-i Khishti mosque destroyed. 2 April: M. Mestiri, UN emissary, arrives in Kabul and meets with Rabbani, Mas’ud, and Hekmatyar. 4 April: Mas’ud’s forces attack Pul-i Khumri, held by Dostum and Isma’ili forces. 6 April: Mestiri leaves Kabul without obtaining a cease-fire between the belligerents. 19 April: Rabbani announces his intention to extend his mandate until December 1994, because his adversaries did not respect the accords of Jalalabad. 24 April: Mulla Salam, also called Mulla Roketi, holds two Chinese engineers and 10 Pakistanis and demands that Pakistan free his brother and return the three Stingers captured from him. 27 April: According to the International Red Cross, the civil war in Kabul has resulted in 2,500 deaths, 17,000 wounded, and 632,000 refugees from Kabul since January 1, 1994. At least 20,000 houses were destroyed. 1 May: Offensive of Hekmatyar forces against Kabul is stopped. 9 May: Kabul air force bombards Mazar and Pul-i Khumri. 13–14 May: Dostum bombards the 10th Division at Qargha near Kabul. 17–18 May: Sayyaf takes Maidan
Shahr from Hekmatyar forces. 21–22 May: General Dostum indicates having used six Stinger missiles to down two of Rabbani’s aircraft. Dostum’s head of the air force, General Jalil, claims to have 32 operational planes, more than 22,000 bombs, and 100 pilots. 28 May: Conflict within Wahdat between supporters of Muhammad Akbari and Abdul Ali Mazari. 3 June: Dostum and Isma’il Khan forces clash in Shindand. Dostum bombs Herat. 8 June: Rabbani proposes that his successor be chosen by a Loya Jirga. 10 June: Fighting resumes in Kabul. 15 June: Rabbani extends his “mandate,” which was to expire in June, for another six months. 17 June: Yunus Khales declares himself interim president. 19 June: Isma’il Khan escapes an assassination attempt. 25 June: Harakat recaptures control of Darulaman palace from Hizb-i Islami. 26 June: Rabbani’s forces expel Dostum’s forces from the Bala Hisar and Maranjan hill. 8 July: The parties of Gailani, Hekmatyar, Mujaddidi, Muhammadi, Muhseni, Mazari, and Dostum form a commission to negotiate with Rabbani and Sayyaf. 14 July: Pakistani minister of foreign affairs threatens to close the offices of Sayyaf’s party if Mulla Roketi does not liberate his hostages. They are freed on July 21. 20 July: Official opening of the Herat assembly in the presence of 700 participants. 24 July: Rabbani arrives at Herat but does not participate in the assembly. August: Mulla Muhammad Omar founds Taliban movement. 7 August: Rabbani receives Muhammadi, Muhseni, and Gailani at Kabul. 8 September: Hizb-i Islami takes control of Khenjan north of the Salang Pass. 12 September: Fighting breaks out between Wahdat and Harakat for control of Darulaman. Akbari defects from Wahdat. 25 September: Iranian intermediaries help in establishing a cease-fire between the Shi’a parties. 2 October: Pakistan holds goods destined for Afghanistan in Karachi. 11 October: According to the International Red Cross, 1,100 people were killed and 23,000 wounded in Kabul in September. 2 November: A Pakistani convoy of goods destined for Turkmenistan is stopped by commanders between Spin Boldak and Kandahar. Taliban clash with commanders. 5 November: Taliban capture Kandahar; the commander of the Muslim group is hanged. 7 November: A spokesman of Rabbani accuses Uzbekistan of interference in Afghan internal affairs for having delivered 30 Russian tanks to Dostum. 8 November: Visit to Kabul by a UN delegation for the first time in seven months. 13 November: Having repelled the commanders Lalay (Mahaz) and Sarkateb (Hizb-i Hekmatyar), the Taliban take control of Kandahar. 17 November: The Pakistani minister of the interior announces that Pakistan will start to repair the route from Kandahar to Herat. Kabul calls this an invasion of Afghanistan. 25 November: Taliban take control of Helmand Province. 5 December: Arrival at Kabul of the first aid convoy in six months, 32 trucks for Rabbani and 32 for his opponents. 6 December: Return to Pakistan of the convoy from Turkmenistan. 13 December: Arrival of a UN aid convoy in Kunduz, the first in two years. 20 December: Dostum arrives in Islamabad. 28 December: Mestiri arrives in Islamabad to restart his peace effort. 1995 1 January: Some 3,000 Pakistani Taliban leave for Afghanistan. M. Mestiri arrives in Kabul during an unofficial cease-fire. Yunus Khales returns to Jalalabad after an absence of 19 years. 4 January: Mestiri opens a new UN office in Jalalabad and meets with Hekmatyar. The American ambassador to Pakistan meets Rabbani at Kabul. 22 January: The access roads to Kabul are again closed by the Hizb of Hekmatyar. 24 January: Taliban take Ghazni. 30
January: Dostum’s forces capture Kunduz. 10 February: Taliban capture Maidan Shahr. Mestiri announces a power transfer for 20 February, at which Rabbani is to transfer power to a committee of 20 persons. 11 February: Taliban claim capture of Pul-i Alam and control of the entire Logar Province. 14 February: Hekmatyar withdraws his forces from the Kabul area to Sarobi, abandoning his heavy weapons. 15 February: Taliban occupy Pul-i Charkhi and expel the Hizb-i Islami from Khost. 16 February: Rabbani’s forces retake Kunduz. 17 February: Kabul airport reopens after being closed for more than a year. 19 February: Taliban take Sharan, center of Paktika, and Gardez, center of Paktia. 20 February: Jam’iat forces fight Wahdat. Mestiri admits failure of his plan for transfer of power in Kabul. 25 February: Taliban threaten to attack Kabul if Rabbani does not lay down his arms. 5 March: Mazari declares his readiness to recognize the Kabul government if the Hazara get 25 percent representation. 6 March: Jam’iat forces attack the positions of Wahdat at Kabul. 7 March: Mazari threatens to use Scud missiles if Rabbani’s forces do not stop their attacks. 9 March: Wahdat surrenders its position south of Kabul to the Taliban. 10 March: Nabi Muhammadi deserts Rabbani for the Taliban. Sayyaf sells his arms depot at the Pakistani border to a Trimangal tribal chief. 11 March: Kabul forces capture all the territory held by Wahdat, including the Scud base at Darulaman and Kabul Museum. 13 March: Mazari and a number of Wahdat leaders are killed while in Taliban captivity. 14 March: Taliban claim conquest of Nimruz Province. 19 March: Mas’ud’s forces take Charasiab from the Taliban. 1 April: Mujaddidi replaces Hekmatyar as head of the four-party opponents of Rabbani. 4 April: Taliban attack the Shindand air base and Herat; also fight Jam’iat forces in Maidan Shahr. 7 April: Iran prohibits commercial transit to Afghanistan. 12 April: Jam’iat emissary Abdur Rahman meets Dostum in Tashkent. 13 April: Taliban demand that foreign states not reopen their embassies in Kabul. 19 April: Taliban block the delivery of fuel to Kabul. Hizb and Taliban establish contacts. 27 April: Taliban free 300 captives of Dostum’s forces. 28 April: Taliban are defeated in the Farah area. 9 May: The Pakistani ambassador returns to Kabul. Forces of Isma’il Khan take Farah. 15 May: Forces of Rabbani capture Zaranj from the Taliban. 24 May: Continuation of stalled negotiations between representatives of Dostum and Rabbani. Questions raised are opening of the Salang route and lifting of the fatwa proclaiming holy war against Dostum. 20 June: Jam’iat forces take control of Bamian from the Shi’a Wahdat. 29 June: Sardar Abdul Wali, son-in-law of ex-king Zahir Shah, arrives in Islamabad at invitation of Pakistan government. 20 August: Abdul Wali returns to Rome. 26 August: Taliban take Girishk. 31 August: Taliban take Delaram. 2 September: Taliban take Shindand. 5 September: Taliban take Herat and Islam Qala. Isma’il Khan flees to Iran. 6 September: Kabuli crowds attack Pakistan embassy, one is killed and twenty persons wounded, including the ambassador. 7 September: Taliban take Ghor Province. 15 September: Explosion in Herat by enemies of Taliban. 10 November: UNICEF suspends educational assistance to Taliban-controlled areas because of the closing of girls’ schools. 1996 3 April: About 1,000 members of the ulama choose Taliban Mulla Muhammad Omar as Amir al-Mu’ minin. 24 May: Hekmatyar concludes an anti-Taliban treaty with Rabbani. Hekmatyar rejoins Kabul government as prime minister; upon arrival in Kabul, he orders all
cinemas closed and forbids music to be broadcast on Kabul Radio and television. He advises women to observe Islamic code of dress and orders government officials to perform their noon prayers in their places of work. 1 June: Taliban take Chaghcharan, capital of Ghor Province. 18 June: Taliban take a government base at Nimruz. 26 June: In a deal with Rabbani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar becomes prime minister. 6 July: Prime Minister Hekmatyar forms new cabinet: Wahidullah Sabawun (of Hizb)
Defense
Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal (of Hizb)
Finance
Muhammad Yunus Qanuni (of Jam’iat)
Interior
Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai (of Ittihad)
Education
Qayamullah Kashaf (of Ittihad)
Information, Culture
Sayyid Ali Javid
(Harakat of Muhsini) Planning
Sayyid Husain Anwari (of Harakat)
Work, Social Affairs
Maulawi Samiullah Najibi (of Kunar Jama’at Tauhid)
Martyrs, Disabled
Sayyid Husain Alami (of Akbari Wahdat)
Commerce
Qutbuddin Helal (faction not known)
Deputy Prime Minister
10 July: Norbert Holl, a German diplomat, is nominated as special representative of the UN for Afghanistan. 17 July: Sayyid Gailani announces creation of a new alliance, including Mujaddidi, Dostum, Khalili (Wahdat), Muhammad Nabi, and the Jalalabad shura, headed by Haji Qadir. 27 July: Norbert Holl arrives at Kabul. 11 September: Taliban capture Jalalabad from shura and prepare for attack on Sarobi. 12 September: Taliban capture Laghman Province and its capital, Mehterlam. 22 September: Taliban capture Kunar Province. 25 September: Taliban capture Sarobi. 27 September: Taliban capture Kabul, torture and execute ex-president Najibullah and his brother Shapur Ahmadzai. They also kill General Jaffar and M. Tokhi who shared UN shelter with Najibullah. Taliban announce establishment of an Islamic state. Taliban take Bagram and Charikar. 28 September: Sebghatullah Mujaddidi announces his support for the Taliban. Taliban close girls’ schools and ban women from working in public. Women must wear the chatri (burqa) and be accompanied in public by a close male relative. 29 September: Taliban take Jabal-us-Siraj. Norbert Holl, special UN envoy for Afghanistan arrives in Kabul. 3 October: Men ordered to wear turbans and grow fist-length beards. 10 October: A defensive alliance is concluded between General Dostum, Ahmad Shah Mas’ud, and Abdul Karim Khalili. 12 October: Forces of Mas’ud retake Jabalus-Siraj. 13 October: Mas’ud retakes Charikar. 15 October: Mas’ud forces retake Bagram. 25 October: Taliban claim to have captured Qala-i Nau in Badghis Province. 27 October: Forces of Dostum retake Badghis Province. 31 October: Troops of Isma’il Khan flown from Iran to Maimana to fight Taliban forces. 5 November: General Tanai, minister of defense
under the Najibullah regime, gives his support to the Taliban. 24 November: Taliban take Kalakan village. 27 November: Taliban take Istalif. 1 December: Babrak Karmal dies. 1997 4 January: Mulla Omar orders the people to pray for rain or snow. 6 January: The medical faculty of Jalalabad University opens without female students. Forces of General Dostum attack Taliban troops in Badghis. 7 January: An American delegation meets with Mulla Hasan, vice president of the Taliban council, to discuss the elimination of drug trafficking and the termination of international terrorism. 12 January: The afghani has fallen to 28,200 for one dollar. 16 January: Taliban take Bagram and Charikar. 17 January: Taliban move into Kapisa Province, take Mahmud Raqi. 2 February: Taliban delegation visits the United States. 15 February: Government officials and military are not permitted to smoke. 27 February: Taliban government forbids the possession of foreign magazines and books. Kabul University opens without female students. March: Taliban government declines to extradite Osama bin Laden. The Taliban take Kunduz. 20 March: General Abdul Malik captures Badghis, Faryab, and Sar-i Pul provinces, surrenders 700 prisoners and Isma’il Khan to the Taliban. Taliban prohibit New Year (Nauruz) celebrations. 13 May: Afghan opposition forms new government in Mazar-i Sharif. 19 May: General Abdul Malik revolts, forces General Dostum to flee to Turkish exile. 24 May: Taliban enter Mazar-i Sharif with the support of Abdul Malik. 25 May: Pakistan recognizes the Taliban government. 26 May: Saudi Arabia recognizes the Taliban government. 28 May: Taliban want to disarm Abdul Malik’s forces; he turns against them and, with the help of the Shi’ite Hizb-i Wahdat, defeats Taliban, who suffer hundreds killed. 2 July: Taliban take Khanabad. 4 July: General Malik closes the Pakistan consulate in Mazar-i Sharif. 11 August: The principal leaders of the opposition, including Mas’ud, Abdul Malik, Rabbani, and Khalili, meet at the Salang Pass for strategy discussions. 14 August: United States decides to temporarily close the Afghan embassy in Washington to avoid recognizing the Taliban government. 21 August: Abdur Rahim Ghafurzai, newly elected prime minister of the Northern Alliance, is killed in Bamian in an airplane accident. 5 September: Abdullah Abdullah, deputy foreign minister of the Rabbani government, represents Afghanistan at the UN General Assembly. 9 September: Taliban take Mazar-i Sharif. General Malik is expelled with the support of the Pashtun Hizb-i Islami. 12 September: Taliban are expelled from Mazar-i Sharif. 4 October: The opposition takes Mazar-i Sharif from the Taliban. 14 October: General Dostum returns to Mazar-i Sharif, forces Abdul Malik to flee. 19 October: Sick women are removed from Wazir Akbar Khan and Karte Se hospitals. Women are to be kept in a separate hospital. 26 October: Taliban change the name of Afghanistan to the Islamic Emirate (Amirat) of Afghanistan. November: General Malik flees into exile. 16 November: General Dostum reveals mass graves of 2,000 Taliban. 16 December: A UN spokesman confirms that hundreds of Taliban were massacred in September and their bodies thrown into well pits. 1998 6 January: President Rabbani visits Iran, Pakistan, and Tajikistan to gain support for a regional conference on Afghanistan. The Taliban are accused of having massacred 600 civilians in Fariab Province. 4 February: Earthquake in northeastern Afghanistan kills 4,000 and renders 15,000 homeless. 23 February: Creation in Peshawar of the World Front of Jihad
against Jews and Crusaders. Osama bin Laden is one of the founders. 26 February: Three men accused of sodomy were put against a wall in Kandahar which was toppled over them. One man who survived was freed. Mulla Muhammad Omar, head of the Taliban, and a large number of spectators attended the event. 5 March: Taliban government adopts the lunar calendar as the official means of reckoning time. 7 April: Osama bin Laden participates at public prayers in Kandahar on the occasion of the Feast of Sacrifice. 23 April: American diplomats arrive in Kabul for discussion about the increase in poppy cultivation. 24 May: Taliban government punishes 490 men for cutting their beards and 110 women for being insufficiently veiled. 25 May: The Department for Enjoining the Good and Forbidding Evil is elevated to the rank of ministry. 27 May: In a press conference in Khost, Osama bin Laden calls for a new jihad against the American forces stationed in Saudi Arabia. 29 May: Mulla Omar cancels the amnesty granted to former communists. 16 June: Taliban orders all girls’ schools in private homes closed. 8 July: Taliban order all television sets destroyed and testing of individuals on their knowledge of Islam. 9 July: Taliban forbid conversions of Afghan Muslims to another religion. 7 August: Car bombs destroy U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The attacks are blamed on Osama bin Laden. 9 August: A force of 5,000 Taliban captures Mazar-i Sharif. Iran accuses the Taliban of having assassinated 10 Iranian diplomats and one journalist. 18 August: Madeleine Albright, American secretary of state, demands that the Taliban deliver Osama bin Laden, form a broad-based government, and improve the human rights condition in Afghanistan as a precondition to recognition by the United States. 20 August: The United States fires cruise missiles on camps of bin Laden and groups held responsible for attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. 13 September: Taliban capture Bamian. 22 September: Saudi Arabia recalls it chargé d’affaires at Kabul. 27 September: Mulla Omar announces that any believer who cannot recite correctly the five prayers will be punished. 14 October: Lakhdar Brahimi holds talks with Mulla Muhammad Omar. 22 October: Taliban government orders Hindus to wear yellow distinguishing marks on their clothing. 4 November: The United States offers $5 million for the capture of Osama bin Laden. 13 November: Muhammad Akbari, a chief of the Shi’a Hizb-i Wahdat, surrenders to the Taliban. 23 December: Taliban government changes the name of Pashtunistan Square to Ahmad Shah Baba Square. 1999 2 February: U.S. deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott meets with Taliban in Islamabad; demands surrender of Osama bin Laden. Taliban reject demand. 19 February: Taliban orders the destruction of all heroin laboratories. 21 April: Hizb-i Wahdat captures Bamian. 26 April: Afghan Shi’ites celebrate their traditional Ashura ceremonies at Kabul. But public celebrations are prohibited. 30 April: Ex-king Zahir Shah proposes formation of a Loya Jirga to restore peace in Afghanistan. 25 June: Ex-king Zahir Shah convenes a meeting of personalities in Rome to explore ways to solve the Afghan crisis. 6 July: President Clinton orders commercial and financial sanctions against Afghanistan because of their support for Osama bin Laden. 14 July: Abdul Ahad Karzai, chief of the Popalzai tribe, is assassinated in Quetta with two other persons. 5 August: Ex-king Zahir Shah firmly condemns the involvement of foreign forces in Afghanistan. 8 August: Former president Mujaddidi leaves Pakistan after protesting Pakistani interference in Afghan affairs. 15 August: At the call of Mulla Muhammad
Omar, some 5,000 Afghan and Pakistani madrasa students have entered Afghanistan. 18 August: The governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan sign an agreement for cooperation in the field of post and communications. 9 September: Taliban spokesman Mulla Mutawakil says that war is the only solution for the conflict in Afghanistan. 19 September: According to a UN study, poppy cultivation was increased from 64,000 to 91,000 hectares in 1999, and the opium production increased from 2,100 to 4,600 tons. 15 September: The opposition announces formation of a new council, headed by Rabbani and including Sayyaf (vice president), Karimi (secretary), Massoud, Haji Qadir, Qurban Ali Erfani, Sabaoun, Nurullah Emad, and Abdullah Wardak. 12 October: Military coup in Pakistan overthrows government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and General Pervez Musharraf takes over. 15 October: UN Security Council votes economic sanctions against the Taliban, effective 14 November, if they do not surrender Osama bin Laden. It also prohibits international flights of Afghan aircraft and imposes a freeze on Taliban financial resources. 19 October: An American high official meets with Taliban representatives to warn them of consequences if they do not conform to the UN demands. 27 October: Mulla Mutawakil is named minister of foreign affairs, replacing Mulla Hasan Akhund. 14 November: UN sanctions on Afghanistan begin. 17 November: Taliban government decrees Chechnya separatism is an Islamic cause. 21 November: Taliban accept the reopening of the Iranian consulate in Herat. 22 November: At the initiative of ex-king Zahir Shah, 55 Afghan personalities are assembled in Rome to prepare holding a Loya Jirga. 28 November: Taliban government announces the formation of hundreds of Islamic councils to supervise judicial and administrative affairs in the provinces. 11 December: General Malik, coming from the United States, rejoins Massoud’s forces, and General Dostum enters Afghanistan from Turkey. 14 December: U.S. government lets it be known that it will make the Taliban responsible for attacks organized by bin Laden. 19 December: UN Security Council adopts a resolution to broaden its sanctions if the Taliban do not hand over bin Laden, close alleged terrorist camps, and halt “illegal drug activities.” 21 December: Taliban and Turkmenistan governments sign a contract for providing electricity for Faryab, Chiberghan, and Mazar-i Sharif. 2000 7 January: Mulla Omar accuses the United States of hostility to Islam and Muslims. 16 January: Moscow accuses the Taliban of supplying weapons and men to Chechnya. The government of Chechnya opens an embassy at Kabul. 27 January: The American news agency CNN and Al Jazeera are authorized to open information offices in Kabul. According to the International Drug Enforcement Agency, 75 percent of world production of opium is produced in Afghanistan. 6 March: Taliban destroy 355 kilograms of heroin and 4,350 kilograms of hashish in Kandahar Province. 20 March: Taliban prohibit the celebration of the new year at Kabul. 27 March: Isma’il Khan, the former governor of Herat, escapes from a prison in Kandahar. 31 March: Generals Abdul Malik and Dostum form a common front against the Taliban. 9 April: Pakistan demands the closure of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and the extradition of Pakistanis responsible for religious attacks in Karachi. 15 April: Taliban government permits Shi’ite Muharram celebrations. 19 April: Iran and Afghanistan resume postal relations via Herat, which had been interrupted for eight years. 17 May: A delegation
representing the ex-king visits the United States to promote the creation of a Loya Jirga for the formation of an Afghan government. The delegation is headed by Sultan Mahmud Ghazi and includes Hamid Karzai, Ishaq Naderi, Runa Yusuf Mansuri, and Zalmai Rasul. 24 June: Leaders of the Pakistani Jama’at-i Islami visiting Afghanistan urge the Taliban government not to extradite Osama bin Laden. 28 July: Mulla Omar forbids the cultivation of poppies in Afghanistan. 4 September: Isma’il Khan recruits soldiers from Iranian refugee camps. 7 October: Commander Mas’ud meets Dostum and Ismael Khan in Meshhed to open a new front against the Taliban. 6 November: Mulla Muhammad Omar decrees that men without beards are not permitted to find work. According to a report, the Afghan foreign ministry demands the return of the Koh-i Noor from Britain. 18 November: Taliban government refuses to extradite 23 Pakistanis accused of confessional killings. 1 December: A resolution of the European Parliament demands that the European Union break all relations with the Taliban government. 18 December: The UN decides to evacuate all its expatriate personnel. 19 December: The UN Security Council imposes new sanctions on the Taliban government. 2001 2 January: Mulla Muhammad Omar decrees that conversions from Islam to Christianity are to be punishable by death. 4 January: Abdul Sattar, Pakistan’s minister of foreign affairs, says that Pakistan will comply with the UN sanction on Afghanistan. 6 January: Rabbani promises to end the veil requirement after the fall of the Taliban. 8 January: UN sanctions come into force in the absence of Taliban cooperation. 2 February: The United Nations publishes a list of 54 Taliban dignitaries whose accounts are frozen. 7 February: The Pakistani minister of interior, Muinuddin Haidar, visits Kabul to demand the extradition of some 60 Pakistanis wanted for criminal activities in Pakistan. 13 February: The United States orders the Taliban offices in New York closed. 26 February: Mulla Omar orders the destruction of all statues. 1 March: Taliban government begins destruction of the grand Buddha statues. 5 March: In a broadcast of Radio Sharia, Mulla Omar justifies the destruction of “idols.” 20 March: Taliban prohibit Nauruz (New Year) celebrations. 28 March: The religious police in Kabul order the wearing of white turbans for primary students and black ones for secondary students. 31 March: Seventy-five men are punished for cutting their beards. 3–7 April: On his first visit to Europe, Mas’ud meets with the French minister of foreign affairs, the president of the European Parliament, and other dignitaries. He wants assistance against the Taliban government and pressure on the Pakistan government to stop its interference in Afghanistan. 10 April: Pakistani religious parties hold a conference in which friendly messages of Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar of Afghanistan are read. 16 April: Mulla Rabbani, head of the Taliban council of ministers, dies of cancer in Pakistan. 1 May: In its annual report on terrorism, the State Department accuses Pakistan of providing military support to the Taliban. 5 May: Taliban issue a ruling to ban foreigners from drinking alcohol, eating pork, listening to loud music, and being in contact with members of the opposite sex. 17 May: Isma’il Khan returns to Afghanistan from Iran to head a western front against the Taliban. 18 May: The Islamic Ministry of Enjoining the Good and Forbidding Evil closes a hospital financed by Italy because male and female nurses were eating together. 21 May: A decree of Mulla Omar demands that Hindus wear a yellow mark on their clothing and prohibits them
from wearing a turban. 23 May: An unmarried couple accused of sexual relations receives 100 lashes each. 24 May: Taliban government orders Afghan Hindus to wear a yellow sign on their dress and their women to wear the Afghan burqa. 29 May: Taliban burn thousands of photos of women. 31 May: Taliban prohibit foreign women from driving. 3 June: Taliban government approves a budget of $81 million and expenditures of $82.5 million, of which $43 million are placed at the disposal of Mulla Omar, $1 million for the religious police force (amr bi’l ma’ruf), $343,000 for public works, $200,000 for the Ministry of Refugees, $14 million for religious primary education, and $1.14 million for secondary education. 4 June: Taliban prepare a code that forces foreigners in Afghanistan to obey Islamic rules, prohibiting adultery, conducting missionary activities, playing music, watching television, eating pork or drinking alcohol, and wearing immoral clothing. 20 June: U.S. Senate resolution condemns Taliban policies of discrimination against minorities and women. 21 June: Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani chief executive, adopts the title “president.” 26 June: Taliban government appoints Mulla Muhammad Taher minister of planning, Mulla Sa’duddin Sa’id minister of public works, and Ahmatullah Matih minister of agriculture. 27 June: As a result of international criticism, the Taliban government revokes its compulsion for Hindus to wear yellow distinguishing marks. 29 June: The American government warns the Taliban government about any possible attack by Osama bin Laden. It claims to have proof of Pakistani support of the Taliban. 2 July: U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain and Undersecretary of State Richard Armitage meet with the Taliban ambassador at Islamabad to threaten reprisals if bin Laden attacks any American interests. 4 July: Taliban recall their representatives in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 12 July: Taliban prohibit the use of the Internet, except for its high council in Kandahar. 7 August: Dostum resumes his attacks on Taliban forces. 13 August: Commander Abdul Haq demands the formation of a national union government in Afghanistan. 7 September: In a sermon, the Taliban minister of justice tells Afghans not to associate with foreigners and that Islam prohibits friendship with infidels. 9 September: Ahmad Shah Mas’ud is killed in a suicide attack by two Arabs posing as journalists. 11 September: A terrorist attack destroys the World Trade Center. General Muhammad Fahim succeeds as commander of the Northern Alliance forces. 13 September: The United States mobilizes forces for action against the Taliban. President Musharraf supports American military action from Pakistani territory. 17 September: A Pakistani government delegation at Kandahar demands the surrender of Osama bin Laden within three days. Mulla Omar refuses. 18 September: President George W. Bush declares that the United States wants bin Laden “dead or alive.” 20 September: An assembly of mullas asks Mulla Muhammad Omar to “invite” Osama bin Laden to leave Afghanistan. 22 September: The United Arab Emirates break relations with the Taliban government. 24 September: The U.S. government freezes the accounts of individuals and organizations accused of supporting terrorism. Pakistan withdraws its diplomatic personnel from Afghanistan. 25 September: Saudi Arabia ends diplomatic relations with Afghanistan. 28 September: A United Front delegation, headed by Yunus Qanuni, meets with Zahir Shah in Rome. Rabbani says that he sees no role for the ex-king. 29 September: The United States announces that special American and British forces have been
operating in Afghanistan since mid-September. 1 October: Zahir Shah and the United Front reach an accord for constituting a Loya Jirga of 120 members, nominated by both parties. 6 October: Zahir Shah calls for UN participation in forming a new government. 7 October: First attack by American and British aircraft on Taliban and al-Qaida military bases at Kabul, Kandahar, Kunduz, Farah, Mazar, and Jalalabad. 10 October: The American government announces control of Afghan airspace. 15 October: Abdullah Abdullah, foreign minister of the Rabbani government, declares that the alliance forces will not enter Kabul until an interim government is established. 24 October: Pir Sayyid Ahmad Gailani convenes a meeting of tribal chiefs in Peshawar. 26 October: Commander Abdul Haq is executed by the Taliban when trying to raise a force of Pashtuns against the Taliban. 2 November: Hamid Karzai fights Taliban forces in the north of Kandahar. 6 November: The United Front publishes a list of 60 representatives for a Loya Jirga, most of them from their own party. 9 November: Hundreds of prisoners are massacred after they attempt a revolt. Forces of Generals Dostum and Muhaqiq take Mazar-i Sharif. 12 November: Isma’il Khan’s forces take Herat. The United States demands that the United Front forces not enter Kabul. 13 November: Jam’iat forces enter Kabul. 14 November: United Front forces take Ghazni and most of western Afghanistan. Forces of Haji Qadir and Hazrat Ali take Jalalabad. 15 November: General Dostum’s forces take Taluqan. Northern Alliance troops enter Kabul; Abdullah Abdullah declares that there is no need for international forces. Northern Alliance takes Jalalabad. 16 November: Britain deploys 100 troops at Bagram air base. 17 November: Ex-president Rabbani arrives in Kabul. Forces of Isma’il Khan take Farah Province. Iran opens its embassy at Kabul. 18 November: Afghan television begins transmission, featuring two female announcers. 21 November: Pakistan orders the closing of Taliban consulates. 25 November: Northern Alliance captures Kunduz, the last Taliban base in northern Afghanistan. 27 November–5 December: Afghan delegation, consisting of members of the Rome, Peshawar, and Cyprus representatives, meets under UN auspices in Bonn to agree on an interim government. Hamid Karzai is nominated as interim leader. The accord stipulates the following: creation of a 21-member commission to organize a Loya Jirga, establishment of an interim administration, formation of an international force for the maintenance of peace in Kabul, drafting of the ex-king to preside at the Loya Jirga, and establishment of a commission to draft a constitution in 2003. 9 December: Kandahar comes under Kabul control. 13 December: Hamid Karzai arrives in Kabul. 21 December: First members of the multinational peacekeeping force arrive. 22 December: Afghan Interim Government formed: Hamid Karzai
President
Yunus Qanuni
Interior
Abdullah Abdullah
Foreign Affairs
Muhammad Qasem Fahim
Defense
Sima Samar
Women’s Affairs
Hedayat Amin Arsala
Finance
Abdul Qader
Urban Development
Suhaila Seddiq
Public Health
Abdur Rahman
Air Transport, Tourism
Muhammad Muhaqeq
Planning
Shaker Kargar
Water, Electricity
Sayyid Mustafa Kasemi
Commerce
Muhammad Alem Razm
Mines, Industries
Aref Nurzai
Small Industries
Makhdum Rahin
Information, Culture
Abdul Rahim
Communications
Mir Wais Sadeq
Labor, Social Affairs
Muhammad Hanif Balkhi
Pilgrimage
Abdullah Wardak
Martyrs, Disabled
Ghulam Muhammad Yailaqi
Education
Sharif Fayez
Higher Education
Abdul Khaliq Fazal
Public Works
Abdul Malik Anwar
Rural Development
Muhammad Amin Farhang
Reconstruction
Sultan Hamid Sultan
Transport
Enayatullah Nazeri
Return of Refugees
Sayyid Husain Anwari
Agriculture
Mangal Husain
Irrigation
Abdul Rahim Karimi
Justice
Amanullah Zadran
Border Affairs
Government begins its tenure. The peacekeeping International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is formed under a United Nations mandate to help Afghan forces secure Kabul. 24 December: General Dostum is nominated deputy minister of defense. 2002 11 January: The first contingent of Taliban/al-Qaida prisoners arrives at the American base at Guantánamo (Cuba). 17 January: American secretary of state Colin Powell arrives in Kabul, promises long-term American assistance. 21 January: An international conference in Tokyo agrees to provide $4.5 billion for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. 24 January: First
publication of UNESCO-financed Kabul Weekly. 25 January: A 21-member commission, headed by Isma’il Qasimyar, is charged with selecting members for a Loya Jirga to be convened in June. 10 February: The offices of Hekmatyar in Meshed are closed by the Iran government. Germany and the Netherlands have formally taken control of ISAF for six months. 14 February: Abdul Rahman, minister of transportation, is killed, purportedly by members of the Northern Alliance. 26 February: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has left Iran. 8 April: General Fahim survives an attack during a trip to Jalalabad to meet with tribal chiefs and local commanders. 18 April: Ex-king Zahir Shah returns to Afghanistan. 22 April: Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi dies. 26 April: Ex-president Rabbani offers his loyalty to the Loya Jirga. 28 April: Ahmad Shah Mas’ud is proclaimed “National Hero.” 29 April: General Fahim is proclaimed marshal. 20 May: The Interim Government decrees formation of a voluntary national army. 23 May: The UN Security Council extends the mandate of the international peace force for six months. 27 May: The ex-king expresses his willingness to serve as head of state, if the Loya Jirga demands. 11 June: The Loya Jirga, composed of 1,598 delegates (including 190 women), begins its deliberations. 19 June: Hamid Karzai is sworn in as head of the provisional government. 20 June: Turkey succeeds Great Britain to lead ISAF. New Transitional Government chosen, which leaves General Fahim minister of defense and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah foreign minister. Yunus Qanuni, the third of the Panjshiri leaders, is moved from interior to education as well as special adviser on national security. Hamid Karzai
President
Muhammad Qasim Fahim
Vice President
Abdul Karim Khalili
Vice President
Hedayat Amin Arsala
Vice President
Nematullah Shahrani
Vice President
Muhammad Fahim
Defense
Abdul Rahim Wardak
Deputy
Abdullah Abdullah
Foreign Affairs
Rahim Sherzoi
Deputy (Political Affairs)
Ashraf Ghani
Finance
Taj Muhd. Wardak
Interior
Muhammad Muhaqeq
Planning
Muhammad Masum Stanakzai
Communications
Muhammad Arif Nurzai
Borders, Tribal Affairs
Enayatullah Nazeri
Refugee Affairs
Juma M. Muhammadi
Mines, Industries
Muhammad Alam Razm
Light Industries, Foodstuffs
Suhaila Siddiq
Public Health
Sayyid Mustafa Kazemi
Commerce
Sayyid Husain Anwari
Agriculture, Livestock
Abdul Rahim Karimi
Justice
Sayyid Makhdum Rahin
Information, Culture
Muhammad Amin Farhang
Reconstruction
Muhammad Amin Naziryar
Hajj, Endowments
Muhammad Yusuf Pashtun
Urban Development
Abdullah Ali
Public Works
Nur Muhammad Qarqin
Labor, Social Affairs
Ahmad Shakar Kargar
Water, Power
Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani
Irrigation, Environment
Abdullah Wardak
Martyrs, Disabled
Muhammad Sharif Fayez
Higher Education
Muhammad Mirwais Sadeq
Civil Aviation, Tourism
Sayyid Muhammad Ali Jawid
Transportation
Muhammad Yunus Qanuni
Education
Muhammad Hanif Atmar
Rural Development
Mahbuba Huquqmal
Women’s Affairs
Sima Samar
Human Rights Commission
Fazl Hadi Shinwari
Chief Justice
22 June: The Transitional Government is established with 29 members. 25 June: Sima Samar loses the Ministry of Women’s Affairs but is nominated president of the Human Rights Commission. 30 June: Queen Humaira is buried in Kabul. 6 July: Vice President and Minister of Public Works Haji Abdul Qadir is assassinated in Jalalabad. 13 August: The Iranian president Muhammad Khatami makes an official visit to Kabul, the first by an Iranian chief of state in 40 years. 14 August: A ceremony is held in Kabul on the formation by France of the second battalion of the Afghan army. It is attended by Mr. Brahimi, representative of the UN secretary-general. 3 September: The French minister of foreign affairs Dominique de Villepin makes an official visit to Kabul, assures Afghanistan of continued support. 4 September: Hekmatyar proclaims jihad against American forces. 5 September: Karzai escapes an assassination attempt in Kandahar. 13 September: President Bush announces a major road
construction project, supported by a $180 million donation from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. 22 September: The American general McNeill organizes a meeting at Herat of Isma’il Khan and Gul Agha Sherzai to prevent clashes between their forces. The Afghan government nominates Nangyalai Tarzi as ambassador to Pakistan. 25 September: Ariana Afghan Airlines resumes weekly flights from Kabul to Frankfurt with a stop at Istanbul. 7 October: Afghan government introduces a new currency, exchanging 1 new afghani for 1,000 old ones. 23 October: General Fahim makes an official visit to London. According to a UN report, Afghanistan is again the major producer of opium in the world. 26 October: The exking returns to Afghanistan. 3 November: Curfew in existence since 1978 in Kabul is ended. The ex-king inaugurates the constitutional drafting commission, headed by Nematullah Shahrani. Human Rights Watch claims that Isma’il Khan has created a ministate in Herat in which civil rights are not respected. 11–12 November: Students, most of them Pashtuns, protest the inadequate conditions at Kabul University. Police open fire; one student killed (four according to some sources), ten wounded. 27 November: UN Security Council unanimously renews the ISAF mandate for one year. December: A message, purported to be from Mulla Muhammad Omar, calls on the Afghans to wage holy war against the United States. 12 December: The supreme court, headed by Fazl Hadi Shinwari, prohibits cable television at Jalalabad. 21 December: Seven German soldiers of ISAF are killed in Kabul in an ambush. 23 December: India donates a second Airbus 300-B4 to Afghanistan. 27 December: Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan sign an accord for construction of a gas duct to export Turkmen gas to the Indian Ocean. The 1,500 kilometer pipeline is estimated to cost $2 billion, for which financing has, as of 2011, not been assured. 2003 January: Isma’il Khan, governor of Herat, prohibits male teachers in girls’ schools. 4 January: About 400 Pashtun chiefs arrive in Kabul to protest the arrest of an Achakzai chief by American forces. 7 January: The American army has completed the formation of 400 recruits for the new Afghan army. 21 January: The supreme court prohibits cable television in Afghanistan. 28 January: General Ali Ahmad Jalali replaces Taj Muhammad Wardak as minister of interior. 30 January: A Black Hawk crashes near the Bagram air base, killing six of its occupants. Since October 2001 the United States has lost 25 men in combat and 22 to other causes. 10 February: Germany and Netherlands replace Turkey in command of the International Security Force for Afghanistan (ISAF). 17 February: Mulla Muhammad Omar calls for Afghans to join in holy war against Washington. 22 February: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar calls on the people of Iraq to resist the American invasion. 24 February: The Afghan minister of mines and industries, Juma M. Muhammadi and three of his colleagues die when a chartered plane crashes into the ocean off the coast of Karachi. 26 February: The UN Agency for Narcotics Control announced that Afghanistan has been the primary producer of opium in 2002, producing about 3,400 tons. 15 March: Afghan finance minister presents the budget for the year beginning 21 March, amounting to $500 million. President Hamid Karzai initiates the battalions of the Afghan National Army. Each battalion counts 1,900 men. 17 March: Donors conference pledges $2 billion dollars to help rebuild Afghanistan. 20 March: Major American operation, called “Valiant Strike,” of combined air and ground forces moves against Islamist
forces in the mountains of Sami Ghar, east of Kandahar. 21 March: Eighteen Afghans imprisoned at the American base of Guantánamo, Cuba, are freed and returned to Afghanistan. 31 March: Mulla Omar, head of the Taliban government, calls for jihad against the American forces in Afghanistan and their supporters. April: American Special Forces discover some 90 tons of explosives and 130 tons of light ammunition in caves near Maimana. 17 April: Romanian coalition forces discover a vast arms cache, including 3,000 107-mm rockets, a large amount of munitions, and 30 antitank mines. 22 April: President Karzai meets Pakistan president Perez Musharraf in Islamabad. 21 May: American guards of the embassy mistakenly shoot four Afghan soldiers who were loading weapons near the embassy. They mistook them for rebels. 24 May: Some 200 persons protest the killing. in front of the American embassy. 2 June: Isma’il Khan, governor of Herat, transfers $20 million of customs duties to the Kabul government. 3–6 June: President Karzai visits Great Britain and meets Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth II. 7 June: Bomb hits ISAF convoy and kills six soldiers, four of them Germans, and wounds 16 other German soldiers. 14 June: The Constitutional Loya Jirga is convened. 24 June: According to a Reuter’s report Mulla Muhammad Omar has formed an eight-man resistance council composed of the following persons: Mulla Dadullah, former commander of Kunduz; Akhtar Muhammad Osmani, former chief of the Kandahar air base; Akhtar Muhammad Mansur, ex-minister of defense; Mulla Obaidullah, former chief of Kandahar security; Hafiz Abdul Majid; Mulla Abdurrazaq Nafiz, former chief of northern areas; Mulla Baradar, exgovernor of Herat and Nimruz; and Mulla Muhammad Rasul. 26–27 June: President Karzai visits Switzerland. 2 July: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar calls on Afghans to expel all foreigners from Afghanistan. 8 July: USAID grants the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education $553,500 for a feasibility study on opening an American university at Kabul, similar to those in Lebanon and Egypt. 16 July: President Karzai issues a decree for electing a Loya Jirga. Delegates are to include 500 members, of whom 450 are elected and 50 appointed by Karzai. 23 July: First operation of 1,000 soldiers of the newly created Afghan army in the Zormat Valley, near Gardez. 1 August: Members of the Northern Alliance, including General Muhammad Qasim Fahim, Vice President Abdul Karim Khalili, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Education Minister Yunus Qanuni, and Mujahedin leader Abdul Rasul Sayyaf meet to form a political party. 9 August: Sultan Mahmud Ghazi, a cousin of Zahir Shah, forms a political party called Movement of National Unity. The ex-king returns to Afghanistan after a visit to France. 11 August: NATO succeeds ISAF in Kabul under the command of General Goetz Gliemeroth. 13 August: General Baz Muhammad Ahmadi becomes military commander of Herat, leaving Isma’il Khan only governor of the province. 15 August: President George W. Bush nominates Zalmai Khalilzad to be American ambassador to Kabul. 7 September: American secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld meets President Karzai in Kabul and promises a considerable increase in American aid. 8 September: The Afghan council of ministers adopts a law authorizing the formation of parties. 20 September: Abdul Rahim Wardak, a Pashtun, replaces Bismillah Khan, a Tajik, as deputy minister of defense. 30 September: Afghanistan becomes the 169th country to sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. 3 November: New draft constitution presented to former king Muhammad Zahir Shah. The draft was written during 11
months by a 35-member commission. 8 November: Local elections in all 32 provinces choose representatives to select a new 500-member Loya Jirga. President Bush asks for $87 billion from Congress for Iraq and Afghanistan, $11 billion of which will be for the American military effort and $800 million for reconstruction aid to Afghanistan. 27 November: Hillary Clinton, in a visit to Kabul, promises that her country will continue to support Afghanistan. 1 December: A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) is established in Herat. Other PRTs have been set up in Bamian, Kunduz, Mazar-i Sharif, Gardez, Kandahar, and Parwan. The teams have both military and civilian personnel. 14 December: A 502-member Loya Jirga convenes in Kabul to debate and ratify the constitution. 2004 4 January: After three weeks of heated debates, the Loya Jirga agrees on establishing an Islamic state, a presidential system of government, a two-house parliament, recognition of local languages in the areas of majority, and lifetime title of the king as Father of the Nation. Men and women are to have equal rights. 6 January: The NATO-led ISAF extends its mandate beyond Kabul and takes command of seven civil-military reconstruction teams set up in the provinces. 7 January: A UN Provincial Reconstruction Team under German command is established in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. 11 January: It is estimated that 3,000 soldiers of the new Afghan army have deserted since its founding in May 2002. 18 January: General Abdul Rashid Dostum declares that he will join the government if President Hamid Karzai appoints him minister of defense, chief of staff, or puts him in charge of a military force of 20,000 men. Karzai says, “If Dostum demands a higher post, it is a legitimate demand and we will examine it.” 22 January: Muhammad Muhaqeq announces his candidacy for the position of president. 26 January: In a ceremony in Kabul headed by President Karzai and the former king, the new constitution is officially promulgated. 28 January: Ali Ahmad Jalali, minister of interior, announces the creation of a 33rd province, Dai Kundi, created from the northern part of Urozgan Province. Masuda Jalal announces her intention to run for the presidency, the first woman in Afghan history to do so. 6 February: American secretary of defense Rumsfeld urges NATO to further engage in Afghanistan so that military operations can be transferred to the alliance. 17 February: A delegation of the European Union visits Kabul. 19 February: Inauguration of a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Asadabad, capital of Kunar Province. 4 March: NATO announces the establishment of a PRT in Ghazni; it is the 11th of its type in Afghanistan. 10 March: A British 100-man special forces team arrives at Kabul to participate in operations against al-Qaida. 12 March: An American PRT is established in Herat. 19 March: An Antonov AN-124 Condor heavy-transport aircraft arrives at Kabul airport with donations of weapons, weapons systems components, and ammunition for the Afghan National Army (ANA). This is the fifth donation by Romania of Soviet weapons to Afghanistan. Afghanistan still uses primarily Soviet equipment, which was originally supplied to the Kabul government from 1978 to 1990. 21 March: Fighting erupts in Herat between forces loyal to Isma’il Khan, governor of Herat, and General Abdul Zahir Nayebzadeh, who professes loyalty to the Kabul government. Isma’il Khan’s son, Mirwais Sadeq, who held the post of civil aviation and tourism minister in the Karzai government, is killed. 22 March: The Kabul government dispatches a 600-strong force to Herat to maintain order and protect civilians.
Negotiations lead to a cease-fire and a return to calm in the city. 31 March: An international conference of 56 donor countries meets in Bonn to approve $8.2 billion in aid, of which $4.4 billion is for the year 2004. April: Dai Kundi is made into a province. 1 April: A contingent of 2,000 U.S. Marines arrives from the Persian Gulf to reinforce the American forces in Afghanistan. 2 April: NATO Council approves a plan for the enlargement of the ISAF mandate. 5 April: Members of Junbesh-i Milli of General Abdul Rashid Dostum hold a conference in Mazar-i Sharif, attended by nearly 2,000 persons, that is to prepare their members for enrolling in the election. Like other mujahedin groups, the Junbesh is developing into a political party. 7 April: Forces of General Dostum take Maimana, the capital of Fariab Province, from government forces but retreat after three days. 13 April: President Karzai orders the Panjshir area to become a province. 14 April: Osama bin Laden offers Europe a truce if it “stops attacking Muslims.” 21 April: American ambassador Zalmai Khalilzad announces in Kabul the end of American support for the militias who helped in the war against the Taliban government. 25 April: The United Nations suspends its activities in Kandahar and environs after attacks on its members. 27 April: Several thousand soldiers and, for the first time, women of the police corps parade in Kabul to mark the 20th anniversary of the mujahedin victory over the Soviet occupation. 30 April: The Afghan minister of interior announces the formation of a special police force for the protection of historical sites. 3 May: The government approves the creation of a 2,000-strong Afghan National Guard. 26 May: President Karzai enacts a law permitting presidential and parliamentary elections. July: Médecins sans Frontières pulls out of Afghanistan due to lack of security. 20 August: About 10.6 million Afghans are registered to vote. 7 September: Thirty days of presidential campaigning begins. 11 September: President Karzai dismisses Isma’il Khan from his position as governor of Herat, then appoints him as minister of water and power. 17 September: The UN Security Council extends ISAF’s mandate until October 2005. 9 October: Presidential election with participation of some eight million Afghans begins. 19 October: Parliament meets for the first time in 30 years. 24 October: Hamid Karzai secures a simple majority of more than four million votes. 7 December: Karzai is sworn in for a five-year term as president of Afghanistan. 23 December: Karzai presents his new cabinet: Gen. Abdurrahim Wardak
National Defense
Ali Ahmad Jalali
Interior
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah
Foreign Affairs
Dr. Anwar al-Haq Ahadi
Finance
Hedayat Amin Arsala
Commerce
Dr. Zalmai Rasul
Adviser
Nur Muhammad Qarqin
Education
Dr. Muhammad Amin Farhang
Economy
Dr. Enayatullah Qasemi
Transport
Engineer Amirzai Sangin
Communications
Engineer Mir Muhammad Sidiq
Mines, Industries
Gen. Muhammad Ismael Khan
Water, Power
Dr. Suhrab Ali Safari
Public Works
Engineer Yusuf Pashtun
Urban Development
Obaidullah Ramin
Agriculture, Food
Muhammad Sarwar Danish
Justice
Dr. Amir Shah Hasanyar
Higher Education
Dr. Sayyid Makhdum Rahin
Information, Culture
Dr. Sayed Muhammad Amin Fatemi
Public Health
Prof. Nematullah Shahrani
Hajj, Islamic Affairs
Muhammad Karim Brahuye
Borders Affairs
Dr. Masuda Jalal
Women’s Affairs
Sayyid Ekramuddin Agha
Labor, Social Affairs
Muhammad Azam Dadfar
Refugees
Sidiqa Balkhi
Martyrs, Disabled
Muhammad Hanif Atmar
Rural Development
Engineer Habibullah Qaderi
Antinarcotics
2005 31 January: The Afghan secret service announces a program to purchase Stinger missiles still in the hands of warlords. 6 February: Ayatollah Muhammad Asef Muhsini announces his retirement from politics at a session of the Harakat-i Islami. 9–10 February: NATO ministers of defense announce the enlargement of their forces for maintaining the peace in Afghanistan. 15 February: President Karzai appoints Habiba Sorabi governor of Bamian. She is the first woman appointed governor of a province in Afghan history. U.S. senator John McCain visits Afghanistan and calls for “joint military permanent bases” in Afghanistan. 1 March: President Karzai nominates Abdul Rashid Dostum as his adviser for military affairs. 5 April: American ambassador Zalmai Khalilzad has been nominated to head the American embassy in Baghdad. 3 May: President Karzai convenes a meeting of about 1,000 representatives to discuss the question of the continued presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. The assembly agrees: “We need the assistance of the United States, NATO troops and international coalition forces until we have our own security forces and reach the point that we no longer need that assistance.” But the decision on the long-term presence of foreign troops or permanent bases in Afghanistan was to be left for the elected parliament. No status of
forces agreement exists between Afghanistan and the United States. The meeting also calls for an end to unilateral American combat operations. 9 May: Newsweek reports, and subsequently retracts, that U.S. interrogators at Guantánamo Bay desecrated the Muslim holy book, the Koran. 10 May: Violent demonstrations start in Jalalabad, which subsequently spread over 12 provinces. The Pakistan consulate, foreign aid agencies, UN buildings, and diplomatic missions are attacked. About 14 persons are killed and 120 wounded. Demonstrators take to the streets in the Gaza Strip, Pakistan, and Indonesia. 15 May: Newsweek apologizes for “errors in a story” alleging that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantánamo Bay desecrated the Koran. Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker says, “We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.” 23 May: On the occasion of his visit to the United States, President Hamid Karzai signs an agreement with President George W. Bush which states, “U.S. military forces operating in Afghanistan will continue to have access to Bagram air base and its facilities, and facilities at other locations as may be mutually determined and that the U.S. and coalition forces are to continue to have the freedom of action required to conduct appropriate military operations based on consultations and pre-approved procedures.” The agreement, called by Karzai a “Memorandum of Understanding” and by President Bush a “Strategic Partnership,” does not specify how long foreign troops will remain in Afghanistan. 2006 21 March: Dr. Abdullah is replaced by Rangin Dadfar Spanta as the new minister of foreign affairs. July: NATO troops take over leadership of operations in the south of Afghanistan. 31 July: Abdul Salam Azimi’s appointment as president of the supreme court is approved by parliament. 6 August: President Karzai nominates Fatima Gailani as president of the Red Crescent Society. October: NATO assumes responsibility for security across the whole of Afghanistan. 2007 20 January: Foreign Minister Rangin Spanta announces his appointment of ambassadors: M. Zaher Tanin, to United Nations; Nanguyalai Tarzi, UN Geneva; Maliha Zulfiqar, Germany; Asadullah Omar, France; Zalmai Aziz, Russia; Kasem Fazeli, Czech Republic; Aziz Aryanfar, Kazakhstan; Bismilla Bismil, Indonesia; Sayyid Makhdum Rahin, India; Muhammad Faruq Baraki, Uzbekistan; and Wali Munawar, Qatar. May: Mulla Dadullah is killed by American forces. 5 May: Malalai Juya is expelled from parliament for her verbal attacks on her colleagues. 10 May: President Karzai signs a controversial law granting a general amnesty for war crimes during the past 23 years. 6 June: President Karzai escapes a Taliban rocket attack near Ghazni. July: The former king, Zahir Shah, dies. The Taliban seize 23 South Korean missionaries and expel them from the country. 2008 1 March: Parliament approves the appointment of General Khodaidad to the position of minister of counternarcotics. Asadullah Wafa resigns from his position as governor of Helmand Province. February: Juma Khan Hamdard is nominated for the position of adviser to the president for tribal affairs. 15 July: Minister of Justice Abdul Jabbar Sabet announces his intention to stand for presidential election and is dismissed from his post by President Karzai. 9 September: President Bush announces a “surge” of U.S. troops to nearly 31,000. 10
November: President Karzai makes new appointments: Muhammad Hanif Atmar
Interior
Zarar Ahmad Muqbil
Refugee Affairs
Ghulam Faruq Wardak
Education
Muhammad Asef Rahimi
Agriculture
Najibullah Sadeq Mudabir
Director of Presidential Administration
2009 22 January: Richard Holbrooke is nominated special American envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan. 4 February: Anwar ul-Haq resigns his post as minister of finance and announces his intention to stand for presidential elections. 17 February: President Barack Obama commits 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan. 3 March: Muhammad Omar Zakhilwal receives parliamentary approval for appointment as minister of finance, replacing Anwar al-Haq Ahadi. 16 March: Appointment of Hamidullah Faruqi as minister of transport approved by parliament. 17 March: The remains of President Muhammad Daud and his brother Muhammad Naim are reburied in an official ceremony. 27 March: President Obama announces he will add 4,000 more troops. 3 April: Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, one-time minister of foreign affairs, announces his candidacy for presidential elections. 4 April: The Afghan supreme court approves the continuation of President Karzai’s tenure until the elections of 20 August. 2 May President Karzai officially announces his intention to stand for reelection. 4 May: Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, one-time minister of finance, announces his candidacy for the presidential election. 12 June: The Independent Election Commission announces that 41 candidates have presented themselves as candidates in the presidential election. 16 June: The presidential election campaign officially begins. 18 August: The election campaign ends at midnight. 20 August: The representative of the UN secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, declares the elections a success. 12 September: Hamid Karzai wins 54.3 percent of votes from 92.3 percent of polling stations, but insecurity, intimidation, and fraud lead to a demand for a runoff election, scheduled for 7 November. 20 October: Karzai announces his acquiescence to runoff election. 24 October: The runoff campaign between Karzai and Dr. Abdullah is formally opened. 1 November: Abdullah announces that he is withdrawing from the vote. 2 November: The Independent Election Commission announces cancellation of the 7 November election and declares Hamid Karzai the winner. 1 December: President Obama announces an increase of 30,000 troops and the start of an exit strategy in 18 months. 19 December: Muhammad Qasim Fahim, the first vice president, introduces the new cabinet ministers to the Afghan parliament, but only some are approved. Muhammad Hanif Atmar (approved)
Interior
Muhammad Rahim Wardak (approved)
National Defense
Ghulam Muhammad Aylaqi
Commerce, Industries
Omar Zakhilwal (approved)
Finance
Faruq Wardak (approved)
Education
Obaidullah Obaid
Higher Education
Sayyid Makhdum Rahin (approved)
Information, Culture
Enayatullah Baligh
Hajj, Islamic Affairs
Muhammad Sarwar Danish
Justice
Muhammadullah Batash
Transport, Aviation
Waheedullah Sharani (approved)
Mines
Muhammad Isma’il Khan
Energy, Water
Muhammad Asef Rahimi (approved)
Agriculture
General Khudaidad
Counternarcotics
Sayyid Hamid Gilani
Border and Tribal Affairs
Enayatullah Nazari
Returnees, Refugees
Muhammad Amin Fatimi
Public Health
Engineer Mirza Husain Abdullahi
Public Welfare
Anwar al-Haq Ahadi
Economy
Wais Ahmad Barmak
Rural Rehabilitation and Development
Amirzai Sangin
Telecommunication, Information Technology
Husn Banu Ghazanfar
Women’s Affairs
Muhammad Isma’il Munshi
Work, Social Affairs, Martyred, and Disabled
After the vast majority of President Karzai’s initial cabinet nominees are rejected by the Afghan parliament, President Karzai picks new nominees, and they are presented to the Wolesi Jirga. The jirga again rejects 10 of the 17 nominations: Zalmai Rasul (approved)
Foreign Affairs
Habibullah Ghaleb (approved)
Justice
Hashim Esmatullahi
Higher Education
Yusuf Niyazi (approved)
Hajj, Islamic Affairs
Bashir Lale
Public Welfare (Works)
Suraya Dalil
Public Health
Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal (approved)
Economy
Mohamad di Hakimi
Commerce, Industries
Jarullah Mansuri (approved)
Rural Rehabilitation and Development
Amina Afzali (approved)
Work, Social Affairs, Martyred, and Disabled
Abdul Rahim Oraz
Transport, Aviation
Palwasha Hasan
Women’s Affairs
Abdul Rahim
Refugees, Returnees
Arsala Jamal
Tribal Affairs, Border Affairs
Zarar Ahmad Moqbel (approved)
Counternarcotics
Sultan Hussain
Urban Development
No names are submitted for minister of energy and water or minister of telecommunication and information technology. 2010 16 January: Afghan and Uzbek authorities announce work on a rail line connecting Hairatn on the Amu Daria with Mazar-i Sharif. 18 January: Taliban forces stage a series of suicide attacks on the presidential palace, the central banks, and the Serena Hotel in Kabul. 19 January: Zalmai Rasul assumes control as minister of foreign affairs. 28 January: London Conference cohosted by Afghanistan, Britain, and the United Nations in preparation for the 20 July Kabul Conference. It is attended by delegates from some 70 countries. 8 February: Avalanches in the Salang Pass kill 175 people and injure hundreds. 16 February: The numbertwo Taliban leader, Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar, is arrested by Pakistani authorities in Karachi. 16 March: The cabinet approves a decision of the Ministry of Justice to declare Friday and Saturday public holidays. 5 April: The Afghan senate nominates Yasin Osmani for the position of director general of the High Office for Oversight for Anti-Corruption. 17 April: President Karzai appoints Fazel Ahmad Manawi to be president of the independent electoral commission. 10 May: President Karzai pays an official visit to the United States. 26 June: President Karzai presents candidates for parliamentary approval: General Bismillah Muhammadi, minister of interior; Anwar al-Haq Ahadi, minister of commerce and industries; Abdul Quddus Hamidi, minister of public works; Asadullah Khalid, minister of borders and tribal affairs; and Jamayer Anwari, minister of refugees and repatriation. Not approved are Sarwar Danish, minister of higher education, and Dawoud Ali Najafi, minister of transport and aviation. President Barack Obama relieves General Stanley McChrystal from command of NATO forces in Afghanistan. McChrystal is to be replaced with General David Petraeus. 20 July: One-day international conference held with delegates from 70 countries and cohosted by Afghanistan and the United Nations. The agenda includes the question of peace talks with the Taliban, government reform, and the gradual assumption of control by Afghanistan of foreign aid and the military prosecution of the war. It is scheduled as a follow-up to the London Conference in January 2010. 4 August: The Afghan Office of Statistics estimates the population of Afghanistan at 26 million. 17 September: Parliamentary elections are held. 20 September: Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India sign a historic agreement about
drawing an 1,800-km pipeline to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. 22 September: The Afghan government and China’s Metallurgical Group Corporation sign an agreement to construct a rail line from the copper mines at Ainak to Torkham, on the Pakistan border, and to Hairatan, north of Mazar-i Sharif. 20 October: The Afghan Electoral Commission announces the invalidation of 1.3 million ballots from the 2009 election. November: The European Union bans Afghan airlines from flying to European destinations because of a lack of security norms. 2011 6 March: Khalid Pakhtun is elected president of the Wolesi Jirga. 17 March: Pamir Airways has suspended its flights.
Introduction A gateway to India, impinging on the ancient Silk Road, which carried trade from the Mediterranean to China, the area of Afghanistan has long been of great strategic importance. Therefore it was often coveted by powerful neighbors. In the 16th century, the Persian Safavid Empire in the west, the Turkic Uzbek state to the north, and the Moghul (Mughal) Empire of India disputed control of the area. Soon after the founding of the state of Afghanistan in 1747, Russia and Great Britain left the country as a buffer between the two empires. And during the second half of the 20th century it became an arena of conflict in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Finally, in the 1990s, the establishment of a radical Islamist regime in Kabul threatened to make the country the base of an Islamist world revolution. American intervention brought an end to the radical Taliban regime and led to the election of President Hamid Karzai in 2004 and his reelection in 2009. LAND AND PEOPLE Geography Afghanistan is a mountainous, landlocked state of about 245,000 square miles, which is approximately the area of Texas, with a population of about 15.5 million in the 1970s, which has since grown to about 26 million. The climate in Afghanistan varies in accordance with the particular geographic zone: there are subarctic conditions in the northeast and Hindu Kush Mountains (with peaks at 14,000 to 17,000 feet, the tallest is Nowshak at 24,557 feet); a semiarid steppe climate in low-lying areas; and mild, moist weather in the southeast bordering Pakistan. The estimated annual rainfall is between 11 and 15 inches with great variations—more on the southeastern slopes of mountains exposed to the monsoon rains and much less in the southwestern deserts. About 83 percent of the Wakhan-Pamir area lies at an altitude above 10,000 feet, and another 17 percent at an altitude of between 6,000 and 10,000 feet. Therefore, snow covers the mountains, and most passes are seasonally closed. The yak and Bactrian camel are utilized in the transportation of man and goods. A similar climate exists in the central mountains, including most of central and eastern Hazarajat, and the Hindu Kush ranges, extending from the Shibar Pass through the Koh-i Baba in the west, which is crossed by the Salang Tunnel at an altitude of about 11,000 feet. A limited amount of agriculture exists in the valleys, and nomads seasonally graze their livestock on the foothills. The eastern mountains include four major regions: Kabul, Kohistan/Panjshir, the Ghorband, and Nuristan, the latter being the most inaccessible. Snow exists at altitudes above 10,000 feet. Temperatures reach lows of one degree Fahrenheit, and winter lasts from December to March. Summer temperatures depend on altitude. In the southwest, stony deserts extend to the Iranian border, and the Registan, “Land of Sand,” extends south of the Helmand River and eastward as far as Shorawak, forming a natural boundary with Pakistan. On the edges of the Registan, the
desert gradually changes into a hilly landscape of sand hills thickly sprinkled with bushes and vegetation and grass after rains. Baluch and Brahui nomads seasonally graze their flocks in these areas. The major agricultural areas are confined to the valleys watered by the Amu Daria and the northern plains, the Hari Rud/Murghab system in the northwest, the Helmand/Arghandab system, and the Kabul River system. The melting snow feeds the dry riverbeds in spring and provides much of the water for irrigation (for specific rivers, see individual entries). About 12 percent of the land is arable, 46 percent is meadows and pastures, 3 percent is forests and woodland, and 39 percent is deserts and mountains. Religion According to local tradition, Balkh, the “Mother of Cities,” in northern Afghanistan was founded by Balkh ibn Balakh ibn Saman ibn Salam ibn Ham ibn Nuh (Noah). Zoroastrian tradition holds that Balkh was the birthplace of Zoroaster, and Buddhism flourished before the advent of Islam. But since the 1890s, when the last remnants of non-Muslim communities were converted, the religion of Islam prevails in Afghanistan. The only measurable religious minorities today are small communities of Hindus and Sikhs, most of whom left during the past three decades of civil war. Although there has never been a census, a rough estimate is that about 80 to 85 percent of the population adheres to the Sunni school of Islam; the rest are Shi’a of several denominations. Until recently, Islam was the criterion of nationality: to be an Afghan meant to be a Muslim. To convert to another religion is treason, an unforgivable sin. Islam is the ideology that holds the multiethnic state together. Islam is a monotheistic religion that continues the prophetic Judeo-Christian tradition but recognizes Muhammad as the last of the prophets. Both Sunnis and Shi’as accept the Five Pillars of Islam: the profession of faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage. They differ as to the legitimacy of leadership of the Islamic community, originally the Sunni caliphs and the Shi’i imams, and the sources of jurisprudence as well as the authority of the clergy (ulama). HISTORY Afghanistan, the “Land of the Afghans,” began as a political entity in 1747 when Ahmad Shah (r. 1747–1773) was crowned king of a tribal confederation; it is an ancient land with a glorious history of kingdoms dating back some 3,500 years. As part of the nation-building process, Afghan historians in the 20th century popularized the idea of an organic link existing between modern Afghanistan and its ancient roots. They see a continuum from Ariana (1,500 B.C.) of the Indo-Iranians, centered around Balkh, city of Zoroaster, in northern Afghanistan, to the Buddhist kingdom of the Kushanids (about 50–250 A.D.) with its capital in Peshawar and Bagram. Intermittently, Afghanistan was peripheral to empires as a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire in the sixth century B.C., of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C., and the Maurian kingdom of Ashoka a century later. Afghanistan’s Islamic roots began with the Muslim Arab invasion in the seventh century A.D., but it was not until the 10th century that Islam was firmly established, and not until the end of
the 19th century that the last vestiges of pre-Islamic communities disappeared. The first indigenous Islamic state was the Ghaznavid Empire (977–1186), named after its capital Ghazni, a town in eastern Afghanistan. It was destroyed by the Ghorids (1150–1217), whose capital was Ghor, a town in central Afghanistan. The domains of both empires included large portions of northern India. The Mongols wreaked destruction in the 13th century, as did Timuri Lang almost two centuries later. Timur’s descendants rebuilt Herat and made it a great cultural center. By the 16th century, Afghanistan was again peripheral to powerful neighbors. Almost simultaneously, three empires emerged in the early 16th century: the Safavid rulers of Iran (1501–1786) who controlled portions of western Afghanistan; the Moghul rulers of India (1526–1858) who made Kabul their capital in 1504, until Babur (1526–1530) and his successors established themselves in Delhi and Agra; and the Shaibanid Uzbeks (1500–1598) who founded a kingdom that extended from the plains north of the Hindu Kush far into Transoxania. Modern Afghanistan was born as a result of revolt against foreign occupation. Mir Wais, founder of the short-lived Hotaki dynasty (1709–1738), rose in rebellion against Gorgin Khan, the Safavid governor of Kandahar; he defeated the avenging Safavid armies and, encouraged by his success, raided far into Iran. The Abdali (later Durrani) tribes liberated Herat, and Afghan tribes flocked to the banner of Mahmud (1716–1725), son of Mir Wais, who besieged Isfahan and, in the battle of Gulnabad in 1722, ended the rule of the Safavid kings. The Hotaki Ghilzais were soldiers, not empire builders. They could not hold on to their conquests, and Nadir Shah Afshar (r. 1736–1747) reunited Iran under his short-lived dynasty, which included Afghanistan and parts of northern India. Ahmad Shah commanded an Afghan contingent of Nadir Shah’s army and, at the sudden death of the latter, was able to intercept a convoy of booty destined for Iran. This gave him the means to augment his forces and consolidate his power. Following the example of previous guardians of the “Gateway to India,” he led nine invasions into the Indian subcontinent and made himself the undisputed ruler of an empire to which Afghan historians refer as the “historical” Afghanistan. The boundaries of this state were the Amu Daria in the north, the Indus River in the east, the Indian Ocean in the south, and the present Iranian provinces of Khorasan and Sistan in the west. Ahmad Shah ruled a heterogeneous population, which also included, in addition to the dominant Pashtun element forming the core of his armies, a largely sedentary population of Dari/Farsi speakers, Turkic and Baluch minorities, and a multitude of ethnic and sectarian groups. In 1600, the British East India Company obtained a charter for exploration and commerce in Bengal, India, and a century and a half later, the company was the de facto ruler of Bengal. Its Board of Control appointed a governor general as executive who conducted the government for the company until 1858, when the crown ended the charter and appointed a viceroy, subject to the control of the London government. At the same time, Britain continued its territorial conquests and started to worry about how to protect its new acquisitions from Afghan attacks, or Russian expansionism, which had reached Persia’s borders in the Caucasus. The Afghan heartland is a mountain fastness, surrounded by deserts in the north, west, and south, with cultivation supported by five major river systems, depending on melting snow from
the mountains for irrigation. Subsistence agriculture, small-scale mining, and a handicraft industry for domestic consumption did not provide sufficient surplus wealth to support a lavish court. The ruling Durranis and allied tribes depended on a system of military feudalism, which allocated agricultural lands to the chiefs in exchange for military service corresponding to the size of their fiefs (tiyul). An alternative was territorial conquest of the fertile Panjab plains if not all of northern India. A policy of conquest had definite advantages: it brought prosperity to the Pashtun tribes and kept them united. Ahmad Shah was not an absolute ruler; he was a primus inter pares who had to contend with the ambitions of the khans, the chiefs of the major tribes. It was for this reason that he also recruited a force of non-Pashtun Qizilbash soldiers. When Timur, one of Ahmad Shah’s six sons, succeeded to the Afghan throne in 1773, he transferred the capital from Kandahar to Kabul, where he was more secure from the intrigues of the Kandahar chiefs. Described as “more a scholar than a soldier,” Timur Shah faced revolt in the periphery of the empire. Shah Zaman, one of Timur’s 23 sons, ascended the throne in 1793 amid internecine warfare, which led to the eventual demise of the Sadozai dynasty. Britain extended its control in India, and the emergence of the Sikh empire of Ranjit Singh (1780–1839) in the Panjab definitely ended Afghan aspirations of eastward expansion. At the beginning of the 19th century, Afghanistan became directly involved in European empire politics. In addition to Russia and Britain, France emerged as a contender in the “Great Game” for imperial conquest. The first contact between a British envoy, Mountstuart Elphinstone, and an Afghan ruler (Shah Shuja, r. 1803–1810 and 1839) took place at Peshawar in February 1809 and led to an alliance against a Franco-Persian invasion, which, however, never materialized. The next, more fateful encounter was the first of three Anglo-Afghan wars (1839–1842). When Dost Muhammad (r. 1835–1839 and 1842–1863), first of the Barakzai amirs, ascended the Kabul throne in 1835, Persia occupied Khorasan with Russian support and besieged Herat, while Ranjit Singh conquered Multan, Kashmir, Derajat, and Peshawar. Fearing an Afghan alliance with Russia, Lord Auckland, governor general of India, decided to restore Shah Shuja to the Afghan throne. The British invasion, though initially successful, resulted in a disastrous defeat in the First Anglo-Afghan War. The British government refrained for almost 40 years from conducting a “forward” policy at its northwestern frontier. However, Russian advances in Central Asia continued, and voices in London and Delhi demanded a new policy and consolidation of a “scientific” frontier for the defense of India. In 1877, the Queen of England was proclaimed empress of India, and a year later, British-Indian armies again invaded Afghanistan. Amir Shir Ali (r. 1863–1879), who had negotiated with a Russian envoy at Kabul, was forced to seek refuge in northern Afghanistan where he died shortly afterward. He was succeeded by his son Muhammad Yaqub, who signed the Treaty of Gandomak (1879) and permitted a permanent British mission to be established in Kabul. Insurrection and the massacre of the British envoy and his staff led to the demise of Yaqub Khan and recognition in 1880 of Abdul Rahman Khan as the next Afghan ruler. With Amir Abdul Rahman (r. 1880–1901), the traditional system of rule came to an end. The
“Iron Amir” no longer appointed princes as governors of major provinces, a practice that had led to much strife in the past. He ended the local autonomy of Uzbek khans in the north, Hazaras in the center, and the Kafirs in the east of Afghanistan. Abdul Rahman reconquered the country and expelled or killed any of the notables who could pose a threat to his power. He claimed both the highest secular and spiritual powers and limited the influence of the ulama (religious establishment) and the tribes. His reign marked the beginning of centralized rule and bureaucratization of the government. His regular army gradually replaced feudal and irregular levies, ending the system of military feudalism. An alliance with Britain protected Afghanistan from unprovoked Russian aggression and provided the funds and weapons to eliminate all domestic challenges to his power. In exchange, the Afghan ruler agreed to conduct his relations with neighboring states through the medium of the British government. Abdul Rahman formulated a foreign policy that served Afghanistan well, until King Amanullah (r. 1919–1929) in the Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919) ended the country’s dependence on Britain. A window to the West, which had gradually begun to open when Amir Habibullah (1901–1919) received a German mission during World War I, was thrown wide open under King Amanullah. Afghanistan established diplomatic relations with major European and Asian countries. A contemporary of Kemal Ataturk of Turkey and Reza Shah of Iran, Amanullah ushered in Western reforms and first introduced the institutions of constitutional government. A short period of reaction under Habibullah Kalakani (r. January–October 1929) did not end the process of modernization, most visible in the expansion of education during the reigns of Nadir Shah (r. 1929–1933) and his son Zahir Shah (r. 1933–1973). The fact that the experiment with democracy in the 1960s ended in failure, war, and foreign intervention should not be surprising. The socioeconomic conditions that favor a trend toward a stable, if not democratic, government still did not exist. Muhammad Daud felt that strong leadership was required; he revolted against his cousin, the king, and established a republican form of government, taking direct command of the affairs of the state. He was toppled from power in 1978 by his Marxist supporters, who thought they had a cure for the socioeconomic ills of the country. Feeling secure of Soviet support, the Marxist government initiated unpalatable innovations, which resulted in armed resistance and civil war. It evolved into a war of liberation after the Soviet intervention in support of the Kabul government. Peace proved to be elusive after the fall of the Marxist government in April 1992. An Islamic Council of mujahedin leaders appointed Sebghatullah Mujaddidi interim president for two months (28 April–28 June) to be succeeded by Burhanuddin Rabbani. Although initially appointed for six months, Rabbani convened a council of ulama to have his tenure extended and subsequently refused to step down. This marked the beginning of a civil war in which the Kabul government’s power was variously challenged by ethnic and sectarian leaders, most importantly Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Abdul Rashid Dostum, and the Hizb-i Wahdat of Abdul Ali Mazari. It was only after the emergence of the Taliban movement that a major part of Afghanistan came under the control of Kabul. The five-year domination of this neofundamentalist movement seemed destined to eventually complete its conquest of Afghanistan, if it had not been for the American intervention in October 2001. Its radical
interpretation of Islam, discrimination against women, expansion of poppy cultivation, and above all its support for Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization’s war on the United States led to the destruction of the Taliban regime. A new attempt at “government building,” if not nation building, began under the auspices of the United Nations, when a meeting in Bonn succeeded in arranging for an Interim Government, inaugurated on 22 December 2001. It had a six-month mandate and was headed by Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, who selected a cabinet of some 30 ministers, including two women. The exking Zahir Shah presided at a Loya Jirga that selected a Transitional Government, again headed by Karzai, for the subsequent two years (2002–2004). To help in the transition, an International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan was held in Tokyo, attended by 61 countries and 21 international organizations. The two-day conference (21–22 January 2002) voted to provide more than $4.5 billion for reconstruction to strengthen the new government. A new constitution was ratified by the 2003 Loya Jirga, which established the government as an Islamic republic with executive, legislative, and judiciary branches. Karzai was elected president for a five-year term in October 2004 and presented his cabinet on 23 December. This prepared for the first parliamentary elections in September 2005, which included 28 percent women. The government was supported by an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which first protected Kabul but was gradually extended to cover the entire country. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) took control of ISAF in August 2003, and the Eurocorps took over the responsibility in August 2004. The United States concentrated on hunting remnants of Taliban and al-Qaeda forces but has as yet not been successful in this task. New presidential elections were held in 2009 at a time of increasing insecurity, especially in the southern Pashtun provinces. As in 2004, the Pashtun bloc voted for Hamid Karzai (54.1 percent), the Tajiks for Dr. Abdullah (28.3 percent), and the Hazara for Ramazan Bashardost (9.2 percent). Voter turnout was low, especially in the south, and irregularities and fraud reduced Karzai’s majority by more than one million votes, requiring a runoff election. Dr. Abdullah probably realized that his chances of winning were slim, and he declined to participate in a runoff. Karzai was proclaimed president again, and a period of bad relations between Karzai and the American government ensued. Eventually, NATO, the UN, and the American government recognized the new government. After more than 10 years, the task of achieving stability and a strong central government in Afghanistan has not been completed. Almost 100,000 American troops and 40,000 NATO forces are engaged in 2011, and President Barack Obama plans the first reduction of forces in Afghanistan in July 2011. Preparations are underway this year to begin a security transition of NATO-led soldiers to Afghan soldiers. Initially, Afghan forces would be in charge of security for all of Kabul Province (except for Sarobi district), the provinces of Panjshir and Bamian, Herat City, Lashkargah (the capital of Helmand Province), Mehtarlam (the capital of Laghman Province), and Mazar-i Sharif (the capital of Balkh Province). Afghan security forces are to be increased to 400,000, if NATO countries agree to Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak’s request. NATO and the United States would be limited to helping with economic development and the equipping and training of Afghan security forces, who will have complete security
responsibility by the end of 2014. Beyond that time, the United States would want “strategic relations” with Afghanistan and permanent bases in that country. It is not likely that the Afghan parliament and the Loya Jirga will agree to that, but close collaboration between the two countries should be possible. If the war can be ended by that time, one might be justified in looking with optimism to the future.
A ABBAS, MULLA AKHUND. He was minister of public health and attorney general in the Taliban government. He served as mayor of Kabul, 1994–1996. A member of the shura, he is an Achakzai Pashtun from Oruzgan Province and a graduate of Akora Khatak Madrasa in Pakistan. He has been described as a giant of a man. ABDALI. The original name of the Durrani, the royal Pashtun tribe, located in the Kandahar area. They claim descent from Tarin and his youngest son, Bar Tarin, or Abdal, hence the name Abdali. In 1747 Pir Sabir Shah, a Sufi shaikh, proclaimed Ahmad Khan of the Abdali tribe Badshah, Durr-i Dauran (King, the Pearl of the Age), which Ahmad Shah later changed to Durr-i Durran (Pearl of Pearls). His Abdali tribe became henceforth known as the Durrani. ABDUL GHANI (1864–1945). An Indian Muslim born in Lahore, he graduated from medical school at Government College in Lahore in 1883 and went to London for further study. In 1891 he came to Kabul to serve as secretary to Amir Abdul Rahman. Subsequently he served for three years as principal of the Islamia College at Lahore but returned to Afghanistan under Amir Habibullah and was appointed chief medical officer, director of public instruction in Afghanistan, and principal of Habibia School. He was a champion of political and social reform and attracted a circle of “Young Afghans” who formed a secret organization called Sirr-i Milli (Secret of the Nation). In 1909 he and a number of his followers were arrested for having plotted against the life of Amir Habibullah. He was freed when King Amanullah ascended the throne and appointed a member of the Afghan delegation to the Rawalpindi Peace Conference in August 1919. He subsequently returned to India and wrote about Afghanistan and Central Asia. He died in 1945. His A Brief Political History of Afghanistan was published posthumously by his nephew in 1979. ABDUL HADI DAWAI. See DAWAI, ABDUL HADI. ABDUL HAQ (ABD AL-HAQQ, 1958–2001). A mujahedin commander affiliated with the Hizb-i Islami (Islamic Party) of Yunus Khales who was active in the Kabul area during the 1980s. He is an Ahmadzai Pashtun, born in Hisarak near Jalalabad, and as a student was affiliated with the Islamic Youth (Jawanan-i Musulman), which opposed the reformist regime of President Muhammad Daud. He was imprisoned in 1975 and freed in 1978 after the Saur Revolt. Based in the Shiwaki area, south of Kabul, he was responsible for organizing guerrilla attacks on government posts within Kabul. In 1987 he suffered a crippling injury to his foot that limited his active participation in raids. After the fall of the Marxist regime in April 1992, he was appointed chief of police and security as well as commander of the gendarmerie, but he resigned from his posts at the beginning of the civil war between the mujahedin groups. He and his brother, Haji Abdul Qadir, who became acting governor of Jalalabad, remained neutral between the Taliban and Jam’iat-i Islami forces and engaged in commerce with Pakistan and the Gulf area.
On 11 September 1996 the Taliban captured Jalalabad and forced Abdul Haq and other members of the shura to flee the country. He lived in Peshawar from 1996 to 1999, when he was forced to leave and settled in Dubai, where he became a prosperous businessman. His wife and daughter were assassinated in Peshawar. On 21 October 2001, Abdul Haq entered Afghanistan intending to recruit tribesmen to fight the Taliban government. He was said to be accompanied by two Americans and was provided with a considerable amount of money. He was captured (rumored to have been betrayed by Inter-Services Intelligence officers) and brutally interrogated before being shot. ABDUL KARIM. A Ghilzai mulla, he was the son of Din Muhammad, the famous mulla Mushk-i Alam. Amir Abdul Rahman gave him the title Khan-i Ulum (Chief of [religious] Sciences), but he became disaffected when the amir ended the virtual autonomy enjoyed by the Ghilzai tribes and imposed taxes on hitherto exempt lands. He was one of the leaders of the Ghilzai Rebellion of 1886–1887, which was suppressed only with great difficulty. It was the last of three uprisings of this tribe in the 19th century. ABDUL KHALIQ. Son of a Hazara servant of Ghulam Nabi Charkhi (executed by King Nadir), he avenged the killing of his master by assassinating Nadir Shah a year later on 8 November 1933. He was a student at Najat (Amani) High School and attended a graduation ceremony in the palace garden where the assassination took place. He was handed over to the king’s bodyguard for execution. A number of relatives, students, and teachers of Najat and Istiqlal schools were executed in December 1933. This was the last bloodletting in the struggle for power between supporters of King Amanullah and the new royal family. See also MUHAMMAD AZIM; WALI, MUHAMMAD. ABDULLAH, DR. ABDULLAH (ABD ALLAH, 1960–). Dr. Abdullah was born in a religious family in Kabul, the son of Ghulam Muhyiuddin Zmaryalay (senator of the last period of parliament), a Pashtun, and a Panjshiri Tajik mother. He was educated at Muhammad Ayub Khan School and Naderia High School and graduated from the medical faculty of Kabul University in 1983. He served in Nur Hospital as an eye doctor until 1984, then went to Pakistan and worked at Sayyid Jamaluddin Hospital. In 1985 he joined the jihad and served as physician in charge of the Panjshir front and, afterward, as an adviser to Ahmad Shah Mas’ud until Kabul was captured in 1992. In 1997 he was the deputy foreign minister, and in 1999 the acting foreign minister. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, he served as foreign minister during the Interim and Transitional governments, a position he continued to hold in the new government of President Hamid Karzai until December 2006. Abdullah announced his intention to stand for election to the Afghan presidency in 2009 (see AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2009) and came in second to Karzai in an election plagued with irregularities. He qualified for a runoff but finally withdrew, and Karzai won by default. He founded the Coalition for Change and Hope and became the leader of the major opposition to the Karzai government. Dr. Abdullah is married and has three daughters and one son. He is an eloquent person, fluent in English, French, Dari, and Pashtu.
ABDULLAHI, MIRZA HUSAIN (1956–). A member of the Hazara community, he was born in Ghazni, the son of Muhammad Isa (Essa), and educated in Kabul, Manila, and at Atlanta University, with a degree in engineering. He served as an adviser to the Ministry of Planning and held several positions in the Ministry of Education. He was director of civil service reform in the civil service commission and was nominated for the position of minister of public welfare in the 2009 cabinet of President Hamid Karzai. ABDUL MALIK, GENERAL (1962–). The son of Shamsuddin (father an Uzbek, mother a Pashtun), he was born in the village of Faizabad of Shirin Tagab district in Fariab Province. He is the brother of Pahlawan, who was assassinated in the summer of 1996. After finishing high school in Maimana, he went to Mazar-i Sharif where he graduated from the Teachers Training College (Dar al-Mu’allemin). During the time of President Najibullah, he was in charge of military logistics and recruitment. Together with General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Pahlawan, he formed the Junbesh-i Milli-yi Islami and became head of foreign relations for Junbesh. Subsequently he was head of political affairs under General Dostum and governor of Fariab Province. In May 1997, Abdul Malik revolted against Dostum, permitting the Taliban to enter Mazar-i Sharif on 24 May, and surrendered Isma’il Khan to them. When the Taliban attempted to disarm his forces, Abdul Malik and the Shi’i Hizb-i Wahdat defeated the Taliban, decimating their army in northern Afghanistan. In September the Taliban recaptured Mazar, and Abdul Malik was forced to flee into exile. He returned to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban government and formed the Freedom Party (Hizb-i Azadi) to compete in the Afghan election of 2009. ABDUL QADIR, GENERAL (1944–). Born of a Tajik family in Herat Province, he went to military school and attended pilot training and staff college in the Soviet Union. He was a Parchami member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). He was commander of the Air Defense Forces in 1973, when he supported Muhammad Daud in his coup against Zahir Shah. He actively participated in the Saur Revolt and was head of the Revolutionary Council until a civilian government was formed under Nur Muhammad Taraki. He became minister of defense for three months in May 1978, but in August he was sentenced to death (commuted to 15 years) for plotting against the Khalqi regime. Freed when Babrak Karmal came to power, he was restored to his party positions and served again as minister of defense (September 1982–1985). In November 1985 he resigned from the politburo for “reasons of health,” and in November 1986 he was appointed ambassador to Warsaw. Recalled two years later and elected a lowly member of parliament, he is said to have moved to Bulgaria in 1989 and sought asylum in Europe after the fall of the Marxist regime. ABDUL QADIR, HAJI (d. 2002). He served as vice president, two-term governor of Nangarhar, and minister of public works in President Hamid Karzai’s Transitional Government. A powerful Ahmadzai Pashtun leader and ally of the Northern Alliance, he was, after Karzai, the most important Pashtun in the government dominated by the Panjshiris.
During the war against the Marxist regime, Abdul Qadir was a member of the Hizb-i Islami of Yunus Khales. He walked out of the Bonn meeting, protesting the lack of Pashtun representation in the Interim Government. Abdul Qadir cooperated with American forces in the campaign against al-Qaeda and Taliban groups and took part in the Tora Bora campaign. He is a brother of Abdul Haq who was killed trying to rally Pashtun support against the Taliban regime. Abdul Qadir was killed in Kabul in early July 2002 by unknown assassins. He is the second Afghan minister killed since the fall of the Taliban regime. ABDUL QUDDUS. A nephew of Amir Dost Muhammad and a general, he lived with Amir Abdul Rahman in exile in Bukhara and Samarkand. On their return, he assisted the amir in extending his power over Afghanistan. He captured Herat from Ayub Khan, son of Amir Shir Ali, in 1881 with a small force of 400 cavalry and 400 infantry soldiers and two machine guns, and in 1890–1893 he conquered the Hazarajat (see HAZARA WARS). Amir Habibullah gave him the title Itimad-ud-Daula (Confidence of the State) and appointed him prime minister, in which position he was confirmed by King Amanullah. In the Third Anglo-Afghan War, Abdul Quddus commanded the Kandahar front. A British officer characterized him as “a Tory of the most crusted type in politics, and an apostle of Afghanistan for the Afghans.” His descendants, who were prominent in the Afghan government, adopted his title, Etemadi, as their family name. ABDUL RAHIM (b. ca. 1886). Born the son of Abdul Qadir, a Safi from Kuh Daman, north of Kabul, Abdul Rahim served in various military units and rose through the ranks to become general. At the outbreak of the civil war in 1928, he espoused the cause of Habibullah Kalakani. He captured Maimana and Herat for Habibullah and became governor of Herat. Because Abdul Rahim had a powerful base in Herat, the Afghan king was unable to remove him from his post until 1934. In June 1935 he was appointed minister of public works and subsequently served as deputy prime minister from 1938 to 1940. He was imprisoned from 1946 to 1948 on suspicion of plotting against the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Hashim. Abdul Rahim is the maternal uncle and father-in-law of Khalilullah Khalili, the poet laureate. ABDUL RAHIM (1952–). Born in the Darwaz district of northeastern Badakhshan Province, Abdul Rahim completed his education at a local technical institute. He earned a B.A. degree in engineering from the Polytechnic Institute in Kabul and worked as an engineer at the Ministry of Water and Energy for four years before migrating to Peshawar. Abdul Rahim served as representative of the Jam’iat-i Islami for 10 years in China, Washington, Mashhad, and Islamabad. He also served as Afghanistan’s ambassador to Indonesia. Before being chosen for a cabinet post, he worked as adviser to the Ministry of Telecommunication and Technology. He was nominated for the position of minister of refugee affairs in the 2009 cabinet of President Hamid Karzai, but parliament vetoed the appointment. Abdul Rahim is fluent in Dari, Pashtu, and English. ABDUL RAHMAN, AMIR (ABDUR RAHMAN, r. 1880–1901). Abdul Rahman, amir of
Afghanistan and the oldest son of Amir Muhammad Afzal Khan, assumed the Kabul throne at the end of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. He fought his uncle Amir Shir Ali in 1864 and was forced to flee to the court of the amir of Bukhara. Returning to Afghanistan in 1866, he defeated Amir Shir Ali and recognized his father, Afzal Khan, as the new king. Three years later, Amir Shir Ali regained the throne, and Abdul Rahman was forced into exile, spending some 10 years in Bukhara, Tashkent, and Samarkand. After the death of Amir Shir Ali in February 1879, Abdul Rahman Khan returned to Afghanistan and on his way south gathered a large army. The British occupation force feared a repetition of the debacle of the First Anglo-Afghan War and on 22 July 1880 grudgingly recognized Abdul Rahman as “amir of Kabul and its dependencies,” in spite of the fact that he had come with Russian support. In September 1881, the amir took possession of Kandahar, defeating the forces of Ayub Khan, son of Amir Shir Ali. Herat was taken in August, and Abdul Rahman was undisputed ruler of Afghanistan. Abdul Rahman concluded an agreement with the British government, in which Great Britain guaranteed him protection from unprovoked Russian aggression, provided he permitted Britain to conduct his foreign relations. He obtained a subsidy in money and materiel to strengthen the defenses of his country. Abdul Rahman considered this treaty an alliance between equals, and, having protected his northern borders, he kept the British at arm’s length, never allowing them to gain any influence in the country under the aegis of their common defense. He formulated a “buffer-state policy” which aimed at playing off Afghanistan’s imperialist neighbors against each other. This policy served Afghanistan well until the end of World War II, when changed conditions required new approaches in the conduct of Afghan foreign policy. Afghanistan’s northern and eastern boundaries were demarcated during the amir’s tenure, including the Durand Line (1893), which he accepted under “duress” in the Durand Agreement. He built the Jahan Noma Garden in Khulm (see Tashqurghan), the Salam Khana castle in Mazar-i Sharif, and in Kabul the Masjid-i Idgah, the Arg, the Shahrara tower, and the Bagh-i Bala castle. Abdul Rahman died in 1901 and was buried in Bustan Saray in Kabul. Of his five sons, Habibullah and Nasrullah succeeded to the throne; the latter was amir for only three days. Sir Percy Sykes says, The Great Amir—he surely merited the title—broke the feudal power of the local chiefs and the fanatical leadership of the mullas, and, by his genius, welded the country into the kingdom of Afghanistan . . . his justice was grim and cruel. . . . But his methods were the only methods that would have secured law and order. (2:198)
ABDUL RAHMAN, CAMPAIGNS. The future Afghan king learned his trade as a military commander at an early age. His father, Muhammad Afzal Khan, was governor of Balkh and appointed Abdul Rahman, who was then about 13 years old, subgovernor of Tashqurghan (now called Khulm), a flourishing town and district in Samangan Province. He became a pupil of General Shir Muhammad Khan, a Scotsman named Campbell who was captured at the Battle of Kandahar and converted to Islam. Abdul Rahman Khan succeeded him as commander of the army of Balkh. He defeated the Uzbek chiefs of Qataghan and Badakhshan and forced them to renew their loyalty to Kabul. He helped to place his father on the Kabul throne in 1866 and supported his uncle Muhammad Azam’s accession in 1867. He was the most persistent rival of Amir Shir Ali Khan, defeating the amir’s superior forces in encounters
at Sayyidabad (1866), Qalat (1867), and the Panjshir Pass (1867), but was eventually forced into exile. The amir was an impressive personality, being of middle height, inclined to be fat, and of sound and masculine face and features. He wore a full beard and was hard working. In state affairs he consulted none. He had a curious Afghan humor and a peculiar fascinating attitude toward all his servants, who dreaded him yet loved him. He had five wives and two concubines. To capture a fortified position, Abdul Rahman first tried diplomacy, appealing to the defenders to avoid the bloodshed of fellow Muslims and promising leniency. Lured into a trap, when the spiritual leader of the Mirs of Qataghan invited him to dinner, he took his host prisoner and, dividing his cavalry force of some 1,600 sowars (cavalry) and two guns into small units, defeated an enemy of 10,000. When he returned from exile, the troops that were assembled to prevent his crossing into Afghanistan melted away. He proclaimed, “I inform you that I have come to release the country of Faiza from the hands of the English. If I succeed in doing so peacefully, well and good, otherwise we shall have to fight” (Khan 1901, 174). As he moved slowly south, his forces continued to grow, and Sir Lepel Griffin, the political officer with the British expeditionary forces at Kabul, initiated negotiations that led to Abdul Rahman’s recognition as “amir of Kabul.” A final challenge to his power was Ayub Khan’s capture of Kandahar in August 1881, when Abdul Rahman took to the field and decisively defeated his rival. Having eliminated most of his major rivals, Amir Abdul Rahman proceeded to quell local revolts. He defeated Sayyid Mahmud of Kunar in 1881 and took direct control of Maimana in 1883. The Shinwari revolt was suppressed in 1883, and the Ghilzai Rebellion was crushed in 1886–1887. The “Iron Amir’s” last rival, his cousin Muhammad Ishaq Khan, was defeated at the Battle of Ghaznigak in 1888. His control of the Hazarajat was achieved by 1893 after a long series of wars (see HAZARA WARS), and Kafiristan was the last area integrated into the state of Afghanistan (see KAFIR WARS). When Amir Habibullah ascended the throne in 1901, the entire country was pacified. ABDUL RAZZAQ, MULLA (d. 2003). Commander of the Taliban forces that entered Kabul in 1995, Abdul Razzaq then served as governor of Herat in 1997. He is said to have taken exPresident Najibullah from the UN compound and ordered his execution. Captured in the Mazar uprising, he managed later to escape. Abdul Razzaq was a Durrani Popalzai from Kandahar who served as a mujahed in the Hizb-i Islami of Yunus Khales. He was minister of the interior in the Taliban government in 2001, and a member of the Kabul shura. He is said to have been killed in October 2003 in Oruzgan in a clash with U.S.-led coalition forces. ABDUL WAHED, GENERAL. A member of the Parcham faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), Abdul Wahed was chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (January 1980–January 1984). He was elected an alternate member of the PDPA central committee. He defected with Abdul Rashid Dostum from the Kabul regime and thus contributed to the downfall of the Najibullah government. For a short time, Abdul Wahed was
a caretaker at the Ministry of National Defense, and after the fall of the Marxist regime in 1992, he became a major military commander of Burhanuddin Rabbani’s party. ABDUL WALI (1924–2008). Born the son of Marshal Shah Wali (and cousin of ex-king Zahir Shah), Abdul Wali was educated in France and Great Britain where he attended Sandhurst as well as the Command and General Staff College at Camberley. He was commander in chief of the Central Forces until 1973, when he was imprisoned as a result of the coup by his cousin Muhammad Daud in 1973. He was married to Princess Bilqis, daughter of former king Muhammad Zahir Shah, and lived in Italy after 1976, where he acted as a spokesman for the former king. In August 1995, he went to Pakistan where he was received by large crowds. He talked with high-ranking Pakistani officials and conferred with leading Afghans. After the fall of the Taliban government, the Sardar returned to Afghanistan and was involved in promoting a Loya Jirga for the formation of a new government. He died in June 2008 in Kabul. ABI. Irrigated land in Afghanistan (from D., ab, water), as distinct from lalmi land, which is “dry-farming” agriculture. Only about 12 percent of Afghanistan’s area of 245,000 square miles is cultivable land. AB-I ISTADA (32-32’ N, 67-57’ E). Meaning “Standing Water,” this is a brackish lake of some 17 miles in length, located astride the border of Ghazni and Paktika provinces, about 65 miles south-southwest of Ghazni and 44 miles northeast of Qalat-i Ghilzai. It is a shallow lake and reaches a depth of only 12 feet at its center. The banks of the lake are encrusted with salt, and its major feeder is the Ghazni River. The lake is at an altitude of more than 7,000 feet, and the surrounding land is barren, with few permanent settlements. In spite of the desolate surroundings, the lake supports a multitude of flamingoes and other birds. AB-I WAKHAN (37-0’ N, 72-40’ E). The Ab-i Wakhan is a river that rises southwest of the Wakhjir Pass in the eastern Wakhan Corridor and runs in a westerly direction as far as the small town of Ishkashem when its name changes to Ab-i Panj (or Panja) and forms part of the northeastern boundary with Tajikistan. ABU BAKR GROSS, NASRIN (1944–). Born in Kabul, the daughter of Habib Roqia (one of the first women in parliament, 1965–1969) and educated at the American University in Beirut with a degree in education, she left Afghanistan in the 1970s and founded the Afghan Women Roqia Center and Kabultec, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization. She returned to Kabul in 2002. In the 2009 presidential elections, she supported Abdullah Abdullah. ABU HANIFA, AL-NU’MAN B. THABIT B. ZUTA (ca. 700–767). Abu Hanifa was a legal scholar and founder of the Hanafi school, one of the four orthodox schools (madhhab) of Islamic jurisprudence. His grandfather is said to have been taken prisoner in Kabul and transported to Kufa, an early Arab town on the Euphrates River in present Iraq, where Abu Hanifa was born. He studied at Kufa and gradually gained influence as an authority on legal questions, founding a rationalist school that was named after him. Afghan Sunnis adhere to the
Hanafi interpretation of Islamic law, which is the largest in number of adherents and the most liberal of the four schools and permits a certain amount of personal reasoning and free judgment in arriving at legal decisions. When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan (1996–2001), they tried to enforce the more stringent Hanbali interpretation of Islam. ACHAKZAI. An important subtribe of the Durranis, the Achakzais are located in an area east of Kandahar. The eponymic ancestor of the Achakzais was Achak Khan, a grandson of Barak Khan. Smaller communities of Achakzais are also found in Herat and Farah as well as in Chaman, Pakistan. ADEL, MUHAMMAD IBRAHIM (1951–). Born in Parwan Province, the son of Emam Ali, Adel was educated at Ghazi High School and received B.A. and M.A. degrees in mining engineering from the Polytechnic Institute in Kabul and St. Petersburg University and spent his working career in the Ministry of Mines. Starting as a mining engineer in the Kakar Mine in 1973, he became director of mining in 1980. He was deputy minister of industries in the Ministry of Mines in 1993 and minister of public works during the mujahedin government in Mazar-i Sharif, 1998. He served as director of the research institute in 2003 and as head of the mining department in 2004. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. Since the time Timur Shah (r. 1773–1793) made it his capital, Kabul has been the center of the kingdom, and princes ruled more or less autonomously in the provinces. Major provinces headed by princes included Kandahar, Herat, Afghan Turkestan, and Qataghan and Badakhshan. Amir Abdul Rahman (r. 1880– 1901) was recognized by Great Britain as “amir of Kabul and its dependencies,” and he saw to it that Herat, Afghan Turkestan, the Hazarajat, Nuristan, and Badakhshan were part of his realm. Under Nadir Shah (r. 1929–1933), Afghanistan was divided into five major and four minor provinces. As a result of the constitution of 1964, Afghanistan was divided into 26 provinces (wilayat), each with a provincial center (markaz) that is graded according to importance into first, second, or third grade; Kabul, Ghazni, Gardez, Jalalabad, Mazar-i Sharif, Herat, and Kandahar are first-grade administrative centers. They are headed by a governor, wali, who is the executive officer, responsible to the Ministry of Interior in Kabul. In addition, each province has representatives of various departments who report directly to Kabul. There were also a number of subprovinces, loy woluswali, that have since been absorbed into provinces. Each province is subdivided into districts, woluswali, with an administrator called woluswal, who is responsible to his supervising governor and may himself be in charge of one or more subdistricts, alaqadari. The administrator of a subdistrict, alaqadar, resides in a major village and is responsible to all his supervising administrators. Districts are divided into four grades, depending on population. Until the 1980s, there were 26 provinces, divided into 6 subprovinces, 175 districts, and 118 subdistricts. Villages and rural subdivisions (qarya) are headed by a village headman (qaryadar, malik, or arbab), who acts as a link between the rural population and the district chief. Cities are divided into wards, or nahiya. The Hamid Karzai government permitted the creation of new provinces for Nuristan (out of
Kunar, 2001); Panjshir (out of northern Parwan, 13 April 2004); Dai Kundi (out of northern Oruzgan, 28 March 2004), and Khost (a former district of southern Paktia). Earlier, the government of Dr. Najibullah had created Sar-i Pul Province (3 April 1988) from the southern part of Jozjan. This was done primarily for political reasons to give ethnic groups greater autonomy. Afghanistan is now divided into 34 provinces. In the late 1970s the Afghan population was estimated at about 15.5 million; in spite of the great losses in human lives and emigration during some 30 years of civil war and unrest, the Afghan population is now estimated at about 26 million (see table 1). Table 1. Current Afghan Population
Province
Area
Population
Wols.
Alaq.
Center
Badakhshan
44,059
874,800
5
7
Faizabad
Badghis
7,950
456,400
4
1
Qala-i Nau
Baghlan
8,154
833,300
5
4
Baglan
Balkh
6,660
1,194,000
7
3
Mazar-i Sharif
Bamian
5,473
411,700
4
2
Bamian
Dai Kundi
3,123
424,100
4
8
Nili
Farah
18,715
466,300
8
2
Farah
Fariab
7,835
915,800
7
5
Maimana
Ghazni
8,847
1,130,100
10
12
Ghazni
Ghor
14,085
635,700
5
1
Chaghcharan
Helmand
22,619
850,200
8
4
Lashkargah
Herat
21,150
1,710,100
11
1
Herat
Jozjan
4,555
494,200
5
6
Shiberghan
Kabul
1,723
3,691.400
8
4
Kabul
Kandahar
20,858
1,103,400
11
4
Kandahar
Kapisa
711
406,200
6
Khost
1,603
528,900
4
Kunarha
1,908
414,700
16
Kunduz
3,104
917,900
5
1
Kunduz
Laghman
1,484
410,300
4
1
Mehterlam
Logar
1,498
360,000
3
3
Pul-i Alam
Maidan/Wardak
3,451
549,200
4
4
Kota-i Ashro
Nangarhar
2,984
1,383,900
17
14
Jalalabad
Nimruz
15,832
151,100
3
1
Zaranj
Nuristan
3,562
136,300
6
Oruzgan
8,763
156,500
6
4
Tarinkot
Paktia
2,483
507,800
11
21
Gardez
Paktika
7,522
400,500
19
Sharan
Panjshir
1,394
141.400
4
Bazarak
Parwan
2,307
610,300
10
Samangan
4,348
356,300
3
Sar-i Pul
6,177
414,100
6
Takhar
4,762
901,900
6
Mahmud Raqi 8
Khost/ Matun Asadabad
Kamdesh
Charikar 2
Aibak Sar-i Pul
5
Taluqan
Zabul
6,696
279,800
TOTALS
249,347
22,097,900
5
3
Qalat
AFGANTSY (SING. AFGANETS). Soviet veterans of the Afghan war (1980–1989), the Afgantsy were mostly conscripts in a war that did not enjoy popular support. According to a recent study, about 750,000 served in troop units in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. Casualties included about 15,000 dead (later revised to 26,000, including 2,990 officers; Ahmad and Grau 1995); 50,000 wounded (of whom about 11,500 remained invalids); 330 missing in action; and 18 defectors (Galeotti 1995). They felt neglected and that their needs were ignored. About a quarter of the veterans are organized in the “afgantsy movement” with the support of a Council of Soldiers’ Mothers and Widows. Afgantsy in the highest military posts during 1979– 1991 include Marshal Sokolov, “Hero of the Soviet Union,” defense minister from 1984 to 1987, and first deputy minister until 1985; Marshal D. Akhromeev, chief of general staff from 1984 to 1988, responsible for planning combat operations in Afghanistan and later adviser to President Gorbachev; General Lobov, chief of general staff and commander in chief of the Warsaw Pact in 1991; Colonel General Grachev, first deputy minister in 1991, awarded “Hero of the Soviet Union”; General V. Varennikov, commander of ground forces from 1989 to 1991, responsible for coordinating withdrawal from Afghanistan; and General Yuri Maximov, commander of strategic rocket forces and deputy minister of defense from 1985 to 1989 (Galeotti 1995). General Boris Gromov commanded the 40th Army and later became the commander of all Russian ground troops. Some observers see the Afgantsy as a “new force” of conservative nationalists who may have an impact on the future political life of Russia. See also LIMITED CONTINGENT OF SOVIET FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN. Until the early 20th century, only Pashtu speakers were referred to as Afghans, whereas other citizens of Afghanistan were called by their ethnic designations (i.e., Tajik, Nuristani, or Hazara). In the process of nation building, the term gained acceptance as a designation for all citizen of Afghanistan. Some 30 years of war and civil unrest have aggravated relations between ethnic and sectarian communities, and it remains to be seen if this trend can be reversed with the consolidation of a democratic government in Afghanistan. AFGHAN ACADEMY (PASHTU TOLANA). Founded in 1937 as a national umbrella organization for research in the social sciences and humanities, the Afghan Academy was established initially by combining the Literary Society (Anjoman-i Adabi) of Kabul, founded in 1930, with the Pashtu Society (Anjoman-i Pashtu) of Kandahar, founded in 1931. The Literary Society promoted research in the social sciences and humanities and conducted cultural and scientific relations with foreign countries. In 1932 it began publishing the Kabul Yearbook, which appeared without interruption until 1978 and sporadically thereafter, until continued after the establishment of the Hamid Karzai government. The Pashtu Society was to promote Pashtu language and literature with the objective of making it the official language of Afghanistan to remove Dari from its preeminent position as the language of the court, the government, and education. The Pashtu Society office was moved
to Kabul in 1935, and two years later the two societies were merged into one institution, the Pashtu Tolana. It was headed by Salahuddin Saljuqi, with Sardar Muhammad Naim, a brother of President Muhammad Daud, as the honorary president. The academy was under the administrative control of the Department of Press. It subsequently included the institutes of social sciences, natural sciences, languages, and literature; the international center for Pashtu studies; and a number of general directorates for press, encyclopedia, and dictionary production. It finally came under the direction of the Ministry of Education and was headed by leading scholars and writers such as Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, 1941–1995; Abdul Rauf Benawa, 1946–1951; Siddiqullah Rishtin, 1951–1956; Gul Pacha Ulfat, 1956–1977; and Siddiq Ruhi, 1973–1979. After the Saur Revolt, the Afghan Academy was renamed the Academy of Sciences. Sulaiman Layeq was appointed president in 1980, and in 1986 it included, in addition to 3 vice presidents, 8 academicians, 32 candidate academicians, and 22 members who were in charge of various journals and research institutes. After the fall of the Marxist regime, the Afghan Academy continued in Peshawar until the establishment of the Hamid Karzai government. AFGHAN DYNASTIES. See DURRANI; MUHAMMADZAI. AFGHAN ENCYCLOPEDIA SOCIETY (ARIANA DA’ERAT AL-MA’AREF). An organization within the Pashtu Tolana (Afghan Academy) whose principal task was the production of an encyclopedia, in Dari and Pashtu, published by the Afghan Government Press. The project was started in 1941 under the sponsorship of Sardar Muhammad Naim; Mia Husain Mujaddidi, a subsequent finance minister, was its first director. The Dari version comprises six volumes: the first volume was published in 1948 and the last in 1970. The project was overly ambitious: the first five volumes covered letters A through F and each numbered 1,000 pages, while the sixth covered subjects for the rest of the alphabet and amounted to only 371 pages. Insufficient funding was given as the reason for ending this monumental project. Leading Afghan scholars contributed articles for the work, which was patterned in scope after major Western encyclopedias. AFGHAN HOUND. The Afghan hound is a hunting dog, called tazi (swift, running) in Afghanistan, that is greatly valued for its speed and keen eyesight. It hunts by sight rather than by scent. It is long legged, has floppy ears and a silky coat, measures about 24 to 28 inches tall at the shoulders, and weighs 50 to 60 pounds. It is a much desired and fashionable pet in Afghanistan. The claim that the breed dates back to ancient Egypt is probably not correct. Europe “discovered” the Afghan hound in the 19th century when British officers brought a few animals to England. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the animals were first bred in England and later also in the United States. The Afghan government prohibited the export of the animal but occasionally gave some as presents to visiting dignitaries. AFGHANI. The Afghan monetary unit, which replaced the Afghan ropia in 1925–1926, the afghani was initially a silver coin subdivided into 100 puls, or two crans, and 5, 10, and 25 nickel coins, but inflation eventually eliminated the use of any change. Paper money was first
issued by King Amanullah in 1919, but the notes were withdrawn a year later because traders refused to accept them. New banknotes were prepared shortly before the fall of King Amanullah and issued by Amir Habibullah (Kalakani), again with little success. In November 1935, notes printed in Switzerland in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 afghanis were issued by the Bank-i Milli and have continued in circulation since then. In December 1958, coins of 2 and 5 afghanis were put in circulation, as were notes issued by the governments of Zahir Shah, President Daud, and the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). In November 1994, notes of afs. 5,000 and 10,000, printed in the Soviet Union, were put in circulation by the Kabul government of Burhanuddin Rabbani. In January 1996, the U.S. dollar was traded in the Kabul Bazaar at afs. 9,500. General Abdul Rashid Dostum issued his own currency, the junbeshi, and notes of previous regimes were also in circulation. After the fall of the Taliban regime, currency of two sources, as well as counterfeit, were in circulation. Notes from previous regimes disappeared because inflation made their denomination worthless. A visiting official to Kabul of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested stabilizing the afghani by temporarily replacing it with the dollar. The governor of the central bank quickly rejected this idea. Anwar al-Haq Ahadi, governor of the Afghan central bank (2002–2004), announced the launching of a new currency, and as of 7 October 2002, new bills were exchanged at the rate of 1 new afghani for 1,000 old ones. International observers as well as area bank managers attended the procedures at 13 exchange points. Some 2,000 metric tons of old bills were destroyed; about 66 billion were burned per day. January 6, 2002, was declared to be the date when the old bills were no longer legal. AFGHAN INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION. See AFGHANISTAN INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION. AFGHAN INTERIM AUTHORITY (22 DECEMBER 2001–20 JUNE 2002). See INTERIM GOVERNMENT. AFGHAN INTERIM GOVERNMENT (1992). See ISLAMIC ALLIANCE FOR THE LIBERATION OF AFGHANISTAN; MUJAHEDIN. See also INTERIM GOVERNMENT. AFGHANIS/ARABS. Radical Islamists, popularly called Afghanis, were mostly of Arab nationality, but also from other Muslim countries; they gained fighting experience in the war in Afghanistan and returned to their countries with the intention of toppling their governments and establishing an “Islamic state.” They are said to include some 5,000 Saudis, 3,000 Yemenis, 2,000 Egyptians, 2,800 Algerians, 400 Tunisians, 370 Iraqis, 200 Libyans, and some Jordanians, as well as citizens of other Muslim countries. They are a serious threat to the military regime in Algeria, have started terrorist activities in Egypt, and are fighting as volunteers in regional wars from Bosnia to Kashmir and in the Philippines. Between 1987 and 1993, as many as 3,340 registered Arabs left Pakistan, but some 2,800 were still in Afghanistan and in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. They were a veritable Foreign Legion, praised in the West as “idealistic young men” and “freedom fighters” when
they fought the communist regime. They were missionaries, propagating a radical interpretation of Islam, and were supported in preference to secular or moderate groups fighting the Kabul government. Most of the Afghanis fought in the ranks of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, and Maulawi Husain Jamilurrahman. Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi citizen, financed a number of Islamist groups and set up his own al-Qaeda organization. With the establishment of the Taliban regime, thousands of Afghanis and new recruits from borderland madrasas entered the country for training and military action in Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya, and elsewhere. As a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, the American government intervened and destroyed the al-Qaeda bases and their Taliban supporters. The allies of yesteryear became the enemies of today. AFGHANI, SAYYID JAMALUDDIN (1838–1897). “Father of the Pan-Islamic movement,” Muslim modernist, and political propagandist, Afghani advocated unity of the Islamic world and selective borrowing from the West for the purpose of stemming the tide of Western imperialism. He was the adviser of Muslim rulers in many parts of the Islamic world and a political activist in Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire. Frequently opposed by the ulama (Muslim clergy) and suspected as an intrigant by the temporal powers, he was often on the run. When one of his followers assassinated the Persian ruler Nasruddin Shah (r. 1848–1896), Afghani was placed under house arrest by the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1907). Afghani died in Istanbul in 1897. Afghans revere his memory and believe him to be a descendant of a family of Sayyids from Asadabad in Kunar Province of Afghanistan. Western scholars agree on his Iranian origin. AFGHANISTAN. A quarterly journal, Afghanistan was published by the Afghan Historical Society from 1946 to the early 1990s, with articles in English and French. It is an important source on Afghan history and culture. AFGHANISTAN BANK. See BANKING; DA AFGHANISTAN BANK; KABUL BANK. AFGHANISTAN INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (AIHRC). The AIHRC is an organization established in 2002 as part of the Bonn Agreement in accordance with Article 58 of the Afghan constitution. It was headed by Dr. Sima Samar and Executive Director Muhammad Musa Mahmudi and focuses on four areas of work: human rights promotion, human rights protection, human rights monitoring, and its own institutional strengthening and capacity building. It faces a heroic task in view of the deteriorating security situation, warlordism, and the fact that it has not been adequately funded. In her report, Dr. Samar states that “many women and children continue to suffer from extreme poverty, high unemployment, systemic discrimination and a lack of access to health care, schools, and adequate housing.” Due to weak judicial institutions, implementation and enforcement of legislation is limited, and violations, such as forced marriage and child marriage and the denial of women’s rights to education, work, and political participation, still exist. The AIHRC has its headquarters in Kabul, as well as eight regional and six provincial offices, and
employs 646 staff members. AFGHAN MILLAT. The Afghan Nation is a weekly newspaper, the organ of the Afghan Social Democratic Party (ASDP; Da Afghanistan Tolanpal Woluswak Gund), first published on 5 April 1966 by Ghulam Muhammad Farhad, with his brother Qudratullah Haddad and Habibullah Rafi’i as editors. Because of its political activism, the newspaper was frequently closed. The newspaper is still published at irregular intervals in Pakistan and Kabul. AFGHAN NATIONAL ARMY (ANA). The Afghan National Army was created on 1 December 2002 by President Hamid Karzai as part of the Afghan security forces. Its function is to secure the borders and deter external threats; defeat terrorist forces; defend against, reintegrate, or imprison illegal armed groups; and manage internal security threats and emergencies in cooperation with the Afghan National Police (ANP). Initially it was to have a strength of 70,000 service members but it had been increased to 171,000 by October 2011. About two-thirds are to be combat forces and about 3 percent are members of the air corps. U.S. general Stanley McChrystal envisioned a further expansion to about 240,000 troops. Regional ANA command centers are in Kabul, Gardez, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-i Sharif. To ensure ethnic and regional diversity, recruitment centers exist in each of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The first class of ANA officers graduated from the National Military Academy, which was established in 2004. Female soldiers are also trained, and the Afghan parachutist Khatol Muhammadzai is one of the first female generals in the ANA. American, British, French, and Canadian advisory teams are imbedded in the Afghan forces. The United States has committed to spending $17 billion on training and equipping the army from 2008 to 2013. For the early history, see ARMY, AFGHAN. AFGHAN NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF SECURITY (ANDS). The ANDS (Riyasat-i Amniat-i Milli) is the domestic intelligence agency of the government of Afghanistan. The director of the agency reports directly to President Hamid Karzai. Its task is to gather information for national security and defense. It was established by the Afghan government after the American intervention. It replaced previous services of the Marxist regime: the Afghan Security Service (AGSA) of Nur Muhammad Taraki, KAM of Hafizullah Amin, KHAD of Babrak Karmal, and WAD of President Najibullah. On 2 September 2009, the deputy head of the agency, Dr. Abdullah Laghmani, and 21 others were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in front of a mosque in Mehtarlam, Laghman Province. An Indian journalist claimed that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate was responsible for the assassination. AFGHAN NATIONAL POLICE (ANP). The Afghan national police force was reorganized with Germany as the “key partner” from 2003 to 2007, after which the European Community took control. The chain of command is as follows: minister of interior, deputy minister of security affairs, regional commanders, provincial chiefs of police, and district chiefs of police. The objective is to raise the number of members in an ethnically balanced force to about 82,000. The ANP’s security activities include law enforcement, maintenance of order, criminal
investigation, border security, counternarcotics, and counterterrorism. Eventually the United States established a plan for the development of the ANP, setting a target to build and reform an 82,000-person force capable of operating countrywide. The ANP consists of the Afghan Uniformed Police, the Afghan National Civil Order Police, the Afghan Border Police, the Counter Narcotics Police, and additional specialized police, including criminal investigation, counterterrorism, and customs. U.S. military trainers and mentors are to be provided, but expansion of an effective ANP is slowed because of a lack of mentors. AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2004. The presidential election was held on 9 October 2004, after being postponed first until July and next until September. Among almost 12 million registered voters, Hamid Karzai was the clear favorite, winning 55.4 percent of the vote. Initially there were 23 candidates, but 5 of them dropped out of the running. Of the total, Karzai got 4,443,029 votes; Yunus Qanuni, 1,306,503 (16.3 percent); Muhammad Muhaqeq, 935,325 (11.7 percent); Abdul Rashid Dostum, 804,861 (10.0 percent); and the remaining candidates each won 1.4 percent or less. Karzai got most of the Pashtun vote and some from the other communities; Qanuni got Tajik and Northern Alliance votes; Muhaqeq, the Shi’a votes; and Dostum, the Turkic votes. Masuda Jalal, the only woman candidate, got 91,415 (1.1 percent). More than two million refugees in Iran and Pakistan were able to vote. No runoff election was required because Karzai won more than 50 percent of the vote. There was some violence; 15 staff of the Joint Electoral Management Body were killed, and 47 were injured in individual attacks. AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2009. The second presidential election was held on 20 August 2009, after a three-month delay due to the fact that preparations could not be completed in time. Forty-four candidates had registered, and three candidates withdrew later. The elections, flawed as they were, did not result in any surprises: Hamid Karzai won most of the Pashtun and a respectable part of the non-Pashtun votes, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah won a large part of the Tajik vote, and Ramazan Bashardost won much of the Hazara votes. The ranking was the same as in the 2004 election: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara. Hamid Karzai was on top with 2,283,907 (49.67 percent), Abdullah Abdullah with 1,406,242 (30.59 percent), and Ramazan Bashardost with 481,072 (10.46 percent). Although the ethnic/sectarian blocs are by no means monolithic, members tend to identify with their own. A runoff election would have been a waste of time, money, and lives, even if it could have been properly supervised. The result would have been similar. Dr. Abdullah knew it and decided to withdraw. The demographic makeup of Afghanistan favors a Pashtun. Karzai had a number of factors in his favor: He was a prominent Pashtun who did not escape to the West during the Afghan wars. As an incumbent, he could use government resources to support his campaign. He had name recognition and was seen as acceptable to both conservatives and progressives. He got the endorsements of members of the Uzbek community and of Muhammad Isma’il Khan, the one-time “amir” of Herat, and by choosing General Muhammad Qasim Fahim as one of his vice presidents, Karzai weakened the unity of the Panjshiri/Tajik bloc. Various opinion polls showed Karzai by far the favorite. The
International Republican Institute gave Karzai a rating of 69 percent compared to 31 percent for Abdullah. A look at the election results clearly shows that there was only one viable candidate and two runners-up. Although there were a number of Pashtuns running for office, most of them received only minimal support. Dr. Abdullah withdrew from the runoff election, scheduled for 7 November, because he knew that he could not win. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a distant fourth in the campaign, was the American favorite. He hired President Bill Clinton’s campaign chief strategist James Carville as his adviser. It is doubtful that Carville could offer any useful advice. Kabul just isn’t Los Angeles. Kabul is a melting pot. The ethnic/sectarian elite intermarry. Many of the urban Pashtuns are fluent only in Dari, the Persian spoken in Afghanistan. Kabulis would be more inclined to transcend ethnic/sectarian boundaries in their voting behavior. The secular-technocratic elite were ideologically left of center; they were the products of Western education and had replaced the old elite of madrasa graduates. They favored modernization and a republican form of government, but they could never come to power in national elections. There simply were not enough of them. If Afghans become disenchanted with the course of events, they might very well vote the Taliban into power—never mind the disaster this would be for Afghan women. The election was marred by low voter turnout, widespread ballot stuffing, and a lack of security. The Taliban called for a boycott of the election, and large areas—especially in the Pashtun south—were inaccessible to voters. The Ministry of Interior declared 12 of 34 provinces “high-risk” areas with limited or no government presence. Of 7,000 polling stations, only 6,200 had operated. This reduced voter turnout and hurt Karzai, who lost a large number of votes, forcing him to agree to a runoff election. European Union observers estimated the number of “suspect” votes for Karzai at 1.1 million, for Abdullah at 300,000, and for Bashardost at 92,000. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) stated that “on election day Afghanistan had suffered the highest number of attacks and intimidation the country had seen in some 15 years.” AFGHAN SECURITY SERVICE (AGSA). Established as a security force by the Nur Muhammad Taraki government after the Saur Revolt, AGSA (Da Afghanistan da Gatay da Satanay Edara) was headed by Asadullah Sarwari from May 1978 to August 1979. After his accession to power, Hafizullah Amin renamed the service KAM (Da Kargarano Amniyati Mu’asasa—Workers’ Intelligence Institution). Within a week of their assumption of power on 27 December 1979, the Parchami regime purged the security service of Khalq supporters and renamed it KHAD (Khedamat-i Ettela’at-i Daulati—State Information Service). It was headed by Dr. Najibullah before he succeeded to the position of general secretary of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1986 and president of Afghanistan. Najibullah upgraded KHAD to ministerial status, hence its acronym WAD (Wizarat-i Ettela’at-i Daulati— Ministry of State Security). WAD was subsequently headed by General Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi. The organization is said to have controlled from 15,000 to 30,000 operatives, organized on the KGB model, with its
own military units, including a national guard. Its task appeared to be similar to that of the KGB: detecting and eradicating domestic political opposition, subverting armed resistance, penetrating opposition groups abroad, and providing military intelligence to the armed forces. It is said to have been set up with the assistance of Soviet and East German intelligence officers. Yaqubi did not survive the downfall of the Marxist regime. Former Afghan prisoners have accused WAD and its predecessors of torture, intimidation, and murder. Burhanuddin Rabbani started his own security service, which was popularly called KHAD, and so did the Taliban regime. The Hamid Karzai government established a new organization, called the Afghan National Directorate of Security (ANDS). AFGHAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (ASDP). The ASDP was established during a meeting of the 62-member founding congress on 8 March 1966 at the residence of Qiamuddin Khadem. Ghulam Muhammad Farhad (one-time mayor of Kabul) was elected chairman and held the position until his death in 1984. During his tenure, Afghan Millat, the popular name of the party, was more nationalist than socialist. It advocated the restoration of “Greater Afghanistan,” including the territory of the Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan, which now constitute the western provinces of Pakistan. Because of its irredentist policy, the party contributed to the friction existing between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The party did not support Muhammad Daud, even though it agreed with him on the “Pashtunistan” question and on the attempt to make Pashtu the national language. In October 1979, the Hafizullah Amin government accused the party of attempting a coup and arrested a number of its members in Kabul. In the late 1960s, Feda Muhammad Feda’i seceded and formed his own party, called Millat, and after the death of Ghulam Muhammad Farhad in 1984, Dr. Muhammad Amin Wakman, who resides in the United States, was elected chairman of Afghan Millat at a congress in Peshawar on 8–9 March 1990. It was attended by 390 (out of 500) delegates who also elected a 29member supreme council and chose Stana Gul Sherzad as its secretary general. Shams al-Huda Shams from Kunar Province and a number of his supporters did not participate in the election. The party opposed the Shahnawaz Tanai-Gulbuddin Hekmatyar alliances against the Najibullah regime and called on its members and sympathizers to continue the struggle to capture political power. The party now emphasizes social democratic policies and, although largely Pashtun in membership, tries to broaden its base to become a national party. The ASDP had a small mujahedin force in the field which was severely mauled by Hekmatyar’s forces. The Pakistan government did not give Afghan Millat official recognition and material support because of its irredentism. A number of its activists were assassinated by unknown gunmen in Pakistan, including Dr. Ceded Shigawal, Zakir Khan, and in September 1991, Taj Muhammad Khan. On 27 July 1995, the party convened its fourth congress in Peshawar and elected Dr. Anwar al-Haq Ahadi as its new president, Abdul Hamid Yaqin Yusufzai as vice president, Stana Gul Sherzad as secretary general, and a supreme council of 35 members. The congress also adopted a new platform which emphasizes the independence, territorial integrity, and national sovereignty of Afghanistan and advocates national unity, democracy, Islam, progress, and
social justice. AFGHANS, ORIGINS OF. The origins of the Afghans, as the cliché goes, are shrouded in mystery. It is therefore not surprising that a number of nation-building legends exist that link the Pashtuns to ancient roots in Palestine. Although now largely rejected by scholars for lack of any credible evidence, the claim of a Jewish ancestry for the Afghans is still not categorically dismissed. The traditional account is as follows: The true Afghans (meaning Pashtuns) trace their name and descent from Afghana, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Saul, who was Solomon’s Commander-in-Chief and builder of his temple. They say that their ancestors were carried away from Palestine by Nebuchadnezzar (6th c. B.C.) and planted as colonists in Media and Persia. From thence they gradually emigrated eastwards into the mountains of Ghor, to the east of Herat, and the modern Hazarajat of Afghanistan, where they were called by their neighbors Bani-Afghan, or Bani-Israel, in allusion to their supposed Jewish origin. (Ridgway, R. T. I., Pathans, Calcutta, 1910)
The author of Hayat-i Afghan, Muhammad Hayat Khan, quotes the Makhzan-i Afghani (by Ni’matullah, ca. 1612) as a source of the legend of the Palestine roots of the Pashtuns, but dismisses the claim as hardly more than “a literary fiction” (Hayat Khan, Afghanistan and Its Inhabitants, 1874). Mountstuart Elphinstone in his much-cited work dismisses the legend of the Afghans’ origin as “fabulous,” (Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, 1815 and 1969) but also says that the “account is by no means destitute of probability” and points out that the name of the famous Khaibar Pass is the same as the Jewish settlement near Medina at the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Although he does not accept the Afghan link to Palestine, Olaf Caroe says the genealogies “do represent something real. They reflect what these tribes themselves still believe to be their origin and cousinship, one to another, and they sort out and categorize racial, and other, affinities and differences which can be traced today in the physical appearance, habit, dress, language, or history of the great congeries of Pathan societies. . . . To Pathans shajras [shajara —genealogical tree] are as the breath of life.” Qais, the presumed ancestor of the Pashtuns, is said to have led a delegation of Afghans from Ghor to Mecca (or to Kufa in the presence of Caliph Ali—History of Ghor) in response to a summons from Khalid bin Walid, converted to Islam, and distinguished himself in the service of the Prophet. He adopted the Muslim name Abdul Rashid, and his three sons, Saraban (also Sarbanr), Ghurghusht, and Baitan (or Bitanr/Batni), and a foundling named Karlanri linked with the Saraban, were the progenitors of the primary divisions of the Afghans. The headship of the Abdali tribe is traced from Qais (seventh century) to Ibrahim (Saraban), Sharafuddin (Sharkhabun), Tarin, Abdal, Rajar, Isa, Zirak, Popal, Habib, Bami, Kane, Bahlol, Maruf, Omar, Sado (b. 1558), Khwaja Khizar, Khodadad (was said to have been given the title of sultan by the Moghul ruler Aurangzeb, 1658–1707), Sher Khan, Sarmast, Daulat Khan (executed by order of Gurgin Khan, Safavid governor at Kandahar), Rustam Khan, and Muhammad Zaman (d. 1722) to Ahmad Khan, Durrani, the founder of Afghanistan and king from 1747 to 1773. Even though Abdal, Zirak, Popal, and Omar are said to have lived to the ripe old age of from 90 to 120 years, the genealogy does not add up to the millennium of its presumed duration.
The name Durrani derives from the title adopted by Ahmad Shah Durr-i-Durran, meaning “Pearl of Pearls,” and the Abdalis were henceforth known as the Durranis. See also appendix 4. AFGHAN TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT. See TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT. AFGHAN WOLUS (AFGHAN NATION). The Afghan Wolus is a newspaper published in 1969 by Qiamuddin Khadem, a poet and one-time vice president of the Afghan Academy. The short-lived paper favored a nationalist, pro-Pashtunistan policy. Its editors were Muzafar Sadeq and Abdul Qayyum Adramzai. AFGHAN WOMEN COUNCIL (AWC). A humanitarian organization founded by Fatima Gailani in 1986 in Pakistan, the AWC now has offices in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States. One of the objectives is “to enlighten women, improve their living conditions, and strengthen their socio-economic status in society by their . . . involvement in developmental activities.” It is a nongovernmental, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization not affiliated with any political party. The AWC runs a school and clinics in Peshawar and Afghanistan and publishes a monthly journal, Zan-e Afghan (Afghan Woman). It has received international recognition and awards for its activities. AFGHAN WOMEN ROQIA CENTER. The Roqia Center for Women’s Rights, Studies and Education was founded by Abu Bakr Nasrin Gross in Kabul after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. The center aims “to assist the cause of women as an integral part of the country’s democratization and reconstruction.” Its activities include a civil rights division which promotes conferences and seminars on women’s rights issues and to inform women candidates to the parliament and provincial councils. A studies division publishes and distributes books, as for example Women in the Koran and Women’s Guide to Winning in the 2005 Afghan Elections. An education division supports a literacy program. The center is supported by private donations, including Kabultec, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization. AFGHAN YEARBOOK. An almanac, or yearbook, published since 1932/1311 by the Afghan Literary Society, the yearbook was titled Salnama-yi Majalla-yi Kabul (Kabul Yearbook) until 1940 when it carried the Pashtu name Da Kabul Kalanai, and finally Da Afghanistan Kalanai. Each volume began with a general introduction, including an article on the king and the royal family, followed by a section with information on members of all branches of government and the diplomatic community and a record of activities during a particular year. Much space was devoted to aspects of Afghan culture and society, as well as to international news. The almanac was richly illustrated, including photos of leading members of the Afghan government and, after elections, of all members of parliament. It is a valuable source for research on Afghanistan. Initially it was written in Dari (Farsi) but gradually became a bilingual Dari/Pashtu publication. Abridged versions of the yearbook have also appeared in English since 1966. After the Saur Revolt (1978), the yearbook was continued, and after a hiatus during the civil war and the Taliban regime, it is again published.
AFKAR-I NAU (NEW IDEAS). A weekly newspaper published by Nurullah Nurzad in 1971 under the editorship of Zia Haidar, the Afkar-i Nau supported middle-class, law-and-order causes and an Islamic policy. AFRIDI. A Pashtu-speaking tribe, the Afridis are located in the area of the Khaibar Pass, just beyond the Afghan border. Herodotus, the Greek historian, mentions the “Aprytae,” the tribe of Osman who called himself “God’s Creature” (Afrideh-ye Khoda), whom some Afghan scholars consider the eponymic ancestor of the Afridis. For centuries, the Afridis saw themselves as the “guardians” of the gate to India, and since ancient times invaders have found it preferable to pay for passage rather than fight their way through the Khaibar. At times Afridis entered the services of Afghan rulers, primarily as bodyguards and tribal militias, and in conflicts between Afghanistan and British India supported the Afghans, although they could not resist the temptation to loot the Afghan arsenal when the British bombed Jalalabad in 1919. In the 1960s the Afridis were said to be able to muster an armed force of 50,000 men. A British officer described them as “wiry, shaven-headed, full-bearded, Pashtu-speaking hillmen of uncertain origin” (Ridgway 1910). During the 1980s the Kabul government attempted to enlist Afridis into a militia to attack the supply lines of the mujahedin, and the Afridis accepted their pay but did not perform their assigned functions. At the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War, Sir Hamilton Grant, chief commissioner of the Northwest Frontier, complained to the viceroy of India that “the constant raiding by Afridi gangs into the Peshawar district is sorely discrediting our administration. It is astounding that such a state of affairs should be possible with the number of troops we have got in the Peshawar Valley and shows how very difficult it would be to make any military operation of trans-frontier area really successful.” He added that only subjugation of the Afridis would help, but this would be “a most formidable and undesirable undertaking.” See also GREAT BRITAIN. AFZALI, AMENA SAFI (1958–). Born in Herat Province, the daughter of Haji Amanullah Notqi, Amena was the wife of Safiullah Afzali, a mujahedin commander who was killed in 1988. After completing primary education in Herat, she attended Razia School in Mazar-i Sharif and earned a B.S. degree from Kabul University. She subsequently taught at the faculty of science. In 1978 she became a teacher at Mehria School in Herat and in 2002 lecturer at Kabul University. She was a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee, 2003, and served as minister of youth affairs, 2004–2006, and as a member of the Independent Commission of Human Rights and cosigner to the Bonn Agreement. She was appointed a minister of labor, social affairs, martyrs, and disabled in the 2009 cabinet of President Hamid Karzai. AGA KHAN FOUNDATION (AKF). The AKF is a nondenominational, international development agency established in 1967. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the foundation has branches and independent affiliates in 15 countries, most of them in Asia and Africa. The foundation maintains a development network that is active in Afghan health, education, and civil society programs; microfinance services; the rehabilitation of historic neighborhoods in
Kabul and Herat; a mobile phone network; and the renovation of a five-star hotel in Kabul. The foundation states that its criteria for investments are to improve the quality of life, not simply bottom-line profitability. In 2003 it launched Roshan, Afghanistan’s largest mobile phone provider, which expanded access to telephone service from 50,000 working fixed and mobile telephone lines to a network covering 180 cities and towns with over a million subscribers. In 2005 it inaugurated the Kabul Serena Hotel, Afghanistan’s first five-star hotel in 35 years. The foundation provided microfinance services and started the First Micro Finance Bank of Afghanistan. In 2004, the foundation provided $149 million in grants for 130 projects in 16 countries. AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY. Agriculture is the largest sector of the Afghan economy, but because of the mountainous core and arid and semiarid lands, only about 8 million out of some 65 million hectares of land are arable, and about 30 million hectares are rangeland. Landholdings are mostly small, and most cultivation consists of subsistence farming. About 85 percent of the population lived in rural areas until wars forced many to seek the shelter of major cities. Crops include wheat, corn, rice, and cotton, and by 2002, poppy cultivation became the major cash crop, amounting to about 4,500 metric tons of opium. Afghanistan is one of the most land-mined countries, about half of its system of irrigation is destroyed, and banditry and general insecurity have depopulated large rural areas. Meat production was provided by pastoral nomadism and breeding of livestock, which included primarily camels, sheep, cattle, donkeys, horses, buffalo, and mules. War and a severe drought in 2000 is said to have killed some four-fifths of the livestock. Forests are largely disappearing; only about 3 percent of the land area is forested. The illegal cutting of timber and export to Pakistan, forbidden by the Afghan government since the 1960s, and the use of wood for cooking and heating have rapidly reduced the forested areas. Since the 1980s the Kabul government has been unable to enforce this prohibition. Since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, the United Nations and various nongovernmental agencies have been assisting in reviving Afghanistan’s agriculture. AGSA. See AFGHAN SECURITY SERVICE. AHADI, ANWAR AL-HAQ (ANWARULHAQ AHADY, 1951–). A Pashtun, Ahadi was born in 1951 in the town of Jagdalak, in Kabul Province, the son of Qazi Abdul Haq. He earned his B.A. (1974) and M.A. (1977) degrees in economics and political science from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and obtained a professional master’s degree in fiscal affairs and management from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in the field of political science. He served as assistant professor of political science at Carleton College in the United States and from 1985 to 1987 as the banking director of Continental Elona of Chicago. From 1987 to 2002 he was professor of political sciences at Providence College. After the fall of the Taliban regime, Ahadi returned to Afghanistan. He served as governor of the Afghan central bank from 2002 until December 2004 and minister of finance in the Hamid Karzai governments of 2004 and 2006–2008. During his tenure at the central bank, he successfully issued a new currency at the rate of 1 new afghani
for 1,000 old ones. In 2008 Ahadi resigned from his ministerial position and in February 2009 announced his intention to compete in the election for president. Ahadi eventually supported the campaign of President Hamid Karzai. He was nominated minister of economy in 2009, but the appointment was not approved by the Wolesi Jirga. He was appointed minister of commerce and industries in 2010. Ahadi draws on his experience as a banker in the United States. He was active in the resistance to the Marxist regime and was elected in July 1995 as president of the Afghan Social Democratic Party (commonly called Afghan Millat). He is married to Fatima Gailani (president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society). AHANG, MUHAMMAD KAZIM. A native of Herat, Ahang graduated from Kabul Teachers Training School and the faculty of letters at Kabul University. Ahang studied in the United States and, upon his return in the 1950s, taught journalism (see PRESS AND JOURNALISM) at Kabul University. He is the author of a book in Dari on the history of journalism in Afghanistan. He was professor of journalism and became editor in chief of the Kabul Times. Ahang served as dean of the Department of Journalism at Kabul University and as a member of the commission for selecting a Loya Jirga for the Afghan Transitional Government. AHMAD SHAH, ABDALI DURRANI (r. 1747–1773). King of Afghanistan and founder of the Sadozai dynasty of the Abdali (Durrani) tribe, he was born in 1722 in Herat, the son of Muhammad Zaman Khan, who was governor of Herat. After capturing Kandahar, Nadir Shah of Iran (r. 1736–1747) exiled Ahmad Khan to Mazandaran in northern Iran and subsequently appointed him governor of that province. At the death of Nadir Shah, Ahmad Khan was commander of an Afghan contingent of the Persian army at Kandahar. He was able to capture a caravan with booty from India which assured his election as king (shah) of Afghanistan in October 1747 by an assembly of Pashtun chiefs. The Pashtun tribesmen rallied to his banner, and Ahmad Shah led them on seven campaigns into India in search of booty and territorial conquest. He added Kashmir, Sind, and the Western Panjab to his domains and founded an empire that extended from eastern Persia to northern India and from the Amu Daria to the Indian Ocean. Ahmad Shah appointed his son Timur as his successor and died a natural death two months later on 14 April 1772. He was buried in Kandahar, which became the capital of Afghanistan until Timur Shah (r. 1773–1793) established his capital at Kabul. Sir Percy Sykes in his History of Afghanistan called Ahmad Shah “a monarch whose high descent and warlike qualities made him peculiarly acceptable to his aristocratic and virile Chiefs, as well as to his warlike subjects in general. In short, he possessed all the qualities that enabled him successfully to found the kingdom of Afghanistan” (Sykes 1940, 1:367). AHMAD SHAH AHMADZAI (1943–). Born in Malang, a village in the Khaki Jabbar district of Kabul, Ahmadzai was educated at Ibn Sina School, Kabul Polytechnic Institute, and Kabul University, where he obtained an engineering degree in 1958 and started work with the Department of Agriculture and Irrigation. He came to the United States in 1972 and obtained an M.A. degree in engineering from Colorado State University in 1974. In 1975 he started a teaching career at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia but came to Peshawar after the
Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. He returned to Afghanistan from Turkey after the fall of the Taliban regime. He was elected to parliament and resumed a career of teaching at Kabul University. He was a member of the Ittihad-i Islami of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf in 1988, and acting prime minister from 1995 to 1996 of an interim cabinet founded by the Ittihad-i Islami-yi Mujahedin-i Afghanistan, an umbrella group of seven mujahedin parties headquartered in Pakistan. He became president (ra’is) of the committee for education and later the committee of finance. When Gulbuddin Hekmatyar joined the Burhanuddin Rabbani government in June 1996, Ahmad Shah became minister of education for three months. He was forced to flee when the Taliban captured Kabul. He founded his own party and unsuccessfully stood for presidential election in September 2005. He is described as “slightly bent, but with a firm and intent gaze,” and he is usually dressed in the traditional white clothes, black waistcoat, and a flat Pakol. He claimed, “The War on Terror is a crusade against Muslims and Islam.” He opposes the Taliban and their interpretation of Islam but calls U.S. forces an occupation. He was married to an African-American lady whom he subsequently divorced. AHMADZAI. A section of the Sulaiman Khel division of the Ghilzai tribe, the Ahmadzai are settled in a “triangle” formed by a line drawn from Kabul to Jalalabad and Gardez. They are generally wealthy and often employed as traders, while some have held high positions in the Afghan government and have intermarried with the Durranis. Amir Abdul Rahman settled a number of Ahmadzai families in northern Afghanistan to weaken their power and have them serve as Pashtun colonists among the Turkic population. Only a small number of Ahmadzai are nomadic. AHMADZAI. See AHMAD SHAH AHMADZAI. AIBAK (36-16’ N, 68-1’ E). Aibak is a town, also called Haibak, located at an altitude of 3,000 feet in Samangan Province. The town, possibly the historical Alexandria on the Oxus, is famous for its pre-Islamic archaeological sites, excavated by a French mission under Paul Bernard. Most important is Takht-i Rustam (the Throne of Rustam), a large stupa hewn into solid rock, which is unique for its size, type, and construction. Nearby, at Dara-ye Gaz, is a complex of 10 Buddhist temples, called by the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan-Tsang (seventh century A.D.) “Kie Tehe.” The town and district have some 95,000 inhabitants and is located on the main route from Kabul to Mazar-i Sharif. It has a bazaar, a park in the center of town, and a mosque and administrative center. It was for centuries a major commercial center. Little is known about how the past war has affected the town, but many artifacts were plundered or destroyed during the Taliban regime. AI KHANUM (MOON LADY, 37-8’ N, 69-27’ E). Ai Khanum is a small town at the confluence of the Kokcha and Amu rivers. In November 1964, French archaeologists, headed by Daniel Schlumberger and Paul Bernard, discovered the site of a large Greek town (second to first century B.C.) with an abundance of Greek architecture, ceramics, and inscriptions.
AIMAQ. Aimaq is the name of an ethnic group of some 800,000 Sunni Muslims who speak Dari (Afghan Persian) with some Turkic admixture. The word either means “nomad” (in Turkic) or “administrative district” (in Mongol). They are also called Chahar Aimaq and include the Jamshidis, Firuzkuhis, Taimanis, and the Sunni Hazaras of Qala-i Nau. They were at times independent or allied with a Durrani prince ruling in Herat. Amir Abdul Rahman severely curbed the power of the Aimaq chiefs and put them under the control of the governor of Herat. The tribes are seminomadic and dwell in conical felt yurts. They raise sheep and cattle and are concentrated primarily in Herat, Ghor, and Badghis provinces. AIR BASES, UNITED STATES AND COALITION. The most important of coalition bases is Bagram air base, built with Soviet assistance in the 1950s, north of Kabul and five miles west of Charikar. Because of its proximity to Kabul, it was one of the first air bases occupied by British and American forces. It became the home of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division and the 101st Airborne, as well as Special Forces units who participated in Operation Anaconda. American forces were strengthened by some 1,700 British Royal Marines, Canadian troops, and peacekeeping forces from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Turkey, and Denmark. Bagram has a 9,700-foot runway which accommodates all types of aircraft, including Nightstalkers and Warthog ground-attack aircraft. Next in importance is the Kandahar International Airport, built with American support and opened in 1962. It was one of the largest airports in Central Asia but was bypassed by international travel as a result of long-distance jet travel. American troops took command of the airport in December 2001, and the 15th and 26th U.S. Marine Expeditionary Units established a base to intercept Taliban and al-Qaeda troops. A helicopter base was established in Pul-i Kandahar, about 20 miles west of Kandahar. Chinook transport helicopters and Apache and Cobra attack helicopters were used in March 2002 to launch sorties during Operation Anaconda. Near Khost, an airfield serves as a major logistics and supply area for U.S. Special Forces and coalition units fighting in eastern Afghanistan. This airfield has repeatedly come under enemy fire. A small contingent of American troops from the Army’s 10th Mountain Division is based at the Mazar-i Sharif airfield. A French infantry company was deployed to provide area security. Staging points outside Afghanistan were Dalbandin air base west of Quetta, Jacobabad, and Pasni in Pakistan. Under an agreement with Uzbekistan, U.S. transports and Special Forces were able to use a former Soviet air base at Karshi/Khanabad, and the French air force deployed 160 C-130 aircraft in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Manas, one base in Kyrgyzstan, became a transit center. Persistent claims that the U.S. government is negotiating to gain permanent bases in Afghanistan are denied. See also FRANCE; GREAT BRITAIN; UNITED STATES. AIR FORCE, AFGHAN. The Afghan government took the first steps toward creating an air force during the reign of King Amanullah. The importance of aerial warfare became apparent during the Third Anglo-Afghan War when British planes bombed Jalalabad, and the king’s palace and the ammunition factory at Kabul. Therefore, in 1921, Amanullah acquired a British
fighter plane (which made a forced landing in Katawaz—the Afghans returned the pilot and kept the plane) and subsequently purchased a number of additional planes from Great Britain and the Soviet Union. By the end of the 1920s, Afghanistan’s air force consisted of 22 machines (Bristol Fighters, DH-9s, Caprioni Scouts, and a Junkers monoplane) which were operated by 25 officers, three of them Afghans, four Germans, and the rest Russians. The Soviet Union donated a number of aircraft on condition that they be operated by Soviet nationals. Young Afghans were sent for training to the Soviet Union, Italy, India, and other countries to create a small cadre of pilots and aircraft mechanics. Amanullah used his aircraft with considerable effect during the Khost Rebellion (1924–1925) and subsequent tribal revolts. But the conditions for maintaining an effective air force did not yet exist: Afghanistan depended on foreign supplies of spare parts, and most of its aircraft were not in proper operating condition when King Amanullah was deposed in the 1929 civil war. During the reign of Nadir Shah (1929–1933), the Russian personnel were gradually eliminated, and in the mid-1930s, Zahir Shah’s prime minister negotiated with Britain for the purchase of 24 aircraft and the training of 10 pilots, 6 officers, and 30 mechanics. When the British government wanted assurances that the Afghan government would build up its air force from primarily British sources, negotiations came to a halt. In the mid-1930s landing strips existed in Herat, Kandahar, Kabul, and Jalalabad, but only Kabul had ground organization and hangar accommodation for 16 aircraft. Aviation fuel had to be imported from India, and supplies never exceeded 10,000 gallons. To carry 15,000 gallons required more than 500 camels. Wind, excessive heat, and snow made flying conditions good only in October and November (General Staff, India 1925). Because of the war in Europe, development of the air force was limited until the Soviet Union became the major factor in the creation of modern armed forces. In the mid-1950s, Ariana Afghan Airlines was established with technical support provided by Pan American Airways, and the airports of Kabul and Kandahar were modernized for international flights. The Kandahar airport, built with American aid, became one of the military regional headquarters after the Soviet intervention. By 1960, the country’s air force included four helicopters and about 100 Soviet combat aircraft, and in 1979 some 140 to 170 fighters and 45 to 60 helicopters were organized into a tactical force of seven air regiments, including a strength of 7,000 to 8,000 men that remained relatively intact throughout the 1980s. By the end of the Marxist regime, Afghanistan had 230 aircraft, mostly in control of General Abdul Rashid Dostum and then President Burhanuddin Rabbani. The American intervention in October 2001 resulted in the destruction of what remained of the Afghan Air Force. The United States provided aerial support for the war against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. Measures were taken to recreate an Afghan air force, and the U.S. government planned to provide 186 aircraft and train Afghan pilots and engineers. Russia is scheduled to deliver 61 new Mi-17 helicopters. Except for the American Bagram air force base, the Afghan Air Force will control the provincial bases. About 90 pilots were sent to the United States for pilot and instrument training at various locations, including the U.S. Army Air Defence Artillery School at Fort Bliss, Texas. The
nucleus of the new air force is still in training and is beginning to take over combat missions, but also engages in civilian rescue operations and transporting cash from the capital to provincial banks. A fleet of 20 American C-27 Spartan transport aircraft is in preparation to replace the Russian Antonov-32 for the Afghan air force. A 2009 NATO summary of international activities in Afghanistan reported the Army Air Corps aims to employ 7,000 personnel and 126 aircraft by 2016. See also AIR BASES, UNITED STATES AND COALITION; ARMY, AFGHAN; SHINDAND AIR BASE. AKBARBAI, MUHAMMAD (BAI, MUHAMMAD AKBAR). Head of the Afghan Turkoman Council and former campaign manager for General Abdul Rashid Dostum, Akbarbai left Dostum’s Junbesh-i Milli faction and accused Dostum of various crimes, including killing other Turkomans. Dostum kidnapped Akbarbai, his son, and their bodyguard from his house in Kabul and beat them in February 2008. After a tense military and police standoff, Dostum released the three men and later faced criminal charges. Dostum left Afghanistan for Turkey before legal proceedings began, but President Hamid Karzai invited him back prior to the Afghan presidential election of 2009. Akbarbai announced his candidacy for the presidential election of 2009 but was disqualified by the Electoral Complaints Commission. AKBARI, AZIZ AHMAD (1951–). Born in Ghazni Province (the son of the sister of Asadullah Sarwari), Akbari was educated at Al-Biruni Primary School in Ghazni in 1958 and graduated from the Naderi Shahid High School, 1972. He entered the Police Academy in 1973 and graduated in 1976. While serving in the Ministry of Interior in 1977, he secretly joined the Khalqi faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). He was appointed as a border officer, Takhar Province, in 1977; a logistics officer in the Ministry of Interior in March 1978; and headed the national security office in May 1978. He became president of KAM in August 1979 (just after the fall of Taraki) and then was nominated ambassador to Iraq in November 1979, but was unable to present credentials signed by Hafizullah Amin. He was secretary at the Afghan embassy in Sofia in 1980, and first secretary of the newly created Afghan embassy in Mongolia when his maternal uncle, Asadullah Sarwari, was appointed ambassador in 1980. He speaks English and Urdu, is married, and has one son. AKBARI, USTAD MUHAMMAD. Born in Waras, Bamian Province, the son of Ghulam Haidar, Akbari was educated in Islamic sciences in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a Dai Zangi Hazara with the title Hujjat al-Islam. He was head of the Shi’i Hizb-i Wahdat (Unity Party) political committee who lost in a power struggle with Abdul Ali Mazari. In 1993, when Wahdat’s leader, Mazari, joined Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Akbari sided with Burhanuddin Rabbani’s government, which basically split the party in half. Faced with the superior power of the Taliban, Akbari surrendered in November 1998 and made his peace with the new rulers until their demise in 2001. He subsequently negotiated for a return to the Karim Khalili (successor of Mazari) faction of the party and was elected with 25,000 votes to the lower house of parliament in 2005. AKBAR, SARDAR MUHAMMAD (d. 1845). The ambitious son of Amir Dost Muhammad
(r. 1826–1838 and 1842–1863) and “Hero of Jamrud,” Akbar defeated the Sikh army of Hari Singh in April 1837. He was a major figure in the defeat of the British in the First AngloAfghan War. Akbar was the premier of the Afghan chiefs with whom the British force of occupation sought to negotiate safe passage from Kabul to India (see CAPITULATION, TREATY OF). During negotiations with Sir William Macnaghten, he killed the British envoy “in a fit of passion.” He saved the lives of British women and children as well as a number of officers whom he had taken into “protective” custody during the arduous retreat. Few others survived the massacre of the British expeditionary force of some 16,000 troops and camp followers (see DEATH MARCH). Akbar wanted to regain territory lost in the Panjab, but his father, Amir Dost Muhammad, who had been restored to the throne in 1842, favored a policy of accommodation with Great Britain. In 1845 Akbar rebelled, but he died at the age of 29 of poisoning before he could pose a serious challenge to his father. He is revered by Afghans and called Ghazi (Victorious Hero), and a residential area of Kabul and a major hospital have been named after him, Wazir Akbar Khan. AKHTAR KHAN, LIEUTENANT GENERAL ABDUL RAHMAN (d. 1988). Director general of the Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Intelligence organization from 1980 to 1987, Akhtar Khan was said to have coordinated with William Casey, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the operations and supply network for the Afghan mujahedin. Brigadier Muhammad Yousaf, Akhtar’s deputy and head of the Afghan Bureau, controlled the flow of thousands of tons of arms into the hands of the mujahedin and directed every aspect of military activities, from training of Afghan guerrillas and logistics support to the planning of ambushes, assassinations, and raids and rocket attacks against the Soviet/Kabul forces. Akhtar was promoted to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and was replaced by General Hamid Gul when the mujahedin started carrying attacks into Soviet Central Asia. Akhtar perished in a plane crash on 17 August 1988, together with Pakistani President Zia-ulHaq; American Ambassador Arnold Raphel; Brigadier General Herbert Wassom, the U.S. defense attaché in Islamabad; and eight Pakistani generals. American sources attributed the crash to engine failure, but most Pakistanis believe it was a result of sabotage, variously blaming the KGB, CIA, or Wezarat-i Ittila’at-i Daulati (WAD). AKHUND. In Afghan use, a religious instructor (Persian, Dari, and Pashtu); a descendant of an akhund is called akhundzada. The term was first used in Timurid times as an honorific for a great scholar but later denoted a teacher of pupils with a slightly pejorative connotation. ALAQADARI. The smallest administrative division, a subdistrict of a province (welayat) in Afghanistan, the alaqadari is headed by an alaqadar, an administrator appointed by the Kabul government or the governor of a province. He is responsible to a woluswal, head of a district, or the wali, governor of a province. See ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. ALEKO, MUHAMMAD ISHAQ (1939–). Born in Kandahar, Aleko was educated in his hometown and at the military academy in Kabul. He was a Pashtun of the Alekozao
(Alokozai), a section of the Durrani. Aleko went to Hamburg, Germany, to study law at Münster University. He returned to Afghanistan in 2003 and served as adviser and later as deputy minister to the attorney general. He was appointed attorney general in 2008. ALI AHMAD (1883–1929). Born in 1883, the son of Loinab Khushdil Khan, Ali Ahmad was educated in India and served as chamberlain, shahghasi mulki, of Amir Habibullah. He was known as wali (governor) of Kabul under King Amanullah and proclaimed “king” by Afghan tribes in Nangarhar after the abdication of Amanullah in January 1919. He was president of the Afghan Peace Delegation at Rawalpindi in 1919 and was successful as a commander in the Mangal Revolt (1924) and the Shinwari rebellion (1928). He fought Habibullah Kalakani and was defeated; brought to Kabul in chains, he defiantly kissed the cannon by which he was executed in July 1929. ALI, HAZRAT (ca. 1964–). A member of parliament and chief of police of Jalalabad, Hazrat Ali was “physically imposing, with a tight curly beard and gentle eyes.” He belongs to the Pashai ethnic group. The son of a peasant, Hazrat Ali grew up in a village in the Kushmun region. He fought against the Soviets and lost one of his brothers during the 1980s. He became a leader of the Pashai community and fought the Taliban from Darra-e Nur but was never able to expand his power outside his native valley. Nevertheless, he was an important ally to commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ud as he helped him when needed to reduce the Taliban’s pressure north of Kabul and in the Takhar Province by harassing the Taliban forces. But, after 11 September and the fall of the Taliban regime, Hazrat Ali became master of Jalalabad and the eastern zone, even if officially he was just the regional security chief. He helped the United States in their fight against al-Qaeda in the Tora Bora mountains and received money, weapons, and ammunition from the United States. He was elected a member of parliament. Hazrat Ali has three wives, all living in Meshed, Iran; three sons (one is studying in London); and nine daughters. Before Iran, his family lived in exile in Dubai and in Pakistan. Hazrat Ali speaks Pashai, Pashtu, Dari, and Urdu. ALLAH NAWAZ (d. 1977). An Indian of Multan, the son of Khan Bahadur Rab Nawaz Khan, Allah Nawaz went to Afghanistan and in 1915 adopted Afghan nationality. In 1920 in Jalalabad, he was an assistant editor of the Ittihad-i Mashriqi and later superintendent of schools in Jalalabad. He helped Nadir Shah in his advance on Kabul in 1929 and was appointed minister of court in October 1929, and equerry in November 1929. He supervised the work on Darulaman, government buildings in the new capital, in May 1930. He left Kabul for Berlin in 1931, and in June 1933 he was appointed minister of public works but spent most of the year in the Southern Province in connection with the disturbances there. On the assassination of King Nadir, he was said to have advised Shah Mahmud Khan to recognize Prince Zahir as king rather than accept an offer of allegiance from Paktia chiefs. He left Kabul on a visit to Europe for medical treatment in December 1933. Allah Nawaz served as Afghan minister in Berlin (1935–1945) and lived in Germany until 1971. He returned to Kabul and died there in 1977. His son Ali Nawaz was deputy minister of commerce in 1973 (and fatherin-law of Faruq Farhang).
AL-NASR. See NASR, SAZMAN-I. AL-QAEDA. See QAEDA, AL-. AMAN-I AFGHAN (AFGHAN PEACE). Aman-i Afghan was a weekly newspaper founded on 12 April 1919 (22 Hammal 1298) as the semiofficial organ of the Amanullah era (1919– 1929). Its motto was to “discuss every kind of scientific and political question and things of interest to the Government and the Nation.” The newspaper, named after King Amanullah (Aman Allah—peace, or protection of God), continued the journalistic tradition begun by the Seraj al-Akhbar Afghaniya. In order to provide economic support, government officials and courtiers were expected to subscribe. During the first year of its existence, there were frequent changes of editors, beginning with Abdul Hadi Dawai, who was succeeded by Muhammad Isma’il, Faiz Muhammad Kateb, and subsequently Ghulam Nabi Charkhi. The newspaper was printed on excellent paper and was handsomely illustrated; it represents one of the most important examples of early 20th-century Afghan journalism. See also PRESS AND JOURNALISM. AMANULLAH, KING (AMAN ALLAH, CALLED GHAZI 1892–1960). King of Afghanistan (1919–1929), Amanullah was the son of Amir Habibullah and Sarwar Sultanah, the Ulya Hazrat (queen). When Amir Habibullah was assassinated in Jalalabad in February 1919, Amanullah Khan was governor of Kabul and in possession of the arsenal and the treasury. He was crowned in Kabul over the prior claims of his uncle Nasrullah, whom he denounced as a usurper and an accomplice in the murder of his father. King Amanullah (he assumed the title of king in 1926) was an ardent reformer and contemporary of like-minded rulers Muhammad Reza in Iran and Kemal Atatürk in Turkey. He demanded a revision of the Anglo-Afghan agreements concluded by Amir Abdul Rahman that left Great Britain in charge of Afghanistan’s foreign relations in exchange for protection from unprovoked Russian aggression and a subsidy in money and military materiel. British reluctance to accept a change in the status quo led to Afghan armed attacks, culminating in the start of the Third AngloAfghan War on 3 May 1919. Britain was war weary and in no condition to wage war on the Indian frontier, and after lengthy negotiations in Rawalpindi, Mussoorie, and Kabul, peace was restored, leaving Afghanistan free and independent from British control (see ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY 1919; and 1921). A national hero, King Amanullah turned his attention to reforming and modernizing his country. He established diplomatic and commercial relations with major European and Asian states; founded schools in which French, German, and English were the major languages of education; and promulgated a constitution that promised the personal freedom and equal rights of all Afghans. He built a new capital, named Darulaman (Dar al-Aman—Abode of Peace), which included a monumental parliament and other government buildings as well as villas of prominent Afghans. Social reforms included a new dress code that permitted women in Kabul to go unveiled and encouraged officials to wear Western dress. Modernization proved costly for Afghanistan and was resented by the traditional elements of Afghan society. The Khost
Rebellion, a tribal revolt in 1924, was suppressed, and Amanullah felt secure enough to travel to Europe in December 1927. Upon his return he faced increasing opposition, and in 1928 an uprising of Shinwari tribesmen, followed by attacks of the Kohdamani and Kohistani forces of Habibullah Kalakani, forced the reformer king into exile. After an unsuccessful attempt at regaining the throne, he crossed the Indian border on 23 May 1929 and settled in Italy and Switzerland until his death on 26 April 1960. He was buried in Jalalabad at the side of the tomb of Amir Habibullah. AMBALA CONFERENCE. The conference took place in March 1869 with Amir Shir Ali and Lord Mayo, the viceroy of India, in which the amir sought an alliance with Britain. Shir Ali had recaptured the Kabul throne and had consolidated his power to the extent that he felt secure enough to accept an invitation by Lord Mayo’s predecessor to visit the viceroy at Ambala, a town about 200 miles north of Delhi. Shir Ali was alarmed by the fact that Russian influence had reached Afghanistan’s northern boundaries when the amirate of Buchara became a Tsarist protectorate. The Afghan ruler wanted a promise of British help in case of Russian aggression, as well as support against domestic rivals and British recognition of his dynasty and his son, Abdullah Jan, as his immediate successor. Mayo assured the Afghan ruler of his government’s sympathies but refused to give any specific promises. As a sign of its friendship, the Indian government presented the amir with 600,000 rupees, 6,500 muskets, four 18-pounder siege guns, two 8-inch howitzers, and a mountain battery of six 3-pounder guns. But when an uninvited Russian mission under General Stolietoff managed to reach Kabul in the summer of 1878, a British army invaded Afghanistan on 21 November 1878, starting the Second AngloAfghan War. See also GREAT BRITAIN. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF AFGHANISTAN (AUAF). The AUAF is Afghanistan’s first private, not-for-profit institute of higher education. Planning for the university began in 2002 when Dr. Sharif Fayez, at the time minister of higher education, proposed its creation. The project won the support of the United States’ first lady Laura Bush and Zalmai Khalilzad, the American ambassador at Kabul. The Afghan Ministry of Higher Education issued a charter in July 2004, and some 48 acres of land were provided in Kart-e Seh for the campus. Dr. Fayez was named “founder” by the new president, C. Michael Smith, and the first students were enrolled in March 2006. USAID is the primary financial backer, and in June 2008, Mrs. Bush announced an additional $40 million for the subsequent five years. The university is patterned after similar institutions in Beirut and Cairo, which educated many of the highest political and government leaders in the Middle East. AMIN, HAFIZULLAH (1929–1979). Born in Paghman, Kabul Province, Hafizullah Amin was president of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from September 1979 until his assassination on 27 December 1979. He was of the Kharoti (Ghilzai Pashtun) tribe whose family came to Paghman in the 19th century. Educated in Afghanistan and the United States, where he was known as a Pashtun nationalist, he became a teacher and later principal of Ibn Sina and Teachers Training schools in Kabul. His conversion to Marxism is said to have occurred in 1964. He was elected to the 13th session of parliament (1969) as a representative
from Paghman. During the republican period (1973–1978) he successfully recruited followers in the army in competition with Parchami efforts. After the Saur Revolt he was appointed vice premier and minister of foreign affairs. In April 1979 he became prime minister, and, after he ousted Nur Muhammad Taraki, he became president on 16 September 1979. He was at odds with Alexandr Puzanov, the Soviet ambassador to Kabul, and successfully demanded his recall. Some observers called Amin the Afghan “Tito” because of his independent and nationalist inclinations. He was accused of responsibility in the assassination of thousands. Soviet special forces attacked him in a bloody battle with his troops in Darulaman and assassinated him on 27 December 1979. He was replaced by Babrak Karmal of the Parchami faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. AMIN, HAMIDULLAH (1941–). Born in the Bagrami district of Kabul Province, Amis was educated at Habibia High School and Kabul University, where he earned a B.A. degree from the faculty of letters, 1959, and an M.A. degree in geography from Durham University, United Kingdom, in 1967. He started teaching at Kabul University and served as dean, faculty of letters, from January to April 1978. He was appointed chancellor of Kabul University in 2009. AMIR (EMIR). The amir was a commander, also nobleman, prince, ruler, and chief (from A., amara, to command). Caliph Omar (r. 634–644) first assumed the title Amir al-Mu’minin (Commander of the Believers). In Afghanistan, the Sadozai rulers carried the title “king” (shah), but the Muhammadzai rulers from 1826 assumed the title “amir” until Amanullah Khan adopted the title of king in 1926. After the Taliban conquest, Mulla Muhammad Omar adopted the title “amir” and changed the name of the country into the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. AMU DARIA (34-40’ N, 59-1’ E, Darya). A river called Oxus by the ancient Greeks, the Amu Daria forms for about 280 miles the boundary between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (formerly the Soviet Union) and Afghanistan. Its easternmost sources are the Ab-i Wakhan and the Ab-i Pamir, which rise in the Little Pamir Mountains and run into the Ab-i Panj near the village of Qal’a-ye Panjeh. It is fed by the Kukcha and further west the Kunduz rivers, at which point it is called the Amu Daria. It then flows in a northwesterly direction to run into the Aral Sea. It is navigable only in parts, although its length from the farthest source to the mouth of the Aral Sea extends some 1,500 miles. A bridge near Hairatan, completed in 1982, links the Afghan highway from Mazar-i Sharif with the Uzbekistan rail terminal at Termez. Another bridge was constructed at Sherkhan/Qala Kutarma in Kunduz Province. The bridges were vital links for the supply of Soviet and Afghan forces during the 1980s. After the defeat of the Taliban regime in northern Afghanistan in late 2001, the bridge was reopened for trade and to bring in humanitarian and military aid. ANDKHUI (36-56’ N, 65-8’ E). A town and district in Fariab Province with about 73,000 inhabitants, Andkhui is located some 45 miles northwest of Shiberghan. In Timurid times (late 15th century) and again from the 17th to the 19th centuries, Andkhui was an important
commercial center. It shared the fate of Maimana and Balkh in being part of Uzbek khanates under Afghan or Bukharan suzerainty until Amir Abdul Rahman took direct control of Afghan Turkestan in the 1880s. It now has a mixed, but largely Uzbek, population and is a marketplace for Turkoman rugs, Qaraqul skins, sheep, and cattle. Among its important shrines is the tomb of Baba Wali (a Sufi pir), which is widely known as a place of pilgrimage. Industrial development, limited to the establishment of a tannery that employed 250 workers, has been difficult due to scarcity of water and the war in Afghanistan. ANGAR, FAIZ MUHAMMAD (d. 1970s). A Kandahar businessman, Angar was a member of the Wish Zalmayan (P., Awakening Youth), a Pashtun political club. He published the Persian/Pashtu biweekly newspaper Angar (1951), which was critical of the Afghan government and was therefore banned after a few months of existence. Nur Muhammad Taraki claimed to have contributed an article, “What Do We Want?” that was censored and led to the demise of the paper. Angar died in the 1970s in Kandahar. ANGLO-AFGHAN RELATIONS. When Afghanistan emerged as an independent state in 1747, Great Britain had already established a foothold in India. The British East India Company was the de facto ruler of Bengal and was ready to expand the area under its control. Ahmad Shah Durrani defeated the powerful Maratha confederation in the Battle of Panipat, north of Delhi, in 1761. When Zaman Shah (r. 1793–1800) invited Lord Wellesley (1798– 1805), governor general of the company, to cooperate in the conquest of northern India, the British governor general enlisted Persia in containing Afghanistan. An attempt at forging an alliance with Afghanistan was the mission of the British envoy Mountstuart Elphinstone to the court of Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk at Peshawar in 1808–1809. It was to establish “eternal friendship” between the two countries and called for joint action in case of Franco-Persian aggression. But Afghanistan lost in quick succession control of Kashmir, Sind, the Western Punjab, and Peshawar to the British ally Ranjit Singh (r. 1780–1839). Thus was born the British “forward policy” and Afghan strategy of resistance, resulting in three Anglo-Afghan wars. Britain was in search of the “scientific frontier,” first at the Indus River, and then at the passes controlling access to India, if not at the Hindu Kush or the Amu Daria. By the end of the 19th century, Russia had extended its influence to the Amu Daria, and Britain had extended its control to the southern and eastern borders of Afghanistan. Failing the conquest of Afghanistan, Britain wanted to keep Afghanistan under its influence. One move to achieve this objective was the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842) when Britain attempted to install Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk (r. 1803–1810 and 1839–1842) to the Afghan throne. The British disaster in this war led to a period of “masterly inactivity,” which was to leave Afghanistan to the Afghans. But the lessons of the disaster were ignored a generation later, when the Indian government attempted to depose Amir Shir Ali (r. 1863–1879) in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Although not a similar disaster as the first war, Britain was resigned to recognize Amir Abdul Rahman (r. 1880–1901) as the new ruler, in spite of the fact that he had entered Afghanistan with the assistance of Russia. A new period of coexistence followed during which the amir permitted Britain the control of
his foreign relations with other powers. In exchange the amir received a guarantee of protection from Russian aggression. The Afghan ruler regarded his agreement as a treaty between equals and did not permit Britain to gain a foothold in Afghanistan under the aegis of their common defense. Afghanistan’s borders were defined with British assistance, including the Durand Line, and Abdul Rahman consolidated the power of the state in a number of domestic wars. Although Britain was not completely satisfied with its agreements with the Afghan rulers, both countries were at peace until the reign of King Amanullah (r. 1919–1929), when this Afghan king won his independence from British hegemony in the Third AngloAfghan War (1919). After that event, Afghanistan established relations with the major powers of the world, and Britain became just one of the players on the diplomatic scene. India was partitioned in 1947, and Pakistan became Afghanistan’s neighbor and inheritor of the dispute for control over the independent tribal territory. During the Cold War period, the United States had become a major power in Kabul until the Soviet intervention in support of the Marxist government. Only after the defeat of the Taliban regime did British soldiers again enter Afghan territory. This time they came as members of an international coalition defending Afghanistan from Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas. ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1809. See ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART. ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1905. A renewal, in the form of a treaty, of agreements signed between Amir Abdul Rahman and Sir Lepel Griffin, chief political officer in Afghanistan, in June and July 1880. At the death of Amir Abdul Rahman on 3 October 1901, the British-Indian government insisted that the agreements with the amir were personal and therefore subject to renegotiation with his successor. The government of India sought modifications and concessions including a more “liberal commercial policy” on the part of Afghanistan, delimitation of the Mohmand border (between Afghanistan and India), and noninterference of Afghanistan in the politics of the transborder (Indian) tribes. Britain exerted great pressure, stopping subsidy payments and prohibiting Afghan imports of arms, but Amir Habibullah did not yield. He invited Louis W. Dane, the Indian foreign secretary, to Kabul, and after three months of negotiations the “independent king of Afghanistan and its dependencies” and Louis W. Dane, “Foreign Secretary of the Mighty Government of India,” signed the treaty at Kabul on 21 March 1905. For Amir Habibullah this was a great victory: none of the British objectives was won, the arrears in subsidy were paid, and Britain affirmed that it would not interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. This treaty remained in force until repudiated by Amir Amanullah in 1919. ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1919. A treaty between the British and the Afghan governments after the Third Anglo-Afghan War was negotiated at Rawalpindi and signed on 8 August 1919, by A. H. Grant, foreign secretary of the government of India, and Ali Ahmad Khan, Afghan commissary for home affairs. The treaty made a return to the “old friendship” between the two states contingent on negotiations started after a six-month waiting period. In the meantime Great Britain would not permit Afghanistan to import arms and ammunition
through India, the payment of a subsidy would be ended, and the arrears in payments would be confiscated. Finally, undefined portions of the Khaibar were to be demarcated by a British commission, and Afghanistan was to accept the Indo-Afghan frontier as marked. An annex stated that “the said Treaty and this letter leave Afghanistan officially free and independent in its internal and external affairs.” British hopes that a contrite amir would again conclude an exclusive alliance were soon seen to be unrealistic. Amir Amanullah sent a mission to the Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States and acted on his right to establish diplomatic relations with foreign powers. The Pashtun tribes on the Indian side of the frontier were made to believe that the treaty represented only a cease-fire, after which war was to be resumed if Britain did not agree to various Afghan demands. Indeed, it was only after a fruitless threemonth conference at Mussoorie (17 April–18 July 1920) and at Kabul (20 January–2 December 1921) that normal neighborly relations between Britain and Afghanistan were established. ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1921. Also called the “Treaty of Kabul” because it was negotiated and signed in Kabul by Henry R. C. Dobbs, the British envoy, and Mahmud Tarzi, chief of the Afghan delegation, after arduous 11-month negotiations, this treaty restored “friendly and commercial relations” between the two governments after the Third AngloAfghan War and negotiations at Mussoorie and Rawalpindi. The negotiations proceeded in four phases. During the first session, 20 January to 9 April 1921, the Afghan amir unsuccessfully demanded territorial concessions, while Great Britain wanted the exclusion of Russian consular offices from southeastern Afghanistan. In the second phase, from 9 April to mid-July 1921, Britain asked Afghanistan to break the newly established diplomatic relations with Russia in exchange for a subsidy of four million rupees and weapons, as well as guarantees against unprovoked Russian aggression. When in the third stage, from mid-July to 18 September, the British foreign office informed the Italian government that it was about to conclude an agreement that would “admit the superior and predominant political influence of Britain” in Afghanistan, the Afghans refused to accept an “alliance.” An exclusive treaty was impossible after Afghanistan announced ratification of the Russo-Afghan treaty of 1921 (see SOVIET-AFGHAN RELATIONS). In the fourth and final stage of negotiations, from 18 September to 8 December 1921, the British mission twice made preparations to return to India, when finally an agreement was signed at Kabul on 22 November 1921. Ratifications were exchanged on 6 February 1922. In the treaty, the governments “mutually certify and respect each with regard to the other all rights of internal and external independence.” Afghanistan reaffirmed its acceptance of the boundary west of the Khaibar, subject to minor “realignment.” Legations were to be opened in London and Kabul, consulates were to be established in various Indian and Afghan towns, and Afghanistan was permitted to import arms and munitions through India. No customs duties were to be charged for goods in transit to Afghanistan, and each party agreed to inform the other of major military operations in the frontier belt. Representatives of both states were to meet in the near future to discuss the conclusion of a trade convention, which eventually was signed in June 1923.
ANGLO-AFGHAN WARS. See FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR. ANGLO-RUSSIAN CONVENTION OF 1907. An agreement between Great Britain and Russia concluded on 31 August 1907, it called for “security on their respective frontiers in Central Asia and to maintain in these regions a solid and lasting peace.” It divided Iran into spheres of influence between the two powers, permitted Russia to have direct relations of a nonpolitical nature with local Afghan officials in northern Afghanistan, and provided for equal access to “commercial opportunity.” Tibet was to be under Chinese sovereignty, but the British were free to deal with Tibetans in commercial matters while Russian Buddhists could deal with the Dalai Lama on religious matters. Although Britain was to continue its treaty obligation of 1905 to protect Afghanistan from unprovoked Russian aggression, and Russia declared Afghanistan outside its sphere of influence, Amir Habibullah saw this agreement as an attempt to solve the “Afghanistan question” over his head. Amir Habibullah was on a state visit to India in January 1907 when Britain and Russia negotiated the treaty, but he was not informed of the convention until 10 September 1907. He was shocked and felt betrayed by the British, and when he was requested to agree to the convention he took a year with his reply, refusing to ratify the agreement. Russia never obtained the expected commercial and political benefits, and the Bolshevik government repudiated the convention in 1918 in an attempt to win the goodwill of its Asian neighbors. As far as Afghanistan was concerned, the convention was a dead letter from the beginning. ANIS, GHULAM MUHYIUDDIN (d. 1938). Born in Herat, Anis was educated in Egypt. He was a supporter of King Amanullah and in 1927 was founder of a private newspaper named Anis, after him. During the civil war period (1929), he temporarily edited Habib al-Islam (Beloved of Islam), the newspaper of Amir Habibullah (Kalakani). In 1931, Anis came under government control and, with the exception of the republican period (1973–1975), still exists to the present. Arrested after Muhammad Nadir Shah ascended the throne, he remained in prison until his death in 1938. He is the author of Crisis and Salvation (Buhran wa Nejat) which describes Nadir’s defeat of Habibullah Kalakani. ANJOMAN-I ADABI (LITERARY SOCIETY). The literary circle was founded by Muhammad Nadir Shah in 1930. Early members included Qari Abdullah, the poet laureate; Mir Ghulam Muhammad Ghobar; Muhammad Sarwar Joya; Muhammad Karim Nazihi; Sarwar Goya Etemadi; and others. They edited and published the periodical Kabul and from 1932 the Salnamah, Kabul Annual. The Literary Society and the Historical Society later became part of the Afghan Academy. ANSARI, KHWAJA ABDULLAH (1006–1089). Born in Herat, Ansari spent most of his life in that city. He was brilliant as a youth and studied in Nishapur under Shafi’ite teachers but later adopted the more severe Hanbali school of jurisprudence. A much celebrated Sufi poet and philosopher and “mystic of love,” he became a “mystic of tauhid (unity).” He wrote both in Arabic and Persian. His Arabic collection is said to contain more than 6,000 couplets, and his Persian poetry is said to amount to about 14,000 verses. His tomb is in Gazar-Gah, near
Herat, amid ruins from the Timurid period. ANWARI, SAYYID HUSAIN (1959–). Born in Parwan Province of a Hazara family and educated in Kabul, Anwari was a member of Muhammad Asef Muhsini’s Harakar-i Islami. He served as minister of social affairs (1992–1995) and was a member of the Northern Alliance, fighting as chief military commander of the Harakat against the Taliban regime (1996–2001). After the fall of the Taliban, he served as minister of agriculture in the Transitional Government. He is the leader of the Islamic People’s Movement of Afghanistan (Hizb-i Islami-yi Mardum-i Afghanistan). He represented Kabul in the Wolesi Jirga and served as governor of Herat Province (2005–2009) until he was elected a member of parliament in 2010. AQCHA (36-56’ N, 66-11’ E). A town and district with some 75,000 inhabitants in Jozjan Province, Aqcha is on the road from Shiberghan to Mazar-i Sharif, about 30 miles from the former and 42 miles from the latter. It was an Uzbek Khanate until annexed by Amir Dost Muhammad. The population is still largely Uzbek. Major enterprises include a carpet industry, tanneries, and the production of vegetable oil. Aqcha is known for its bazaar of silver jewelry. ARAB. There are some 4,000 Arabs who still speak Arabic (according to Rawan Farhadi— but T. J. Barfield, in The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan, has not found any) living in four villages in the Jozjan and Balkh provinces. In addition, there are said to be about 100,000 others who no longer speak Arabic scattered all over northern Afghanistan and Herat Province. They are Sunni Muslims and claim to be the descendants of the Muslim Arab conquerors of Khorasan. More likely, they are the descendants of Arabs from Damascus who were settled in Samarkand by Timur-i Lang in the 15th century. ARCHEOLOGY AND ART. Afghanistan holds some of the most important and least explored archeological sites in the world, but decades of war have caused the loss of many archeological treasures. Long the “forbidden country,” the beginnings of archeological fieldwork date to 1922 when the Afghan government gave the Délégation Archéologique Française a 30-year monopoly for work (see FRANCE-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS). It was renewed in 1952, and the Afghan government was able to refuse permits to its powerful neighbors, the Soviet Union and Great Britain. Sir Auriel Stein, a famous British archeologist, was never permitted to work. But he visited Afghanistan and died there in 1943. Only after World War II did other nationals enter the field. Considerable work was done on the prehistoric, pre-Islamic, and Islamic periods. French scholars investigated Iron Age mounds near Nad-i Ali, Nimruz Province; Bronze/Iron Age sites at Mundigak, northwest of Kandahar; and Bronze Age sites in Takhar Province. American scholars began work in 1949 on various prehistoric sites, followed by Russian, British, Italian, and German scholars. Pre-Islamic excavations proved to be the most spectacular. The Bactrian Treasure of coins and gold ornaments was found in 1979 by a Soviet/Afghan expedition in six graves at Tilla Tapa (Golden Mount) near Shiberghan. Some of the most spectacular items were on display in 2008 in a number of United States cities.
Structures of historical interest include the Bagh-i Babur, the first of famous Moghol (Mughal) gardens, dating to 1504, in which the modest tomb of Babur, founder of the Moghul dynasty of India, is located. The garden was divided into quarters by channels of water, laid out in sloping terrain. The garden was long neglected and restored only recently. The Bala Hisar of Kabul, a citadel, is located at a site that included fortifications since the seventh century. It is connected to a wall, 18 feet high and about 12 feet thick. Ruins of Kapisa, the summer capital of the Kushanid Kingdom (30 B.C.–248 A.D.) can be seen about 40 miles northeast of Kabul. Excavations of Hackin (1936–1940) discovered a treasure filled with luxury goods and rare Buddhist objects. An important site is Hadda, the location of fourthcentury Buddhist monasteries. French expeditions uncovered 23,000 heads of Buddhas and other figures. The art of Hadda comes from two main periods: the second to third centuries A.D. and the fifth century. It is a mixture of Bactrian, Greco-Roman, and Indian elements. And there were the two giant Buddha statues of Bamian from the third and fifth centuries A.D., which were destroyed by order of Muhammad Omar in February/March 2001. In Herat Province, the 10th-century citadel has received some restoration work. The Timurid shrine of Gazar-Gah has been called one of the most complex architectural and artistic monuments in the Islamic world. It houses the tomb of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari. Ruins of the Persian satrapy Bactria can still be seen near Balkh. The grand mosque of Mazar-i Sharif houses, according to legend, the tomb of Hazrat Ali, the fourth Sunni caliph and Shi’i imam. It is not possible to list here more than a few historical monuments. But the disaster of the Kabul Museum must be mentioned. It was located at the front line of the civil war of the 1990s. It held priceless manuscripts, some 20,000 artifacts of the Gandharan school, about 40,000 coins from the eighth century B.C. to the 19th century—the largest collection in the world. Much loss resulted from looting, extensive illegal excavation, and neglect of monuments and shrines, culminating in the destruction of the Buddha statues of Bamian and artifacts of the Kabul Museum. It is grounds for consolation that some of the contents from the museum were transferred to bank vaults and thus preserved, including the Bactrian Treasure. ARG (ARK). An arg is a citadel within a walled city, traditionally the residence of a ruler. After the Bala Hisar was destroyed by British forces in 1879, Amir Abdul Rahman built the new Arg, located in the center of Kabul. It took five years to build and, in addition to the amir and his court, housed the major government offices. It was surrounded by a moat and a 50-foot wall. Later additions and modification radically changed the original plan when modern buildings replaced the early residences. In the Salam Khana (Audience Hall) the affairs of government were conducted. The Del Kusha (Heart’s Delight) Palace was added by Amir Habibullah, and the Gul Khana Palace was built to be the royal office of King Amanullah. After the coup by Muhammad Daud in July 1973, the president’s office was established in the Arg. During the Khalqi period (1978–1979), Nur Muhammad Taraki moved in, and the Arg was renamed the “House of the People” (Khana-yi Khalq). In December 1979, Hafizullah Amin left the Arg and established himself in the Tapa Taj Beg Palace in Darulaman, where he was assassinated by Soviet troops. After the capture of Kabul in April 1992, the Arg became the residence of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, and upon
their capture of Kabul, the seat of the Taliban governor. After the conquest of Kabul by the Northern Alliance in November 2001, Rabbani reoccupied the Arg, but he had to yield to Hamid Karzai and the ex-king. ARGHANDAB (31-27’ N, 64-23’ E). A major Afghan river that has its source in the Kuh-i Safi (mountain) northwest of Ghazni, the Arghandab flows in a southwesterly direction north of Kandahar city and, after a course of about 350 miles, runs into the Helmand River. Only the upper part of the stream is perennial. In June 1950, Morrison-Knudsen, an American engineering firm, began construction of the 145-foot-high Arghandab Dam located about 18 miles above Kandahar city; it was finished in 1952 and greatly increased the land under irrigation in the Kandahar basin. There are also two districts (woluswali) named Arghandab: one in Kandahar Province with an area of 214 square miles and a population of 43,000; the other in Zabul Province with an area of 808 square miles and a population of 18,000 (estimates are for 1978). ARGHANDIWAL, ABDUL HADI (1952–). Born in Kabul, the son of Abdul Jalil Arghandiwal, Abdul Hadi graduated from Ghazi High School and subsequently earned a B.A. degree in economics from Kabul University. He spent some time in the United States for further studies, and upon his return served as manager in the Ministry of Planning in 1977. He went to Pakistan after the civil war broke out and briefly served as finance minister in preTaliban Afghanistan. He was elected chairman of the Islamic Party (Hizb-i Islami) of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in 2008 and announced that his party would bring security to the country by negotiating with all armed opposition groups. He was appointed minister of economy to the 2009 cabinet of President Hamid Karzai. He speaks Dari, Pashtu, and English. ARGHASTAN (31-23’ N, 65-46’ E). A river that is part of the Helmand-Arghandab system, the Arghastan is a continuation of the Lori River that runs in a west-southwesterly direction into the Dori, about 25 miles south of Kandahar, and into the Helmand River south of Lashkargah. Arghastan is also the name of a district (woluswali) with an area of 1,663 square miles and 166 villages, including Arghastan village, the administrative center. ARIANA (ARYANA). Ariana is the name of the first territory of the Arians, as mentioned in the Avesta, around 1,500 B.C. Afghan historians point with pride to the illustrious roots of the Afghan state, suggesting a direct link between the ancient Arians and the modern Afghans. The name Ariana is frequently used to draw attention to Afghanistan’s ancient history (for example, Ariana Afghan Airlines, and Ariana, the name of a journal published monthly since 1942 and quarterly from 1973 by the Afghan Historical Society). ARIANA AFGHAN AIRLINES. Civil aviation in Afghanistan was established in 1951 as a branch of the Royal Afghan Air Force under the name Hawabazi Mulki, and Colonel Gulbar Khan was appointed its head. It was subsequently upgraded to an independent agency named Afghan Air Authority. In 1955, Peter Baldwin, an American businessman, started a private airline which at first connected major Afghan towns, transported pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, and
ran charters to Beirut and Tehran. Baldwin owned 49 percent of the stock and in 1957 sold out to Pan American Airways for $400,000 when the airline adopted the name Ariana Afghan Airlines. Subsequently, Pan Am played a key role in operating the airline, training personnel, and maintaining regular service on three routes: Kabul–Tehran–Beirut–Istanbul–Frankfurt– London; Kabul–Tashkent–Moscow; and Kabul–Delhi. During the republican period (1973– 1978), the company acquired a DC-10, a wide-body aircraft that was delivered after the Saur Revolt and operated for a number of years. The company eventually lost landing rights in Western Europe but provided regular services to East Bloc countries. It was subsequently merged with the domestic air service and called Bakhtar Afghan Airlines. In 1988 the company again adopted the former name. In the 1980s the company acquired several Antonov AN-26 turboprops for domestic routes and two Turpolev TU-154s for international flights. In the 1990s a number of private airlines were established, including Balkh Airways, under General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s control, connecting Mazar-i Sharif with Peshawar, Mashhad, and Dubai. Khaibar Airlines connected Jalalabad with neighboring countries. It was controlled by the Jalalabad shura until the city was captured by the Taliban in September 1996. Prior to their conquest of Kabul, the Taliban had an airline headquartered in Kandahar, and Pamir Airlines, apparently controlled by Jam’iat, was centered in northeastern Afghanistan. As a result of American intervention in Afghanistan, Ariana lost six of its eight remaining aircraft, and the new Interim Government began service with only two aircraft and about 1,000 Afghan employees. In 2002, India gave three airbus aircraft to Afghanistan, and Ariana Afghan Airlines was gradually expanded and has again become the major Afghan airline. In spite of all the development, Afghan airlines have been refused landing rights in the European Union. See also AVIATION IN AFGHANISTAN. ARIANFAR, AZIZ (1959–). Born in Mazar-i Sharif, Arianfar graduated from the Technical College for Oil and Gas in 1987 and with an M.A. degree from the faculty of geology of the State University of Moscow in 1985. A member of the Association of Afghan Writers from 1986 to 1989, he worked in three publishing institutions in Moscow. In 1989 he went as a refugee to Germany and studied German. He returned to Russia in 1992 and started to work on a Ph.D. degree but moved to Frankfurt to work in a German company from 1992 to 1995. He was president of the Center for Strategic Affairs in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2006 and was appointed ambassador to Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2006. ARMS BAZAARS, AFGHAN. From the 18th until the early 20th centuries, Afghanistan depended on foreign imports, smuggled and captured arms, and to a limited extent on local manufacture for its weapons supply. Since most weapons had to enter Afghanistan by way of India, Great Britain had a monopoly on the sale of weapons and tried to control their supply and quality. Amir Abdul Rahman founded the mashin-khana factory, where guns and ammunition were produced. In addition, numerous workshops existed on the Afghan frontier where guns of all types were manufactured. Because of a lack of electricity, machinery was operated by human or animal power. The tradition of arms manufacture and sales in specialized communities exists to this day. One major weapons bazaar exists in Darra on the
Pakistani side of the border that is probably the largest open arms market in the world. In some hundred shops, one can buy anything from rifles to mortars. The influx of captured Soviet weapons and arms provided by the supporters of the mujahedin produced quite a glut on the market. Even Stinger missiles, supplied by the United States to the mujahedin, were sold to the highest bidder. See also BAZAAR. ARMY, AFGHAN NATIONAL (ANA). Afghanistan’s army evolved from its traditional beginnings under Ahmad Shah in a process of gradual modernization throughout the 19th and first half of the 20th century. The first efforts at modernization began during the reigns of Amirs Dost Muhammad (r. 1826–1838 and 1842–1863), who mustered a standing army of 15,000 and 45 guns. Shir Ali Khan (r. 1863–1879), after visiting India in 1869, adopted Indian titles: briget (brigadier), karnel (colonel), kaptan (captain), subedar, havildar, and so on. Both lacked the type of modern weapons employed by Afghanistan’s neighbors and the nucleus of a modern officers corps. Officers were appointed on the basis of loyalty rather than skill, and any Afghan who could ride a horse or carry a gun was considered fit, regardless of age. Military skills were passed on from father to son, and one cannoneer of advanced age had to be carried along on a stretcher to perform his functions. Western military technology came to Afghanistan by means of prisoners of war or foreign mercenaries. One such person, William Campbell, alias Shir Muhammad Khan, became commander in chief of the Turkestan army. In the 1830s the composition of the Afghan army was described as “Pathan, Hindus, Kuzzelbashes,” and a few deserters from the Sikh army. Muslims from neighboring countries joined the Afghan forces, including Indian officers in the “Great Sepoy Mutiny” of 1857–1858. The reorganized army included a cavalry force of about 15,000 men, divided into two divisions headed by Amir Dost Muhammad’s sons. A specially trained infantry force of about 2,000 men was armed with large muskets, and an artillery branch disposed of 50 to 60 serviceable guns. European-type uniforms were first used (Gregorian 1969, 76). Military pay was partly in cash and partly in kind, but usually in arrears. Recruitment was often by forcible seizure of able-bodied men, a practice not exclusive to Afghanistan at the time. In addition to the regular army, there existed a militia of jezailchis (riflemen) and feudal irregular forces. A British military mission headed by Major H. B. Lumsden is said to have contributed advice toward the modernization of the Afghan army. Amir Shir Ali continued the modernization process. He obtained a number of artillery pieces and some 5,000 Snider rifles in 1875. But the ensuing civil war in Afghanistan postponed major military reforms to the time of Amir Abdul Rahman. The “Iron Amir” spent most of his subsidy from the British-Indian government on the purchase of arms and expanded the local production of weapons. The first attempt to create a modern officers corps was made in 1904 when Amir Habibullah (r. 1901–1919) founded the Royal Military College. By 1910 it enrolled 80 cadets, mostly the sons of Durrani chiefs, who studied, in addition to Islamic topics, arithmetic, geometry, and military logistics and underwent rigorous physical training and drill. In 1907 a Turkish officer, Mahmud Sami, was put in charge of the college, marking the beginning of Turkish influence in the Afghan army. King Amanullah (r. 1919–1929) neglected the army at the cost of his throne. He saw his as an
“era of the pen, not of the sword” and devoted his resources to the modernization of his country. Turkish advisers were still prominent in the army, including Jamal Pasha, one of the triumvirate rulers of the Ottoman war government. Germans, the teachers of the Turks, were also employed, as were members of various other nationalities. The nucleus of an Afghan Air Force was created in the 1920s with the participation of experts from the Soviet Union. King Amanullah’s army was about 50,000 strong, comprising an infantry of about 38,000 men divided into 78 battalions armed with Martini-Henri and Snider rifles; a cavalry of about 8,000 sabers divided into 21 units; and about 4,000 artillerymen employing some 260 breachloading guns, mainly German Krupp 75mm and 7-pounders (O’Ballance 1993, 55). An arsenal at Kabul held 15,000 small-bore rifles, 400,000 Martinis, and a few old machine guns. Telegraph communications had still not replaced heliography. Nadir Khan, as commander in chief, established six army corps headquartered at Kabul, Jalalabad, Matun, Herat, and Mazar-i Sharif. Kandahar was added, and all were headquarters of principal formation. In practice, many corps were severely undermanned. Muhammad Nadir Shah took power with tribesmen and reconstituted the army in 1930. He faced many insurrections: the Koh Daman revolt (29 November–30 June), the Shinwari rebellion (February 1930), the operations against Ibrahim Beg (November 1930–April 1931), the Ghilzai threat (1931), the Darre Khel revolt (November 1932), and the Khost disturbances. Schools for cavalry, artillery, and infantry were established. German, Italian, and Turkish officers were employed. Pay was increased, and clothing and accommodation were improved by 1933. A striking improvement occurred in 1936 when the army was about 60,000 strong. It played an important role in internal security, and although regularly paid and housed in better barracks, it was still inferior to British-Indian standards. “During peacetime the army was organized into two corps (Kabul two, Southern Province three divisions); one division household troops (Guards division); one artillery division; and two independent mixed divisions for a total of 13 divisions and one artillery division” (MR). Muhammad Zahir Shah (r. 1933–1973) realized that for domestic stability and defense against foreign aggression he needed a strong, modern army. His uncle, Shah Mahmud, minister of war and commander in chief of the army until 1946, embarked on a project of military reorganization. He purchased weapons from Germany, Britain, Italy, and Czechoslovakia as well as airplanes and tanks and created the first mechanized forces. Additional officers’ schools were established in Maimana and Mazar-i Sharif, and those in Kabul and Herat were expanded. Afghan officers were sent abroad for additional training, and Turkish officers replaced foreign advisers at the advent of World War II. A combination of compulsory and voluntary enlistment increased the Afghan army from 70,000 men in 1934 to 80,000 in 1936. About 50 percent of Afghanistan’s revenue of 150 million afghanis was devoted to military expenditures (Gregorian 1969, 371). After World War II the Afghan army had reached its traditional size of about 90,000 men, but its weapons and equipment were largely obsolete. Afghan prime minister Shah Mahmud envisaged a “small but well-trained internal security force,” reducing the size of the army by
half and expanding a central police force to 20,000 men (Bradsher 1999, 18). Formal requests for arms purchases from the United States were repeatedly rebuffed; therefore in early 1955 Prime Minister Muhammad Daud turned to the Soviet Union for help. The Pashtunistan dispute with Pakistan, a member of the Baghdad Pact and unofficial ally of the United States, was one of the reasons for the growing influence of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan’s army. In July 1956 the Soviet Union granted a loan of $32.4 million in military assistance that greatly helped to modernize the Afghan army. But Afghanistan became dependent on Soviet expertise and supplies, and some 3,725 Afghan military personnel went to the Soviet Union for training. On the eve of the Marxist coup in 1978, the Afghan army included all branches of infantry divisions, mechanized, paratroop, commando, and artillery brigades. Equipment included a sizable tank force and an air force of some 140 to 170 fighter planes and 45 to 60 helicopters. After the Soviet intervention, a status of armed forces agreement was signed in April 1980, legalizing the presence of a “Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan.” After the fall of the Marxist regime in April 1992, the army broke into factions that supported various mujahedin forces. The Taliban reformed the army with Pakistani assistance and utilized thousands of students from border madrasas, as well as members of al-Qaeda and volunteers from the Islamic world. The American intervention led to the elimination of what was left of the Afghan army, and a new attempt at creating a modern army began with the creation of an active all-voluntary force. For developments after 2001, see AFGHAN NATIONAL ARMY. ARMY OF THE INDUS. The British-Indian army and Shah Shuja’s forces that invaded Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War totaled some 39,000 men. It was composed of three sources, the Bengal army, the Bombay army, and the army of Shah Shuja, most of whose men were transfers from the British East India Company’s troops. The Bengal army consisted of the British 16th Dragoons (lancers), the 13th Foot (light infantry), one regiment of Bengal European infantry, two of light cavalry, two of local horse, and seven native infantry. They were complemented with one troop of all-European horse artillery and two all-Indian companies of sappers and miners. From the Bombay army came the 4th Light Dragoons and the 4th and 17th Regiments of Foot (all from British service), one regiment of light cavalry and one of local horse, two troops of horse, two companies of foot artillery (all European), four regiments of native infantry, and one company of sappers and miners. Shah Shuja’s forces included two regiments of cavalry, four regiments of infantry, and a troop of horse artillery. Two additional infantry regiments were recruited later. Altogether his forces comprised some 6,000 men. Shah Shuja’s son Timur commanded a force of 6,000 Sikhs and 4,000 of Shah Shuja’s men that invaded Afghanistan from Peshawar. Because of the lack of roads fit for wheeled traffic, the Army of the Indus depended on animal transport. Some 60,000 Indian and several thousand Afghan camels were employed, as well as hundreds of bullock carts and a number of baggage elephants. The invasion proceeded without great difficulty. The British forces reached the Kandahar area on 14 April 1839, and on 25 April, Shah Shuja entered the city to popular acclaim. Sir John Keane, the commander in chief, departed from Kandahar on 27 June 1839 and moved against Ghazni, and on 23 July, he
succeeded in capturing the city after blowing in the Kabul Gate. The British army took Kabul in the face of little opposition, and on 7 August Shah Shuja formally entered the city. In September, the Bombay Division returned to India, and a month later parts of the Bengal division left. Most of the remaining troops and camp followers did not survive the invasion. See also DEATH MARCH; GREAT BRITAIN. ARSALA, HADAYAT AMIN (1942–). Born in Kabul, a Pashtun, after graduating from high school, Arsala continued his education in the United States and obtained a Ph.D. degree in economics from George Washington University. Arsala is a distant cousin of Haji Abdul Qadir; he is married and has three children. He began his professional career in the World Bank youth professional program in 1969 and served in various positions until 1987. He joined the Afghan resistance against the communist regime in Afghanistan and served as senior adviser and member of the Afghan Mujahedin Unity Council. From 1989 to 1992 he served as minister of finance of the government of Afghanistan in exile, and as foreign minister in 1993. In 1998 he was a member of the executive council of the Afghan Loya Jirga, representing the ex-king Zahir Shah. He participated in the Bonn Conference in December 2001 and served as vice chairman and finance minister in the Afghan Interim Government from 22 December 2001 to 7 December 2004. After the emergency Loya Jirga in 2002, he served as the vice president of the Transitional State of Afghanistan and as chairman of the independent civil services and administrative reform commission. He was adviser to the Central Statistics Office of Afghanistan and the Afghan Economical Cooperation Committee and a member of the National Security Council of Afghanistan. In December 2004 he was appointed minister of commerce and minister of state in the March 2006 government. ART. See ARCHEOLOGY AND ART. ASEFI, HUMAYUN SHAH (1940–). Born in Kabul, the son of Sardar Ahmad Shah and half brother of Queen Humaira, Asefi was educated at Istiqlal Lycée from 1962 to 1973, and in law at Kabul University. He continued his studies in France and earned the doctorate in political science from the Institute of Political Science in Paris. He served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1972 and as secretary at the Afghan embassy in Bonn from 1977 to 1978. He lived in France during the civil war and returned to Afghanistan in 2003. He was a running mate of Dr. Abdullah in his unsuccessful presidential campaign of 2009. He heads the monarchist National Unity Party (Tahrik-i Wahdat-i Milli). ASHRAF, ABDUL RAHMAN (1944–). Born in Kabul, the son of Muhammad Ashraf and Gulalai Kabir Siraj, Ashraf graduated from Istiqlal Lycée in 1962 and with a B.S. degree in geology from Kabul University in 1966. He went to Germany and earned a diploma in geology and a Ph.D. from Bonn University in 1976. He taught at Kabul University, Bonn University, and at the Jilin University in China. He returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime and became president of Kabul University in 2007, and senior adviser for mines and energy to President Hamid Karzai. He was appointed ambassador to Germany in
2010. ASHRAF GHANI. See GHANI, ASHRAF. ASOKA (269–232 B.C.). An Indian ruler over an empire that extended from southern India into Afghanistan, Asoka tired of the bloodshed he had wreaked. He repented and dedicated himself to propagating Buddhism. He set up rock edicts (Pillars of Morality) throughout his empire, several of which in Greek and Aramaic were found in the area of Kandahar and Laghman. His edicts advocated humanity in government, the abandonment of aggressive wars, and the sanctity of animal life. They constitute the “oldest surviving Indian written documents of any historical significance” (Basham 1966, 63). ATA, MUHAMMAD USTAD (ATTA). A Tajik, native of Dara-i Suf Valley, Samangan Province, Muhammad Ata is a member of the Jam’iat-i Islami party and was commander of the Seventh Corps in Northern Afghanistan. He was a major rival of Muhammad Qasim Fahim and of the Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum after the defeat of the Taliban in northern Afghanistan. Together they captured Mazar-i Sharif, and although both are members of the Northern Alliance, they were vying for territory in northern Kunduz Province and have continuously clashed. President Hamid Karzai promoted him to the rank of general in 2002 and appointed him governor of Balkh Province. For the Afghan presidential election of 2009 he supported Dr. Abdullah and showed himself hostile to President Hamid Karzai. When the latter prevailed, Ata went on vacation to Tajikistan but returned and continued in his post. ATAN. A Pashtun tribal dance performed on festive occasions and as a physical exercise in the army, the atan is performed to the ever-faster rhythm of drums, the tribesmen’s long hair whipping in unison, and is often continued to exhaustion. In some respects it resembles the dance of the whirling dervishes of the Ottoman Empire. Although Pashtun in origin, it has also been adopted by other ethnic groups as the Afghan national dance. ATMAR, MUHAMMAD HANIF (1968–). Born 1968 in Laghman Province, the son of Muhammad Asef Atmar, a Pashtun, Atmar is a graduate of the faculty of literature at Kabul University and of the University of York, United Kingdom, where he obtained an M.A. degree in international relations and postwar development. He was program director for Afghanistan of the nongovernmental International Rescue Committee and a member of the Overseas Development Institute in Afghanistan in 1991. He served as an adviser for humanitarian programs of aid agencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 1992–1994, and program manager for the Norwegian Committee for Afghanistan, 1994–2000; he also served as minister of rural reconstruction and development in 2004 and minister of education in March 2006. He was nominated minister of interior in 2009 and was approved by the Wolesi Jirga. Atmar resigned his post as minister of interior on 6 June 2010. He is fluent in Pashtu, Dari, English, and Urdu. AUCKLAND, LORD (1784–1849). Lord Auckland was governor general of India (1836– 1842), who, in defiance of the Court of Directors of the British East India Company, started the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War to replace Amir Dost Muhammad with Shah Shuja.
He wrote to the Court of Directors that the increase of Russian and Persian influence in Affghanistan, and the impression of the certain fall of Herat to the Persian army, have induced the Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan to avow and to insist upon pretensions for the cession to him, by Maharajah Runjeet Singh, of the Peshawur territory, and to take other steps which are tantamount to the rejection of the friendship and good offices of the British Government; and have in consequence led to the retirement of Captain Alexander Burnes from the territories of Cabool. . . . The emergency of affairs may compel me to act without awaiting any intimation of your views upon the events which have recently occurred in Persia and Affghanistan. (Auckland to Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, Simla, 22 May 1838)
The Simla Manifesto, issued by Auckland on 1 October 1838, was a declaration of war. Initially it was decided to give a major role in the task of restoring Shah Shuja to the Kabul throne to Ranjit Singh and his army, but the Sikh ruler was not eager; and Auckland subsequently felt that he could not be trusted to successfully carry it out. Therefore, the British Army of the Indus was to do the job. Early successes in the war led to one-step promotion toward peerage in 1839. Following the debacle, he was denounced and recalled. AVIATION IN AFGHANISTAN. Aviation in Afghanistan began in 1921 when King Amanullah acquired a British fighter plane. Additional planes were purchased or acquired as gifts from Great Britain and the Soviet Union; the latter donated a number of aircraft on condition that they be operated and serviced by Soviet nationals. By the end of the 1920s, Afghanistan’s air force consisted of 22 machines (Bristol Fighters, DH-9s, Caprioni Scouts, and a Junker monoplane) operated by some 25 officers, three of them Afghans, four Germans, and the rest Russians. Young Afghans were sent to Italy, the Soviet Union, India, and other countries for training as pilots and aircraft mechanics. The air service was largely devoted to transporting the mail, foreign diplomats, and members of the Afghan government. In 1926, average flying times were as follows: Kabul to Kandahar, 3 hours; Kabul to Jalalabad, 50 minutes; Kabul to Termez (on the Uzbekistan side of the Amu Daria), 2 hours and 40 minutes; and Jalalabad to Kandahar, 3.5 hours. The flight from Kabul to Moscow took 5 days, crossing the Hindu Kush at 5,000 meters. Although half the fleet was out of operation, control of the airspace proved important in suppressing the Khost Rebellion and other tribal revolts. After the ouster of King Amanullah, Nadir Shah did not renew the Soviet concession, but Soviet planes continued at an irregular schedule to transport diplomatic personnel to the Soviet Union. In 1937 the Lufthansa Airline established regular air service from Berlin to Kabul, but this was discontinued with the outbreak of World War II. Civil aviation in Afghanistan was established in 1951 as a branch of the Royal Afghan Air Force under the name of Hawabazi Mulki, and Colonel Gulbar Khan was appointed its head. It was subsequently upgraded to an independent agency named Afghan Air Authority. In 1955, Peter Baldwin, an American businessman, started a private airline, which at first connected major Afghan towns, transported pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, and ran charters to Beirut and Tehran. Baldwin owned 49 percent of the stock and in 1957 sold out to Pan American Airways for $400,000 when the airline adopted the name Ariana Afghan Airlines. Subsequently Pan Am played a key role in operating the airline, training personnel, and maintaining regular
service on three routes: Kabul–Tehran–Beirut–Istanbul–Frankfurt–London; Kabul–Tashkent– Moscow; and Kabul–Delhi. During the republican period (1973–1978), the company acquired a DC-10, a wide-body aircraft that was delivered after the Saur Revolt and operated for a number of years. The company eventually lost landing rights in Western Europe but provided regular services to East Bloc countries. It was subsequently merged with the domestic air service and called Bakhtar Afghan Airlines. In 1988 the company again adopted the former name. In the 1980s the company acquired several Antonov AN-26 turboprops for domestic routes and two Turpolev TU-154s for international flights. Bakhtar Afghan Airlines was established in 1968 as a domestic carrier, but it was merged with Ariana until 1988. In the 1990s, civil aviation extended to the private sector, even though the Afghan Civil Aviation Law did not allow privately owned airlines. Pamir Airways was founded in 1995 and Balkh Airlines in 1996 as regional passenger carriers; Khyber Airlines was primarily for cargo transport. None of these airlines were operational during the Taliban period. The 2003 Civil Aviation Law of Afghanistan accommodated the private sector, and in the same year KAM Air was established. Pamir reopened operations in 2007. Safi Airways started operation in 2008 with flights to Frankfurt and was joined by Ariana as the only Afghan airlines going beyond regional capitals. See also AIR FORCE, AFGHAN. AVICENNA. See IBN SINA. AYUBI, HAFIZULLAH (AYYUBI, 1945–). Born in Kunduz, Ayubi was educated at Habibia High School and Kabul University. He also participated in a foreign service training course in Canberra, Australia, in 1971, and did postgraduate studies at Bonn University from 1974 to 1977. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1967 and served as director of the United Nations and the International Relations Department. He was secretary at the Afghan embassy in Bonn in the 1970s and in Budapest in the 1980s. He served as minister counselor to Tokyo from 1990 to 1992; as minister counselor to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 1994 to 1996; and as minister counselor and later ambassador to Bonn from 1996 to 1999. He was appointed ambassador to the European Union in Brussels in 1999 and as Afghan ambassador to Cairo in 2007. He is married and has four children. AYUB, MUHAMMAD (AYYUB, 1855–1914). Ayub was the son of Amir Shir Ali and full brother of Yaqub Khan. At the death of his father, Yaqub Khan was crowned King at Kabul, and Ayub took over the governorship of Herat. When he learned of the British occupation of Kabul, he called on the Afghan sardars (chiefs) to rise and expel the invaders. In June 1880 the ulama at Herat proclaimed him amir, and he had coins struck in his name as a sign of his sovereignty. He then marched his army against Kandahar, and on 27 July 1880, he met General G. R. S. Burrows at Maiwand and virtually wiped out Burrows’s forces (see MAIWAND, BATTLE OF). Ayub then proceeded to Kandahar and laid siege to the city; but General Frederick Roberts came to the rescue, and Ayub was forced to retreat to his base at Herat. He again moved on Kandahar in June 1881, at a time when Britain had recognized Abdul Rahman as Amir of Kabul. The “Iron Amir” easily defeated Ayub’s forces at Kandahar in September 1881 and at the same time dispatched his general Abdul Quddus Khan to capture the lightly
garrisoned city of Herat. Being deprived of his base, Ayub was forced to flee to Iran and after a number of years accepted asylum in India for himself and his retinue of 814 individuals. AZAN (ADHAN). Azan is the call to prayer, five times a day, by the muezzin from the door or a minaret of a mosque. The muezzin chants the following formula with some repetitions: “Allah is most great. I testify that there is no god but Allah. I testify that Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Come to prayer. Come to salvation. Allah is most great. There is no god but Allah.” At the morning prayer, the words “prayer is better than sleep” are added. The Shi’as add the words “Come to the best work!” and also “I testify that Ali is the wali [protected friend] of God.” AZHAR, ABDUL SAMAD. A Pashtun from Laghman Province, Azhar was trained as a police officer in Kabul and Egypt. He was a member of President Muhammad Daud’s investigation team of the Maiwandwal “affair” in 1973 and is believed to have been involved in the assassination of the former prime minister. A member of the Parcham faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, Azhar was arrested in May 1979 by the Khalqi government of Hafizullah Amin and held until January 1980. The Babrak Karmal government appointed him commander of police (Sarandoy) in January 1980 and alternate member of the central committee; he became a full member in 1986. He served as ambassador to Cuba from 1983 to 1986 and India from 1986 to 1989, and was appointed ambassador to Belgrade in 1989. He defected in 1990 and now lives in exile. AZIMI, ABDUL SALAM (1936–). An ethnic Pashtun from Farah Province, Azimi obtained an M.A. degree in Islamic law from Al-Azhar University in Egypt. He was appointed dean of the faculty of Islamic law in 1972 and president of the legislative department of the Ministry of Justice in September 1979. He served as assistant vice chancellor of Kabul University but left Afghanistan in 1982, to return after the fall of the Taliban regime. He served as minister of education in the Interim Government, 2001–2002, and as member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee in October 2002. He advised President Karzai on legal issues and, on becoming head of the supreme court in succession to Maulawi Fazl Hadi Shinwari in 2006, fired a number of corrupt judges and court clerks. AZIZ, MUHAMMAD ZAHIR. A Pashtun from Ghazni Province, Aziz holds an M.A. degree in education from Columbia University and a doctorate in international relations and diplomacy from the Centre d’Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques in Paris. He served as a professor at Kabul University from 1963 to 1965, and as director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) affairs division in the Afghan Ministry of Education from 1968 to 1974 and has a long career on various commissions from 1974 to 1997. He was a member of UNESCO’s executive board from 2003 to 2006 and was appointed ambassador and permanent delegate to UNESCO in 2007. He speaks Pashtu, Dari, English, and French. AZIZ, ZALMAI (1939–). Born a Tajik in Kabul, Aziz studied international relations. He
joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1968 and served in a number of departments and missions abroad, including at the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations. After living abroad for 28 years, Aziz returned to Afghanistan in 2002. He became deputy foreign minister for political affairs in 2003. He served as director of the UN department before serving as deputy foreign minister. He retired in November 2006 but was appointed ambassador to Moscow in January 2007 and to Switzerland in 2011.
B BABA JAN, LIEUTENANT GENERAL ABDUL WAHID. A Tajik, Baba Jan was educated in military schools in Kabul, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. He defected with Abdul Rashid Dostum from the Kabul regime and thus contributed to the downfall of the Najibullah government. He was a member of the Parcham faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and chief of general staff of the armed forces from January 1980 to January 1984. He was jailed for a short time for having contact with mujahedin groups. He was a caretaker at the Ministry of National Defense and was elected an alternate member of the PDPA central committee. He served as head of the Kabul military academy and as ambassador to Berlin (1985–1988). He is a recipient of the Order of the Golden Star. (See also ARMY.) After the fall of the Marxist regime in 1992, he served as a major military commander of Burhanuddin Rabbani’s party. He was appointed chief of police for Kabul in 2003 and to Herat in 2005. BABUR, ZAHIR AL-DIN MUHAMMAD (1483–1530). Founder of the Moghul (Mughal) Empire, Babur was the “greatest soldier of his age,” and a talented writer and great poet (Sykes 1940). He was a Barlas Turk who descended on his mother’s side from Genghis Khan and on the male side from Tamerlane (Timur-i Lang). He was ousted from his native Ferghana, the Turkic lands north of the Amu Daria, and when he could not retake his homeland he settled in Kabul in 1504. Probing expeditions into India led to territorial conquests that became the foundation of the Moghul Empire. He loved Kabul and wrote fondly about the town and wanted to be buried in the Bagh-i Babur, a garden he had planted on the western slope of Sher Darwaza mountain. He died in Agra on 26 December 1530, and his body was transported to Kabul where his rather modest tomb is still located. BACHA-I SAQQAU. See HABIBULLAH KALAKANI. BACHA KHAN ZADRAN. See PACHA KHAN ZADRAN. BACTRIA. An ancient kingdom, home of Zoroaster, Bactria was north of the Hindu Kush and south of the Oxus, with the capital at Bactra near the present Balkh. Bactria was part of the Achaemenid Empire, first conquered by Cyrus the Great (r. 559–530 B.C.); it later became a Greek colony of Alexander (331 B.C.) and his successors. Excavations have revealed numerous examples of Greek sculpture, architecture, and inscriptions from the third to first centuries B.C. The area came under Turkish control in the sixth century A.D. and was invaded by the Muslim Arabs a century later. Afghan nationalists seek the historical roots of the present state of Afghanistan in this ancient kingdom. See also ARIANA. BACTRIAN TREASURE. Also referred to as the Bactrian Gold or Bactrian Hoard, the treasure is a collection of about 20,600 gold ornaments, found at Tilla Tapa by a SovietAfghan archeological expedition headed by Viktor Sarianidi in 1978 northeast of Shiberghan.
The ornaments consisted of coins dating to the early first century, necklaces set with gems, belts, medallions, and crowns. The treasure was attributed to a civilization ruled by nomadic kings who flourished during the first century B.C. in northern Afghanistan. The treasure was first kept in the Kabul Museum and was later stored in a safe in the palace and forgotten. Ameruddin Askarzai, the head of cash issuance of the central bank, is credited with having broken the key so that none of the warlords could open the safe. He was imprisoned by the Taliban. Freed by the Hamid Karzai government, Askarzai was restored to his position, and in April 2004, in the presence of Omar Khan Mas’udi, head of the Kabul Museum, a number of Afghan officials, and foreign scholars, a blowtorch opened a connection to another room which held the treasure. Parts of the treasure have since been exhibited in Europe and the United States. BADAKHSHAN (36-45' N, 72-0' E). Badakhshan is a province in northeastern Afghanistan, comprising an area of 15,786 square miles and a population of about 715,000 (1991 estimate). The province includes the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow valley that extends to the Chinese border and separates Tajikistan from the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. The province is divided into five districts (woluswali) and seven subdistricts (alaqadari), with Faizabad as the administrative capital, population (including the district) in 1991 about 180,000. The province is mountainous, with a number of high valleys and peaks reaching a height of 16,000 feet. It is rich in mineral resources including silver, copper, lead, precious stones, and virtually all the lapis lazuli mined in Afghanistan. Famed for its Marco Polo sheep, ibex, and snow leopards, Badakhshan was becoming an important hunting preserve for wealthy foreigners before the war in Afghanistan interrupted further development. The yak is still used in the Wakhan as a beast of burden. The population is Tajik, with Uzbek communities in the west and Wakhis and Qirghiz in the Wakhan Corridor (most of the latter have fled as a result of Soviet occupation). Much of Badakhshan was ruled by autonomous khans until in 1850 Dost Muhammad took it under the direct control of the Kabul government. By the time of Amir Abdul Rahman (r. 1880–1901), it had become an integral part of the Afghan state. In 1893 a mission under Sir Mortimer Durand demarcated Afghanistan’s northern border and allocated the Wakhan Corridor to Afghanistan. Amir Abdul Rahman was reluctant to accept this “arm that could easily be cut by an enemy” but agreed to accept the Wakhan as a buffer between the Russian and British empires when Britain offered to increase his subsidy by 650,000 Indian rupees for his cost of the administration and defense. During the civil war, following the fall of the Marxist regime, Badakhshan remained under the control of the Jam’iat-i Islami of Burhanuddin Rabbani. BADAKHSHI, TAHIR (1933–1979). Born in Faizabad, Badakhshan, Badakhshi was educated in Kabul at Habibia School and at the faculty of economics of Kabul University. He was, with Babrak Karmal and Nur Muhammad Taraki, one of the founders of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and a member of the central committee in 1965. In 1967 he sided with Parcham in the factional dispute but left the party to found the Setam-i Milli (National Oppression—a Marxist, anti-Pashtun faction) in about 1968. Married to
Jamila, a sister of Sultan Ali Keshtmand, he was imprisoned in Pul-i Charkhi jail in summer 1978 and was executed during the rule of Hafizullah Amin on 17 September 1979. BADAL. An aspect of the Pashtun tribal code of honor, badal requires retaliation for insults and the shedding of blood. It serves as a deterrent to reckless lawlessness but often results in long periods of hostilities between individuals, groups, and entire tribes, causing great suffering for all. Afghan governments have tried to extend Kabul’s jurisdiction into the tribal area but have been unable to eliminate the practice. See also PASHTUNWALI. BADALZAI. See BARECHI. BADEZAI. See ACHAKZAI. BADGHIS (35-0' N, 63-45' E). Badghis is a province in northwestern Afghanistan that was part of Herat Province prior to 1964. The province has an area of 8,438 square miles and an estimated population of about 301,000. Major districts include Jowand, Ghormach, Qades, Murghab, Qal’a-i Nau (population, including the district, about 38,000), and Kushk-i Kohna. The province borders on Turkmenistan (formerly the Soviet Union) in the north and Herat in the west. Badghis is a country of beautiful grassy hills but virtually without trees or even bushes in spite of an abundance of good water near the hills. The climate is, as in most parts of Afghanistan, cold in the winter and hot in summer. Barley and wheat are the major crops, and pistachio nuts are harvested in considerable quantities. The area was densely populated until it was devastated by Mongol invaders (13th and 15th centuries) and again by the Safavids under Shah Abbas II (r. 1642–1666). Subsequently it was inhabited only by nomadic tribes because of the danger of Turkoman raids from the north. The present population includes Tajiks, Pashtuns, Jamshidis, Hazaras, Turkomans, and small communities of other ethnic groups. BADINZAI. See ACHAKZAI. BADSHAH KHAN ZADRAN. See PACHA KHAN ZADRAN. BAGH-I BALA. The Bagh-i Bala is a garden in Kabul, near the present Intercontinental Hotel, where Amir Abdul Rahman’s palace is located. After his death, the garden and building were closed and fell into neglect. Because of its strategic location on top of a hill overlooking the city, it became an important command post during wars. Habibullah Kalakani made it his base in the 1929 civil war; it was a government post during the Soviet occupation and a valued outpost during the civil war between the mujahedin groups. During times of peace, the structure was used as a restaurant and as a location for marriages and other celebrations. BAGHLAN (36-11' N, 68-44' E). Baghlan is a province in northeastern Afghanistan with an area of 6,627 square miles and a population of about 745,000. Baghlan is also the name of the administrative center of the province, having approximately 143,000 inhabitants (including the district). The province includes the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush range that are crossed by the Robatak, Barabi, Khawak, and Salang passes. The northern part is largely agricultural, with irrigation from the Baghlan, Qara Batur, Chunghar, and Mar Khana rivers. Sugar beets and
cotton are the major crops, and pomegranates, grapes, and pistachio nuts are important items of export. Qaraqul sheep are raised in the northern part of the province. Sugar production, started in 1940 with Czech assistance, has become the most important industry. Coal is extracted in the Karkar Valley near Pul-i Khumri. A silk industry was started in 1951. Not much is known about the effect of the war on the area. BAGRAM (BEGRAM) (34-58' N, 69-17' E). Bagram is the site of an ancient city with an abundance of Buddhist, Greco-Roman, and Phoenician artifacts. According to some sources, it is the site of Alexandria ad Caucasum (Alexandria by the Caucasus, built by Alexander the Great in the period 330–329 B.C.), which flourished for centuries until it was destroyed by the hordes of Genghis Khan in the 13th century. The town is north of Kabul near the confluence of the Panjshir and Ghorband rivers, about five miles west of Charikar. Bagram is now a town, with a population of about 85,000 (including the district), the center of the district of the same name in Parwan Province. It is the location of an air base built with Soviet assistance in the 1950s. On 7 July 1979, the first Soviet paratroop battalion deployed there, apparently in preparation for its occupation in December 1979, when one regiment of the 105th Guards Airborne Division landed. Bagram became a primary regional center for independent air regiments as a base for the protection of Kabul and the Salang Pass. Although well fortified, Bagram air base was frequently attacked. On 3 June 1985, mujahedin forces under Commander Abdul Karim led an attack in which he allegedly destroyed 60 to 70 aircraft and killed scores of Soviet soldiers. After the mujahedin capture of Kabul, Bagram became an important base of Burhanuddin Rabbani’s government until it was conquered by the Taliban. After the fall of the Taliban, the base was used by British forces to protect the channeling of humanitarian assistance to Kabul and to bring in units of the United Nations peace force. It then became a base in control of United States forces. BAHEEN, SULTAN AHMAD (BAHIN, 1955–). Baheen served as general director of Bakhtar News Agency and, after the fall of the Taliban regime, again as director of Bakhtar News Agency. He was appointed chief of media communications of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). He became spokesperson for the Independent Election Commission in 2004 and for the Ministry of Foreign Affair in 2006. He was appointed ambassador to the People’s Republic of China in 2009. He speaks Dari, Pashtu, English, French, and Russian languages. BAHES, BAHRUDDIN (BAES). A native of Darwaz, Badakhshan, Bahes was educated in Islamic studies and law at Kabul University. He became an opponent of the Muhammad Daud government and the subsequent Marxist regime. Said to have been a sympathizer of Setam-i Milli and possibly also a member of SAMA (see KALAKANI, ABDUL MAJID), he was arrested after the Saur Revolt in 1978 and was secretly executed during the Nur Muhammad Taraki period. According to unconfirmed reports, the kidnappers of the American ambassador Adolph Dubs wanted to gain Bahes’s freedom in exchange for Dubs. BAHSUD (BEHSUD). See HAZARA.
BAI, AKBAR. See AKBARBAI, MUHAMMAD. BAIANZAI. See ACHAKZAI. BAIHAQI, ABU’L FAZL (995–1077). Baihaqi was secretary to the Ghaznavid court and historian of the dynasty. Of his monumental work, the 30-volume Mujalladat, the extant portion covers the period of Mas’ud (1030–1041), called Tarikh-i Mas’ud (History of Mas’ud), also called History of Baihaqi and Tarikh-i Naseri. Baihaqi was born in Baihaq, the present Sabzawar in Farah Province of Afghanistan. He studied in Nishapur and became one of the most gifted and graceful writers of Persian prose. He was imprisoned briefly for failure to pay a dowry to a former wife. For 19 years he worked under Abu Nasr Mushkan and was head of the Ghaznavid secretariat for a brief time. BAIQARA, SULTAN HUSAIN (1469–1506). Baiqara was the Timurid ruler at Herat and a major patron of the arts. At his court were gathered Kamaluddin Behzad, the master calligrapher and miniature painter; Mulla Nur-ud-din Abdul Rahman Jami, mystic, scholar, and one of the great classical Persian poets; and others. Sultan Husain’s wazir Amir Shir Ali Nawa’i was a great statesman who wrote poetry in Turkish. BAKHTAR AFGHAN AIRLINE. See ARIANA AFGHAN AIRLINES; AVIATION IN AFGHANISTAN. BAKHTARI, MANIZHA. Ms. Bakhtari is educated with a B.A. degree in journalism and an M.A. degree in Persian language and history from Kabul University. She was the chief of staff of the Afghan foreign minister and a part-time lecturer at Kabul University. She was appointed ambassador to Norway and Scandinavian countries in September 2009. She is the author of several books, including two texts for students in the Department of Journalism. She is married to Naser Hotaki and has four children. BAKHTAR NEWS AGENCY (BNA). The official news agency of the Afghan government, Bakhtar is located in Kabul. It is the major source of news for all media in Afghanistan, gathering domestic and international news and providing information to outlets. In 2002, Agence France-Presse established a satellite link providing news information to the BNA. See also PRESS AND JOURNALISM. BALA HISAR. A citadel within a walled town, the Bala Hisar is usually on the crest of a mountain or hill, serving as the residence of an Afghan ruler or governor. The Bala Hisar of Kabul is a huge complex built southwest of the ancient wall on Sher Darwaza Mountain. Until the 19th century, its high stone walls surrounded a strong citadel that was the residence of the Kabul ruler and his court. Babur Shah and Timur-i Lang are said to have resided in it. High military and civilian officials were quartered within the outer walls. In the First AngloAfghan War, the British forces built their defenses around a rectangular cantonment in the valley below instead of seeking the security of the Bala Hisar. This turned out to be a fatal mistake. The six-century-old fortress was destroyed on order of the British general Frederick
Roberts after an explosion in the arsenal on 16 October 1879 killed a British officer and a number of soldiers of his Gurka unit. The fortress lay in ruins until Nadir Shah started the process of reconstruction in the early 1930s. It served as a military college and garrison since 1939. On 5 August 1979, an army regiment at the Bala Hisar revolted against the Khalqi regime, and it took a four-hour battle in which Mi-24 gunships and considerable heavy artillery were employed before the revolt was suppressed. Subsequently, the fortress was able to withstand mujahedin attacks and fell into their hands only with the capture of Kabul. In the 1980s the Bala Hisar of Kabul was occupied by the Uzbek forces of Abdul Rashid Dostum, later by Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was in turn expelled by the Taliban. Aerial warfare and modern weapons technology have made fortresses of this type obsolete. See also ARCHEOLOGY AND ART. BALIGH, ENAYATULLAH (1955–). Born in 1955 in Kapisa Province, the son of Ziaul Haq, Baligh graduated from the faculty of Shari’a of Kabul University. He held several positions in the judicial branch, including as deputy of the religious police (Department for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice) during the Taliban regime, from 1992 to 1996. He served as lecturer of Islamic law at Kabul University and is a member of the Ittihad-i Islami of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. He was a member of the central shura of ulama and katib of the Pul-i Khishti mosque. Nominated for the position of minister of hajj in the 2009 cabinet of President Hamid Karzai, he did not obtain parliamentary approval. BALKH (36-46' N, 66-54' E). Balkh is a province in north-central Afghanistan with an area of about 4,633 square miles and a population of about 869,000. The administrative center of the province is Mazar-i Sharif, with about 103,000 inhabitants in 1978, the location of a shrine that Afghans believe to be the burial place of the Caliph Ali (d. 640). The town of Balkh, located on the Balkhab River about 14 miles west of Mazar-i Sharif, derives its name from the ancient city of Bactria, amid the ruins of which it is located. According to local tradition, Balkh was founded by Balkh ibn Balakh ibn Saman ibn Salam ibn Ham ibn Nuh (Noah). Zoroastrian tradition holds that it was the birthplace of Zoroaster and was built by the Arian ruler Bakhdi (or Keiomarz) who founded the Pishdadian dynasty. The city was captured by Alexander the Great (320s B.C.) and became the capital of the Greek satrapy of Bactria. In the second century B.C., Bactria was invaded by Turkic nomads who renamed the area Tukharestan. Subsequently the Kushans (see KUSHANID KINGDOM) ruled over the area, followed by other dynasties. The ancestor of the famous Barmakid family of Abbasid wazirs (r. 781–803), Barmak (priest), was a native of Balkh. Genghis Khan (r. 1206–1226) destroyed the city, but it was rebuilt during the Timurid period (15th century). In 1480, the tomb of the Caliph Ali was believed to be discovered where Mazar-i Sharif is now located, and Balkh lost its significance. Because of its antiquity, the town is known as the “Mother of Cities.” BALKHI, JALALUDDIN RUMI (1207–1273). Known as Jalaluddin Rumi (from A., Rum, “Asia Minor”), where Balkhi spent the greater part of his life, he is acclaimed as the most eminent Sufi poet in Persian, famous for his mystical mathnawis (a poetic form in rhyming
distichs), which “rank among the great poems of all time” (E. G. Brown, author of A Literary History of Persia). Jalaluddin was the founder of the Maulawiyya order of “whirling dervishes,” whose dance was part of their ritual. He was born in 1207 in Balkh and is therefore claimed as a native son by the Afghans and called by the appellation Balkhi (the one from Balkh). BALKHI, RABI’A. Famous poetess in Dari and a contemporary of Rudaki (the first great poet in Persian after the advent of Islam, d. 940 A.D.), Rabi’a Balkhi was born in Balkh in the 10th century and is therefore called Balkhi by Afghans. Some of her ghazals are extant. Legend has it that she fell in love with a Turkish slave, named Baktash, and had to pay for this illicit love with her life. BALKHI, SEDIQA (1951–). Born in 1951, the daughter of Sayyid Ibrahim, Sediqa was educated with a B.A. degree in Islamic studies in Afghanistan. She continued her studies during exile in Iran. During the Taliban period she lived in Iran and led the Afghan Women’s Political and Cultural Activities Center. She served as minister of martyrs and disabled, 2004–2006. BALUCH. The Baluch are one of Afghanistan’s ethnic minorities located primarily in Nimruz and scattered in small numbers over Helmand, Farah, Herat, Fariab, Jozjan, Kunduz, and Badakhshan provinces. Their numbers were estimated in the 1970s between 100,000 and 200,000. Virtually all are Sunnis and speakers of the Baluchi language (except for the Darispeaking Qataghan Baluch). The Baluch are no longer organized into specific tribes and are largely sedentary; their “heartland” lies in the Baluchistan provinces of Iran and Pakistan, where they are said to number about five million. Small numbers also exist in the former Soviet Union. Since the mid-1970s, some 2,500 Baluch guerrillas, fighting for autonomy in Pakistan, have found shelter in southern Afghanistan. After the Saur Revolt, the Nur Muhammad Taraki government issued Decree No. 4 for the “evolution of literature, education and publication in mother tongues of tribes and nationalities” and declared Baluchi a “national” language whose use was permitted on Afghan media. The Brahui who speak a Dravidian language have now largely assimilated with the Baluch. BAMIAN (BAMYAN, 34-50' N, 67-50' E). Bamian is a province in central Afghanistan with an area of about 6,757 square miles, a population of about 356,000, and a town of the same name that is the administrative center of the province. The town (population, including the district, about 68,000) lies at an altitude of about 8,200 feet above sea level, about 205 miles by road north of Kabul. The province is divided into the districts of Kahmard, Saighan, Shiber, Bamian, Yakawlang, Panjab, and Waras. The province is headed by Habiba Sorabi, the first woman governor in Afghanistan. The majority of the population is Hazara Shi’ite, with a sizable Sunni Tajik element. The occupation is primarily agriculture and animal husbandry. Bamian is part of the Hazarajat, the mountainous country of central Afghanistan, which is inhabited primarily by Hazaras. The province is famous for its two Buddha statues, respectively 120 and 175 feet in height, dating from the fifth and third centuries A.D. The statues were hewn into solid rock and overlaid with stucco, and although they suffered from the
ravages of time and destruction by man, some of the stucco works and wall paintings were still preserved. The walls of the 300-foot-high cliffs are honeycombed with caves that served as living quarters for Buddhist monks and are still inhabited today. The sculptures and paintings are an eclectic hybrid mixing of Indian, Central Asian, Iranian, and classical European art styles and ideas. On 26 February 2001, Mulla Muhammad Omar, head of the Taliban regime, ordered the destruction of the statues. In spite of worldwide pleas for their protection, destruction began on 1 March and was completed within 10 days. According to some claims, Pakistani and Saudi nationals provided technical advice. In 2002, the Hamid Karzai government announced that the statues would be restored in tribute to Afghanistan’s ancient culture. See also ARCHEOLOGY AND ART. BAND-I AMIR (34-50' N, 67-12' E). The Band-i Amir is a series of five clear, blue lakes on the north side of the Koh-i Baba in Bamian Province. The lakes are formed by the flow of water over a succession of natural dams, running from the higher to the next one below. According to local tradition the dams were the creation of Caliph Ali, and the word Amir (commander) refers to the Caliph, not to any Afghan ruler. Band-i Amir is also the name of a river that rises in the Band-i Amir lakes and runs through the Yakowlang Valley in a southwesterly direction until it turns northeast, at which point it is known as the Balkhab; finally it turns north and dissipates in the Turkestan plains. The country on its upper course, especially the Yakowlang Valley, is inhabited by Dai Zangi Hazaras. BAND-I BABA (34-37' N, 62-40' E). The Band-i Baba is a range of hills north of the Hari Rud Valley, called by the Turkomans Barkhudung Dagh and known in European sources as the Paropamisus. The Koh-i Baba forks into three branches: the Band-i Turkestan in the north, the Band-i Baian in the south, and the central range of the Band-i Baba, which extends east and rises to a height of some 5,000 feet above the Herat Valley. BAND-I TURKESTAN (35-30' N, 64-0' E). The Band-i Turkestan is the northern branch of the Koh-i Baba mountain range that runs in a northwestern direction, circling the basin of the upper Murghab River and dividing it from the Band-i Amir River. It extends from an area about 45 miles southwest of Maimana and runs for about 125 miles in a generally east–west direction, its northern slopes giving rise to the Sar-i Pul, Maimana, and Kaisar rivers. The highest peak in the range is the Zangilak, which reaches an altitude of about 11,600 feet. BANK-I MILLI. See BANKING. BANKING. Until the early 1930s there were no banks in Afghanistan, and the banking business was conducted by private individuals and moneylenders. In addition to the Afghan ropia, minted in Kabul, silver and gold coins from neighboring countries were also in circulation. It was at times necessary to send caravans of gold and silver bullion to the interior of the country to meet the demand for financial transactions, a risky practice in times of unrest. In 1932, Abdul Majid Zabuli, a pioneering Afghan entrepreneur, founded a stock company (Shirkat-i Ashami-yi Afghanistan) that was chartered as a commercial bank in 1934.
Incorporated with a capital of 35 million afghanis (£745,500), it was authorized to issue banknotes, import sugar and petroleum products, transact all government purchases and sales, and hold sole option on the exploitation of all mines and the establishment of all industrial institutions in Afghanistan. It became a vital factor in the process of industrializing Afghanistan and establishing a textile industry in the Kunduz and Pul-i Khumri areas. Its monopoly was ended in 1938 with the establishment of the Da Afghanistan Bank, which performed the functions of a central bank. Its task was to issue currency notes and control the exchange rate of the currency. In 1955, the Afghan Commercial Bank (Pashtanai Tejarati Bank) was established as a joint-stock company for the purpose of developing the commerce of the country. A bank of construction and mortgages existed since 1948 to assist in the construction of low-cost houses for government employees as well as hotels and various public buildings. All banks were nationalized during the Muhammad Daud regime, a policy that was continued after the Saur Revolt of 1978. In the 1990s, the Bank-i Milli had seven branches in Kabul and 10 in the provinces, as well as offices in London, New York, Hamburg, and Karachi. The war in Afghanistan and the occupation of rural areas by mujahedin forces severely restricted banking activities. In the ensuing civil war after the fall of the Marxist regime, the Kabul government of Burhanuddin Rabbani had a monopoly in issuing money, which was printed in Russia under a previous contract. Because of inflation, banknotes in denominations of 5,000 and 10,000 afghanis were issued in 1996. Eventually, six different printings of afghanis, including fakes, were used by different warlords, and after the fall of the Taliban regime, the afghani reached an exchange rate of 76,000 to 1 dollar. The Taliban government kept virtually no records and did not issue any annual reports, leaving the newly established Interim Government with almost no resources and no usable banks. On 7 October 2002, the new Transitional Government started a currency reform, issuing new afghanis at the rate of 1 for 1,000 old ones. See also AHADI, ANWAR AL-HAQ. By 2009 the Afghan central bank has licensed 15 commercial banks, the biggest of which, Pashtany Bank and Bank-i Milli, are government banks. The proliferation of banks, though, has not eliminated the informal gray market, which is still an important factor in the financial services of the country. However, the banking crisis of 2008 has resulted in the takeover of Kabul Bank, the largest private bank in Afghanistan. Mismanagement and corruption have resulted in the loss of some $500 million. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended that the bank be placed in receivership before being sold or closed. BARADAR, MULLA ABDUL GHANI (1968–). Born in Witmak village of the Derawud district of Oruzgan Province, Baradar is a member of the Pashtun Popalzai tribe. He was a member of the Quetta shura and second in command in the Taliban hierarchy after Mulla Muhammad Omar. Said to be a brother-in-law of the Taliban leader and in charge of the treasury, he had the power to appoint and fire Taliban commanders and governors. He was arrested in Pakistan in February 2010, when he was rumored to be engaged in negotiations with the Afghan government. He was a rival of Mulla Dadullah who was killed in 2007, and was one of two deputies of Mulla Omar; the other, Mulla Obaidullah, was also arrested in Pakistan. Mulla Muhammad Omar replaced him with Abdul Qayyum Zakir and Akhtar
Muhammad Mansur. BARAHAWI, ABDUL KARIM (BRAHUI, 1955–). Born 1955 (or 1949) in Pedehgi of Chahar Burjak district, Nimruz Province, the son of Muhammad Mubin, Barahawi entered primary school in 1962, was admitted to cadet college, and graduated in 1976. As a result of the Soviet intervention, he left his service and joined the jihad as mujahedin commander in Nimruz Province. After the fall of the Kabul regime in 1992, he was appointed governor of Nimruz and commander of the fourth border brigade. He led the resistance front against the Taliban in that province, and after 11 September 2001 he was again appointed governor of Nimruz Province and commander of the fourth brigade. His military rank is lieutenant general. He served as minister of frontier affairs from December 2004 to 2009 and was appointed minister of refugees and repatriation in 2009. BARAKATULLAH, MAULAWI (d. 1927). He was an Indian revolutionary and “prime minister” in 1919 in the “Provisional Government of India in Exile” in which Mahendra Pratap was president and Maulawi Obaidullah home minister. He met Sardar Nasrullah in England during the latter’s visit in 1895 and became a newswriter (political reporter) for him thereafter, and in 1915 he came to Kabul as a member of the Hentig-Niedermayer expedition. Subsequently he is said to have represented Mahmud Tarzi as editor of the Seraj al-Akhbar Afghaniya while Tarzi was in Europe. In 1927 Barakatullah accompanied Mahendra Pratap to the United States and died shortly thereafter in San Francisco. BARAKI. This tribe of Tajiks intermarried with Ghilzais and were settled in the Logar and Butkhak areas, south and east of Kabul, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century. The Barakis accompanied the Ghaznavid ruler on his invasions of India and were rewarded for their services with a perpetual grant of the lands of Kaniguram in Waziristan. They are divided into the Barakis of Rajan who speak Persian and the Barakis of Barak who speak an idiom of their own. BARAKZAI. An important section of the Zirak branch of the Durrani to which the former Barakzai/Muhammadzai ruling family belongs. In numbers, economic, and political strength, the Barakzai were the paramount tribe of Afghanistan. Their heartland is in the area south of Kandahar, the valley of the Arghastan River, the banks of the Helmand, and the plains bounded by the Helmand River. They were soldiers in the service of Nadir Shah, founder of the short-lived Afsharid dynasty in Iran, and were settled on land seized from the Ghilzai. They continued to hold jagirs, fiefs, in exchange for their military services to Ahmad Shah Durrani. When Painda Khan, leader of the Barakzais, was assassinated, the Barakzai chiefs under Dost Muhammad ousted and replaced the Sadozai dynasty. The Barakzai continue to possess large areas of agricultural land and extensive flocks in the area between Herat and Kandahar. BARAKZAI, SHUKRIA (1972–). Born in 1972, Barakzai was brought up in Kabul. She enrolled at Kabul University in 1990, but due to mounting violence, she was forced to
interrupt her studies. During the Taliban era, Barakzai worked secretly as a teacher with an association called the Women’s Society. She was whipped by the Taliban’s religious police for being out on a Kabul street without a male chaperone. But the memory of that humiliation steeled her to go into politics. After the Taliban were driven out of Kabul in late 2001, she started Aina-ye-Zan, or Women’s Mirror, a weekly newspaper where she still works. The World Press Review named Barakzai international editor of the year in 2004, and BBC Radio 4 voted her woman of the year in 2005. Barakzai is an independent with no links to any political party; she keeps open house for journalists at her home, in Wazir Akbar Khan in Kabul. She sat on the commission that drafted the Afghan constitution and stood for parliamentary elections, 18 September 2005. She is married with three daughters. BARECHI. A tribe of Afghans inhabiting the Shorawak region, south of Kandahar, the Barechi are divided into the Mandozai, Zakozai, Badalzai, and Shirani, the first three of whom are said to descend from Barech, son of Sharaf-ud-Din and grandson of Saraban, the son of Qais, the putative ancestor of all the Pashtuns. The Barechis are cultivators, irrigating their lands from the Lora, which is the lifeline of the Shorawak Valley. They are also known as camel breeders and export their wool to Kandahar. They have been described as peaceful and “fine men . . . and excellent swordsmen.” They intermarry with their Brahui neighbors and, like them, are of the Sunni school of Islam. BAREQ-SHAFI’I, MUHAMMAD HASAN (1932–). Born a Pashtun in Kabul, BareqShafi’i was educated at Ghazi High School and the theological college in Kabul. He is a leading Afghan poet and writer and was a high-ranking member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). He was editor of a number of newspapers and journals, including Nendari (Theater), Zhuandun (Life), and Pashtun Zhagh (Pashtun Voice), and director of Payam-i Imruz (Message of the Day). A member of the Parchami faction of the PDPA from the beginning, he became editor of Khalq in 1966. After the Saur Revolt he became minister of information and culture in 1978 and minister of transport in 1979. During the Khalqi period he was forced to denounce Babrak Karmal, and, after the latter succeeded to power, Bareq-Shafi’i was demoted to the status of alternate member of the central committee. He was appointed first vice president of the central council of the National Fatherland Front in 1982 and subsequently became governor of Herat Province. In 1985 he was appointed second secretary of the Afghan embassy in Libya, and in May 1987 he was appointed editor in chief of Haqiqat-i Inqilab-i Saur (the True Saur Revolution), the party organ during the presidency of Babrak Karmal, and of Payam, its successor, in 1989. He was chairman of the union of journalists but then was unemployed. His daughter is married to Nur Ahmad Nur. Bareq-Shafi’i is said to have sought asylum in Europe. See also PRESS AND JOURNALISM. BARMAK, MIR WAIS AHMAD (1972–). Born in Kabul, Barmak obtained a B.S. degree in architecture from Kabul University and an M.S. degree in development studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Before joining the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), he served as adviser to the Department of
Disaster Management and Preparedness. From 1996 to 1998, he worked as senior program officer for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR). He served as deputy minister and until October 2006 as senior adviser to the national rural access program. He was nominated minister of rural rehabilitation and development (MRRD) in the new Hamid Karzai government of December 2009, but the appointment was not approved by parliament. BARMAK, SIDDIQ (1962–). Born in Panjshir Province, Barmak was educated with an M.A. degree in cinema direction from the Moscow Film Institute in 1987. He started as a filmmaker and producer, making documentaries, and produced his first feature film, Osama, which won the Golden Globe Award for best foreign language film in 2004. He was supported by Muhsin Makhmalbaf, the celebrated Iranian producer. Barmak also received UNESCO’s Fellini Silver Medal for his drama. Barmak is also director of the Afghan Children Education Movement which promotes literacy, culture, and the arts. BARYALAI, MAHMUD (1944–). Born in Kabul, Baryalai is a half brother of Babrak Karmal and son-in-law of Anahita Ratebzad. He was educated at Habibia School, at Kabul University, and in the Soviet Union, A charter member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), he was imprisoned from 1965 to 1966 for his political activities. He went to the Soviet Union and received an M.A. degree in political economics. After the Saur Revolt he was appointed Afghan ambassador to Pakistan in July 1978. He was recalled and purged in October by the Khalqi regime but did not return to Kabul. After the ouster of Hafizullah Amin, he served as head of the international relations department of the PDPA. In 1980 he also became editor of the party organ, Haqiqat-i Inqilab-i Saur. He was expelled from the party in July 1991, shortly before the return of Babrak Karmal to Afghanistan. After the fall of the Marxist regime, he moved into the area controlled by General Abdul Rashid Dostum and is said to have sought asylum abroad. BASHARDUST, ISLAMUDDIN (1952–). Born in Kunduz Province, the son of Haji Muhammad Kamel Khan, Bashardust is a Hazara from Ghazni, and a graduate from Military College. He served as a military officer in the Ministry of Defense. In 1978 he was a refugee representative of Wahdat-i Milli in Karachi and later head of the northern area for the National Shura of Afghan Tribes (Wahdat-i Qabael-i Milli) in Kabul. He moved to France where he earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in law and political science. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2003 and in 2004 became minister of planning. He attacked nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and wanted to prohibit many from operating in Afghanistan. He resigned on 12 December 2004. A candidate in parliamentary elections, he set up a tent in a park and gave campaign speeches and was a constant critic of government and Afghan officials. He has been described as an appealing figure, with dark, oriental features, dressed in a richly embroidered version of the loose flowing shirt and baggy trousers traditional in Afghanistan. He was voted second in a Person of the Year contest by Radio Free Afghanistan. BASHGAL (LANDAI SIND [SHORT RIVER], 35-20' N, 71-32' E). The Bashgal is a river that rises on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush near the Mandal Pass (15,300 feet) in
Kunar Province and, running in a south-southwesterly direction, flows into the Kunar River. The river is also known by its Pashtu name, Landai Sind, and the name Arnawai. The Bashgal Valley of Nuristan is inhabited by the Katir, Madugal, Kashtan, and Kam peoples. They were converted to Islam in 1897. BASMACHIS. The Basmachis were an irregular force, called Basmachis (T., bandits) by the Soviet government, that fought the Bolshevik army in the mountains of Tajikistan and Ferghana in Soviet Central Asia from 1919 until the 1930s. Their leaders included Muhammad Amin Beg, Ibrahim Beg, and Enver Pasha, the minister of war and leader of the Ottoman war government who fled Turkey after the war. For a time the Basmachis enjoyed a measure of support from King Amanullah, who was not averse to becoming the king of a Central Asian confederation. When the Bolshevik government succeeded in consolidating its power in Central Asia, Ibrahim Beg was forced to use Afghanistan as a sanctuary. After a hot pursuit into Afghan territory by the Red Army, Sardar Shah Mahmud expelled Ibrahim Beg, who was captured by Soviet forces and executed in April 1931. BATASH, MUHAMMAD (1961–). Born the son of al-Hajj Bori, an Uzbek, in Batash village of Kunduz Province, Batash completed his primary and secondary education in Imam Sahib district and earned a doctorate in social sciences in Russia. He served as dean in the Department of Journalism in the 1980s. Later he became a teacher in the faculty of social sciences at Kabul University and served as adviser to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs from 1995 to 2005. He served as secretary of the junbesh general council from 2003 to 2005. He was appointed as minister of transport and aviation in 2009, but his appointment was vetoed by parliament and he continues as acting minister. BAYAT, EHSAN (IHSAN) (1963–). A member of the Qizilbash community, Bayat is one of the most successful businessmen in Afghanistan. He founded the first Afghan wireless communication network, Afghan Wireless (AWCC), and is the founder of the Ariana TV network, established in 2005. Bayat is also the founder and chairman of the Bayat Foundation, the largest private donor company in Afghanistan. BAZAAR. The bazaar is a traditional marketplace, varying in size from a few temporary stalls in a village lane with a minimum of goods for a rural population to a major market place in a large town. The bazaar is often adjacent to the mosque, and in towns and cities it was frequently covered. Shops are usually segregated according to crafts and the types of goods sold. The bazaar is usually in the old town, whereas Western-type shops exist in the “new town” (D., shahr-i nau). See also ARMS BAZAAR. BEHESHTI, SAYYID ALI. A native of Bamian, Beheshti was educated in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, where he was a contemporary of Ayatollah Khomeini. He opened a madrasa in Waras to spread his revivalist ideas among Hazaras and was speaker in the Takkia Khana at Kabul until the Saur Revolt. In September 1979 he was elected president of the shura by a council
of elders and mirs. He formed a traditional Islamic resistance group, commanded by Sayyid Muhammad Hasan “Jagran” (major), with headquarters in Waras in Ghor Province, and became a major force in the Hazarajat until the shura lost ground to the Islamist forces of Sazman-i Nasr. The shura recruited its fighters from the Hazara peasantry, officered by sayyids. Beheshti appointed governors and mayors of towns, disarmed the population, and created a state apparatus along traditional lines. Torn by factional fighting and pressed by radical Islamists, his domains were greatly reduced. He became president of the Revolutionary Council of the Islamic Union of Afghanistan (Shura-yi Inqelabi-yi Ittefaq-i Islami-yi Afghanistan), which until 1982 controlled large portions of the Hazarajat. He joined Burhanuddin Rabbani but was driven from Kabul by the Taliban. BEHZAD, KAMALUDDIN (ca. 1450–1535). Master calligrapher and miniature painter who founded the Herati school of miniature painting, Bahzad did the illustrations in the Bustan manuscripts of Sa’di that are at the National Library of Egypt in Cairo. Orphaned as a youth, he was reared and trained by Amir Ruhulla Mirak Naqqash. He became a protégé of Shir Ali Nawa’i, Sultan Husain Baiqara’s prime minister. After the Safavid ruler Shah Isma’il captured Herat in 1510, he took Behzad to Tabriz. Behzad became director of the royal library there and continued the miniature tradition until he died in Tabriz. BENAWA, ABDUL RAUF (1913–1984). Born in Kandahar, Benawa was a writer, Pashtun activist, and diplomat. He published the newspaper Tulu-i Afghan (Afghan Sunrise), a number of articles, and a book entitled Pashtana Likwal (Writers of Pashtu). He became president of the Pashtu Academy (see AFGHAN ACADEMY) and later director of Radio Kabul. Benawa served as press attaché in New Delhi (1954–1955) and Cairo (1964–1966) and became minister of information and culture in 1967. He was ambassador to Libya from 1980 to 1984, then went to the United States for medical treatment and died there in 1984. BIN LADEN. See LADEN, OSAMA BIN. BIRUNI, ABU RAYHAN AL- (973–1048). Born about 973 A.D. near Khiva, Biruni was first at the court of the Khwarizm Shahs in Transcaspia and was later called to the court of Mahmud of Ghazni. He was a prolific scholar, said to have 180 works to his name, and as tradition has it his works “exceeded a camel load.” Chronicler, astrologer, and scholar at the court of Mahmud of Ghazni, he accompanied the Ghaznavid ruler on his campaigns to India and studied Sanskrit and Indian philosophy there. Biruni was one of the most profound and original scholars of medieval Islam. BISMILLAH KHAN, GENERAL MUHAMMADI. A Tajik, the son of Ghausuddin from Parwan Province, he was one of Ahmad Shah Mas’ud’s top commanders in northern Afghanistan. He was the Northern Alliance’s deputy minister of defense and, after the fall of Kabul, commander of the Kabul police force. Bismillah Khan was chief of staff in the Ministry of Defense from 2002 and was appointed minister of the interior in June 2010. BISMIL, MUHAMMAD ANWAR (b. 1908). Born in Kabul, Bismil was educated at Habibia
School. A poet and director of the Afghan Literary Society (see AFGHAN ACADEMY) in the early 1930s, he was imprisoned in 1932 for membership in the secret Young Afghan Society (Jawanan-i Afghanistan), a reformist social and political movement. In the 1960s he was appointed a member of the senate. His mother tongue is Dari. BITAB, SUFI ABDUL (1892–1958). Born in Qasab Kocha in Kabul city, Bitab was educated under the supervision of his uncle Mulla Abdul Ghafur, after which he embarked on a career of teaching at Habibia School and Kabul University. He attained the status of master (khalifa) of the Naqshbandi Sufi fraternity and was awarded the title of poet laureate (Malik al-Shu’ara) of Afghanistan in 1951. He was also respected as a commentator of hadith and author of numerous publications in a variety of fields. He died in 1958. BONN CONFERENCE (2001). A conference convened at the Petersburg Hotel in Königswinter near Bonn from 27 November until 5 December 2001 and held under the auspices of the United Nations to bring the Afghan representatives to agree on the formation of an Interim Government that was to prepare the way for creating a broad-based Afghan government. Lakhdar Brahimi, the special UN envoy to Afghanistan, urged the assembled members “not to repeat the past mistakes . . . and choose compromise over conflict.” The groups consisted of representatives of the Northern Alliance, which was in control of Kabul; the Rome delegation of the ex-king’s supporters; the Cyprus group of independent exiles; and the Peshawar group of Sayyid Ahmad Gailani supporters. German foreign minister Joschka Fischer stressed the importance of the meeting, saying, “They [the groups] shouldered a historic responsibility to bring peace to Afghanistan after years of war.” After arduous negotiations, the representatives agreed to set up an Interim Government, headed by Hamid Karzai, in which the Northern Alliance secured the ministries of defense, interior, and foreign affairs. Haji Abdul Qadir, a Pashtun, withdrew, protesting that Pashtuns were underrepresented in the new government. The Bonn Agreement completed its task, selecting a Transitional Government, approved by a Loya Jirga, in which the Northern Alliance continued its dominant position. BOST. See LASHKARGAH. BRAHIMI, LAKHDAR (1934–). Born in 1934 and educated in Algeria and France, Brahimi served as ambassador to Britain and Egypt and was minister of foreign affairs of Algeria from 1991 to 1993. In addition to his activities in Afghanistan (1997–1999), Brahimi served as special representative of the United Nations in Haiti and South Africa. He was appointed on 3 October 2001 as special representative with authority for the humanitarian, human rights, and political endeavors of the United Nations in Afghanistan. He attended the Bonn Conference (November 27–December 5) where he succeeded in winning an agreement by four major groups for the establishment of a six-month Interim Government, which prepared the way for convening a Loya Jirga and the establishment of a two-year Transitional Government. Great international pressure and the promise of considerable developmental aid made his second effort successful.
BRAHUI. A small ethnic community that speaks a Dravidian language, the Brahui are located in the southern parts of Nimruz and Kandahar provinces. They are tenant farmers and hired herders and number about 20,000 (although numbers as high as 200,000 are given). Most Brahui also speak Pashtu and Baluchi and consider themselves akin to the Baluch. The majority of Brahui live in the Pakistan province of Baluchistan, where they are divided into two major branches: the Sarawan tribe, claimed to be of Afghan descent, in the area north of Qalat, and the Jhalawan to the south. The leading, but by no means largest, section among the Sarawan is the Raisani, whose chief is the sardar of all the Sarawan. Among the Jhalawan, the Muhammad Hasanis, or Mamasanis, are the most numerous. They are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school. BRESHNA, ABDUL GHAFUR (1907–1974). The most prominent of Afghan painters, as well as expert musician, composer, and playwright, Breshna succeeded Ghulam Muhammad Musawwer Maimanagi as director of the Kabul School of Fine Arts in 1933 and later became president of all Afghan fine arts schools. He wrote plays for Radio Kabul and was a master cartoonist for the Anis newspaper. He composed the national anthem of the Republic of Afghanistan, established in 1973 by Muhammad Daud. Born of a Muhammadzai family, he was educated at Habibia School and in Germany. He died on 4 January 1974. BRITAIN. See ANGLO-AFGHAN RELATIONS. BRYDON, DR. WILLIAM (1811–1873). Assistant surgeon with Shah Shuja’s contingent of Hindustani infantry, Brydon was the sole survivor to reach Jalalabad on 13 January 1842, after the disastrous retreat that routed the British Army of the Indus and camp followers. Later, hostages and other survivors of the British expeditionary force of some 16,000 reached the safety of India. A painting by Elisabeth, Lady Butler, forcefully depicted the wounded physician on a dying pony at the gates of Jalalabad. This was a powerful reminder of the extraordinary loss to British prestige and the fulfillment of a supposed prediction by Sardar Akbar Khan that he would annihilate the British army and leave only one man to tell. See also DEATH MARCH. BURNES, ALEXANDER (1805–1841). A captain in the Indian army, Burnes was sent by Lord Auckland, governor general of the British East India Company, to the court of Amir Dost Muhammad in September 1837 for the purpose of concluding an alliance with Britain and establishing peace between the Afghan ruler and Ranjit Singh, who had captured Kashmir and occupied Peshawar. Burnes was well received at Kabul, and it appeared that an agreement with the amir was possible; but in spite of Burnes’s recommendations, Lord Auckland was not willing to make any promises. He recommended that Dost Muhammad waive his claims on Peshawar and make peace with the Sikh ruler. The Afghan amir’s correspondence with Russia and the presence of a purported Russian emissary at Kabul, named Ivan Vitkevich, was India’s cause for starting the First Anglo-Afghan War. Burnes returned to Kabul with the invading forces to serve as deputy and presumed successor of Sir William Macnaghten, the envoy and minister of the British government at Kabul. A revolt in Kabul resulted in the
assassination of Sir Alexander (he had been knighted shortly before) on 2 November 1841 and the British debacle in the war. See also ANGLO-AFGHAN RELATIONS. BURQA. See CHADARI. BUZKASHI. An Afghan national game originating in Central Asia, buzkashi was played primarily by Uzbeks, Turkomans, and Tajiks of northern Afghanistan. Buzkashi means “goat pulling” and is played on horseback by two opposing teams who use the carcass of a calf (a goat was used in former days) as their object of competition. The purpose is to lift up the carcass from the center of a circle, carry it around a point some distance away, and put it again in its original place. All this has to be done on horseback, and the chapandaz, expert player, must try to keep possession of the headless carcass. Cash prizes are given to the player who scores a goal and to the winning team. Champion teams used to perform each year on major holidays and the king’s birthday in Kabul. The tradition of buzkashi continued even in exile in Pakistan.
C CALENDAR. Afghanistan reckons time according to the Islamic era that begins with the emigration (hijra) of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D. Afghans use two dates, one for Islamic festivities based on the Arabic lunar (qamari) year, and the other for administrative purposes based on the solar (shamsi) year. The lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar calendar; therefore the months do not correspond to the seasons. One of King Amanullah’s lasting innovations was the introduction of the solar calendar. The Afghan solar year begins on 21 March, which is Nauruz, New Year’s Day, and in 2009 corresponded to the solar year 1388, or the lunar year 1430. Newspapers in Afghanistan usually carried all three dates. The months are named after the signs of the zodiac as shown in table 2. Table 2. Afghan Months and Signs of the Zodiac Dari
Pashtu
Zodiac
English
Hammal
Wray
Aries (Ram)
March 21
Saur
Ghwayai
Taurus (Bull)
April 21
Jauza
Gargholai
Gemini (Twins)
May 22
Saratan
Chungash
Cancer (Crab)
June 22
Asad
Zmarai
Leo (Lion)
July 23
Sonbola
Wazhay
Virgo (Virgin)
August 23
Mizan
Talah
Libra (Scales)
September 23
Aqrab
Larum
Scorpio (Scorpion)
October 23
Qaus
Lindah
Sagittarius (Archer)
November 22
Jadi
Merghumai
Capricornus (Goat)
December 22
Dalw
Salwagah
Aquarius (Water Carrier)
January 21
Hut
Kab
Pisces (Fish)
February 20
The first six months have 31 days, the next five months have 30 days each, and the last month (Hut) has 29 days, and 30 days in a leap year. The week ends on Friday, Jum’a, which is the day of rest. The four seasons are spring—bahar, summer—tabestan, fall—khazan, and winter —zemestan. According to one author (Poladi 1989), the Chagatai, 12-year cycle, still exists in the Hazarajat. The years are named after animals, as shown in table 3. The winter season, lasting much longer in most parts of Afghanistan, is divided into 11 toghal (countings). The Taliban returned exclusively to reckoning according to the lunar calendar. Table 3. Afghan Years, Named after Animals Name
English
Name
English
Mush
Mouse
Baqar
Ox
Palang
Leopard
Khargush
Rabbit
Nahang
Dragon *
Mar
Snake
Faras
Hare *
Gusfand
Sheep
Shadi
Ape
Murgh
Hen
Kalb
Dog
Khuk
Pig
* Translation dubious—LWA
CALIPH. The word caliph is derived from the Arabic khalifa, meaning successor, and was adopted as a title by the leader of the Muslim community after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. The office was first held by the companions of the Prophet, the four Rightly Guided Caliphs (r. 632–750), then by the Abbasids (r. 750–1258) until the Mongol conquest of Baghdad. The rise of military rulers, sultans, ended the importance of the caliphate until Ottoman rulers claimed both the sultanate and the caliphate in an effort to legitimize their rule over the entire Islamic world. Afghanistan and India recognized the legitimacy of the Ottoman claim but were unable to heed the caliph’s call for war (jihad) against the Allies in World War I. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, abolished the office of the caliphate in March 1924. Attempts to nominate King Amanullah for the position did not succeed. CAMPBELL, WILLIAM. A Scotsman, officer in the British East India Company service, who fought in the army of Ranjit Singh and during the Second Anglo-Afghan War in the service of Shah Shuja, he was wounded and captured by forces of Dost Muhammad and became military adviser and artillery instructor in the Afghan army. He eventually converted to Islam, assuming the name Shir Muhammad Khan, and rose to the rank of general and commander in chief of the Turkestan army at Balkh. As a youth, Amir Abdul Rahman learned his military sciences from Campbell and succeeded him in 1866 as commander in chief of the Turkestan army. CAPITULATION, TREATY OF. On 11 December 1841, British forces negotiated a surrender with Afghan chiefs after it was clear that they were unable to defend themselves from increasing Afghan attacks. The treaty was signed by Eldred Pottinger, the political agent at Kabul, and Major General William Elphinstone, commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, and by Afghan notables including Muhammad Akbar Khan. It demanded that the British troops speedily quit the territories of Afghanistan and march to India, not to return. Two sardars were to accompany the army to Afghanistan’s border “so that no one should offer molestation on the road.” Six English gentlemen were to remain “as our guests [and] shall be treated with courtesy.” They would be permitted to leave when Amir Dost Muhammad had returned. The British force at Jalalabad was to proceed to Peshawar before the Kabul army arrived, and the troops at Kandahar and other parts of Afghanistan were to depart. All property belonging to Sardar Dost Muhammad Khan was to be returned. If the Afghans needed assistance against foreign invasion, the British government should help; and all detained Englishmen, including the sick and wounded at Kabul, would be permitted to leave. “All
muskets and ordnance stores in the magazine shall, as a token of friendship, be made over to our agents.” Affixed to the treaty were the seals of 18 chiefs, including Muhammad Akbar Khan, son of Amir Dost Muhammad. (The text of the treaty differs to some extent from the version given by Lady Sale in her Journal of the Disaster in Afghanistan. This may be due to the fact that the treaty was several times amended before the final version was signed.) The treaty was never implemented, as none of the parties trusted the other. Sir William Macnaghten was killed by Sardar Akbar Khan after he tried to make a deal with the sardar’s enemies, and the British refused to surrender all their weapons. The British army started its evacuation of Kabul on 6 January 1842 and was routed on its way to the border. See also DEATH MARCH; FIRST ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR. CAVAGNARI, SIR LOUIS, RECEPTION OF. A Kabul telegram of 26 July 1879 reported that the “Embassy entered city this morning, and received a most brilliant reception. Four miles from city Sardars Abdullah Khan, Herati, and Mulla Shah Mahomed, the foreign minister, with some cavalry and two elephants, met us. We proceeded on the elephants with a large escort of cavalry. . . . Large crowd assembled, and was most orderly and respectful.” Cavagnari had an audience with the amir, and a newswriter reported “that the general opinion in Kabul is that now that the British Envoy has arrived, the arrears of pay due to the troops will be paid; that compulsory enlistment will be discontinued; and that oppressive taxes on the peasantry and on the trading classes will be considerably reduced.” But on 3 August, it was reported that the amir contemplated a reduction of the allowance hitherto paid to the Muhammadzai sardars. Three days later it was reported that the “Herati troops move around town in a most disorderly manner, and creating some excitement amongst the rabble of the place.” To appease them, two Herati regiments were paid, and two regiments were deprived of their ammunition. Eventually all were paid and their ammunition was taken, but on September 4 the embassy was attacked and all members killed. A letter dated 6 September from Amir Yaqub to the British government lamented, “Troops, city, and surrounding country have thrown off yoke of allegiance. . . . Workshop and magazines totally gutted: in fact, my kingdom is ruined. After God I look to the Government for aid and advice” (Intelligence Branch 1908). CAVAGNARI, SIR PIERRE LOUIS (d. 1879). A man of mixed British and French ancestry, Cavagnari was described variously as having “great charm and ability” and as being a man “of overbearing temper, consumed by the thirst for personal distinction.” He was a signatory for the British government of the Treaty of Gandomak (1879) with Amir Yaqub Khan. As commissioner of Peshawar, he crossed the Afghan border on 21 September 1878 with a small party to prepare the way for the British mission of Sir Neville Chamberlain to proceed to Kabul. The party was stopped at Ali Masjid by the Afghan General Faiz Muhammad, and the British government made this a casus belli. On 21 November, an Indian army invaded Afghanistan. Cavagnari was appointed British envoy to the amir’s court at Kabul after the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. He arrived in Kabul in July 1879, but on 3
September, mutinous soldiers, joined by Kabuli citizens, attacked the British residence and killed Cavagnari and his staff. The British government feared a debacle similar to the First Anglo-Afghan War and extricated its forces from Afghanistan by recognizing Abdul Rahman Khan as the new amir. It was not until 1922 that a British envoy was again appointed to Kabul. CHADARI (“TENT,” ALSO CALLED BURQA). The chadari is a tentlike garment, or veil, worn by women in Afghanistan. It consists of a headpiece with an embroidered eye patch through which a woman can see without revealing her face. The headpiece is attached to a pleated cloak which envelops the entire body. This garment was obligatory for all except nomad and peasant women at work. In the final year of his reign, King Amanullah encouraged women to discard the veil, and many did, but the civil war of 1929 brought an end to this innovation. It was not until 1959 that Prime Minister Muhammad Daud again permitted women to appear in public without the veil, and by the late 1970s women of all walks of life had abandoned the chadari and participated in the economic life of the country. After their conquest of Kabul, the Taliban again enforced the wearing of chadaris. After the fall of the Taliban regime, women only gradually began to discard the veil, although many continued to wear it for security reasons. CHAGHCHARAN (34-32' N, 65-16' E). A small town and district with a population of about 115,000 built near a fort (qasr) in the early 1960s as the administrative center of Ghor Province, Chaghcharan is located on the Hari Rud at an altitude of about 7,000 feet, the cause of its severely cold winters. Agriculture, facilitated by irrigation from the Hari Rud and Murghab rivers, and livestock breeding are the major occupations of the inhabitants, who are primarily Taimanis. Chaghcharan was the heartland of the Ghorid sultanate, which flourished from the 11th to the 13th century and ruled over an empire that extended from eastern Iran to Delhi in India and from Marv south to the Persian Gulf. CHAHAR AIMAQ. See AIMAQ. CHAI KHANA. The institution of the “tea house” is a traditional resting place where travelers stop to eat, listen to bazaar gossip, and find shelter for the night. Chai khana (D., chai = “tea,” khana = “house”) exist in every village and along roads leading to towns, but motorized travel on major highways has greatly reduced the traveler’s need for the service offered by the tea house. CHAKARI, MUHAMMAD SIDDIQ (1961–). Born in Chakari, Kabul Province, Chakari was educated at Abu Hanifa Madrasa and in Saudi Arabia. He was a mujahed during the communist regime and served on the leadership council of the United National Front party. He was appointed minister of hajj and auqaf in 2009 (he was replaced in the same year in a cabinet reshuffle) after serving as deputy minister and adviser to President Hamid Karzai. CHAKHANSUR (31-10' N, 62-4' E). A small town with a population of about 29,000 inhabitants, Chakhansur is located amid the ruins of the ancient capital of Sistan and is an administrative district in Nimruz (until 1968 Chakhansur) Province in the extreme southwest
of Afghanistan. The district lies on a high plateau that is seasonally irrigated by the Khash Rud and is bordered by desert. The inhabitants of the area are listed in order of numerical strength: Baluch, Brahui, Tajik or Farsiwan, and Pashtuns—most of them Sunni Muslims. CHAMBERLAIN, SIR NEVILLE BOWLES (1820–1902). Commander in chief of the Madras army, Chamberlain was selected by Lord Lytton for “his striking presence and address” to lead a mission to Kabul in September 1878. He was refused passage at Ali Masjid by the Afghan general Faiz Muhammad. This “insult” was taken as the casus belli for the British invasion of Afghanistan. Chamberlain served with General William Nott’s force during the First Anglo-Afghan War at Kandahar, Ghazni, Kabul, and Istalif and was several times wounded. See also GREAT BRITAIN. CHAMKANI (TSAMKANI, 33-48' N, 69-49' E). Chamkani is the name of a district in the north of Paktia Province with an area of 102 square miles and a population of about 25,000. The area is inhabited by people who claim to be Sulaiman Khel Ghilzais and subsequently adopted the name of the district as their tribal designation. (The Pashtu pronunciation is “Tsamkani.”) Haji Muhammad Chamkani, a member of this tribe, was appointed vice president and adviser to President Najibullah and chairman of the nationalities and tribal council, established in May 1988. CHANDAWOL. See QIZILBASH. CHAPAN. The chapan is a traditional coat for men popular among the Turkic population of northern Afghanistan but also worn by other Afghans. President Hamid Karzai is usually seen wearing a chapan. It is a long, buttonless caftan with knee-length sleeves, worn open in warm weather with a sleeve rakishly thrown over a shoulder. In cold weather, fur-lined or quilted chapans are worn, tied around the waist with a cummerbund. It comes in various colors, often striped, and is fashioned of cotton or silk. CHAPANDAZ. A “master” horseman in the buzkashi competition. CHARIKAR (35-1' N, 69-11' E). Charikar is a town and district with about 157,000 inhabitants located at the mouth of the Ghorband River about 40 miles north of Kabul, and an administrative district with an area of 73 square miles in Parwan Province. At the turn of the century, the town was inhabited by Tajiks, Uzbeks, Qizilbashes, Hazaras, and some Hindus (all of the latter traders and shopkeepers). The position of Charikar is of great importance, as the roads over the Hindu Kush unite in its neighborhood. In 1839 Charikar was a major British military outpost that was virtually wiped out by Kohistani forces, which had joined in the general uprising against the British occupation forces. CHARKHI. The Charkhi are a family from Charkh, a village and administrative district with a population of about 45,000 in Logar Province. Prominent members of this family were three brothers: Ghulam Siddiq, Ghulam Nabi, and Ghulam Jilani (the sons of Amir Abdul Rahman’s famous General Ghulam Haidar). They were supporters of King Amanullah and
hostile to the new dynasty established by Muhammad Nadir. CHEHEL ZINA. An archeological site on the western outskirts of Kandahar, Chehel Zina (D., “40 steps”) refers to steps hewn into solid rock leading up to a vaulted chamber with inscriptions describing the conquests of the Moghul emperor Babur (r. 1483–1530) and some subsequent rulers. CHISHT (34-21' N, 63-44' E). A village and subdistrict, Chisht has a population of about 15,000 inhabitants in Herat Province, located about 26 miles east of Obeh. It is called Chishti Sharif because of the location of Sufi shrines in the village. It is inhabited by a section of Taimanis who claim descent from the ancient inhabitants of Ghor and assumed the name Chishtis. It is the birthplace of a chain of Sufi pirs, including Muin ud-Din Muhammad (b. 1142), founder of the Chishti Sufi fraternity, who is much revered in India. There are a number of other Sufi saints who are also called Chishti. Members of the local community proclaimed a “Sufi Republic” early in the 1980s. There is little information on the political situation after the fall of the Taliban regime. CLARENDON-GORCHAKOFF AGREEMENT. The agreement, concluded in 1872–1873 between Great Britain and Russia, defined part of Afghanistan’s northern frontier. The czar accepted the river Oxus (Amu Daria) down to Khwaja Salar as the northern boundary of Afghanistan and pledged Russia to consider Afghanistan outside its sphere of influence. The Afghan amir was not consulted. See also GRANVILLE-GORCHAKOFF AGREEMENT. CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT. Until the late 19th century, Afghanistan was governed by a tribal aristocracy, first under the Sadozai and later under the Barakzai branch of the Durranis. Power was decentralized, and members of the royal clan ruled autonomously in the provinces, accepting the suzerainty of the king, or amir, in the capital city. Although various administrative departments had already existed since the time of Ahmad Shah, the king headed all departments and made the influential officers share in the responsibilities of decisions. As his sign of sovereignty, his name was mentioned in the Friday sermon (khutba), and coins (silver and copper) were struck in his name. The courts were in the hands of the clergy, ulama, but the death penalty had to be approved by the king or a governor. Ahmad Shah forbade the mutilation of limbs; and he drafted a code, but it was not enacted. Little was changed until the time of Amir Shir Ali, who was the first Afghan ruler to establish an advisory council to serve as a consultative body. Amir Abdul Rahman, who increasingly centralized all powers in his hands, took the first steps to institutionalize a consultative body. He relied on advice from a council that was composed of three groups: the sardars, members of the royal clan; loyal tribal chiefs; and the ulama. The “Iron Amir” claimed all temporal and spiritual powers (imarat and imamat), and there existed no restraint on his arbitrary rule except the obligation to conform in his actions to the rules of Islamic law. Amir Habibullah, Abdul Rahman’s son, continued the tradition of his father. The first written document detailing the prerogatives of the ruler and the rights of the ruled was the Afghan constitution (nizam-nama-yi tashkilat-i asasiya-yi Afghanistan)
promulgated by King Amanullah in October 1923. It consisted of 73 articles that enumerated the rights and prerogatives of the king, presented a bill of rights of Afghan citizens, and outlined the duties of ministers and government officials. It authorized the establishment of an advisory committee and provincial councils, half of whose members were to be elected by the people, and established a supreme court (divan-i ali). Financial affairs and the activities of provincial departments were defined. King Amanullah was the chief executive, commander in chief, and last court of appeals. He appointed the ministers and presided over cabinet meetings, unless he delegated this task to the prime minister. He was the “Defender of the Faith,” having the sole right to issue currency and have his name invoked in the Friday sermons (khutba) during noon prayers. His power was absolute, but he established the institutions that could have evolved into representative government and a constitutional monarchy. The constitution promised civil rights to all, abolished slavery, granted non-Muslims religious freedom (but missionary activity was forbidden), and declared the homes of citizens immune from forcible entry. A number of later statutory enactments (nizam-nama) further defined the powers and composition of parliament, which was housed in a new building just completed in Darulaman. Social reforms, such as the emancipation of women and free compulsory education, were decreed. King Amanullah’s constitution was never completely implemented, and his reforms were abandoned in a wave of reaction under a coalition of forces led by Habibullah Kalakani. Amir Habibullah (Kalakani) abrogated all constitutional reforms and attempted to rule in the tradition of Amir Abdul Rahman. A new attempt at constitutional government was made in October 1931 by Nadir Shah (r. 1929–1933). His fundamental law (usul-i asasi-yi daulat-i Afghanistan) was similar to Amanullah’s constitution. It included 16 sections with 110 articles that outlined general principles and enumerated the rights of the king, the rights of the people, and the duties of a national council (Shura-yi Milli) and provincial advisory committees. Like his predecessor, Nadir Shah enjoyed emergency and veto powers. Non-Muslims had equal rights and were not required to pay a poll tax or obligated to wear a distinctive type of dress. No legislation was to be contrary to Islamic law, but a distinction was made between civil and religious courts. Torture and confiscation of property were prohibited, and publications, including newspapers, and free commercial activity were permitted. As a concession to the religious establishment, two members of the Mujaddidi family held the position of minister of justice until 1935. The important position of prime minister was held by members of the royal family until 1963. A new, liberal era began with the promulgation of the 1964 constitution (1 October 1964, qanun-i asasi-yi Afghanistan), which limited the participation of members of the royal family in government. Members of the royal family could serve in the foreign service, be advisers (mushawer), and hold low-level positions in government departments, but not the positions of prime minister, supreme court justice, or member of parliament. This was directed against Sardar Muhammad Daud, the king’s cousin, a strong prime minister (1953–1963) whose Pashtunistan policy had been a disaster in foreign relations. While Zahir Shah (r. 1933– 1973) continued to hold supreme powers, he permitted an unprecedented degree of democratic
government. His constitution, the result of a constitutional drafting committee, included a preamble and 11 titles, comprising 128 articles. Primogeniture was introduced with a provision that “the Throne shall pass to his [Zahir’s] eldest son.” Freedom of thought, possession of property, unarmed assembly, and education were guaranteed. Afghan citizens were given the right to a free press and to form political parties, subject to the provisions of certain ordinances, provided that no actions were in violation of traditional norms and Islamic law. The provision on formation of political parties was never ratified by the king. From the time of King Amanullah, constitutional development represented a process of modernization and the gradual introduction of the concepts of division of powers and individual rights. It also brought into being a process where the symbols of democratic government were beginning to gain concrete reality. But socioeconomic factors prevented the rapid implementation of political reforms. Universal education, envisioned by the constitution, remained an aim rather than a reality, and Afghanistan has remained largely illiterate. The introduction of secular schools, in addition to the traditional mosque/madrasa system, produced two essentially hostile elites. Afghanistan is still predominantly agricultural, and a great division exists between the urban and rural population. Sectarian and ethnic differences have prevented the forging of a heterogeneous population into a nation. When Sardar Muhammad Daud staged his coup in 1973, the experiment with democracy came to a halt. Daud wanted one-party government and “democracy based on social justice.” His constitution (qanun-i asasi-yi daulat-i jumhuri-yi Afghanistan), promulgated on 14 February 1977, aimed at the “exercise of power” by the majority, the “farmers, workers, and enlightened people and the youth.” In 13 chapters and 136 articles, the republican government presented its aspirations. It called for the “elimination of exploitation in all its forms” and nationalized the mineral resources of the state, large industries, communications, banks, and “important food procurement establishments.” Land reforms were to be carried out, and cooperatives were to be encouraged. Women were to enjoy equal rights and obligations, and every Afghan 18 years or older was to have the right to vote. President Daud enjoyed absolute powers: he could convene and dismiss the National Assembly (Milli Jirga), whose members were nominated by his party (see NATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY), and could veto any law. He felt he had to be strong to fight the evils of “hunger, ignorance, and disease”; but his one-man rule proved to be fatal. His leftist supporters in the army did not permit Daud’s shift to the right, and before he could eliminate them from positions of power, they staged the Saur Revolt of 27 April 1978. The new regime wanted to establish a government of workers and peasants, with the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) as a vanguard to implement its revolutionary objectives. Decrees demanded the emancipation of women, land reforms, and the introduction of far-reaching social changes. But the provisions of the “Fundamental Principles of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan” could never be implemented. Armed resistance emerged within a few months, turning into a war of liberation after the Soviet intervention. The government of Dr. Najibullah virtually eliminated the trappings of Marxist government in its constitution of 1987, and the Afghan Interim Government of the seven mujahedin groups
in Peshawar published the outlines of a constitution that favored the establishment of an Islamic state. They would limit the sphere of activity of women in public life and manifestations of westernization. The Shi’i groups appeared to favor a federated state in which the interests of minorities were protected. Some, like the Pasdaran (Guardians) and perhaps Nasr (Victory), looked to Iran as a model of the Islamic state, whereas the shura (Council) appeared to prefer a traditional political system. The Shi’as claimed to constitute a fifth of the Afghan population and wanted this to be reflected in parliamentary representation. As long as their claimed popular strength was not reflected in an Afghan Interim Government, they refused to participate. The civil war, following the demise of the Marxist regime, resulted in the division of Afghanistan into various camps until the Taliban was able to impose its theocratic regime over most of the country. The Interim Government of 2001, which replaced the Taliban regime, reintroduced the constitution of 1964 with some changes. On 5 October 2002, the Transitional Government announced the establishment of a committee for the purpose of drafting a new constitution for Afghanistan. The nine-member committee was to prepare a draft, subject to approval by a full commission, which remained to be appointed. The ex-king, Muhammad Zahir Shah, presided, and upon completion the constitution was submitted for approval by a Constitutional Loya Jirga. The members of the committee included the following: Nematullah Shahrani as vice president and chair, Abdul Salam Azimi, Qasim Fazli, Rahim Sherzoi, Mukarama (Mrs.), Musa Asheri, Dr. Musa Marufi, Asifa Kakar (Mrs.), and Habiburrahman Ghani. The committee was later expanded to include 35 members. A conflict between conservatives and modernists exists in the application of Islamic law and constitutional provisions. Also, most rural areas continue the traditional qazi courts or tribal councils, which resolve criminal cases, whereas urban areas apply a large portion of laws based on those passed in the 1960s and early 1970s. It cannot be said that most constitutional provisions have been implemented, but with peace, security, and a consolidated government, an evolution to the system of the 1960s can be achieved. See also GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS; POLITICAL PARTIES. CONTRACTORS/MERCENARIES. After the invasion of Afghanistan, the United States government began to “outsource” many paramilitary tasks to private companies. One such company, Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), advertises itself as “a dynamic company with expanding requirements for top quality former military and law enforcement personnel, and Department of Defense (DOD) civilians.” According to an article in the Los Angeles Times (20 September 2004), MPRI has dozens of former generals and some 10,000 former soldiers in the field, including ex-members of the Special Forces. This “clandestine army” operates in many areas of the world, including Afghanistan. Some operate as soldiers, others as bodyguards—President Hamid Karzai had an American bodyguard. Others, again, were employed as prison guards or to provide protection for commercial interests. This contributes to some confusion, as authorities in the “host” countries do not know which of these soldiers of fortune operate as legitimate members of American agencies. A case in point is one Jonathan “Jack” K. Idema who maintained a private prison in Kabul in which he kept eight
Afghans who were tortured to extract confessions about the activities of Afghan guerrillas. Idema claimed that he was hunting for terrorists with the knowledge of American agencies. But his claims were disputed by American sources, and Idema and two of his colleagues were arrested on 5 July 2004 by Afghan police, put on trial, and sentenced to 8 and 10 years in jail. The sentences were halved in April 2005, and two were released in 2006, Idema in April 2007. There are about 112,000 contracted persons in Afghanistan. CONVENTION OF 1907. See ANGLO-RUSSIAN CONVENTION. CORRUPTION. Corruption, defined as “the abuse of public position for private gain,” is a worldwide phenomenon. It is more virulent in Afghanistan, where the government faces a military challenge by Taliban forces and opposition from entrenched warlords who control the economic life of large areas. Members of the Afghan police force, the judiciary, and bureaucracy have been accused of supplementing their meager salaries by accepting bribes. Relatively small sums are involved, except in cases where high government officials can use their authority to amass millions. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), claims that Afghans “paid out 2.5 billion in bribes and kickbacks in one year.” The average payoff, according to UNODC, was $159. About 25 percent of Afghan citizens had to pay at least one bribe to police and local officials during the past year. Afghanistan’s central bank took control of Kabul Bank, the largest private bank, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. The bank is said to have provided loans with little collateral to favored individuals who speculated in the real estate market or needed money to start various enterprises. They built luxury villas in Dubai, relying on ever-increasing appreciation in order to resell the properties for a handsome profit. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended that the bank be placed in receivership before being sold or closed. COURTS. See ISLAMIC LAW. CURRENCY. See AFGHANI; BANKING; DA AFGHANISTAN BANK. CUSTOMARY LAW. See ISLAMIC LAW.
D DA AFGHANISTAN BANK. Afghanistan’s central and major commercial bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank, was founded by the government in 1939 as a result of the success of the Bank-i Milli. It had sole rights to issue currency and control of foreign exchange. The bank had branches in major Afghan towns, but its impact and operations were confined largely to urban areas. Subsequently a number of specialized banks were established, but all banks were nationalized with the establishment of President Muhammad Daud’s republican government. In the 1980s the Da Afghanistan Bank began to be governed by a supreme council, and its director held cabinet rank. The formal banking system is still poorly developed in Afghanistan, and its functions are augmented by the informal money bazaar. Therefore, the traditional system of moneylending has survived all regimes, and foreign exchange dealings have remained a major activity of the bazaar. In the anarchy following the fall of the Marxist regime, the Burhanuddin Rabbani government issued banknotes, as did his rival General Abdul Rashid Dostum in the north. As a result of inflation, the dollar was traded in January 1997 at afs. 9,500 in Kabul and afs. 27,000 in the north. After the fall of the Taliban regime, the first attempts began to restore the bankrupt system of banking in Afghanistan. Dr. Anwar alHaq Ahadi became governor of the central bank, and new banknotes were issued in October 2002. See also AFGHANI; KABUL BANK. DADFAR, DR. MUHAMMAD AZAM (1946–). Born in Andkhui the son of Haji Baba Jan Khan, Dadfar graduated from Ghazi School in Kabul and in 1973 earned a medical degree from Kabul University. He served from 1973 to 1978 as a lecturer at Kabul University. In 1978, after the Saur Revolt, he was imprisoned in Pul-i Charkhi jail, and in 1980 he migrated to Pakistan and became an executive member of Physicians’ Union in Peshawar. In 1981 he went to Germany and worked as a physician. In 1985 he returned to Peshawar and worked at the Treatment and Research Center of Mental Disorders for Afghans, and from 1996 to 1998 he pursued advanced studies for a certificate in Petersburg, Germany. He returned to Afghanistan and in December 2004 was appointed minister of refugee affairs. He served as minister of higher education from March 2006 to 2009. Dadfar speaks Pashtu, Dari, Uzbeki, German, English, and some Turkish. He gave up dual citizenship to remain in office in October 2005. DADULLAH, MULLA (1968–2007). Born a member of the Kakar tribe from the Pakistani side of the border, Dadullah joined the mujahedin as a young man in the 1980s and rose to become one of the most important Taliban commanders. The one-legged Taliban commander of the Taliban’s military wing was a member of Mulla Muhammad Omar’s 10-man leadership council. He contributed to the resurgence of Taliban fighting by recruiting and training new fighters. He reportedly ordered the execution of Ricardo Manguia, a Red Cross worker, in March 2003. In December 2005 he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for attempting to kill a Pakistani politician. He was active in Baluchistan, Pakistan, and the southern provinces of Afghanistan. Killed on 12 May 2007 in Helmand by coalition forces, he
is succeeded by his younger brother Mansur. DAI KUNDI. Dai Kundi is a new province (population 477,544), with its administrative center Nili, created in January 2004 by Ali Ahmad Jalali, minister of interior (2003–2005), and carved out of the northern part of Oruzgan Province. The province is divided into the districts of Gizab, Ishtarlai, Kajran, Khadir (Dai Kundi), Kiti, Miramor, Nili, Sangi Takhst, and Sharistan. It is inhabited primarily by Hazaras, making it one of the core Hazarajat provinces in Central Afghanistan. DAI KUNDI HAZARAS. See HAZARA. DAI ZANGI HAZARAS. See HAZARA. DALIL, DR. SURAYA (1970–). Born in Kabul, Dr. Dalil graduated from the Kabul Medical Institute in 1992 and with an M.A. degree in public health from Harvard University in 2003. She trained midwives and doctors during the Taliban period, during which she operated from Peshawar and Kabul. She also served as emergency physician with Médecins sans Frontières and the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF in Mazar-i Sharif. She returned to live in Kabul in 2002 and was nominated as minister of public health for the 2009 cabinet of President Hamid Karzai, but the position was not approved by parliament. DANISH, MUHAMMAD SARWAR (1961–). Born in a religious Hazara family in Dai Kundi Province, the son of Muhammad Ali, Danish earned his higher education in Iraq, Syria, and Iran, where he obtained a B.A. degree in law, a certificate in journalism, a B.A. in Islamic culture and education, and an M.A. degree in Islamic fiqh (jurisprudence); he also did some work toward a Ph.D. degree. He was a member of the emergency Loya Jirga in June 2002 and of the Constitutional Drafting Commission. When Dai Kundi was announced to be a province in January 2004, Danish was appointed as the first governor of the province. He was first appointed minister of justice in December 2004 and again in March 2006. Renominated minister of justice in 2009, he was not approved by the Wolesi Jirga. He continued as acting minister. DAR AL-ISLAM (DAR UL-ISLAM). The “Abode of Islam” is a country in which the ordinances of Islam are established under the rule of a Muslim sovereign. The Shari’a, Islamic law, prevails in this area, leaving non-Muslims subject to their own religious and customary laws but without the possibility of full citizenship. Hindus and Jews of Afghan citizenship enjoyed equal rights but at certain times had to pay a special poll tax and were exempt from military service. In 1920 the Indian Hijrat (or Khilafat) Movement led to a mass emigration of Muslims from British India, the abode of war (dar al-harb), to Afghanistan, the dar alIslam. After the Taliban established themselves in Kabul, they imposed a radical interpretation of Islam, extending Islamic law to also include non-Muslims and forcing Hindus to wear yellow identity tags. International reaction induced them to discontinue this practice. DAR AL-MU’ALLEMIN (DAR UL-MU’ALLEMIN). A teachers training college, Dar al-
Mu’allemin was founded in 1914 at Kabul. Initially students entered the school for three years of study after completing six years of primary education. During the reign of King Amanullah, it was upgraded, and students were required to complete nine grades of education before being admitted. The college was established to train teachers for the newly established secular school system. Eventually teachers training colleges were also established in the major provincial centers. DAR AL-ULUM. See HAQANIYYA, DAR AL-ULUM. DARI. Dari is the name of the Farsi spoken in Afghanistan and is, with Pashtu, one of the two “official” languages. The name derives from the royal court (darbar) because it was the language of the Central Asian and Moghul Indian courts. Other etymologies suggested are darra, “valley,” or the language of Darius (522–486 B.C.), the Achaemenid emperor. Afghan scholars claim that Dari was the language of Khorasan in which some of the oldest Persian poetry was written. In its written form, Dari differs very little from the Farsi of Iran, except that it employs a greater amount of Arabic vocabulary and some archaic words no longer used in Farsi. Of the spoken Dari variants, the Herati comes closest to Farsi, followed by the educated Kabuli idiom. Hazaragi, spoken by the Hazara and Tajiki, are other major Farsi dialects. All are mutually intelligible. Afghan governments have attempted to make Pashtu the national language and have expended considerable resources to Pashtunize Afghan society, but Dari is still the major language of higher education and serves as a lingua franca for all linguistic groups. Even the Taliban regime, which was composed primarily of Pashtu speakers, has not been able to displace Dari from its dominant position. DARULAMAN (DAR AL-AMAN) (34-28' N, 69-8' E). Darulaman was the administrative capital of Afghanistan under King Amanullah, who, in the early 1920s, constructed a number of government buildings, including a monumental parliament and a municipality building. Members of the court and high government officials built villas in the new capital, and a narrow-gauged railroad led to the center of Kabul some six miles away. It is a monument to Amanullah’s 10-year reign and ceased being the capital after his downfall. The town was renamed Dar al-Habib (Abode of Habib) after Habibullah Kalakani and Dar al-Funun (Abode of the Arts) in 1930, until in 1947 it was again given its original name. The municipality building was subsequently converted into the famous Kabul Museum, now largely looted, which housed valuable archeological and ethnographic collections from the Hellenistic, Greco-Buddhist, and Ghaznavid periods. Train service was ended, and the major administrative offices were again located in the old city. The parliament building was gutted by fire in 1969 and restored to house the Ministry of Defense. It was completely destroyed as a result of the Shahnawaz Tanai coup of March 1990 and the ensuing civil war between the “mujahedin” forces, to be restored to its former glory with Indian assistance. DARUNTA CAMP COMPLEX. One of the first targets of American bombing in October 2001 was the Darunta Complex, a series of training camps in eastern Afghanistan. The Darunta Complex included the Al-Badr I base, the Tora Bora base, and the Abu Khabab camp in the
Jalalabad area. Some of the cave complexes were first constructed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency for mujahedin fighters against the communist rulers of Kabul. The Tora Bora complex extended some 1,150 feet into a 13,000-foot mountain range and was capable of accommodating as many as 1,000 fighters. It was equipped with generators to provide electricity, featured an efficient ventilation system, and had offices, bedrooms, and communal rooms, as well as areas for weapons storage. After extensive bombardment, American forces found computers, training manuals for weapons manufacture, and publications that identified desirable targets for terrorist attacks. DARWAZ (38-26' N, 70-47' E). Darwaz is the name of an administrative center in the district of the same name with an estimated population of 64,000 in northern Badakhshan Province. It was part of an independent khanate (headed by a khan, “chief”) on both sides of the Amu Daria but became part of Afghanistan as a result of the settlement of the Russo-Afghan boundary in 1895, when Darwaz became Afghan territory and Shighnan, situated across the Amu Daria, was ceded to Russia. DASHT-I MARGO (30-45' N, 63-10' E). Dasht-i Margo is a large desert lying between the Helmand and Khash Rud rivers, about 150 miles in length and some 85 miles in width. It is a plateau, about 2,000 feet above sea level, windswept and barren, visited by Baluch herdsmen who alone know the paths leading to occasional water holes. It formed a natural boundary between Afghanistan and British India. DAUD, MUHAMMAD. See MUHAMMAD DAUD. DAWAI, ABDUL HADI (PARESHAN, 1894–1982). Born in Kabul, Dawai was a graduate of the first class of Habibia School in 1912. In the same year he became assistant editor of the famous Seraj al-Akhbar Afghaniya and in 1920 of the Aman-i Afghan. He entered the foreign service and participated in the Rawalpindi and Mussoorie peace conferences. A Kakar Pashtun, famous poet, diplomat, and government official, he published under the pen name Pareshan (distressed). He was appointed Afghan minister to London in 1922 and served as minister of commerce from 1925 until his resignation in 1928, and as Afghan minister in Berlin from December 1929 to 1931. From 1933 until 1946, he was imprisoned as an Amanullah supporter. In 1950 he was elected to parliament and became speaker of the lower house (Wolesi Jirga). Dawai served as secretary of King Zahir Shah and tutor of the crown prince. He served as ambassador to Cairo from 1952 to 1954, and in Jakarta from 1954 to 1958. He was elected senator and became president of the senate from 1966 to 1973. He retired from political life and died in 1982 in Kabul. DEATH MARCH. After signing a treaty of virtual capitulation with Afghan chiefs in December 1841 (see CAPITULATION, TREATY OF; FIRST ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR), the British forces of occupation and camp followers, amounting to about 16,500 persons (690 British fighting men, 2,840 Indian infantry, 970 cavalry, and over 12,000 camp followers— servants and merchants in charge of nonweapons logistics and a large number of women and
children), embarked on a march toward the Indian border in which few survived. The retreat began on 6 January 1842, and only six miles were covered on the first day. The march quickly turned into a rout as traffic jams impeded crossing the Logar River, and much of the baggage was abandoned. On the second day only five miles were covered to the well-fortified Khurd Kabul Pass. A number of people froze to death, and Amir Shah Shuja’s cavalry escort deserted. On the next day the British rear guard was attacked. British officers tried unsuccessfully to separate their troops from the camp followers. Ghilzai ghazis attacked the retreating forces, killing some 500 troops and 2,500 camp followers. British women and children, as well as their husbands and a number of officers, were surrendered as hostages to Sardar Akbar Khan and managed to survive. Eldred Pottinger claims that Akbar Khan treacherously shouted “spare them” in Persian and “kill them” in Pashtu (George Pottinger 1983, 163; this is not likely: many of the Britishers also knew Pashtu). On the fifth day, a last stand was made at Jagdalak, by which time about 12,000 of the retreating force had perished. Sardar Akbar Khan offered to pay 200,000 rupees to the Ghilzai chiefs if they would stop their attacks, but the Ghilzai were out for revenge. By the eighth day, two British officers and seven or eight wounded men were taken prisoner, and only one man, Dr. Brydon, managed to reach safety at Jalalabad (Dupree 1967, “Retreat”). This gave rise to the legend that Akbar Khan had predicted he would wipe out the British army and leave only one man to tell the tale. DEHGAN. A small tribe settled in the Kunar Valley, the Dehgan speak the Laghmani or Kohistani language. The tribe is divided into the Dumeh, Chaguni, Kuli, Buzurg, Debazai, and Malikzai sections, the last four of which are found chiefly in the Kunar and Safi valleys. DELAWAR, MAJOR GENERAL MUHAMMAD ASIF. Commander of the Afghan army during the communist regime in Afghanistan and successful in the defense of Jalalabad in March 1989, he was a skillful army general and was granted permission to continue his duties after the Marxist period. He escaped an assassination attempt in 1992 by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s men. After the Taliban forces retreated from Kabul, he was appointed technical security adviser of the United Front and was responsible for training the United Front forces. The Taliban tried to assassinate him along with Ahmad Shah Mas’ud. He is seen as a key player by the Hamid Karzai government in the formation of a united Afghan army. A Tajik, his mother tongue is Dari. DELAWARI, NURULLAH (1945–). A Tajik, Delawari left Afghanistan in 1967. He received some training at the National Westminster Bank in Great Britain and earned a B.S. degree in business and economics from the University of California. He then worked with the Lloyds Bank of California until he returned to Afghanistan in 2002. He was appointed governor of the Afghan central bank, 2004–2007, and is the founder and chief executive officer of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) and its president from 2003 to 2004. He served as minister adviser to President Hamid Karzai on banking and the private sector. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN (DRA). DRA is the name of the Afghan
state after the Saur Revolt. In the latter part of the Marxist regime, the name was changed to Republic of Afghanistan (ROA). DEOBAND. A town near Delhi, India, and the location of an Islamic university (madrasa, dar al-ulum), Deoband was founded by Abdul Qasim Nanawtawi in 1867 (some sources credit Muhammad Subbed Essay). Deoband adopted Shah Waliullah (1703–1762) as its spiritual head and was greatly influenced by the teachings of Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328), which also inspired Abdul Wahhab (1703–1792), the founder of Wahhabism current in Saudi Arabia. The institution has traditionally supported Pan-Islamic, anti-British, and fundamentalist causes and was opposed to the teachings of the modernist Muslim University of Aligarh. Graduates of Deoband established numerous madrasas, including some in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. They also found teaching positions in Afghanistan, where a madrasa of international reputation did not exist. Amir Abdul Rahman and King Amanullah at times forbade Deobandis from teaching in Afghanistan. Muhammad Yunus Khales, amir of the Islamist Hizb-i Islami, was a graduate of Deoband. It was reported that Mulla Muhammad Omar and Osama bin Laden first met in Deobandi mosques in the Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan and may have forged an alliance at that time. The largest of these institutions is the Dar al-Ulum al-Haqaniyya, the “Harvard” of the Taliban movement. The students of these schools, many of them orphans, were provided free education, food, shelter, and military training during the war against the communist government of Afghanistan in the 1980s. These students later became the core of the Taliban forces that ruled most of Afghanistan until their defeat in December 2001. DEPARTMENT FOR THE PROMOTION OF VIRTUE AND THE PREVENTION OF VICE. See ENJOINING THE GOOD AND FORBIDDING EVIL. DHIMMI (ZIMMI). Also called “people of the covenant or obligation” (ahl al-dhimma), the dhimmis are non-Muslim monotheists who under Islamic law enjoy freedom of life, liberty, and property provided they are loyal citizens. The dhimmis include Christians, Jews, and in Afghanistan Hindus, even though they are not monotheists. At various times, a special tax (jizya) was levied on adult male dhimmis, and Hindus were obligated to wear a dress distinctive from Muslims but were exempt from serving in the armed forces. Each community was culturally autonomous. As part of the nation-building process in the 20th century, King Amanullah proclaimed all Afghans equal and abolished the separate legal status of dhimmis. The Taliban, during their short-lived regime, tried to restore discriminatory restrictions. DIN. A., din means religion; it is also used as part of a name, like Din-i Islam, the religion of Islam, or Din Muhammad. DIN MUHAMMAD, MUSHK-I ALAM (1790–1886). A frontier mulla, whose grandfather came from India and settled among the Andar Ghilzai near Ghazni, Din Muhammad studied with various ulama and was given the name Mushk-i Alam, “Scent (or Musk) of the World,” by one of his teachers because of his excellent mind. Din Muhammad was a militant mulla who
opened a madrasa for the training of mullas and gained considerable influence among the Ghilzais. He received an allowance from Amir Shir Ali and preached jihad against the British during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. When Amir Abdul Rahman tried to restrict his activity, he incited the Mangal and Ghilzais to rebellion. After his death in 1886, his son, Mulla Abdul Karim, led a Ghilzai uprising against Amir Abdul Rahman that was suppressed only with great difficulty. He is considered a national hero by Afghans because of his implacable hostility to the British. DOBBS, SIR HENRY (1871–1934). Dobbs was a British envoy and the chief of the British mission to Kabul that negotiated the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921 and established “neighborly” relations after the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Before that, he also headed the British contingent at the Mussoorie conference (17 April–18 July 1920) that failed to normalize Anglo-Afghan relations. He first came to Afghanistan in 1903, when as a political officer he directed a small British contingent whose task was to restore or repair boundary pillars along the Russo-Afghan border. See also FOREIGN RELATIONS; GREAT BRITAIN. DORAH PASS (36-0' N, 71-15' E). The Dorah Pass crosses the eastern Hindu Kush range, lying at an elevation of 14,800 feet and crossed by a route leading from Zibak to Chitral in Pakistan. It is located in the Zibak district of Badakhshan Province and is so named because two roads (D., do rah) converge from it to Zibak and to Nuristan. DORI RIVER (31-29' N, 65-12' E). The Dori River is formed by the junction of the Kadanai and Kushebai streams south of Shah Pasand and the Lora stream which originates in Pakistan. It is replenished by the Arghastan, Tarnak, and Arghandab rivers and numerous streams and finally runs into the Helmand. DOST MUHAMMAD, AMIR (r. 1826–1838 AND 1842–1863). An Afghan ruler known as the Great Amir (Amir-i Kabir), Dost Muhammad was ousted by the British in the First AngloAfghan War but was able to regain the Afghan throne after four years in Indian exile. He was born in 1792 in Kandahar, the son of Painda Khan, who was killed by Zaman Shah when Dost Muhammad was only eight years old. He became acting governor of Ghazni and, after the death of Muhammad Azam in 1824, established himself as ruler of Kabul. He next defeated his rival Shah Shuja at Kandahar and gradually extended his control over the rest of Afghanistan. He defeated the Sikhs at the Battle of Jamrud (1837) and assumed the title “Commander of the Faithful” (Amir-ul-Mu’minin). The British-Indian government turned against him when Dost Muhammad made overtures to Russia and Persia and permitted a Russian agent to come to Kabul. Dost Muhammad wanted to regain territory captured by Ranjit Singh and was willing to ally himself with the British, but the British government decided to support the Sikh ruler and restore Shah Shuja to the Afghan throne. A British army invaded Afghanistan and sacked Kabul on 23 July 1839. On 2 November 1840, after a few skirmishes, Dost Muhammad gave up; he surrendered to the British, who took him as a hostage to India. However, Great Britain’s occupation of Afghanistan became increasingly tenuous as their lines of communication were disrupted and tribal forces slowly expelled garrisons from
outlying areas. Eventually the army in Kabul was forced to negotiate an ignominious retreat in which most of the British army was eliminated (see ANGLO-AFGHAN WARS). Facing a situation of chaos in Afghanistan, the Indian government permitted Dost Muhammad to return and regain his throne. But it took a number of years to consolidate his power: he took Kandahar in 1855 and Herat in 1863. Dost Muhammad died a few days after he entered Herat. He was described as about six feet tall with a slight stoop; “he has large features and a muscular frame . . . the nose is aquiline, high and rather long, and finished with beautiful delicacy; the brow open and penciled . . . a broad face . . . and the chin covered with a full, strong beard” (Noelle 1997, 18). Of his 27 sons, Muhammad Afzal and Muhammad Azam ruled for short periods, followed by Amir Shir Ali. DOSTUM, GENERAL ABDUL RASHID (1954–). Born the son of Abdul Rahim in Khwaja Dokoh, Jozjan Province, of an Uzbek family, Dostum worked for the Oil and Gas Exploration Enterprise of Shiberghan and went to the Soviet Union for training in 1980. He then joined the Ministry of State Security and became commander of Unit 374 in Jozjan. During the 1980s, he commanded the Jozjani “Dostum Militia” comprising some 20,000 regular and militia soldiers, most of them Uzbek, and was entrusted with guarding Jozjan, Fariab, and Sar-i Pul provinces for the Kabul government. He was awarded the distinction of “Hero of the Republic of Afghanistan” and was a member of the central council of the Watan party (formerly the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan). He and a number of generals turned against President Najibullah and assisted the mujahedin in the conquest of Kabul. Dostum’s followers are united in a party, called Junbesh-i Milli-yi Islami, which controlled most of Balkh, Fariab, Jozjan, and Samangan provinces until the Taliban conquest of the area. When President Burhanuddin Rabbani was unwilling to legitimize the position of Dostum by giving him a cabinet post, the latter joined forces with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In May 1996, Hekmatyar defected and joined the Rabbani government, but both were ejected, Dostum by his Uzbek rival General Abdul Malik and Hekmatyar by the Taliban. Dostum returned to Afghanistan in 2001 and supported the American air attacks on Taliban and al-Qaeda forces (in exchange for payment of $250,000 a month, U.S. News & World Report, 11 February 2002). He was able to regain control of portions of north-central Afghanistan. He served as deputy minister of defense in the Interim Government, a position he no longer held in the Transitional Government of Hamid Karzai, December 2001. On 1 March 2005, Dostum was appointed chief of staff, but in February 2008 he was suspended from his position as a result of the Akbar Bai kidnapping. Dostum captured Akbar Bai and some of his followers, shooting one of his bodyguards, but when police surrounded his compound in Kabul he was forced to release them. He was suspended from his position and was forced to seek asylum in Turkey. President Hamid Karzai permitted Dostum to return on the eve of the Afghan presidential election of 2009. See also MAZAR-I SHARIF, FALL OF; QALA-I JANGI, BATTLE OF. DURAND AGREEMENT. The agreement, signed on 12 November 1893 at Kabul by Sir Mortimer Durand and Amir Abdul Rahman, defined the boundary between Afghanistan and British India, subsequently called the Durand Line. This boundary was drawn without regard
to the ethnic composition of the population and severed a large portion of Pashtu-speaking Afghans from their brothers in Afghanistan. Amir Abdul Rahman accepted under “duress” a line running from “Chitral and Baroghil Pass up to Peshawar, and thence up to Koh-i Malik Siyah in this way that Wakhan, Kafiristan, Asmar, Mohmand of Lalpura, and one portion of Waziristan” came under his rule. He renounced his claims for “the railway station of New Chaman, Chagai, the rest of Waziri, Biland Khel, Kurram, Afridi, Bajaur, Swat, Buner, Dir, Chilas and Chitral.” The Durand Line was never completely demarcated because of the hostility of the tribes, and the tribes on the Indian side of the border never came under the direct administration of the Indian, or subsequently Pakistan, governments. Abdul Rahman obtained an increase in subsidy of 6,000,000 rupees and a letter with the assurance that Britain would continue to protect Afghanistan from unprovoked Russian aggression, provided that the amir “followed unreservedly the advice of the British Government” in regard to his external relations. The Afghan government subsequently claimed that the agreement was forced on Afghanistan in the form of an ultimatum. After the death of Amir Abdul Rahman, Britain insisted that the treaties with the late ruler were personal rather than dynastic and were therefore subject to renegotiation, but they excluded the Durand Agreement as not subject to this provision. Article 5 of the treaty of peace concluded at Rawalpindi on 8 August 1919 stated that “the Afghan Government accept the Indo-Afghan frontier accepted by the late Amir [Habibullah],” and the Treaty of Kabul carried a similar provision. When the state of Pakistan was created in 1947, the Afghan government demanded the right of the Pashtuns to decide whether they wanted an independent Pashtunistan, a union with Afghanistan, or a union with Pakistan. The Kabul government did not accept a plebiscite that allowed only a choice for union with Pakistan or India, and in 1979 the Afghan parliament repudiated the Durand Agreement. The Pashtunistan question has remained an issue between Afghanistan and Pakistan and has prevented the establishment of cordial relations between the two Muslim countries. The Taliban, dependent as they were on Pakistan support, never gave formal assurances that they recognized the Durand Line. See also appendix 1; FOREIGN RELATIONS. DURAND LINE. See DURAND AGREEMENT. DURAND, SIR MORTIMER (1850–1924). Foreign secretary of the government of India (1884–1894), Durand was sent to Kabul in September 1893 for the purpose of negotiating an agreement defining the Indo-Afghan boundary, subsequently called the Durand Line (see DURAND AGREEMENT). He served in the northwestern provinces from 1829 to 1838 and as political secretary to Frederick Roberts in the Kabul campaign in 1894. DURRANI DYNASTY (1747–1973). The Durrani dynasty was founded in 1747 by Ahmad Shah “Durr-i Durran,” who ruled Afghanistan until 1773. Ahmad Shah was a direct descendant of Sado, an Abdali chief at the court of the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas the Great (r. 1588– 1629). The Durrani are divided into the Sadozai branch (a section of the Popalzai tribe) and the Muhammadzai (a section of the Barakzai tribe). The succession from Ahmad Shah to Muhammad Daud, who established a republican government, is as follows:
Sadozai dynasty
1747–1817
Ahmad Shah
1747–1773
Timur Shah (s.o. Ahmad)
1773–1793
Zaman Shah (s.o. Timur, deposed)
1793–1800
Mahmud Shah (br.o. Zaman, deposed)
1800–1803
Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk (br.o. Zaman, deposed)
1803–1809
Mahmud Shah (br.o. Zaman, loses Kabul and Kandahar)
1809–1817
Ruling in Herat
1817–1863
Mahmud Shah (Sadozai, assassinated?)
1817–1829
Kamran (s.o. Mahmud, assassinated?)
1829–1841
Yar Muhammad
1841–1851
Said Muhammad Khan (s.o. Yar Muhammad)
1851–1855
Muhammad Yusuf Khan (Sadozai, deposed)
1855
Sirtap Isa Khan (Herati)
1855
Herat conquered by Persians
1856
Sultan Ahmad Khan (nephew of Dost Muhammad)
1855–1863
Dost Muhammad Khan
1863
Ruling in Kabul
1817–1863
Muhammad Azim Khan
1817–1822
Habibullah Khan (s.o. Muhammad Azim, deposed)
1822–1826
Dost Muhammad Khan (uncle of Habibulla Khan, deposed)
1826–1839
Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk (Sadozai)
1839–1841
Zaman Khan (Barakzai)
1841–1842
Fath Jang (Sadozai contender)
1842?
Dost Muhammad Khan
1842–1863
Ruling in Kandahar
1817–1863
Pur Dil Khan (and bros. Muhdzai)
1817–1839
Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk (deposed)
1839–1841
Kohan Dil Khan (br.o. Pur Dil)
1842–1855
Dost Muhammad Khan
1855–1863
Ruling Afghanistan
1863–1978
Civil war and anarchy
1863–1868
Shir Ali Khan (br.o. Dost, deposed)
1863–1866
Muhammad Afzal Khan
1866–1867
Muhammad Azam Khan (br.o. M. Afzal, deposed)
1867–1868
Shir Ali Khan
1868–1879
Yaqub Khan (s.o. Shir Ali, abdicated)
1879
Second Anglo-Afghan War
1879–1880
Abdul Rahman Khan (s.o. Muhammad Afzal)
1880–1901
Habibullah Khan (s.o. Abdul Rahman, assassinated)
1901–1919
Amanullah Khan (s.o. Habibullah, deposed)
1919–1929
Enayatullah Khan (three days, abdicated)
1929
Habibullah Kalakani (Jan. to Oct., Tajik, Son of a Water Carrier, executed)
1929
Nadir Shah (Musahiban family, assassinated)
1929–1933
Zahir Shah (deposed)
1933–1973
Muhammad Daud (president, assassinated)
1973–1978
DURRANI, HISTORY. The Abdalis had experienced great hardships. Defeated by the Ghilzai in Kandahar, they held out against Nadir Shah Afshar in Herat and paid with deportation and the enslavement of their families; it was only for their fighting skill in the compulsory service of the Persian conqueror that they were rewarded with land in the Kandahar area. At first they were largely a pastoral people employing the peasantry to work the land, but soon they began to settle and took direct control of the tiyul (fief) lands. Eventually they would acquire ra’iyat (peasant) land, and by the end of Ahmad Shah’s reign they had taken over half the land formerly in possession of the local peasantry, for which they did not pay any taxes, and managed the cultivation of about three-fourths of the crown lands in the Kandahar area. During the reign of Timur Shah, the Nurzai and Popalzai tribes moved to the areas of Derawat and Tirin, replacing the Hazara cultivators. As the Durrani tribes settled and prospered, they lost some of their tribal ways. Unlike other Pashtun tribes, they peacefully resolved internal differences by arbitration and did not engage in any wars with their neighbors. Timur Shah sensed the potential danger the Durranis were to his rule. He moved his capital to Kabul and soon began to demand taxation for all the lands other than tiyul qulbas; to enforce his demands, he retained major Durrani chiefs as hostages in Kabul. He also created a royal bodyguard, the gholam-i-shah, which was largely Qizilbash in origin, making him less
dependent on the military support of the Durranis. Timur then appointed two Parsivans, Imam Bakhsh Khan and Husain Khan, as superintendents of the Kandahar revenue. Shah Zaman relaxed some of the pressure but eventually was forced to fight the rebellious tribes. The civil wars following the reign of Timur Shah decimated the power of the Durranis. In the words of a British intelligence report, Prince Kamran absolutely butchered the Durranis; his executions . . . resembled wholesale massacres—such as we read of in the wars of Attila or of Jenghis Khan, where extermination was the object of the conqueror; and he pursued this sanguinary system to so remorseless an extent, that the haughty Durranis, who had raised kings and had deposed them, had overrun empires and had subverted thrones, trembled when they entered his presence like the tamest and most abject slaves.
Although the Durrani were left in control of their tax-free tiyul, they were gradually forced to pay taxes on the newly acquired lands. Rather than paying their taxes in grain, money assessments were instituted. During the occupation of Kandahar in the First Anglo-Afghan War, Great Britain’s policy aimed at separating the khans from their tribesmen, to take them to Kabul where they could be under the control of Shah Shuja, whom they had just restored to the throne. They wanted to end their privileged status by “gradual amalgamation of the Durranis with other classes of the community.” The British could not implement this policy, however, as they were forced to withdraw from Afghanistan. During the reign of Amir Abdul Rahman, the Durranis, now under the leadership of the Muhammadzai clan, were initially out of favor because they did not help in his succession and subsequently did not participate in his government. They had supported Sardar Muhammad Ayub Khan in 1881 when he fought Abdul Rahman, but they became the amir’s trusted allies when he needed their support against the rebellious Ghilzai. Kakar describes this transformation as follows: By improving their economic and political status and raising their morale by calling them sharik-i daula (partners of the state) the amir did his Muhammadzay clan a great service indeed. Consequently the Muhammadzays who, before the accession of the amir, appeared to be finished as a political force once again rose to the leading position in Afghanistan. (1979, 29)
Some were enlisted into a royal cavalry known as the Risala-i Shahi-yi Kandahar, and in 1887 one of every six able-bodied men (shash nafari) was recruited into the army at a somewhat higher pay than other conscripts. Amir Abdul Rahman encouraged Pashtun tribes to move into northern Afghanistan, and by 1886 some 5,000 families of Barakzai, Nurzai, and Ishaqzai had settled in Badghis. DURRANI, LAND TENURE. Nadir Shah Afshar gave the Durranis the lands of Kandahar as a military fief. The land had previously been held by a mixed peasantry population that had paid taxes to the suzerain ruler since Safavid times. The land of Kandahar had been traditionally divided into divisions called qulba, or “plows,” which designated the portion of irrigated land cultivated by one person, operating one oxen and one plow, that gave double space for sowing two kharwar of grain (one kharwar, literally a donkey load, amounted to 100 man [maund]—the exact weight varied in different localities), one half of which was
cultivated each year, while the other half remained fallow. Nadir Shah’s agents ascertained the productivity of the land in various areas as a return of 25 kharwar for one kharwar of seed. Each qulba was assessed a land tax (kharaj) of 10 percent. As an innovation, every garden, tree, and vine was assessed one copper pice. About 3,000 double qulba were distributed to Durrani tribes in fiefs, tiyul, in exchange for providing 6,000 horsemen, one for each qulba. Table 4 shows the allotment of lands under Ahmad Shah. The Durranis were estimated at 100,000 families at the time. Six non-Durrani tribes held 110 qulbas but had to provide a much larger contingent of 2,890 horsemen. Table 4. Allotment of Lands under Ahmad Shah Durrani Tribes
No. of Qulbas
Quota of Horses
Popalzai
965.25
806
Alikozai
1,050
851
Barakzai*
1,018.5
907
Alizai
661.75
819
Nurzai
868.5
1,169
Ishaqzai
357.5
635
Khugiani**
163
423
Maku
121.5
100
Total
5,206
5,710
* These numbers probably include the Achakzai (LWA). ** Spelled Khakwani in some older sources.
Ahmad Shah Durrani greatly increased the land in control of Durrani chiefs, who were paid from 100 to 1,000 tomans (one toman was 20 Kandahar rupees) annually. During military service, a horseman was paid 25 tomans either in money from the royal treasury or in barat (written assignment). DURRANI, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. Durrani villages of the 19th century were typically divided by two streets crossing at right angles at a tree-lined square, which often also included a pool. It is the location of public assemblies of all types. The houses are constructed of burned or unburned brick, with flat or domed roofs. Most dwellings consisted of only one room whose floor is covered with felt carpets, and attachments to the houses are built for cattle and supplies. Most houses have a little courtyard, and the villages are surrounded with orchards. The walled fort of a khan, often provided with towers, is the most prominent structure in a village. It usually includes the mehman-khana, the guesthouse, where travelers will find accommodation. Shops are usually kept by non-Durranis, and most villages have a carpenter, a blacksmith, and sometimes a weaver. There is at least one mosque in every village and a mulla who is supported by donations. The principal occupation is agriculture, growing wheat, barley, and other grains. Each family has three or four pairs of bullocks, a flock of sheep, and some cows. Asses are used as beasts of burden, and camels are held for long-distance transport. Durrani farmers work their own land or use buzgars (bazrgars)—tenant farmers—or agricultural laborers, mostly Tajiks. Durrani shepherds and nomads live in black tents, kizhdi, which measure from 20 to 25 feet
in length, 10 to 12 feet in width, and 8 to 9 feet in height. They are divided by curtains into apartments, and a second tent is set up for the sheep. The tent of a khan or more prosperous Durrani is protected with felt wall coverings and carpeted floors. A camp consists of 10 to 15 tents, rarely of more than 50. The tents are pitched in two lines, with the tent of the malik in the middle. A tent is also provided for guests, and an area is marked off with stones to serve as a prayer area. Each camp also includes a number of smiths, carpenters, and agricultural workers who engage in limited cultivation. A well-off Durrani has a horse and may keep a greyhound. Men attend to the flocks or hire shepherds for that purpose, and the women engage in indoor work such as weaving and making of clothes. Men and women live and eat together when the family is by itself, but they are segregated in public and on social occasions. The Durranis have been described as prepossessing in appearance, “stout men, with good complexions and fine beards, of which they always encourage the growth, though the young men clip them into shape; . . . some, wear long curls and some of the shepherds allow their hair to grow to its full length all over their heads.” The Durranis have a reverence for Kandahar, the site of the tombs of their ancestors, and the “bodies of their great men are carried thither to be buried, even from Kashmir and Sind.” DURRANI, POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. During their rule, the Sadozais (1747–1839) enjoyed a superior status, “Their persons were sacred; no punishment could be inflicted on them, except by one of their own family; nor could even the head of the Abdalees himself pass sentence of death upon a Saddozye.” The shah was the hereditary chief and military commander of the Durranis. The chiefs of major Durrani sections were called sardars (general, prince—a title later reserved for male members of the royal Muhammadzai family) and held considerable powers; they were often seen as a potential threat to the king. Mountstuart Elphinstone remarked that the king was in a great measure dependent on the goodwill of the Durrani chiefs and was obliged to conciliate that order by bestowing on it a large portion of power and honor, though in reality he viewed it with jealousy and was continually employed in direct attempts to undermine it. The sardars were appointed by the king, who in turn appointed the khans as leaders of tribal subdivisions. The maliks and mashirs headed individual subdivisions of a village or other locality. They were chosen by their own people, subject to the approval of the sardar. The duties of the sardars and maliks were confined to resolving disputes in their communities, if necessary with the aid of a jirga, or tribal council. When a chief was absent, he was represented by a deputy, nayeb, usually a relative of the sardar. The governor at Kandahar was the representative of the king. The military divisions corresponded to those of the tribes. Amir Dost Muhammad appointed Muhammadzai sardars as governors of provinces, a practice that Amir Abdul Rahman initially stopped, but in the 1890s, 11 out of 16 of his governors were members of the Muhammadzai clan. He, however, did not appoint any of his sons as governors of major provinces. The “Iron Amir” gradually centralized power in his hands and created a relatively wellequipped standing army, which freed him from dependency on the tribes, but the military power of the Pashtun tribes continues to be a factor that no Afghan ruler can ignore.
Civil wars and disputes over succession to the Kabul throne forced many Durranis into exile. Some went in the 17th century to Multan under Shah Husain, where they are still located today. The followers and families of Amir Shir Ali, Sardar Muhammad Ishaq, and a large number of Muhammadzai sardars fled the country in the 19th century, and, although Amir Abdul Rahman and his son Habibullah permitted many to return, a large number of Durranis live to this day in the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. DUTANI (DOTANI). A tribe of nomad merchants (Powindahs), the Dutani used to travel seasonally between India and Afghanistan, selling silk, carpets, and hashish (chars). They are also called Lohani and are now settled on the Indian side of the border. DZADRAN. See JADRAN.
E EAST INDIA COMPANY, BRITISH. The British East India Company was started in 1600 with a capital of £30,000 and a charter from Queen Elizabeth for 15 years to have a monopoly of trade, “together with limited authority to make laws and punish interlopers.” The charter was periodically renewed, and by the middle of the 18th century, the company was the de facto ruler of Bengal. Its Board of Control appointed a governor general as executive who conducted the government for the company until 1858, when the Crown ended the charter and appointed a viceroy, subject to the control of the London government. The company concluded treaties with local chiefs and waged wars in its attempt to become the paramount power in India. It bore the responsibility for the debacle of the First Anglo-Afghan War. Three presidencies in Bengal, Bombay, and Madras furnished the company’s armies, which included both British and Indian branches of cavalry, artillery, and infantry. Vassals and mercenaries were also employed. See also ARMY OF THE INDUS. ECONOMY. Afghanistan’s economy, like that of other less-developed countries, consisted of a large agricultural sector and a small government-controlled public sector of mining, electricity generation, airlines, and other industries. In 1977 the government of President Muhammad Daud took control of all major industries and banking. At that time, about 40 percent of cultivable land was owned by large landowners who made up only 2 percent of the agricultural population, whereas 80 percent of farmers owned less than 11 acres each (General Staff, India 1933). About 90 percent of the population is engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. In the 1970s about 85 percent of Afghan agricultural exports consisted of fresh and dried fruit. Qaraqul skins and the Afghan carpet industry (which comprises more than 50 percent of the handicraft industries) were other important hard currency earners. The Soviet Union was the major trading partner and the only market for Afghan natural gas. Prime Minister Muhammad Daud (r. 1953–1963) began a program of development and modernization. Two five-year plans (1956–1961 and 1962–1967) were to provide the infrastructure of communications, while the third (1967–1972), initiated by a subsequent government, aimed at agricultural self-sufficiency. About $1.2 billion in foreign aid was expended by the early 1970s, of which the Soviet Union provided 50 percent and the United States 40 percent. Prewar figures given by The Afghan Statistical Yearbook (July 1976) show the following values of Afghan exports in 1975, in rounded millions of U.S. dollars: Qaraqul skins
$10
Fresh fruit
$27
Dried fruit
$50
Carpets and kelims
$17
Natural gas
$41
Exports in barter trade with neighboring countries (rounded millions): Soviet Union
$81
India
$29
Pakistan
$33
Exports and imports with major trading partners (rounded millions): Exports
Imports
United States
$10
$5
United Kingdom
$15
$8
Germany
$21
$10
Japan
——
$60
President Daud projected a seven-year plan (1976–1983) that emphasized industrial development over the agricultural sector and nationalized large industries. Aid from the Gulf countries (the Shah of Iran promised $2 billion) permitted a survey for the construction of a railroad, which was to link Iran with the Indian subcontinent. A sudden fall in the price of oil and the downfall of the Iranian and Afghan rulers in the late 1970s ended these ambitious plans. Afghanistan still cannot produce most manufactured goods and processed raw materials. One of the first measures of the Marxist regime was to decree land reforms and abolish the traditional bazaar system of agricultural financing, but without providing alternate sources of funds. Since it soon lost control over much of the countryside, the Kabul government could never implement its reforms; nevertheless, in 1983 the government claimed that it had redistributed about one-fourth of cultivable land. The war in Afghanistan has wreaked enormous damage that cannot be assessed at this time. One cash crop that was eminently successful in 1996 was opium poppies, making Afghanistan the major exporter, with 70 percent of world opiate production and supplying 90 percent of European heroin. As a result of world pressure, the Taliban government eventually prohibited the planting of poppies in 2001, but planting was resumed after the fall of the Taliban regime. Afghanistan is rich in natural resources: coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulphur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, and precious and semiprecious stones can be extracted, the latter primarily
in the northeast of the country. Natural gas fields exist in Shiberghan and nearby Jarquq, Khwaja Gugerdak, Yatimtaq, and to the west in Juma. A pipeline leads north to Hayratan from where it is exported to the Soviet Union. According to Soviet estimates, there are natural gas reserves of up to 5 trillion cubic feet. Major oil resources are in the Sar-i Pul area, which is largely exported to the Soviet Union. Wars and insecurity have caused considerable disruption in exploration. Most of the mineral deposits are in inaccessible areas, and considerable effort and foreign funding will be needed to make extraction profitable. Here are some recent statistics: GDP
$12.850 billion (2008 est.)
GDP growth
3.5% (2008 est.), 9.0% (2009 forecast)
GDP per capita
$457 (2008)
GDP per sector
agriculture 31%, industry 26%, services 43% (2008)
Inflation
26.8% (2008 average)
Population below poverty line
53% (2003)
Labor force
15 million (2004)
Labor force distribution
agriculture 80%, industry 10%, services 10%
Unemployment
40% (2008)
Exports
$2.012 billion (2008)
Export goods: opium, wheat, fruit, nuts, rugs, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semiprecious stones. Exports to India 23.7%, Pakistan 22.7%, United States 21.3%, Russia 4.1% (2007). Imports: $8.694 billion (2008). Import goods: capital goods, food, textiles, petroleum products, and most consumer goods. Imports from Pakistan 23.9%, United States 11.8%, Germany 6.8%, India 6.5%, Turkey 5.1%, Turkmenistan 5%, Russia 4.7%, Kenya 4.4% (2005) EDUCATION. The modern system of education in Afghanistan dates from the early 20th century, although attempts at educational reforms were first made under Amir Shir Ali (r. 1863–1879). In 1868 he opened two schools, a military school, located in the Sherpur district of Kabul, and a civil, or royal, school in the Bala Hisar. Both schools were directed by Qazi Abdul Qadir, Shir Ali’s secretary of the army and publisher of the Shams al-Nahar. Education was free, and food and lodging were provided for the students. The schools were for princes and the sons of notables, and the system was adapted from Muslim India and the Ottoman Empire. Because of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the experiment was not continued. Amir Abdul Rahman (r. 1880–1901) claimed, with some exaggeration, that he could fill only three clerical positions after advertising all over Afghanistan for 30 positions for literate Afghans. This prompted him to open “various schools for the education of members of my
family, my personal attendants, and page boys; for prisoners of war; for the army, and for the children of my officials and other subjects” (Sultan Mahomed Khan 1901). The traditional system of education in Afghanistan was the domain of the clergy (ulama). It consisted of elementary schools, maktabs, usually attached to a mosque, where mullas would teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, recitation of the Koran, and the Islamic duties and prohibitions. There was no uniformity in curriculum, and students would often confine their activities to recitation and memorization of the Koran. The well-to-do would hire tutors for their children. The secondary system of education was the madrasa, in which the teacher (mudares), or alem (pl. ulama), would teach Persian and Arabic literature, poetry, calligraphy, and the Islamic sciences of exegesis (tafsir), Islamic theology (ulum-i Illahi), jurisprudence (fiqh), and ethics (akhlaqiat), as well as the “foreign” sciences of logic, philosophy, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and astrology. The madrasa trained the judges (qazi), legal experts (mufti), and doctors of Islamic sciences (ulama) (see ISLAMIC LAW). Most madrasas were not state institutions but private enterprises of individual Islamic scholars who would certify completion of a student’s course of study. In the late 19th century, the most important college of this type was the royal college (madrasa-yi shahi) at Kabul. A modern system of education evolved from the time of Amir Habibullah. He founded Habibia School in 1904, first as a madrasa, but it later adopted the curriculum of BritishIndian secular schools. He appointed his son, Sardar Enayatullah, as his head of education and allocated an annual budget of 100,000 rupees. Conditions were spartan: the teacher sat on a chair and the students on mats on the floor. In winter, open charcoal braziers provided some warmth. In addition to a few Afghan teachers, Indian Muslims were contracted, including the principal, Dr. Abdul Ghani. A school for the children of notables (maktab-i malikzadaha) was founded next and eventually developed into the Royal Military College (madrasa-yi harbi-yi sirajiya). Its principal was a Turkish officer, Mahmud Sami, who operated under the direction of Sardar Enayatullah, the eldest son of Amir Habibullah. The curriculum included Islamic and military sciences as well as gymnastics and drill. In 1907, an Office of Textbooks (Dar al-Ta’lif) was founded to produce texts for the new secular schools. In 1914, a Teachers Training School (Dar al-Mu’allemin) was founded, and a year later the primary school system was expanded. Education and textbooks were provided free of charge, and students received a small stipend for living expenses. Primary schools (ebteda’iya) included four years of religious education, reading and writing, arithmetic, and geography. Graduates could then enter the military school, continue at Habibia School, or end their education to become lower-level civil servants. Middle schools (rushdiya) conducted a three-year program in Persian and Arabic literature and a foreign language. Graduates prepared for government jobs or continued their education in the next cycle of higher education (e’dadiya). Education at this level was in English. King Amanullah further expanded the system of education by founding primary schools in major towns and district centers and, in 1922, the French-language Amania School
(subsequently renamed Istiqlal—Independence—by Nadir Shah) with a French curriculum and several French teachers. Amani School (renamed Najat by Nadir Shah, and again Amani during the Marxist regime) was founded in 1923 as a German-language school. The top graduates from these schools were sent abroad for higher education. A Ministry of Education was established in 1919, and Sardar Abdul Rahman was appointed as its first minister. Schools were next opened in the provinces. The Ghazi High School (Victor, named after Amanullah’s title) was founded in 1927, and administrative schools (Maktab-i Hukkam and Maktab-i Usul-i Daftari) were opened to train accountants and administrators. During the reign of Zahir Shah (1933–1973), the Afghan system of education was further expanded and extended to the provinces. Kabul University was formally established on a separate campus in 1947, but before that, the faculty of medicine was founded in 1932, followed by the faculty of law and political science in 1938. Faculties of science and letters were added in 1942 and 1943. In the 1950s, theology, agriculture, and economics departments were founded, and in the 1960s, departments of home economics, education, engineering, and pharmacy, as well as a polytechnic institute, were established. Some departments were affiliated with foreign universities, mostly German, French, and American. The Soviet Union built and directed the operations of the Polytechnic Institute from 1967, and the Teachers College of Columbia University reorganized the faculty of education. By 1950, expenditures on education amounted to 40 percent of the Afghan budget. Women’s education was first sponsored under King Amanullah with the establishment in 1921 of a school in the building of the present Zarghuna High School in Kabul. Afghan and some foreign women taught the same curriculum as the boys’ schools, as well as cooking, sewing, child care, and readings of the biographies of famous women of the world. Coeducation began in 1928 for the first and second grades at Istiqlal School in Kabul, and some female students were sent to Turkey to continue their education. Coeducation and girls’ schools were discontinued for several years after the ouster of King Amanullah. In 1931, under Nadir Shah, women were permitted to take courses at Masturat Hospital in Kabul, and under Zahir Shah, girls’ schools were reopened in 1939. Two high schools opened in 1947, and a women’s faculty of education was added in 1948. Coeducation was resumed again in the early 1960s at Kabul University. A Women’s Institute (Mu’asasa-yi Niswan) was started in 1946 in Kabul under the sponsorship of Queen Humaira, wife of Zahir Shah, which gave classes in handicrafts and became the largest supplier of needlework of various types. In the years 1936–1937, the Afghan government decided to replace Dari with Pashtu as the language of instruction in public schools, but in 1946 this policy was abandoned in favor of Dari/Pashtu bilingualism. Pashtu-speaking provinces and a few “tribal” schools, like Rahman Baba in Kabul, used Pashtu. In 1963, Nangarhar University was founded in Jalalabad in which Pashtu was the language of instruction, and seven professional and technical schools have existed since 1964 that also use Pashtu for instruction. By 1970, secondary schools existed in every province except Zabul, and vocational and teachers training schools, as well as commercial, agricultural, and technical schools, existed in Kabul and a number of provincial centers. The existence of a dual system of education, the
traditional system under the ulama and the newly established secular system, created two elites who competed for government positions. The graduates of the secular system tended to benefit from the process of national development and had little difficulty finding employment. The state eventually also integrated the madrasa system in the faculty of theology at Kabul University, but an independent, private system of madrasas continued to exist. Thus the ulama had lost its monopoly over education and felt threatened in its position of leadership. The Marxist government emphasized adult education and literacy programs and printed texts in the newly recognized “national languages” of Baluch, Turkmani, Uzbek, and Nuristani (Kati), as well as in Dari and Pashtu. Universities were established in Balkh and Herat, and primary education was permitted in regional languages. The Afghan Ministry of Education was responsible for curriculum and educational policy at all levels. War and destruction closed virtually all provincial schools, except for a few maktab, operated by mujahedin groups and local communities. In Marxist-controlled areas, purges of faculty, the drafting of graduates, and changes in curriculum to conform to Soviet models led to a drastic reduction of students. The “new education policy” initiated by President Najibullah dispensed with most of the Marxist innovations, and after the victory of the mujahedin in 1992, the campus of Kabul University became a battleground of one political party or another. Local community leaders reopened universities in Mazar-i Sharif, Bamian, and Herat, but the ongoing civil war and a lack of resources prevented the establishment of viable institutions. The most drastic changes occurred during the Taliban regime, which closed schools for girls after they captured Kabul in September 1996. The Hamid Karzai government started educational reforms, including the construction, or repair, of schools; the training of some 70,000 teachers; and the supply of educational materials. Higher education has been considerably expanded with the establishment of universities (pohantun) in Badakhshan, Baghlan, Balkh, Bamian, Bost, Fariab, Ghazni, Herat, Jozjan, Kabul, Kandahar, Kapisa, Khost, Nangarhar, Paktia, Parwan, and Takhar. Colleges (muasasa-ye tahsilat-e ali) were established in Baghlan, Parwan, Jozjan, Kunar, Fariab, and Badakhshan. An American University at Kabul, similar to such institutions in Cairo and Beirut, has been set up, and the United Arab Emirates planned the foundation of a university in Khost. In March 2009, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid al-Tantawi, imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, announced that his institution will build a center, to be called the Al-Azhar Institute of Islamic Education, in Kabul. Al-Azhar of Cairo was founded in 972 and has become the dominant Sunni madrasa and a model for subsequent institutes of higher education. All of the schools receive foreign support, but the level of education is better in the major cities. A number of private colleges also exist. EIKENBERRY, MAJOR GENERAL KARL. President Obama appointed Eikenberry ambassador to Kabul in April 2009. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to be the commander of American forces in Afghanistan, replacing General David Barno. Eikenberry served in Afghanistan before, from September 2002 to September 2003, as head of the United States military’s office for military cooperation, charged with establishing the new Afghan National Army. Until spring 2005, the general was director of strategic planning for the U.S.
Pacific Command in Hawaii; he moved to Kabul on 3 May 2005. Eikenberry has M.A. degrees from Harvard and Stanford and a B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy. He was defense attaché at the American embassy in Beijing, China, from October 1997 to September 2000. He retired from the military with the rank of lieutenant general on 28 April 2009. ELAHI. See ESMATULLAHI, MUHAMMAD HASHIM. ELECTORAL COMPLAINTS COMMISSION (ECC). An independent Afghan body to adjudicate all challenges and complaints regarding the electoral process. Established for the Afghan presidential election of 2009, the ECC can hear complaints about violations and has the authority to impose sanctions. The ECC is composed of five commissioners: two Afghans appointed respectively by the Afghan Human Rights Commission and by the supreme court, and three by the special representative of the secretary general of the United Nations. The Afghans were Fahim Hakim and Maulawi Mustafa Barakzai, and the international commissioners were Grant Kippen, Maarten Halff, and Scot Worden. The commission has its headquarters in Kabul and provincial offices throughout the country. Because of insecurity, intimidation, and cases of fraud, President Hamid Karzai’s number of votes were reduced, requiring a runoff election. The runner-up, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew, and Karzai was declared the winner on 2 November. ELPHINSTONE, MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM (1782–1842). Elphinstone was the commander of the British army in Afghanistan in 1841 and the person held responsible by British historians for the debacle in the First Anglo-Afghan War. General Elphinstone was 60 years old and infirm when he accepted the army command. Forbes (1892) describes Elphinstone as Wrecked in body and impaired in mind by physical ailments and infirmities, he had lost all faculty of energy, and such mind as remained to him was swayed by the opinion of the person with whom he had last spoken. (64)
Elphinstone did not take “decisive” action when Alexander Burnes, the assistant to the British envoy at Kabul, was assassinated with members of his mission. He quartered his troops in the vulnerable cantonment, which was commanded from the nearby hills, instead of moving them to the protection of the Bala Hisar fortress (which was occupied by Amir Shah Shuja). Surrounded by Afghan tribal armies, the British had to negotiate a retreat that turned into a rout in which most of the 16,000 troops and camp followers were massacred or died from the freezing cold weather. Elphinstone did not survive the disaster; on 23 April 1842, he died in captivity of exhaustion and various maladies. See AKBAR, SARDAR MUHAMMAD; CAPITULATION, TREATY OF; DEATH MARCH; FOREIGN RELATIONS. ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779–1859). Elphinstone was the British envoy to the court of Shah Shuja in 1808–1809 who negotiated an alliance of “eternal friendship” with the Afghan ruler and called for joint action in case of Franco-Persian aggression. He left Delhi on 13 October 1808 with an escort of 400 Anglo-Indian troops and reached Peshawar on 25 February 1809, where he presented Great Britain’s proposals to the Afghan ruler. This was
the first contact between a British official and an Afghan ruler. Elphinstone used the opportunity to learn as much as he could about the “Forbidden Kingdom” and later published a book on Afghanistan entitled An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul (1815), which is one of the first comprehensive accounts of Afghan society. He was rewarded for his services with an appointment as governor of Bombay. Elphinstone College in Bombay was named after him. Remarking on the proposed war, Elphinstone said, If you send 27,000 men up the Bolan Pass to Candahar (as we hear is intended), and can feed them, I have no doubt you will take Candahar and Caubul and set up Soojah [Shuja]; but for maintaining him in a poor, cold, strong, and remote country, among a turbulent people like the Afghans, I own it seems to me hopeless. (Macrory 1966, 94–95)
See also ANGLO-AFGHAN WARS; FOREIGN RELATIONS. ENAYAT-SERAJ, HAMIDULLAH (b. 1917). Born in Jalalabad, the son of Sardar Enayatullah and grandson of Amir Habibullah, Hamidullah completed his primary education in Kabul and secondary and higher education in Iran at the Industrial High School, and received a B.S. degree in engineering from Tehran University in 1939. He lived in Rome, Italy, since 1978, and was married to Princess Abeda, daughter of King Amanullah. He accompanied his father, Sardar Enayatullah, into exile in Iran in 1929 and returned with his family to Afghanistan in 1947. He served as a member of the Departments of General Education and Vocational Education at the Ministry of Education in 1948. He was vice president of the General Education Department and director general of the Personnel and Teachers Department of Education in 1949. He served as acting principal of Najat School in 1951, principal in 1960, and deputy director of secondary education. He was counselor in Washington in 1963, and in Moscow in 1965, and was appointed first deputy minister of education in 1967 and governor of Herat in 1968. He was appointed deputy minister of foreign affairs (administration) in 1971 and served again as minister of education from 1971 to April 1972. He was ambassador to Great Britain from 1973 to 1976 and, finally, ambassador to India from 1976 to 1978. ENAYATULLAH, SARDAR (1888–1946). King of Afghanistan after King Amanullah’s abdication on 14 January 1929, Enayatullah was forced to abdicate three days later, when Habibullah Kalakani ascended the throne. He was the eldest son of Amir Habibullah. His father gave him the title “Supporter of the State” (Suin al-Sultanat) and appointed him “marshal” (sardar-i salar) in 1905 and minister of education in 1916. He and Sardar Nasrullah were on friendly terms with the members of the Hentig-Niedermayer Expedition in Kabul. At that time he was believed to be in favor of Afghan intervention in the war against Great Britain. He married a daughter of Sardar Mahmud Tarzi, editor of the Seraj alAkhbar Afghaniya and later foreign minister. After the assassination of Amir Habibullah in Nangarhar Province, Sardar Nasrullah went through the form of offering him the throne in the presence of Nadir Khan and other prominent officials. Enayatullah, however, declined and recognized Nasrullah as the king. But the army revolted, and Sardar Amanullah, who was in Kabul, won recognition as the new king. Enayatullah Khan was in virtual retirement during the reign of his brother. On 14 December
1928, when King Amanullah was forced to resign, he appointed Enayatullah Khan his successor; three days later Enayatullah was forced to surrender to Habibullah Kalakani. On 18 January 1929, he and his immediate family were evacuated to Peshawar, India, in an aircraft of the British air force. He lived in Tehran as a guest of the Iranian king until his death on 12 August 1946. ENJOINING THE GOOD AND FORBIDDING EVIL. One of the obligations of every Muslim, based on the Koran (22:41, al-amr bi ‘l-ma’ruf wa an’n-nahy ‘an al-munkar), which became institutionalized in offices like the muhtasib. In modern Afghanistan the police were responsible for law and order until the Taliban instituted the “religious police” to enforce attendance at prayers, moral behavior, and restrictions on women, who were not permitted to participate in economic life or venture abroad without the all-encompassing veil or without the company of a related male. Teams of Islamic guards patrolled the cities, especially Kabul, and beat citizens for minor infractions. Punishments like mutilation for theft and stoning for adultery were reintroduced. Since the establishment of the Interim Government of President Hamid Karzai in 2001, the police again resumed the enforcement of law and order, without the more radical punishments of the Taliban regime. See also ISLAM; ISLAMIC LAW. ENVER PASHA (ANWAR, 1881–1922). Minister of war, Enver—along with Jamal Pasha and Talat Pasha—was a member of the ruling triumvirate in the Ottoman war government (1913–1918). Sentenced to death in 1919, he escaped to Germany after the war and from there to the Soviet Union. He failed to gain Soviet support in replacing Kemal Atatürk as the head of the Turkish government and moved to Central Asia. He apparently intended to seek a safe haven in Afghanistan, where Jamal Pasha had already preceded him and was active as an adviser to King Amanullah. He was arrested by Basmachi counterrevolutionaries but convinced them of his sympathies and became one of their leaders. He fought on their side against the Red Army until he was killed in a skirmish on 4 August 1922. ERSHAD-UL-NISWAN (IRSHAD AL-NISWAN). A women’s weekly magazine that was first published in Afghanistan in March 1921 by Asma Samia, known as “Bibi Arabi,” the wife of Mahmud Tarzi. The editor in chief was Ruhafza, known as “Munshia” (secretary), wife of Muhammad Zaman Khan and sister of Habibullah Tarzi. The magazine carried domestic and foreign news of interest to women as well as advice on cooking and needlework and touched on problems facing women in society. It was discontinued after the fall of King Amanullah. See also PRESS AND JOURNALISM. ESHAQ. See MUHAMMAD ISHAQ. ESMATULLAHI, MUHAMMAD HASHIM (1955–). Born in Kabul, the son of Faqirullah, Esmatullah graduated from the Naderia High School in 1975 and from the Department of Literature at Kabul University in 1979. He went to Tehran and obtained an M.A. degree in journalism from Tabatabai University. Esmatullahi was appointed a lecturer at Kabul
University in 2004. He was nominated for the position of minister of higher education in the 2009 cabinet of President Hamid Karzai, but the Wolesi Jirga vetoed his appointment. He served as a member of the presidential consultation board and was head of the Union of Afghan Journalists. He speaks Dari, Pashtu, and English. ETEMADI FAMILY. The Etemadi family was named after the title of Abdul Quddus Khan, a general and commander in chief from the period of Amir Abdul Rahman until King Amanullah. Amir Abdul Rahman gave him the title Itimad-ud-Daula (Confidence of the State), which was adopted as a family name by his descendants. Most notable among them were Nur Ahmad Etemadi, Afghan prime minister and minister of foreign affairs from 1967 to 1971; Faruq Etemadi, professor of history at Kabul University; Etemadi Turyalai, diplomat and rector of Kabul University; Etemandi Muhammad Amin, a diplomat; and Muhammad Humayun Etemadi, an artist and secretary to King Zahir. ETEMADI, NUR AHMAD (I’TIMADI, 1921–1979). Born in Kandahar and educated at Kabul, a grandson of Abdul Quddus (Etemad ud-Daula), Nur Ahmad was a diplomat and government official. He was appointed ambassador to Karachi (1964), served as prime minister and minister of foreign affairs (1967–1971), and was subsequently appointed ambassador to Rome (1971), Moscow (1973), and Islamabad (1976–1978). President Muhammad Daud summoned him to Kabul for consultation on 24 April 1978, three days before the Saur Revolt. According to some claims, the Soviet government wanted Etemadi to head a “national front” government, which convinced Nur Muhammad Taraki to have him secretly executed in August 1979. ETEMAD UD-DAULA (I’TIMAD AL-DAULA). See ABDUL QUDDUS. ETHNIC GROUPS. The Afghan population is heterogeneous with numerous ethnic groups, speaking various dialects or mutually unintelligible languages. The largest ethnic group is the Pashtuns, followed by the Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazara. Orywal (1986, 18) lists the following ethnic groups in Afghanistan: Pashtun
Tajik
Uzbek
Hazara
Turkoman
Aimaq
Taimani
Tahiri
Baluch
Mauri
Brahui
Arab
Qirghiz
Moghol
Gujar
Qipchaq
Eshkashimi
Munjani
Rushani
Sanglichi
Shighnani
Vakhi
Farsiwan
Qarliq
Nuristani
Pashai
Firuzkuhi
Jamshidi
Taimuri
Zuri
Maliki
Mishmast
Jat
Jalali
Ghorbat
Pikragh
Shadibaz
Vangavala
Qazaq
Qizilbash
Tatar
Parachi
Tirahi
Gavarbati
Ormuri
Jogi
Shaikh Muhammadi
Kutana
Jew (Yahudi)
Sikh
Hindi
Estimated population figures in millions (Grötzbach 1990) are as follows: Pashtun
6
Tajik and Farsiwan
4.1
Uzbek
1.1
Hazara
1.0*
Aimaq
.8
Turkoman
.3
Baluch and Brahui
.17
Arab
.1
Nuristani
.09
Pashai
.08
Tatar
.06
Qizilbash
.06
Hindu and Sikh
.035
Qirghiz and Moghol
.11
*According to Hazara claims, they number as many as two million people in Afghanistan and another two million in Iran and Pakistan.
Virtually all the Jews left Afghanistan in the 1970s (of some 600 families, only one individual remained in Kabul in 2009). Caution on population statistics is in order: There has not been a census in Afghanistan, and present estimates are about 26 million. EUROCORPS. The Eurocorps is the defense arm of the European Union, created in 1992, with six “framework nations” of Belgium, France, Germany (members from 1993), Luxembourg (1996), Spain (1994), and Poland (2009) and headquarters in Strasbourg, France. Soldiers from Austria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Romania also participate. The nucleus of the force is the Franco-German Brigade established in 1987. It has developed its own rapid reaction corps and now provides the core of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF VI) in Kabul. It was headed by Lieutenant General Jean-Louis Py and was “to assist the Afghan Transitional Government in providing a safe and secure environment within Kabul and its surrounding areas.” Although the Eurocorps cooperates with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United States forces in Afghanistan, it is an independent entity and serves as the nucleus of the European Union’s army.
F FAHIM, GENERAL MUHAMMAD QASIM (1960–). A Tajik, born in the Panjshir Valley, Fahim became the leader of the largest force of the Northern Alliance. He was a friend and deputy of Ahmad Shah Mas’ud, whom he succeeded after Mas’ud’s assassination on 9 September 2001. After the conquest of Kabul, he served as minister of defense in the Interim and Transitional governments, 2001–2004. He took control of Kabul in contravention of the Bonn Agreement and became the most powerful person in the country. When he decided to run for the presidential elections and refused to step down from his cabinet post, Hamid Karzai dismissed him in 2004. Karzai replaced Fahim with General Abdurrahim Wardak and disarmed divisions 2 and 6, which were under Fahim’s command. Because of his title, he enjoys certain privileges, such as a car with a five-star number plate, bodyguards and a surveillance system near his house, a salary, the right to attend official ceremonies and sit in the front row, and others. He did not receive the customary land grant. He was first vice president, marshal, and commander of the Afghan army (at that time, essentially the Panjshiri forces). In 2005, Karzai appointed him to be a member of the senate and in May 2006 as his adviser on security. He was a running mate of President Hamid Karzai in the election of 2009 and first vice president. FAIZABAD (37-6' N, 70-34' E). Faizabad is the administrative center of Badakhshan; with about 46,000 inhabitants, it is the central commercial market of the province, situated on the Kokcha River at an altitude of 3,300 feet. Until the late 17th century, the town was called Jauz Gun, or Jauzun, because of the abundance of nuts (jauz) in the area. The name of the town was changed to Faizabad (“abode of divine bounty, blessing, and charity”), when in 1691 Mir Yar Beg brought what was believed to be the Blessed Robe (Khirqa-yi Mubarak) of the Prophet Muhammad to the town. (Ahmad Shah Durrani later brought the Khirqa to Kandahar where it still is today.) In 1821 Murad Beg, the ruler of Kunduz, destroyed the town, but a few years later it again reached a population of 8,000. Many mosques and historical shrines now exist in the area. In 1937 Faizabad became the terminal of a road, connected to the northern highway between Baghlan and Kunduz, which was later extended east toward the Wakhan Corridor. The natives speak a number of Badakhshi languages in addition to Dari. FAIZANI, MUHAMMAD ATAULLAH (1924–1978). A Sufi pir and early Islamist activist from Herat, Faizani established Sufi centers in Pul-i Khumri and Kabul that attracted Sunnis and Shi’as. He was one of the founders of the short-lived Hizb-i Tauhid and a comrade of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and Ghulam Muhammad Niazi. Frequently arrested and opposed also by the ulama, who resented his unorthodox preachings, Faizani was involved in an abortive coup during the Muhammad Daud regime. He was arrested with Sayyaf and Niazi in 1975 and executed in 1978 during the Khalqi regime. Faizani, a Pashtun, was born in Herat and was educated there and at the Teachers Training College in Kabul.
FAIZ MUHAMMAD, GENERAL. Governor of the Eastern Province who stopped the mission under Neville Chamberlain from entering Afghanistan on the eve of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Louis Cavagnari crossed the border on 21 September 1876 and met Faiz Muhammad at Ali Masjid. He asked whether the Afghan governor would permit Chamberlain to pass, and Faiz Muhammad said no, adding, “You may take as kindness, and because I remember friendship, that I do not fire upon you for what you have already done” (crossing the border without permission). The British chose this “insult” as the casus belli for starting the Second Anglo-Afghan War. FAIZ MUHAMMAD, KATEB (1881–1931). Born the son of Sayyid Muhammad Moghol, a Hazara, Faiz Muhammad studied Islamic sciences in India and Iran. In 1893 he entered the services of Sardar Habibullah, son of Amir Abdul Rahman, and began work on his monumental three-volume history. A fourth volume is said to exist in manuscript form, extant in the National Archives of Afghanistan in Kabul. A member of Amir Abdul Rahman’s secretariat and court secretary (kateb) under Amir Habibullah, he was a member on the staff of the Seraj al-Akhbar Afghaniya and held positions in the ministries of education and foreign affairs. He is the author of a number of publications, including the three-volume Seraj al-Tawarikh (Torch of Histories), a valuable historical text in Dari. Faiz Muhammad died in 1931, purportedly from the complications of a severe beating by Habibullah Kalakani who had sent him to bring a document of submission from the Hazarajat. FAMILY. Although great variations exist between and even within groups, the family among most Afghan ethnic groups is patrilineal, patrilocal, and characterized by a low incidence of polygyny, a low divorce rate, and a high birth rate. The extended family is the major economic and social unit. Marriages are arranged by the families of the prospective groom and bride (or an intermediary), and a bride price is paid by the family of the groom. Cousin marriages are preferred. Afghan rulers since Amir Abdul Rahman have tried to limit the bride price (mahr) and costly festivities and have forbidden such practices as “child marriage” (contracted by their parents), but these customs still prevail, except among the urban upper classes. While in theory divorce is easy for men (a man can divorce his wife simply by saying “I divorce thee” three times), economic factors and the fact that marriages are often concluded within the clan or are alliances between families make it difficult to divorce. The same factors limit polygyny, in spite of the fact that Islamic law permits a man to have four wives. The extended family consists of the patriarch, his wife (or wives), and his married sons. Authority descends in the male line, and the Islamic law of inheritance (which allocates a set portion to women) is often ignored in favor of the male members. Afghan law required the registration of marriages, but this was enforced only in the larger urban areas. The Marxist regime of Nur Muhammad Taraki tried to limit the bride price to a token amount of 300 afghanis (then $6), demanded freedom of choice of the partners, and set a minimum age for marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men. Like previous Afghan rulers, the Marxist government was not able to enforce its marriage laws and eventually rescinded them, as well as other unpopular innovations. The victory of the mujahedin ended all government attempts of
control in family affairs until the Taliban imposed their radical innovations. The drafting of a new constitution and establishment of the elected government of President Hamid Karzai did not eliminate the controversy about the application of Islamic law when conflicting with the new constitution, especially in the realm of women’s rights. FANA, FROZAN (1969–). Born the daughter of General Muhammad Shafi, Fana graduated from Amina Fatavi High School in 1973 and from the faculty of medicine of Kabul in 1984. She is the widow of Dr. Abdul Rahman, minister of aviation and tourism, who was killed in February 2002. Fana worked as an orthopedic surgeon at Kabul Polytechnic University and at the traumatology and orthopedic center of Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital in Kabul. She was a candidate in the Afghan presidential election of 2009, ranking eighth in the preliminary results with 23,030 votes, or 0.4 percent of the total. FAQIR OF IPI, HAJJI MIRZA ALI KHAN (d. 1960). A frontier mulla residing with the Waziri tribe on the Indian side of the Durand Line, the Faqir was an implacable foe of the British, inciting the tribes to wage jihad against India. He collaborated with the Axis powers during World War II and was in touch with their legations in Kabul. The Germans gave him the code name Feuerfresser (fire-eater) and supported his efforts by paying him a regular subsidy. The Faqir’s activities compelled Great Britain to keep large forces on the frontier that could have been deployed elsewhere. At one time an army of 40,000 troops was searching for him; he always found shelter among the Waziris and often was forced to hide in a cave. After the creation of Pakistan, the Faqir demanded independence for Pashtunistan; he was elected “president” of Pashtunistan by a tribal council and continued his fight against the new state. He received financial support from the Afghan government until his death in 1960. FARAH (32-22' N, 62-7' E). Farah is a province in western Afghanistan with an area of 21,666 square miles; it is the second largest Afghan province, with a population of about 338,000. The province is divided into the districts of Farah, Anardara, Bala Boluk, Purchaman, Bakwa, Shindand, Kala-i-Kah, Gulistan, Khak-i-Safid, and Farsi. The administrative center of the province is the town of Farah with about 74,000 inhabitants. The province is traversed by the Farah Rud, the Khash Rud, and the Harut Rud (rivers); major mountain ranges include the Khak-i-Safid, Siyah Kuh, Malmand, Kuh-i-Afghan, and the Reg-iRawan. The economy of the province depends primarily on agriculture and animal husbandry breeding; barley, cotton, and wheat are the major crops, and livestock includes sheep, Qaraqul sheep, goats, cattle, camels, and donkeys. An important junction in IndoPersian trade in the 17th century, Farah was destroyed in 1837 and remained a small walled town until the early 20th century when a new town was gradually developed, with a population of about 6,000, in 1934. The town gradually declined when the new Kandahar–Herat highway, completed in 1965, bypassed the town. In 1972, floods destroyed much of the town, and the provincial administration moved for two years to Farah Rud. The population is largely Pashtun, but Tajik and other ethnic communities are also represented in Farah. FARAHI, MUHAMMAD KABIR (1952–). Born in Farah Province, Farahi was educated at
Abu Nasar Farah High School (1957–1969) and obtained a B.A. degree from the faculty of law and political science at Kabul University in 1973. He continued his training at the Afghan Foreign Affairs Institute of diplomacy (1975–1977). Farahi served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a member of the archives department (1974–1975) and member of the law and treaties department (1975 to 1977). Other assignments included second secretary at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad (1977–1980), member of the Cultural Relations Department (1980– 1984), member of the Information and Publication Department (1984–1985), deputy director of the Cultural Relations Department (1985–1987), deputy director of the First Political Division (1987–1988), first secretary of the Afghan embassy in New Delhi (1988–1990), director of the Law and Treaties Department (1990–1991), and acting chief of the Consular Affairs Department (1991–1996). He served as chief of the Consular Affairs Department (2001–2004) and as Afghan ambassador to Saudi Arabia (2004–2007). He was appointed deputy foreign minister for political affairs in 2008. FARAH RUD (31-29' N, 61-24' E). A river which rises in Ghor Province, the Farah Rud flows in a southwesterly direction and runs into the Hamun-i Sabari, a shallow, brackish lake in Nimruz Province, which extends across the Iranian border. FARANGI. The Dari word Farangi is a corruption of “Franks” or “French,” a name originally applied throughout the Middle East to Italians and Frenchmen, but later extended to designate all European Christians. FARHAD, GHULAM MUHAMMAD (d. 1984). Afghan nationalist and founder of the Afghan Social Democratic Party (Jam’iyat-i Susyal Demukrat), popularly called Afghan Millat (Afghan Nation). Educated in Kabul and Germany, where he obtained an engineering degree, he was president of the Afghan Electric Company (1939–1966) and mayor of Kabul (1948–1954). He built the Maiwand Street (Jada-yi Maiwand), the first major avenue through the old town of Kabul, relocating displaced residents, and changed the traffic from the BritishIndian system to right-hand driving, which was subsequently adopted throughout Afghanistan. He demanded the restoration of “Greater Afghanistan” with the inclusion of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan. He published Afghan Millat, 1966–1967, a weekly newspaper, which subsequently also became the popular name of the party. In 1968 he was elected to parliament but resigned his seat in 1970. In 1978 he was arrested by the Khalqi regime, and his party was accused of attempting a coup. He was freed in 1980 in the general amnesty of Babrak Karmal and died in 1984 in Kabul. He was a Pashtun and an ardent supporter of the Pashtunistan cause. FARHADI, ABDUL GHAFUR RAWAN (1929–). Born in Kabul, Farhadi was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and in France where he obtained a Ph.D. degree in Indo-Iranian philology in 1955. He entered service in the foreign ministry in 1955 and was appointed first secretary at the Afghan embassy in Karachi (1958), and counselor at Washington, D.C. (1962). An Afghan diplomat and scholar, he became director general for political affairs in the foreign ministry in 1964, served as secretary to the cabinet (1966–1971), and as deputy minister for political
affairs (1971–1973). He was appointed ambassador to Paris in 1973 but was recalled by the republican government of Muhammad Daud. He was arrested during the Khalqi regime, freed in 1980, and employed as an adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until he left for France and the United States. Farhadi was appointed by the Burhanuddin Rabbani government as permanent representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations in New York and served until 2006. His mother tongue is Dari. FARHANG, MIR MUHAMMAD AMIN (1938–). Born in Kabul, the son of Mir Muhammad Siddiq Farhang, Farhang attended Istiqlal Lycée (1945–1958) and studied economics at Kabul University, 1958–1962. He went to Germany in 1962 where he obtained a Ph.D. degree in economics in 1974, and from 1974 to 1978 he taught at Kabul University. He was imprisoned in Pul-i Charkhi jail and in 1982 went to Germany where he was affiliated with the Ruhr University of Bochum. After the fall of the Taliban government, he returned to Kabul and was appointed minister of reconstruction in December 2001. He was appointed minister of economy in December 2004, but the appointment was not approved by parliament. President Hamid Karzai appointed him with the approval of parliament in April 2006 to the position of minister of commerce and industries. He speaks Dari, Pashtu, French, English, and German. He is married with Zuhra (a half sister of Queen Humaira) and has two daughters, Bilqis and Laila. He gave up German citizenship to remain in office, October 2005, but then he returned to Germany where he lives today. FARHANG, MIR MUHAMMAD SIDDIQ (1925–1990). Born in Kabul, the son of Sayyid Habib (and brother of Sayyid Qasim Rishtya), Farhang was educated at Istiqlal Lycée. He served as an employee of the Bank-i Milli and became a member of the city council and deputy mayor of Kabul in 1949, and editor of Watan in 1951–1952. He was imprisoned by Muhammad Hashim in 1933 and by Shah Mahmud, Ghazi, from 1952 to 1956. After being freed in 1956, he served as adviser to the Ministry of Mines and Industries in 1956 and as president of the Department of Mines in 1963. He served as deputy minister of planning, 1964– 1965, and became a member of the committee drafting the constitution. He was appointed a member of the Loya Jirga in 1964, served as deputy of the Wolesi Jirga from the fourth district of Kabul, and became chairman of the legislation committee in 1965. He served as ambassador in Belgrade, 1972–1973, and as adviser to the prime minister in February 1980. He is the author of published works on Afghan history and politics. He is married and has three sons and one daughter. His mother tongue is Dari, and he also speaks French, English, and Pashtu. He left Afghanistan in 1981 and lived in the United States until his death in April 1990. FARIAB (36-0' N, 65-0' E). Fariab is a province in north central Afghanistan with an area of 8,226 square miles and a population of about 782,000. The province borders on Turkmenistan in the north, on Badghis Province in the south, and Jozjan in the east. The administrative center of the province is the town of Maimana with about 58,000 inhabitants. Fariab is famous for horse breeding and its buzkashi games. Melons, nuts, cereals, and cotton are the major
agricultural products. Qaraqul sheep are bred for the export of skins, and carpet weaving is an important industry. FARID, ABDUL SABUR (1952–2007). Afghan prime minister from 6 July 1992 to 15 August 1992, Farid represented Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Hizb-i Islami in Kabul. After the establishment of the Hamid Karzai government of 2005, he was elected representative of Kapisa Province in the Meshrano Jirga (upper house of parliament). He was killed in Kabul by unknown assailants on 3 May 2007. FARSIWAN. The Farsiwan are an ethnic group of some 600,000 (no recent numbers are available) Farsi-speaking Shi’i Muslims living near the Iranian border and in Herat, Kandahar, Ghazni, and scattered over southern and western Afghan towns. They are of Mediterranean stock and are mostly engaged in agriculture. Pashtu speakers refer to all Dari speakers as Farsiwan. FARUQI, HAMIDULLAH. Educated at Habibia High School, Faruqi graduated with a B.A. degree in economics from Kabul University in 1976. He received a certificate on foreign trade from the International Institute of Foreign Trade in New Delhi in 1982 and an M.A. degree from the City University of New York in 1995. He served as chief executive officer of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and as professor and lecturer at the faculty of economics at Kabul University, 2003. In 2004 he became chairman of the board of directors of Bank-i Milli, and in 2005 chairman of the International Model School, a private high school. He was appointed minister of transport and civil aviation in 2006. He is a Tajik and speaks Dari, Pashtu, and English. FATEH KHAN (FATH, 1777–1818). Oldest son of Painda Khan (head of the Muhammadzai branch of the Barakzai tribe), Fateh Khan was born in Kandahar. He was a skillful politician and soldier and helped Shah Mahmud (r. 1800–1803 and 1809–1818) gain the Afghan throne, capturing Farah and Kandahar from the forces of Zaman Shah. He was given the position of grand wazir, and he established law and order and conducted the government for Mahmud with great skill. When Shah Shuja (r. 1803–1809 and 1839–1841) succeeded to the Kabul throne, Fateh Khan was again appointed grand wazir, but he remained loyal to Mahmud and helped restore him to power. Fateh Khan consolidated Afghan control over Kashmir and established order in Herat. Kamran, son of Shah Mahmud, was jealous of Fateh Khan’s power and had him blinded and killed. The Barakzai chiefs rebelled, and the ensuing conflict led to the overthrow of the Sadozai dynasty and the assumption of power by the Barakzai/Muhammadzai branch of the Durrani. FATEMI, DR. MUHAMMAD AMIN (1952–). Born in Nangarhar, Fatemi graduated from Habibia High School in 1968 and with an M.D. degree from Nangarhar Medical College in 1977. He also participated in advanced academic programs in Bonn, Germany; Karachi; and the United States. He served as a physician in Badakhshan, a teacher in the Kabul public health institute, and as a member of the health department. He was minister of public health
from 1993 to 1995 and was reappointed to this post in December 2004. He was nominated for the position of minister of public health but was rejected by parliament (Wolesi Jirga). He held the position from December 2004 and continued in May 2006, when his appointment was approved by parliament with 178 votes for and 58 against. He was adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Mediterranean countries, and a member of the executive board of WHO. During the jihad, he was affiliated with the party of Sebghatullah Mujaddidi. He was appointed ambassador to Japan in 2010. FATWA. A fatwa was a formal legal opinion by a mufti, or Sunni canon lawyer, in answer to a question by a judge or private individual. Laws in Afghanistan had to conform to Islamic law, as certified by the fatwa of a council of ulama. The Shi’i equivalent is the mujtahid. FAYEZ, MUHAMMAD SHARIF (1946–). Born in Herat, the son of Ghulam Nabi, Fayez graduated from Kabul Teachers College and Kabul University in 1963. He continued his education in the United States and obtained a Ph.D. degree in literature at the University of Arizona in 1978. The university later bestowed on him an honorary doctorate, and in June 2007 the University of Oldenburg in Germany also awarded him an honorary doctorate. He served as assistant professor at the University of Mashshad from 1979 to 1982 and then moved to the United States. After the fall of the Taliban regime, he returned to Afghanistan and served as minister of higher education in the Transitional Government of June 2002 and was appointed founding rector of the American University of Afghanistan in 2005. FAZL AHMAD, MUJADDIDI. See MUJADDIDI. FAZLI, MUHAMMAD QASIM (1932–). Born in Kabul, Fazli was educated in Kabul and in 1960 obtained a Ph.D. degree in law at French universities in Grenoble and Paris, France. Between 1960 and 1966, he served as director general of post in the Ministry of Telecommunication, president of the commerce court, and director of the Law Department of the Ministry of Justice. In 1970 he became a practicing lawyer. Fazli left Afghanistan in 1980 and taught at Sorbonne University, Paris I, and at René Descartes University, Paris V. He was a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee with former king Zahir Shah. He served as minister adviser for legal affairs to President Karzai, 2002–2006. Fazli was appointed Afghan ambassador to the Czech Republic in January 2007. FAZL OMAR. See MUJADDIDI. FESTIVALS (HOLIDAYS). Islamic festivals in Afghanistan include the Breaking of the Fast (‘Id al-Fitr) after the end of the month of Ramadhan. It is followed by three days of celebrations and congregational prayers. Families exchange presents and give gifts to servants and the needy. The Feast of Sacrifice (‘Id al-Adha) marks the end of the month of hajj, at which Muslims slaughter a sheep, a camel, or donate meat as a sacrifice to feed the poor. The Prophet’s Birthday (‘Id al-Milad [Maulid] al-Nabi) is celebrated in Afghanistan and other parts of the Islamic world. An important holiday is the observance of Ashura, the 10th of the month of Muharram, when Shi’ites (Shi’a) mourn the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, son of Ali,
at Karbala in 680. For Sunnis it is a day of voluntary fasting. Secular holidays include New Year (Nauruz) on 21 March, Independence Day on 19 August, Orange Blossom Day in Jalalabad on 13 April, and Remembrance Day for Martyrs and the Disabled on 4 May. See also CALENDAR; HOLIDAYS. FEUDS. See PASHTUNWALI. FIKRI, ABDUL RAUF SALJUQI. See SALJUQI, FIKRI ABDUL RAUF. FINN, ROBERT P. (1945–). The first American ambassador to Afghanistan in 20 years, Finn served as ambassador to Tajikistan (1998–2001) before coming to Kabul in March 2002. He was succeeded by Zalmai Khalilzad in August 2003. Finn graduated from Princeton University and St. John’s University and then embarked on a career in the foreign service and as a professor at Princeton University. He speaks Turkish, Persian, German, and French. FIQH. Fiqh is the science of law, or jurisprudence, in Islamic law. FIRDAUSI, ABU’L QASIM MANSUR (934?–1020?). He was author of the great national epic, the Shahnama (Book of Kings), which contains all the legends and history of Persia and ancient Afghanistan known to him. Born in Tus, Khorasan, he began work on the Shahnama there and at age 71 presented it to Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 988—1030), at whose court he had completed the work. His work is the most voluminous collection of early Persian poetry and is therefore an important source for linguistics and literary studies. He felt not properly rewarded and was forced to flee Mahmud’s domain after he made his discontent known. FIRST ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR (1838–1842). In the 19th century, European rivalry for commerce and empire quickly extended into the Middle East. In 1798 the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt temporarily established a French foothold in this strategic area, and Great Britain feared it as an important step in a move against India. Russia moved into Central Asia, and by the end of the 19th century the czar’s influence extended to the Amu Daria. Britain was moving into the Panjab in search of a “scientific” frontier to make sure that its possessions in India were safe. In Kabul, internecine warfare led to the ouster of Shah Shuja, the last of the Sadozai rulers, and Dost Muhammad, first of the Muhammadzai rulers, ascended the throne in 1826. He wanted an alliance with India and hoped to regain Peshawar, which had been lost in 1818 to the emerging Sikh nation under Ranjit Singh. Lord Auckland, the British governor general of India, chose an alliance with the Sikh ruler instead and decided to restore Shah Shuja to the Afghan throne. The presence of a purported Russian agent at Kabul (see VITKEVICH, IVAN) and Dost Muhammad’s hostility to the Sikh ruler were the reasons given for the declaration of war (see SIMLA MANIFESTO). A tripartite treaty was signed in July 1838 between Shah Shuja, Ranjit Singh, and Lord Auckland, and the Army of the Indus invaded Afghanistan. The invaders met with little resistance; they captured Ghazni on 23 July and occupied Kabul on 7 August. Shah Shuja was put on the Kabul throne, and Dost Muhammad was forced into Indian exile. The major part of the British army left Kabul on 18 September.
But it was soon apparent that the Sadozai ruler needed British protection to maintain himself in power, and the army became a force of occupation. The families of British officers came to Kabul, and thousands of Indian camp followers engaged in the lucrative business of importing from India the necessities of colonial life. But all was not well. On 2 November 1841, a Kabuli crowd stormed the British mission and killed its members, including Alexander Burnes, its head. The Afghans captured some £17,000 from the treasury in an adjacent house and plundered the commissariat stores located in a number of forts outside the cantonment. Muhammad Akbar, a son of Dost Muhammad, together with a number of chiefs, now rallied his forces and increasingly threatened the occupiers. Major General William Elphinstone ordered the army to withdraw to the cantonment that was commanded from nearby hills, making it vulnerable to attacks. Elphinstone decided to recall General Robert H. Sale from Gandomak and William Nott from Kandahar. But the roads were blocked by the onset of winter and by strong contingents of tribal lashkars, preventing a strengthening of the Kabul garrison. A raiding party sent out to silence Afghan guns was badly decimated and had to return, leaving their wounded behind. On 11 December 1841, the British were forced to negotiate a retreat that only few of the 16,000 troops and camp followers survived. (See CAPITULATION, TREATY OF; DEATH MARCH.) Britain felt it necessary to have its martial reputation restored, and in September 1842 General George Pollock wreaked vengeance on Kabul, laying torch to the covered bazaar and permitting plunder that destroyed much of the rest of the city. The British forces left, and Amir Dost Muhammad returned in December 1842 to rule Afghanistan until he died a natural death 20 years later. The war cost Britain £20 million and some 15,000 lives of all ranks and camp followers. FIRST ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR, CAUSES. During the siege of Herat in 1838, Lord Auckland determined to restore Shah Shuja to the throne of Kabul in the hope of establishing a friendly power in Afghanistan that was to form the first line of defense against a possible advance of Russia on India. Auckland forged the Tripartite Treaty with a reluctant Ranjit Singh and Shah Shuja. The former did not want to send his troops into Afghanistan, and the latter did not want to resign his claim on the Panjab. Lord Auckland informed the directors of the East India Company that the increase of Russian and Persian influence in Afghanistan, and the impression of the certain fall of Herat to the Persian army, have induced the Ameer, Dost Muhammad Khan to avow and to insist upon pretensions for the cession to him, by Maharaja Runjeet Sing of the Peshawur territory, and to take other steps which are tantamount to the rejection of the friendship and good offices of the British Government, and have, in consequence, led to the retirement of Captain Burnes from the territories of Cabool.
The Persian siege of Herat was ended, but Auckland was determined to make war. The resulting disaster was subsequently termed “Auckland’s Folly.” FIRUZ KUH (34-30' N, 63-30' E). A mountain range, also called Safid Kuh (White Mountain), that extends in a westerly direction from the area of Chaghcharan into eastern Herat Province.
FIRUZKUHI. One of the Sunni Chahar Aimaq tribes, the Firuzkuhi are located in eastern Badghis and northern Ghor provinces. They number about 100,000 and are Farsi speakers. Their name, according to one version, comes from Firuz Kuh, a mountain near Semnan in Iran, where they lived until the 14th century, when Timur-i Lang transferred them to Herat, and from where they subsequently migrated farther east. According to another version, their name derives from an eponymic ancestor, Firuz, who was one of the sons (or slaves?) of Sanzar (progenitor also of Taiman, the eponymic ancestor of the Taimanis). The descendants of Firuz were at first small chiefs under Taimani khans until they took over most of the Taimani territory southeast of Herat. Major subdivisions are the Mahmudis, including the Zai Murad and the Zai Hakim clans, and the Darazis, all of which are subdivided into a number of sections. FITRAT, ABDUL QADIR (1961–). Born in a Tajik family, Fitrat received his primary education in Badakhshan and his secondary education in Kabul. He earned a B.A. degree in economics from the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan, and an M.A. degree in social and applied economics with emphasis on monetary economics from the Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, in the United States. Fitrat served as an adviser to the executive director of the World Bank for about three and a half years. He served as first deputy governor in 1995 and governor in 1996, and left Afghanistan to attend the World Bank’s annual meeting in 1996 when the Taliban captured Kabul. In the early 1990s he served as chairman of the Bank-i Milli in Kabul and as assistant research coordinator for a USAID-supported project in Peshawar, Pakistan, and was a consultant economist to the International Monetary Fund in Washington in the late 1990s. He was appointed governor of the central bank (Da Afghanistan Bank) in September 2007 and confirmed on 17 November 2007. FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM (ARKAN AL-DIN). The belief and actions required of a Muslim can be summarized as follows: profession of faith, performance of ritual prayers, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage. The profession of faith (shahada) consists in testifying that “there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” To become a Muslim, six conditions must be fulfilled: the shahada must be repeated aloud, it must be perfectly understood, it must be believed in the heart, it must be professed until death, it must be recited correctly, and it must be declared without any hesitation. The ritual prayer (salat) is performed five times during a day: at dawn before sunrise, after the sun passes the zenith, in the late afternoon, immediately after sunset, and between sunset and midnight. Prayers can be performed anywhere, but on Fridays preferably in a mosque. Muslims turn in the direction of Mecca (qibla) and perform the bowings (ruku’) on a mat or carpet. Women pray at home or in a separate area of a mosque. Fasting (sawm) during the day is obligatory in the month of Ramadhan. It begins on the eve of Ramadhan, that is, on the 29th of the month of Sha’ban, and ends at sunset on the last day of Ramadhan. Believers are to avoid all sins and to abstain from eating, drinking, or having sexual intercourse. Almsgiving (zakat) is enjoined to help the poor, destitute, those in debt, travelers, those who are fighting in the cause of Islam, slaves to buy their freedom, and those who perform a public
service. It is a tax on savings, not on income. In many countries it has become a voluntary tax. Pilgrimage (hajj) is an obligation only for those who can afford the expense. It can also be performed for a person by a substitute. Some consider holy war (jihad) as the sixth pillar of Islam, which is satisfied if a “sufficient number” of Muslims perform it, but most schools now justify it only as a war of defense against aggression. See also ISLAM. FLAG. Afghanistan’s first national flag was the Abdali banner, depicting a cluster of wheat, a sword, and stars on a background of red and green. Important chiefs and princes had their own flags. Amir Shir Ali’s standard was triangular in shape, red and green, with Koranic inscriptions. Abdul Rahman preferred a black banner (Abu Muslim’s Abbasid standard) on which was drawn in white a mihrab (prayer niche), minbar (pulpit), sword, and gun. Amir Habibullah’s “national flag” (bayraq-i daulati) was similar, except that it omitted the sword and gun. King Amanullah introduced the tricolor flag in 1928 with broad horizontal stripes of black, red, and green and an emblem showing the rising sun over snowcapped mountains clothed in wheat. The name Allah was inscribed in the upper left corner. Muhammad Nadir Shah continued the tricolor, but with vertical stripes and an emblem depicting a mosque with pulpit and mihrab. The mosque was flanked by two banners, and the emblem was framed by a wreath of wheat. A scroll carried the inscription “Afghanistan,” above which was the date 1348 (lunar year, corresponding to 1929), the year in which Nadir Shah assumed the throne. The emblem was in the red center portion of the flag. President Muhammad Daud designed the republican flag in May 1974 retaining the tricolor in horizontal lines. An emblem in the upper left corner consisted of a stylized eagle, mihrab, and minbar, surrounded by a wreath and a scroll with the inscription “Da Afghanistan Jumhuriat” (Republic of Afghanistan) and the date 26th of Saratan (17 July 1973), the day he staged his coup. Black was on the top, followed by red, each one-fourth the width of the flag; the lower half was green. In October 1978 the Nur Muhammad Taraki regime introduced the red flag with an emblem in gold in the upper right corner. It consisted of the traditional wreath with the name Khalq (People) in the center, a five-cornered star above it, and a scroll with the Pashtu inscription “Da Afghanistan Da Demukratik Jumhuriat” (Democratic Republic of Afghanistan). It carried the date of the Saur Revolt, 7 Saur 1357 (27 April 1978). The Khalqi flag strongly resembled the USSR flag and those of the Soviet Republics and therefore aroused the ire of many Afghans. When Babrak Karmal replaced Hafizullah Amin, he restored the tricolor but kept the red flag as the banner of the party. After the fall of the Marxist regime, the first mujahedin government designed a new tricolor of red, white, and black with the inscription of the Muslim creed. The Taliban adopted a white flag with the same inscription. Soon after the downfall of the Taliban regime, the Afghan Interim Government again adopted the tricolor flag of the monarchy, which is still the official flag of Afghanistan. FOREIGN RELATIONS. Afghanistan’s relations with its neighbors were always influenced by the fact that the territory inhabited by the Afghans was the “gateway” to the Indian
subcontinent. The power that controlled the tribes and the passes leading south and east would not encounter any great physical obstacles in the conquest of the subcontinent and its fabulous riches. Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 988–1030), Tamerlane (Timur-i Lang, r. 1370–1405), and Nadir Shah Afshar (r. 1736–1747) crossed the Afghan passes for the propagation of Islam, glory, and booty. It is therefore not surprising that Ahmad Shah Durrani (r. 1747–1773), the founder of the state of Afghanistan, considered it his manifest destiny to create an empire that included a large portion of northern India. He invaded India nine times and defeated the powerful Maratha confederation at the Battle of Panipat, north of Delhi, in 1761. But by the turn of the century, the gradual northwest expansion of British influence resulted in a confrontation between Great Britain and Afghanistan that was to continue into the 20th century. (See ANGLO-AFGHAN RELATIONS.) Afghanistan’s foreign relations can be divided into seven major periods: first, the expansionist period, which lasted from 1747 to 1800; second, the period of foreign conflict, from 1800 to 1880, which involved Afghanistan in hostilities with Persia and the rising Sikh nation in the Panjab as well as with Britain and Russia; third, the period of defensive isolationism and “buffer-state” politics, initiated by Amir Abdul Rahman (r. 1880–1901) and continued by Amir Habibullah (r. 1901–1919) until his death; fourth, the period of defensive neutralism that opened Afghanistan to foreign influences and lasted until after World War II when Britain’s departure from India ushered in a new, fifth, era of peaceful coexistence, which, nevertheless, ended with the Marxist coup in 1978 and the Soviet intervention. A sixth era began under the Taliban. When the Taliban conquered most of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, diplomatic relations were maintained only with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The seventh period began with the American intervention in October 2001, but during this period there was little in the way of independent Afghan diplomacy. During the expansionist period, Afghan rulers conquered territories north of the Hindu Kush and east of the Indus River, but internecine fighting among the Durrani sardars (princes and chiefs) and the emergence of new players in the “Great Game” in Central Asia made the Afghan empire a short-lived enterprise. When in 1798 Shah Zaman invited the Marquess Wellesley, governor of Bengal (1798–1805), to join him in a campaign against the Maratha confederacy of northwestern India, Wellesley sought Persian assistance “to keep Zaman Shah in perpetual check.” The period of foreign conflict saw the emergence of the Sikh nation under Ranjit Singh who wrested the Panjab from the Afghans. Britain feared the appearance of a French mission in Tehran in 1807 and considered the Russian territorial gains in the Caucasus a serious threat to India. Therefore, in 1808 the British governor general, Lord Minto, sent Mountstuart Elphinstone to Peshawar to conclude a treaty of friendship and common defense against Franco-Persian attacks. Shah Shuja, who had ascended the Kabul throne, agreed to prohibit Frenchmen from entering his realm in exchange for military support. This treaty as well as others concluded between Britain and Fath Ali Shah, the ruler of Persia, was “inoperative” almost as soon as it was ratified. Shah Shuja was ousted in 1810, and, after an interval of internecine fighting, the Muhammadzai branch of the Durranis replaced the Sadozai rulers.
Dost Muhammad, a capable ruler, succeeded to the throne in 1826. He wanted British friendship, but he also wanted to regain Peshawar from Ranjit Singh, whose forces had conquered Multan in 1810, Kashmir in 1819, and Peshawar in 1823. But Lord Auckland, governor general of the British East India Company (1836–1842), favored a forward policy; he concluded the Tripartite Agreement of July 1838 with Ranjit Singh and Shah Shuja to restore the shah to the Kabul throne. Dost Muhammad’s negotiations with a purported Russian envoy and the amir’s hostility to the Sikh ruler were the casus belli, and the Simla Manifesto of 1838, issued by the British-Indian government, constituted the declaration of war. The Army of the Indus, as it was proudly called, invaded Afghanistan in what came to be known as the First Anglo-Afghan War. Once installed on the Kabul throne, Shah Shuja was unable to consolidate his power even with British support. Afghan tribal forces attacked isolated outposts, and on 2 November 1841, the British political officer Alexander Burnes and his staff were assassinated. The British forces were compelled to negotiate an ignominious retreat that resulted in the virtual annihilation of the British-Indian forces (see CAPITULATION, TREATY OF; DEATH MARCH). This extraordinary setback for Britain led to the restoration of Dost Muhammad (r. 1842– 1863). Like Shah Shuja, he had been in Indian exile, and his return to Kabul began the rule of the Muhammadzai dynasty, a collateral branch of the Sadozai, which lasted until 1973. The British-Indian government resigned itself to a period of “masterly inactivity,” which left Afghanistan to revert to civil war following the succession of Amir Shir Ali in 1863. But the search for a “scientific” frontier and the desire to fill a “power vacuum” in Afghanistan led to a return to a forward policy. Baluchistan came under British control in 1879, and the Indian government had to decide where its boundary with Afghanistan should be: the crest of the Hindu Kush, the Amu Daria, or the tribal belt of the northwestern frontier. Lacking any direct control over Afghanistan, Britain wanted envoys stationed at Herat and Kabul who could guard Indian interests in those vital areas. Amir Shir Ali was willing to forge an alliance with Britain, but he wanted protection from Russian aggression, a subsidy in weapons and funds, and British recognition of his son, Abdullah Jan, as his successor (see AMBALA CONFERENCE). When he could not obtain a clear commitment from Britain, he listened to the overtures of General Constantin Kaufman, the Russian governor general of Turkestan Province, and permitted a mission under Major General Stolietoff to proceed to Kabul. The Russians gave the not quite ironclad promise “that if any foreign enemy attacks Afghanistan and the Amir is unable to drive him out . . . the Russian Government will repel the enemy either by means of advice or by such other means as it may seem proper.” The British government now insisted that the amir receive a mission, headed by General Neville Chamberlain. Shir Ali asked for a postponement of the mission, but it proceeded in spite of the wishes of the amir. When it was stopped at the Afghan frontier, Britain presented an ultimatum; on 8 January 1879, British troops occupied Kandahar in the start of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The promised Russian support was in the form of “advice,” namely that the amir should make his peace with the British. Shir Ali felt betrayed; he was forced to flee and died two months later near Mazar-i Sharif.
His son Yaqub Khan succeeded to the throne at the cost of ceding territory to British India in the Treaty of Gandomak and permitting Sir P. Louis Cavagnari to come to Kabul to head a permanent British mission. History repeated itself when Cavagnari and his staff were massacred in Kabul. General Frederick Roberts, son of Sir Abraham Roberts, the commander of Shah Shuja’s forces during the First Anglo-Afghan War, occupied Kabul. In the meantime other contenders for the Kabul throne came to the fore. Ayub Khan, another son of Amir Shir Ali, wiped out General G. R. S. Burrows’s forces in the Battle of Maiwand (1880), and Abdul Rahman Khan, a grandson of Amir Dost Muhammad, entered Afghanistan after 12 years in Central Asian exile. To avoid disaster and to extricate their forces from Afghanistan, the British found it advisable to recognize Abdul Rahman as amir of “Kabul and its dependencies.” Amir Abdul Rahman (r. 1880–1901) was quick to eliminate all rivals to his power. He united the country, initiated domestic reforms, and formulated a foreign policy that served Afghanistan well until World War I. He fashioned a cautious alliance with Britain that obligated Britain to defend Afghanistan from unprovoked Russian aggression and strengthened his power with aid in money and arms. Abdul Rahman agreed to conduct his relations with foreign powers through the intermediary of the British government. Having protected himself from the danger in the north, the amir formulated a policy that was to prevent Britain from gaining influence within his domains under the aegis of their common defense. This policy rested on the following triad: militant assertion of independence, defensive isolationism, and a balancing of the pressures by the two imperialist neighbors. The “Iron Amir” considered his agreement with Britain an alliance between equals in which the two partners contributed to their common defense. He permitted the establishment in Kabul of a British agency, headed by an Indian Muslim whose sphere of activity was strictly limited, but he refused to accept British military advisers and declined an offer of British help in extending the Indian rail system into Afghanistan. Although in 1893 he accepted under duress the Durand Line, which cut large portions of Pashtun territory from the Afghan state, he did not assist in the complete demarcation of the border and continued to lay claim to the free “unadministered” tribal belt, which he saw as a buffer between Afghanistan and India. When Britain made punitive expeditions into this area, the Afghan ruler supported the tribes with shipments of arms and granted fugitives from India shelter in his domains. Amir Abdul Rahman was on a state visit in India in 1885 when Russian troops moved into the Panjdeh oasis (see PANJDEH INCIDENT). The fact that Britain did not assist him against Russian aggression convinced him that he could rely only on himself. Amir Habibullah (r. 1901–1919) continued the policy of his father. He resisted British demands for modifications to the agreements concluded with Amir Abdul Rahman and succeeded in 1905 in obtaining a treaty that confirmed all the existing provisions (see ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1905). Two years later, Amir Habibullah visited India for talks with the governor general, Lord Minto, unaware of the fact that at the same time Russia and Britain had concluded the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. The amir never permitted Russia and Britain the commercial privileges expected under the convention and made sure that his imperialist neighbors would not solve the “Afghanistan Question” at the cost of his
independence. The situation was drastically changed during World War I when both the Central Powers and the Allies vied for the support of the Afghan ruler. The Hentig-Niedermayer Expedition (August 1915–May 1916) was able to conclude a treaty with the amir, but Germany could not provide any tangible support in funds and weapons. Therefore Habibullah remained neutral, hoping to win rich rewards and complete independence from Britain; when these expectations were not realized, he paid for the failure of his policy with his life. Amir Habibullah was assassinated on the night of 19 February 1919 at Kalla Gush in Laghman Province. Amanullah Khan ascended the throne over the rival claims of his uncle, Nasrullah Khan, and his brother, Enayatullah Khan. King Amanullah (r. 1919–1929; he adopted the title of king in 1926) demanded a new treaty from British India that would recognize Afghanistan’s absolute independence. When the Indian government was reluctant to comply, he started military action that resulted in the Third AngloAfghan War in 1919. With India in semirevolt and British forces demobilized after the European war, the British government did not find this an opportune time to wage war and agreed to a peace treaty at Rawalpindi on 8 August 1919 (see ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1919). It took another three months of negotiations at the Mussoorie Conference, from 17 April to 18 July 1920, and almost one year of talks at Kabul, from 1 January to 2 December 1921, before normal, neighborly relations were established (see ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1921). By that time, Amanullah had established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, Turkey, Persia, and Italy and had modified Abdul Rahman’s policy to end the isolation of his country. A contemporary of Reza Shah of Iran and Kemal Atatürk of the young Turkish republic, Amanullah initiated such drastic social reforms that he was ousted in a wave of reaction after a 10-year period of tenuous rule. Next followed the chaotic 10-month rule of a “lowly” Tajik, Habibullah Kalakani (18 January–3 November 1929), called “the Son of a Water Carrier” (Bacha-i Saqqau) by the people and “Amir Habibullah Ghazi, Servant of the Religion of the Messenger of God” (Khadem-i Din Rasul Allah) by his followers after his coronation. The new dynasty of Nadir Shah (r. 1929–1933) and his son Muhammad Zahir Shah (r. 1933–1973) continued Afghanistan’s traditional policy of foreign relations but now tried to enlist Germany as a “third power” in obtaining the technical and political support that the Afghan rulers did not dare accept from their neighbors. Economic and cultural collaboration between Afghanistan and Germany was greatly expanded, and Germans were soon the largest European community in the country. But the deterioration of the political situation in Europe and the outbreak of World War II ended any possibility that the economic cooperation might evolve into political collaboration. Afghanistan remained neutral during the war. The end of the war created an entirely new situation: the Soviet Union, although severely battered, acquired nuclear technology and emerged as a superpower, and Britain, in spite of its victory, was forced to relinquish its hold on India in 1947. During the short reign of King Amanullah, Afghanistan’s border with the Soviet Union was open to commercial relations, and regular air service to Tashkent existed, but his successors maintained a closed-border policy. Keeping Afghanistan’s border to the north closed was criticized in Moscow as inconsistent
with friendly “neighborly” relations. Soviet demands for a “normalization” of relations could not be ignored, but it was hoped in Kabul that the United States would fill the vacuum left by the British and serve as a balancing force against the Soviet Union. The United States formally recognized Afghanistan in August 1934 but did not have an accredited representative in Kabul until 1942, when it appeared possible that the German advance into the Caucasus might make it impossible to maintain a link to the Soviet Union through western Iran. In spite of Afghanistan’s status as an independent state, Washington considered the country within the British sphere of influence and not very important in terms of international trade. With the onset of the Cold War during the Harry Truman administration and the policy of containment of communism under John Foster Dulles, secretary of state under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Afghan government might have entered into an alliance with the United States if it would have been given explicit guarantees of protection from Soviet attack. The United States government had never been willing to give that kind of guarantee; a possible Soviet advance was to be stopped at the Khaibar Pass, not north of the Hindu Kush. The Baghdad Pact in 1955 (subsequently renamed in 1959 Central Treaty Organization, CENTO) united Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan, with Britain as the representative of the West and the United States as the sponsor and “paymaster.” The alliance inherited the legacy of regional disputes between Middle Eastern neighbors and served to upset the balance of power. A turning point occurred in December 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin came to Kabul. The Soviets supported Afghanistan in the Pashtunistan dispute and offered massive aid, which the United States was unwilling to match. The government of Prime Minister Muhammad Daud, in spite of its misgivings, turned to the Soviet Union for the weapons it could not obtain from the West. The weapons arrived with Soviet advisers and experts, and thousands of Afghans went to the Soviet Union for military training. Graduates from Afghan institutes of higher education won fellowships to foreign universities, including those in the USSR, and there emerged a growing cadre of military officers, students, and technocrats with leftist and republican, if not proRussian, sympathies. When Sardar Muhammad Daud staged a coup against his cousin, the king, on 17 July 1973, he counted the Left (and Parchamis) among his supporters. Five years later a Marxist coup ended the “aristocratic” republic and established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Its alliance with the Soviet Union and the subsequent war, which Soviet intervention in 1979 turned into a war of Afghan liberation, resulted in the eventual Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and a “simmering” civil war that was temporarily ended when the Taliban extended their control over much of the country. Under the Taliban, Afghanistan became a radical Islamic state that had increasingly bad relations with the West. It was, however, on good terms with Pakistan, whose Inter-Services Intelligence had been arming and training the mujahedin. The Taliban government gave shelter to al-Qaeda and permitted the establishment of bases for the training of Islamist revolutionaries elsewhere. Although they were PanIslamists and saw Afghanistan as the nucleus of a new Islamic empire, they were not willing to issue a declaration accepting the Durand Line as the Afghan border with Pakistan.
When in October 2001 American and coalition forces defeated the Taliban government and dispersed their al-Qaeda allies, Interim and Transitional governments were set up that proclaimed their intentions for maintaining good relations with all nations of the world. Nevertheless, relations with Pakistan were strained because remnants of the former regime found shelter in the Pakistan tribal belt and conducted guerrilla activities against the new Afghan government. Conditions seemed to improve with the newly elected government of Hamid Karzai. The fact that foreign troops will remain in Afghanistan for the near future assures that there will not be any dramatic shifts in Afghan foreign relations. However, it can be assumed that the Afghan government will show its solidarity with the Islamic world, will support the forging of a just peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and will not, in the near term, revive the Pashtunistan issue. FOREIGN TRADE. See ECONOMY. FORWARD POLICY. See FOREIGN RELATIONS. FRANCE-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS. Unlike Afghanistan’s relations with the Soviet Union/Russia, Great Britain, Germany, and the United States, France-Afghanistan relations were primarily cultural. Major areas of French activity were in the fields of archaeology, science education, and health. French was still the language of diplomacy, and Afghanistan needed a cadre of future diplomats conversant in that language. Muhammad Wali Khan’s mission traveled to Europe and America to establish diplomatic relations with the West, reaching Paris on 9 June 1921. Four months later, a group of 34 young Afghans of the Muhammadzai clan was sent to France to enter the Lycée Michelet at Vanves. Relations between the two countries were finally established in 1923 with the exchange of ambassadors, Maurice Foucher at Kabul and Mahmud Tarzi at Paris. In 1922 the Afghan government granted a 30-year monopoly to French archeologists (Delegation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan, DAFA) so that it could refuse concessions to citizens of neighboring powers. But the Afghan government reserved the right of “granting to savants of foreign nations permission to excavate in places where the learned French representatives are not carrying out their operations, and do not intend to start work within a period not exceeding five years” (Adamec 1974, 76); it refused the Englishman Sir Auriel Stein permission to work in Afghanistan. A similar request in January 1923 from the Soviet legation in Kabul was not granted. The French-language Amania School, later renamed Istiqlal Lycée, was opened on 3 February 1923. By the end of King Amanullah’s reign, some 450 students were enrolled, and the French colony in Kabul amounted to 23 persons. The archeologist Alfred Foucher was soon joined by other French archeologists, and in the beginning of Muhammad Nadir Shah’s reign the Afghan baccalaureate was recognized as the equivalent of the French exam. The first three graduates went to France for advanced study in June 1932. A school for girls was started in 1939 and Malalai Lycée in 1942. During the war period, a cadre of Afghan teachers took over, and in 1946–1947 the first four students obtained their baccalaureate from Malalai High School.
A Department of French was opened at Kabul University in 1964, and professors participated in the development of medical and nursing studies. Louis Fougère, a French scholar, was a consultant for the drafting of the constitution of 1964. Afghan kings Amanullah and Zahir Shah visited France in 1928 and 1965 respectively, and Premier Georges Pompidou came to Kabul in May 1968 for the construction of the new Istiqlal school. Although smaller than the Russian, German, American, and British colonies in Afghanistan, the French were a major factor in education and cultural activities there. After the Saur Revolt, cooperation with France, as with other Western countries, was gradually limited, but during the ensuing war in Afghanistan, the French nongovernmental organization Médecins sans Frontières provided much-needed medical aid in the Afghan countryside. After the fall of the Taliban government, France helped to rebuild Isitiqlal Lycée and provided assistance for a number of development projects. It also provided troops for the coalition fighting Taliban/al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan as part of the Eurocorps. FRANKS, GENERAL TOMMY (1945–). The commander in chief of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), Franks had operational control in the Central Asia theater of war. A “plainspoken artilleryman from Texas” who served in the army for 36 years, Franks retired in 2003. He had more than 150,000 troops under his command in Afghanistan and Iraq. During the Afghan war as combatant commander, he was based in Tampa, Florida. Franks is said to have antagonized Afghan commanders when he backed off from an Afghan embrace. According to Robin Moore, Franks inflated enemy casualties at Tora Bora to downplay the failure of conventional infantry operations (294). His education includes a B.A. degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1971 and an M.A. degree in public administration from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania in 1985 (Moore 2003). FUNDAMENTALISM. Fundamentalism was a term originally applied to a conservative Protestant movement in the United States. It has subsequently been applied to any major religion with tendencies like authoritarianism, messianic spirit, subordination of secular politics to religious beliefs, belief in the infallibility of holy scripture, charismatic leadership, and enforced moralism. During the Taliban regime, a “religious police” enforced public conformance with the Taliban commandments. The designation “fundamentalist” has been applied to puritanical Islamic revivalist movements such as those promoted by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), Hassan al-Banna (1906–1949), Sayyid Abu’l A’la Mawdudi (1903–1979), Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900–1989), and Mulla Muhammad Omar (b. ca. 1960) of Afghanistan. See also ENJOINING THE GOOD AND FORBIDDING EVIL.
G GAHIZ, MINHAJUDDIN (MINHAJJ AL-DIN, 1922–1971). Born of a Pashtun family in Koh Daman, Gahiz was educated at the teachers training high school in Kabul, becoming a teacher at Ghazi High School. He was a member of the Islamist, anticommunist movement and publisher of the Jarida-yi Gahiz (Newspaper of Gahiz [Dawn in Pashtu]). His newspaper carried articles on Islamic topics and political attacks on the emerging Marxist movements. He is said to have been killed in 1971 by communist agents who entered his home as “visitors.” GAILANI, FATIMA (1954–). Born in Kabul, the daughter of Pir Sayyid Ahmad Gailani (descendent of the Muslim saint Abdul Qadir Gilani and leader of the National Islamic Front), Fatima obtained a baccalaureate degree from Malalai High School in Kabul, an M.A. degree in Persian literature and history, and an M.A. degree in Persian literature and mysticism from the National University of Tehran. She also earned an M.A. degree in Islamic jurisprudence from the Muslim College of London. From 1982 she acted as spokesperson for the union of three Afghan mujahedin parties for a year and a half; then she was representative and spokesperson of the National Islamic Front (NIFA) throughout the years of the Soviet intervention of Afghanistan. She participated in the Bonn Conference of 2001 and was a member of the commission for drafting the Afghan constitution in 2002. She was appointed president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in December 2004 and served as adviser in Islamic rules and family issues for the Muslim College of London during the years of conflict in Afghanistan. Mrs. Gailani has written two books, entitled A Jurisprudent Becomes Prime Minister (about the life of Musa Shafiq, an Afghan statesman) and London Mosques. She is married to Anwar al-Haq Ahadi and speaks Dari, Pashtu, English, and French. GAILANI, SAYYID AHMAD (AFANDI SAHIB, GILANI, 1932–). Descendant of the Muslim Pir Baba Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166), Sayyid Ahmad was the hereditary head of the Qadiri Sufi fraternity. He succeeded to his position upon the death of his older brother, Sayyid Ali Gailani, in 1964. Born in Kabul, the son of Sayyid Hasan Gailani, he was educated at Abu Hanifa College and the faculty of theology of Kabul University. He left Afghanistan after the Saur Revolt and founded the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (NIFA—Mahaz-i Milli-yi Afghanistan) in Peshawar. His movement was part of the sevenmember alliance that formed the Afghan Interim Government in 1989. Although Sayyid Gailani did not want any position in the Interim Government, he later accepted the post of supreme justice (Qadhi al-Qudhat). After the fall of the Taliban regime, Gailani returned to Kabul as a supporter of the Loya Jirga process. Gailani is married to Adela (daughter of Sardar Abdul Baqi and Aziza—a daughter of Amir Habibullah) and has three daughters and two sons: Fatima, Mariam, Hamed, Muhammad, and Zahra. GAILANI, SAYYID ALI (GILANI, 1923–1964). Born in Kabul, the son of Sayyid Hasan
Gailani and leader of the Qadiri Sufi brotherhood, Sayyim Ali died in 1964 and was succeeded by his younger brother Sayyid Ahmad Gailani. GAILANI, SAYYID HAMED (1955–). Born in Kabul, the son of Sayyid Ahmad Gailani (Afandi Agha), Sayyid Hamed graduated from Habibia High School in 1972 and obtained B.A. degrees in political science and Sharia law from Mili University, Tehran, and from the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan, 1978. In 1969 he represented the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (NIFA) at the intra-Afghan dialogue in Washington, D.C. He joined the office of NIFA in 1979 and became its deputy leader in 1985. In 1988 he represented NIFA at the meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Countries. In 2001 he headed one of four delegations at the Bonn Conference. Elected first deputy speaker in the Meshrano Jirga (upper house) in 2005, he was invited to attend the State of the Union address of President George W. Bush in 2006. He married Saqib in 1985. GAILANI, SAYYID HASAN (GILANI, ca. 1862–1941). Born in Baghdad, Sayyid Hasan Gailani is the father of Sayyid Ali Gailani and the son of Sayyid Salman Gailani, descendant of al-Imam Hasan, son of Caliph Ali, son of Abu Taleb. A member of the family of the Naqib al-Ashraf of Baghdad, Sayyid Hasan Gailani came to Afghanistan in 1905. He was welcomed warmly by the king and the Qadirites of Afghanistan. Amir Habibullah paid him an allowance of 3,500 rupees per month and built him a winter residence at Chaharbagh, near Jalalabad. Thus he became known as the Naqib Sahib of Chaharbagh, as well as the Pir Naqib of Baghdad, the place where his ancestor’s tomb is located. His reason for leaving Baghdad and coming to Afghanistan was, primarily, a disagreement with his older brother, Sayyid Abdul Rahman Gailani, who was the oldest in the family and was Naqib al-Ashraf of Baghdad. He wanted to get married in spite of the wishes of his brother, and Sayyid Hasan Gailani— wherever he would have gone—would have been sent back because of the influence of his brother. So he went to Afghanistan, which was not part of the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, Afghanistan is a Hanafi Islamic country, having many Qadiri followers. Those Afghans who were visiting the mausoleum of Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gailani in Baghdad had told Sayyid Hasan Gailani about “the Afghans’ firm beliefs, their purity of soul and character” and had also familiarized him with their language. His companion Mahmud Tokhi (an Afghan subject) had told Gailani about the goodwill of the Afghans toward him. Therefore he decided to make a journey to Afghanistan. “The faith of the people and the insistence of the King induced him to accept Afghan citizenship and to stay in Afghanistan.” Sayyid Hasan was respected by the Afghans, who took him as an example of the Qadiri life. He was treated with the utmost respect by Amir Habibullah Khan and Sardar Nasrullah Khan. He issued a farman in support of King Muhammad Nadir Shah in 1931. Sayyid Hasan Gailani had a daughter, Fatima, from his first wife, and two sons, Sayyid Ali Gailani and Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, from his fourth wife. In 1941 he died of a brain hemorrhage and was buried in his Chaharbagh garden in Jalalabad. GAILANI, SAYYID IBRAHIM (1949–). Born in Kabul, the son of Sayyid Ali Gailani, Ibrahim graduated from Naderi High School in 1968 and from Kabul University with a degree
in law and political science in 1977. He earned an M.A. degree in international relations from New York University. During the war against the Marxist regime, he served as military commander in Paktia and Zabul provinces. He was elected as a member of the Meshrano Jirga from Zabul Province and served as Afghan ambassador to Vienna (1993–1996). He speaks Dari, Pashtu, and English. GAILANI, SAYYID MUHAMMAD. Born in 1960 in Kabul, the son of Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, Muhammad Gailani was educated at Naderia High School in Kabul (1974–1978) and at Shareborn Boarding School, Dorset, United Kingdom, and Shoreline College, Seattle, Washington, United States. Gailani served as deputy chairman and member of the executive board of directors of Afghan relief and rehabilitation (1990–2004). He joined full time the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (Mahaz-i Milli-yi Afghanistan) and served in the jihad as director of planning for Mahaz (1983–1986). Gailani became a member of the executive council of the National Front of Afghanistan (2002–2003). He served as adviser to President Hamid Karzai during the election campaign of 2004. He served as consul general (2005– 2006) and as chargé d’affaires of Afghanistan in Muscat in 2006. Gailani was appointed ambassador to Jordan in 2011. He is married to Zarrin and has three children. GANDHARA (1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.–11TH CENTURY A.D.). An ancient kingdom, Gandhara reached its height from the first century to the fifth century under the Buddhist Kushanid kings. Its center was in eastern Afghanistan and the Peshawar Valley, with the capital at Taxila (now Charsadda). It is famous for the fusion of Hellenistic and Buddhist civilizations and art styles. The Gandharan Buddhist texts are the earliest Buddhist manuscripts discovered so far. The Kabul Museum held numerous specimens of Gandharan art, many of which were looted or destroyed during the civil war and Taliban occupation. Kandahar is said to be named after Gandhara. GANDOMAK (34-18' N, 70-2' E). Gandomak is a village on the Gandomak Stream, a tributary of the Surkhab, about 29 miles southwest of Jalalabad. The area was the scene of a number of battles between British and Afghan forces, including the massacre of the last remnants of the British army in 1842. It was also the scene of a treaty concluded between Major Louis Cavagnari and Amir Yaqub Khan signed on 2 May 1879. See GANDOMAK, TREATY OF. GANDOMAK, TREATY OF (1879). Named after the location of its venue, the treaty was concluded between the British government and Amir Yaqub Khan and signed by the amir and Major Louis Cavagnari on 26 May 1879 and ratified by Lord Lytton, viceroy of India, on 30 May 1879. The treaty was to establish “eternal peace and friendship” between the two countries upon conclusion of the Second Anglo-Afghan War (Article 1). It provided for amnesty for Afghan collaborators with the British occupation forces (Article 2) and obligated the amir to “conduct his relations with Foreign States, in accordance with the advice and wishes of the British Government.” In exchange, Great Britain would support the amir “against any foreign
aggression with money, arms, or troops” (Article 3). A British representative was to be stationed at Kabul “with a suitable escort in a place of residence appropriate to his rank and dignity,” and an Afghan agent was to be at the court of the viceroy of India (Article 4). A separate commercial agreement was to be signed (Article 7), and a telegraph line from Kurram to Kabul was to be constructed (Article 8). The Khaibar and Michni passes were to be controlled by Britain (Article 9); Kandahar and Jalalabad were to be “restored” to the amir with the exception of Kurram, Pishin, and Sibi, which were to be under British control but were not “considered as permanently severed from the limits of the Afghan kingdom.” Afghan historians consider the treaty a sellout to Britain and a treasonable act by Amir Yaqub Khan. GARDEZ (33-37' N, 69-7' E). Gardez is a town and a district with about 64,000 inhabitants in Paktia Province, located at an altitude of 7,620 feet. The town is inhabited largely by Ghilzai Pashtuns and some Dari speakers. Most of the surrounding villages were destroyed during the Afghan civil war. Gardez is a strategically important town because it controls the route north over the Altamur Pass (9,600 feet) to Kabul. It is an ancient town, with a strong citadel and fortress, which for a short time was the seat of the Kushanid rulers of Kabul. It was a center of Buddhist culture and, in the early Islamic period, a base of the Kharijite (Khawarij —the Seceders) sect of Islam. After the fall of the Taliban regime, American forces continued to be involved in fighting with purported Taliban/al-Qaeda forces in the Gardez area. GARMSIR. Garmsir is a low-lying, hot country (garm = “warm”), in contrast with sardsir (sard = “cold”), a cold place, and therefore summer habitation in high grounds. Nomads would seasonally move from one to the other. Garmsir (or Garmsel) is also the name of a district in Helmand Province. GAZAR-GAH (34-22' N, 62-14' E). Gazar-Gah is the name of a range of low hills to the north of Herat and the location of the tomb of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, a celebrated 11thcentury philosopher and Sufi poet. The shrine is the residence of the Mir of Gazar-Gah, a man widely revered as the guardian of Ansari’s mausoleum. GENEVA ACCORDS (1988). The accords are the result of “proximity” talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Geneva, initiated on 16 June 1982 by Diego Cordovez under the auspices of the United Nations and concluded on 14 April 1988. The accords consisted of four documents and an annex: three between the Republic of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; one between the Soviet Union and the United States, promising to “refrain from any form of interference and intervention”; and an annex with a memorandum of understanding, assisting the UN in the implementation of the agreements. The United States and the Soviet Union were the guarantors of the accords. The talks aimed at ending the “external interference” in the war in Afghanistan with a view to establishing peace. The accords resulted in the withdrawal of Soviet troops in mid-February 1989 but failed to end foreign interference or to bring the warring parties closer to peace. One reason for the failure was that the mujahedin were not a party to the accords; another was that Washington, and virtually everyone else, expected the Marxist government to
disintegrate promptly. When the Soviets departed, they left a considerable amount of war materiel and promised to supply more under the treaty of friendship of December 1978. The United States was obligated to cease military support of the mujahedin. The result was a haggling over “symmetry” and “negative symmetry” of arms supplies, not part of the formal agreements. Eventually the Soviets and the United States informally agreed on “positive symmetry”; that is to say, they reserved themselves the right to send arms in response to shipments by the other. The result was that both powers continued to support their “clients,” and Pakistan continued to permit the passage of weapons through its territory. The war continued, and the superpower guarantees of noninterference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan were ignored. In April 1992 the Marxist government fell, and the mujahedin began a war for control of the Afghan government. GEOGRAPHY. See introduction. GERMANY-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS. German-Afghan relations date from the time of World War I when the Hentig-Niedermayer Expedition in August 1915 first established official contact with an Afghan ruler (the claim by one Afghan writer that a secret German mission was sent to the court of Amir Shir Ali cannot be substantiated on the basis of British or German archival sources). The first German known to reside in Kabul was Gottlieb Fleischer, an employee of Krupp Steelworks of Essen, Germany, who was contracted by Amir Abdul Rahman in 1898 to start manufacture of ammunitions and arms in the newly constructed factory (mashin-khana) at Kabul (he was killed in November 1904 near the border while traveling to India). Afghanistan existed in self-imposed isolation, and the British-Indian government refused to permit passage to Afghanistan by other than their own nationals. It was not until World War I that Germans again appeared in Kabul. A number of Austrian and German prisoners of war, held in Russian Central Asia, escaped and made their way to Kabul, where they were “interned” but enjoyed freedom of movement and contributed their skills to various public works projects. The first official contact was the Hentig-Niedermayer mission that also included Turkish and Indian members and was charged with establishing diplomatic relations between the Central Powers and Afghanistan. The Germans hoped that Amir Habibullah would heed the caliph’s call to holy war and, together with the Pashtun frontier tribes, attack India. The mission caused considerable anxiety in India, but though Amir Habibullah wanted to rid himself of British control, he was not to be drawn into a conflict whose outcome seemed at best dubious (see FOREIGN RELATIONS). Nevertheless, the mission was not a complete failure, as it forced Britain to maintain troops on its northwest frontier which could have been used in the European theater of war. Habibullah appeared to be willing to act but demanded assistance in funds and arms that only a victorious Germany could have provided. When it became apparent that no such victory was in sight, he informed Britain that he would remain neutral in the war in exchange for a financial reward and British recognition of Afghanistan’s independence. Germany rendered Afghanistan a potentially important service by insisting on Russian recognition of Afghan independence in Article 7 of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March
1918), which ended Russian participation in World War I. German influence became solidly established during the reign of King Amanullah (r. 1919– 1929). The “Reformer King” won the independence of his country in a short, undeclared war (see THIRD ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR) and quickly established relations with the major powers of the world. In 1923 Fritz Grobba, the German minister plenipotentiary, joined the diplomatic representatives of the Soviet Union, Iran, Great Britain, Turkey, and Italy in Kabul, and it was soon clear that there existed a community of interest between Germany and Afghanistan. King Amanullah needed Western expertise for his modernization projects and felt that nationals from states other than his powerful neighbors should be engaged. The United States was reluctant to move into an area that it considered within the British sphere of influence; Italy was willing to assist, but the execution of an Italian who killed an Afghan policeman soured relations between the two countries. France was seen as a colonial power that had acquired large portions of the Ottoman Empire, whose ruling sultan/caliph Afghans recognized as the spiritual head of the Islamic world (see FRANCE-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS). Germany had been an ally of the Ottomans and offered Afghanistan industrial hardware and skilled technicians at competitive rates. In 1923 King Amanullah founded the German-language high school, Amani (called Najat under Muhammad Nadir Shah), in addition to French- and English-language secondary schools, and German influence was growing. By 1926 the German colony was second only to the Russians and soon became the largest of all groups. Relations developed to the extent that major incidents that might have had a serious impact on German-Afghan understanding were amicably resolved. In November 1926 a German national killed an Afghan nomad, and in June 1933 an Afghan student, and supporter of the deposed King Amanullah, shot Sardar Muhammad Aziz, a half brother of Nadir Shah, and his minister at Berlin. In September 1933, Muhammad Azim, a teacher at the German high school, wanted to provoke an international incident by shooting the British minister at Kabul (he killed an Englishman, an Afghan, and an Indian employee instead). The last two incidents were seen as manifestations of a power struggle between the followers of King Amanullah and the new ruling family, and there existed some worries in Kabul that Germany was supporting the exking. These incidents had no lasting effect on German-Afghan relations. In October 1936 the two countries agreed in a “confidential protocol” on the delivery of 15 million marks of war materiel on credit to be repaid in half with Afghan products. By that time Germany had become an important economic and political factor in Kabul, and the way seemed clear for even closer cooperation. In 1937 Lufthansa Airline established regular service from Berlin to Kabul, with the intention of eventually extending service to China. And in summer 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, a German commercial delegation arrived in Kabul to expand German-Afghan trade; but the political situation precluded any desire of the Kabul government to tie itself even closer to Nazi Germany. German annexation of Austria in March 1938 and the annexation of Czechoslovakia a year later, and above all the conclusion of a nonaggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939, made it appear likely that Europe would be engulfed in war. Germany could no longer be a
“third force” in Afghanistan’s attempt to balance the influences of its powerful neighbors. On the outbreak of World War II, Zahir Shah proclaimed Afghanistan’s neutrality and was determined to stay out of the war. For Germany, Afghanistan’s strategic location gained priority over commercial considerations. The German foreign ministry and its political counterpart, the Aussenpolitische Amt, toyed with the idea of supporting a pro-Amanullah coup to establish a friendly government in Kabul. It sent Peter Kleist, a German diplomat, and Ghulam Siddiq Charkhi, a former Afghan ambassador and supporter of King Amanullah, to Moscow to query Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister, as to whether the Soviets would support such a move. The Soviets were noncommittal, and nothing came of the project. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Afghanistan’s neighbors were allied for the second time since the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, and they were soon to take a common stand in Kabul: in separate diplomatic notes of 9 and 11 October 1941, the Soviet Union and Britain demanded the evacuation of all Axis nationals from Afghanistan. Prime Minister Muhammad Hashim was forced to comply, even though the Afghan government considered it an infringement of its sovereign rights. A Loya Jirga, national council, convened on 5 and 6 November and approved the decision after the Axis nationals had left for India and traveled under a promise of free passage to a neutral country. Axis diplomats were permitted to stay, but their contacts with Pashtun tribes on the Indian side of the border did not achieve any tangible results. In spite of sympathies for the enemy of Afghanistan’s traditional enemies, there was no question of armed cooperation with Germany. After its defeat in World War II, the German “phoenix” rose from its ashes again, and soon German expertise found a ready demand in Kabul. Although Germany was unable for a while to deliver industrial products, its nationals would again be a major factor in Afghanistan’s development projects. A dam and hydroelectric power station at Sarobi became one of the first major German projects after the war. American funds and German contractors built the new campus of Kabul University. German teachers served on the faculties of science and economics at Kabul University, and by the 1970s, German economic aid ranked third after Soviet and American assistance. Najat School became a model institution, rivaling the French-supported Istiqlal Lycée and the English-language schools in Kabul. The Deutsche Entwicklungsdienst (German Development Service), a volunteer organization, brought Germans with attractive skills to Afghanistan. The Goethe Institute for the promotion of German language and culture was opened in Kabul, and a consortium of German universities offered Afghans opportunities to study in Germany. East Germany, not recognized by the Afghans, eventually also appeared on the scene, vying with its Western “brothers” to win friends and influence people. West German influence lasted long after the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, although East Germans gradually replaced Germans from the West. Because of its long and fruitful association with Afghanistan, its nationals have enjoyed a good reputation in Kabul. In July 1996, Norbert Holl, a German, replaced Mahmud Mestiri as special United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, to continue the difficult task of bringing peace to Afghanistan. After the fall of the Taliban government, Germany agreed to provide troops for the UN
peacekeeping force, and its sponsorship of the Bonn Agreement was an important factor in establishing a new government for Afghanistan. On 10 February 2003, Germany and the Netherlands assumed command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul. The number of German casualties reached in 2009 is 35 killed and 100 wounded out of a contingent of about 4,000. GHAFFAR KHAN. See KHAN, KHAN ABDUL GHAFFAR. GHAFURZAI, ABDUL RAHIM (1947–1997). Born in Kabul, the son of General Abdul Ghafur, Ghafurzai was educated in Herat (where his father was governor) and graduated from Habibia High School, 1964, and in political science from Kabul University. After military service, 1969–1970, he entered the foreign service. He became a member of the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations, 1973–1977, and head of the political and economic desk of the UN a year later, as well as head of the international relations department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was special envoy to the Non-Aligned Conference, where he denounced the Soviet Union’s intervention in Afghanistan and defected in February 1980. He made numerous speeches and supported mujahedin efforts. He served as minister of foreign affairs in March 1996 and as prime minister in August 1997 until he was killed in a plane crash in that year. He was also a writer and poet. He was married and had two sets of twins. His son Omar is second secretary for political affairs at the Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C. GHALEB, HABIBULLAH (1939–). Born in 1939, the son of Muhammad Omar, in Kohistan, Kapisa Province, Ghaleb received his primary education in Gulbahar and his secondary education at the Imam Abu Hanifa Madrasa in Kabul. He earned a diploma from the faculty of Shari’a of Kabul University in 1962 and an M.A. degree in 1967 in Shari’a and comparative fiqh from Al-Azhar University of Egypt. After graduation, he served in various positions in the Ministry of Justice. He served as deputy attorney general, 1994–1995, and in 1995 as legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice. He was appointed to the position of minister of justice in the Hamid Karzai cabinet of 2009. Ghaleb spent several years in the United States. He speaks Pashtu, Dari, and Arabic. GHANI, ASHRAF (1949–). Born in Logar Province in 1949, the son of Kokaba Lodin Ahmadzai and Shahjan Ghani Ahmadzai, Ashraf Ghani graduated from Habibia School in 1967 and the American University of Beirut, where he received B.A. and M.A. degrees. He attended Columbia University and received a Ph.D. degree in anthropology in 1982. He taught at Kabul University, 1973–1977; at the University of Arhus, Denmark, 1977; at the University of California, Berkeley, 1983; and at Johns Hopkins University, 1983, before assuming a position with the World Bank in 1991. He was actively involved in Afghanistan affairs and moved to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban regime. He served as minister of finance from 2002 to 2004 and was appointed president of Kabul University in 2004. He is the founder and chairman of the Institute of State Effectiveness, 2005. He became the director of the administration’s Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority, established after the fall of the
Taliban regime. He unsuccessfully stood for election to the presidency. GHAUS, MULLA MUHAMMAD (1965–). One-eyed foreign minister (1994–1997) of the Taliban government, Mulla Ghaus led a Taliban delegation to Houston, Texas, to negotiate a pipeline contract with Unocal Oil Company in 1996 and 1997. Ghaus was captured by Northern Alliance forces during the 1997 Hazara uprising in Mazar-i Sharif but was able to escape from captivity. A native of Oruzgan Province (Khushab, Kandahar) and a Nurzai Durrani, he fought as a commander under the Hizb-i Islami of Yunus Khales. GHAUSUDDIN KHAN, GENERAL (GHAUS AL-DIN). Commander of Afghan forces during the Panjdeh Incident in March 1885, Ghausuddin Khan confronted Colonel Alikhanov, commander of the Russian forces, but was defeated by the superior power of the Russians. A British officer called him “a very superior Afghan . . . he selected his position at Ak Teppe with a great deal of judgement. He . . . has shown much tact in his dealings with the Sarikhs [a Turkoman tribe], among whom he is as popular as an Afghan [Pashtun] can be.” He is buried in Caliph Ali’s Mausoleum in Mazar-i Sharif. GHAYAZUDDIN. See GHIASUDDIN. GHAZANFAR, HUSN BANO (1957–). Born in 1957 in Balkh, the daughter of Abdul Ghaffar, an Uzbek, Ghazanfar obtained a Ph.D. degree from Moscow’s Petersburg University. She is a poetess and writer and was professor of Dari literature at Kabul University from 2004 to 2006. She served as a member of the high council of the Ministry of Higher Education and was elected minister of women’s affairs in May 2006, succeeding Suraya Rahim Subhrang. She was nominated minister of women’s affairs in 2009, but the appointment was vetoed by parliament (Wolesi Jirga). She speaks Dari, Pashtu, Uzbeki, and Russian. GHAZI. Originally, ghazi was the designation for Arab Bedouin raiders who would strike from their desert refuge (ghazw), seeking booty in enemy territory. (The European term razzia for a predatory raid or police raid is a corruption of ghazw.) After the advent of Islam, a ghazi was a holy warrior fighting against a non-Muslim enemy, synonymous with the term mujahed (pl. mujahedin) used by the Afghan resistance in the 1980s. Ghazis during the Anglo-Afghan wars were irregular fighters who took vows to die in battle against the unbelievers and staged suicidal attacks against superior forces, for paradise was assured to the martyr. They were often poorly armed, but their reckless bravery made them a dangerous enemy. A British military historian said A true ghazi counts no odds too great to face, no danger too menacing to be braved; the certainty of death only adds to his exaltation. . . . If every Afghan were a ghazi . . . our defenses would have been carried, and enormous slaughter would have followed on both sides. (Hensman 1881, 333–334)
The term became a title given to a victorious commander. Mahmud of Ghazni, King Amanullah, Habibullah Kalakani, Nadir Shah, and others claimed this title. The sons of Sardar Shah Mahmud adopted his title as a family name. GHAZI HIGH SCHOOL. Founded in Kabul in 1928 by King Amanullah, Ghazi High School
got its name from the king’s title, Ghazi (Victor), in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Like Habibia School, it is a 12-grade English-language preparatory school, most of whose graduates continue their higher education at Kabul or abroad. GHAZI, SHAH MAHMUD (1886–1959). The youngest son of Muhammad Yusuf, Sultan Mahmud embarked on a military career. He served as military commander and governor in various provinces and was appointed deputy interior minister in 1928. He served as war minister and commander in chief from 1929 to 1946, at which time he became prime minister until 1953. He assisted his brother Nadir Khan in defeating Habibullah Kalakani and served Muhammad Nadir Shah and his successor, Zahir Shah, as prime minister until 1953, when he resigned in favor of Sardar Muhammad Daud. Shah Mahmud allowed substantial freedom of speech and of the press but reverted to more authoritarian measures when political liberalization led to increasing attacks on his government. He died in December 1959. GHAZI, SULTAN MAHMUD (1925–). A cousin of ex-king Zahir, he was born the second son of Prime Minister Shah Mahmud Ghazi. He graduated from Istiqlal Lycée in 1946 and the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1948. Sultan Mahmud attended Montreal University in Canada (1950 to 1953) and obtained a B.A. degree. He served as chief of investigations in the prime ministry (1953 to 1963), and he was head of the Afghan-Chinese boundary demarcation negotiations and signed the agreement of 1964. He served as general president (ministerial rank) of the Afghan air and tourism authority from 1963 to 1977. Sultan Mahmud was founder and president of Bakhtar Domestic Airlines (1968–1977), and chairman and founder of the Afghan computer center. He resigned from this position in 1977 and was abroad during the Saur Revolt. He returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime and founded the National Unity Movement (Tahrik-i Wahdat-i Milli), a monarchist party, but supported Hamid Karzai in the Afghan presidential election of 2009. He is married to Alia, sister of Queen Humaira. GHAZNAVID DYNASTY (977–1186). The Ghaznavid were a dynasty of Turkic origin founded by Nasir al-Daula Sebuktegin (r. 977—997) that had its administrative capital in the city of Ghazni. During the reign of Sultan Mahmud Ghazni (r. 998–1030), the Ghaznavid Empire extended from the Tigris to the Ganges River and from the Indian Ocean to the Amu Daria. The city of Ghazni experienced a period of enormous wealth, most of it amassed by Mahmud during some 17 campaigns into the Indian subcontinent. He attracted some 400 scholars and poets to his capital, including Abu’l Qasim Firdausi and Abu Rayhan al-Biruni. Although the dynasty counted 19 rulers over a period of two centuries, the empire began to disintegrate after Mahmud’s death. Under Mahmud’s son, Mas’ud, the Seljuks took possession of Khorasan, and during the reign of Bahram Shah (1117–1157), Ghazni was sacked by Alaud-Din of Ghor. Ogadai, son of Genghis Khan, seized the city in 1221, and it became part of the Ilkhanid Empire. GHAZNI (33-33' N, 68-26' E). Ghazni is the name of a province, population about 931,000, and a town in eastern Afghanistan. The town (and its district) had about 32,000 inhabitants in
1978 (now estimated at 108,000) and is located at an elevation of some 7,000 feet on the road from Kabul to Kandahar, about 80 miles southeast of Kabul. The old town on the left bank of the river is walled and guarded by a citadel that was garrisoned by Afghan army units. Ghazni derives its fame from the fact that it was the capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty (977–1186). It is strategically located and was the scene of severe fighting between Afghan and British forces during the first two Afghan wars. A British garrison stationed in the town during the First Anglo-Afghan War was wiped out in December 1841. The population of the town is largely Tajik with some Ghilzais, Durranis, Hazaras, and a few Hindu shopkeepers. GHIASUDDIN, MAULAWI (1960–). Minister of education in the Taliban government, he is an Uzbek from Fariab Province. He was affiliated with the party of Maulawi Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi. He is said to have only an elementary education. GHILZAI. A major Pashtu-speaking tribe, the Ghilzai inhabit an area roughly bounded by Qalat-i Ghilzai in the south, the Gul Kuh range in the west, the Sulaiman range in the east, and the Kabul River in the north. The Ghilzai call themselves Ghaljai (pl. Ghalji) and count themselves the descendants of Ghalzoe, son of Shah Husain, said to have been a Tajik or Turk, and of Bibi Mato, who descended from Shaikh Baitan (the second son of Qais—progenitor of Afghan nationality). The origin of the name Ghilzai comes from khilji, the Turkic word for swordsman, or the name of the Turks who came into the area in the 10th century. From Ghalzoe the tribe divided into the Turan and Burhan Ibrahim divisions. The Sulaiman Khel are the most important of all, and the Ali Khel are the most important of the Burhan. In the 19th century they were said to number about 100,000 families, with 30,000 to 50,000 fighters. They were largely nomadic and were called Powindahs in India, often traveling far into India making a living as merchant nomads. The Hotaki Ghilzais achieved their fame in Afghan history as the liberators of Kandahar from Safavid control and as the leading tribe in the invasion of Iran and the destruction of the Persian empire in 1722. Mir Wais, a descendant of Malakhi, a leading chief at Kandahar, was taken by the Safavid governor to Isfahan but was later permitted to return. He raised a revolt against the Kandahar governor and ruled over the province for some years (1709–1715). His son Mahmud raised an army and invaded Persia, defeating the Safavid armies at the Battle of Gulnabad in 1722. However, Mahmud was unable to hold on to his conquest. Nadir Shah Afshar, founder of the short-lived Afsharite dynasty, reunited the Persian empire and in turn invaded Afghan lands. After the death of Nadir Shah, the Ghilzai were weakened to such an extent that they could not prevent the emergence of the Durrani dynasty. The Ghilzai fought the British when they invaded Afghanistan and subsequently became the major rivals of the Durranis. They rebelled repeatedly against Muhammadzai rule and were suppressed only with difficulty in 1801, 1883, 1886, and 1937. Urban Ghilzai have since intermarried with Muhammadzai. The Ghilzai were well represented in the Marxist leadership (Nur Muhammad Taraki, Najibullah, Hafizullah Amin, Muhammad Aslam Watanjar, Sulaiman Layeq, Muhammad Rafi’i, and many others) but also among the resistance (Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf),
which prompted one expert to remark that for the first time power has passed from the Durrani to the Ghilzai. See also ABDUL KARIM. GHOBAR, MIR GHULAM MUHAMMAD (1897–1978). Born in Kabul of a Sayyid family, Ghobar was a historian, writer, and poet who was widely known for his critical analyses of Afghan history in his book Afghanistan dar Masir-i Tarikh (Afghanistan in the Path of History; a sequel was published posthumously by his son), published in 1967. He entered the services of King Amanullah. He was editor of Sitare-yi Afghan (1919–1920) and chief of police (1920–1921), and was appointed secretary at the Afghan embassies in Paris in 1926 and Berlin in 1930. In the final days of King Amanullah, he participated in the Paghman Loya Jirga. He became a prominent member of the Afghan Literary Society (1931–1932) and the Historical Society (1943–1948) and was a literary adviser to the Department of Press in 1948. Imprisoned from 1933 to 1935 and again from 1952 to 1956, he served intermittently as representative of Kabul in parliament in 1948 and again from 1949 to 1951. He was a founding member of the Watan Party and editor of its newspaper, Watan (Homeland), in 1951. He died at age 81 in February 1978 in Germany. GHOR (GHUR) (34-0' N, 65-0' E). Ghor is a west-central province of Afghanistan with an area of 13,808 square miles and a population of about 485,000. The administrative center of the province is the town of Chaghcharan with a population of about 114,000. The province is mountainous with some wheat and barley cultivation in the upper regions of the Farah, Hari Rud, and Murghab valleys. Major mountain ranges include the Firuz Kuh (Safidkoh), Siyahkoh, and Band-i Baian. The population is primarily of Taimani (Chahar Aimaq) origin. The Kabul government has appointed a governor, and a Lithuanian contingent of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) assists in providing security and stability operations. See also GHORID DYNASTY. GHORID DYNASTY (1150–1217). The Ghorid dynasty derived its name from Ghor, its capital near the present-day Qala-i Ghor (Taiwara). At the height of their power, the Ghorids ruled over an area from eastern Iran to Bengal in India. In the early 11th century, Ghor was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni and forced to pay tribute to the Ghaznavids, but in 1151 the Ghorid Ala ud-Din in turn sacked and destroyed Ghazni. In 1176 the Ghorids, under Ghias udDin, took Herat, in 1198 Balkh, in 1200 Nishapur, Merv, Sarakhs, and Tus and moved far into India. The empire quickly disintegrated after the death of Ghias ud-Din in 1202, and subsequent invasions by the hordes of Genghis Khan and Timur-i Lang ended the brief glory of Ghor. In 1958 a French archaeologist discovered a minaret from the time of Ghias ud-Din. GHULAM HAIDAR CHARKHI (d. 1898). Commander in chief of the Afghan army in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, Ghulam Haidar was an implacable foe of the British. When General Sir Frederick Roberts proclaimed a general amnesty on 20 December 1880, Ghulam Haidar was one of four Afghan sardars excluded. He served Amir Abdul Rahman, subduing the tribes in the Eastern Province and in 1882 was again appointed commander in chief. In 1888 the amir gave him the title wazir (minister). He died in 1898.
GHULAM HUSAIN, USTAD (1887–1967). Born in Peshawar, the son of Ata Husain, Ghulam Husain was a famous musician who lived in the Qarabagh area near the Bala Hisar, Kabul. He was a noted singer at the time of King Amanullah (whose songs were recorded in Peshawar, 1928–1938). He composed “Tarana” for schoolboys and served as professor of music in the kors-i musiqi of Radio Kabul, 1949–1952, where Laland, Khiyal, Shafta, and others were his students. His classical Indian music was adapted to Afghanistan’s musical tradition. His son Muhammad Husain was also one of the great masters who won the title Sarahang. GHULAM JILANI CHARKHI (1886–1933). Son of Ghulam Haidar, Ghulam Jilanni was a major general of Amir Habibullah, who led successful campaigns against rebellious tribes. In 1912 he was appointed superintendent of the military college at Kabul. He served King Amanullah as governor and commander of troops in various provinces and was appointed minister at Ankara in 1925. Recalled to Kandahar by King Amanullah in April 1929, he was unable to defeat the forces of Habibullah Kalakani and fled to India with the king and accompanied him to Rome. He returned to Afghanistan in August 1930 but was arrested and executed in 1933. GHULAM NABI CHARKHI (d. 1933). A native of Charkh, Ghulam Nabi was the son of Ghulam Haidar. A general in the service of Amir Habibullah, King Amanullah appointed him minister to Moscow, 1922–1924, and later deputy minister of foreign affairs. He continued to direct pacification campaigns and served in the Logar Valley during the Mangal Revolt, 1924–1925. Toward the end of King Amanullah’s reign he served short assignments as minister at Paris and Moscow. In 1929 he led an army officered by Afghan cadets who had been studying in Turkey in an attempt to return Amanullah to power. But he was unable to defeat the forces of Habibullah Kalakani and was forced to withdraw to the Soviet Union. In 1932 he returned to Afghanistan under a pardon but was executed because of “subversive activities” against Muhammad Nadir Shah. GHULAM SIDDIQ CHARKHI (1894–1962). A diplomat and high government official of King Amanullah who with his brothers, Ghulam Jilani and Ghulam Nabi, was a foe of the Yahya Khel dynasty. The son of Ghulam Haidar, Ghulam Siddiq entered the service of King Amanullah. He was second counselor to the Afghan mission of Muhammad Wali Khan, which visited European capitals and the United States for the purpose of establishing diplomatic relations after the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War. He was Afghan minister at Berlin, 1922–1926; first private secretary to King Amanullah, minister of court in 1927; and foreign minister in 1928. He left Afghanistan with King Amanullah and served shortly as minister at Berlin but was dismissed as a supporter of the deposed king. He married a sister of Queen Suraya and remained in Berlin until the end of World War II. He died in 1962 and is buried in Afghanistan. GILANI. See GAILANI.
GIRISHK (31-48' N, 64-34' E). A town, now called Nahri Sarraj (population, including the district of the same name, 96,000), on the Helmand River in Helmand (formerly Girishk) Province, Girishk lies on the road from Kandahar to Herat, about 78 miles from Kandahar. The town, located at a strategic position and protected by a strong citadel and high walls, was destroyed by Nadir Shah Afshar and rebuilt by Sardar Kohan Dil. In 1839 General Sir Robert Sale captured the town, but Afghan forces besieged it throughout the entire war until it was abandoned by the British. A British officer visited Girishk in 1879 and described the town as “a fort with half a dozen small villages scattered round it, and a bazaar outside the gate” (Gaz. 2). He said the fort was almost useless but the position of great strategic importance. Reconstruction of the area was begun in 1937, and the Helmand project produced some growth; but in 1957 the state capital was transferred from Girishk to Lashkargah (Bost), and the town lost some of its earlier importance. GLIEMEROTH, LIEUTENANT GENERAL GÖTZ (1943–). Commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, Gliemeroth took command on 11 August 2003 from Lieutenant General Van Heyst, who headed the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from 10 February to August 2003. It marked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) takeover of ISAF, bringing into Afghanistan a coalition of 31 countries. NATO operated under the ISAF banner and under a United Nations mandate. Major functions of the new command include building up and training Afghan security forces, such as the police force, the border police, and also to a certain extent the Afghan National Army (ANA). General Gliemeroth was commander of the Joint Headquarters Center in Heidelberg, Germany, from 21 March 2001 until his move to Kabul. Gliemeroth was born on 21 October 1943 in Göttingen, Germany. GOD-I ZIRREH (GOWD, GAUD) (30-5' N, 61-45' E). God-i Zirreh is a large depression in southwestern Afghanistan, extending close to the Iran/Pakistan border. About once every decade, water from the Hamun-i Helmand overflows and runs down the Shelag channel, creating a shallow lake. The water has a high salt content, and when dry the God-i Zirreh is covered with a thick deposit of salt. GOLDSMID AWARD (1872). The result of the Sistan boundary arbitration in 1872 made by Sir Frederic Goldsmid in which the boundary between Iran and Afghanistan was drawn. Persian forces had occupied portions of Sistan claimed by Afghanistan, and the government of Great Britain offered its good offices to resolve the dispute. General Goldsmid made the following award: “That Sistan proper, by which is meant the tract of country which the hamun on three of its sides and the Helmand on the fourth cause to resemble an island, should be included by a special boundary line within the limits of Persia; that Persia should not possess land in the right of the Helmand.” It was also stipulated that no works should be carried out to interfere with the supply of water from the Helmand. Neither Iran nor Afghanistan was satisfied with the award, and the question of the distribution of the Helmand waters remained a potential conflict. It was not until 1973 that the Helmand Water Treaty was concluded; it was ratified by the Afghan government in 1977. A general water shortage has continued to make this
a matter of dispute to this day. GORCHAKOFF, ALEXANDR MIKHAILOVICH K. See GRANVILLE-GORCHAKOFF AGREEMENT. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS. The Afghan constitution, approved by the Loya Jirga on 4 January 2004, provided for a presidential, republican government and elected Hamid Karzai to a five-year term on 9 October 2004 (reelected in December 2009). Government was to consist of independent executive, legislative, and judiciary branches. The president, chief executive, has considerable power: he is the commander in chief of the armed forces and determines national policies with the approval of parliament. He declares war and national emergencies and signs all laws and legislative decrees. He appoints the members of his cabinet, the attorney general, the governor of the central bank, and the justices of the supreme court. A Pashtun, Karzai selected his first and second vice presidents from the Hazara and Tajik communities. The drafters of the constitution chose a strong executive to prevent the creation of bases of regional autonomy, which might lead to secessionist attempts. The president is elected by direct secret ballot for a five-year term and can serve a maximum of two terms. Qualifications include that the presidential candidate be a citizen of Afghanistan, Muslim, and born of Afghan parents. He must not have dual citizenship, and his age should not be less than 40 years. The same conditions apply for the positions of vice president. The president must receive more than 50 percent of the vote or face the one with the second highest votes in a runoff election. Karzai was reelected on 20 August 2009, but because of flawed proceedings, he had to face Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in a runoff on 7 November 2009, which, however, never took place. Ministers, appointed by the president, must be citizens of Afghanistan, aged no less than 35 years, with a higher education and good work experience. They can be appointed from within or without parliament and are responsible to the president and the Wolesi Jirga. The legislative branch (parliament or National Assembly) consists of two houses: the Wolesi Jirga (House of the People) and the Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders). The Wolesi Jirga is the more powerful body; it has the primary responsibility for making and ratifying laws and approving the actions of the president. It must approve the selection of ministers, approve the budgets, and ratify treaties, subject to concurrence by the Meshrano Jirga. The speaker of the house, Yunus Qanuni, a member of the Panjshiri faction, acted as a leader of the opposition to Karzai. He received 16.7 percent of the vote, a distant second to Karzai, and has favored changing the constitution to create the position of prime minister to weaken the power of the president. The Wolesi Jirga has a maximum of 250 members who are elected for a period of five years. They must be at least 25 years old. About 68 seats are reserved for women and 10 seats for nomads (of whom three should be women). The 102 members of the Meshrano Jirga, led by Sebghatullah Mujaddidi and his deputy Sayyid Hamed Gailani, are elected from provincial or district councils, and one-third of the members are appointed by the president from experts and experienced personalities. Fifty percent of these are to be women and two representatives each from the disabled and the
nomads. Members of the Meshrano Jirga must be Afghan citizens and at least 35 years of age. Both houses meet separately but hold joint sessions to resolve disagreements. To obtain local grassroots support, provincial councils were also elected to choose members of the Wolesi Jirga. For the judiciary, see LEGAL SYSTEM. The political parties law permits the establishment of political parties. They have to be registered with the Ministry of Justice and must not be opposed to the principles of Islam, use or threaten force, or incite ethnic, racial, religious, or regional discrimination. They must not have a military organization, be affiliated with armed forces, or receive funds from foreign sources. A party must not have fewer than 700 members, and members must have attained 18 years of age. Numerous parties exist, but most are reconstituted mujahedin groups or ethnic, sectarian, or regional organizations. No mass party with national appeal has yet emerged; parties are not ideological but rather are followers of a charismatic leader. Leadership remains in the family. Small ethnic/sectarian groups must ally themselves with larger blocs if they want to protect their interests. But the constitutional framework exists, and with time, stability, compromise, and a measure of economic development, a workable government can evolve. GRANVILLE-GORCHAKOFF AGREEMENT. An Anglo-Russian agreement based on assurances given in the years 1868–1869 and confirmed several times later in an exchange of letters between the foreign ministers Lord Granville and Prince Gorchakoff. The agreement stipulated “Badakhshan with its dependent district of Wakhan from Sar-i Kol on the east to the junction of the Kokcha River with the Oxus (or Panja) forming the northern boundary of this Afghan Province throughout its entire length.” Further west, however, the border was not clearly defined, eventually enabling Russia to annex Panjdeh. Russia agreed that Afghanistan was outside its sphere of influence, and except for the territorial changes of Shighnan and Roshan and the Panjdeh oasis, the Afghan border has remained as it is today. The agreement is also known as the Clarendon-Gorchakoff Agreement. GREAT BRITAIN. Great Britain shares with Afghanistan three centuries of relations, which were intermittently hostile until the latter part of the 20th century (see ANGLO-AFGHAN RELATIONS). Until the middle of the 19th century, a governor general represented the British East India Company, followed after 1858 by a viceroy who headed the Indian government, subject to consultation with the India Office in London. In the early period, communication was difficult, and the “man on the spot” could make history by provoking a conflict that led to war and the conquest of new territory. The approval of the London government could not be gotten in an emergency. Once a conflict had started, the prestige of the empire was at stake and London had to acquiesce after the fact. A case in point was “Auckland’s Folly,” which led to the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War. Lionized at the beginning of the war, Auckland was forced to resign in disgrace. The viceroy’s sphere of control extended over the entire subcontinent and in the west included Egypt and the African coast, where it rivaled the influence of the London government. British India was a rich continent; it had to pay for its own wars and come to the rescue of London during the two European wars. For generations of Englishmen, India was a land of
great opportunity. When, finally, Britain was forced to leave India, it was the end of a great empire. There was no longer a reason to hold on to British colonies and protectorates east of Suez because their acquisition was mainly for the defense of India. British forces again came to Afghanistan as a result of the United States intervention in October 2001, when they became the major supporters of the American effort to defeat the Taliban/al-Qaeda guerrillas, a task that has not yet been accomplished. GREAT GAME. The term “Great Game” was coined by Arthur Conolly, intelligence officer of the British East India Company, and popularized by Rudyard Kipling describing the competition between Russia and Great Britain in the conquest of the territories lying between their colonial possessions. Russia was suspected of aiming at access to the warm-water ports of the Persian Gulf, if not to the riches of India, and Britain wanted to prevent it. Afghanistan was a major player and was desired by both as an ally. Afghan rulers realized that Russia needed to take Afghanistan to gain its objectives and therefore concluded a cautious alliance with Britain. Twice during the 19th century, British armies invaded Afghanistan, but when direct control failed, Britain resigned itself to concluding an alliance with the Afghan ruler and to supporting him against the eventuality of Russian aggression. When Britain left India in 1947, the Great Game seemed to be over because the United States was unwilling to guarantee Afghanistan’s territorial integrity from Soviet aggression. Therefore, the Soviet Union seemed to have won the game when in 1978 it intervened militarily in support of the Marxist government of Afghanistan. As during previous invasions, the Afghan people eventually prevailed. See also ANGLO-AFGHAN RELATIONS. GRIFFIN, SIR LEPEL (1840–1908). Griffin was the chief political officer at Kabul during the Second Anglo-Afghan War whose negotiations with Sardar Abdul Rahman led to the recognition of the latter as amir of Afghanistan. At the death of Amir Shir Ali and the abdication of Yaqub Khan, Sardar Abdul Rahman entered Afghanistan with the intention of driving the British from his country. Realizing their untenable position, the British government recognized Abdul Rahman to ensure an orderly withdrawal of its army to India. GROBBA, FRITZ (1886–1973). The first German minister in Afghanistan, Grobba came to Kabul in December 1923 and left the country under a cloud of suspicion in summer 1926. The incident that clouded the hitherto cordial German-Afghan relations was an attempt by Grobba to smuggle a German, Gustav Stratil-Sauer, out of the country. Stratil-Sauer, who came to Afghanistan on a motorcycle, got into a scuffle with a tribesman when crossing the Lataband Pass. He shot the man, purportedly in self-defense, and fled to Kabul where he sought the protection of the German legation. Stratil-Sauer was sentenced to four years imprisonment but was pardoned in August 1926 by King Amanullah. An Italian engineer, named Piperno, was hanged in 1925 in a similar case. Grobba was replaced, and Germany upgraded its legation to the level of embassy. Grobba later published his memoirs, Männer und Mächte im Orient, avoiding any discussion of this incident. GROMOV, LIEUTENANT GENERAL BORIS V. (1943–). Commander of the 40th Army,
comprising the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan, Gromov spent three tours in Afghanistan. The 45-year-old general led a combined Soviet/Afghan force of some 10,000 troops from Gardez against Khost, temporarily lifting the siege of this strategic town in January 1988. It was the last major Soviet operation facing considerable mujahedin opposition, and a type of action not originally considered his task. Gromov stated that Soviet forces were intended to establish garrisons, stabilize the situation, and refrain from significant combat operations, leaving counterinsurgency to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) forces (McMichael 1991, 10). Eventually only about 30 to 35 percent of Soviet forces were devoted to security and defense of fixed sites, and it was inevitable that defense also required counterinsurgency operations. McMichael quotes Gromov as saying, “The war in Afghanistan demonstrated a large rupture between theory and practice.” Gromov felt it was unavoidable. He was assigned the task of evacuating the last contingent of 450 armored vehicles and about 1,400 Soviet troops from Afghanistan. On 14 February 1989, he was the last Soviet soldier to cross the “Friendship Bridge” into Soviet territory. He announced to the assembled reporters, “We have fulfilled our international duty to the end” (O’Ballance 1993, 196). He became minister of interior in 1990 and commander of all Russian ground troops in 1992. He was elected governor of the Moscow region in 2000 and reelected in 2003. GUL, MAJOR GENERAL HAMID (1936–). Director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), 1987–1989, Hamid Gul was an ardent supporter of the mujahedin in their war against the communist regime. A Pakistani Islamist and supporter of radical causes, he strongly supported Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in preference to other mujahedin groups. A close aid to Pakistan president Zia ul-Haq, Hamid Gul tried to reconcile the rift between Burhanuddin Rabbani and Hekmatyar, and when this failed he gave his support to the Taliban. Some called him the spiritual father of the Taliban movement. He was responsible for urging the disastrous attack on Jalalabad and was blamed for the system of storing ammunition at the Ojhiri warehouse, resulting in the disastrous Ojhiri Camp explosion. He was forced into retirement in 1992. After the American intervention in Afghanistan, he became a major critic of the United States. In an interview, he called for an alliance of communist and Islamist forces against the “global imperialist coalition.” He acted as an adviser of the Islamist Mutaheda Majlis-i Amal (MMA) Party and unsuccessfully ran for election on an Islamist ticket. GUL AGHA SHERZAI. Gul Agha was governor of Kandahar from 1992 until ousted by the Taliban regime in 1994 and was restored to his position in 2004 during the new Karzai government. He lived seven years in exile in Pakistan and returned after the United States intervention in December 2001. He led Pashtun tribal forces against the Taliban. Provided with American weapons and funds, Gul Agha organized an army of some 1,500 men and with U.S. Special Forces aerial support was able to capture Kandahar from Taliban forces. His father, Haji Abdul Latif, was a major commander during the war with the Marxist government. He was poisoned by a cook in 1989, a murder that Gul Agha was able to avenge. In 2005 he was appointed governor of Nangarhar. Gul Agha escaped an assassination attempt in May
2006 in Nangrahar. He was voted person of the year by Radio Free Afghanistan in March 2008 and announced his intention to stand for election to the presidency. GULBAHAR (35-9' N, 69-17' E). Gulbahar is a town in Charikar district of Parwan Province situated on the west bank of the Panjshir River. It is the site of an important industrial center. In 1960 a textile industry was established with German financial assistance, eventually employing some 5,000 people. A new town was built apart from the old village to house the employees of the new industrial enterprise. GULNABAD, BATTLE OF (1722). The battle was an important victory of Afghan forces under Mahmud, son of the Ghilzai chief Mir Wais, which marked the end of the Safavid empire of Iran. On 8 March 1722, Mahmud met and decisively defeated a superior Iranian army and then besieged Isfahan for six months before taking the capital of the empire. The Ghilzais proved to be better soldiers than empire builders; they were forced to yield power to Nadir Shah Afshar and withdrew to their Afghan homeland where they were superseded by the Durranis. GUMAL (GOMAL) (31-56' N, 70-22' E). Gumal is a town and district in Paktia Province with a population of about 6,000. It is also a river in southeastern Afghanistan that rises in the Sulaiman range and runs into the Zhob.
H HABIB AL-ISLAM (HABIB-UL ISLAM). A weekly newspaper published during the shortlived reign of Habibullah Kalakani to legitimize the government of the “outlaw turned king” and to propagate a return to “orthodox” Islamic principles, it was founded in January 1929 (17th of Ramadhan 1348–1349) and edited by Ghulam Muhyi ud-Din (succeeded by Sayyid Muhammad Husain and Burhanuddin Kushkaki). HABIB, ASADULLAH (1941–). Born in Maimana of an Uzbek family, Asadullah was educated in Maimana, Kabul, the United States, and the Soviet Union, where he obtained a Ph.D. degree. A poet and writer, he joined the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and was president of the writers’ union in 1980 and rector of Kabul University from 1982 to 1988. In 1986 he was elected a candidate academician of the Academy of Sciences (see AFGHAN ACADEMY) and member of the central committee of the PDPA. HABIBI, ABDUL HAI (d. 1984). Self-educated educator, historian, and representative of Kandahar in parliament (1948–1951), he started as a teacher and became editor of the Pashtu daily Tulu-ye-Afghan (Afghan Sunrise) in 1931. He was a Pashtun nationalist and a member of Wish Zalmayan (Awakened Youth). In 1940 he was appointed president of the Afghan Academy and in 1941 dean of the faculty of literature of Kabul University. He was forced to live in exile because of his opposition to the government of Shah Mahmud and in Pakistan published Azad Afghanistan (Free Afghanistan), a political journal in which he advocated the replacement of the monarchy by a republic. In 1961 he was permitted to return to Afghanistan and became a professor on the faculty of letters of Kabul University. He was appointed president of the Afghan Historical Society in 1966 and published a number of books on Afghan history, as well as a purported Pashtu record of early poetry, the Pata Khazana (Hidden Treasure). An adviser to the Ministry of Information and Culture during the Muhammad Daud and Marxist periods, and a member of the Academy of Sciences, he refused to join the “Fatherland Front.” Shortly before he died in Kabul in 1984, he published a book on the constitutionalist movement in Afghanistan (Junbesh-i Mashrutiyat dar Afghanistan) that described the movement as nationalist rather than socialist. HABIBIA SCHOOL (COLLEGE). A preparatory school, Habibia School was established in 1904 and named after its founder Amir Habibullah. It started as a madrasa but was gradually transformed into a school with a British-Indian curriculum. The language of instruction was English, and the most successful students won scholarships for study abroad. The school eventually adopted a modified American curriculum. See also EDUCATION. HABIBULLAH, AMIR (r. 1901–1919). He was born in Samarkand on 21 April 1871, the son of Amir Abdul Rahman and an Uzbek woman from Badakhshan. During his father’s life he took an active part in the administration and was generally popular. He succeeded to the throne on 3 October 1901 and assumed the title of Siraj al-Millat wa’d-Din (Torch of the Nation and
Religion). He increased the pay of the army; permitted exiles to return, including many sardars (nobles) and their families; released prisoners; and promised reforms. The British government was not satisfied with some of the provisions of the agreements concluded with Amir Abdul Rahman and therefore wanted to force certain changes before it recognized the new amir. London maintained that the agreements were with the person of the amir, not the state of Afghanistan, and therefore had to be renegotiated with his successor (but it excluded the Durand Agreement from this provision). In spite of severe pressures, Habibullah did not yield. Two years later, he finally agreed to meet in Kabul with Louis W. Dane, foreign secretary of the government of India (India was ruled by a viceroy who was responsible to the British government in London). The result was a complete victory for Habibullah when Britain was forced to renew the agreements concluded with Amir Abdul Rahman in the form of a treaty that recognized Habibullah’s title as “independent king of the state of Afghanistan and its dependencies.” Amir Habibullah showed great interest in Western technology and embarked on a process of modernization. He imported automobiles and built roads; founded Habibia School in 1904, the first modern school in Afghanistan; and brought electricity to Kabul. In January 1907 Amir Habibullah traveled to India and was cordially received by the viceroy, Lord Minto. A crisis in relations with British India occurred when Habibullah learned that Afghanistan’s powerful neighbors had concluded the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. This agreement divided Afghanistan (and Iran and Tibet) into spheres of influence, with provisions for “equality of commercial opportunity” in Afghanistan for Russian and British traders and the appointment of commercial agents in Kabul. The amir was invited to ratify the agreement, but he refused, and the convention was never implemented. The outbreak of World War I posed another crisis in foreign relations: in spite of warnings not to do so from the viceroy of India, Amir Habibullah received a German mission at Kabul. He met with members of the Hentig-Niedermayer Expedition (which included a Turkish officer Kazim Bey, Mahendra Pratap, and several Indians) and initialed the draft of a secret treaty of friendship and military assistance with Germany, to provide for the eventuality of an Allied defeat. Germany could not deliver, and Britain promised a handsome reward for Afghan neutrality; therefore a realistic appraisal of the situation prompted the Afghan ruler to stay out of the war. Britain showed itself miserly and once the crisis was over wanted to reestablish its exclusive control over Afghanistan. The “war party” at Habibullah’s court felt that the amir had failed to take advantage of a unique opportunity for winning independence from Britain, and his enemies conspired to depose him. He was assassinated on 20 February 1919 while he was on a hunting trip at Kala Gosh in Laghman Province. Amir Habibullah was about five feet four inches in height and very powerfully built. He had a speech impediment, a slight stammer, which he was, however, able to control. He was the father of Sardar Amanullah, who succeeded him to the throne. See also FOREIGN RELATIONS. HABIBULLAH KALAKANI, AMIR (ca. 1890–1929). Habibullah was born in Kalakan
village near Khwaja Sarai in Kuhdaman, the son of Aminullah, a water carrier (saqqau). He was said to have held various menial positions, including working as a servant for an Afghan official (Muhammad Wali), until he joined Jamal Pasha’s (a head of the Ottoman war government) regiment in Kabul in 1919. He deserted with his rifle and fled to Peshawar, where he worked for some time as a tea seller. He then moved to Parachinar, where he was sentenced to 11 months’ imprisonment for breaking into a house. After the Mangal Revolt (1924), he became a highwayman and showed considerable generosity to the poor, but was merciless to Afghan officials and wealthy travelers. A Tajik, he was a leader of the antireformist reaction that swept King Amanullah from power and himself to the throne. He was known as Bacha-i-Saqqao (Son of a Water Carrier—the occupation of his father). With the support of a loose coalition of Kohistani forces, he took advantage of a tribal revolt by the Shinwari, Sulaiman Khel, and other Pashtun tribes in the east to capture Kabul and have himself proclaimed Amir Habibullah, Ghazi (Victor). Following the custom of Afghan rulers, Habibullah adopted the title “Servant of the Religion of the Messenger of God” (Khadem-i Din-i Rasulullah) and set about to consolidate his power. Two factors militated against his royal aspirations: he was of Tajik rather than of the dominant Pashtun ethnic background, and he was known as a brigand, albeit of a Robin Hood nature, as seen from the perspective of his Kohistani brothers. British archival sources provide the following composite regarding Habibullah’s background: Habibullah was a natural leader and charismatic personality, but his assumption of the throne was challenged from the beginning. A British officer reported from Peshawar that “Bacha-iSaqao’s accession has come as a profound shock to the tribes on both sides of the Durand Line” (Adamec 1974). Even the Shinwaris, whose revolt started the civil war, were not willing to submit to the new king. The fact that Habibullah had found some 750,000 British pounds at the conquest of the Arg (royal palace) permitted him to pay his troops and win some tribal support. The Habib al-Islam (his newspaper) depicted Habibullah as a pious Muslim, a brave fighter, and a wise ruler. He issued a proclamation that all sectors of Afghan society had recognized his rule, including the Shinwaris, Khugianis, Ghilzais, and Amanullah’s own Durranis. Attempts by forces loyal to King Amanullah were unable to recapture the throne, but Muhammad Nadir and his brothers succeeded. Shah Wali Khan, brother of Nadir and brotherin-law of King Amanullah, captured the Arg in October 1929, and Habibullah was forced to surrender. On 1 November, Habibullah, his brother Hamidullah, and Sayyid Husain, together with nine leaders of their turbulent regime, were executed. Habibullah’s purported autobiography, My Life: From Brigand to King, describes his career as bandit and king, and a recent book in Persian entitled A Hero from Khorasan, by Khalilullah Khalili, also a Kohistani and poet laureate, depicts him as a mujahed, a holy warrior, against an infidel king. Khalili’s maternal uncle was Abdul Rahim, the general who contributed to Kalakani’s conquests and served as his governor at Herat. HABIBURRAHMAN, ENGINEER (HABIB AL-RAHMAN). Habiburrahman was one of the four leaders of the Organization of Muslim Youth (Sazman-i Jawanan-i Musulman), called
Ikhwanis by their opponents, who was secretary of the council (shura) until 1975 when he was replaced by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He recruited Ahmad Shah Mas’ud, the Jam’iat commander, as his deputy. He was arrested in 1973 and executed during the Muhammad Daud regime. See also ISLAMIST MOVEMENT. HADDA (34-22' N, 70-29' E). A village in the Chapriar (Chaparhar) district about six miles south of Jalalabad, Hadda was inhabited largely by Mohmands. In the fourth century, Hadda was a great center of Buddhism and the location of numerous shrines. The name Hadda means “bone” and refers to the belief that Buddha’s head was enshrined there. The village is famous for the archaeological excavations nearby that yielded an abundance of stupas, Buddhas, and various statuary. The village is also known for the “Hadda Mulla,” one Najm-ud-Din, who preached jihad against the British and was a leader of numerous hostile actions against British India. At present there is an important madrasa in this village, called Najm al-Madares (Star of Madrasas). The stupas discovered at Hadda were partially destroyed in military operations and looted during the civil war following the fall of the Marxist regime. HADITH. Hadith are the stories of the practice of the Prophet Muhammad, his model behavior, that serve as examples of emulation and matters of jurisprudence not stipulated in the Koran. It is one of the bases of Islamic law. HAFIZ. Hafiz is the title of honor given to one who has memorized the Koran in its entirety. It is also a name. HAGENBECK, MAJOR GENERAL FRANKLIN L. “BUSTER” (1949–). Born in Morocco of a U.S. Navy family, Hagenbeck graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned in 1971 as an infantry officer. He was commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division (Light) at Fort Drum, New York, and the army commander in charge of Operation Anaconda against an al-Qaeda force in the Takur Ghar range in eastern Afghanistan. General Tommy Franks called the operation “an unqualified and absolute success” while others called it “a big mistake.” Hagenbeck later said, “I view technology as an enabler, and we want more and more of it. But I don’t think it is ever going to replace the soldier on the ground.” Hagenbeck expected the enemy to flee; but they dug in on the high ground, and an operation expected to last some 72 hours continued for 12 days of fierce fighting. Brendan O’Neill discusses the operation in The Strange Battle of Shah-i Kot. HAIBAK. See AIBAK. HAIDARZAD, AMANULLAH. A noted Afghan sculptor, Haidarzad won a number of international prizes, including a gold medal from the Italian government. He graduated from high school in Kabul and proceeded to Italy (1959–1964) and the United States for further education in fine arts and sculpture. He was said to have started his career in Kabul, sculpturing a bust with such primitive tools as a hammer and a few nails. He returned from American exile in 2002 with the intention of working on the reconstruction of the Buddhas in Bamian.
HAJ (PROPERLY SPELLED HAJJ). See HAJJ. HAJIGAK (34-40' N, 68-6' E). Hajigak is a village, elevation 3,700 meters, located near the pass of the same name in Bamian Province (the name comes from the Hazara aja-gak, meaning “little pilgrim”). Foreign experts from a number of countries have found high-grade iron ore in the area, with estimated reserves amounting to almost two billion tons. The area is inaccessible, and the development of infrastructure and the construction of a furnace complex, planned under President Muhammad Daud’s seven-year plan (1976–1983), was never begun. HAJJ. Pilgrimage to Mecca, hajj, is a legal obligation for every adult Muslim of either sex to travel at least once in a lifetime to Mecca, provided the person is economically able to do so. Thousands of Afghans perform this obligation each year, and special Ariana Afghan Airlines flights are chartered for this purpose. Few could make this arduous trip in the past, but the development of modern transportation enables more than two million pilgrims to perform the hajj each year during the first days of the month of Dhu al-Hijja. HAJJI. Hajji is the title of honor of a person who has performed the pilgrimage to Mecca. HAJJI MIRZA ALI KHAN. See FAQIR OF IPI. HAKIM. Hakim (pronounced “hakeem”) is the title of a wise man, philosopher, doctor, or practitioner of traditional “Greek medicine,” tebb-i-yunani. Pronounced “haakem,” it is also a governor of a subprovince, commander. HAKIMI, EKLIL (1968–). Born in 1968 in Kabul, Hakimi graduated from Istiqlal Lycée in 1985 and with an M.A. degree from the Polytechnic Institute in 1992. He then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He left Afghanistan in 1994, lived in the United States from 1995 to 1998, and obtained a diploma from California’s Long Beach State University. Hakimi subsequently worked in the fields of banking, engineering, management, marketing, policy formulation, and strategic planning. He returned to Afghanistan in 2002 when he became an adviser for the Ministry of Finance. He served in the independent administrative reform and civil service commission, the office of the vice president, and other government agencies. Hakimi was appointed Afghan ambassador to the People’s Republic of China in 2005, to Tokyo in 2009, and finally served as minister of foreign affairs in 2010. Hakimi is fluent in Dari, Pashtu, and English and competent in Urdu, Russian, and French. He is married and has two daughters. HAMIDI, ABDUL QUDDUS (1951–). An Uzbek, born the son of Abdul Hamid in Shiberghan, Jozjan Province, Hamidi was educated in his hometown and at the Polytechnic Institute in Kabul, where he earned an M.S. degree in 1983. He served as a lecturer at the University of Balkh before his appointment as deputy minister of mines in January 2010. He was minister designate of communications in January 2010 but was not confirmed by the Wolesi Jirga. Hamidi was appointed minister of public works in June 2010 after serving as deputy minister. He speaks Uzbek, Dari, Pashtu, English, and Russian.
HAMUN. Hamun is the term for a shallow depression or morass, usually of high salt content, in southern and western Afghanistan. The hamuns are seasonally filled with water and become shallow lakes. The Hamun-i Sabari in Nimruz Province extends into Iran, and the Hamun-i Lora in Kandahar Province extends across the border into Baluchistan Province of Pakistan. The God-i Zirreh, another large hamun in Nimruz Province, is located near the Pakistani border. Years of drought and the destruction of irrigation systems and dams as a result of war caused the hamuns to virtually dry out. Waterfowl and other species, abundant at one time, are seriously depleted. The Taliban regime cut the water supply, which aggravated frictions with Iran. As a result of several years of drought, the hamuns have almost dried up in 2002. HANAFI SCHOOL. See ISLAM. HAQANI, JALALUDDIN (HAQQANI, 1950–2007). Born a Jadran (zadran), Haqani was educated in a private madrasa. He was an Islamist militant exiled to Pakistan during Muhammad Daud’s presidency. During the jihad years (1980s), Haqani fought the Soviet Union in Paktia and Paktika provinces as a mujahedin commander of Maulawi Yunus Khales’s Hizb-i Islami. He was deputy chief of Hizb-i Islami and joined Muhammad Yunus Khales after the break with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s faction in 1979. In 1989, he was appointed chairman of a commission to form an interim government. Haqani was one of the few prominent Pashtun commanders who cooperated with Ahmad Shah Mas’ud’s shura in 1990 to build better coordination between mujahedin fronts. Haqani was the first mujahedin commander to capture an important town when his forces finally took Khost in April 1991, after two years of siege. Following the fall of Kabul in April 1992, Haqani was appointed minister of justice in the first interim mujahedin government. He and his brothers Abdul Haq and Haji Abdul Qadir (both killed) were major leaders of the Jalalabad shura that ruled Nangarhar Province until the capture of Jalalabad by the Taliban. When the Taliban rose in southern Afghanistan, Haqani was the most prominent jihadi leader to side with this new force, whose vision of Islam was close to his own. After the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, they appointed Haqani minister of tribal affairs in 1998; but his relations with the Taliban soon got colder, and Haqani spent much of his time in Pakistan and in the Gulf states. When the United States started their campaign against the Taliban, Haqani was appointed commander of the Taliban army in a bid to win the support of the Pushtun tribes. He was wounded in an airstrike and died in a hospital in Abu Dhabi in 2007. HAQANIYYA, DAR AL-ULUM. Called the Taliban’s warrior academy in Akhora Khattak, Pakistan, the Haqaniyya is a school of some 2,500 boys who received religious education and military training for jihad in Afghanistan, Kashmir, and other places. Maulana Sami al-Haq, the 65-year-old chancellor of the madrasa, is also secretary general of the Jam’iat-i Ulama, a religio-political party in Pakistan. The maulawi is said to be a friend of Osama bin Laden, whom he defends as not responsible for terrorist acts against the United States. HAQANI, ZALMAI (HAQQANI, 1946–). Born in Kabul, the son of Abdul Karim Haqani, Haqani graduated from Istiqlal Lycée in 1965 and obtained a licence en droit in 1971 and a
doctorat d’etat en droit in 1977 from the University of Nice. He served as professor of international law and international relations at the University of Paris (V and XI). Haqani was appointed Afghan ambassador to France in 2004. HARAKAT-I INQILAB-I ISLAMI. The Islamic Revolutionary Movement, Harakat, is one of the earliest mujahedin movements, which rose from the merger of Islamist factions of the 1960s. It was headed by Maulawi Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi. In the early 1980s it was the largest mujahedin movement but lost some of its influence when the Islamists under Burhanuddin Rabbani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar seceded and formed their own parties. Harakat is based on a network of clergy and madrasa students, with some Pashtun tribal support in the south. The movement is traditional in outlook and was among the moderate forces represented in the Mahaz of Gailani and Jabha of Mujaddidi; but in March 1995, Muhammadi joined the radical Islamist Taliban, many of whom were his students. HARAKAT-I ISLAMI. The Harakat is a Shi’i mujahedin group, headed by Ayatollah Muhammad Asef Muhsini, that is not a member of the Shi’i Unity Party, Hizb-i Wahdat. It allied itself with the Kabul government of Burhanuddin Rabbani and was represented in Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s cabinet by Sayyid Husain Anwari, who held the portfolio of minister of works and social affairs. HARI RUD (37-24' N, 60-38' E). A river in western Afghanistan that is formed by the confluence of the Sar-i Jangal and Lal streams. It runs in a westerly direction past the city of Herat and then turns north, forming the boundary between Iran and Afghanistan, and crosses into Turkmenistan at Zulfiqar and dissipates in the desert. HARUT RUD (31-35' N, 61-18' E). A river, also called Adraskan in its northern portion, that rises southeast of Herat and runs in a southwestern direction, eventually turning south and running into the Hamun-i Sabari. HASAN, MULLA MUHAMMAD. A Ghilzai Pashtun, native of Oruzgan, Hasan attended a madrasa in Quetta. During the war against the communist regime, Hasan served in the Hizb-i Islami of Yunus Khales and was repeatedly wounded. The one-legged Taliban was appointed governor of Kandahar and foreign minister in 1997. He was president of the council of ministers (2001) and an important follower of Mulla Muhammad Omar. He is said to have sanctioned the destruction of the Buddha statues and is believed to be a relative of Muhammad Omar. HASHIM KHAN, MUHAMMAD (1886–1953). Prime minister of Afghanistan from 1929 to 1946 and de facto regent of Zahir Shah, Hashim was the son of Sardar Yusuf Khan (half uncle of ex-king Zahir) and was described as “austere and tough in his dealings with the people.” He underwent military training and became commander of Amir Habibullah’s bodyguard. He served as governor of the Eastern Province and officiated as minister of war in 1922. He served as minister in Moscow, 1924–1926, and there acquired a considerable dislike of the Soviet government. He took a fatherly attitude toward the young king and was the de facto ruler
during his tenure. He was never married and seems to have groomed his nephews Muhammad Daud and Muhammad Naim as his successors. He died on 26 October 1953. HASHT-NAFARI. The hasht-nafari is a system of recruitment imposed on the frontier tribes by which they were to provide one able-bodied man out of eight (D., hasht—eight; nafar— persons). Amir Abdul Rahman introduced this system in 1896; similar to previous feudal levies, the notables and chiefs of tribes had to make the selection and provide the enlistee with all his needs. The tribes were willing to perform military service but wanted to do so only during emergencies; therefore there were occasional rebellions protesting hasht-nafari recruitment during peacetime. Discontinued, and reintroduced in 1922 on advice of Jamal Pasha, the hasht-nafari system contributed to the growing opposition to King Amanullah. HAYATULLAH KHAN (1888–1929). The second son of Amir Habibullah Khan, Hayatullah served as governor of Qataghan (now Kunduz Province) in 1905 and after the death of his father became minister of education (1923) and minister of justice (1925). Although a brother of King Amanullah and a minister, he did not take a very active part in public life. Arrested in January 1929 by Habibullah Kalakani and accused of planning a coup, he was executed on 17 October 1929. HAZARA. Hazaras are a people with predominantly Mongoloid features, mostly Imami Shi’a, but small numbers are Isma’ilis, and those in the Darra-yi Hazara in Panjshir are Sunnis. Their number has been estimated at about one million, but Hazaras claim a population of about two million, with up to two million more in neighboring countries. All the Hazaras were originally Sunni Muslims until the 16th century, when they were converted to Shi’ism under the Safavid dynasty of Iran (1501–1786). Their heartland is the Hazarajat, but they are also found in the major cities of Afghanistan, where they are employed as day laborers or seasonal workers. They speak a Farsi dialect, called Hazaragi, which also includes some Turkic and Mongol vocabulary (a dictionary of the Hazara dialect, Qamus-i Lahja-yi Dari-yi Hazaragi, by Ali Akbar Shahrestani, published in 1982 in Kabul, lists some 1,200 words, which according to Dr. Ravan Farhadi are 90 percent of eastern Turkic origin rather than Mongol). The Hazara are no longer organized along tribal lines and are largely sedentary. They are divided into groups as follows: Dai Kundi
Dai Zangi
Behsud
Dai Mirdad
Ghazni Hazara
Jaghuri
Polada
Oruzgani
Shaikh Ali
Walang (Olang)
Kala
Nau Hazara
Kala Nau Hazaras (formerly also Dai Zangi and Dai Kundi) are mostly Sunnis and inhabit an area of about 2,300 square miles. They claim descent from the hordes of Genghis Khan that settled in Kala Nau (now Badghis Province) and were moved into the area under the Persian ruler Nadir Shah Afshar. Their first chief was Mir Kush Sultan, whose son, Aghai Sultan, was the founder of Kala Nau. The tribe was involved in the struggle for control of Herat Province,
collaborating with the rulers of Herat. Yar Muhammad, Shah Kamran’s wazir, destroyed the power of the Hazaras in 1847. When in 1856 the Persians besieged and took Herat, they removed the tribe to Khorasan. Most of them returned 14 years later, but about 2,000 families remained in the Isfarayin area, south of Bujnurd in present Iran. They supported the governor of Herat against Amir Dost Muhammad and were in constant conflict with the Jamshidis and Firuzkuhis. The Dai Mirdad Hazaras inhabit the area of Dara-i Suf (now Samangan Province) and at the turn of the century amounted to about 1,000 families. They resemble Pashtuns more than Hazaras and dress like Tajiks or Uzbeks. The Dai Kundi and Dai Zangi are two different groups but have been closely connected in regard to location and administration. The Ghazni Hazaras comprise the Jaghatu, Muhammad Khwaja, and Chahar Dasta Hazaras. Since the founding of modern Afghanistan in 1747, the Hazaras have come increasingly under the jurisdiction of the Kabul government, paying taxes but living under the independent or autonomous control of their mirs (chiefs). Yazdan-Bakhsh was undisputed chief of the Hazaras in the mid-19th century but was eventually assassinated. Amir Abdul Rahman fought the Hazaras piecemeal, and his general, Sardar Abdul Quddus, completed the conquest of the Hazarajat in a war that lasted from 1890 to 1893. The war caused considerable destruction in the Hazarajat, annexation of territory by Pashtun tribes, and the flight and enslavement of many. Amir Habibullah proclaimed an amnesty and asked the Hazara refugees to return to Afghanistan; but many remained in India, and a large community now exists in Quetta, Pakistan. King Amanullah abolished slavery and won Hazara support in his fight with Habibullah Kalakani in 1929. From 1979 to the end of the Marxist regime, the Hazarajat enjoyed virtual independence, at first under an elected shura (council) headed by Sayyid Ali Beheshti, who took over all the functions of the prewar Afghan government. He levied taxes, recruited men into his mujahedin forces, and set up his own bureaucratic establishment. But his authority was soon challenged by a combined force of Nasr and Pasdaran Islamists who conquered most of the Hazarajat. In spring 1988 the Kabul government created the Hazara province of Sar-i Pul by adding the districts of Shulgara, Charkent, and Keshendeh from Balkh Province, combining it with the districts of Sar-i Pul, Balkhab, Sozma Kala, and Kohestanat from Jozjan Province. The Hamid Karzai government later added another Hazara province, Dai Kundi. The Taliban regime was able to contain the Hazarajat, after occupying the major towns, at the cost of several thousand Hazara lives, but following the United States intervention in late 2001, the area was again autonomous under the leadership of Abdul Karim Khalili, head of the Hizb-i Wahdat. Hazaras are the third largest community in Afghanistan and are now represented in all branches of government. HAZARAJAT (33-45' N, 66-0' E). Hazarajat is the name of a mountainous area in central Afghanistan in which the Hazara people predominate. Its heartland includes parts of Ghor, Dai Kundi, and Bamian provinces, and portions of the adjoining provinces. The Hazarajat is dominated by the Koh-i Baba range and its branches, whose peaks are at
altitudes from 9,000 to 16,500 feet. The mountain ranges are crossed by passes at altitudes of 8,000 to some 10,000 feet. Few roads for motorized transportation exist, and the modern highway from Kabul to Herat skirts the Hazarajat. The central route from Kabul to Bamian and east to Chaghcharan can be taken with great difficulty by four-wheel-drive vehicles during the few summer months. Because of the high altitude, the climate of the Hazarajat is characterized by long and cold winters, lasting from late September to April. Heavy snowfall from December until spring provides the reservoir that feeds the major rivers that take their origin in the Hazarajat and irrigate the rest of the country. July and August are hot and dry. The area is rich in mineral deposits, most of which are too inaccessible to be profitably mined. HAZARA WARS. When in July 1880 Britain recognized Amir Abdul Rahman as “amir of Kabul and its dependencies,” it was not certain what the “dependencies” would be. Britain had toyed with the idea of severing Herat and Kandahar from Kabul control, and Russia coveted Turkestan territory, finally annexing a section of northwestern Afghanistan in 1885 in the Panjdeh Incident. Afghanistan’s boundaries were not clearly defined, and the “Iron Amir” found it necessary to extend his authority to every corner of his realm lest his powerful neighbors continue their forward policies. In a series of wars, he eliminated rivals to his power and gained control of Kandahar, Herat, Afghan Turkestan, the Hazarajat, and Kafiristan (now Nuristan). This extraordinary achievement of nation building proved to be a calamity for the Hazara community. Amir Abdul Rahman stated his reasons for the war, saying, The Hazara people had been for centuries past the terror of the rulers of Kabul, even the great Nadir who conquered Afghanistan, India, and Persia being unable to subdue the turbulent Hazaras; the Hazaras were always molesting travelers in the south, north, and western provinces of Afghanistan; they were always ready to join the first foreign aggressor who attacked Afghanistan. (Khan 1901, 1:276)
And, indeed, the Hazaras shared the inclination for raiding with other ethnic communities. As a religious minority they were willing to collaborate with the enemies of the Kabul regime. Initially, Amir Abdul Rahman embarked on a gradual process of reconquest. After three campaigns in 1881, 1882, and 1883 and attempts at peaceful penetration, the Shaikh Ali Hazaras northwest of Bamian were the first to be pacified in 1886. Shortly thereafter all Hazara tribes with the exception of those of Pas-i Koh in Oruzgan Province were forced to pay taxes on land and livestock. In 1890 Abdul Rahman appointed Sardar Abdul Quddus governor of Bamian and ordered him to win the submission of the Oruzgan Hazaras. The latter accepted a deal in which they were to retain their internal autonomy and pay no taxes for a number of years. When a year later Abdul Quddus again entered Hazara territory with a 10,000-man force, he claimed to have met armed resistance and began to disarm Hazara communities and collect taxes from them. Thereupon the Sultan Muhammad Hazaras, headed by Mir Husain Beg, rose in rebellion and defeated the forces of Abdul Quddus, as well as a relief force under Faiz Muhammad Kateb sent by the amir. Their success encouraged other Hazara sections to join the general revolt, and the amir realized that the situation required a large-scale campaign to suppress the rebellion.
Amir Abdul Rahman felt that an all-out effort including psychological warfare was needed. The amir claimed that Iranian publications in the possession of Afghan Shi’as had insulted the Sunni caliphs as usurpers and urged the Shi’i community to rise against Sunni control. The amir’s chief mufti (canon lawyer) issued a legal opinion (fatwa) declaring Shi’as infidels and proclaiming holy war on the Hazara. A council of Hazaras countered that instead of obeying a temporal ruler they relied on their spiritual ruler, the Master of the Sword of Zulfikar (Hazrat Ali, the Shi’i imam and fourth of the Sunni caliphs). In addition to regular forces, tribal levies were called up with great success as there was considerable promise of booty. Mullas accompanied the troops to keep passions high and incite them to heroic feats of bravery. Pashtuns flocked to the colors in considerable numbers, and according to a British observer, “the Ghilzays . . . showed more zeal than the Durranis.” In spite of the holy war fatwa, levies of Hazaras of the Dai Kundi, Behsud, and Jaghori sections were enlisted, but most of those who survived defected during the war. In spring 1891, Amir Abdul Rahman ordered a concerted attack by Sardar Abdul Quddus from Bamian, Shir Muhammad from Kabul, and Brigadier Zabardast from Herat, which led to the occupation of Oruzgan. Hazara chiefs were brought to Kabul in an attempt to win their submission. But in spring 1892, the Hazara chiefs Muhammad Azim and Muhammad Husain, supported by their chief mujtahid (legal expert) Kazi Asghar, turned against Amir Abdul Rahman. Rebellion rose with new fury, and it was only when concerted attacks from Turkestan, Kabul, Ghazni, Herat, and Kandahar were renewed that the Hazara uprising was quelled. It was not until September 1893 that all Hazara sections were subdued. The Amir had given permission that “everybody would be allowed to go and help in the punishment of the rebels,” and punishment was indeed severe. Forts were demolished, and governors, judges, and muftis were appointed in every district. About 16,000 Durrani and Ahmadzai Ghilzai tribesmen were ordered to settle in Oruzgan Province, and large numbers of Hazaras emigrated to Mashhad (Iran) and Quetta (India—now Pakistan), where they are still living today. In accordance with an old tradition, conquest by force (‘anwatan) permitted the enslavement of prisoners, and thousands of Hazaras were taken to Kabul. HAZRAT OF SHOR BAZAAR. Hazrat is a title given to the head of the family of Sirhind spiritual leaders who adopted the family name of Mujaddidi. They were among the most important and influential religious leaders in Afghanistan in the years following King Amanullah’s accession. Their residence was in the area of Shor Bazaar in Kabul, hence the head’s designation “Excellency” (Hazrat) of Shor Bazaar. For members of the family, see MUJADDIDI. HEALTH CARE. Civil war and general insecurity have devastated the health system gradually built since the 1960s. Some statistics demonstrate the deplorable situation: Most medical professionals left the country during the 1980s and 1990s, and medical training was greatly reduced. The Taliban did not permit women to be treated in the same hospitals as men, and there were not adequate facilities for women. After the fall of the Taliban regime, there were 11 physicians and 18 nurses per 100,000 population, and the per capita health
expenditure was US$28.00. In 2004 Afghanistan had one medical facility for every 27,000 people, and international organizations provided a large share of medical care. The situation in rural areas was worse, where much of the population had no access to health care. As a result, infant, child, and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world. In rural areas, one in five children dies before reaching age five. As a result of war, an estimated 800,000 Afghans are disabled. Warfare continues to maim and cripple men, women, and children. In addition to diarrhea, hepatitis A and B, insect-borne diseases, parasitic diseases, trachoma, and tuberculosis, cases of malaria have occurred in some areas. Every few years cases of cholera are reported. The lack of clean potable water is a major problem. The Ministry of Health has defined the major problems in the hospital sector: (1) poor distribution of hospitals and hospital beds throughout the country, (2) lack of standards for clinical patient care, (3) lack of management skills for the operation of hospitals, (4) a fragmented and uncoordinated hospital system that is not integrated into the health system, (5) limited financial resources for hospitals and sustainability, and (6) lack of qualified personnel, especially female, in remote areas. It is hoped that, with international help, the Ministry of Health will be able to achieve some improvements. HEKMATYAR, GULBUDDIN (1947–). Born in Imam Sahib, Kunduz, a Ghilzai Pashtun, Hekmatyar attended the faculty of engineering at Kabul University for two years and became involved in campus politics. He joined the “Muslim Youth” movement in 1970 and was elected to its executive council (shura). He was imprisoned in Dehmazang jail in Kabul, 1972–1973, and after the Muhammad Daud coup of 1973 fled to Pakistan. In 1975 Hekmatyar became leader of the Hizb-i Islami and began armed attacks from bases in Pakistan with clandestine support from the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government. Isolated raids developed into modern guerrilla warfare after the Saur Revolt of April 1978. The party adopted from the Muslim Brotherhood such features as a centralized command structure, secrecy of membership, organization in cells, infiltration of government and social institutions, and the concept of the party as an Islamist “vanguard” in Afghan society. Being Islamist rather than nationalist, the party enjoyed considerable support from likeminded groups in Pakistan and the Gulf. His party received most of its armed support from the West and Gulf sources and apparently was able to hoard a vast amount of weapons that served Hekmatyar well in the subsequent battle for Kabul. He is amir (chief) of the Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan (Islamic Party of Afghanistan), one of the seven mujahedin groups formed in Peshawar in the 1980s. His party is radical Islamist and fights for the establishment of an Islamic republic, to be governed according to its interpretation of Islamic law. He surprised friends and foes alike when he allied himself with General Shahnawaz Tanai, a radical Khalqi, in a coup against the Kabul government of Dr. Najibullah. After the downfall of the Marxist regime, many of the Khalqi military officers joined Hekmatyar’s forces, as did General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former Parchami, who controlled large portions of northern Afghanistan. The Hizb-i Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Jam’iat-i Islami of Burhanuddin Rabbani were the major protagonists in the war for the conquest of Kabul until a new force, the Taliban, expelled Hekmatyar from his headquarters in Charasia and portions of
Kabul. Hekmatyar fled to Sarobi where his party had another base. In May 1996 he concluded an alliance with Rabbani and assumed the position of prime minister in Kabul. One of his first measures was to prohibit the broadcast of music from Radio Kabul and television and to order women to wear “Islamic” dress. He and Rabbani were expelled from Kabul by the Taliban, and Hekmatyar went to Iran, where he remained until March 2002. He returned to Afghanistan and is probably sheltered in tribal territory in the east of the country from where he declared war on the United States and continues his attacks. HELMAND (31-0' N, 64-0' E). Helmand is a province in southwestern Afghanistan with a population of about 745,000 and an area of 23,058 square miles—the largest of Afghan provinces. The administrative center of the province (Girishk until 1957) is Lashkargah (Bost), with about 83,000 inhabitants. The population is largely Pashtun, with some Hazara in the north and Baluch in the south. The economy of the province is based primarily on agriculture: barley, cotton, wheat, and a great variety of fruit (eventually the province became a major producer of opium). Livestock raised include sheep, goats, cattle, camels, horses, and donkeys. The province is irrigated by the Helmand River, which also provides hydroelectric power. The river rises near the Unai Pass and with its five tributaries—the Kaj Rud, Tirin, Arghandab, Tarnak, and Arghastan—drains all of southwestern Afghanistan. After running in a southwestern direction as far as Khwaja Ali, the Helmand runs due west to Band-i-Kamal Khan and then north to the Lash Juwain hamuns. The river formed part of the border with Iran, and when it changed channels, the Goldsmid boundary arbitration was again called into question. Helmand Province has in recent years become a serious challenge to coalition troops, most of them British. The province produces more than half of the opium cultivated in Afghanistan. Its large Pashtun population permits Taliban forces to merge with the civilian inhabitants and enables them in hit-and-run tactics to stage their attacks. They use crudely fashioned improvised explosive devices (IED) to great effect, and the narrow, unpaved lanes linking villages do not permit access to mine-resistant armored vehicles. The insurgents control four of Helmand’s 13 districts and have started frontal attacks on coalition forces. Lashkargah, the provincial capital was under insurgent attack in August and October 2008, and pitched battles resulted during Operations Red Dagger, 7 and 25 December 2008; Blue Sword, 19 March 2009; Panther’s Claw, 19 June 2009; and Khanjar, 2 July 2009. Hundreds of insurgents, using rockets and mortars, got involved in hand-to-hand fighting. British troops, supported by Danish, Estonian, and Afghan National Army contingents, as well as by thousands of U.S. Marines, have attempted to gain control of the province. Operation Moshtarak, a NATO joint offensive involving 15,000 Afghan, Canadian, American, and British troops, was to eject the Taliban from Marja, their last stronghold in Helmand Province. It was launched on 13 February 2010 and resulted in heavy casualties for the coalition. The objective was to take and hold the town. See also INTERNATIONAL COALITION AGAINST TERROR. HELMAND VALLEY AUTHORITY (HVA). The HVA was created to oversee an irrigation and electrification project in the Helmand Valley. It was fashioned after the American
Tennessee Valley Authority to implement work in cooperation with the Morrison-Knudsen Afghanistan construction company of Boise, Idaho. From 1946 to 1959, the American firm built the Arghandab and Kajakai dams and a network of canals to bring additional land in the Helmand Valley under cultivation. The project soon drained the hard-currency resources of the country to the extent that the Afghan government was forced to apply for loans to the U.S. Import-Export Bank (21 million in 1951 and 18 million in 1953) and for Point Four assistance (an assistance program that predates USAID). When the project was finished in 1959, some $100 million (40 percent of the state budget) had been expended for rather modest gains. The failure of the United States government (or the American company) to conduct adequate soil studies was responsible for waterlogging in some areas and excessive salination in others. Cultural factors, such as the inclinations and interests of the people in the area, were ignored, and many of the 1,300 nomad and peasant families settled in the Nad-i-Ali area eventually left their lands. When high expectations turned into disappointment, the United States’ prestige suffered. Remedial measures were eventually taken with American financial support. HENTIG-NIEDERMAYER EXPEDITION. The expedition was conceived in August 1914 by the German general staff for the purpose of “revolutionizing India, inducing Afghanistan to attack India, and securing Iran as a bridge from the Ottoman empire to Afghanistan.” The leading members were Werner Otto von Hentig, a young German diplomat who had served in Iran, and Oskar von Niedermayer, a captain in the German army. They were accompanied by Kazim Bey, a Turkish officer; Maulawi Barakatullah and Mahendra Pratap, two Indian revolutionaries; and a number of Afridi Pashtuns who had been taken from a prisoner-of-war camp. Hentig carried an unsigned letter purported to be from the German kaiser and a message from von Bethmann-Hollweg, the chancellor, for Amir Habibullah. He was to establish diplomatic relations and conclude a treaty of friendship or, if possible, an alliance with Afghanistan. Niedermayer was to discuss matters of a military nature, and the Indians were to appeal to Amir Habibullah for support in the fight against the British in India. Kazim Bey was to convey special messages from the sultan/caliph and the leaders of the Ottoman war government. The expedition crossed Iran and entered Afghanistan in August 1915 and five weeks later reached Kabul. Amir Habibullah was well aware of the power of Great Britain, and, although his heart and ultimate loyalty was with the Ottoman sultan/caliph, he was not willing to rush into a risky adventure. He initialed the draft of a treaty that was so extravagant in its demands that only a victorious Germany could have provided the financial and military support requested. The expedition disbanded in May 1916, and Hentig returned to Germany by way of the Wakhan Corridor to China and from there to the United States. Niedermayer went through Russian Central Asia to Iran and the Ottoman Empire. The expedition was the first diplomatic contact with Germany and marked the beginning of the end of the British monopoly over the conduct of Afghan foreign relations. In 1970, Hentig visited Afghanistan as a guest of Zahir Shah. He published a book entitled Mein Leben eine Dienstreise. HERAT (34-20' N, 62-12' E). Herat is a province in northwestern Afghanistan with an area of
16,107 square miles and a population of 1,182,000. The administrative center of the province is the city of Herat, with about 249,000 inhabitants, the third largest city in Afghanistan. The economy of Herat is based primarily on agriculture, the planting of cotton, rice, and wheat. Pistachios are an important item of export. Also important is livestock breeding, including the Qaraqul sheep. Local industries produce cement, edible oil, and textiles. Home industries produce carpets, silk materials, pustins (fur jackets and coats), and products of camel hair. The province is drained by the Murghab, Harirud, Farah Rud, and Adraskan rivers, permitting extensive irrigation. Kariz, subterranean water channels, are also widely used to bring water from the foothills to villages and fields. The city of Herat, located at an altitude of 2,600 feet, is the major commercial center of western Afghanistan. The old town was surrounded by a wall built in 1885 and mostly destroyed in the 1950s. It is crossed by two streets that divide the old town into four sections, named the Bazar-i Kushk in the east, the Bazar-i Iraq in the west, the Bazar-i Malik in the north, and the Bazar-i Kandahar in the south. The new town (shahr-i nau) was largely constructed in the period after World War II and has been considerably expanded since. Herat is of great strategic importance and has therefore been the site of fortified towns since antiquity. It is an ancient city, first mentioned in the Avesta (the holy book of Zoroastrianism) as Hairava, which Afghan historians conjecture to be derived from Aria, or Ariana, the first “Afghan” kingdom, flourishing about 1,500 B.C. The town was on the route of the Achaemenid armies of Cyrus and Darius and two centuries later of Alexander the Great, who in 330 B.C. built Alexandria Ariorum on the site of Herat. In the 11th century, Herat became a famous urban center in Islamic Khorasan, where scholars like Khwaja Abdullah Ansari and others flourished. The city had been destroyed numerous times—by Turkomans in the 12th century and a century later by the hordes of Genghis Khan, when most of the population was massacred. In the 14th century, Timur-i Lang’s forces devastated the city. Rebuilt by Timur’s son Shah Rukh, the city experienced a period of glory. Again in the early 16th century, Sultan Husain Mirza Baiqara made Herat “the most renowned center of literature, culture, and art in all Central and Western Asia.” The city and its vicinity has numerous archaeological remains. The principal buildings are the Jum’a Masjid, built under the Ghorids in about 1200 A.D., which measured 465 feet in length by 275 feet in width and had 408 cupolas, 130 windows, 444 pillars, 1,300 arches, and 6 entrances. Minarets of the Timurid theological colleges, the Mosalla, and the shrine of the Sufi poet Abdullah Ansari are located near the city. The tomb of Amir Dost Muhammad is located nearby. A building of more recent date is the Arg-i Nau, the citadel. In 1509 the city came under Safavid rule until the Abdalis took control of the city around 1715. In 1730 it was captured by Nadir Shah Afshar and in 1750 by Ahmad Shah Durrani. Next Herat was ruled by various princes whose internecine fighting invited Persian attack. In December 1837 the Safavid ruler, Muhammad Shah, besieged the city, but the endurance of the Heratis and British intervention in the Persian Gulf forced him to give up after a nine-monthlong effort. Amir Abdul Rahman ended Herat’s semi-independence. About 90 years ago, the
city was still confined to the walled town and had about 20,000 inhabitants. In 1925, King Amanullah began the construction of the new town, shahr-i nau, which quickly grew in population to about 73,000 by 1970 and 140,000 10 years later. The war in Afghanistan has led to considerable destruction, which began with a popular revolt against the Kabul government in March 1979. The Kabul government regained the city, but the mujahedin controlled much of the countryside. In April 1988, some 3,000 government forces defected to the mujahedin when they were offered amnesty. After the fall of the Najibullah government, Muhammad Isma’il Khan became the paramount chief of Herat Province until dislodged in September 1995 by the newly emerging forces of the Taliban. As a result of the United States intervention, Isma’il Khan was able to restore his control over much of the area, until in 2004 he was co-opted by President Hamid Karzai and appointed minister of water and power. HERAT, SIEGE OF (1833). Persia, encouraged by Russia, laid siege to Herat in 1833 and 1835–1838 but was unable to capture the city. A British officer, Eldred Pottinger, claimed an important role in the defense of the city. When Britain could not induce the Shah to desist, Indian troops landed on 19 June 1838 on the island of Kharak in the Persian Gulf. It was only then that Persia lifted the siege and withdrew in September 1838. HERAT UPRISING OF 1979. On 21 March 1979, demonstrators against the Marxist regime seized control of the city of Herat and liberated political prisoners. They proceeded to attack government officials and killed many of the Soviet advisers and their families, carrying the heads of some through the city on pikes. When the Marxist government sent troops to quell the uprising, the entire Afghan 17th Division mutinied, and a powerful resistance organization was born, headed by Captain Isma’il Khan. The Kabul government brought in air strikes that eventually broke the resistance at the cost of thousands of deaths. HESARI, SULTAN HUSAIN (1957–). Born of a Hazara family, Hesari was educated in Kabul, graduating with a B.S. degree in architecture in 1980. In 1995 he earned an M.A. degree in architecture from the Iran National University, and in 2006 he obtained a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Architecture and Design at Aalborg University in Denmark. He was nominated for the position of minister of urban development in the 2009 cabinet of President Hamid Karzai, but his nomination was vetoed by parliament. He continued to serve as acting minister. He speaks Dari, English, and Danish. HEZB. See HIZB. HIJRAT MOVEMENT (1920). An “emigration movement,” also called the Khilafat movement, it originated in the Northwest Frontier Province of India in protest of the destruction of the Ottoman Empire by Great Britain and its allies. Indian Muslims recognized the Ottoman claims to the caliphate and spiritual leadership of the (Sunni) Islamic world. Muhammad Ali and other leaders of the movement proclaimed it the “Islamic duty” of Indian Muslims “to abandon a country ruled by a sacrilegious government,” the “Abode of War” (dar al-harb), and urged them to migrate to the “Abode of Peace”—an Islamic state (dar al-Islam).
Encouraged by King Amanullah, who had just won the independence of his country, some 18,000 Muslims came to Afghanistan. The Afghan king hoped to attract professional and skilled manpower, but most of the immigrants (muhajerun) were unskilled and poor and could not adapt to the new environment. Some Pashtuns from Peshawar were settled in the area of Kunduz and some Sindhis in the area of Balkh, and a few went on to the Soviet Union and Europe, but most of the muhajerun eventually returned to India. See also DAR AL-ISLAM. HINDU KUSH. The Hindu Kush is the major mountain massif that originates in the southwestern corner of the Pamirs and with its extension, the Koh-i Baba, runs the entire length of central Afghanistan, constituting a formidable barrier to north–south communication. Its general elevation is between 14,500 and 17,000 feet; the highest peak, Nowshak, is at an altitude of some 24,000 feet (7,458 meters). Several passes leading across the massif lie at altitudes above 12,000 feet. The name Hindu Kush is of uncertain origin and is not used generally by Afghans, who have local names for the range in their area. In the West, the name has been interpreted as “Killer of Hindus”; but the name may be derived, according to some sources, from Hindu Kuh, marking the most northern extent of pre-Muslim Hindu control. The range is divided into three major sections: the eastern from the Pamirs to the Dorah Pass, the central from the Dorah to the Khawak Pass, and the western from the Khawak Pass to the termination of the range near the Shibar Pass. During the winter months, the mountain range seals off northern Afghanistan from the rest of the country, and the rugged terrain has allowed small populations to survive in remote, economically marginal valleys. Poor lines of communication fostered a measure of autonomy and extensive linguistic and cultural diversity. The construction of the Salang Tunnel and an all-weather road in 1964 has contributed to the strengthening of central control over the northern part of the state. In the 1980s the Salang highway became an important artery for supplying the Kabul government with Soviet materiel and therefore was a frequent object of attacks by mujahedin forces, especially those of Commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ud. Frequently made impassable, the Salang Tunnel was reopened in early 2002 after the destruction of the Taliban regime. Avalanches continue to be a danger: On 8 and 9 February 2010, a series of avalanches buried over two miles of road just south of the tunnel, killing some 170 people and trapping more than 2,000 travelers. HINDUS (HINDI). Hindus resident in Afghanistan speak a Panjabi dialect (except those in Kandahar, who speak Sindhi and Riasti) and numbered about 15,000 in the 1970s. They are scattered all over Afghanistan but are primarily in Kabul, Kandahar, Kunduz, Nangarhar, and Paktia provinces, where they are occupied in trade. They once transacted most of the banking business in the country. As non-Muslims, they were at times subjected to a poll tax (the jizya) and were restricted in their religious observances to the privacy of their homes. Since the days of Amir Habibullah, the Hindus have gradually gained full citizen status. One Hindu, Naranjan Das, received the title of civil colonel in 1906 and was appointed chief revenue officer and finally civil brigadier under King Amanullah. This gained the Afghan ruler a
positive image in India. There were also about 7,000 Sikhs in Afghanistan, all of them Panjabi speakers. Most Hindus fled as a result of the civil war, and those who remained were forced to wear yellow distinguishing marks until international protests made the Taliban relent and cancel the policy. Some Hindus returned to Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taliban regime. HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AFGHANISTAN (ANJOMAN-I TARIKH-I AFGHANISTAN). The society was founded in 1941 at the suggestion of Zahir Shah for the purpose of research and study of Afghanistan’s historical heritage. It was part of the Afghan Literary Society starting in 1933 and was under the administrative control of the Department of Press and later the Ministry of Education, developing into a research and translation institute. It produced numerous publications, including the journals Aryana (1942) and Afghanistan (1945). Ahmad Ali Kohzad held the position of president of the Historical Society for many years. During the 1980s it was part of the Afghan Academy of Sciences. See also AFGHAN ACADEMY. HIZB. The word hizb (A.) means “party.” For parties see individual entries. HIZB-I INQILAB-I MILLI. Party of President Muhammad Daud. See also NATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY. HIZB-I ISLAMI. Two Islamist parties headed, respectively, by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Muhammad Yunus Khales. HIZB-I WAHDAT. The Hizb-i Wahdat is a coalition of eight Hazara Shi’a parties led by Abdul Ali Mazari centered in the area of Bamian and Wardak. It forged an alliance with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i Islami in August 1993 and controlled parts of Kabul west of the Darulaman road and south of Sarak-i Say-i Aqrab, as well as parts of Kabul University and all of the Kabul Polytechnic compound. Mazari prevailed in a power struggle with Muhammad Akbari, who was head of the Wahdat’s political committee (Akbari was forced to flee and joined the forces of Burhanuddin Rabbani). In January 1995, Hizb-i Wahdat was fighting for turf with the Shi’i Harakat-i Islami of Ayatollah Muhsini. When Hekmatyar’s forces were driven from Kabul in February 1995, Jam’iat captured the territory of the weakened Wahdat, and Mazari joined, or surrendered to, the Taliban and was killed while in captivity on 13 March 1995. He was succeeded by Muhammad Karim Khalili. Another prominent leader is Haji Muhammad Muhaqeq. HIZB-I WAHDAT, ORGANIZATION. The organization is a Hazara party, headed by Muhammad Karim Khalili and organized into a seven-member supreme supervisory council (shura-i ‘ali nuzrat) and a six-member central committee (shura-i markazi), which is subdivided into departments for politics, military, culture, intelligence, medical services, financial and public services, judiciary, public relations, archeology and heritage, and a women’s committee. The supreme supervisory council includes four religious scholars: the chairman Ayatollah Sadiqi Parwani, Ayatollah Qurban Ali, Muhammad Muhaqeq, and
Ayatollah Salihi Mudaris; two intellectuals, Sayyid Abbas Hakimi and Sayyid Ghulam Husain Musawi; and two technocrats, Sayyid Amin Sajjadi and Dr. Sultani. The 80-member central committee includes 10 women. It was headed by the secretary general, Muhammad Karim Khalili, a vice president of President Hamid Karzai’s government. HIZBULLAH (HIZB ALLAH). The “Party of Allah,” headed by one Shaikh Ali Wusuki, is a small Shi’i group of mujahedin in Herat and a few scattered areas with ties to the Iranian Pasdaran (Guardians of the Revolution). In 1990, the Kabul government gave permission for the formation of political parties, one of which carried the name Hizbullah. It was headed by Shaikh Yusufi of Ghazni, but no details are known regarding the program or members of this group. HOLIDAYS. Afghans observe the Muslim festivals in addition to a number of secular holidays, most importantly Nauruz (New Year), the first day of the solar calendar, which falls on 21 March. Independence Day (Ruz-i Istiqlal) on 19 August celebrates the Afghan victory in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The defeat of the Marxist regime is observed on 18 April, and Labor Day falls on 1 May. Pashtuns celebrate Pashtunistan Day in support of the Afghan tribes of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. Local festivals include the Pashtun Naranj Gul Mela (Orange Festival) in Nangarhar, the Mela Gul-i Surkh (Red Rose Festival) in Mazar-i Sharif, and others. HOTAKIS (OHTAKS). The Hotakis are a main division of the Ghilzai tribe located in the Kushrud and Tarnak valleys. The Hotakis numbered about 7,000 families at the turn of the century. HUMAN RIGHTS. COMMISSION.
See
AFGHANISTAN
INDEPENDENT
HUMAN
RIGHTS
HUQUQMAL, MAHBUBA (1944–). Born in Kabul, the daughter of Nur Muhammad, and educated at Malalai School, Huquqmal graduated in 1965 from the faculty of law and political science at Kabul University, where she earned a law degree. She taught at Kabul University and served as dean of the faculty of law and as director of the Afghan Women’s Association from 1993 until the Taliban captured Kabul, when she moved to Peshawar and taught at the Afghan University. She was appointed minister of women’s affairs in the Transitional Government (2002–2004) of Hamid Karzai and was a member of the senate (Meshrano Jirga) in 2005.
I IBN SINA, ABU ALI (AVICENNA, 980–1037). The great philosopher-physician, “Prince of Physicians,” known as Avicenna in the West, was born near Bukhara (now Uzbekistan) and died in Hamadan (or Isfahan), Iran, in 1037. He wrote in Arabic and Persian and continued the traditions of Aristotle in philosophy and Hippocrates and Galen in medicine and was dominant in both fields. His Kitab al-Qanun fi Tibb (Book of Medicine) and Kitab al-Shifa (Book of Healing) were valued in Europe until the 17th century. Afghans claim him as a native son because his father was a native of Balkh. A hospital and a high school in Kabul are named after him. IBRAHIM BEG (d. 1931). An Uzbek Basmachi leader, Ibrahim Beg fought the Bolshevik government in Central Asia, at times using Afghan territory as a safe haven. He visited Kabul in 1926 and was entertained as a state guest by King Amanullah, who was not averse to the idea of becoming ruler of a Central Asian confederation of Muslim states. In May 1929, Ibrahim Beg supported Habibullah Kalakani and fought King Amanullah’s general, Ghulam Nabi Charkhi, taking a prominent part in the capture of Mazar-i Sharif. In 1930, after repeated representations by the Soviet Union, the government of Muhammad Nadir Shah took steps to prevent Ibrahim Beg from raiding across the border, with the consequence that he started raiding in Afghanistan as well. Therefore, he was finally driven from Afghan territory and captured by Soviet troops. Afghans call the battle between Afghan troops and Ibrahim Beg’s supporters Jang-i Laqay (War of the Laqai, the name of Ibrahim’s Uzbek tribe). He was executed in April 1931. ‘ID AL-ADHA. The Feast of Sacrifice on the 10th of the month of Dhu al-Hijja of the Islamic calendar is a holiday in Muslim countries, marking the end of the month of pilgrimage. Muslims throughout the world slaughter a sheep, or camel, or purchase meat from a butcher as a sacrifice and distribute it to the poor. Large quantities of meat are shipped every year from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan and other countries for distribution to the poor. It goes back to the tradition of Abraham attempting to sacrifice his son at the command of God. ‘ID AL-FITR. The Feast of Breaking the Fast is celebrated on the first of the month of Shawwal, the day following the fast month of Ramadhan. The celebration begins with the appearance of the new moon, and the following day people pay their poor tax before attending prayer at a Friday mosque. It is a joyful celebration, as it marks the end of the hardships of fasting for an entire month. New clothing is traditionally purchased on this occasion for family and servants, making it an occasion of gift giving. IKHWAN AL-MUSLIMIN. See MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD. IMAMI SHI’AS. See SHI’A and ITHNA ASHARIYA.
INAYATULLAH KHAN. See ENAYATULLAH, SARDAR. INDEPENDENT ELECTION COMMISSION (IEC). The IEC is the authority responsible for the preparation, organization, conduct, and oversight of elections and referenda in Afghanistan. It has a governing body with a chairman and five members (commissioners) who are appointed by the president for a three-year term. The United Nations provided two additional members. During the 2009 elections, the IEC had a nearly impossible job in view of the insecurity, Taliban attacks, and intimidation. The commission was headed by Azizullah Lodin and Vice President Ayub Asil. Members included Mastura Stanikzai, Mumina Yari, Fazl Ahmad Manawi, Muhammad Husain Gurziwani, and Qazi Sulaiman Hamed. Lodin and his deputy resigned, and Manawi was assigned to be the next chairperson. INDIA-AFGANISTAN RELATIONS. Until India’s independence in 1947, Afghanistan’s relations were exclusively conducted with British India (described under ANGLO-AFGHAN RELATIONS, FOREIGN RELATIONS, and GREAT BRITAIN). The partitioning of India and foundation of Pakistan created a foreign policy problem for Afghanistan. The Kabul government expected that the autonomous Pashtun tribal area, if not the entire Northwest Frontier Province, would be permitted to opt for union with Afghanistan, or at least for an independent state of Pashtunistan. But the choice given was for union with either India or Pakistan. This resulted in troubled relations with Pakistan and warm friendship with India, in spite of Afghan sectarian solidarity with the people of the new Muslim state. The partition of India created a largely Muslim Pakistan in two “wings” separated by 1,000 miles. East Pakistan eventually revolted and, with Indian assistance, proclaimed the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Kashmir and Haidarabad, predominantly Muslim, remained with India. The Pashtunistan and Kashmir issues have since marked India’s relations with both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan allied itself with the United States in the Baghdad Pact (1955, later reorganized as the Central Treaty Organization, CENTO), and Afghanistan joined India in a neutralist bloc. Relations between Afghanistan and India remained cordial, even during the Marxist regime, when Pakistan became the base for “jihad” against the communist government in Kabul. In order to give Pakistan “strategic depth” in its confrontation with India, it wanted a friendly government in Kabul, and for this objective it began to support Islamist groups, and eventually the Taliban regime. New Delhi cooperated with the Northern Alliance and the United States in ending Taliban rule. India supported the Hamid Karzai government and provided considerable assistance to Afghanistan. New Delhi committed some $1.3 billion on development projects, including the Zaranj– Delaram highway in western Afghanistan (which permits access to the Iranian seaport of Chabahar), the Salma Dam power project in Herat, construction of the parliament building in Kabul, and some 84 small projects in areas of agriculture, rural development, education, health, vocational training, and solar energy. New Delhi donated three Airbus aircraft with spares to Ariana Afghan Airlines, and 400 buses, 200 minibuses, and 105 utility vehicles. But India’s involvement in Afghanistan came at a steep price. The Indian embassy was attacked in
July 2008 and October 2009 by suicide bombers, causing considerable casualties, and a guesthouse for Indian workers was bombed in 2010. India blames Pakistan for these attacks and withdrew some 50 percent of its personnel, leaving as many as 3,500 working on various government projects. India also has considerable cultural influence, Bollywood movies are very popular, as are television serials and Indian music, this to the discomfort of more conservative Afghans. Many Afghans study in India, and President Karzai is a graduate of an Indian university. INTERIM GOVERNMENT (INTERIM AUTHORITY, 2001–2002). After the fall of the Taliban regime, representatives of four Afghan groups met in Bonn, Germany, to establish an Afghan interim authority. It was to rule for a period of six months, starting on 22 December 2001, and prepare the way for a Loya Jirga, which in turn was to elect a Transitional Government. This government was to have a tenure of two years, during which time it was to draft a constitution and prepare the country for elections. The talks began on 27 November 2001, and, after nine days of grueling discussion, the representatives selected Hamid Karzai as interim leader and the ex-king, Zahir Shah, to preside at the Loya Jirga. The four groups consisted of the Rome delegation of supporters of the king; the Cyprus representatives of notables in exile; the Peshawar delegation, composed largely of Pashtuns located in Peshawar, Pakistan; and the Northern Alliance. The latter gained the ministries of defense, foreign affairs, and interior (later given to a Pashtun). Haji Abdul Qadir walked out, protesting the fact that Pashtuns were underrepresented. To Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan, goes the credit for convincing the delegates to agree on a decision. Some 30 ministerial positions, including two women, were announced. The major loser was Burhanuddin Rabbani, who had already taken residence in the palace. To provide peace and stability in Kabul, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan, a multinational force, was set up. As scheduled, the Interim Government prepared the way for establishment of the Transitional Government and eventually for an elected government. INTERNATIONAL COALITION AGAINST TERROR. Initially, the coalition was a largely American-British force engaged in hunting down Islamist guerrilla forces in Afghanistan. As a result of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan and with the help of local militias was able to destroy the Taliban government and drive al-Qaeda forces from their bases. The campaign, dubbed Operation Enduring Freedom, at first involved only American troops, which were quickly reinforced with British contingents. The United States appealed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, invoking Article 5 of its charter, which says “an attack on one NATO nation is an attack on all,” obligating the members to provide material assistance. The state department released a list of 37 countries providing some type of assistance, claiming that there are others who for “internal political reasons choose not to broadcast their participation.” Most members of the coalition have given nonmilitary support; for example, Pakistan and Uzbekistan provided bases and overflight permission; Italy and France sent naval forces into the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf; Estonia, Norway, Jordan, and Denmark
contributed de-mining units; and others supplied food, clothing, and medical aid for Afghanistan. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan, operating under United Nations auspices, was not part of the coalition. It assumed the task of policing the capital, Kabul. Its leadership was by rotation, but on 11 August 2003, it was taken over by a NATO force under the German lieutenant general Götz Gliemeroth with a mandate to extend its activities throughout the country. INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ASSISTANCE FORCE (ISAF). The United Nations Security Council authorized ISAF as part of the Bonn Agreement of December 2001. It consisted of a force of about 7,500 soldiers from some 22 states to assist the Afghan government in maintaining security in Kabul and surrounding areas. ISAF was initially authorized for a period of six months but was subsequently extended. The force was under rotating command from individual countries and subsequently under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Eurocorps of the European Union. Forty-two states contributed 61,130 members, from as few as one (Georgia) and three (Austria) to as many as 28,850 (United States), 8,300 (United Kingdom), 3,380 (Germany). ISAF’s mission was to replace Afghan military personnel from the capital city, to assist the Afghan Transitional Government in maintaining security, and to provide a secure environment for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. ISAF was independent of the American coalition and Operation Enduring Freedom, although the United States Central Command reserved to itself authority to guarantee that there were no conflicts in the activities of the two forces. Member states were to contribute personnel, equipment, and other resources at their own cost. ISAF’s mission was to conduct security and stability operations, to support the Afghan National Army (ANA), to support the Afghan National Police (ANP), to facilitate ammunition depot management, and to provide postoperational assistance. Through its Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) ISAF is supporting reconstruction and development in Afghanistan. After being confined to Kabul until August 2003, operations under ISAF auspices experienced an evolution when NATO assumed leadership of operations. Operations were expanded in four stages to the north (Mazar-i Sharif, Maimana, Faizabad, and Baghlan); to the west (Herat, Farah, Ghor, and Badghis); to the south (Dai Kundi, Helmand, Kandahar, Nimruz, Oruzgan, and Zabul); and to the east, and by 2006, ISAF had taken responsibility for the entire country. Eventually 105,000 soldiers from 42 countries were in Afghanistan, the largest contingents from the United States, 67,000, plus a surge of 30,000 more; Great Britain, 9,000; Germany, 4,245; and France, 3,070. INTER-SERVICES INTELLIGENCE, DIRECTORATE FOR (ISI). The ISI is a Pakistani military intelligence organization, founded in 1948 by the British army officer Major General R. Cawthome, the then deputy chief of staff in the Pakistan army. Its function included collection of foreign and domestic intelligence. It is reported to have a total of 10,000 officers and staff members and has been dubbed “the invisible government.” It was headed by General
A. R. Akhtar from 1979 to 1987, subsequently by General Hamid Gul, and was heavily involved in the war against Soviet/Kabul government forces in Afghanistan. Brigadier Muhammad Yusuf, head of the Afghan bureau of the ISI, claims credit for coordinating the logistics, recruitment, training, and assignment of missions, including raids into the Soviet Union. The ISI distributed the weapons and funds provided by friendly countries while the government of Pakistan maintained an increasingly “implausible deniability” of involvement in the war. Muhammad Yusuf detailed ISI activities in a book titled The Bear Trap: Afghanistan’s Untold Story, edited by the military historian Mark Adkin. The ISI was heavily involved in supporting the Taliban regime, but since the United States intervention it has been occupied with a resurgence of domestic Taliban forces. ISHAQ KHAN, MUHAMMAD. See MUHAMMAD ISHAQ. ISHAQZAI. A section of the Durrani tribe, the majority of the Ishaqzai inhabit the Pusht-i Rud area, where they amounted to about 7,000 families at the turn of the 19th century. Smaller groups of Ishaqzai are established near Sar-i Pul in Jozjan Province. ISLAH (RECONSTRUCTION). A national Dari newspaper, Islah was first published in 1923 under the editorship of Muhammad Bashir in Khanabad, Badakhshan, when Nadir Khan, the subsequent king, visited the province. In 1929 Nadir Khan founded another Dari/Pashtu newspaper with this name as part of his campaign against Habibullah Kalakani. It continued as a daily Kabul newspaper until 1973, when Sardar Muhammad Daud took power and proclaimed the republic. Among the first editors were Burhanuddin Kushkaki, Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, and Qiamuddin Khadem. ISLAM. A monotheistic religion that continues the prophetic Judeo-Christian tradition and recognizes Muhammad as the last of the prophets. Islam is the religion of virtually all Afghans. The word Islam is Arabic and means “submission,” the obligation to submit to the commands of Allah, the omniscient and omnipotent God. Islam can be summarized under a code of rituals called the Five Pillars of Islam, as follows: 1. Shahada, the profession of faith. A Muslim says, “I testify that there is no god but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” Anyone who sincerely testifies to this fact is a Muslim. 2. Salat, prayer, which is to be performed five times a day, facing the qibla, prayer direction, the location of the Ka’ba, a cubelike building in Mecca (built by Abraham, according to the Koran). Prayers include recitation of the Arabic text accompanied by rhythmical bowings, rak’ah, and can be performed in public or private. A ritual washing, wudhu, is required before prayer. If there is a congregation, one person is the leader, imam, and the rest perform their prayers in unison. The muezzin, mu’adhdhin, sounds the azan, call to prayer, often from the top of a minaret. The Friday sermon, khutba, may have political significance because the name of the ruler is invoked, indicating the political loyalty of the congregation.
3. Zakat, almsgiving, is the requirement to give either a percentage of one’s wealth or of one’s yearly income to the poor. This obligation is not uniformly enforced in the Islamic world. 4. Sawm, fasting (ruza in Dari), is enjoined during the Muslim month of Ramazan (Ramadhan), “the month during which the Koran was sent down.” From sunrise to sundown the believer is to abstain from food or drink, which poses considerable hardship when Ramazan occurs during the long, hot summer months. Children, the ill, pregnant mothers, travelers, and soldiers in war are exempt, but those prevented must make up this obligation at a later time. 5. Hajj, pilgrimage, is a legal obligation of every adult Muslim of either sex to travel at least once in a lifetime to Mecca, provided he or she is economically able to do so. Thousands of Afghans now travel yearly in special flights to Saudi Arabia, and one who has performed the pilgrimage carries the honorific title of “hajji.” Minor differences exist in the performance of these obligations within the four orthodox Sunni schools. In Afghanistan, the Hanafi school, named after Abu Hanifa (d. 767), is the prevalent one; it is the most liberal in the interpretation of Islamic law, Shari’a. In addition to acts of devotion and rituals (ibadat), Islam also involves a creed of beliefs (iman): Muslims believe in one God, Allah, who is the Creator, Supreme Power, Judge, and Avenger but is also the Compassionate and Merciful One. Angels are Allah’s messengers and, like humans, his creatures and servants. They record men’s actions and bear witness against them on the Day of Judgment. The Angel Gabriel is God’s chief messenger. There are also jinn spirits, who are good or evil like men. The fallen or evil jinn are called shaitans, devils, whose leader is the Shaitan or Iblis (Satan). He is given “authority over those who should be seduced by him.” God sends his prophets to bring his message. The major messengers include Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, but Muhammad is the last of the prophets, and the Koran is the last message, superseding the Torah of Moses, the Zabur (Psalms) of David, and the Injil (Gospel) of Jesus. Muslims believe in a Day of Judgment, when the good will enter Paradise and the evil will be condemned to eternal hellfire. Personal responsibility before God is important in Islam, and there is no belief in atonement. Jihad, “Striving in the Way of God,” is not one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Jihad is a war in defense of Islam, securing immediate salvation and heaven for the fallen martyr; but jihad is any effort in a good cause. See also SHI’A. ISLAMABAD ACCORD (1993). The accord was signed by eight mujahedin leaders on 7 March 1993 in Islamabad, Pakistan, in an attempt to restore peace in the ongoing civil war. It provided for a government headed by President Burhanuddin Rabbani and Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar for the subsequent 18 months. It called for formation of an election commission and a constitutional assembly for the drafting of a constitution. A defense council comprising two members of each party was to work on forming a national army and establishing security. Another committee was to supervise control of the monetary system. A cease-fire was to assure permanent cessation of hostilities. An annex enumerated the powers
and duties of the president and prime minister. The agreement was reached with great pressure from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and, like the Peshawar Accord, it did not succeed in bringing peace to Afghanistan. As before, Hekmatyar was the spoiler, and when he was finally invited to Kabul to assume his ministerial post, the newly emerging Taliban forces were able to capture the capital on 27 September 1996. A new attempt at forming a broad-based government started after the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2001. See also BONN CONFERENCE; INTERIM GOVERNMENT; TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT. ISLAMIC ALLIANCE FOR THE LIBERATION OF AFGHANISTAN (1980). The alliance was a loose coalition founded on 27 January 1980 by five mujahedin groups with headquarters in Pakistan. The sixth group, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb, did not participate because it was not given preeminent status. The alliance was formed for the purpose of gaining recognition as a government in exile and to secure support from the Islamic Foreign Ministers Conference, held in Islamabad in May 1980. The alliance disintegrated in December of the same year. In early 1981 the Pakistan government announced that it would henceforth recognize only six groups (later seven) and that all refugees in the country must register as members of one of these groups. Refugee aid as well as mujahedin support would be channeled through these groups. Thus in 1985 the alliance reconstituted itself under the label Islamic Unity of Afghan Mujahedin, with the moderates in the “Unity of Three” (Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, Sebghatullah Mujaddidi, and Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi) and the radicals organized in the “Unity of Seven,” of whom only four (Burhanuddin Rabbani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, and Yunus Khales) represented viable groups. While the moderates were reasonably united, the radicals were constantly at odds, especially the groups headed by Rabbani and Hekmatyar. In May 1983 the alliance elected Sayyaf chairman for a term of two years, but when, in 1985, he attempted to remain in this position, the members of the alliance objected. Subsequently, a chairman of the alliance served on a rotational basis for three months. There was otherwise little coordination between the groups. Upon becoming spokesman in February 1988, Pir Sayyid Ahmad Gailani announced the formation of an Afghan Interim Government with Engineer Ahmad Shah as prime minister. Unity however, was not to be achieved. After the fall of the Marxist regime and the capture of Kabul in April 1992, an interim government was headed for two months by President Mujaddidi, who was followed by Burhanuddin Rabbani. Rabbani remained president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in defiance of other major mujahedin groups and was embroiled in a struggle for control of the Afghan capital, which led to considerable destruction of the city without the conflict being resolved. Interim and Transitional governments were established after the fall of the Taliban regime, and elections resulted in the establishment of a government in December 2004, headed by President Hamid Karzai who was reelected in 2009. ISLAMIC LAW. Islamic law (Shari’a, A., from shar’, “the path”) is God given and a prescription for the believer to the right life in this world and for salvation in the world to come. During his lifetime, the Prophet Muhammad transmitted Allah’s commands. These were
eventually collected in the book of readings or recitations, the Koran (Qur’an). The Koran was the basis of law for all Muslims, although various sects and schools differed in its interpretation. When no conclusive guidance was found in the Koran, the sunna, the practice of the Prophet and his companions, was consulted. Four schools of law eventually developed in Sunni Islam named after early legal scholars: the Malikite, named after Malik ibn Anas (d. 795); the Shafi’ite, named after ibn Idris al-Shafi’i (d. 819); the Hanbalite, named after Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855); and the Hanifite, named after Abu Hanifa (d. 767). The Hanifite school has the largest number of adherents and is dominant in Afghanistan. It recognizes as a basis of jurisprudence, in addition to the Koran, the sunna, ijma (consensus of the Muslim community), and qiyas (reasoning by analogy). Legal reasoning is called ijtihad, the struggle or effort in arriving at a legal decision. By the 10th century, Muslim jurists decided by consensus that Islamic law was complete and that independent interpretation, ijtihad, was no longer permissible. Henceforth, Muslims were to follow, or imitate (taqlid), God’s law. Islamic modernists want to reopen the “Gate of Ijtihad” to permit a reinterpretation of Islamic law in order to meet new, modern requirements. Judges (qazis) in Shari’a courts are to apply the law, subject to consultation with legal experts (muftis) who issue legal decisions (fatwas). A jurist (faqih) is trained in an Islamic college (madrasa) to serve as lawyer, teacher, judge, and mufti. Punishments include the penalties for major offenses prescribed in the Koran (hadd, pl. hudud), discretionary and variable punishments (ta’zir), and retaliation (qisas). Although the Shari’a has been the law of Afghanistan, there has always existed a dichotomy of “God’s law” and the “king’s law.” During the time of Ahmad Shah (r. 1747–1773), there were central and provincial courts with administration in the hands of the qazis, all of whom were appointed by the ruler on the recommendation of the court imam. The death penalty could not be exacted without the king’s, or governor’s, approval. Ahmad Shah forbade mutilation of limbs and drafted a legal code that was, however, not enacted. Tribal courts existed in the Pashtun frontier areas where cases were decided by council (jirga). Timur Shah first appointed a minister of justice, amir-i dar al-qaza, and a chief justice, qazi al-quzat, to whom all courts were subordinated. All legal functionaries were appointed by Kabul. Amir Abdul Rahman established a court of appeals with 12 members, headed by the khan-i ulum (chief of [religious] sciences). Under Amir Habibullah there existed courts headed by his brother Nasrullah Khan and his son Inayatullah Khan, the Shari’at, and the kotwali, police court. Appeals against decisions of governors and high officials were made to the amir. The Ottoman codification of Hanafi law (majalla) was translated into Dari (siraj al-ahkam). The sphere of the “king’s law” was considerably expanded during the period of King Amanullah (r. 1919–1929). He drafted the first constitution in 1923 and initiated judicial reforms, nizam-namah, that aimed at reducing the influence of the ulama (clergy), and a guide for judges in civil and criminal law was published (tamasuk al-quzzat). The introduction of administrative courts for civil servants, commercial courts, and reconciliation courts took over many functions of the Shari’a courts. A number of statutes restricted the powers of the qazis (judges). These innovations were abolished after the fall of King Amanullah but were resumed
as a result of Nadir Shah’s constitution of 1931. The usul-namah, a code of statutory legislation, replaced the nizam-namah. It was more conservative in nature and was merely supplementary to Islamic law. A hierarchy of primary and appellate courts existed, with the court of cassation (tamyiz) at the highest level. The mufti played a role only on the primary level. The constitution of 1964 (qanun-i asasi) established an independent judiciary with the supreme court as the highest official organ. In March 1967 the office of public prosecutor was established, and the offices of minister of justice and attorney general were combined. Penal and civil codes were enacted, and criminal procedure was divided into customary law (Islamic law) and statutory law (qanun). The supreme court was temporarily replaced with a high judicial council after Muhammad Daud established a republican form of government. The gap between statutory law and the Shari’a widened. The sovereignty of God was gradually replaced by sovereignty of the nation or the people. President Daud’s constitution of 1977 centralized the legal establishment, and the vestiges of separation of powers were abolished, as the minister of justice took over the functions of the chief justice. The Milli Jirga (National Council) replaced parliament, and the Revolutionary Council was the highest authority in the state. The Marxist government set up a higher council of the judiciary that was responsible to the Revolutionary Council. Revolutionary and extraordinary courts that were responsible for the executions of many existed for some time. In spite of the trend toward secularization of law, the lower courts in the provinces and small towns continued to operate in the traditional manner. The Shari’a has remained dominant in matters of family law, inheritance, property, and contracts and was rigorously enforced during the Taliban regime. See also CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT; ISLAMIC UNION. ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF AFGHANISTAN. See JAM’IAT-I ISLAMI-YI AFGHANISTAN. ISLAMIC UNITY OF AFGHAN MUJAHEDIN. See ISLAMIC ALLIANCE FOR THE LIBERATION OF AFGHANISTAN. ISLAMIST MOVEMENT. The movement was born in large measure as a reaction to the process of westernization in Afghanistan and the growth of secular, liberal ideologies among Afghan youth. The movement owes much of its organization and ideology to the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt (Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin), and its adherents were therefore dubbed “Ikhwanis” by their opponents. The party originated in religious, intellectual circles in the late 1950s and had as its chief ideologues and mentors Ghulam Muhammad Niazi, Burhanuddin Rabbani, Sayyid Musa Tawana, and others who had studied at Al-Azhar University in Egypt and taught at the faculty of theology of Kabul University. They soon attracted a circle of like-minded students, who organized themselves in 1970 into the Muslim Youth (Jawanan-i Muslimin) movement. At first they went through a process of ideological development when members studied the works of Islamic thinkers Hasan al-Banna’ (1906– 1949), the “Supreme Guide” of the Ikhwanis; Sayyid Qutb, executed in Cairo in 1966; and Abu’l Ala Maududi (died 1979), founder of the Pakistani Jama’at-i Islami and author of religio-political treatises.
The movement took a political turn during the premiership of Sardar Muhammad Daud (1953–1963) and the subsequent liberal period. Islamist students staged demonstrations, protesting government policies and such international issues as Zionism and the war in Vietnam. By 1970 Islamists won a majority in student elections, a fact that alarmed the Marxists and their supporters. In 1971 the movement began to formally organize at a meeting in Kabul at the house of Professor Rabbani. A leadership council was formed with Rabbani as the chairman, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf as deputy, and Habiburrahman as secretary. Council members were assigned responsibility for financial, cultural, and political tasks. Some leaders, like Ghulam Muhammad Niazi, refrained from open participation; others, like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, were jailed at the time. The organization selected the name Jam’iat-i Islami (Islamic Society), but the student faction, operating quite openly, was known as the Jawanan-i Musulman. Other Islamist individuals and circles not affiliated with the Jam’iat were Minhajuddin Gahiz, who in 1968 published his newspaper Jarida Gahiz (Dawn); Khuddam al-Qur’an (Servants of the Koran), founded by the Mujaddidi family; and the Jam’iat-i Ulama-i Muhammadi (Society of Muslim Ulama), founded by Sebghatullah Mujaddidi. After the coup of Muhammad Daud (17 July 1973), the movement was forced to go underground. Rabbani raised the question of armed struggle, and weapons were collected, but before any action could begin, the government police arrested many of the members, including Ghulam Muhammad Niazi. Rabbani and Hekmatyar fled to Pakistan, where they sought help from the Pakistan government and the Islamist Jama’at-i Islami. In 1975 Hekmatyar staged sporadic raids into Afghanistan, and when the attacks failed, the differences between Rabbani and Hekmatyar became public. After the Saur Revolt of April 1978, an attempt at reconciliation was made. Each party nominated seven members to a 21-member reconciliation committee, including the mediators. The Jam’iat members voted for Rabbani to be president of the party, and Hekmatyar’s party voted for Qazi Muhammad Amin as deputy president. The mediators voted for Maulawi Fayez, who became the compromise president. But the Islamists were also divided on ethnic and ideological lines. The largely Tajik supporters of Rabbani favored preparation rather than precipitous armed activity. Hekmatyar aspired to leadership of the Islamists and advocated immediate struggle. In April 1978, Maulawi Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi was chosen as a compromise leader, but the movement broke up over the distribution of funds provided by foreign donors. Hekmatyar organized the Hizb-i Islami, and the traditionalist Muhammadi founded his own Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami Party. Rabbani worked with Mujaddidi and his Jabha-yi Milli-yi Beraye Najat-i Afghanistan (National Liberation Front) and continued to lead his own Jam’iat. Muhammad Yunus Khales formed his own Hizb-i Islami party in 1979. The Islamists were puritanical moralists who perceived moral laxity, lack of respect for traditional values, and an infatuation with Western secular culture among Afghan youth, and were determined to impose the laws of Islam on the social and political life of the state. They were not fundamentalist but reformist and supported a political activism first seen in the great Pan-Islamist, Jamaluddin Afghani. They were critical of the fundamentalist views of the
ulama and were themselves the object of criticism by the clergy. They went underground and organized in cells, were accused of resorting to political assassinations, and were themselves the objects of assassinations. They rejected aspects of both communism and democracy although they copied from both. A new movement, the Taliban, emerged in November 1994 and within two years captured Kabul and eventually most of Afghanistan. They opposed the mujahedin groups and tried to establish their concept of an “Islamic State.” Their radicalism and protection of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda movement led to United States intervention and the destruction of the Taliban regime. ISMA’ILIS (ISMA’ILIYYA). A Shi’i Islamic sect begun when the Shi’i Imam Isma’il (son of Ja’far al-Sadeq) died in 765 A.D. and was thought by his followers to be the final, Seventh Imam, who was to return on the Day of Judgment. The present leader of the Isma’ili community is Karim, Agha Khan IV, who administers to some 300,000 people residing in Africa, Syria, Iran, Tajikistan, India, and Pakistan, as well as northeastern Afghanistan. Isma’ilis pay a tax that goes to the support of the needy in their community. The Isma’ilis believe in an esoteric interpretation of the Koran with stages of initiation, depending on the comprehension of the believer. The head of the Isma’ili community in Afghanistan was Nadir Shah Kayani, known as Sayyid-i Kayan. As a small sectarian community, the Isma’ilis refused to cooperate with the mujahedin groups operating in their territory, but they allied themselves with Dostum against the Taliban after the latter captured Kabul. ISMA’IL KHAN. See MUHAMMAD ISMA’IL KAHN. ISTALIF (34-50' N, 69-5'E). Istalif is a small town in the Koh Daman area, located about 20 miles north-northwest of Kabul, which is famous for its scenic beauty and blue-colored pottery. The village is “built on the side of the hills in the form of a pyramid, the houses rising one above the other by terraces, and the whole being crowned by the magnificent chinars that denote the shrine of Hazrat Eshan, whilst far below in a deep glen rushes a foaming yet clear brook” (Gaz. 6). The name, Istalif, has been linked to the Greek istafel, grapes, which are grown there in great abundance. Istalif was captured and destroyed by British troops in the First Anglo-Afghan War. During the present war it has been held by various mujahedin groups and is said to have suffered considerable destruction. ISTIQLAL LYCÉE. An academic high school in Kabul with a French curriculum, founded by King Amanullah in 1922, hence its name Amaniya. After the accession of Nadir Shah it was renamed Istiqlal (Independence) Lycée. It began with five French and 12 Afghan teachers and in 1926 had 33 teachers and 350 students. Subsequently it was greatly expanded and became one of the most prestigious preparatory schools in the country. See also EDUCATION. ITHNA ASHARIYA (TWELVER). A Shi’i sect believing that the Twelfth Imam (A., ithna ‘ashariyya) Muhammad al-Mahdi is the last imam (leader of the Shi’i community) who went
into occultation and will return at the end of time “to announce the last judgment and to fill the earth with justice.” The Safavid (1501–1732) rulers of Iran made Twelver Shi’ism the state religion and forcefully converted much of its Sunni population. In Afghanistan, most of the Hazara, the Qizilbash, and about half of the population of Herat belong to this sect. The Twelvers are also called Imami Shi’as and constitute a religious minority in Afghanistan. ITTIHAD-I ISLAMI BARAYI AZADI-YI AFGHANISTAN. See SAYYAF, ABDUL RASUL.
J JABAL-US-SIRAJ (JABAL AL-SIRAJ) (35-1' N, 69-14' E). A town and administrative district with a population of about 102,000 in Parwan Province that has become a center of Afghanistan’s textile industry. Built by Amir Habibullah in 1906, the town got its name from the amir’s title Siraj al-Millat wa’l Din (Torch of the Nation and Religion). It included a fortress and Arg (palace) and a cantonment, housing some 12,000 men. Between 1910 and 1913, a hydroelectric plant was constructed by a Scottish engineer, James Miller, to provide electricity for Kabul. For a long time this was the only plant of its type in Afghanistan. Subsequently the industrial base was further expanded with the construction of a textile mill in the 1930s and a cement factory in the early 1960s. JABBAR KHEL. A section of the Ghilzai tribe occupying the area of Hisarak-i Ghilzai in Nangarhar Province, between the Siah Koh range and the Surkhab River, and scattered over the greater part of Laghman Province. JABHA-YI MILLI BERAYE NAJAT-I AFGHANISTAN. The National Liberation Front was one of the seven mujahedin groups headquartered in Pakistan, founded by Sebghatullah Mujaddidi in 1978. It advocated the overthrow of the Marxist regime in Kabul and the establishment of a traditional Islamic state with a parliamentary democracy. Members of the Naqshbandi Sufi fraternity predominate in this group. The Jabha is ideologically close to the moderate groups of Gailani and Muhammadi and cooperated with them. Mujaddidi has actively participated in Afghan politics, and after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban recognized their government. JADRAN (DZADRAN, ZADRAN). A tribe related to the Khostwal Pashtuns, the Jadran inhabit the eastern slope of the Sulaiman range in Paktia Province. They are excellent fighters and entered the war against the Kabul government in 1979. Under the command of Jalaluddin Haqani, they succeeded in expelling government troops from the area of Urgun. The Jadran were loosely affiliated with the party of Yunus Khales. JAGIR. A jagir is a feudal, military fiefdom, such as granted by Ahmad Shah Durrani to chiefs of his tribe. It was an allotment of land that was tax free but required its holder to provide a number of troops and arms corresponding to the size of the jagir (also called tiyul and iqta’). Land was divided into divisions called qulba, or “plows,” which designated the portion of irrigated land cultivated by one person, employing one oxen and one plow. The area was divided into two sections for sowing of two kharwar of grain (one kharwar, literally a donkey load, amounted to 100 man, up to 160 pounds); one section was cultivated each year while the other half remained fallow. About 3,000 double qulba were distributed to Durrani tribes in Kandahar, for which they had to provide 6,000 horsemen for the amir’s army. JAGRAN, SAYYID MUHAMMAD HASAN (JAGLAN). Jagran (Major) is the nom de
guerre under which Sayyid Hasan, the 65-year-old commander of the Hazara front in Behsud, Ghazni Province, was known. Successful in various military engagements against government forces, he reportedly administered his area autonomously during the 1980s. He was affiliated with the Shura-yi Ittifaq-i Islami of Sayyid Ali Beheshti which was the only Shi’i mujahedin movement attending the consultative council of commanders in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in February 1989. Jagran fought Sazman-i Nasr and Pasdaran and did not enjoy good relations with the other Shi’i groups. JAIHUN, AMANULLAH (1963–). Born in Takhar Province, Jaihun was educated at the International Islamic University of Islamabad in 1987 and the University of Technology in Peshawar in 1989. He then earned an M.A. degree in education from the University of Nebraska in 1990 and a Ph.D. degree in political science from the International University in Malaysia in 2009. He served as first secretary to the Afghan mission in Ankara, 1993–1995, and as chargé d’affaires in Vienna, Austria in 1996. From 1997 to 1999 he served as vice consul general in Berlin and from 2002 to 2005 he headed the Afghan mission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He headed the first political division in the Afghan foreign ministry prior to his appointment as Afghan ambassador to Australia in May 2007. He is married and has four children. JAJI. The Jaji are a tribe in Paktia Province estimated to number about 5,000 families. They are Sunnis and have engaged in occasional blood feuds with the neighboring Shi’i Turis. They have a reputation as good fighters. They supported the Sulaiman Khel in ousting King Amanullah and sided with Nadir Shah against Habibullah Kalakani. After 1930 many Jaji chiefs came to Kabul and, encouraged by Shah Mahmud Ghazi, established themselves in the trucking business. In the war in Afghanistan, the Jajis eventually allied themselves with the Mahaz of Gailani. JALALABAD (36-46' N, 65-52' E). Jalalabad is the administrative center of Nangarhar Province, which had an estimated 54,000 inhabitants in the 1970s, reportedly increased as a result of the influx of internal refugees to about 181,000. The population is largely Pashtun of Khugiani, Shinwari, Tirahi (Tira’i), Mohmand, and Ghilzai tribal background, in addition to Sikhs, Hindus, and some Tajiks and Sayyids. It had the largest community of Sikh and Hindu merchants (about 4,000) of any Afghan city. Situated at an altitude of 1,950 feet in a fertile valley watered by the Kabul and Kunar rivers some 90 miles east of Kabul, Jalalabad lies on the trade route to the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. Invaders passed through the Jalalabad Valley, including Alexander the Great (330 B.C.), Babur Shah (1504), and the British, who occupied the town in two Anglo-Afghan wars. Babur Shah, the founder of the Moghul (Mughal) Empire of India, first planted beautiful gardens in the area, and in 1560 A.D. his grandson Jalalud-din Akbar founded the town, hence its name Jalalabad. In the 19th century it was a walled town with about 2,000 inhabitants, whose numbers increased during the winter to some 20,000. In March 1989 mujahedin forces attacked the city but were unable to take it. The city was occupied by mujahedin groups after the fall of the Kabul government until the rise of the Taliban movement. See JALALABAD,
ATTACK ON. JALALABAD, ATTACK ON (1989). Soviet forces had left in February 1989, and Kunar was taken by the mujahedin. The time seemed ripe for the insurgents to progress from the stage of guerrilla to conventional warfare. Jalalabad seemed a suitable target for the first capture of a major Afghan city. It was located only about 37 miles from the Pakistan border and within easy access for reinforcement of men and munitions. If taken, the city could have served as the capital of the Afghan Interim Government (of 1984) to be recognized and openly assisted by its foreign supporters. Hamid Gul, director of Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was heavily involved in various stages of the campaign. In March the mujahedin gathered some 7,000 men in the area amid great publicity about their intended target. The men came primarily from Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s, Yunus Khales’s, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf’s, and Sayyid Ahmad Gailani’s forces, although other groups also participated. The garrison was estimated at about 4,500, and the defenses were under the command of General Delawar, the Afghan chief of staff. Minefields provided a secure perimeter, and munitions were collected in anticipation of the attack. The mujahedin seemed to be well supplied with heavy artillery and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), including the dreaded Stinger, and began their attack on 6 March 1989, proclaiming an amnesty for enemy soldiers in the hope of achieving massive defections. They quickly captured Samarkhel, an important post in the defense of the city, and rocketed the airport to prevent supplies from being brought in. But the fighting quickly bogged down. The mujahedin fought only during the daylight hours and returned to rear bases for the night. Commanders did not always coordinate their actions, Hekmatyar being the major culprit, and they failed to maintain the blockade of the road from Kabul, which permitted convoys to supply the city. High-altitude bombing and close air support by MiG-21s, as well as Scud missiles with 1,700 pounds of warheads, exacted a heavy toll on the mujahedin. In April the defenders were able to recapture the airport, and, after a 10-week-long siege, the Kabul government prevailed. On 10 May foreign journalists were permitted to visit Jalalabad to see that the mujahedin had been defeated with heavy losses. One source claims that some 5,000 casualties resulted on all sides, and most of the mujahedin casualties were caused by bombing and mines. On 4 July the Kabul government launched a surprise attack and consolidated its control of Samarkhel and the surrounding area, achieving a badly needed boost in morale for the Afghan army and permitting the Kabul regime to continue in power for another three years. It was only after the fall of Kabul in April 1992 that Jalalabad was taken by a council of mujahedin commanders. JALALABAD, SIEGE OF (1841–1842). During the siege of the Kabul cantonment in the First Anglo-Afghan War, Jalalabad became an important base for British-Indian troops. Sir Robert Sale, the commanding general, was unable to come to the rescue of the Kabul forces; therefore, he decided to remain and took possession of the town on 13 November 1841. He worked on reinforcing the walls and fortifications, having only some 1,600 troops and six guns to defend a perimeter of about 2,200 yards. On 15 November an Afghan force, estimated by British officers at about 5,000 tribesmen, surrounded the town but was initially dispersed;
however, the Afghans eventually captured the town, forcing the British brigade to withdraw into the citadel. On 6 January 1842, the Afghan commander demanded the British brigade to depart with honor to India in fulfillment of the Kabul Capitulation Treaty, but General Sale refused, not trusting the promise of safe conduct. On 19 February 1842, an earthquake destroyed the parapets, making a considerable breach in the ramparts, which had to be restored. Two days later, Sardar Akbar Khan attacked British foraging parties and established a rigorous blockade that lasted until 7 April. Various sallies succeeded in capturing livestock for provisions, but the native troops were put on half rations, and the camp followers on quarter rations. Starvation was averted when the British were able to capture a flock of 500 sheep and goats that had been grazing a little too close to the wall of the town. On 7 April, General Sale sallied out with virtually all his forces and defeated Muhammad Akbar’s army. According to British accounts, only 31 officers and men were killed and 131 wounded. On 16 April, General George Pollock reached the city practically unmolested. Before the British departed, they destroyed the defenses of Jalalabad. JALAL, DR. MASUDA (1964–). Born in Gulbahar, Kapisa Province, Dr. Jalal was the daughter of Alhaj Tellah Muhammad, of an educated Tajik family. She is originally from Khesatk of Jurm, Badakhshan, and received her primary and secondary education at Gulbahar High School. In 1982 she graduated from Rabia Balkhi High School and joined medical college the same year. Jalal earned her degree from the Kabul Medical Institute in 1988. In 1989 she started her service as an ear doctor at Maiwand Hospital and then was appointed to the mental health hospital. From 1993 to 1996, she was the women’s rights director of a women’s organization and a member of the children’s department at Kabul Medical Institute. In 1996 she worked for the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR), and afterward she was the health adviser of the UN World Food Program (UNWFP) and also a national program officer with that organization. She was appointed minister of women’s affairs in December 2004–2006. She was the only female candidate in the presidential elections. JALALI, ABDUL LATIF (1930–). Born in Ghazni, the son of Ghulam Jilani Jalali, Abdul Latif earned a B.A. degree from the faculty of law and political science at Kabul University, and a Ph.D. degree in history in the Soviet Union. He was president of Radio Afghanistan and president of administration of the Afghan Academy of Science since 1980. His mother tongue is Pashtu. JALALI, ALI AHMAD (1943–). Jalali attended higher command and staff colleges in the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union. Prior to his return to Afghanistan, he served as chief of Afghanistan Services of the Voice of America. He was a colonel in the Afghan army and a top military planner during the resistance to Soviet forces in Afghanistan. He is the author of a number of books on the Soviet military, a three-volume military history of Afghanistan, and, with Lester Grau, of The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War. Jalali was appointed minister of interior in January 2003, replacing Taj Muhammad Wardak, and again in December 2004 in the Hamid Karzai government. Jalali was charged with setting
up a 40,000-man police force for Afghanistan. He resigned in September 2005 and took a position as distinguished professor at the Center for Strategic Studies of the National Defense University. JALALI, GHULAM JILANI (1896–1980). A poet and writer, Jalali was born in Ibrahimzai, Shilgar, Ghazni, the son of Mir Abdul Sattar. He studied with his father until age 17 and moved to Kabul to attend the Shahi Madrasa and Sirajia School. He served as judge in Nijrab and as director of education in Qataghan and later Paktia province (1924–1928). Jalali was an official in the Department of Press (1929–1935) and a member of the Literary Society in Kabul, 1933. He became the director of the encyclopedia department at the Pashtu Academy (1943) and director of the Dar al-Ulum-i Arabi, 1945. Jalali served as teacher in the faculty of law of Kabul University (1946–1957). Finally he was the director of the Department of Information and Culture and of the newspaper Sanayi, Ghazni (1950–1957). He retired in 1957 and died in 1980. JAM (34-21' N, 64-30' E). A village in Ghor Province west of Chaghcharan. Near the village stands a 190-foot-high minaret, which was discovered by the governor of Herat and studied by a French archaeologist in 1958. The minaret was constructed in the 12th century under the Ghorid ruler Ghias ud-Din and is located in a desolated area. The geometric design of the brickwork can still be recognized, and kufic inscriptions from the Koran give the sura (verse) of Mary, mother of Jesus. JAMA’AT-I ISLAMI. The Jama’at is a Pakistani political organization, founded by Maulana Abu’l-Ala Maududi (1903–1979) in 1940, that advocates the establishment of an Islamic state patterned after the early Islamic community. Olivier Roy, a French scholar (1986), characterized the Jama’at as an elite religio-political society, similar to the Opus Dei. It is Pan-Islamic in nature and looks at the Muslim community as one nation (umma), rejecting nationalism and ethnicity as contrary to the concept of Islamic brotherhood. The Jama’at opposed the creation of Pakistan and favors union with Afghanistan as a first step in reestablishing the Islamic umma. Zia-ul-Haq, the Pakistani president, tried to implement some of Maududi’s ideas. The Jama’at has strongly supported the forces of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and other Islamist mujahedin groups in Afghanistan, in preference to the nationalist and traditionalist groups. JAMAL PASHA (JEMAL, d. 1922). A member of the Ottoman ruling triumvirate, Jamal Pasha served as minister of the navy and governor of Syria during World War I. On 27 October 1920, he came with a small staff to Afghanistan to escape extradition for “war crimes.” He took charge of the reorganization of the Afghan army and restored the “Qita Namuna,” an elite force, comprising a battalion of infantry and a regiment of cavalry. Jamal Pasha was responsible for reinstituting and expanding the hated hasht-nafari recruitment system and other unpopular reforms. He left Afghanistan with some members of his staff in September 1921 and was assassinated by an Armenian near Tiflis on 21 July 1922.
JAMALUDDIN AFGHANI. See AFGHANI, SAYYID JAMALUDDIN. JAM’IAT-I ISLAMI-YI AFGHANISTAN. The Islamic Society of Afghanistan, headed since 1971 by Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani and since 1978 a mujahedin force that fought the Marxist government. It was one of the seven mujahedin groups accorded recognition by Pakistan and was headquartered in Peshawar. It is largely non-Pashtun in membership. Affiliated commanders controlled areas in northeastern, northern, and western Afghanistan. They included Ahmad Shah Mas’ud, in the Panjshir Valley, and Muhammad Isma’il Khan, who operated in Herat Province. The party is Islamist in orientation and favors the establishment of an Islamic state. In spite of their common ideological origin, the Jam’iat was in a virtual state of war with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i Islami. On 9 July 1989 a group of mostly Jam’iat commanders returning from a strategy meeting with Commander Mas’ud in Takhar Province were attacked and killed, some of them after they were captured alive. In October 1990, Commander Mas’ud came to Peshawar and approved a reconciliation between Jam’iat and Hizb, but it was not until May 1996 that an agreement was signed, and Hekmatyar came to Kabul to assume the position of prime minister. The barely formed government was expelled from Kabul in September by the Taliban. JAM’IAT-I ULAMA. The jam’iat is a consultative body of ulama (scholars of Islamic sciences) founded by Nadir Shah in 1931 to judge the constitutionality of laws. For a time this council had considerable powers, as all new laws had to be submitted to it; but its powers waned after Muhammad Daud became prime minister in 1953, and it became a rubber-stamp legitimizing body of Afghan governments. It published a journal called Al-Falah (Salvation). After the Saur Revolt, remaining members of the council issued fatwas (legal decisions) that recognized Nur Muhammad Taraki as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan and authorized “jihad” against the “Ikhwanis,” Islamist mujahedin groups. JAMILURRAHMAN, MAULAWI HUSAIN (JAMIL AL-RAHMAN, 1933–1991). Born in the Pech district of Kunar Province of a Safi tribal family, Jamilurrahman received a traditional education. In the early 1970s, he became a member of Jam’iat-i Islami and took part in armed attacks against the government of President Muhammad Daud. After the Saur Revolt (1978) he joined the Hizb-i Islami of Hekmatyar and was until 1982 his amir in Kunar Province. Eventually he broke with Hekmatyar and ousted other mujahedin groups from his area. He issued decrees allowing only bearded men to enter his territory and prohibited the consumption of tobacco in all its forms. He was the amir of the Jama’at-i Da’wa, an Islamist movement whose members call themselves salafis or ahl-i hadith but were popularly called “Wahhabis.” He captured most of Kunar Province and proclaimed an “Islamic Amirate,” which he ruled for a time to the exclusion of other mujahedin groups. On 20 April 1991 an explosion at his Asadabad headquarters so decimated the ranks of his followers (including numerous Pakistanis and Arabs) that Hekmatyar’s forces, supported by commanders of other groups, were able to capture Asadabad and expel most of the “Wahhabis” from Kunar Province. Muhammad Husain, alias Jamilurrahman, was assassinated by an Egyptian in Pakistan. One Maulawi Sami’ullah
succeeded as leader of the remnant of the party until it was ousted from power in September 1996 by the Taliban. JAMI, MULLA NUR-UD-DIN ABDUL RAHMAN (1414–1492). Jami was the last great poet of classical Persian, a scholar, and a mystic who was born in Jam (now Khorasan Province of Iran), which was then under the political control of Herat. Afghans consider Jami a native son because he lived in Herat at the court of Sultan Baiqara where he enjoyed the friendship and support of the wazir Ali-Shir Nawa’i (1469–1506). Jami died in Herat in 1492. JAMSHIDI. The Jamshidis are one of the Chahar Aimaq communities, variously estimated to number from 40,000 to 80,000 people, concentrated in western Badghis and in smaller groups in Herat and southern Fariab provinces. They trace their name to Jamshid, their purported eponymic ancestor, and call themselves Kayanis, claiming descent from the legendary preIslamic Kayan kings of Sistan. According to some sources their name is a corruption of jamshoda, which means “collected together.” A member of the Jamshidi clan was put in charge of the district of Badghis by Shah Abbas (r. 1642–1668), and Khushi Khan, contemporary of Nadir Shah Afshar, was the first chief of the Jamshidi tribe. The Jamshidis are Hanafi Sunnis and speak Dari. JARAR, GHULAM RAHMAN (1912–). A Pashtu poet, Jarar was born in Chaparhar, Nangarhar Province, the son of Mirza Mia Jan and educated privately and at Najm alMudares, Hadda. He became editor of Iqtisad and assistant editor of Ittihad-i Mashriqi. Jarar served as speaker on Radio Kabul (1947–1957) and subsequently as deputy director of the translation department of the Bakhtar News Agency. He was a member of the Pashtu Academy and editor of Haiwad. JAT. The Jat are Gypsy-like groups of Sunni itinerants who call themselves Ghorbat (travelers) and make a living as musicians, dancers, and fortune-tellers and therefore are considered to be of low status. Their women engage in door-to-door selling of small bazaar items. They belong to six different ethnic groups and speak various dialects, some of Iranian and others of Indian origin. Their number has been estimated as from 9,000 to 12,000, scattered all over the country. JAWAD, SAID TAYEB (1958–). Born in Kandahar, the son of Mir Husain Shah (onetime dean of the faculty of literature, Kabul University), Jawad was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and Kabul University with a degree in law and political science. In 1980 he left Afghanistan and studied law at the Westfälischen Wilhelms Universität in Münster, Germany. In 1986 he moved to New York to work for a Wall Street law firm, and in 1989 he moved to San Francisco where he graduated with an M.B.A. degree from Golden Gate University. He returned to Afghanistan in March 2002 and became President Hamid Karzai’s press secretary and in June Karzai’s chief of staff. In October 2003 he was appointed Afghan ambassador to Washington and presented his credentials to Secretary of State Colin Powell on 4 December 2003. Jawad served in this position for about seven years (2003–2010). After the end of his
assignment he remained in the United States and became affiliated with Harvard University. He is married to Shamim, who worked with an investment firm in San Francisco, and has one son, Iman. Jawad is fluent in English, German, French, Dari, and Pashtu. JAWID, NI’AMAT EHSAN (1960–). Born in the Nadi Ali district of Helmand Province, Jawid got his primary and secondary education in Helmand and Kandahar provinces and moved to Germany in 1980, where he obtained a B.A. degree in transportation engineering in 1986. He was employed by the Ministry of Aviation and Tourism, and from 1991 to 1994 as transport director at the Ministry of Economy. He was employed with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul, 1994 to 2000, and from 2000 to 2004 with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). In 2005 he served as president of foreign relations in the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. He was appointed minister of transport and aviation in the Hamid Karzai government of March 2006, replacing Gul Husain Ahmadi who did not gain parliamentary approval. He is married and has one son and a daughter. JEWS. Jews arrived in Afghanistan in the early 18th century, apparently under Nadir Shah Afshar who also settled Armenians to stimulate commerce. Others came after the Bolshevik Revolution. They settled in Herat and later in Kabul and other towns and were permitted to make a livelihood as shopkeepers and money changers. They had the right to practice their religion and did not have to obey Afghan dietary and religious observances (although their women also were veiled). After the founding of Israel, most left Afghanistan, but a core of some 80 families remained. It was only after the Soviet intervention and the ensuing civil war that all left. The last member of the community, the 70-year-old Izhak Levi, was born in Herat. His family left for Israel in 1992 and settled in Tel Aviv, but the rabbi stayed behind. He was jailed by the Taliban regime and forced to convert to Islam, and the Ministry of Interior confiscated his Torah. But he claims to have kept his faith. Levi died in January 2005 and was succeeded by Zawlan (Zablon) Simantov, who came to Afghanistan only recently. He is the only resident Jew left. JEZAIL. The jezail is a long-barreled musket with a thin, curved butt that was the major Afghan firearm during the 19th century and can still be seen in the arms bazaars of the country. It was muzzle loaded and therefore required several minutes to prepare, but it is said to have had greater accuracy and could outrange the British muskets (Sir Charles Napier claimed the musket was, on balance, the better weapon; Macrory 1966, 170). A jezailchi (rifleman) would carry several jezails on his horse and fire them in rapid succession, after which he would retire or join the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. It was the major Afghan firearm during the Anglo-Afghan wars and was eventually replaced by the breech-loading Martini-Henry and other rifles of foreign and domestic manufacture. JIGDALAK, MUHAMMAD ANWAR. Jigdalak was appointed mayor of Kabul in 2003, president of the National Olympic Committee from 2003 to 2005, and served as adviser to President Hamid Karzai in 2006. He was appointed minister of parliamentary affairs in 2009.
He is an ethnic Tajik. JIHAD. Literally, jihad means a “great effort,” but generally “holy war.” Traditionally it was the obligation to fight against “unbelievers” until they accepted Islam or submitted to Islamic rule. Monotheists with a sacred book, like Christians and Jews, were not forced to convert and enjoyed the status of protected subjects (dhimmis). A Muslim who dies in jihad is a martyr, shahid, and is assured of paradise. During jihad, all tribal hostilities must temporarily stop. Muslim modernists quote a Koranic passage: “Fight in the Way of God against those who fight against you, but do not commit aggression,” maintaining that the obligation of jihad was binding only for the early Islamic period and that the “greater jihad” means inwardly waging war against the carnal soul—a kind of moral imperative. With the downfall of the Marxist government in April 1992, the jihad ended, and a civil war for political power between the mujahedin began. JIRGA. A tribal council, jirga, has legislative and juridical authority in the name of the tribal community. Although the Afghan government claims exclusive jurisdiction, it permits Pashtun tribes in the border areas to resolve internal disputes in their traditional manner. Jirgas can be composed of chiefs and notables or of adult male members of a tribe. A chief, or respected graybeard, leads the discussion, and votes are weighed according to the importance of the individual rather than being counted. The decision of a jirga is binding on all members of the tribe. Jirgas also resolve intratribal disputes, often with the mediation of a respected member of the ulama (clergy) or pirs (leaders of mystical orders). In times of national emergency, Afghan rulers have convened a Loya Jirga (Great Council), which includes representatives from all parts of the country. Its decisions thus become an expression of the “national will.” JOYA, MUHAMMAD SARWAR (1898–1961). Joya was born the son of Haji Mirza Ghulam Hussain (a Sarishtadar, head of the finance department) of a Shi’i family from Chendawol. A writer and poet, he learned printing in the Soviet Union and Iran. He was a clerk at King Amanullah’s court (1919–1924) and founded the Danesh Printing Press in Herat, acting as its director until 1928. He served as editor of Ittefa’q-i Islam (Consensus of Islam) in Herat (1928–1930). He was wounded by a supporter of King Nadir in 1930. Joya joined the literary association of Mohayuddin Anis (1931–1932) and was briefly editor of Anis. Joya became a member of the Literary Society in Kabul in 1933. Jailed in 1933 for anti-Nadir writings, he was released after 13 years by Prime Minister Shah Mahmud Ghazi in 1946. He was appointed director general of the cooperative depot and in 1948 was elected deputy mayor of Kabul. He was a founder of Watan. He was jailed again in 1952 and died in prison in 1961. JOZJAN (JOWZJAN) (36-30' N, 66-0' E). Jozjan is a province in north-central Afghanistan with an area of 10,126 square miles and an estimated population of about 441,000. The administrative center of the province is Shiberghan with some 146,000 inhabitants. The province is rich in mineral resources; oil and natural gas have been discovered at Khwaja Gugirdak and Jarquduq, near Shiberghan, and reserves of natural gas have been estimated at
500 trillion cubic feet. A pipeline transporting natural gas to the Soviet Union was completed in 1968 and, except for a limited amount of local use in the production of fertilizer, delivered to the Soviet Union below world market rates. One reason for this was, no doubt, the fact that the Soviet Union was the only feasible trading partner. JOZJANIS. The Jozjanis are a militia composed largely of Uzbeks from Jozjan Province, numbering about 3,000 to 4,000 men in the 1980s, who served the Kabul government as a reliable and effective force in southern and western Afghanistan. They replaced the Soviet troops in Kandahar, where they protected the airport. After the fall of Kabul to the mujahedin, the Jozjanis seemed to merge with the Uzbek forces of General Abdul Rashid Dostum and became one of the contenders for control of portions of Kabul. They first helped Jam’iat-i Islami to capture Kabul and subsequently pulled out of the city at the insistence of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in a deal with Burhanuddin Rabbani. Later, they joined Hekmatyar when Rabbani was unwilling to include Abdul Rashid Dostum in his government. The Jozjanis were feared as a fierce and unruly mercenary army and appear to be the defenders of Uzbek ethnic interests in present-day Afghanistan. They were part of General Dostum’s army in north-central Afghanistan. JUDICIARY. See ISLAMIC LAW. JUM’A. The day of “general assembly,” Friday is the Islamic Sabbath, when Muslims attend religious services, preferably in a major mosque, often referred to as the Jum’a (or Friday) Mosque. A sermon, khutba, is read on Friday in the name of the ruler, or, in case of rebellion, the ruler’s name is omitted or replaced by the name of the rebel. Therefore it also has political significance. JUMHURIAT (REPUBLIC). Jumhuriat was the name of a daily newspaper that temporarily replaced Anis after President Muhammad Daud proclaimed the republic in 1973. It was the official organ of the republican government and ceased to exist after the Marxist coup of 1978. JUNBESH-I MILLI-YI ISLAMI. See DOSTUM, GENERAL ABDUL RASHID.
K KABUL (34-31’ N, 69-12’ E). Kabul is the capital and largest city in Afghanistan, situated at an altitude of almost 6,000 feet. It is also a province with an area of 1,822 square miles and a population of some 4,380,000. In 1978 the city had some 500,000 inhabitants, but this number has increased, as a result of natural growth and the influx of refugees from rural areas, to 2,670,000 people. Kabul is strategically located in a valley surrounded by high mountains and at the crossroads of north–south and east–west trade routes. Therefore, it has been the site of towns since antiquity, called Kubha in the Rigveda (about 1500 B.C.) and Kabura by Ptolemy (second century A.D.). Muslim Arabs under Abdul Rahman Samurah captured Kabul in the middle of the seventh century, but it took the Islamic invaders another 200 years before the Hindu rulers of Kabul were finally ousted. Kabul continued to be disputed, resulting in much destruction, until Islam was definitely established under the Saffarid dynasty (ninth century A.D.). The city was part of the Ghaznavid Empire to suffer again from Genghis Khan’s hordes (13th century A.D.). Kabul became the capital of a province of the Moghul (Mughal) Empire, whose founder, Babur Shah, is buried on the eastern slope of the Shir Darwaza Mountain. In 1775– 1776, Timur Shah made Kabul his capital, and Afghan amirs ruled henceforth from that city. In the 19th century, Kabul endured British occupation during the two Anglo-Afghan wars and suffered considerable destruction. The city includes the old town, between the northern slope of the Shir Darwaza Mountain and Kabul River, and a new town (shahr-i nau) begun in 1935. A large wall, 20 feet high and 12 feet thick, parts of which archaeologists believe to date from the fifth century A.D., still stands. It extends to the Bala Hisar, the citadel, an imposing fortress that was destroyed by the British in 1878 and rebuilt to serve as a garrison and military college in 1939. Afghan amirs resided in the Bala Hisar until Amir Abdul Rahman constructed the Arg, a walled palace, in the center of town. At the beginning of the 20th century, Amir Habibullah further modernized the town, providing electricity for the Arg and eventually for other parts of the town. In the 1920s the city had about 60,000 inhabitants. King Amanullah constructed his own capital in Darulaman, about six miles from the center of town, with several government buildings and an imposing parliament building. Members of the royal court and high government officials built their villas in the new capital, but after Amanullah’s fall from power, the center of government moved back into town. The city grew rapidly after World War II with the addition of new quarters. Karta-yi Chahar (the Fourth District) was developed in 1942, followed by Khairkhana in the northwest, Nur Muhammad Shah Mina east of the old town, Nadir Shah Mina to the northeast, Wazir Akbar Khan east of Shahr-i Nau, and Khushhal Khan Mina. In 1953 the Jada-yi Maiwand (Maiwand Street) was drawn through the old city, followed by paved avenues, villas, high-rise buildings, and prefabricated apartment complexes that replaced much of the old town. With assistance from the Soviet Union, the streets were paved, and a grain silo and bakery were constructed.
A network of paved roads connects Kabul via the Salang Pass tunnel to the north, via the Tang-i Gharu (Gharu Gorge) to Pakistan, and via Kandahar and Herat to Iran. Hydroelectric power stations in Sarobi (1957), Mahipar, and Naghlu (1966) provided electricity for the city. Soviet-style city planning and the construction of prefabricated apartment complexes have given parts of the town the appearance of a Soviet Central Asian town. Since the late 18th century, Kabul has been the seat of political power and is still the preeminent city in Afghanistan. Its population increased to more than two million as a result of domestic migration. After the mujahedin conquest of Kabul in April 1992, large areas of the city were destroyed as a result of fighting between contending powers. The Taliban controlled Kabul, and after their fall the city became an island of relative peace, protected by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the American armed forces. Eight years after the American intervention, the security situation has become worse. KABUL BANK. In early 2011, Kabul Bank, Afghanistan’s largest private bank, was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was accused of corruption, making bad loans, and mismanagement. Close to $600 million cannot be accounted for. The bank handles 70 percent of the state operating budget and billions in aid, as well as the salaries of 300,000 Afghan civil servants and the security forces. Several shareholders are high Afghan government officials, and privileged Afghans obtained loans to engage in Dubai housing speculation, building luxury villas in the United Arab Emirates for resale, after they appreciated in value. When the housing bubble burst, investors lost much of their money and could not repay their loans. Steps are underway to remedy the economic problem. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended that the bank be placed in receivership before being sold or closed. KABUL MUSEUM. The museum is an important repository of archeological and ethnographic collections of the Hellenistic, Greco-Buddhist, Ghaznavid, and subsequent periods. Its main collection, workshop, and offices were housed in the former municipality building, constructed under King Amanullah in Darulaman. The museum was unique in scope, housing some 20,000 artifacts of the Gandharan school; about 40,000 coins from the eighth century B.C. to the 19th century, the largest collection in the world; and priceless manuscripts. During the regime of Hafizullah Amin some of the contents were removed but later returned to the museum. In 1989, some of the most valuable items were on display in a small building in the Arg, and portions of the ethnographic materials were relocated to a separate museum. It was feared that as a result of the war in Afghanistan some of the treasures might be lost, but the Kabul government claims that all the contents have been preserved. It was only after the mujahedin conquest that much was destroyed or plundered. In May 1993 rockets pounded the museum and destroyed parts of the upper floor, and subsequently the museum was on the front line of mujahedin fighting. Soon thereafter, artifacts appeared in Peshawar and on the international antique market. The Bactrian Treasure, a collection of 21,000 gold objects, discovered by Soviet/Afghan archaeologists in 1978, was kept hidden in a bank vault and is now on exhibit in several American cities. In March 2001, after Mulla Omar issued a fatwa, numerous statues left in the museum were destroyed.
KABUL RIVER (33-55’ N, 72-14’ E). The Kabul River rises on the eastern slopes of the Sanglakh range near the Unai Pass, about 45 miles west of Kabul. It flows in an easterly direction past Kabul and through the Tang-i Gharu to Dargai, Jalalabad, and on to Dakka where it enters Pakistan territory and finally runs into the Indus at Attock after a course of about 350 miles. It is the only Afghan river system that flows into an ocean. Major tributaries in Afghanistan include the Panjshir, Logar, Surkhab, Laghman, and Kunar rivers. Much of the upper part of the river is used for irrigation; therefore it is almost dry during the summer months. It becomes a sizable river only below the confluence, east of Kabul, of its four major tributaries. KABUL TIMES, THE. The Times is an English-language, daily newspaper, published under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Culture in Kabul since 1962. Before that time, diplomats and foreign residents depended on newsletters in various languages, published by embassies and the Ministry of Information and Culture. The ministry subsidized the paper and provided the physical plant but at times permitted the paper a measure of autonomy. After the Saur Revolt (April 1978) it became a mouthpiece of the Marxist government. President Nur Muhammad Taraki changed the name of the paper to The Kabul New Times to reflect the new ideology in Kabul. In the process of discarding ideological trappings, the Parchami regime restored the paper’s former title. After the capture of Kabul by mujahedin forces, the newspaper ceased to exist, but it has again been revived and has existed since 2002. KABUL, TREATY OF. See ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1921. KABUL UNIVERSITY. Kabul University is the major educational institution in Afghanistan. It was founded in 1932 with the establishment of the school of medicine with French and Turkish professors. Faculties of law and political science (1938), natural sciences (1941), economics (1957), home economics (1962), education (1962), engineering (1963), and pharmacy (1963) were eventually added. The university was officially inaugurated in 1946, when a president was appointed by the Ministry of Education and an academic senate was formed. In 1965, a university law was passed that provided for autonomous governance under an elected president. A new campus was constructed with American financial assistance in 1964, and two years later the Soviet-directed Polytechnic Institute was completed. Foreign countries participated in the development of education. The departments of agriculture, education, and engineering were affiliated with American universities; law and political science enjoyed French support; and a consortium of German institutions was affiliated with the faculties of science and economics. The faculty of theology established links with Al-Azhar University of Egypt. Outstanding graduates of Kabul University won fellowships to continue their studies at affiliated institutions. In the 1960s, Kabul University became a center of political discourse and a training ground for cadres of the entire political spectrum. About half the student body lived in dormitories on campus. The leadership of the Islamist, Marxist, and nationalist parties emerged from its campus, where they would hone their oratorical skills and engage in verbal abuse and often physical violence. Therefore, the Afghan government in 1968 banned political
activities on campus. After the Saur Revolt, the curriculum of Kabul University was changed to conform to Soviet models, and Russian became the favored foreign language. Because of the need for manpower in the 1980s, graduates were at times recruited directly from campus. Therefore, the student body was greatly reduced in numbers (from 8,500 in 1976) and in 1990 was said to be 70 percent female. Of 800 teachers in the 1970s, only 350 remained in the late 1980s. Politics interfered in admissions and academic policies; nevertheless, the university campus continued to be a volatile center of student protest. After the fall of the capital to the mujahedin, the university grounds became a battlefield of rivaling groups, and sporadic attempts to open the university were unsuccessful until Jam’iat established control over the city in 1994. After the American intervention in 2001, Kabul University was reopened and has again become the major Afghan university, including faculties of law and political science, science, engineering, pharmacy, agriculture, veterinary science, journalism, and the newly established Allama Iqbal faculty of arts. Partnerships with foreign universities, including the University of Arizona and Purdue University, have helped with donations of funds, books, and other resources. Since the establishment of the Hamid Karzai government, chancellors of Kabul University include Muhammad Akbar Popal, 2002–2004; Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, 2005–2008; Abdul Rahman Ashraf, 2008; and Hamidullah Amin, 2009. Newly founded universities and institutes of higher education now exist in virtually all provinces of Afghanistan, including the American University of Afghanistan. KAFIR. “Coverer,” it is one who hides, or covers up, the truth—an unbeliever, polytheist, and idol worshiper who is condemned to eternal hellfire. Heretics and apostates from Islam were at times killed. Christians and Jews, as well as other monotheists and peoples of a revealed scripture, are not kafirs. They were protected subjects who, on payment of a poll tax, enjoyed freedom of religion and property, although in popular terminology they are often included in the term of kafirs. KAFIR WARS (1896). In his biography, Amir Abdul Rahman gave the reasons for his action as necessitated by Russian penetration of the Pamir region and British control of eastern Kafiristan. If Kafiristan remained independent, the Russians (or British) might want to annex it, and, since Panjshir, Laghman, and Jalalabad once belonged to the Kafirs, the Russians “might persuade them to reclaim their old possessions.” Furthermore, the warlike Kafirs would always pose a threat when the amir was engaged in fighting an enemy elsewhere. The Kafirs had continuously raided into Afghan provinces and had to be stopped once and for all (Khan 1901, 238–292). The amir decided to start his campaign in the winter, when snow cover would prevent the Kafirs from seeking the safety of their mountain retreats. If the passes were open, the Kafirs could retreat into Russian territory and seek the support of that power. The war had to be short, before the neighboring powers could react and the Christian missionaries could make “unnecessary trouble.” In fall 1895, Abdul Rahman organized an army under Captain Muhammad Ali Khan, whose
main force proceeded through Panjshir to Kullum; another force under General Ghulam Haidar Charkhi approached Kafiristan from the direction of Asmar and Chitral; and a third force under General Katal Khan approached the area from Badakhshan. A smaller, fourth force proceeded from Laghman, under its governor, Faiz Muhammad Charkhi. Since all four bases were near the Afghan border, the movement of troops did not raise any suspicions of what was to come; suddenly in the winter of 1895 the four armies, supplemented by tribal levies, attacked simultaneously and conquered Kafiristan within 40 days. The Kafirs did not have a chance. Their weapons consisted primarily of spears, bows and arrows, and a few rifles, and their numbers, about 60,000, were no match against the amir’s army, which was divided into well-equipped artillery, cavalry, and infantry branches. Some Kafir prisoners were settled in Paghman, and after conversion to Islam, a large number of their youth were trained for military service. Within a few years, all Kafirs were converted to Islam, and in 1906 Amir Habibullah changed the name of the country to Nuristan, the “Country Enlightened by the Light of Islam.” This conquest greatly increased the reputation of the amir as the Islamic king of a unified and solidly Muslim state. In commemoration of this victory, Abdul Rahman’s general left behind the following inscription: “In the reign of Amir Abdul Rahman Ghazi, in 1896, the whole of Kafiristan, including Kullum, was conquered by him, and the inhabitants embraced the true and holy religion of Islam. [A Koranic inscription added:] Righteousness and virtue have come, and untruth has disappeared.” KAFIRISTAN (35-30’ N, 70-45’ E). The “Land of the Infidels” was an area in eastern Afghanistan that, since 1906, has been called Nuristan, the “Land of Light,” meaning the illumination from Islam that was brought into the area by conquest in 1896. The Kafirs, estimated at about 60,000 in the 1880s, had still preserved their traditional culture and religion, but spoke a number of related and mutually unintelligible languages. Only at the fringes of their territory had some converted to Islam when Amir Abdul Rahman decided to integrate them into Afghanistan, although today all Nuristanis are Muslims. The Kafirs had a reputation as excellent fighters, and their mountainous, forested country had given them a refuge from their Islamic neighbors. When the Durand Agreement of 1893 included the larger part of Kafiristan within Afghan territory, Amir Abdul Rahman lost little time in taking control. See also KAFIR WARS. KAJAKAI DAM (32-2’ N, 65-11’ E). The Kajakai Dam was built, as part of the Helmand Valley irrigation and electrification project, by the Idaho-based Morrison-Knudsen Company. The dam is 300 feet high, 887 feet long, and stores a reservoir that is 32 miles long and has a capacity of 1,495,000 acre-feet of water. It was completed in April 1953 and is partially destroyed as a result of the civil war. The dam was again bombed in 2001 by the United States and threatened by Taliban forces in 2007. See also HELMAND VALLEY AUTHORITY. KAKAR. The Kakar are a Pashtun tribe that claims descent from Kak or Kakar. It is loosely organized into four divisions, all located across the Afghan border in Pakistan, south and
southeast of Kandahar: the Sanzar Khel, located in the Zhob Valley as well as in Pishin and Loralai; the Sanatia, who live primarily in the Quetta-Pishin district; the Targhara, in Pishin district; and the Sarghara, also in Pishin. The Kakars were merchant nomads (see POWINDAH) and traveled seasonally far into India. KALA-I-NAO HAZARA. See HAZARA. KALAKANI, ABDUL MAJID (1939–1980). A poet and writer and one of the founders of the Marxist Shu’la-yi Javid (Eternal Flame) party, Kalakani was born at Kalakan in Kuhdaman district (north of Kabul). A biography, published by his organization, states that his father and grandfather were hanged but does not give any details. He went with members of his family into exile in Kandahar. After the Marxist takeover, he was one of the founders of the Organization for the Liberation of the Afghan People (SAMA—Sazman-i Azadibakhsh-i Mardum-i Afghanistan) and the United National Front of Afghanistan. SAMA was an underground movement whose aim was the formation of a working-class party, a united front with like-minded groups, and the creation of a “people’s army.” It opposed the Pashtundominated People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. On 27 February 1980, Kalakani was arrested and was executed on 8 June. His brother Abdul Qayyum Rahbar (born in 1942 and educated at Al-Azhar) succeeded to the leadership of SAMA but was killed by unknown assailants on 27 January 1990 in Peshawar. According to party declarations, SAMA advocates the establishment of a “national democratic” government with universal suffrage, the protection of human rights, and freedom of worship. It favors a federated state and the protection of minorities and denies that it is a Maoist party. It split and became a party of exiles. KALAKANI, AMIR HABIBULLAH. See HABIBULLAH KALAKANI, AMIR. KALANTAR. The term for an official, during the reign of Amir Abdul Rahman, the kalantar was to preserve law and order in urban areas. He was (similar to the official known as muhtasib) responsible for dealing with minor offenses and had powers of arresting an offender. He was also in charge of producing lists of names of all males age 16 to 28 in his district for the purpose of establishing a pool of possible recruits for the police force. The kalantar was chosen by the community, unlike the muhtasib, who was chosen by a judge (qazi). KALASHNIKOV, MIKHAIL T. (1919–). Kalashnikov was born on 10 November 1919 in Kurya Altay Territory. He is a Russian general and the creator of the Kalashnikov automatic rifle, which is famous for its reliability in combat conditions. The name AK-47 stands for the initials of Avtomat Kalashnikov and for the year of its selection in a statewide competition in 1947. It was first mass produced in 1949 in Izhevsk, a town in the western Ural Mountains specializing in weapons production. General Kalashnikov celebrated his 85th birthday in Izhevsk in November 2004 and said he is going to write a book, because “books are now more important than weapons.” The AK-47 and copies of it are now widely used all over the world. For all factions in the Afghan wars, it became a weapon of choice.
KAM. The Workers Intelligence Institute (Da Kargarano Istikhbarat-i Mu’assasa), KAM was established by President Hafizullah Amin to succeed AGSA, the security service of President Nur Muhammad Taraki, with minor changes in personnel. It was headed by Aziz Ahmad Akbari for two months (August–September 1979) and then by Hafizullah’s nephew, Asadullah Amin, who was killed with Hafizullah on 27 December 1979. Akbari is the nephew of Asadullah Sarwari, who joined him in virtual exile as first secretary at the Afghan embassy at Ulan Bator, Mongolia. See also AFGHAN SECURITY SERVICE; KHAD. KAMRAN, PRINCE (d. 1842). Kamran was the son of Mahmud Shah (r. 1800–1803 and 1809–1817) and “King of Herat” after the death of his father in 1830. During the wars of succession, following the ouster of Zaman Shah, Kamran supported his father, who became Afghan king in 1800. Kamran recovered Peshawar for his father and was appointed governor of Kandahar. When his father was defeated by Shah Shuja in 1803, Kamran was driven from the city by Qaisar, son of Zaman Shah, and forced to seek safety in Herat. During the second reign of Mahmud Shah he established himself in Herat where Fateh (Fath) Khan, the oldest son of Painda Khan, was wazir. Kamran was ambitious and resented the power of the wazir; he therefore had him blinded and subsequently killed. This started a struggle for power between the Sadozai and Muhammadzai branches of the Durrani tribe, resulting in the fall of the Sadozai dynasty. In 1818 Dost Muhammad captured the Kabul throne, and in 1819 Mahmud Shah proclaimed himself king at Herat and made Kamran his wazir. Mahmud Shah died in 1829 under mysterious circumstances and was succeeded by Kamran. Kamran had the reputation of being a cruel and power-hungry man; he eventually ignored the conduct of the affairs of state and delegated much authority to his wazir, Yar Muhammad Alekozai. Trying to reassert his power, he made preparations to rid himself of the wazir but was captured and killed in 1842, after ruling Herat for 12 years. He was the last of the Sadozai rulers. KANDAHAR (QANDAHAR) (31-35’ N, 64-45’ E). Kandahar is a city and a province in south-central Afghanistan with an area of 19,062 square miles and the city has a population of 886,000, the second largest town in Afghanistan lying at an elevation of 3,050 feet and comprising an area of 15 square miles. In the late 1970s the city counted about 178,000 inhabitants, which number has since grown to about 459,000. Its strategic location has made it a desirable spot for settlements since ancient times. It was the capital of Afghanistan from 1747 until 1775, when Timur Shah established his capital at Kabul. It is one of the major Pashtun cities and is inhabited mostly by Durranis, but it also has a Hazara population and Afghans of other ethnic groups. The old, walled town, of which only traces remain, was built by Timur Shah. The mausoleum of Ahmad Shah, founder of modern Afghanistan, is one of the major architectural features, as is the mosque of the Khirqa Sharif, where the cloak of the Prophet Muhammad is believed to be kept under lock and key. The city was part of the Achaemenid Empire of Darius I (521–485 B.C.). It was rebuilt by Alexander the Great in 329 B.C., hence the name Kandahar, a corruption of Iskander, the Eastern name for Alexander. Muslim Arabs conquered Kandahar in the seventh century. Thereafter, Kandahar formed part of various Islamic kingdoms.
In the 16th century the city was disputed between the rulers of the Safavid and Moghul empires until Mir Wais, a Ghilzai chief of Kandahar, revolted against Safavid control and began the process that led to the establishment of Afghanistan in 1747. British forces occupied the city in two Anglo-Afghan wars and suffered one of their severest defeats nearby in the Battle of Maiwand (27 July 1880), when Sardar Muhammad Ayub wiped out a British brigade under General G. R. S. Burrows. When Russian troops evacuated the city in spring 1989, Kandahar was controlled by a council of various parties, most prominent among whom was Gul Agha Sherzai, the governor from 1992 until 1994 when the Taliban made it their “capital.” After the United States intervention, Gul Agha took control of the province, but Kandahar came again under Kabul control when the Afghan army established a regional command headquarters in September 2004. After eight years of foreign intervention, Taliban and al-Qaeda forces have resumed guerrilla activities, which has rendered the city again more insecure. KANDAHAR, BATTLES OF (1834). In the battles for succession, ex-king Shah Shuja marched in May 1834 from Shikarpur on the Indus River in present-day Pakistan and advanced on Kandahar. He defeated Kohandil Khan at the Khojak Pass and laid siege to Kandahar. It was a murderous engagement that seriously weakened both the defenders of the city and Shah Shuja’s forces. The walled city was surrounded by large gardens, each enclosed in a wall and intersected by numerous irrigation channels, which greatly impeded the mobility of the cavalry, of which both forces were composed. Soldiers trapped in enclosures fought to the end, resulting in enormous casualties. On 29 June, Shah Shuja led a sustained attack but was eventually forced to retire when Amir Dost Muhammad came to the rescue of the besieged city. The butchery lasted for 54 days and is said to have cost the lives of about 16,000 men. William Campbell, alias Shir Muhammad Khan, was captured by Dost Muhammad’s forces and entered the services of the amir. During the First Anglo-Afghan War, the Army of the Indus took possession of the city on 20 April 1839, without any resistance. All was quiet, but in September 1841 Afghan ghazis cut the city’s link with Ghazni, and by March 1842 tribal forces closed in on the city. General Sir William Nott conducted an aggressive defense, sending out raiding parties and defeating a force under Safdar Jang, a Sadozai chief, while the city was preparing its defenses. The gates were secured by piling grain sacks against them, and on 10 March the Afghan attack on the Herat gate began. A British report said, “So reckless and daring were the assailants, that, notwithstanding the fearful havoc among them, eight or ten men actually forced their way by tearing down the burning fragments of the gate, and scrambling over the bags of grain. These were instantly shot.” The British were able to bring in supplies and caused some disorder in the ranks of the Afghans. Another assault took place at the Shikarpur Gate, which also failed, and the Afghan forces suddenly retired. On 8 August 1843, General William Nott evacuated the city and marched on Kabul prior to the British withdrawal from Afghanistan. In the Second Anglo-Afghan War, an advance force 6,000 strong under Sir Michael Biddulph moved from Quetta north and occupied Kandahar on 8 January 1879, without any opposition. The city was held by General Donald Steward and subsequently by General J. M.
Primrose with a garrison of about 5,000 men. When after his victory at Maiwand, Ayub Khan advanced toward Kandahar, Primrose panicked. He gave orders to abandon the cantonment, where the troops had been stationed, and ordered a retreat into the city. All gates, except one, were closed, and troops were posted to defend some 6,000 yards of the city wall. Supplies coming from Quetta and the remnants of General G. R. S. Burrows’s brigade had difficulty entering the city through the one open gate. The British made feverish preparations for the defense: buildings outside the walls were razed, trees were felled to provide a clear field of vision, and the Pashtun population of some 15,000 was expelled from the city. On 5 August, Ayub Khan reached the outskirts of the city, and two days later the siege began. A sortie by Brigadier General Brooke, with a force of 300 cavalry, four companies of Royal Fusiliers, and eight companies of Bombay Infantry ended in heavy losses; 106 were killed, including Brooke, and 118 wounded. On 8 August the garrison had only two months’ rations and 15 days of forage for their horses. Having learned of the disaster at Maiwand, Sir Frederick Roberts left Kabul on 8 August and came to the relief of Kandahar by the end of the month. He met the forces of Ayub Khan at the Baba Wali Pass, and with an army of 3,800 British and 11,000 Indian troops as well as 36 guns, he was able to defeat Ayub Khan. Abdul Rahman Khan occupied Kandahar, and on 21 April 1881, the British flag was hauled down. Six days later all British forces had left Afghan soil. Ayub Khan tried his fortune once more: he captured Kandahar in August 1881 but was decisively defeated on 22 September by Amir Abdul Rahman. KAPISA (34-45’ N, 69-30’ E). Kapisa is the name of a province, founded in 1964 with an area of 5,358 square miles and a 2009 population of about 360,000. Its capital, Mahmud Raqi and its district, have an estimated population of about 58,500. The province is named after the ancient town of Kapisa, located at the present Bagram, which was said to have been founded by Alexander the Great (fourth century B.C.), and the summer capital of Kanishka, the ruler of the Kushanid Kingdom (second century A.D.). The city was destroyed in the eighth century. The province is watered by the Nijrab, Panjshir, and Tagab rivers. It is known for an abundance of mulberries and pomegranates. Major industries include the Gulbahar textile mills and cement production in Jabal-us-Siraj. KARAKUL. See QARAQUL. KARIM, ABDUL WAHID (1927–). Born in Kabul, the son of Qari Abdul Khaliq (son of Abdul Karim Ulumi, one-time governor of Kandahar), Karim was educated at Istiqlal Lycée, attended the faculty of law and political science at Kabul University, and obtained a doctorate in international law from Paris University. He was appointed to the protocol department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1950 and was posted to London in 1952, and to Paris in 1953. He became deputy chief of protocol in 1957, chargé d’affaires at Baghdad in 1958, and first secretary at the Afghan embassy in Paris in 1959. Karim returned to Afghanistan and served as director of economic and cultural departments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1964 and as director general of political affairs from 1970 to 1973. He was appointed ambassador to Cairo in 1973 and to the United States in 1977. He is married to Soraya, daughter of General
Omar. KARIMI, ABDUL RAHIM (1957–). Born in Rustaq, Takhar Province, the son of Muhammad Karim, Karimi was educated at Kabul University and Peshawar University in law and political science, graduating in 1986. He was minister of construction in the cabinet of President Burhanuddin Rabbani and secretary general of the political leadership council. Karimi was minister of justice in the Interim Government of 2003 and was appointed ambassador to Kuwait in 2007. KARIZ (QANAT). A kariz is an underground water channel used widely in southern and western Afghanistan for the purpose of irrigation in areas where electricity and pumps are not available. Well-like shafts are dug into the water table as much as 50 feet deep and are connected by a channel that conducts water to fields some distance away. The channels are kept in working condition by dredging, a dangerous and difficult job, since a channel may collapse and bury the person working in it. As a result of the war in Afghanistan, many kariz have fallen into disuse or have been destroyed, and formerly irrigated land has been lost. KARMAL, BABRAK (1929–1996). Babrak was born in Kabul, the son of Major General Muhammad Husain (one-time governor of Paktia Province and purported to be a Ghilzai Pashtun). He adopted the pen name Karmal (friend of labor) in about 1954. He was a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), when he was a student activist at Kabul University and known as a communist. Babrak was jailed from 1953 to 1956, and when he was freed, he worked for the ministries of education and planning. In 1965 and 1969 he was elected to parliament as the representative for Kabul. He was a member of the central committee and subsequently secretary of the central committee of the PDPA. As a result of a dispute with Nur Muhammad Taraki over leadership of the party in 1965, the party divided, and Babrak led the Parcham faction until it reunited with the Khalqis in 1977. In 1978 he was imprisoned after the funeral of Mir Muhammad Akbar Khaibar, but was liberated as a result of the Saur Revolt. He was then elected vice chairman of the Revolutionary Council and deputy prime minister of Afghanistan. In June 1978 the Khalqi regime purged the Parchami leadership, appointing Karmal Afghan ambassador to Czechoslovakia. In August 1978 he was accused of plotting against the Khalqi government and stripped of party membership and all his positions. Restored to power with Soviet support, he succeeded Hafizullah Amin on 27 December 1979. He became president and secretary general of the PDPA from January 1980 until May 1986, when Dr. Najibullah took over control of the Afghan government. Karmal was described as an idealist rather than a revolutionary. He was an eloquent orator in Dari, an expert propagandist, and the best known member of the Marxist leadership. He was unable to consolidate his position, and in 1986 he was replaced by Dr. Najibullah. He left Afghanistan for Moscow but returned to Kabul in June 1991. After the fall of the Marxist regime in April 1992, many Parchamis joined Jam’iat-i Islami. Babrak continued to reside in Microrayon but eventually moved to Mazar-i Sharif, where his former comrade, Abdul Rashid Dostum, was the dominant political leader, and from there to Moscow. Karmal died in 1996 in Moscow and
is buried in Mazar-i Sharif. KARZAI, ABDUL AHAD (1925–1999). Abdul Ahad was born in Karz, Kandahar, the son of Khair Muhammad Karzai, and educated privately. He is the father of Hamid Karzai, who became president of the Afghan government after the fall of the Taliban regime. A leader of the Popalzai Durranis of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, and Oruzgan, he was district commissioner of Kandahar until 1963, member of the 1964 Loya Jirga, and member of parliament from 1964 to 1973. He served as speaker (vice president) for a time but held no position during the regime of Muhammad Daud and left Afghanistan for Quetta. He was jailed in Kabul from 1978 to 1980. His brother, Khalil Karzai, was assassinated in Quetta, and Abdul Ahad was killed on 14 July, 1999, in Quetta. KARZAI, AZIZULLAH. Born in 1936 in Kandahar, the son of Khair Muhammad, Azizullah graduated with a B.A. degree in political science and diplomacy from Kabul University in 1958. After military service in 1960, he entered the foreign service and was first secretary at the Afghan consulate in Quetta, Pakistan, in 1966. He served as a member of the protocol department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1969. He was appointed a member of the Afghan embassy in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1972 and obtained an M.A. degree in the field of political science, diplomacy, and international law at Carolina University in Prague in 1973. He became a member of the first political department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 1975 and first secretary at the Afghan embassy in Iraq in 1978. He participated in resistance fronts against the communist regime in Afghanistan in the 1980s and acted as coordinator of United Nations assistance for Afghan refugees in 1994. He served as ambassador to Poland from 1994 to 2000, and to the Czech and the Slovak republics from April 2002 to November 2006. He was appointed Afghan ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 2007. In addition to Pashtu and Dari, he is fluent in English, Arabic, and Urdu. KARZAI, HAMID (HAMED, 1957–). Born on 24 December 1957 (his father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, a former president of the Afghan National Council, was assassinated by radicals in Quetta in 1999), Karzai was educated at Habibia School in Kabul and obtained B.A. and M.A. degrees in political science from universities in India. He was deputy foreign minister in the mujahedin cabinet of Burhanuddin Rabbani. A leading member of the Popalzai tribe, he was asked to be permanent representative of the Taliban government at the United Nations in 1995, an assignment he did not accept. Following the United States intervention in Afghanistan, Karzai entered Oruzgan Province and started to organize Pashtun opposition to the Taliban government. Almost captured, he reorganized his forces and was instrumental in the defeat of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. He originally supported the Taliban but turned against them, accusing them of being supported by a foreign power and upholding a radical interpretation of Islam. The first elected president in Afghan history, Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a five-year term on 7 December 2004, after an election on 9 October 2004 in which he won with a simple majority of more than four million votes. The inauguration ceremony was attended by some 150 dignitaries, including U.S. vice president Dick Cheney and secretary of defense Donald
Rumsfeld. He was reelected in 2009 in an election marred by insecurity, fraud, and intimidation. This climaxed a career from fighter against the communist regime in Kabul to nomination as head of the Interim and president of the Transitional governments after the fall of the Taliban regime. Ridiculed as the “Mayor of Kabul,” Karzai played his cards well. He avoided confrontation with warlords when he could not control them, and it was only when he chose his cabinet that he sidelined several of his most powerful rivals. He ignored Abdul Rashid Dostum; co-opted the “Amir of Herat” Muhammad Isma’il Khan, appointing him minister of water and power; and removed Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim from his position as first vice president and minister of defense. Yunus Qanuni, who, with some 16 percent of the vote was a distant second in the presidential elections, was not included in the new cabinet. Karzai was reelected in 2009 in a campaign fraught with irregularities, with Dr. Abdullah Abdullah as his main antagonist. The debonair Karzai is fluent in Dari, Pashtu, English, French, Hindi, and Urdu; he dresses in the style of the urban Kabuli rather than wearing the turban and tribal dress of the Pashtuns. He is an eloquent speaker and has been described as bookish, balding, with moderate views, and favoring the rights of women. KATAWAZI, GENERAL ABDUL QAYUM. A Pashtun native of Seh-gana, Sher Kot, in Paktika Province, Katawazi served as deputy head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and head of NDS in Ghazni and Kandahar provinces. He was governor of Paktia Province (2009–2010) and became head of the NDS in succession to Abdullah Laghmani, who was killed in a suicide attack in September 2010. KAUFMAN, GENERAL CONSTANTIN P. Celebrated as the “Conqueror of Samarkand” in 1868 and Khiva in 1873, Kaufman became the first governor general of Russian Turkestan and subsequently aide-de-camp to the czar. He corresponded with Amir Shir Ali and his foreign minister and sent General Stolietoff to Kabul to conclude an alliance with Russia. A treaty signed by the amir offered Russian support “either by means of advice or by such other means as it may consider proper.” When Great Britain made war, Russia did not send any assistance but advised Amir Shir Ali to make his peace with Britain. See FIRST ANGLOAFGHAN WAR. KAZI (KADHI). See QAZI. KAZIM BEY, CAPTAIN. Kazim Bey was delegated by Enver Pasha, the Ottoman minister of war, to accompany the Hentig-Niedermayer Expedition to Afghanistan for the purpose of winning Afghan support in World War I. When the group disbanded in May 1916, Kazim Bey remained in Herat until the end of the war and then proceeded to Russian Central Asia. Together with Barakatullah, a Muslim-Indian member of the Hentig expedition, he conducted Pan-Islamic propaganda in Russian Turkestan. In September 1919 he accompanied the Afghan mission of Muhammad Wali to Moscow before he returned to Turkey.
KESHTMAND, SULTAN ALI (1935–). Born in Kabul Province of a Hazara family and educated in economics at Kabul University, Kehtmand took a position in the Ministry of Mines and Industries. He became a member of the Parcham faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and at one time second in command in the government of Babrak Karmal. He was elected to the PDPA central committee at its founding congress, siding with Babrak Karmal in his dispute with Nur Muhammad Taraki. After the Saur Revolt, the Khalqi rulers purged Keshtmand with other leading Parchamis and sentenced him to death, but the sentence was commuted to 15 years imprisonment. At the return to power of Babrak Karmal, Keshtmand became a member of the politburo and a year later was appointed prime minister (1981–1988). After 1988 he held the positions of secretary of the central committee and chairman of the executive committee of the council of ministers. In May 1990 he was appointed first vice president of the Republic of Afghanistan, the highest ranking Hazara in the PDPA, but in February 1991 he was ousted from all his positions and went to Moscow until July. As a private individual, he began to attack Pashtun chauvinism and demanded equal representation for the Afghan Shi’i community. After the fall of Kabul he left Afghanistan and now resides in England. His sister was married to Tahir Badakhshi. KHAD. Later WAD, this was the State Security Service (Khedamat-i Ittila’at-i Daulati) of Babrak Karmal that evolved with some changes in leadership from AGSA, established by Nur Muhammad Taraki, and KAM of Hafizullah Amin. It was headed by Dr. Najibullah before he succeeded to the position of general secretary of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and president of Afghanistan. Najibullah upgraded KHAD to ministerial status, hence its new acronym, WAD (Wezarat-i Ittila’at-i Daulati). General Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi succeeded Najibullah. The organization was reputed to control thousands of operatives and informers, as well as the National Guard and other fighting units. They were the best trained and disciplined forces and were well paid and provisioned, and were a major source of Dr. Najibullah’s power. WAD was Parchami controlled and a balancing factor to the Khalqi strength in the military, which WAD had effectively penetrated. After the capture of Kabul by the mujahedin, President Rabbani set up his own security service, which was also popularly called KHAD. See also AFGHAN SECURITY SERVICE. KHADEM, QIAMUDDIN (1907–1979). A poet and writer, Khadem was vice president of the Pashtu Academy (1941) and in 1943 director of the Pashtu encyclopedia project (see AFGHAN ENCYCLOPEDIA SOCIETY). He served as editor of the Ittihad-i Mashriqi (1942), Tulu-ye Afghan (1950), Kabul Majalla (1951), Islah (1953), Zeri (1955), and Haiwad (1963), and as publisher of Afghan Wolus (1969). He was born in Kama, Nangarhar Province, and educated under the supervision of his father. He began his career as a teacher but then turned to journalism. A founding member of Afghan Millat, he was appointed a senator in 1965 and died in 1979. KHAIBAR, MIR MUHAMMAD AKBAR (1925–1978). Born in Logar Province and educated at Kabul Military School, Khaibar became an instructor in the Police Academy. Arrested in 1950 as a leftist agitator, he met Babrak Karmal in prison and became his ally and
a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). He was called “Ustad,” master, by his Parchami comrades and was for a time editor of Parcham, the party newspaper. His major activity was to recruit army officers for his party. He was assassinated on 17 April 1978, a day after he visited the air force base at Bagram, according to Parchami claims, by Khalqis, his communist rivals. The Marxists blamed the Muhammad Daud government for the assassination and staged mass demonstrations in Kabul that led to the arrest of some party leaders. A few days later, members of the armed forces started the Saur Revolt that brought a Marxist government to power. KHAIBAR PASS (34-1’ N, 71-10’ E). One major obstacle to passage to the lowlands of the Indian subcontinent was the historic Khaibar Pass. It starts about 10 miles from Peshawar, at Ali Masjid village, narrows to about 200 yards, and reaches its highest point at 3,518 feet. Eventually the pass widens and ends at Torkham, the Afghan frontier post. The population within the area of the pass is largely Afridi. A narrow-gauge railroad, built by the British in the late 19th century, connects the pass with the Peshawar rail terminal. Britain gained control of the pass in the Treaty of Gandomak, and this Afghan “gateway to India” is now on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line. Landi Kotal, located a few miles within the pass, is one of the smugglers’ markets of the frontier where one can buy foreign-made goods found only in the tribal area of Pakistan. The Pakistan government has tried to curb this lucrative trade but has not yet succeeded. KHAIRKHWA, MULLA KHAIRULLAH (1967–). A native of the Arghastan district in Kandahar Province, Khaikhwa is a Pashtun of the Popalzai tribe. He graduated from Cherat Madrasa Pabbi, Akora Khatak, and Haqaniyya madrasas. During the 1980s he was affiliated with Maulawi Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi’s party. He served as Taliban spokesman (1995–1996), minister of the interior at Kabul (1996–1999), and governor of Herat and head of the Southwestern Zone (1999–2001). Khairkhwa was captured by American forces in January 2002 and was subsequently released. KHALES, MUHAMMAD YUNUS (1919–2005). A Khugiani, Khales was born in Gandomak and educated in Islamic law and theology. Leader (amir) of the Hizb-i Islami, one of two groups with the same name headquartered in Jalalabad. He was a radical Islamist and fervent anticommunist and in the 1960s contributed articles to the conservative Gahis newspaper. After the coup by Muhammad Daud in 1973, he was forced to flee to Pakistan because he had made many enemies among Daud’s supporters. A member with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar of Hizb-i Islami, he seceded and formed his own group with the same name, which fought the Kabul government in the Khugiani area. It was represented primarily in Pashtun regions, especially in Nangarhar and Paktia provinces. Ideologically, the party of Khales differs little from other Islamist groups, but, unlike Hekmatyar’s group, Khales favored cooperation with all Sunni mujahedin parties. Khales was opposed to universal suffrage, the emancipation of women, and Shi’i participation in the Afghan Interim Government (AIG). In May 1991 he resigned from his position as interior minister of the AIG. In June 2005, Khales retired, and his son took command of the Hizb-i Islami. Khales died in the same year.
KHALID, ASADULLAH (1966–). An ethnic Pashtun, Khalid was born in Nawa district of Ghazni Province and was educated at Kabul University with a B.A. degree in political science, graduating in 2001. He fought under Ahmad Shah Mas’ud during the jihad and served as governor of Ghazni Province, 2001–2005, and of Kandahar Province, 2005–2008. He escaped assassination attempts in 2007 and 2008. Khalid was appointed minister of borders and tribal affairs in June 2010. He speaks Pashtu, Dari, and English. KHALIFA. See CALIPH. KHALILI, KHALILULLAH (1907–1987). Afghan poet laureate whose collected works (diwan) have been published in three parts in 1960, 1975, and 1984. Khalili was born in Kabul, the son of Muhammad Husain Khan (financial secretary of Amirs Abdul Rahman and Habibullah). His father was executed in the early Amanullah period, and Khalili moved with members of his family to Kohistan (now in Parwan Province) until the rise of Habibullah Kalakani in 1929. He held various offices under the Tajik king but then lived as a refugee in Tashkent and later with his uncle Abdul Rahim Khan at Herat. At Herat he wrote his first work, History of Herat, which attracted wide acclaim. In 1944 Khalili and members of his family were imprisoned as supporters of the Safi revolt. After a period of exile in Kandahar, Khalili became lecturer at Kabul University (1948) and secretary of the Shah Mahmud cabinet (1949). In 1951 he became minister of press and information and chief adviser for press and information to King Zahir (1953). In 1965 he was elected a member of parliament from Jabal-us-Siraj and founded the centrist Wahdat-i Milli (National Unity) party. He was appointed Afghan ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Iraq from 1969 to 1978. In 1985 he left Afghanistan and died in Pakistan two years later. He published a historical biography of Habibullah Kalakani called A Hero from Khorasan, in which he depicts the Tajik king as a noble mujahed and sensitive man. KHALILI, MAS’UD. Born in Kabul, Khalili is the son of the Afghan poet laureate Khalilullah Khalili. He was educated with B.A. and M.A. degrees in India. He is a member of the Northern Alliance and was an adviser to Ahmad Shah Mas’ud. He was seriously wounded in the assassination of Mas’ud on 9 September 2001. Khalili was appointed ambassador to New Delhi (2001–2007), a position he also held before until 1996 in the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani. He was appointed ambassador to Turkey in 2007 and to Spain in 2010. KHALILI, MUHAMMAD KARIM (1950–). Khalili was born in Qol-e Khesh, Behsud, the son of Muhammad Aslam, a Hazara. He succeeded Abdul Ali Mazari as head of the Shi’i Hizb-i Wahdat (founded in 1990) that controlled the Hazarajat. He evicted his rivals Ustad Muhammad Akbari and Muhammad Asef Muhsini from Bamian in October 1995. He served as minister of economy (1993–1995). Khalili was allied with Abdul Rashid Dostum against the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani but joined the latter to fight the Taliban movement. He was forced to flee to Iran in November 1998 and in November 2000 submitted to the Taliban. He took advantage of the United States’ war against the Taliban and reestablished his control over much of the Hazarajat. Khalili was vice president in the
Transitional Government, 2002–2004 and March 2006, and second vice president in the 2009 government of President Hamid Karzai. KHALILZAD, ZALMAI (1951–). Khalilzad is an ethnic Pashtun, born in Mazar-i Sharif. He graduated from Ghazi High School in 1968 and obtained B.A. and M.A. degrees from the American University in Beirut and a Ph.D. degree in 1979 from the University of Chicago. Khalilzad served as special adviser to the state department between 1985 and 1989. He became undersecretary of defense for policy planning from 1991 to 1992 and moved to the RAND Corporation during the Bill Clinton administration. He headed the George W. Bush and Dick Cheney transition team and advised incoming Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Khalilzad was appointed special envoy of the United States to Afghanistan in December 2001, and in 2003 he was appointed American ambassador to Kabul. In anticipation of the war in Iraq, Khalilzad was appointed U.S. special envoy to the Iraqi opposition and on 22 June 2005 as ambassador to Baghdad. KHALIS. See KHALES, MUHAMMAD YUNUS. KHALQ. Khalq (People) is the name of a weekly newspaper first published on 11 April 1966 by Nur Muhammad Taraki and edited by Muhammad Bareq-Shafi’i. The name of the paper was subsequently given to the Taraki/Amin faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), in distinction to the Parchamis (also named after their party organ) headed by Babrak Karmal. The newspaper was banned by the Afghan government six weeks after its first appearance. KHALQ PARTY. See PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF AFGHANISTAN. KHAN. Khan is a title of tribal chiefs, landed proprietors, and heads of communities. Feudal khans were given honorary military ranks in exchange for providing levies for the Afghan army in case of national emergency. The title was also used in designating the tribe of the ruling family, khan khel, and in positions like khan-i ulum, chief justice. Now Khan is used like Mister and placed after the name of a person. KHAN, KHAN ABDUL GHAFFAR (1890–1988). Born in an Utmanzai village in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) of India and educated in village schools and in high schools in Peshawar, Abdul Ghaffar was a Pashtun nationalist, acclaimed as the “Frontier Gandhi” because he advocated nonviolent means for gaining independence from Britain for the frontier Afghans. He founded various organizations, including the Khuda-i Khidmatgaran (Servants of God), also called “Red Shirts,” and attracted many followers in the NWFP and Afghanistan. He was imprisoned many times by the British-Indian and Pakistan governments and was always an honored guest at Kabul, where the Pashtunistan issue was strongly supported. King Amanullah gave him the title Fakhr-i Afghan (Pride of the Afghans), and he lived intermittently in Kabul as guest of the royal, republican, and Marxist governments. He died in Peshawar in the late 1980s and is buried in Jalalabad. His funeral procession was attacked, resulting in many casualties.
KHASADAR. A tribal militia, khasadar supplemented the regular Afghan army, usually under the direct command of provincial governors or district chiefs. They were employed in various duties, including collecting fines and as border guards. They were stationed throughout the country, and only during campaigns did they come under the direct command of army commanders. Many were recruited from Wazir and Mahsud tribes from the British side of the border, in spite of British protests. KHASH RUD (31-11’ N, 62-5’ E). Khash Rud is the name of a river that rises in the Siahband range, running in a southwesterly direction past Dilaram and the village of Khash. From there it continues to Chakhansur in Nimruz Province, circles Zaranj, and after a course of about 250 miles dissipates in the hamun on the Iranian side of the border. KHASTA, MAULAWI KHAL MUHAMMAD (1902–1973). Born in Bukhara, the son of Mulla Rostam (son of Abdul Rahim, a well-known calligrapher), Khasta received the traditional education from his father. After five years in Bukhara he came to Mazar-i Sharif. There he memorized the Koran and studied Arabic sciences. He went to India to study at various madrasas in 1922 and returned to Mazar-i Sharif in 1936 where he taught at local schools. A calligrapher, poet, and writer, Khasta published Mo’asserin-e Sokhanwar (Contemporary Poets). He was elected to the Seventh Parliament in 1948. A manager of the Ibn-i Sina Bookstore (1953–1955), he maintained his own shop on Jaddi Maiwand in 1956. He died in 1973. KHATAK, AJMAL (1925–2010). Born in Akora Khatak, Nowshera district of the Northwest Frontier Province of India (now Pakistan), Khatak was a disciple of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s philosophy of nonviolence. He was a Pashtun nationalist and distinguished poet who spent 16 years in Afghan exile. He was a guest of the Afghan government from 1973 to 1989 and had good relations with the Marxist government. He was a NWFP minister, senator, and president of the Awami National Party until 2000. A delegation of Afghan officials attended his funeral at Akora Khatak in early February 2010. KHATAK, KHUSHHAL KHAN (1613–1689). Khushhal Khan was born near Peshawar, the son of Shahbaz Khan, a chief of the Khatak tribe. By appointment of the Moghul emperor Shah Jehan, Khushhal succeeded his father in 1641; but Aurangzeb, Shah Jehan’s successor, kept him a prisoner in the Gwaliar fortress in Delhi. After Khushhal was permitted to return to Peshawar, he incited the Pashtuns to revolt. Khatak was a celebrated warrior-poet and tribal chief of the Khatak tribe who called on the Afghans to fight the Moghuls then occupying their land. He admonished Afghans to forsake their anarchistic tendencies and unite to regain the strength and glory they once possessed. But he was pessimistic, saying, “The day the Pashtuns unite, old Khushhal will arise from the grave.” Khatak’s grave carries the inscription, “I have taken up the sword to defend the pride of the Afghan; I am Khushhal Khattak, the honorable man of the age.” The Khatak tribe of Khushhal Khan now lives in the areas of Kohat, Peshawar, and Mardan in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan and numbers between 100,000 and 160,000 people.
KHILAFAT MOVEMENT. See HIJRAT MOVEMENT. KHODAIDAD, COLONEL GENERAL (1955–). Born in a Hazara family in Oruzgan Province and educated locally, Khodaidad graduated from the Kabul military high school in 1972. He holds graduate degrees from the national military academies in India and the Soviet Union. From 1977 to 1992 he served as instructor and commander of various military units and as minister of national security in 1992. He was deputy minister of counternarcotics in 2005, acting minister in 2007, and minister in 2008 and 2009. He speaks Dari, Pashtu, and Russian and is married, with four daughters and two sons. KHORASAN. “Land of the Rising Sun,” is the historical name of an area that included eastern Iran and Afghanistan and was part of the heartland of Ahmad Shah’s kingdom. A province in northeastern Iran still carries the name Khorasan. KHOST (33-22’ N, 69-57’ E). Khost is a province with an area of 1,603 square miles and a population of about 300,000, which was newly carved out of the southern part of Paktia Province in 2005. The town (also called Matun) and district of Khost has a population of about 71,000 people. The area saw some of the fiercest fighting during the war against the Marxist government. The district is inhabited by Khostwals in the north and Waziris in the south, which impinges on Waziristan, a district in the Pakistan tribal area. In addition to a limited amount of agriculture and livestock breeding, Khost supports a timber industry. It is one of few wooded areas in Afghanistan, and timber is smuggled to Pakistan where it fetches a good price. Because of the lack of security, government prohibitions of timber exports to Pakistan were ignored, and deforestation is resulting in irreparable harm. The Taliban captured the area in September 1996 prior to their conquest of Jalalabad and Kabul. After the United States intervention, various tribal chiefs clashed over control of the area, and the power of the government-appointed governor is still challenged. KHOST, FALL OF (1991). The town and district in the province of Khost saw severe fighting because it was a major government base for cutting the line of mujahedin forces. The town was commonly called “Little Moscow” because many of the Marxist leaders were native to this area and therefore enjoyed the support of the population. Located only about 18 miles from the Pakistan border, the town had been under siege since 1986 and had to be supplied mostly by air. The town was protected by a 3,000-man garrison, supported by militia units, and fortified with a mined perimeter that could not be easily breached. In March 1991 a unified mujahedin force, headed by a 23-member council in which Jalaluddin Haqani had a prominent role, began to close in on the town. The Kabul government may have had information of mujahedin plans and had reinforcements airlifted into the besieged town. High-ranking officers had arrived, among them Colonel General Muhammad Zahir Solamal, a deputy minister of defense. On 13 March, a few days before the beginning of Ramadhan (the month of fasting), the mujahedin started with a three-day rocket barrage, followed by ground attacks from all sides, but it was not until March 30 that the airport was captured and a day later the garrison surrendered. Bad weather and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), including Stingers, did not
permit close aerial support, but some 40 Scud missiles were fired. It appears that the surrender was achieved largely as a result of negotiations, and the militia units are said to have changed sides in time to permit their escape. About 2,200 Kabul soldiers were taken, and 500 wounded were transported to receive medical assistance. About 300 were killed. Among the prisoners were Colonel General Solamal; Major General Ghulam Mustafa, chief of political affairs of the armed forces; Major General Muhammad Qasim, commander of artillery; Major General Muhammad Azam, an air force commander; and Lieutenant General Shirin, commander of the Khost militia units. For the mujahedin, this was a major morale booster; the Kabul government announced a “day of mourning” and accused the mujahedin of violating the “sanctity of Ramadhan.” It blamed the defeat on Khalqi betrayal and claimed that Pakistani forces had participated in the assault. The relatively lenient treatment of the prisoners—some 2,000 (1,200 according to AfghaNews) families of Kabul supporters were permitted to find shelter in Pakistan—may be explained by the surrender and the fact that the battle was primarily between Pashtuns, who did not want to incite tribal feuds. The town suffered from reprisal bombing and mujahedin plunder. The mujahedin obtained large quantities of arms and ammunition, including tanks, armored cars, helicopters, and light and heavy guns. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s forces were blamed for having snatched more than their “allotment.” The number of mujahedin casualties was not given. KHOST REBELLION (1924–1925). A rebellion in the area of Khost, led by the Mangal tribe, seriously threatened the rule of King Amanullah. The revolt started in March 1924 in response to the king’s reforms. The Mangals under Abdullah Khan and Mulla-i Lang (the Lame Mulla) were able to establish a base in Khost and were about to advance on Kabul. At the same time, Abdul Karim, son by a slave girl of ex-amir Yaqub Khan, escaped from BritishIndian exile and joined the rebels. In April 1924 the rebels were beaten but not yet defeated. Sulaiman Khel and Ali Khel tribes joined the revolt. In August, King Amanullah dramatically proclaimed holy war against them. But it was not until January 1925 that the rebels were defeated. Abdullah Khan and Mulla-i Lang were captured and executed together with 53 prisoners. The citizens of Kabul were treated to a victory parade, which carried the booty, followed by almost 2,000 prisoners, including women and children, organized according to tribal affiliation. The prisoners were, in the words of the German representative in Kabul, “wild men with sullen, taciturn faces who did not take the least notice of the amir.” The revolt slowed down the amir’s process of reform until 1928, when King Amanullah again forced the process of westernization. KHUGIANI. The Khugiani are a Durrani tribe settled primarily in the Jalalabad area but also in Laghman and Kandahar. It is divided into three major clans: the Wazir, Kharbun, and Sherzad. They are neighbors of the Shinwaris and Ghilzais. In 1928 they joined the Shinwaris and other tribes in a rebellion that led to the ouster of King Amanullah. In the war against the Marxist government, the Khugianis made up the majority of the mujahedin forces of the Hizb of Yunus Khales. KHULM. See TASHQURGHAN.
KHURAM. See KHURRAM, ALI AHMAD. KHURD KABUL PASS (34-23’ N, 69-23’ E). The Khurd Kabul Pass is about 20 miles east of Kabul, extending for a length of about six miles and only about 100 to 200 yards wide through which passes a road, crossing the Kabul River 23 times. On the third day of their Death March during the British retreat on 8 January 1842, Ghilzai forces blocked the pass and opened fire on the British troops and camp followers, causing panic of the “frightened mass, abandoning baggage, arms, ammunition, women and children, regardless of all but their lives” (Gaz. 5). Some 3,000 soldiers and camp followers perished. KHURRAM, ABDUL KARIM (1963–). Born in Kabul, Khurram was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and the Polytechnic Institute in Kabul. He studied in France where he earned a master’s degree in international relations and diplomacy from the International Relations Institute in Paris and an M.Phil. degree from René Descartes University in export law. He was a professor at the faculty of law and political science at the Afghan University in Peshawar. Khurram became minister of information and youth affairs in 2006 to succeed Sayyid Makhdum Rahin. He was nominated again for a second term in 2009, but parliament vetoed the appointment. He is a Pashtun and speaks Dari, Pashtu, and French. KHURRAM, ALI AHMAD (1931–1977). Born in Kabul, Lhurram was educated at Kabul University and in the United States. He began work in the Ministry of Planning in 1956 and was minister of planning from 1974 until his assassination on 17 November 1977. He was imprisoned in the Pul-i Charkhi jail in the 1980s. According to an article by Zalmai Popal, an official in the Ministry of Planning, Ali Ahmad Khurram fell victim to President Muhammad Daud’s change of policy. Daud wanted to broaden economic ties with the West and discontinue “excessive reliance” on Soviet support in the process of developing the country. Arab and Iranian funds were expected to become available, and Khurram had instructions to speedily complete projects started with Soviet technical and financial assistance and not to accept any new ones. The assassin, one Muhammad Marjan, is said to have had Khalqi connections but claimed to have acted “in the name of the Islamic Revolution.” He was sentenced to imprisonment for life but was later freed in a general amnesty. KHUTBA. The Friday sermon, khutba, was delivered at a congregational mosque. It has political significance because the khateb (preacher) traditionally invokes the name of the recognized ruler. When Afghanistan was in rebellion against King Amanullah, preachers in disputed areas read the sermon “in the name of the Islamic king,” in order to avoid indicating their loyalty. See also ISLAM. KHYBER. See KHAIBAR. KIRGHIZ. See QIRGHIZ. KISHTMAND. See KESHTMAND, SULTAN ALI. KITE FLYING COMPETITION. “Gudiparan Bazi” is a fiercely competitive game of kite
flying in which participants try to eliminate and capture the kites of other participants. The game and its connected culture have been made popular in the West from a novel titled The Kite Runner by Khaled Husain. The winner is the one who eliminates and takes the kites of his opponents. To achieve this, the competitors coat their string with powdered glass mixed with glue, making it a sharp cutting tool. The kite flyer tries to rub his string against the strings of others, cutting the lines of his competitors and taking possession of their kites. A runner tries to retrieve the lost kites. The kites are usually homemade. The flyers operate in an open area or from the flat roof of a building—the latter has led to injuries as competitors miss their step and fall from the roof. KIZILBASH. See QIZILBASH. KOH-I BABA (34-41’ N, 67-30’ E). The Koh-i Baba is a mountain range extending from east to west across the center of Afghanistan and forming part of the Hindu Kush mountain massif. The range includes peaks rising over 16,000 feet and difficult passes reaching altitudes of 12,000 and 13,000 feet. North of the Koh-i Baba, the Turkestan plateau extends to the Amu Daria. KOH-I NUR. The “Mountain of Light” is a diamond measured at 191 carats (subsequently cut in London to 108 carats) that was part of Nadir Shah Afshar’s booty from the Moghul treasure of Delhi in 1739. After Nadir’s assassination in 1747, the Koh-i Nur came into the possession of Ahmad Shah, founder of the Durrani Empire, who passed it on to his sons. As a result of internecine fighting between Afghan princes, Shah Shuja was forced to flee and seek the hospitality of the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh. The latter took possession of the precious stone in 1813. When in 1849 the British defeated their erstwhile ally, they took the Koh-i Nur from the Sikhs. The viceroy of India subsequently presented it to Queen Victoria, and it has since been worn in the crowns of British queens (superstition has it that it brings misfortune if worn by men). KOHISTAN (35-1’ N, 69-18’ E). A district in Parwan Province north of Kabul, Kohistan includes the valleys of Tagao, Nijrao, Panjshir, Ghorband, and Charikar as well as collateral valleys. The population is largely Tajik and Sunni Muslim. Habibullah Kalakani, Afghan king for nine months, and Ahmad Shah Mas’ud were natives of this district. KOHZAD, AHMAD ALI (1907–1983). Born in Chendawol, Kabul, the son of Muhammad Ali, Kohzad graduated from Istiqlal Lycée. He worked with the French archaeological delegation under M. Hackin for many years. He was interpreter for the Ministry of Court and subsequently secretary at the Afghan embassy in Rome (for three years). After his return to Afghanistan, Kohzad was incarcerated in Kotwali prison. After he was released, he served as deputy chief of the compilation and translation department of the Afghan Academy and deputy director of the Pashtu Tolana, historical section. He was a historian, writer, and editor of Aryana and later Afghanistan. He contributed to the writing of pre-Islamic Afghan history to create a basis for an Afghan nationalist ideology. He served as president of the Historical
Society (1956–1961), professor of history, and director of the Kabul Museum. He retired in 1974. His publications include Afghanistan in the Light of History, 1968. Kohzad became a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 1963. His mother tongue is Dari. He died on 25 November 1983. KORAN (QUR’AN). The Koran is the sacred book of Islam, containing God’s direct revelations through the medium of the Prophet Muhammad. According to dogma it is a miracle, divine in origin, and the uncreated word of God. Revelation began in 610 during the holy month of Ramadhan when the Angel Gabriel called to Muhammad: “Recite! [or Read!] in the name of thy Lord.” The revelations were collected into one volume. The Koran is divided into 114 chapters (suras); 6,236 verses (ayahs); 77,934 words (harf, pl. huruf); and 323,621 letters. The suras are arranged roughly according to length, beginning with the longest. An exception is the Fatiha, or “Opener,” which is a short one. The Koran is possibly the most widely read book ever written. Besides serving for worship, it is the textbook from which generations of Muslims have learned to read Arabic. Muslims believe that the Koran is inimitable (2:23–24) and no authorized translation exists (although the Ottoman ulama recognized the Turkish translation as authoritative). The word Qur’an means recitation (or reading), and the book is clearly meant for recitation. The language of the Koran is the written language from which modern standard Arabic is derived. KUCHI. Kuchi (T.) literally means a person who migrates. In Afghanistan the term is applied to all nomads. In India the term Powindah is used for Kuchi. KUNAR (35-15’ N, 71-0’ E). Kunar is a province in northeastern Afghanistan with an area of 3,742 square miles and a population of about 321,000, which is composed principally of Nuristanis in the north and west and Pashtuns in the south and east. The two ethnic groups have long been at odds because of infringement by the Pashtuns on Nuristani land. The province is traversed by the Kunar River, which is fed by the Pech, Waigal, and Chitral streams and runs in a southwesterly direction into the Kabul River near Jalalabad. It provides irrigation for corn, rice, and wheat cultivation, largely on a subsistence level. Kunar and Paktia provinces are the major forested areas in Afghanistan. The administrative center of the province is Asadabad (near Chegha Sarai), which Afghans believe to be the birthplace of Sayyid Jamaluddin Afghani. In the 1970s, Kunar Province was absorbed into Nangarhar Province, with Asadabad (population of the town and district about 40,000) the administrative center of the subprovince (loya woluswali); but in 1977 it was again designated a province. After the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1988, the Kabul government created Nuristan Province from portions of Kunar and Laghman provinces. The remainder of Kunar was once again consolidated into Nangarhar Province. The mujahedin revolt began in 1978 in Kunar Province. Within a year, government bases were captured. Virtually all mujahedin groups operated in the province, but in Asadabad the “Wahhabi Republic” (or Salafia, an Islamic revival movement, also called Ahl-i Hadith, the People of the Traditions), headed by Maulawi Jamilurrahman and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb, were the major contenders. Based on Saudi and Kuwaiti support, Jamilurrahman was
able to win a large following, which adopted the alien Hanbali school as its religious authority. Radical Islamist volunteers from Pakistan and Arab countries provided both military and financial support to the Wahhabi forces. The Wahhabis were accused of killing their prisoners and enslaving women and therefore came under criticism from other mujahedin groups. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait led to a cut in funds and greatly limited the activities of Jamilurrahman’s forces. In February 1991 he announced his cabinet and proclaimed his area an “Islamic Emirate.” Elections were held in the Kunar Valley in which the victory of the “Arabs” was disputed by Hekmatyar. Armed clashes between the Wahhabis and members of Hekmatyar’s forces increased. After Hekmatyar made peace with the Burhanuddin Rabbani government in May 1996, one member of the Wahhabis was represented in Hekmatyar’s cabinet of July 1996. But the independent enclave was ended when the Taliban captured Asadabad in September 1996. Kunar is now threatened by the Taliban and perhaps also Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s forces. KUNDUZ (QONDUZ) (36-45’ N, 68-51’ E). Kunduz is a province in northern Afghanistan with an area of 2,876 square miles and an estimated population of about 820,000. The province borders on Tajikistan in the north, Takhar Province in the east, Baghlan in the south, and Samangan in the west. The administrative center of the state is the town of Kunduz, with about 245,000 inhabitants (including the district of the same name). The Kunduz River, called Surkhab at its source in the Koh-i Baba range, meanders through Kunduz Province and runs in a northwesterly direction into the Amu Daria. Afghanistan’s cotton industry began in Kunduz in the 1940s. An industrial complex, the Spin Zar Company, grew and ginned cotton and produced soap and edible oil. Sericulture was started at about the same time, and silk weavers produced colorful fabrics for local use and export. Uzbek garments, like the long-sleeved japan (caftan), soft-soled boots, and embroidered caps, constitute an important home industry. The population is largely Pashtun, but Uzbeks and Dari speakers as well as other ethnic communities exist. Germany maintains a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kunduz, operating under North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) auspices. For a long time quiet, the area has experienced a resurgence of guerrilla attacks and has come under Taliban influence. KUSHANID KINGDOM. The kingdom flourished during the first two centuries A.D. and included parts of the Indus Valley, eastern Afghanistan, and Central Asia north to the Aral Sea. It was founded by Kajula Kadphises (40–78 A.D.) and enjoyed its cultural greatness under his successor Kanishka (d. 123 or 173 A.D.), whose capitals were located at Peshawar and Kapisa (now the site of Bagram) as well as in Mathura, south of Delhi. The empire brought about a cultural renaissance and the spread of Buddhism into China. A hundred temples were built in Kapisa, supporting some 6,000 monks. Gandharan art, representing a fusion of Hellenistic and Buddhist civilizations and art forms, testifies to the splendor of the Kushanid court. The kingdom was destroyed by Hephtalite invaders in the fifth century. KUSHKAKI, BURHANUDDIN (1894–1953). An educator, journalist, and scholar of Islamic law, born in Kushkak, Nangarhar Province, Kushkaki served as editor or director of many
important Afghan newspapers, including Ittihad-i Mashriqi (Eastern Union) in Jalalabad, Aman-i Afghan (Afghan Peace), Habibul Islam (Friend of Islam), and Islah (Reconstruction) in Kabul. He is the author of Rahnama-yi Qataghan wa Badakhshan (Guide to Qataghan and Badakhshan) and Nadir-i Afghan; he translated the Koran into Pashtu. KUSHKAKI, SABAHUDDIN (1933–2002). The son of Burhanuddin Kushkaki, Sabahuddin was educated in Kabul and the United States and embarked on a career in journalism. He served as editor of Islah (Reconstruction), news editor for Radio Afghanistan in 1960, and publisher of Carawan in 1968. He served as minister of information and culture (1972–1973) and as member of the cultural council of the Afghan resistance in Islamabad, Pakistan. He was jailed during the Khalqi period (May 1978–January 1980) and moved to Islamabad after Babrak Karmal’s amnesty in 1980. He was engaged in cultural services for the Afghan resistance but left for the United States, where he died in 2002.
L LADEN, OSAMA BIN (1957–2011). Bin Laden was a citizen of Saudi Arabia, born in Jeddah, the 17th son of Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden, a Yemeni construction tycoon, and a Syrian mother. He graduated from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah in 1979 with a degree in economics and public administration and worked in the family business. In 1984 bin Laden moved to Peshawar to support the war against the communist government. He is said to have fought only at one battle, and his contribution was primarily as a fund-raiser. He is said to have owned the al-Hijrah Construction Company, an Islamic Bank, an import-export company, and an agricultural products firm. In 1989 he returned to Jeddah and worked in the family construction business, but in 1991 he was expelled from Saudi Arabia and moved to Afghanistan, and a year later to Sudan. He protested the presence of American troops on Saudi soil and supported militant Islamist groups in addition to his own al-Qaeda organization, founded in 1988. Forced to leave Sudan in May 1996, he went to Afghanistan where he established training camps for Islamist fighters to support the Taliban regime and Muslim fighters in Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia, and elsewhere. The United States government blamed him for the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and demanded his extradition from Afghanistan. In retaliation, American cruise missiles bombarded the al-Shifa chemical plant in Sudan and three Islamist bases in Afghanistan. The refusal of the Taliban government to extradite bin Laden resulted in a United Nations boycott of Afghanistan, severely restricting Taliban movements. A U.S. “fact sheet,” issued by the Office of Public Affairs of the American embassy in Islamabad, listed “criminal charges” against bin Laden, including repeatedly declaring war against the United States; being a terrorist and leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda; being responsible for the 7 August 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania; and in August 1996 inciting Muslims to commence a “jihad against the Americans occupying the Land of the Two Holy Mosques” and ordering them to “expel the heretics from the Arabian Peninsula.” In February 1998 a fatwa endorsed by bin Laden called on Muslims “to kill Americans—including civilians—anywhere in the world where they can be found.” When on 11 September 2001 suicide teams attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., the American government retaliated with war against alQaida and its Taliban protectors. On 7 October 2001, American forces began their attack, which quickly eliminated the Taliban regime, but bin Laden and Mulla Muhammad Omar managed to escape. Although dispersed in Afghanistan, reputed al-Qaeda remnants still carry out attacks. Some units collaborated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, where they are responsible for a number of suicide attacks. For almost 10 years, all efforts to find bin Laden failed. An effort was made in the United States at the initiative of two Republican Party legislators, about $100,000 being spent by an advertising agency on ads on Pakistani radio and in newspapers. And legislation was passed
permitting President George W. Bush to increase the reward for the capture of bin Laden to $25 million. To make the value of the reward comprehensible to potential informants, one legislator suggested that payments be made in farm equipment and livestock, “for people understand what a herd of cattle is worth.” In 2006 the Taliban and other jihadists experienced a spectacular revival and gained control of some areas in rural Afghanistan. However, Osama bin Laden’s career came to an end on 1 May 2011 when a team of two dozen Navy Seals entered his compound 35 miles north of Islamabad and, in a 40-minute operation, killed the al-Qaeda leader. His body was flown from Abbottabad to an American ship in the Arabian Sea and given a Muslim burial in the sea. LAGHMAN (35-0' N, 70-15' E). Laghman is a province in eastern Afghanistan that comprises an area of 2,790 square miles and a population of about 387,000. Laghman borders on Kapisa in the west, Badakhshan in the north, Kunar in the east, Nangarhar in the south, and Kabul Province in the southwest. The administrative center is the village of Mehterlam (population including district about 116,000). The majority of the population is Pashtu, with Pashai, Nuristani, and Tajik communities. According to local tradition, Laghman got its name from Lamech, father of Noah, whose ark is supposed to have landed on Kund Mountain, part of the Kafiristan mountain range. From Lamech the name changed to Lamakan and Laghman. Lamech was supposed to have taken the country from the Kafirs but was killed in the battle. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, inspired by a dream, went to Mehtarlam and built a tomb over the presumed grave of Lamech. Originally occupied by Kafirs, the area was subsequently taken over by Jabbar Khel and Abu Bakar Khel Ghilzais. LALMI. Lalmi land is cultivated without the benefit of irrigation. LANGUAGE GROUPS. Three languages predominate in Afghanistan: Pashtu, Dari (or Farsi), and Turki (including Uzbeki, Turkoman, and Qirghiz). No reliable statistics exist, but Pashtu speakers are the dominant group and were until recently the only ones called Afghans, whereas the others were known by their ethnic appellations (Tajik, Baluch, etc.). The Pashtuns predominate in the south and east of Afghanistan and in the cities of Kandahar and Jalalabad, although they can be found in smaller communities in most parts of the country. Second in numbers are the speakers of Dari and its dialects, including Hazaragi, spoken by the Hazara. They predominate in the center, northwest, and northeast of Afghanistan, as well as in most urban areas. Dari is still the predominant language in education, although the Afghan government has made a great effort to make Pashtu the national language. The Afghan constitution of 2004 recognized both Pashtu and Dari as official languages of Afghanistan and recognizes minority languages as “official” in areas in which they are a majority. The Turkic languages include Uzbeki, with one million speakers the largest of this group of languages, followed by Turkmani, Moghol, and Qirghiz, spoken by about 150,000 people. The Baluch, Brahui, and Nuristani languages are spoken by fewer than one million. Although there exist groups of Arab descent, none of them presently speaks Arabic or an Arabic dialect. Indian languages were spoken by small groups, including Hindu and Sikh citizens of Afghanistan,
most of whom left the country as a result of the civil war. Most Afghans are bilingual, and most newspapers carry articles in both Pashtu and Dari. Since the Saur Revolt, an effort has been made to cultivate other minority languages. The “homogenizing” effort at creating an Afghan nation out of many nationalities gave way to a policy of cultural autonomy when the Marxist government recognized Uzbek, Turkmani, Baluchi, Pashai, and one Nuristani dialect as “national languages.” Newspapers appeared in these languages, and radio and television offered programs in minority languages. This policy has since been continued. See also ETHNIC GROUPS. LASH JUWAIN (31-43' N, 61-37' E). Lash Juwain is a small town and administrative district in the southwestern corner of Farah Province. The name is a combination of Lash, a fort on the Farah River, and Juwain, the name of the surrounding plain. It is also written Lasho-Juwain or Lash-i Juwain. The country surrounding the town is scattered with ruins testifying to a prosperous past that ended with Mongol invasions. The land is fertile and in the 1970s supported an agricultural population of some 15,000, which has since grown to about 25,000. LASHKAR. A lashkar is an Afghan tribal army that is recruited during emergencies in support of the regular army. It fought under its own chiefs, often in competition with other lashkars, and therefore not always cooperating in joint operations. The Sulaiman Khel Ghilzais were able to muster some 20,000 fighters, and all together the Afghan nomads, traveling yearly to India, could muster as many as 100,000 fighters. For a long time, lashkars were superior to the regular army, considered brave to reckless, but out for plunder and of limited staying power. They would be reluctant to operate far from their tribal areas. Feuds, temporarily ended to face a foreign invader, were quickly resumed. During the war of the 1980s, both the Kabul government and the mujahedin engaged tribal forces to protect their lines of supply. With the growth and modernization of the Afghan army, the lashkars lost much of their importance. LASHKARGAH (BOST, 31-35' N, 64-21' E). The town is the administrative center of Helmand Province with about 83,000 inhabitants (including the district of the same name) and also the site of an ancient town built by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in the tenth century. It is located on the Helmand River, a few miles south of the main road linking Kandahar and Herat. The Ghorids sacked the town in 1150 A.D. but rebuilt it in new splendor. It was irreparably destroyed by the hordes of Genghis Khan (1226). Because of its strategic location, Afghan rulers constructed a number of forts on the site. A visitor to the area at the turn of the century observed the fortified plateau “covered thickly with the remains of towers, forts, and palatial buildings, which exhibit traces of great architectural skill, and afford evidence of the existence at one time on this site of a large and important city, fortified with unusual skill and strength, and inhabited by a people who combined a knowledge of military art with considerable taste and culture” (Gaz. 2). It was the headquarters of the Americans working on the Helmand Valley project. The town was called Lashkari Bazaar by the local population as well as Kala-i Bist or Bost. LATIFI, ABDUL RASHID (1912–1972). Born in Kabul, Latifi was educated at Najat
School. He held various positions with the Department of Press and as Afghan press attaché in Cairo, where he learned Arabic and translated modern Arabic works into Dari. The “Father of Theatrical Arts” in Afghanistan, he was the first Afghan to produce and direct a film, Ishq wa Dosti in 1946, which was produced in cooperation with Indian motion picture producers in Bombay. He supervised the Pohani Nendari Theater in Kabul and helped in the training of Afghan artists and actors. He died in 1972. LAW. See ISLAMIC LAW; LEGAL SYSTEM. LAWRENCE, COLONEL T. E. (1888–1935). The Englishman of “Lawrence of Arabia” fame is suspected by many Afghans to have been a link in a conspiracy to topple King Amanullah from his throne. The Afghan government learned from reports in the London Sunday Express of 13 September 1928 that Lawrence was at the Afghan border on a “secret” mission. He was indeed there under the alias of “Airman Shaw.” The Aman-i Afghan of 12 December 1928 commented that it was certain that the man who had “gathered the miserable Arabs in a revolt against the Turks” was up to mischief in Afghanistan. But the paper debunked his effectiveness on the Afghan frontier, for after all, “he is only an Englishman.” The London Daily News of 5 December 1929 reported that Lawrence was in India, busily learning Pashtu, and “inferred he intends to move into Afghanistan.” Much of the non-British press was convinced that this was a conspiracy in support of Habibullah Kalakani. No sources have been found in British archives to support this conspiratorial theory, and the British government denied all charges. In a letter to Edward Marsh, dated 10 June 1927, Lawrence reported, “Do you know that I nearly went there [Kabul] last week? The British attaché at Kabul is entitled to an airman clerk, and the Depot would have put my name forward, if I had been a bit nippier on a typewriter.” Lawrence spent 18 months in India, most of this time in Karachi but a short time also in Miranshah (across the border from Paktia Province) as well as one weekend in Peshawar. After the British minister at Kabul, Sir Francis Humphrys, frantically appealed to London, Lawrence was finally sent back to Britain. He died in a motorcycle accident. LAYEQ, SULAIMAN (1930–). Born of the Sulaiman Khel tribe, Layeq studied Islamic sciences but was expelled from school because of his leftist activism. A poet and writer in Pashtu and Dari, he was a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a member of the politburo, the party secretariat, and president of the Afghan Academy of Sciences. He is the author of the Marxist national anthem. Layeq was employed with Haiwad newspaper and Radio Kabul and in 1968 became publisher and editor of the Marxist newspaper Parcham. After the Saur Revolt he became minister of radio and television but was purged by the Khalqi regime and imprisoned. After the Parchami faction of the PDPA came to power, Layeq was appointed president of the Academy of Sciences (April 1980) and minister of frontier affairs (1981). In the Najibullah government he remained a member of the politburo and the secretariat of the central committee. After the fall of the Marxist regime in April 1992, Layeq went abroad and is said to have sought asylum in Europe. LEGAL SYSTEM. The judicial branch is headed by a nine-member supreme court (stera
mahkama), whose members are appointed by the president for 10-year terms; the attorney general; and the minister of justice. There are also high courts, appeals courts, and local district courts. Judgments are made under Hanafi jurisprudence for Sunnis and Ja’fari for Shi’as. A system of civil laws exists, but no law may contradict the beliefs and provisions of Islam. There have been problems in legal decisions, especially in cases of women’s rights. A law introduced by Shi’i ulama required that a woman must submit to sex with her husband; as a result of general protests, the woman’s obligations were changed to being responsible for housework. Critics of the ulama have been accused of heresy, and jurisprudence depends as much on customary practices and the interpretation of individual judges. The supreme court convenes regular sessions at least once every 15 days, and the presence of at least six members is required. It has considerable powers: it reviews laws, decrees, and international treaties to assure that they are in conformance with the constitution. The minister of justice is part of the cabinet. The discovery of crimes is the duty of the police, and investigation and prosecution are conducted by the attorney’s office. The Loya Jirga is the highest manifestation of the will of the people of Afghanistan. It consists of the members of parliament and the chairpersons of the provincial and district councils. Ministers, and members of the supreme court, can participate without the right to vote. The jirga is convened to “take decisions on issues related to independence, national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and supreme interests of the country.” It can amend the constitution and prosecute the president. However, this institution has been subject to manipulation by a strong executive. See also ISLAMIC LAW. LIMITED CONTINGENT OF SOVIET FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN (LCSFA). The Soviet Union used the term LCSFA for its forces in Afghanistan to indicate the temporary nature of its intervention. It included, according to McMichael (1991, 14), 85,000 ground troops, 25,000 support troops, and 10,000 air force troops. To this should be added some 30,000 soldiers and airmen who operated from Soviet territory. The ground units constituted the 40th Army Headquarters, five motorized rifle divisions, four to five separate motorized rifle brigades or regiments, three to four air assault or airmobile brigades, one to three brigades or special operations troops (Spetsnaz), one engineer regiment/brigade, and one army artillery brigade. About one-third of the force was concentrated in the Kabul area, and the rest was deployed in Jalalabad, Kunduz/Mazar-i Sharif, Herat/Farah, Shindand, and Kandahar. Smaller garrisons were stationed in other towns. A Russian war manual, translated and edited by Lester W. Grau and Michael A. Gress, details the following numbers: Year
Total Casualties
Officer Casualties
1979
up to 150
up to 15
1980
approx. 2,800
approx. 320
1981
approx. 2,400
approx. 300
1982
approx. 3,650
approx. 400
1983
approx. 2,800
approx. 350
1984
4,400
up to 500
1985
approx. 3,500
approx. 380
1986
approx. 2,500
up to 300
1987
approx. 2,300
up to 280
1988
approx. 1,400
approx. 130
1989
up to 100
up to 15
Total
26,000
2,990
See also GROMOV, LIEUTENANT GENERAL BORIS V. LINDH, JOHN WALKER. Lindh was the first American prosecuted for contributing his “service” to the Taliban. The then 20-year-old American was blamed for complicity in the death of the Central Intelligence Agency officer who was killed in a Taliban uprising in the Qala-i Jangi fortress. Eventually the government dropped nine of the charges, and in a plea agreement Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A native of California, Lindh converted to Islam during high school and went to Yemen to study Arabic. He joined the Pakistani Harakat al-Mujahedin to fight against Indian forces in Kashmir but then underwent military training at al-Faruq camp in Afghanistan to fight against the Northern Alliance. Lindh presents himself as a devout Muslim who wanted to “liberate” Indian-held Kashmir and help establish a “pure Islamic state” in Afghanistan. He claimed not to have been a terrorist or a member of alQaeda or to have had foreknowledge of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York. LODIN, AZIZULLAH (1939–). Lodin was born in Herat and educated at high school in Kabul and at Kabul University where he obtained a B.A. degree in law and political science. He obtained a diploma in economics and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Köln, Germany. He served as lecturer at the faculty of economics of Kabul University from 1976 to 1978. Imprisoned at Pul-i Charkhi jail from 1978 to 1980, he moved to Peshawar and served as political adviser to the Harakat-i Islami, a Shi’i mujahedin movement. Lodin was a member of the Cyprus Delegation to the Bonn Conference of December 2001. President Hamid Karzai appointed Lodin general secretary of the secretariat of the National Assembly in 2004, and president of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) on 23 January 2007. Because of the problematic election process, Lodin resigned in April 2010. LODIN, JAVED (1973–). Lodin was born in Kabul and attended the medical college of Kabul University. He left Afghanistan to work with various nongovernmental organizations between 1994 and 1998. Lodin resumed his studies when he moved to London in 1998, earning an M.A. degree in political theory from the University of London in 2001. After he returned to Afghanistan in 2003, he became presidential spokesman and director of communications for
the office of President Hamid Karzai. He advanced in May 2005 to the position of chief of staff of the president’s office. Lodin was appointed Afghan ambassador to Norway in February 2007. He is fluent in Dari, Pashtu, and English and also speaks some Hindi and French. He is married and has two daughters. LOGAR (33-50' N, 69-0' E). Logar is a province south of Kabul with an area of 1,702 square miles and a population estimated at about 292,000. The administrative center is the town of Pul-i Alam (with a population of about 86,000 including the district) located about 35 miles south of Kabul. The population is largely Pashtun of the Ahmadzai tribe and some Tajik in the Khoshi area. In 1979, about 80 percent of the population were farmers, and the area was called the “granary of Kabul.” Grapes, apples, and vegetables are the major cash crops. This is supplemented with animal husbandry and trading. Continuous war has caused considerable damage to the economy of the province. LOGISTICS. The activities and methods connected with supplying an army with all its provisions, including facilities for storage, transport, and distribution, have always been a serious problem for an invader of Afghanistan. British forces included baggage trains, which limited the mobility of the army and were vulnerable to plunder during combat. Rations, officially designated, were seldom fully provided. Local resources were often inadequate and withheld and could be collected only by coercive measures. The lack of water was always a serious problem, and many areas of Afghanistan would not support operations by large forces. The Dasht-i Margo and Registan, “The Country of Sand,” in eastern and southern Afghanistan, were waterless deserts that long formed a natural barrier to an invader. In many operations, water had to be carried along. The amount of existing accommodation usable for military purposes was negligible, and troops had to be sheltered in tents at extremes in temperature. There were not enough facilities for the repair of equipment required by European armies. The Soviet (and later United States) forces had to undertake a building program to construct depots and storage facilities, repair or build roads, and expand or design new airfields. Fuel was scarce and had to be collected by foraging units or, during the 1980s, imported from the Soviet Union. Diseases took a toll on an invader’s forces. Casualties from smallpox, malaria, dysentery, cholera, heatstroke, frostbite, and pulmonary and other diseases often exceeded those from combat. In the Second Anglo-Afghan War, five per thousand Europeans died of cholera. Medical facilities were inadequate, even during the Soviet intervention. About half of all Soviet conscripts were treated for dysentery, and about 20 percent were treated for skin infections. The problems of logistics faced by the United States were quickly overcome. Unlike the Soviet Union, whose territory impinged on that of Afghanistan, the United States had to depend on bases in neighboring countries. But by December 2001 the American forces had captured airfields throughout the country. Provisions for the coalition forces could be brought in, and food drops were made to win the support of the local population. Logistics is no longer a problem that the spending of money cannot solve. The United
Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and members of the coalition are able to provide for their needs. Commissaries exist for the foreign community, and public markets can provide the conveniences of life for those who can pay the price. LOHANI (LOWANA). Nomadic tribes, also called Powindahs, conducted cross-border trade with India. They are Ghilzai Pashtuns and claim descent from Ibrahim, second son of Ghalzoe, whose mother called him “Loeday,” meaning he is the “greater son.” They are now located in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan in the areas of Kohat, Bannu, and Peshawar. The 16th-century Afghan Lodi dynasty of India is named after the Lohanis. LOINAB. See ALI AHMAD. LOYA JIRGA. The Great (or national) Council, Loya Jirga, is the highest institution of state power that Afghan rulers convene to decide matters of national importance. Ahmad Shah’s assumption of the Afghan throne was legitimized by a Loya Jirga of tribal chiefs, as were the constitutions of King Amanullah (1923) and Zahir Shah (1964). When in October 1941 the Allies forced the Afghan government to expel all Axis nationals, the Loya Jirga reluctantly gave its approval but insisted that they be given free passage through Allied territory. When Prime Minister Muhammad Daud in the 1950s decided to accept weapons from the Soviet Union, he also sought the approval of a Loya Jirga. The Marxist regime tried to legitimize its power with jirga approval, as did various mujahedin groups, with little success. One problem is that the Loya Jirga very often proved to be a rubber stamp for decisions decided by government; another is that it can be easily packed by supporters of one or another faction. President Burhanuddin Rabbani convened a shura (council) of “the people with power to loose and bind” (ahl al-hall wa-al-’aqd), trying to legitimize his position. After the fall of the Taliban regime and the establishment of a Transitional Government, a Loya Jirga was convened to draft a constitution in Kabul on 14 December 2003. It consisted of 1,051 elected delegates, supplemented by about 550 appointed delegates who agreed on establishing an Islamic state, a presidential system of government, a two-house parliament, recognition of local languages in the areas of majority, equal rights for men and women, and appointment of the former king as lifetime Father of the Nation. The jirga was too large to produce an effective decision-making body, the number of women representatives was smaller than desired, and intimidation and behind-the-scenes manipulation could not be prevented. Yet the three-week jirga was able to set the stage for the establishment of a legitimate government for Afghanistan. LOYA JIRGA, CONSTITUTIONAL. As part of the process of “nation building,” the Bonn Conference of 2001 provided for the drafting of a constitution. A nine-member Constitutional Drafting Committee, headed by Vice President Nematullah Shahrani, produced a draft, based largely on the 1964 constitution. In April 2003, President Hamid Karzai appointed a constitutional commission to travel throughout the country to explain and rework the draft. Finally, on 14 December 2003, a 502-delegate Loya Jirga convened in Kabul. It was composed of 344 elected on the district level, 64 women from the provincial level, and 42
delegates from refugees, nomads, and minority communities. Fifty delegates (25 men and 25 women) were appointed by President Karzai. After considerable acrimony, a document was produced that opted for an Islamic republic with a presidential system of government, with both Dari and Pashtu the official languages and minority languages accepted in communities where they are the predominate idiom. The former king Muhammad Zahir was given the honorific title “Father of the Nation.” On 4 January 2004, the Loya Jirga ratified the constitution. LUDIN. See LODIN.
M MACNAGHTEN, SIR WILLIAM (1793–1841). Macnaghten, the British chief secretary to the Indian government, was appointed envoy and minister to the court of Shah Shuja after the occupation of Kabul on 7 August 1839 in the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the benefit of hindsight, historians gave him a good measure of the blame for the British debacle, which also cost Sir William his life. Soon after the invasion, it became apparent that Shah Shuja would not be able to maintain himself on the throne without the protection of a British garrison. Therefore Macnaghten was prepared for an indefinite occupation of Afghanistan. He became the power behind an insecure throne, paying subsidies to tribal chiefs and directing the affairs of the country to safeguard British imperial interests. Deceived by the apparent quiescence of the Afghan chiefs, he permitted the families of British officers to come to Kabul to join a colony of some 4,500 soldiers and 11,500 camp followers. All seemed well, and, as a reward for his services, Macnaghten was to receive the much coveted governorship of Bombay; Alexander Burnes was to succeed him in Kabul. But Afghan forces began to harass the British lines of communications, and eventually a mob in Kabul attacked Burnes’s residence and killed the members of the mission. Realizing the danger of his situation, Macnaghten concluded a treaty with the dominant tribal chiefs that provided for the withdrawal of the British army to India. But he had still not given up hope. Trying a divide-and-rule tactic, the envoy bribed some of the sardars after contracting with Sardar Muhammad Akbar, the ambitious son of Amir Dost Muhammad. When the latter discovered the duplicity, he killed Macnaghten in a “fit of rage.” Only a few survived the retreat of the “Army of the Indus.” See FOREIGN RELATIONS; SIMLA MANIFESTO. MADRASA. The madrasa is a school of higher education in Islamic studies, usually attached to a principal mosque. In Afghanistan, as elsewhere in the Islamic world, education was the domain of the Islamic clergy. Mullas taught the basics, reading, and recitation of the Koran. The ulama, doctors of Islamic sciences, trained the judges (qazis), muftis, and other members of the religious establishment. In the 15th century, Timurid rulers established famous madrasas in Herat, some of which continued as major centers of education until the early 19th century; but invasions and civil wars led to a general decline of the educational system. After Amir Abdul Rahman ascended the throne in 1880, he founded the Royal Madrasa at Kabul, which became the foremost institution of its type. When Amir Habibullah founded Habibia School in 1904 as a secular school, he introduced a dual system of education that has continued to this day. MAHAZ-I MILLI-YI AFGHANISTAN. The National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (NIFA) was founded in 1979 in Peshawar as an armed resistance movement by Sayyid Ahmad Gailani. It is a liberal, nationalist, Islamic party and, according to its manifesto, advocates both the protection of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and the establishment of an interim government that would draft a national and Islamic constitution
with the separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers. It demands an elected and free government that would guarantee such fundamental rights as free speech, freedom of movement, the protection of private property, and social justice, including medical care and education for all Afghans. Until establishment of a democratically elected government in Afghanistan, NIFA aimed to strengthen the unity and solidarity of the mujahedin movements and its Afghan interim government (1984) and to prepare the draft of a national Islamic constitution and its eventual implementation. In its foreign relations, NIFA wants good relations with its neighbors and supports the principles of the charter of the United Nations, the Declaration of Human Rights, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. NIFA favors a policy of nonalignment, respects the rights of all nations, and condemns expansionistic and hegemonistic policies. It was part of a loose coalition of traditional, or moderate, mujahedin groups. NIFA participated in the presidential elections of 2004 and 2009, and several of its members obtained ministerial positions. MAHMUDI, ABDUL RAHIM. Mahmudi was the founder and publisher of Shu’la-yi Javid (Eternal Flame), a leftist weekly newspaper in Pashtu and Dari, which was banned after nine issues in July 1969 because it advocated armed struggle to achieve power. In the 1970s, his brothers founded the New Democratic Organization of Afghanistan (Sazman-i Demokratik-i Navin-i Afghanistan, commonly called after its newspaper the Shula-yi Javid Party). He was imprisoned from 1969 to 1972 and went underground in 1973 when Muhammad Daud proclaimed the republic. Several members of his family were killed during the Khalqi period, and he was forced to flee abroad. MAHMUDI, ABDUL RAHMAN (1909–1964). Born and educated in Kabul, Mahmudi was one of the first graduates of the faculty of medicine of Kabul University. Elected to parliament in 1949, he was later jailed for 10 years. He was the founder in 1951 of Nida-yi Khalq (Voice of the People), a biweekly Dari/Pashtu-language newspaper, which was banned after 29 issues. He died a few months after he was freed in 1963. His brothers, Hadi and Rahim, founded the Shu’la-yi Javid Party. MAHMUD OF GHAZNI (998–1030). Mahmud, the son of Sebuktigin, was the creator of the Ghaznavid Empire, which had its capital at Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, and controlled an area that extended from eastern Iran to the Indus River and from the Amu Daria to the Persian Gulf. Muslims see him as the epitome of the ghazi warrior, the “Breaker of Idols,” as he called himself; and Hindus remember him as the plunderer of Hindustan. He lavished the treasures he had amassed in India on a court that was famous for its wealth and splendor and for being a center of intellectual life where poets like Abu’l Qasim Firdausi, author of the Shahnama (Book of Kings); the historian Abu’l Fazl Baihaqi (1077); the philosopher al-Farabi (d. 950); and the scholar Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973–1048) flourished. The British historian Sir Percy Sykes called Mahmud “a great general who carefully thought out the plan of each campaign that he engaged in,” who was not a fanatic and “whose encouragement of literature and science and art was as remarkable as his genius for war and for government.” Mahmud’s tomb was spared Ghorid destruction and can still be seen on the outskirts of Ghazni.
MAHMUD PACHA, SAYYID. Also called Babu Jan, Mahmud was a spiritual leader to whom Amir Shir Ali gave some territory in the Kunar Valley as endowment. In 1868 Mahmud Pacha revolted against Azam Khan (r. 1867–1869), who was then nominally amir. On the return of Amir Shir Ali to power, Mahmud Pacha was appointed a member of the newly formed advisory council at Kabul but for a time was deprived of his chiefship. Amir Abdul Rahman confirmed him in his position but gradually deprived him of his independence and forced him to remit revenues to Kabul. He rebelled against the amir but was defeated and compelled to accept exile in India. His descendants, called the Sayyids of Kunar, have held important positions in 20th-century Afghanistan. Afghan historians claim that the great PanIslamist Sayyid Jamaluddin Afghani is a descendant of the Kunari sayyids. MAHMUD SHAH (r. 1800–1803 AND 1809–1817). Mahmud Shah was one of the 23 sons of Timur Shah who were engaged in an internecine struggle for power. He was governor of Herat and from that base successfully fought his brother Zaman Shah for the Kabul throne. He became Afghan king in 1800 but did not show great interest in the conduct of state affairs and delegated much authority to his Barakzai ministers Fateh Khan and Shir Muhammad. However, internecine warfare continued, and in 1803, Shah Shuja, the seventh son of Timur Shah, captured Kabul and made Mahmud his prisoner. Mahmud managed to escape, and with the help of Fateh Khan he moved against Kandahar and subsequently on Kabul, regaining the throne in 1809 where he ruled until 1817, when he was again driven from Kabul. He fled to Herat where he enjoyed all the “honors of sovereignty” while his son Kamran held all the real power. Mahmud was poisoned by his ambitious son in 1829. MAHSUD. The Mahsud are a Pashtun tribe in Waziristan in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, counting about 70,000 members. The British Handbook of the Indian Army describes them as “democratic,” permitting any tribesman the opportunity to rise to the position of chief “if he distinguishes himself in bravery or wisdom,” and says approvingly that their “physique and stamina are good, and they are highly spoken of as soldiers.” The Mahsuds have frequently been involved in border wars and supported the forces of Muhammad Nadir Khan in the Third Anglo-Afghan War and during his conquest of Kabul in 1929. MAHWASH, USTAD FARIDA. Born in Kabul, Mahwash was Afghanistan’s best-known female singer and one of few women who were trained by a classical master. Her career began at Radio Kabul in the 1960s where she was discovered for her extraordinary voice. Ustad Muhammad Hashim, the famous Afghan musician, became her mentor and introduced her also to classical Indian singing styles, which led her to be awarded the title Ustad in 1977. In 1991 she went into exile and now lives in California. MAIDAN (NOW WARDAK) (34-15’ N, 68-0’ E). Maidan was the name of a province in east central Afghanistan that is now called Wardak. MAIMANA (35-55’ N, 64-47’ E). Maimana is a town and a district in northern Afghanistan with about 58,000 inhabitants, mostly Uzbeks, and the administrative center of Fariab
Province. Maimana was at one time the capital of a semi-independent khanate (chiefship, from khan—chief) and a dependency of the ruler of Kabul. When the Persian ruler Nadir Shah died in 1747, a soldier of fortune and comrade-in-arms of Ahmad Shah, the first Afghan king, was appointed wali, governor, of Maimana and Balkh on the condition that he provide a certain number of troops upon request. He was an Uzbek named Haji Khan, and upon his death, his fiefdom was passed on to his son Jan Khan. But Timur Shah reduced the size of the fiefdom by taking Balkh and Akcha under the direct control of Kabul. Jan Khan’s son fought over the succession, and one son, Ahmad Khan, was able to rule from 1798 to 1810. Because of his misrule, he was assassinated by the people of Maimana and replaced by his nephew Allah Yar Khan, who ruled until his death in 1826. Nizrab Khan, the oldest son of Ahmad Khan, succeeded but was involved in numerous wars and was eventually poisoned in 1845. Wazir Yar Muhammad, ruler of Herat, made war against Maimana in 1846 and kept the province under the control of Herat. The khans of Maimana tried to stay in power by playing off one force against another, including the shah of Iran and the amir of Bukhara, but in 1861 they had to resubmit to control by Herat, and in the 1880s, Amir Abdul Rahman took direct control of the khanate. Maimana was said to have had from 15,000 to 18,000 inhabitants in 1845, but its population was greatly reduced as a result of protracted warfare and there were no more than about 16,000 to 17,000 inhabitants in 1973 (now about 50,000). More recently, the town and surrounding districts have greatly increased in population as a result of industrial development and internal migration. The town now has a modern grid system of streets with bungalow-style housing. Little is known of recent developments or of the social and economic impact of the war in Afghanistan. After the fall of the Marxist regime in April 1992, Maimana was part of General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s domain until it came under control of a governor appointed by the Hamid Karzai government. MAIMANAGI, GHULAM MUHAMMAD MUSAWWER (1873–1935). Born in Maimana Province, Maimanagi moved to Kabul when he was eight years old and studied painting and techniques of enameling. After advanced study in Berlin, he embarked on a career of teaching, training an entire generation of Afghan artists. He was the founder and director of the Kabul School of Fine Arts. He died at the age of 62 in Kabul. The Kabul Institute of Fine Arts was named after him. MAIWAND, BATTLE OF. A battle on 27 July 1880 in which a force of 2,600 men under Brigadier General G. R. S. Burrows was totally defeated. At the end of the Second AngloAfghan War, Britain had decided to dismember Afghanistan, severing Kandahar Province under Wali Shir Ali Khan, who was to be a vassal of Britain. Sardar Abdul Rahman was recognized as “amir of Kabul and its dependencies,” but his cousin Muhammad Ayub also had aspirations to the throne and had himself proclaimed amir at Herat. Kandahar was held by a garrison of some 4,700 British troops of all ranks, to which were added the Afghan forces of the newly appointed “hereditary” ruler, Shir Ali Khan, when it was learned that Ayub Khan’s army was moving south. Shir Ali felt he could not rely on his forces against Ayub and
requested the assistance of a British brigade. General J. M. Primrose, the commander of Kandahar, dispatched Brigadier General Burrows with a brigade, about 2,300 strong, consisting of a troop of horse artillery, six companies of the 66th regiment, two Bombay native infantry, and 500 native troopers. At the approach of Ayub Khan, Shir Ali Khan’s forces deserted en masse, taking most of their weapons with them. According to British estimates, Ayub Khan’s regular forces numbered about 4,000 cavalry and between 4,000 and 5,000 infantry, as well as about 2,000 deserters and an unknown number of irregular ghazis. Burrows forces fell back to the vicinity of Kushk-i Nakhud, about 30 miles from Girishk and 40 miles from Kandahar, to block Ayub’s approaches to these towns, but Ayub succeeded in moving his army around Burrows’s forces, thus interposing himself between the British forces and Kandahar. The British brigade thereupon moved toward Maiwand in anticipation of Ayub’s advance and to secure the provisions available at that village. On 27 July 1880, at about 10:00 a.m., the British brigade, replenished to 2,600 men, made contact with the Afghan forces, which had moved toward Maiwand on their left flank. At a ravine, the 66th Foot was on the right, its flank thrown back to prevent it from being turned. On the left were four companies of Jacob’s Rifles (30th Native Infantry) and a company of sappers, while the center was held by the horse artillery and smooth-bore guns. The cavalry was in the rear to prevent the Afghans from encircling the British forces. The baggage was about 1,000 yards in the rear, only lightly guarded. In an artillery duel lasting about two hours, the Afghans with 30 guns proved to be superior against the brigade’s 12. By 2:00 p.m., the British cavalry lost about 14 percent of its men and 149 horses (out of 460), and the Afghan horsemen succeeded in surrounding the brigade. Now swarms of ghazis went on the attack, quickly demoralizing the British troops. The 66th regiment was overwhelmed: “The slaughter of the sepoys was appalling—so utterly cowed were they that they scarcely attempted to defend themselves” (Forbes 1892, 301). Afghan sharpshooters began to pick off British officers, who could be recognized by their helmets. A call for counterattack was ignored, and the British forces were in full flight, except for several attempts at a last stand, which no British eyewitness survived. The British lost seven guns, 2,424 baggage animals and their loads, and about 1,000 dead, while only 168 wounded survived. The rest fled to Kandahar, where many were ambushed on the way by Afghan villagers. British estimates of Afghan casualties were 1,250 regular troops and some 600 tribesmen (1,500 regulars and 3,000 tribesmen, according to Heathcote 1980, 151). General Primrose, the commander of Kandahar, panicked and called for a British retreat inside the walls of the city, where they soon came under siege. Legend has it that Malalai, a tribal maiden, used her veil as a banner to incite the Afghan forces to heroic deeds. The defeat at Maiwand was a factor in convincing the British occupation forces that Afghanistan could not be held at a tolerable cost. MAIWAND, TELEGRAM FROM COLONEL ST. JOHN. Kandahar, to Foreign Department Simla, 2 August 1880: “Burrows marched from Kushk-i Nakhud on morning, 27th, having heard from me that Ayub’s advanced guard had occupied Maiwand, about three miles from the latter place. Enemy’s cavalry appeared advancing from direction of Haidrabad, their
camp on Helmand 10 miles above Girishk. Artillery and cavalry engaged them at 9 A.M., so shortly afterwards whole force of enemy appeared and formed line of battle—seven regiments, regulars in centre, three others in reserve; about 2,000 cavalry on right; 400 mounted men and 2,000 ghazis and irregular infantry on left; other cavalry and irregulars in reserve; five or six batteries of guns, including one of breechloaders, distributed at intervals. Estimated total force 12,000. Ground slightly undulating, enemy being best posted. Till one P.M., action confined to artillery fire, which so well sustained and directed by enemy that our superior quality armament failed to compensate for inferior number of guns. Formation being lost, infantry retreated slowly; and, in spite of gallant efforts of General G. R. S. Burrows to rally them, were cut off from cavalry and artillery. This was at 3 P.M., and followers and baggage were streaming away towards Kandahar. After severe fighting in enclosed ground, General Burrows succeeded in extricating infantry and brought them into line of retreat. Unfortunately no efforts would turn fugitives from main road, waterless at this season. Thus majority casualties appear to have occurred from thirst and exhaustion. Enemy’s pursuit continued to 10 miles from Kandahar, but was not vigorous. Cavalry, artillery, and a few infantry reached banks of Arghandab, 40 miles from scene of action, at 7 A.M.; many not having tasted water since previous morning. “Nearly all ammunition lost, with 400 Martini, 700 Sniders, and 2 nine-pounder guns. Estimated loss, killed and missing,—66th, 400; Grenadiers, 350; Jacob’s Rifles, 350; Artillery, 40; Sappers, 21; Cavalry, 60. Officers killed, or missing,—Majors Blackwood, Osborne, Maclaine, Artillery; Henn, Engineers; Galbright, McMath, Garratt, Cullen, Roberts, Rayner, Honeywood, Barr, Chute, 66th; Owen, 3rd Cavalry; Hinde, Whitby, Grenadiers; Smith, Justice, Cole, Jacob’s Rifles. Wounded,—Fowell, Artillery; Lynch, Preston, 66th; Anderson, Grant, Grenadiers; Iredell, Jacob’s Rifles. “Preparations being now made for siege. Durrani inhabitants expelled. Provisions and ammunition plentiful. Wali was present during action, and is now with us, assisting actively. Of course, whole country will rise” (PP. L/P&S/20/MEMO/2). MAIWANDWAL, MUHAMMAD HASHIM (1919–1973). Born in Kabul and educated at Habibia High School, Maiwandwal embarked on a career as editor of Itifaq-i Islam (Agreement of Islam, 1942–1945) in Herat and subsequently as editor of the daily newspaper Anis. He served as deputy minister of foreign affairs in 1955 and as ambassador to Great Britain (1956), Pakistan (1957–1958), the United States (1958–1963), and again to Pakistan (1963). He became prime minister (1965–1967) and founder of the Progressive Democratic Movement (Jam’iat Dimukrat-i Mutaraqi), whose mission he announced on Radio Afghanistan in August 1966. It recognized Zahir Shah as the “personification of national unity” and advocated a program of action “in accordance with the principles of Islam, constitutional monarchy, nationalism, democracy and socialism” and aimed at reforms in the “economic, social, cultural, civic, moral and spiritual spheres” of Afghan national life. He published the weekly Dari/Pashtu newspaper Musawat in January 1967 to propagate his ideas. He resigned in 1967 because of ill health. Maiwandwal was imprisoned when Muhammad Daud took power in 1973, and was killed in jail, reputedly under torture. The government announced that
he had committed suicide but sentenced him posthumously to death in December 1973. MAJLIS. Originally, majlis was the term for a tribal council in pre-Islamic Arabia, which conducted the affairs of a tribe. Thus, subsequently, the name was used for a parliament or similar representative body. In Afghanistan the term was used for the senate (majlis-i ayan); the Pashtu equivalent of majlis is the jirga. MAJRUH, SAYYID BAHA’UDDIN (1928–1988). Born in Kunar Province, the son of Sayyid Shamsuddin Majruh, Majruh was educated at Istiqlal Lycée, Britain, Germany, and France, where he obtained a Ph.D. degree. He was the author of numerous publications, including Azhdaha-yi Khudi (Dragon of Selfishness), which was translated from Dari into French and published under the title Voyageur de Minuit. He started his academic career as professor of philosophy and sociology at Kabul University and became president of the Afghan Historical Society (1972). He fled Afghanistan after the Saur Revolt and founded the Afghan Information Centre in Peshawar. He published the Monthly Bulletin, which was an independent newsletter reporting on the events in the Afghan war. Majruh was assassinated in Peshawar in February 1988 by unknown assailants who did not share his moderate views. MAJRUH, SAYYID SHAMSUDDIN (b. 1904). Born in Kunar Province, the son of Sayyid Hazrat Shah, Majruh served as a member of the senate (1934–1938) and a representative of the government in the Afghan Bank (1938–1949), and he was appointed president of state monopoly of petroleum and sugar in 1949. Majruh served as president of tribal affairs (1949– 1963) and was appointed minister of justice in 1963–1965, chairman of the Constitutional Drafting Committee in 1963, and deputy prime minister in 1965. He was appointed ambassador to Egypt in 1966 and senator from Kunar Province in 1969. He retired and went to Peshawar in 1980. Majruh was a member of the Supreme Council of Ittihad-i Islami-ye Mujahedin-e Afghanistan in Peshawar. A Poet in the Pashtu language, he published his selected poems. MAKHFI-BADAKHSHI, SAYYIDA (b. 1876). Born in Khulm, Tash-qurghan, the daughter of Mir Mahmud Shah Ajez (a poet and hakem of Badakhshan at the time of Amir Shir Ali), Makhfi was educated privately and then went to Badakhshan in 1921 and lived in Qara Qusi village, near Faizabad. She became a famous poetess. Her ghazals were first published in alphabetical order in the Aryana monthly magazine by Shah Abdullah Yumgi Badakhshi in 1947–1948. Her collection of poetry was published in Faizabad by Badakhshan newspaper in the 1950s. In 1951, Khalilulla Khalili met her, and they both wrote songs in praise of each other. Her brothers Mir Muhammad Ghamgin and Mir Suhrab Shah Sawda were also poets. At the time of Amir Abdul Rahman, Makhfi’s family was exiled to Kandahar and lived there for 20 years. At the time of Amir Habibullah, her family was forced to live in Kabul for about 16 years. She never married. Her mother tongue was Dari. MALALAI. Malalai was a tribal maiden who contributed to the victory of Ayub Khan at the Battle of Maiwand against the forces of the British brigadier general G. R. S. Burrows on 27
July 1880. According to legend, she used her veil as a banner to incite the Afghan forces to heroic deeds. A girls’ school and a hospital are named after her. MALIK. A malik is a “big man” or “petty chief” among the Pashtuns who possesses influence rather than power. He is a leader in war and an agent in dealings with representatives of the government. The term is synonymous with arbab in the west and beg and mir in the north of Afghanistan. In non-Pashtun areas, a malik is elected from among local landowners and acts as middleman in the collection of taxes and other services demanded by the central government. MALIKYAR, ABDULLAH (1908–2002). Born in Kabul, the son of Brigadier Abdul Ahmad of Ghazni, Abdullah was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and at a high school in Tehran. He started his career as director of the third department in the Prime Ministry in 1934. Abdullah was head of a purchasing group in Europe with headquarters in Germany in 1937. He was appointed vice president of Da Afghanistan Bank in 1937 and at the same time was third deputy minister of the Ministry of National Economy. He was appointed governor of Herat in 1944, minister of communications in 1948, and governor of Herat Province in 1949 (where he attracted Kabul’s attention to the existence of the Minar-i Jam). He became president of the Helmand and Arghandab valley project in 1953, minister of commerce in 1957, minister of finance in 1958, and deputy prime minister in 1963. Abdullah Malikyar accompanied Zahir Shah on his visit to the United States in September 1963. He was appointed ambassador to London in 1964, Washington in 1966, and Tehran in 1976. He lived in the United States from 1980 until his death in 2002. MALIKYAR, GENERAL ABDUL AHAD (1902–1956). Born in Ghazni, the son of Brigadier Abdul Ahmad, Abdul Ahad was educated at Habibia School and Military College, Kabul. He started his career as company commander in 1921 and was an officer in the general staff (1923–1924). He was promoted to ghund mishar. He went to Turkey to study at the Military Academy and returned to Afghanistan in 1929. Abdul Ahad fought in Kandahar against Habibullah Kalakani’s forces. He was a member of the general staff and yawar (aide) to Nadir Shah, the military commander, in Kandahar until 1934, in Herat from 1934 to 1937, and in Ghazni from 1937 to 1939. He served as rais-i tanzimiya of the Eastern Province (1949–1951) and as minister of interior (1951–1953). He is said to have preferred working with jirgas rather than resorting to force in his dealings with Mulla-i Lang and the Safi War. Abdul Ahad was promoted to na’eb salar in 1953. He is the recipient of the Sedaqat and Sardar-i Ala medals. He died in 1956. MALIKYAR, GENERAL ABDUL KAHAR (b. 1923). Born in Ghazni, the son of Jan Muhammad, Abdul Kahar graduated from the Military High School in 1943 and the Afghan Military Academy in 1946. He served as assistant instructor in the Military Training School and was sent for higher education to Poona, then to Iskandarabad, Dakan, India, in 1947. Abdul Kahar was promoted to second lieutenant and appointed to army corps, Kabul, as a staff in regiment battery. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1950 and captain in 1953. Sent to Turkey for higher training in 1955–1959, Abdul Kahar returned to Afghanistan and was
promoted to major in 1959. He served as regiment commander, Air Defense Forces, Kabul, in 1960 and went for higher training to the Soviet Union in 1961. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and to colonel in 1969. He was transferred to military personnel reserve in 1973 (a political decision because of the assassination of Prime Minister Muhammad Hashim Maiwandwal, his brother-in-law). He was reappointed head of the department of air defense, Ministry of Defense, in 1976. He retired and escaped to Pakistan in 1981 and went to the United States in 1981. He is a brother of Jabbar and Salam Malikyar, both army generals, who were all fired as a result of the so-called Maiwandwal plot. MANAWI, FAZAL AHMAD (1967–). Born a Pashtun in Kabul, Manawi was educated with an M.A. degree in Islamic studies from Islamabad International University. He was first deputy head of administration of the supreme court, 2002, and deputy minister of education. Manawi served as professor of Islamic law at Kabul University. He opposed women singing on Afghan television and desires to enforce traditional morals. MANGAL. The Mangal are a Pashtun tribe that inhabits parts of the Kurram Valley and Zurmat in Paktia Province. The Mangals have always been jealous of their independence and fought Afghan rulers and the British alike. In 1924 they were the major force behind the Khost Rebellion, which seriously threatened the government of King Amanullah. In the 1980s they supported the mujahedin. MANGAL, DR. HABIB (1946–). Born a Pashtun in Star Kot, Khost Province, the son of Babrak Khan Mangal, Dr. Habib was educated at Rahman Baba High School and graduated from the medical college of Kabul University in 1975. He served as physician at Khost hospital, 1977–1978, and was appointed public health director in Samangan Province. He became a member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan at the age of 18 and a member of the central committee in 1979. He was imprisoned twice in 1977 and 1978. He served as ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in Moscow (1980–1986). Mangal participated in the Loya Jirga of 1986 as a representative of Paktia Province. He left Afghanistan for Holland in 1992 and returned to Afghanistan in early 2009. A member of the Movement for Democracy and Progress in Afghanistan (AMDPA), he was a candidate for the presidential election of 2009. MANGAL REVOLT. See KHOST REBELLION. MANSURI, JARULLAH (1978–). A Tajik, born in Rustak, Takhar Province, Mansuri was educated in Peshawar. He was appointed adviser to the Ministry of Justice in 2002, special adviser to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2006, legal adviser to the National Protection Agency (NEPA) in 2007, and first deputy to NEPA in 2008. He was appointed minister of rural rehabilitation and development in 2010. He speaks Dari, Pashtu, English, Arabic, and Urdu. MARATHAS. See PANIPAT, BATTLE OF.
MARGO, DASHT-I (30-45’ N, 63-10’ E). Dasht-i Margo is an extensive, almost waterless desert lying between the Helmand and Khash rivers, extending from eastern Nimruz Province to western Helmand Province. The highway from Kandahar to Herat passes to the north of it. The desert was frequented by Baluch herders during certain times of the year, but it was impassable for anyone who did not know the scant sources of water. MA’RUFI, MUHAMMAD YAHYA (1939–). Born in Kabul, the son of Muhammad Osman Pashtun, Ma’rufi graduated from Kabul University in law and political science in 1963 and from Sydney and Fairleigh Dickinson universities in international relations in 1972. He served as member of the law and treaties department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1965–1966) and as member of the secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1966–1969). He was attaché to the permanent mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations in New York (1969– 1973) and served as a member of the United Nations and international relations department (1973–1974). Ma’rufi was deputy director of the United Nations affairs and international relations department (1974–1979). He became minister, adviser to President Hamid Karzai, and member of the National Security Council (2002–2004). He was appointed Afghan ambassador to Norway in 2004 and to Iran in 2007. He is married to Soraya Lodin with a son, Yama, and a daughter, Sabrina. His wife holds the position of registrar at Webster University in Geneva. MARUFI, MUSA M. (1943–). Born in Kabul, the son of Muhammad Osman Pashtun, Marufi graduated with a B.A. degree in law and political science from Kabul University in 1965. He obtained a special diploma from Lincoln College, Oxford University, in 1970; an M.A. degree in international relations from Queens College of the City University of New York in 1972; and an M.C.L. degree from the National Law Center of George Washington University in 1978. Ma’rufi taught diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government institutions and at institutions in the United States. He was appointed deputy minister of justice in 2002 and served as professor of financial law, constitutional law, and the history of diplomacy at the faculty of law and political science, Kabul University (2002–2007). He was president of the Independent Commission for Radio Afghanistan and TV in 2005 and legal adviser and member of the Commission for Peace Strengthening and Reconciliation in 2005. He served as chairman of UNESCO’s ad hoc Independent High Commission of Communication and Information for Afghanistan in 2006; he was appointed Afghan ambassador to Italy in February 2007. He is the author of numerous publications in Pashtu, Dari, and English. MASJID. See MOSQUE. MAS’UD, AHMAD SHAH (MASSOUD, 1956–2001). Born in 1956, the son of Dost Muhammad, Mas’ud was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and the Military Academy, where he graduated in 1973. He was a member of the radical Islamist movement. He was one of the most successful, and most publicized, mujahedin leaders in the Panjshir Valley of Parwan Province, north of Kabul. He withstood numerous Soviet invasions into his territory but in 1983 concluded a temporary truce with Soviet forces, which was described as a tactical
measure and did not prevent him from carrying out attacks elsewhere. He organized a supervisory council and was one of few commanders who sought to set up a civil administration, instill discipline in his troops, and use modern military principles of tactical warfare. He was a member of the Jam’iat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan, headed by Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, which is largely of non-Pashtun background. After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, he was able to extend his territorial control, establishing his headquarters at Taluqan. His group was involved in bloody clashes with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i Islami, which resulted in considerable casualties on both sides. In October 1990 Mas’ud participated in a meeting to coordinate the efforts of mujahedin commanders from many parts of Afghanistan and subsequently came to Pakistan where he and Hekmatyar appeared to reconcile their differences. Because of his successes, Mas’ud was called “The Lion of Panjshir” by his admirers. Mas’ud captured Kabul with the help of the Uzbeki forces of General Abdul Rashid Dostum; but other groups, including the Shi’i Wahdat, carved out areas under their influence, and fighting continued over control of the city. Mas’ud was elected minister of defense, a post he relinquished in an attempt to compromise with Hekmat-yar’s Hizb-i Islami. Nevertheless, Mas’ud continued to control the armed wing of the Jam’iat-i Islami, and he gained control of the entire city of Kabul after defeating the other mujahedin groups. When Rabbani made peace with Hekmatyar in May 1996, the latter came to Kabul to resume his position as prime minister. Mas’ud was engaged in a struggle for survival against the Taliban, who captured Kabul in September 1996, and was assassinated in a suicide attack on 9 September 2001. Two assassins posed as journalists and asked to take a photo of the Panjshiri leadership with a camera that was rigged to explode. Mas’ud was succeeded by General Muhammad Qasim Fahim who captured Kabul after the fall of the Taliban regime. MAS’UD, AHMAD WALI (1964–). Born in Kabul, the son of Dost Muhammad Khan, Ahmad Wali was educated at Istiqlal Lycée in Kabul and the South Devon College of Art and Technology, the Polytechnic of Central London, and the University of Westminster in London. He is the younger brother of the late Ahmad Shah Mas’ud and member of the Panjshiri faction of the Northern Alliance. He was appointed Afghan ambassador to Great Britain in 2001. He criticized the draft of the new constitution, claiming it does not “spread around power” and gives too much authority to the president. He did not rule out becoming a candidate for the presidency and has founded a political party, the National Movement of Afghanistan (Nahzat-i Milli-yi Afghanistan). He submitted his “national agenda” to the government and hinted at further action if it was not accepted. He lost much of his importance when Hamid Karzai appointed his brother, Ahmad Zia Ma’sud, first vice president. MAS’UD, AHMAD ZIA (1956–). Born in Moqor, Ghazni Province, the younger brother of Ahmad Shah Mas’ud and son-in-law of Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ahmad Zia graduated from Istiqlal Lycée and attended the Polytechnic Institute in Kabul, 1976, but left to join his brother in the fight against the Marxist regime. He acted as special representative of Jam’iat-i Islami in Peshawar. After the fall of the Marxist regime he acted as adviser and representative
in Rabbani’s party. He was appointed Afghan ambassador to the Russian Federation, 2002, and in 2004 Karzai chose him as his running mate in the presidential elections of October 2004. He was first vice president of Afghanistan in the governments of President Hamid Karzai of December 2004 and March 2006. He is married and has five children. MATUN. See KHOST. MAULAWI (MAWLAWI). A maulawi is a graduate from a madrasa, a college of Islamic studies; also an alim (pl. ulama), doctor of Islamic sciences. MAZARI, ABDUL ALI (1946–1995). Mazari was born in the village of Charkent near Mazar-i Sharif. After elementary education he studied in Mazar-i Sharif, Qom, and Najaf in Iraq. He was chief of the radical Nasr (Victory) party that succeeded in capturing most of the Hazarajat from traditional groups. In 1989 he joined the Hizb-i Wahdat, a coalition of seven Shi’i parties, and subsequently became its head. He collaborated with Burhanuddin Rabbani but eventually allied himself with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. A hard-liner, accused of liquidating some of his opponents, he was himself killed in Taliban captivity after he surrendered to this new force. He was buried in Mazar-i Sharif. MAZAR-I SHARIF (36-42’ N, 67-6’ E). Mazar-i Sharif is the administrative center of Balkh Province (population 1,073,000) with an estimated population of 183,000 (including the district) and at one time was also the name of a province that included the present Jozjan, Balkh, and Samangan provinces. Mazar-i Sharif, located about 13 miles east of Balkh village, is named “the Noble Tomb” because of a local claim that the Caliph Ali (r. 656–661) is buried in the city (Najaf in present-day Iraq is generally accepted as the burial place). According to that claim, Ali’s body was brought to northern Afghanistan and placed on the back of a white camel that was permitted to wander about. It was decided to bury the caliph on the spot where the camel eventually halted. Two cupolas were constructed over the tomb by Sultan Ali Mirza in the early 15th century. Subsequently a great mosque and shrine were built in its location, and Mazar-i Sharif became an important place of pilgrimage. As the town grew, it eventually superseded Balkh in importance and became the administrative center of the province. In the late 19th century the town had some 20,000 inhabitants, and by the 1930s it had become the major commercial center in northern Afghanistan. In the 1970s the new part of the town was built according to principles of modern town planning, with avenues intersecting at right angles and modern shops rather than the traditional bazaar. The town is an important commercial center famous for its Qaraqul skins, carpets, and melons and is developing into a major industrial town for fertilizer and textile production. Because of its proximity to the former Soviet border and its flat terrain, the area was easily defended from mujahedin attacks and became a stronghold of the Marxist regime. It lies about 270 miles northwest of Kabul on the paved road that connects the capital with northern Afghanistan. After the fall of the Marxist government in Kabul, General Abdul Rashid Dostum made Mazar-i Sharif his capital. He founded a university in Mazar that enrolled 6,000 students, about 35 percent women. The Kabul government appointed Muhammad Ata, a rival of Dostum, governor of Mazar-i Sharif.
MAZAR-I SHARIF, FALL OF (1992). The fall of Mazar-i Sharif precipitated the fall of President Najibullah and his Kabul government. It occurred in March 1992, not as a result of military conquest, but rather as the consequence of a power struggle within the Marxist leadership. Najibullah wanted to replace the Tajik general, Mumin, commander of the Hairatan garrison and guardian of the major weapons depot in the northern province, with the Pashtun general, Rasul. Mumin refused to go and allied himself with General Abdul Rashid Dostum, commander of the Jozjani militia, and Sayyid Mansur Nadiri, head of the Isma’ili forces that control the area north of the Salang Pass. They cooperated with Ahmad Shah Mas’ud and assisted the latter in the capture of Kabul on 25 April. Dostum then founded the National Islamic Movement (Junbesh-i Milli-yi Islami) with Nadiri and others and controlled the entire north-central area of Afghanistan until the Taliban conquest of the city. Mazar-i Sharif was taken by the Northern Alliance with American aerial support on 9 November 2001. MCNEILL, LIEUTENANT GENERAL DAN K. (1946–). Commanding general of United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan, McNeill came to Afghanistan in May 2002 on a one-year tour of duty to be replaced by Major General John R. Vines. McNeill commanded 11,500 troops, of whom 8,500 were American. He was a graduate with a B.S. degree from North Carolina State University in 1968 and from the U.S. Army War College in 1989. Before coming to Afghanistan he was commander, 18th Airborne Corps, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. When 48 people were killed and 117 injured in a bombing raid on a wedding party on 1 July 2002, McNeill visited Dehrawud to discuss the matter with local leaders and village elders. The Afghan government paid $18,500 in “condolence money” to the victims—$200 for each person killed and $75 for each wounded—and the United States provided tents and blankets to villagers in Dehrawud and Kakrakai in Oruzgan Province. McNeill claimed that U.S. planes came under fire; Afghans say they fired rifles in celebration at the wedding. According to some sources, Afghan informers were feeding U.S. bombers wrong information. McNeill mediated between Gul Agha Sherzai, governor of Kandahar, and Isma’il Khan, “amir” of Herat, to stop Herat from levying customs on Kandahar merchants (Moore 2003). MEENA (MINA) (1956–1987). Born in Kabul and educated in the capital, Mina was the founder and leader of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) in 1977 to educate women and help their emancipation. Meena published the women’s magazine Payam-i Zan (Women’s Message) in 1981; she also founded schools for refugees and a hospital and handicraft centers for refugee women in Pakistan. She visited European capitals, condemning the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and Islamist repression of women. She was killed in Quetta on 4 February 1987 by unknown assailants. MEHSUD, ABDULLAH (MAHSUD) (1976–2009). Born in the district of Banu of Dera Isma’il Khan, Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, Mehsud was the amir of the Taliban movement in Pakistan, located in South Waziristan in the autonomous tribal area. Mehsud was accused of complicity in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a charge he strongly denied. He supported Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and although there was a price on his
head ($600,000 from Pakistan and $5 million from the United States), the Pakistan government was forced to conclude a peace treaty with him at Sarogha in February 2005. Mehsud claimed that Pakistan violated the agreement, and in August 2007 he captured 200 regular troops, whom he exchanged for 25 of his fighters held in Pakistan. The Afghan government protested that the Sarogha agreement led to increased Taliban and al-Qaeda attacks in their country. Although Mehsud’s activities were confined primarily to Pakistan, he maintained links with Jalaluddin Haqani and was seen as a key “facilitator” of al-Qaeda. One of Mehsud’s clansmen, or a relative according to some sources, was held in Guantánamo but was subsequently freed. On 5 August 2009, an American drone attack killed Mehsud, one of his wives, and a number of his bodyguards. His son Hakimullah succeeded him, but on 14 January 2010 he was wounded in a drone attack and died a month later. MELMASTIA. See PASHTUNWALI. MESHRANO JIRGA. The Pashtu name for the Upper House (or House of Notables) of the bicameral parliament was established by the 1931 and 1964 constitutions. According to the 1931 constitution, its members were appointed by the king; in 1964 a third of the members were appointed, and the rest were elected. Its minimum membership was 20 but was subsequently increased. The upper house was also called by the Dari name Majlis-i A’yan, which also means House of Notables. The constitution of 2004 has reestablished this institution. MILITIA. See ARMY, AFGHAN. MILLER, JAMES. A Scottish engineer, engaged by Amir Habibullah during his Indian tour in 1907, who set up a furniture factory and, having accomplished this, built a clock tower in the garden of the Dilkusha (Arg) palace. Subsequently he was employed on various irrigation schemes and built the Darunta Bridge over the Kabul River northwest of Jalalabad. MINBAR. See MOSQUE. MINING INDUSTRY. Mining could develop into Afghanistan’s major industry because the country has extensive deposits of barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, precious and semiprecious stones, salt, sulphur, talc, and zinc. Precious and semiprecious stones include emeralds, lapis lazuli, and rubies. Major problems in developing these resources in the past have been the rugged terrain and inadequate infrastructure and sources of water and power. To this must be added insecurity resulting from 30 years of warfare. Major foreign investments will be needed, similar to the Aibak copper project, awarded in 2007 to the Metallurgical Corporation of China, which outbid companies from Australia, India, Canada, and the United States. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Ministry of Mines and Industries jointly assessed the oil and gas resources in northern Afghanistan at 1,596 million barrels (mbbl) of crude oil, 444 billion cubic meters of natural gas, and 562 mbbl of natural gas liquids. Gas and oil pipeline projects from Central Asia through western Afghanistan and south to Pakistan and, perhaps, on
to India have also stalled because of the general insecurity in the country. The possibilities are great, and with peace in the country thousands of jobs could be created and the economy could develop to self-sufficiency. A dramatically new development occurred when, on the basis of research by the Soviet Union and subsequent U.S. surveys, Pentagon officials announced the existence of vast mineral resources that could make Afghanistan “the most important mining center in the world,” and the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” The New York Times (14 June 2010) published the potential value of metals and minerals at $908 billion, as follows: Iron
$420.9 billion
Copper
274.0
Niobium
81.2
Cobalt
50.8
Gold
25.0
Molybdenum
23.9
Rare earth elements
7.4
Asbestos
6.3
Silver
5.3
Potash
5.1
Aluminum
4.4
Graphite
0.7
Lapis lazuli
0.7
Fluorite
0.6
Phosphorus
0.6
Lead and zinc
0.5
Mercury
0.5
Strontium
0.4
Sulfur
0.2
Talc
0.2
Magnesite
0.2
Kaolin
0.1
MIR FATH MUHAMMAD (1901–). Born in 1901 in Mangasak, Behsud, the son of Mir Ghulam Hasan Beg, Mir Fath is a Hazara leader and a founder of Hizb-i Watan. At age 29 he
received the title of honorary general (firqa mishar) from King Amanullah. He was one of three Hazara leaders who resisted and defeated the forces of Habibullah Kalakani at the Onai Pass in March–September 1929. Imprisoned after the assassination of King Nadir (1933– 1945), he was exiled to Kandahar until Prime Minister Shah Mahmud’s amnesty in 1946. He was again imprisoned (1952–1963), and when freed, he stood for elections to the Wolesi Jirga but was defeated by Dr. Anahita Ratebzad in 1964. He was assassinated by an unidentified gunman in Kabul. MIR KHWAJA JAN (d. 1971). A Kohistani belonging to the Sahibzada family of religious leaders, Mir Khwaja Jan was exiled to India by Amir Abdul Rahman, but Amir Habibullah permitted him to return to Kabul. He served on the amir’s advisory council and later on the staff of the amir’s son, Sardar Enayatullah. He had three sons who became important members of Amir Habibullah Kalakani’s government: Ata-ul Haqq, his foreign minister; Shir Jan, minister of court; and Muhammad Siddiq, who commanded the Gardez forces and fought General Nadir Khan in 1929. Mir Khwaja Jan died in 1971. MIR WAIS KHAN HOTAKI (r. 1709–1715). Mir Wais was a Ghilzai Pashtun and founder of the short-lived Hotaki dynasty (1709–1738). He was the leader of the Afghan tribal revolt against Persian domination that led to the foundation of modern Afghanistan. He was a Ghilzai chief who lived as a hostage at the court of the Safavid ruler in Isfahan while Kandahar was ruled by Gorgin Khan, a Georgian governor. Mir Wais got permission to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he obtained a fatwa (legal decision) authorizing revolt against the Shi’i domination of western Afghanistan (which is largely Sunni). Upon his return to Kandahar he used the fatwa to win the support of tribal chieftains and, in 1709, staged a successful revolt against Gorgin Khan’s troops. Mir Wais and his Afghan forces defeated all attempts by the Safavid armies to recapture Kandahar and laid the basis for the Afghan invasion of Persia and the defeat of the Safavids at Gulnabad in 1722. MOHMAND. The Mohmand are a powerful tribe of eastern Pashtun origin that migrated from the area north of Kandahar to the Peshawar area. Their territory was dissected by the Durand Line in 1893, but they continued to be a factor in the politics of both states. In the early 20th century they were estimated to comprise some 40,000 families and could raise 18,000 fighters. They supported Prince Kamran in the early 19th century and joined the Shinwaris in their revolt against King Amanullah in November 1928. In 1930 the Haji of Turangzai, a tribal mulla, led them against British forces on the frontier. The Mohmand area was always autonomous, and the British-Indian as well as later the Pakistan government controlled the Mohmand Agency indirectly by means of an agent who acted as the representative of the government. In September 1935, they staged a major uprising against the British government. During the civil war in the 1980s, the Mohmands generally remained neutral. MOSQUE (MASJID). The mosque is the Islamic place of worship, where Muslims assemble for prayer, especially on Fridays, when communal prayers are obligatory and the traditional sermon (khutba) is delivered. Mosques vary in size from one-room buildings to monumental
structures, but all mosques have a prayer niche (mihrab) that indicates the direction of the Ka’ba, the Islamic shrine in Mecca. Before prayer, Muslims must perform a ceremonial washing (wudhu) and enter the prayer room without their shoes. Prayer includes repeated bowings (ruku’) whereby one touches the ground with the forehead. Prayers are usually performed in unison with one person leading in prayer. Larger mosques have a pulpit, minbar, and minarets from which the “crier,” muezzin, gives the call to prayer. Cathedral mosques usually have a large courtyard with fountains, high minarets, and buildings for schools and colleges (madrasas). On special holidays, Afghan kings attended prayers at the Idgah Mosque in Kabul, and high government officials attend prayers in provincial capitals. The Friday sermon is read in the name of the ruler and, therefore, has political significance. Until the government took over these functions, mosques were the main centers of education, public welfare, and social or political gatherings, and even today their role is important. Mosques are supported by the state or local communities, as well as by pious endowments administered by the ulama. See also ISLAM; RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS. MUFTI. A mufti is a canon lawyer of reputation who gives a formal, legal opinion, fatwa, in answer to a question submitted to him either by a judge or a private individual. All laws passed by Afghan legislatures are required to be in conformance with Islamic law, and it is (or was) the duty of a high member of the ulama or a council of the ulama (Jam’iat-i Ulama) to pass on the constitutionality of laws. The 1957 law on the administration of justice by Shari’a relegated the function of the mufti to primary courts, and the constitution of 1964 dispensed with the services of a mufti and established a supreme court. The Taliban rulers restored the function of the mufti. MUHAMMAD AFZAL, AMIR (r. 1866–1867). Muhammad Afzal, the eldest son of Amir Dost Muhammad, served as governor of northern Afghanistan in the 1850s. He fought his half brother, Shir Ali, for the throne and was proclaimed amir in 1866. He died a year later in Kabul of cholera and was succeeded by his brother Muhammad Azam. Muhammad Afzal was the father of the subsequent amir, Abdul Rahman. MUHAMMAD AKBAR. See AKBAR, SARDAR MUHAMMAD. MUHAMMAD AZAM (r. 1867). Muhammad Azam, son of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan, succeeded his brother Muhammad Afzal to the Kabul throne in 1867. He was defeated by his half brother Shir Ali and forced to flee to Iran, where he died in October 1869 on his way to Tehran. MUHAMMAD AZIM (d. 1933). Muhammad Azim was a teacher at the German-language Amani (later Najat) High School in Kabul. He entered the British legation in Kabul on 6 September 1933 with the intention of assassinating the minister, Sir Richard Maconachie. He wanted to precipitate war between Great Britain and Afghanistan. Instead of killing the minister, he shot an English mechanic and two employees of the legation. This act was seen as
a continuation of the struggle between the followers of King Amanullah and Nadir Shah. Muhammad Azim was executed on 13 September, as were six prominent prisoners and high officials of King Amanullah, including Muhammad Wali and Ghulam Jilani Charkhi. MUHAMMAD AZIM, AMIR. See MUHAMMAD AZAM. MUHAMMAD AZIZ (1877–1933). Muhammad Aziz, son of Sardar Muhammad Yusuf, was half brother of Nadir Shah and father of Muhammad Daud (r. 1973–1975). He entered service as assistant private secretary of Amir Habibullah and supervisor of Afghan students in France in the 1920s. Nadir Shah appointed him ambassador to Moscow in 1929 and in 1933 to Berlin, where he was assassinated on 6 June 1933 by one Sayyid Kemal, apparently in retaliation for the killing of Ghulam Jilani Charkhi. MUHAMMAD DAUD, SARDAR (1909–1978). Born in Kabul, the son of Sardar Muhammad Aziz, Muhammad Daud was educated in Kabul and France. He embarked on a military career and was governor and general officer commanding the Eastern Province (1934), Kandahar (1935), and the Central Forces (1939–1947) stationed in Kabul, as well as minister of defense in 1946. A minister of interior (1949–1950) and prime minister (1953– 1963), he encouraged social reforms and in 1959 permitted women to abandon the veil, thus contributing to their emancipation and participation in the economic life of Afghanistan. He initiated two five-year plans (1956–1961 and 1962–1967) and a seven-year plan in 1976 and relied for military and development aid on the Soviet Union. He demanded the independence of Pashtunistan, the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, which led to repeated crises with Pakistan and ended with his resignation in 1963. Ten years later, Muhammad Daud staged a coup against his cousin, King Zahir Shah, and in July 1973 proclaimed Afghanistan a republic and himself president of the Republic of Afghanistan. Whether he just wanted power or felt that the political liberalization during the democratic decade (1963–1973) had failed to remedy the social and economic problems of Afghanistan is not clear. He relied on the support of leftists to consolidate his power, crushed the emerging Islamist movement, and in 1975 established his own National Revolutionary Party as an umbrella organization for all political movements. Thus he wanted to limit the power of the left and create a left-of-center movement loyal to himself. Toward the end of his rule he attempted to purge his leftist supporters from positions of power and sought to reduce Soviet influence in Afghanistan. Financial support from Iran and the Arab Gulf states was to enable him to repay Soviet loans and improve his relations with the West. He and members of his family were assassinated on 27 April 1978 as a result of the Saur Revolt that brought Marxist parties to power in Kabul. MUHAMMAD HASANI (MAMASANI). The Mamasani are a Brahui tribe located in the area of Shorawak. MUHAMMAD HASHIM, SARDAR (1886–1953). Son of Sardar Yusuf Khan, Sardar Hashim embarked on a military career and commanded Amir Habibullah’s bodyguard. He became King Amanullah’s governor of the Eastern Province (1919) and served as Afghan
minister in Moscow (1924–1926) before joining his half brother Muhammad Nadir in France. When Nadir Khan ascended the throne in December 1929, Muhammad Hashim became his prime minister and ruled with a strong hand until his retirement in 1946. He is said to have been a good administrator but austere and harsh in his dealing with the Afghan people. Hashim groomed his nephew, Muhammad Daud, for the position of prime minister. He died in 1953. MUHAMMAD HUSAIN. See SARAHANG, USTAD MUHAMMAD HUSAIN. MUHAMMADI, AHMAD NABI. The son of Maulawi Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi, he went to Pakistan in 1988 where he assisted his father, who was leader of Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami-yi Afghanistan. At his father’s death in 2002, he was selected leader of the party and changed the party’s name to the Islamic and National Revolution Movement of Afghanistan. Muhammadi participated in the constitutional Loya Jirga of 2002. He is a member of the Andar tribe from Kulangar district in Logar Province. MUHAMMADI, MAULAWI MUHAMMAD NABI (1921–2002). Born in Logar, the son of Haji Abdul Wahhab, Muhammadi was educated in madrasas in Logar Province. In the 1950s he was one of the first members of the religious establishment to agitate against “communist influence” in the Afghan educational system. He was elected to parliament in 1964 as a representative of Logar Province. After the Marxist coup, he fled to Pakistan and utilized a network of maulawis (graduates of madrasas) to organize armed resistance against Kabul. He was the founder and leader of the Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami (Islamic Revolutionary Movement), a traditional Islamic mujahedin group, headquartered in Pakistan in the 1980s. In the early 1980s his Harakat was the largest of mujahedin groups, but it lost members to the more radical Islamist parties of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and Burhanuddin Rabbani. It had Pashtun support in Kandahar, Ghazni, Logar, Kabul, and Baghlan provinces. In 1992 Muhammadi became vice president in Rabbani’s government, but in March 1995 he recognized the Taliban movement, which many of his party joined. Muhammadi died on 22 April 2002 in Pakistan. The party is now headed by his son Ahmad Nabi Muhammadi. MUHAMMAD ISHAQ (ESHAQ) (1952–). Born in Panjshir and a graduate of the faculty of engineering of Kabul University, Ishaq became a member of the Jawanan-i Musulman (see ISLAMIST MOVEMENT). He cooperated in 1975 with Commander Mas’ud in raids against military posts of the Muhammad Daud government and after the Saur Revolt joined Mas’ud against the Kabul government. After 1982, he was a political officer of the Jam’iat and a frequent contributor to its fortnightly AfghaNews. MUHAMMAD ISMA’IL KHAN (1946–). Born in Shindand (now Farah Province), the son of Muhammad Aslam, Isma’il Khan completed his elementary education in Shindand and continued his education at Kabul Military School and the Military Academy. He was a second lieutenant in the 17th Division stationed in Herat when he defected and participated in the uprising of 15 March 1979. When the uprising was suppressed, he fled to Iran and made his way to Pakistan, where he joined the forces of Burhanuddin Rabbani. In 1987 he was said to
receive Stinger missiles that helped him to secure control of much of Herat Province. He was promoted to general by Sebghatullah Mujaddidi and called himself amir, showing ambitions for autonomous rule. Isma’il Khan was captured by Abdul Malik and surrendered to Taliban forces in 1997. He managed to escape to Iran but was able to establish himself as the predominant warlord in western Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime. He was the “amir” of Herat, Badghis, Ghor, and Farah provinces and built a good military organization. Finally he accepted the appointment of minister of water and power in the Hamid Karzai government. Although his reappointment was vetoed in 2009 by the Wolesi Jirga, he continues in his position as acting minister. He is a mujahedin commander affiliated with the Jam’iat-i Islami. MUHAMMAD NADIR SHAH (1883–1933). King of Afghanistan, 1929–1933, the son of Sardar Muhammad Yusuf Khan, he embarked on a military career. Appointed a brigadier in 1906, he was promoted to lieutenant general (naib salar) for his services in suppressing the Mangal Revolt in December 1912. He was appointed general (sipah salar) in 1914. He and other members of the Afghan court accompanied Amir Habibullah to Jalalabad, the winter capital, and when the amir was assassinated while on a hunting trip, Nadir was arrested. Amir Amanullah exonerated him of any involvement and sent him to command the troops in Khost Province. During the Third Anglo-Afghan War, Nadir Khan led an army across the Afghan border into Waziristan and besieged the British base at Thal. This prevented a British offensive in the east and threatened to cause a general uprising among the “British” Afghans, which was one of the factors that forced Britain to accept Afghan independence. Amir Amanullah appointed him minister of war in 1919, in which post he served until 1924, when he was appointed Afghan minister at Paris. He resigned two years later because of illness (or because he disagreed with King Amanullah’s policies). Nevertheless, he remained in France, where he was joined by his half brother Muhammad Hashim Khan and his brother Shah Wali Khan. After the abdication of King Amanullah in January 1929, Nadir left France for India and established himself at the Afghan frontier. He collected tribal support, including Waziri tribal forces from the Indian side of the border, and, after initial setbacks, defeated Habibullah Kalakani and captured Kabul on 13 October 1929. Nadir Khan was proclaimed king two days later. He made great efforts to reorganize the country and reopen schools and founded the faculty of medicine in 1932, which 10 years later merged with a number of faculties to become Kabul University. He drafted a new constitution (1931) that provided for a bicameral parliament, the national council (shura-i milli), the senate (majlis-i a’yan), and an advisory council (jam’iat-i ulama). He fought those who aimed at restoring King Amanullah to the throne and executed Ghulam Nabi, one of his chief opponents, in 1932. He was assassinated in 1933 by a Hazara student who was a servant of Ghulam Nabi’s family. MUHAMMAD NAIM, SARDAR (1912–1978). The son of Muhammad Aziz and brother of Muhammad Daud, Muhammad Naim embarked on a diplomatic career and served as Afghan minister in Rome (1932), London (1946–1947), and the United States (1948–1950). He served as minister of foreign affairs and deputy prime minister (1953–1963) and foreign policy
adviser of President Muhammad Daud (1973–1978). He was assassinated together with President Daud and members of their family as a result of the Saur Revolt of 27 April 1978. MUHAMMAD OMAR. See OMAR, MULLA MUHAMMAD. MUHAMMAD RAFI’I, COLONEL GENERAL (1946–). Born of a Kharoti Ghilzai family of Paghman, Muhammad Rafi’i was educated at the Kabul Military Academy and the Academy of General Staff in the Soviet Union. When he became a member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1973, he was the highest-ranking party member in the Afghan army. A member of the Parchami faction of the PDPA, he was minister of public works in the first Khalqi cabinet (May to August 1978) and was purged with other Parchamis and arrested and sentenced to 20 years for plotting against the Taraki government. Appointed minister of defense by the Karmal government (1980–1982 and 1986–1988), he became a member of the politburo in 1981. In 1988 he was one of four vice presidents of the Najibullah government. MUHAMMAD WALI. See WALI, MUHAMMAD. MUHAMMAD YUSUF (1917–1998). Born in Kabul, Muhammad Yusuf was educated at Najat school and in Germany, where he received a Ph.D. degree in physics. He became a professor at Kabul University and deputy minister of education in 1949. He held the position of minister of mines and industry for 10 years (1953–1963) before his appointment as prime minister in 1963, succeeding Sardar Muhammad Daud as the first commoner in this position. He served during the process of drafting and ratifying the constitution of 1964. The newly elected, bicameral parliament was soon bogged down in recriminations and political infighting. When the lower house, the Wolesi Jirga, decided to hold closed meetings, demonstrations, largely by students, led to police repression in which two persons were killed and a number of others wounded. Thereupon Dr. Yusuf resigned. The Sewwum-i Aqrab (the third of the month Aqrab, corresponding to 25 October 1965) was subsequently a day of protest and demonstrations of the Left. After his resignation he served as Afghan ambassador to Bonn (1966–1973) and Moscow (1973) but was recalled after the Daud coup. He moved to Germany and died there in 1998. MUHAMMADZAI. The Muhammadzai (a branch of the Barakzai of the Durrani tribe) are the descendants of Sardar Painda Khan. They captured the Kabul throne in 1826 under Amir Dost Muhammad and continued in power (with the exception of the nine-month rule of Habibullah Kalakani) until the Marxist coup in 1978 deposed Muhammad Daud. For Muhammadzai rulers see DURRANI DYNASTY. MUHAMMADZAI, KHATOL. Appointed general in the Afghan army by President Hamid Kharzai on the occasion of Independence Day, 19 August 2002, Khatol joined the army in 1982 after the death of her husband. She is said to have made more than 500 parachute jumps since her first leap at the age of 16. Much decorated, she was promoted to colonel under President Burhanuddin Rabbani. In celebration of New Year (Nauruz, 21 March 2002), she
parachuted, wearing a sign that read, “We want education, employment and salaries for widows, orphans and handicapped people.” She entered Kabul Stadium amid enthusiastic applause. During the Taliban regime, she was forced to stay at home, but after the fall of the Islamists, she became head of physical training for the air force. Khatol has received numerous decorations. MUHAQEQ, AYATOLLAH MUHAMMAD (1955–). Born a Hazara in Charkent, Balkh, the son of Haji Muhammad Sarwar, Muhaqeq earned a B.A. degree in Islamic studies. He studied at Shi’i universities in Najaf, Iraq, and has become a “Source of Imitation” (Marja’i Taqlid) for his followers. Muhaqeq served as chairman of the political committee of Hizb-i Wahdat-i Islami and administrator of the northern areas and became an important party member and a successful commander against the Taliban in central and northern Afghanistan. Director general of the Shi’i Hizb-i Wahdat, he was appointed minister of planning and vice chairman in the Transitional Government (2002–2004) until he decided to stand for election to the presidency in March 2004. He placed third behind Hamid Karzai and Yunus Qanuni and became a member of parliament. MUHSINI, AYATOLLAH MUHAMMAD ASEF (1935–). Born in 1935 in Kandahar Province, Muhsini was educated at Shi’i universities in Iraq. He is called “Ayatollah” by his supporters and is the founder of the cultural organization Dawn of Science (Sobh-i Danesh), which became the nucleus of the rural-based mujahedin group Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami-yi Afghanistan (Islamic Movement of Afghanistan). In 1980 he was elected chairman of the Afghan Shi’a Alliance, a mujahedin umbrella group headquartered in Iran, but subsequently he left the alliance and moved to Quetta. His group once rivaled Nasr in importance and collaborated with him in expelling the shura of Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Beheshti from most of the Hazarajat. In June 1990, the Shi’i groups announced the formation of a new organization, called Unity Party (Hizb-i Wahdat), but Muhsini presented a number of conditions for joining the coalition. Muhsini was known as a moderate who received no support from Iran. After the fall of the Marxist regime, his party supported the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, and two members of his group were represented in Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s short-lived cabinet of July 1996. He became the owner of Tamadon (Civilization) television station. He supported a law requiring that women cannot refuse sex to their husbands. Because of public protests, the law was not enacted. He stepped down in 2005 and was succeeded by Sayyid Muhammad Ali Javed. He speaks Dari, Pashtu, and Arabic. MUHTASIB. An overseer of public morality, common in Afghanistan before local police forces were established, the muhtasib was to discourage sinful behavior, encourage attendance at prayers, check measures and weights in the bazaars, and ascertain that foodstuffs were not adulterated. He was appointed by a qazi (judge), paid from the public treasury, and empowered to administer whippings for minor offenses. With the establishment of regular police forces in towns in the early 1920s, the position of muhtasib began to disappear. See also KALANTAR.
MUJADDIDI. Mujaddidi is the name of a family of religious leaders who are the descendants of the Sufi reformer Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi born in Kabul Province in 1564 and buried in Sirhind, India, 1624, called Mujaddid Alf-i Thani (Renewer of the Second Millennium). Qayyum Jan Agha (descendant in seven generations of the Shaikh) came to Afghanistan in the early 19th century and founded a madrasa (Islamic college) and khanaqa (Sufi center) in the Shor Bazaar area of Kabul, and his successor therefore assumed the title Hazrat Sahib of Shor Bazaar. Succession went from Qayyum Jan Agha to Fazl Muhammad (Shams al-Mashayekh— the Sun of Shaikhs, assumed title in 1925) to Fazl Omar (Nur al-Mashayekh—the Light of Shaikhs) to Muhammad Ibrahim (Zia al-Mashayekh—the Light of Shaikhs, assumed title in 1956). Members of the family also established themselves in Herat (the Hazrat Sahib of Jaghatan) and other towns in Afghanistan. They are leaders of the Naqshbandi Sufi order in southern Afghanistan and have long played an important political role. They preached jihad (holy war) against Britain, opposed the secular reforms instituted by King Amanullah and Muhammad Daud, and encouraged tribal revolts to restore their concept of Islamic orthodoxy. Some members held government positions, and some lived in exile. In January 1979, Muhammad Ibrahim and some 96 male members of the Mujaddidi family were arrested and executed during the Khalqi regime. MUJADDIDI, SEBGHATULLAH (1925–). Born in Kabul, the son of Muhammad Masum, Sebghatullah was educated in Kabul and at Al-Azhar University in Egypt and subsequently taught Islamic studies at high schools and colleges in Kabul. He publicly denounced “unbelievers” and communists and was imprisoned (1959–1964) for involvement in a purported plot to assassinate the Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev. When he was freed, he traveled abroad for two years and upon his return founded the Jam’iat-i Ulama-i Muhammadi (Organization of Muslim Clergy) in 1972. He was again politically active and participated in antireformist demonstrations in Kabul in the 1970s and was forced to flee abroad in order to escape arrest. He was head of the Islamic Center in Copenhagen, Denmark (1974–1978); and after the Saur Revolt he went to Pakistan where he led the armed resistance of the National Liberation Front. His supporters are primarily Pashtun members of the Naqshbandi Sufi order in Paktia and Kunar provinces. He was president of the first government after the fall of the Marxist regime, 28 April–28 June 1992. After the fall of the Taliban regime, he was elected to the upper house of parliament. He was elected president in February 1989 of an “Afghan Interim Government” made up of members of the seven-party alliance of mujahedin headquartered in Pakistan. He founded and led the National Liberation Front of Afghanistan (Jabha-yi Milli Beraye Najat-i Afghanistan) that conducted armed attacks on Soviet and Afghan government forces from about 1980. In spite of his radical background, he was counted among the moderates who did not rule out the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. After the fall of the Marxist government in April 1992, Mujaddidi served as interim president for two months, in which capacity he amnestied his communist opponents and promoted Abdul Rashid Dostum to the rank of general. In the subsequent power struggle, Mujaddidi supported Gulbuddin Hekmatyar against Burhanuddin Rabbani when the latter refused to step down at the end of his two-year appointment. He resigned from the Supreme Coordination Council of
the Islamic Revolution in Afghanistan (SCCIRA) in November 1995, when Hekmatyar unilaterally negotiated with Rabbani. The constellation of forces changed again when in May 1996 Hekmatyar made peace with Rabbani and established himself in Kabul as the new prime minister. When the Taliban captured Kabul in September 1996, Mujaddidi recognized their regime. He was appointed speaker of the senate in President Hamid Karzai’s government and was a member of a delegation to the international conference in London, 31 January 2006. MUJADDIDI, ZIA (1945–). Born in Farah Province, Zia Mujaddidi earned a B.A. degree in agricultural engineering from Kabul University in 1972 and an M.S. degree from the American University in Beirut in 1976. He served as professor in the faculty of engineering at Kabul University from 1972 to 1979 and fled Afghanistan after the Marxist coup in 1979. He served as regional affairs officer at the USAID representative’s office for Afghanistan in Quetta, Pakistan (1990–1993), and as consultant for UNOCA under Sadruddin Agha Khan (1989– 1990). A refugee in the United States, 1989–1990, he returned to Afghanistan and served as director of the internal affairs department of the National Security Council of Afghanistan (2002–2006). He was appointed Afghan ambassador to Warsaw in 2007. MUJAHEDIN (MUJAHEDUN). Fighters in a holy war, jihad, are called mujahedin (A., sing. mujahed; pl. mujahedin). The Afghans adopted this designation to indicate that they were waging a lawful war against an “infidel” government (according to Islamic law, a jihad can be fought only against non-Muslims and apostates). The mujahedin were organized in a tenuous alliance of seven Sunni groups stationed in Peshawar, including the moderate leaders Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi, Sebghatullah Mujaddidi, and Sayyid Ahmad Gailani and the Islamist radicals Burhanuddin Rabbani, Muhammad Yunus Khales, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. In 1989, these groups formed an Afghan Interim Government (AIG) with Sebghatullah Mujaddidi as the president. In 1989 a Shi’a alliance of eight groups (some of them small or inactive) in Iran united in an umbrella organization called Hizb-i Wahdat (Unity Party) that, however, refused to join the AIG of the Sunni groups because of what they considered insufficient representation. Refugees in Pakistan and commanders in the field were required to be affiliated with one of the seven groups if they wanted to receive outside assistance. The Pakistani government recognized only six (later seven) Sunni groups, preventing the proliferation of parties. The Pakistani military Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) took an active part in planning and executing attacks, and it favored Islamist (rather than nationalist or moderate) groups, especially Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i Islami, in the supply of funds and war materials. Many of the commanders did not necessarily share the ideology of their leader, and some switched “allegiance” when it helped in obtaining supplies. Mujahedin were also grouped according to regional, tribal, and ethnic origin; the Jam’iat of Rabbani, largely non-Pashtun in ethnic composition, was active in northeastern Afghanistan. Although Rabbani is Islamist (see ISLAMIST MOVEMENT), the Jam’iat was in conflict with its ideological brother, the Hizb of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Ideological purity (never precisely defined) also suffered as a result of the “tactical alliance” in March 1990 between Shahnawaz Tanai, a Khalqi hard-liner, and Hekmatyar, one of the most vocal radical Islamists. In the ever-
changing constellation of forces, Hekmatyar made his peace with Rabbani in May 1996 and established himself in Kabul as prime minister. The Taliban ended the dream of the allies at Kabul when they captured the city and chased the mujahedin leaders into the Panj-shir Valley. The major actors in the struggle for political power were General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former communist, in the north; the Taliban, controlling two-thirds of Afghanistan; the Jam’iat-i Islami, in northeastern Afghanistan; and the Hizb-i Wahdat, which controlled part of the Hazarajat. MUJTABA KHAN (d. 1950s). Mujtaba Khan was in charge of a school of accounting in Kabul, the Maktab-i Usul-i Daftari, which was opened by Amir Amanullah in 1919. It had 100 students who were trained to be tax collectors. Mujtaba Khan was active in the financial administration and held the positions of financial secretary (mustaufi) of Kabul, 1920–1924; deputy finance minister, 1929 (under Habibullah Kalakani) and 1932; and inspector general of the tribunal at the prime ministry, 1945. He became a member of the senate in 1952. His descendants adopted the family name Mustamandi. MULLA. A mulla is a preacher and spiritual adviser as well as a teacher in elementary mosque schools. There is no clergy in Sunni Islam, no need for an intermediary between God and man, and no ordination or strict hierarchy. Educational preparation ranges from informal study to rigorous training at a faculty of theology or well-known Islamic university. A mulla performs such religious activities as recitation of the adhan (call to prayer) in the ear of the newborn and presides at marriage and burial ceremonies. He is paid for his services by donations from his parish and often needs to supplement his income by pursuing a trade or agricultural work. Mullas vary considerably in educational background, from the barely literate to those with some madrasa education. They never have held political power on a national scale, but some have had great influence on a grassroots level. They sometimes mediate in tribal disputes (not being members of the tribe) and have been active in mobilizing the masses against a foreign invader or an “infidel” ruler. Famous mullas include Mushk-i Alam (see DIN MUHAMMAD) who proclaimed jihad against the British in the Second Anglo-Afghan War and subsequently led Mangal and Ghilzai forces against Amir Abdul Rahman, as well as Mulla-i Lang (the Lame Mulla) who led a tribal army against King Amanullah (see KHOST REBELLION). Amir Abdul Rahman first tried to keep mullas under state control by requiring tests for certification and made attempts at improving the quality of religious education in Afghanistan. Since the time of King Amanullah (1920s), the Afghan government established state-sponsored madrasas and in 1951 a faculty of theology affiliated with Al-Azhar University in Cairo, but the informal, private system of religious education has continued to exist to this day. Most mullas are either self-described or recognized by others as such. For the higher religious functionaries, see ULAMA. In the Shi’a tradition, the concept of government by the highest ayatollah (the velayat-i faqih) has led to the establishment of a theocratic state in Iran. MUNJANI. A small ethnic group of Isma’ili Muslims, the Munjani live in 12 villages in the Munjan Valley of Badakhshan Province. They are engaged in agriculture and speak Munjani (a
northeastern Iranian language of the Pamir group) as well as Dari. MUQBIL, ZARAR AHMAD (MOQBEL, 1966–). Born in Parwan Province, Muqbil was educated at Habibia High School and the Institute of Education in Parwan. A member of the Shura-i Nazar, he served as governor of Parwan Province and as Kabul chief of police, 2003. He was appointed acting minister of interior, succeeding Ali Ahmad Jalali in 2005, and as minister from March 2006 to 2008, when he was offered the position of minister of refugees and repatriation, which he did not accept. Muqbil was appointed minister of counternarcotics up to 2009. Muqbil is a senior figure in the Northern Alliance and later served as head of President Hamid Karzai’s presidential reelection campaign in Parwan Province and as secretary at the Afghan embassy in Tehran. He speaks Dari, Pashtu, and English. MURGHAB (38-18’ N, 61-12’ E). The Murghab is a river formed by the confluence of the Chiras and Wajan streams, rising in the eastern ranges of the Band-i Baba and Band-i Turkestan mountains. It flows in a westerly direction and turns northwest about 11 miles below Bala Murghab in Badghis Province, where it receives the waters of the Karawal Khana. It then crosses into Turkmenistan and, running in a northerly direction, dissipates in the plains of Merv. The river is some 500 miles in length; about half of its course is in Afghanistan. MURSHID. A murshid is the head of a mystic order. MUSAHEBAN. A family also called Yahya Khel because of its members’ descent from Muhammad Yahya and Muhammad Yusuf, who were companions, musaheban, of Amir Habibullah. Prominent members of the family were Muhammad Nadir, the Afghan king (1929–1933), and his brothers and half brothers Muhammad Aziz, Muhammad Hashim, Shah Wali, and Shah Mahmud, who held high positions in Zahir Shah’s government. They were exiled in India until 1901 when Amir Habibullah permitted them to return to Afghanistan. MUSA SHAFIQ. See SHAFIQ, MUHAMMAD MUSA. MUSAZAI. See MOHMAND. MUSHK-I ALAM. See DIN MUHAMMAD, MUSHK-I ALAM. MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD. The Society of Muslim Brethren (Jam’iat-i Ikhwan alMuslimin), founded in 1929 in Isma’iliyya, Egypt, by Hasan al-Banna (1906–1949), was a religio-political organization that eventually spread to other parts of the Islamic world. AlBanna, an ascetic and charismatic teacher, was the “Supreme Guide,” Murshid al-‘Amm, who advocated social and economic reforms, expulsion of the British from Egypt, and the establishment of an Islamic state. The movement is Pan-Islamic in outlook and aims at imposing Islamic law on all aspects of the social and political life of the Muslim nation (umma). As a political party, it was never very successful, but it was able to mobilize considerable support among the masses of the lower urban and rural classes. The Ikhwan was accused of political assassinations, and Hasan al-Banna was himself assassinated in 1949 (reputedly by government agents). The Ikhwan was represented in the Egyptian parliament, and
other, more radical groups, have taken over the Islamist cause. A number of founders of the Islamist movement (Burhanuddin Rabbani, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Ghulam Muhammad Niazi) in Afghanistan became members or sympathizers of the Ikhwanis while residing in Egypt for study, and upon returning to Afghanistan they contributed to the spread of the movement’s ideology. They were the teachers of young radicals recruited from Afghan government schools who formed the nucleus of the Islamist movement. The Islamists are popularly called “Ikhwanis” in Afghanistan. MUSLIM YOUTH ORGANIZATION (SAZMAN-I JAWANAN-I MUSULMAN). An Islamist movement started in the late 1960s by theology students on the campus of Kabul University, it was advised by teachers like Ghulam Muhammad Niazi, who took no direct part in the organization. His namesake, but not a relative, Abdul Rahim Niazi, was one of the first student leaders. The movement grew from only a few members in 1969 and spread to elementary and secondary schools in Kabul. It rose in reaction to leftist student agitation and eventually advocated violent action against them and the Afghan government. To prevent retaliation, the movement organized into three layers of cells, each including only a small number of members who were promoted on the basis of ideological reliability and talent from the lower to the next higher circle (Edwards 2002, 177). Destroyed as an effective force in 1975 by the government of President Muhammad Daud, the survivors fled to Pakistan where they joined the mujahedin forces. MUSSOORIE CONFERENCE (1920). The conference, held after the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War at Mussoorie (17 April–18 July 1920) north of Delhi in India, was to restore “friendly” relations between the governments of Afghanistan and British India. It was a sequel to the peace treaty at Rawalpindi (8 August 1919, see FOREIGN RELATIONS and ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1921) and pitted the Afghan foreign minister, Mahmud Tarzi, against the foreign secretary to the government of India, Sir Henry Dobbs, in a fruitless attempt to conclude a treaty of friendship between the two states. A British aide-memoire provided for some economic assistance but postponed the establishment of normal, “neighborly” relations for another conference at Kabul in 1921. MUSTAMANDI, SHAHI BAI (1936–1993). Born in Kabul, the son of Muhammad Hakim Mustamandi, Shahi Bai graduated from Istiqlal Lycée in 1956 and went to Italy, where he obtained a Ph.D. degree in archeology in 1965. He was curator of the Kabul Museum (1965– 1966) and director of the Afghan Archeological Mission in 1966. From 1966 to 1973 he directed the Afghan Institute of Archaeology and Preservation of Historical Monuments. He served as professor of ancient history at Kabul University until 1973 and left the country in 1978. He died in a car accident in the United States in July 1993. MUTAWAKKIL, WAKIL AHMAD (1968–). A native of Kandahar, Mutawakkil studied for a short time in a Pakistani madrasa. He was a senior political adviser and Taliban foreign minister (27 October 1999–October 2001), replacing Mulla Muhammad Hasan. In March 2001, during Mutawakkil’s tenure, the ancient Buddha statues in Bamian were destroyed and
the United Nations imposed sanctions, demanding the extradition of Osama bin Laden. Mutawakkil negotiated with the hijackers of an Indian airliner. He is said to have been a moderate, disagreeing with the protection of al-Qaeda and the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan. After the American intervention in October 2001 and the fall of the Taliban government, Muttawakil surrendered to Afghan forces who handed him over to American custody. After he was released from U.S. custody at Bagram, he moved to Kandahar and offered to negotiate peace between moderate Taliban and the Hamid Karzai government. Mutawakil decided to stand for parliamentary election in August 2009.
N NADIM, ABDUL GHAFUR (1880–1918). Born in Kabul, the son of Rajab Ali Khan, Nadim was a Dari poet and traditional scholar. Although he died at the age of 37, he wrote some 3,500 verses, consisting mainly of odes and other lyrical poetry. His poems are still greatly appreciated. He taught Dari literature at Habibia School for several years and in 1915 published the first modern Dari grammar, entitled Sarf-i Nadim (the Grammar of Nadim). He also published a newspaper called Iksar. He died in 1918 in Kabul. NADIRI, SAYYID SHAH NASIR. See SAYYID-I KAYAN. NADIR SHAH. King of Afghanistan (1929–1933). See MUHAMMAD NADIR SHAH. NADIR SHAH AFSHAR (r. 1736–1747). Born in 1688, named Nadir Quli, in northern Khorasan, the son of Imam Quli of a clan affiliated with the Afshar tribe, he started life as a raider for booty and became one of the last great nomadic conquerors of Asia. He became the ruler of Iran and founder of the short-lived Afsharid dynasty (1736–1795). He ended the Ghilzai dream of ruling an empire after Mahmud, son of Mir Wais, captured Isfahan in 1722. Nadir defeated the Afghans and drove them out of Iran. He attacked Herat and invaded India, where he defeated the Moghul army at Karnal, near Delhi, in 1739. Rather than fighting the Afghan tribes, he enlisted them into his army, making Ahmad Khan Abdali (the subsequent Ahmad Shah) one of his military commanders. He moved the Abdali tribe from Herat to their original home in the Kandahar area and settled them on Ghilzai lands. This led to the ascendancy of the Abdalis (Durrani) over the Ghilzais and contributed to the long-standing rivalry between these two Pashtun tribes. Nadir Shah also settled Jewish and Armenian traders from Iran in Afghan towns to encourage trade with India. Ruling over a heterogeneous population, he wanted to unite his subjects by proclaiming Shi’ism the fifth (Ja’farite) orthodox school of Sunni Islam. The Shi’i clergy objected to this. Nadir became increasingly tyrannical and was eventually killed by one of his own tribesmen. Some of Nadir’s Qizilbash soldiers settled in Afghanistan where their descendants had successful careers in the army (until the end of Dost Muhammad’s rule), government, the trades, and crafts. The last Armenian merchants were expelled from Afghanistan in 1897, and virtually all Jewish residents and immigrants from Central Asia had emigrated to Israel by the late 1980s. At the time of Nadir Shah’s death, Ahmad Khan, Abdali, was able to fill the political vacuum and become the first Durrani ruler of Afghanistan. NAGHLU (34-37' N, 69-44' E). A village in the southern part of Laghman Province on the left bank of the Kabul River, opposite Sarobi, Naghlu is the site of a 350-foot-high dam for irrigation and the generation of 100 megawatts of electricity. The project was financed by the Soviet Union, started in January 1960, and was completed in 1968. The dam has an installed capacity of 100 megawatts (MW); it provides most of the electricity used in Kabul. Long controlled by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s militia, and subsequently by the Taliban, the power
plant was frequently shut down to deprive Kabul of electricity. The Sarobi Dam (capacity 22 MW) nearby and the Mahipar Dam (capacity 66 MW) operate only intermittently. NAHID (d. 1980). Killed in a demonstration of high school and college women, Nahid became a martyr of the jihad against the Marxist government. NAIM MUHAMMAD. See MUHAMMAD NAIM, SARDAR. NAJAT SCHOOL (NEJAT). Najat is a comprehensive elementary and secondary school, founded in Kabul by King Amanullah in 1923. The school had a German curriculum, and German was the language of instruction. Many of the graduates were sent by the Afghan government to German-speaking countries for higher education. The school was first named Amani after King Amanullah (Aman Allah) but was renamed Najat (also spelled Nejat— Liberation) School after Nadir Shah defeated Habibullah Kalakani in 1929 and ascended the throne. Nadir Shah was assassinated by a student of this school. The school was renamed Amani by the Marxist regime in the 1980s as part of its effort to establish links between it and the progressive policies of King Amanullah. NAJIBULLAH, MOHAMMAD (1947–1996). Born in Kabul of an Ahmadzai family (his father, a Ghilzai Pashtun, was Afghan trade agent in Peshawar), Najibullah was educated at Habibia School and Kabul University, graduating from the college of medicine in 1975. He became a member of the Parcham faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1965 and was repeatedly arrested for his political activities. After the Saur Revolt, he was appointed Afghan ambassador in Tehran (July–October 1978) in a move to get leading Parchamis out of the country, but he was quickly dismissed with other Parchamis by the Nur Muhammad Taraki government when they were accused of plotting a coup. He remained abroad and returned to Kabul with Babrak Karmal after the ouster of Hafizullah Amin in the final days of December 1979. He next held the position of general president of KHAD (1980– 1986) and in 1986 replaced Babrak Karmal as secretary general and president of the PDPA (1986–1992). He purged the central committee, brought in new members, and reorganized government in 1988 and 1990. In March 1990, he successfully withstood a Khalqi coup, headed by Shahnawaz Tanai, his defense minister. He downplayed Marxist ideology and annulled most of the early reforms. When he agreed to step down in April 1992, members of his party deserted him, and the mujahedin were able to capture Kabul. He remained in a building of the United Nations in Kabul and was not permitted to go into exile, as was arranged through the United Nations. When the Taliban captured Kabul in September 1996, they tortured and brutally killed Najibullah. He was married to a Muhammadzai woman. NANAWATI. Nanawati (mediation or protection) is a vital element of the Pashtun code, Pashtunwali. It is the obligation to afford protection or asylum to anyone in need or to assist in mediation to help the weaker in a feud who seeks peace with someone he has injured. NANGARHAR (34-45' N, 70-50' E). Nangarhar is a province in eastern Afghanistan with an area of 7,195 square miles and a population of about 1,400,000. The administrative center of
the province is Jalalabad, with a population of about 200,000. The population is largely Pashtun of the Khugiani, Mohmand, Shinwari, and Tirahi tribes, but other major ethnic groups are also represented in Jalalabad. Local tradition associates the name Nangarhar with nuh (nine) and nahar (river), or, according to another version, with the Sanskrit nau vihara, meaning “nine monasteries.” The Nangarhar area was a flourishing center of Buddhism until the fifth century. Because of its mild climate, Jalalabad was the winter capital of Afghan kings after they were established in Kabul. The eastern part of the province is well irrigated, producing two or three crops a year. Wheat, corn, and some rice are the major crops, and Soviet-developed mechanized state farms produce olive and citrus fruits, much of which was formerly exported to the Soviet Union. Timber is cut on the upper slopes of the Safid Kuh and smuggled to Pakistan where it fetches a better price. The Darunta Dam on the Kabul River provides hydroelectric power and makes possible large irrigation projects. In March 1989, a mujahedin assault on Jalalabad failed to dislodge the forces of the Kabul regime. This demonstrated the fact that the mujahedin were as yet unable to switch from guerrilla warfare to conventional war, which led to a lull in largescale operations. After the capture of Jalalabad by the mujahedin, a council of mujahedin ruled Nangarhar for four years until Jalalabad was taken by the Taliban in September 1996. Nine years after the American intervention, Nangarhar has become a relative success story. Its governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, was governor of Kandahar from 1992 to 1994 and was transferred to Nangarhar in 2005. He declared his province free of poppy cultivation and forced a reduction in cultivation by 95 percent. The province benefits from trade with Pakistan, and a moderate climate and an abundance of water has made it easy to switch to other cash crops. The province experiences little insurgent-generated violence. NAQIB OF BAGHDAD. Naqib was the title of Sayyid Abdul Rahman in the late 19th century, Naqib al-Ashraf (Representative of the Sayyids) and custodian of the Baghdad shrine of the Sufi saint Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166), founder of the Qadiri Sufi fraternity. He was in contact with Amir Habibullah through his brother Sayyid Hasan Gailani, a man of great importance and influence in Afghanistan. He was often visited by Afghans going on Hajj via the Hijaz railway. He was the brother of Sayyid Hasan Gailani, who came to Afghanistan in 1905, and the uncle of Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, head of Mahaz-i Milli-yi Afghanistan. NAQSHBANDI (NAQSHBANDIYYA). Naqshbandi is the name of a Sufi fraternity—named after its founder, Muhammad ibn Muhammad Baha’ al-Din al-Bukhari Naqshband (1317–1389 A.D.)—that has many devotees in Afghanistan. The Hazrat of Shor Bazaar of the Mujaddidi family is the leader of the Kandahar and eastern branches of the order by virtue of his descent from the Naqshbandi reformer Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi. Among the mujahedin forces of Sebghatullah Mujaddidi are many devotees of the Naqshbandi order, whereas northern (nonPashtun) Naqshbandis were affiliated with the Jam’iat of Rabbani. NARANJAN DAS (1853). Born in Kabul, Naranjan Das was accountant general (a kind of finance minister) at Kabul and was granted the rank of civil colonel in 1906. He was a member of the Afghan delegations to the peace conference at Rawalpindi in 1919 (see ANGLO-
AFGHAN TREATY OF 1919) and the Mussoorie Conference in 1920. His participation in the Afghan delegation had an excellent propaganda effect among the Hindu population of India, who saw King Amanullah as a potential ally in their struggle for independence. NASER-ZIA, HAMIDULLAH (1951–). Born the son of Ataullah Khan (a grandson of Sardar Nasrullah Khan, brother of Amir Habibullah), Naser-Zia left Afghanistan in 1979 and went to Rome, where he acted as Afghan representative from 1997 to 2001. He served as ambassador to Germany (2002–2006) and to Italy (2001–2002). He was the first Afghan ambassador to Germany after almost 25 years. NASIR (NASAR). The Nasir were one of the wealthiest and strongest of the Kuchi Pashtun tribes, which dwelled in black tents and formerly traveled into the Indian subcontinent in the winter. They have a reputation for being democratic and not dominated by their chiefs. They have long feuded with the Waziris, who attacked the Nasir when they passed through their territory. At such time, the Nasir stopped all feuds and united in obedience under a chief. Amir Abdul Rahman wanted to settle the tribe in Herat Province; they refused and agreed to pay taxes to continue their nomadic way of life. See also POWINDAH. NASR, SAZMAN-I. The “Victory Organization” is a Hazara mujahedin party, founded by Shaikh Mir Husain Sadeqi after the Saur Revolt. It recruited its followers from Hazaras living in Iran and obtained some material support from Iran. It eventually succeeded in becoming a major force in the Hazarajat and allied with the Pasdaran in expelling the traditionalist shura (headed by Sayyid Ali Beheshti) from much of the area. It is radical Islamist in outlook and is said to govern with the assistance of ideological committees. Nasr is now part of the Hizb-i Wahdat. NASRULLAH KHAN (d. 1919). Nasrullah was the second son of Amir Abdul Rahman and viceroy (na’eb al-saltana) in charge of most of the government administration while his brother Amir Habibullah was amir. He was commander in chief of the army and president of the amir’s advisory council. He was conservative in outlook, a sponsor and supporter of the religious establishment, and a militant foe of the British. Nasrullah was sent by his father to London in 1895 to win Queen Victoria’s consent to establish an Afghan embassy in London. London was not willing to grant this, and the failure of his mission was one of the reasons for Nasrullah’s hostility to Britain. When Amir Habibullah was assassinated in February 1919, Nasrullah Khan was proclaimed king in Peshawar, but the army supported Amanullah Khan, who was in control of the Kabul palace and the treasury. Nasrullah was arrested and assassinated while in confinement. He is buried in Qot-i Chakan in Kabul. NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE PEACE JIRGA (NCPJ, 2010). The NCPJ was a three-day conference convened in Kabul by President Hamid Karzai on 2–4 June 2010. Burhanuddin Rabbani presided at the meeting of some 1,600 delegates, including 300 women, consisting of tribal elders, religious leaders, and members of parliament. President Karzai offered amnesty and reintegration incentives to people who stopped fighting, as well as asylum in an Islamic
country for leaders of the jihadist movement. The chief of the directorate of national security, Amrullah Saleh, and the minister of interior, Hanif Atmar, resigned for not providing security from bombing of the event. They also disagreed with the release of some Taliban prisoners. Women’s organizations also protested for not having been consulted about deal making with the Taliban. NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF SECURITY (NDS). The NDS is the Afghan domestic intelligence agency (Riyasat-i Amniat-i Milli) evolved out of KHAD and was headed by Muhammad Qasim Fahim, 1992–2001, when General Muhammad Arif Sarwari became its chief. It was then headed by Amrullah Saleh from 2004 to 2010 and by Rahmatullah Nabil starting in August 2010. Fahim, Arif, and Saleh were members of the Northern Alliance. After the Marxist coup of April 1978, the Khalqi regime started the Afghan Security Service (Afghanistan da Gatai da Satanai Edara, AGSA), headed by Asadullah Sarwari until September 1979, when it came under Hafizullah Amin’s control and was renamed the Worker’s Intelligence Institution (Kargarano Istikhbarat Mu’asasa, KAM), headed by Asadullah Amin. In 1980 it came under Parchami control, renamed KHAD (Khedamat-i Itila’at-i Daulati) and headed by Dr. Najibullah until 1986. KHAD was upgraded to ministerial rank and renamed WAD (Wezarat-i Etela’at-i Daulati). Ghulam Faruq Yaqubi was the last of the Marxist heads (1986 to April 1992). NATIONAL FATHERLAND FRONT (NFF). The NFF was a national umbrella organization (Jabha-yi Milli-yi Pader-Watan) established by Babrak Karmal in 1980 to “unite all progressive forces.” Dr. Saleh Muhammad Zirai (Zeary) was appointed chairman, and the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was to be the vanguard or “guiding force” in an organization that included all unions, guilds, and women’s and professional organizations. The NFF was said to have 55,000 members in 1984, but it never succeeded in mobilizing the masses under party control. (Similar “national front” governments, set up in Eastern Bloc countries, remained under Communist Party control.) In 1987 the Afghan government renamed the organization the National Front of the Republic of Afghanistan (NFROA), headed by Abdul Rahim Hatef, but it did not outlast the fall of the Najibullah government. NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT (NIFA). See MAHAZ-I MILLI-YI AFGHANISTAN and GAILANI, SAYYID AHMAD. NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT OF AFGHANISTAN (NLFA). NLFA was the name of the Jabha-yi Milli Beraye Najat-i Afghanistan, one of seven resistance organizations sanctioned by Pakistan after the Saur Revolt. It was headed by Sebghatullah Mujaddidi. NATIONAL MILITARY ACADEMY OF AFGHANISTAN (NMAA). The NMAA was a new academic military college established in 2005 to train officers for the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Air Corps (ANAC). It is affiliated with the United States Military Academy at West Point and accepts West Point as its model institution.
Mentors from West Point and the U.S. Air Force Academy, as well as the Turkish Military Academy, are participating in the educational program. The academy is located at the site of the previous air academy established by the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Germany and France provide language instruction. In January 2009 the first cadets graduated in a ceremony attended by President Hamid Karzai; Major General Muhammad Sharif Yaftali, the head of the academy; and General David McKiernan, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. NATIONAL RESCUE FRONT. This was a short-lived mujahedin organization founded in June 1978 by Burhanuddin Rabbani that was a forerunner of the Jam’iat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan. See ISLAMIC ALLIANCE FOR THE LIBERATION OF AFGHANISTAN. NATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (NRP). Hizb-i Inqilab-i Milli was the name of a party founded in 1975 by President Muhammad Daud to support his republican regime. It was headed by a central council that included Dr. Abdul Majid, General Ghulam Haidar Rasuli (the minister of defense), Sayyid Abdullah (minister of finance), and Professor Abdul Qay-yum. Only one political party was to be permitted, and the NRP was to be an umbrella organization for “all progressive forces.” It represented an attempt by Muhammad Daud to limit the influence of his erstwhile communist supporters and gain grassroots support. NAURUZ (NOWRUZ). New year (D., nau—new, ruz—day) is the first day of the Afghan and Iranian solar calendar, coinciding with the vernal equinox on 21 March (1 Hamal). Nauruz is an important holiday going back to pre-Islamic times, which is celebrated throughout Afghanistan and Iran as well as in a number of other countries. See CALENDAR. NAZARI, ENAYATULLAH (1954–). Born a Tajik in Jabal-us-Siraj, Parwan Province, Nazari was the son of Nazar Muhammad and was educated in his hometown and at Kabul University, 1977. He was appointed deputy attorney general of Kabul in 1994 and director general of the control and audit department under President Burhanuddin Rabbani until 1999. He served as minister of refugees and returnees (2002–2004); parliament vetoed his reappointment in 2009. Nazari was appointed deputy minister of the Ministry of National Defense. NEJAT SCHOOL. See NAJAT SCHOOL. NEUMANN, RONALD E. (1944–). Born the son of Robert G. Neumann, who was ambassador to Afghanistan from 1966 to 1973, Ronald Neumann served as deputy chief of mission in Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, as ambassador to Algeria from 1994 to 1997, and as chief of mission in Bahrain in 2001. He was appointed deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in 1997 and served as counselor for political-military affairs in Baghdad, Iraq. Sworn in as ambassador to Afghanistan on 26 July 2005 to succeed Zalmai Khalilzad (who was appointed ambassador to Iraq), he was succeeded by William Wood in February 2007.
NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Jam’iat-i Demukrati-yi Nawin, the New Democratic Party, is the official name of the Shu’la-yi Javid. NEWSPAPERS. See PRESS AND JOURNALISM. NEZAM, ZIA (1947–). Born in Kabul, the son of Sarajuddin Nezam (a businessman from Balkh Province), Zia Nezam was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and with a licence en droit, D.E.S., in public law; a D.E.S. in development law; and a doctorat d’état in law in 1977 from the University of Nice. He is the author of numerous publications, including “The Rights of Landlocked Countries.” He was appointed ambassador to Austria in 2003 and accredited to Hungary, the United Nations Office in Vienna, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as to Belgium in 2008. He served as counselor in the legislation department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and taught in various legal centers. He is married to Sima Saleh and has two sons, Yama and Mas’ud. His mother tongue is Dari, and he is fluent in Pashtu, French, and English. NIAZI, ABDUL RAHMAN (NIYAZI ABD AL-RAHMAN). Niazi is one of the leaders of the Islamist youth movement. NIAZI, DR. GHULAM MUHAMMAD (1932–1978). Born in the village of Rahim Khel in Ghazni Province and educated at Abu Hanifa Theological School in Kabul and Al-Azhar University at Cairo, Niazi was exposed to the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimin) and the writings of Sayyid Qutb. He returned to Afghanistan and became a teacher and later dean at the faculty of theology of Kabul University. He was one of the founders of the Organization of Muslim Youth (Sazman-i Jawanan-i Musulman), which was affiliated with the Jama’at-i Islami (Islamic Society) in Pakistan and formed the nucleus of the subsequent Islamist movement. The mujahedin leaders Burhanuddin Rabbani and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf were his students, and Rabbani succeeded him in 1972 as amir (leader) of the youth movement. Niazi was arrested in 1974 and executed during the Khalqi regime in 1978. NIAZI, MUHAMMAD YUSUF (1959–). Born in the Kama district of Nangarhar Province and educated at the Betab School and Imam Abu Hanifa Madrasa, Niazi went to Saudi Arabia where he earned a B.A. degree from the Islamic University in Medina and M.A. and doctorate degrees in Islamic studies from the Umm al-Qura University. President Hamid Karzai appointed him minister of hajj and auqaf with parliamentary approval (132 against 80) for the new cabinet of 2009. NIDA-I KHALQ. A biweekly Dari/Pashtu newspaper with a circulation of about 1500, Nidai Khalq was published by Abdul Rahman Mahmudi and edited by Wali Ahmad Ata’i and represented the views of Khalq, a liberal group (not related to the Khalqi faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Its first edition appeared on 15 September 1971, and it ceased publication in January 1972. NIEDERMAYER, OSKAR VON (d. 1945). Niedermayer was a German officer from
Bavaria and in the years 1915–1916 was coleader, with Werner Otto von Hentig, of an expedition to Afghanistan for the purpose of winning Amir Habibullah’s support for military action against British India during the First World War. The expedition did not achieve its objectives. After the defeat of Germany, Niedermayer was in the Soviet Union under provisions of the secret Treaty of Rapollo of 1922, where he and other German military officers participated in the modernization of the Red Army. At the end of World War II, Niedermayer was arrested by Soviet forces in Eastern Europe and died in Moscow’s Lubjanka prison in about 1945. NIFA. NIFA is the English-language acronym for the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, the mujahedin party of Pir Sayyid Ahmad Gailani. For details, see MAHAZ-I MILLI-YI AFGHANISTAN. NIGHT LETTERS. Clandestine leaflets attacking Afghan rulers and government officials, night letters became a potent propaganda tool in the war of the mujahedin against the Soviet/Kabul forces. Night letters, protesting the secular policies of the Afghan government, were handwritten, copied, and distributed by Islamist groups starting in the 1960s. President Muhammad Daud was the target of such leaflets, as were the Marxist and Soviet governments after 1978. Letters, written in Dari and Pashtu, called for resistance against government policies, urging Afghans not to “accept the orders of the infidels, wage jihad against them” (Bradsher 1983, 208). Soviet soldiers were addressed in Russian, telling them to resist the policies of their dictatorial regime. On 21 February 1980, one successful campaign summoned the citizens of Kabul to shout “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) from their rooftops. This was followed by rioting and a general strike, which was severely repressed. The letters were distributed at night, hence the name shab-nama (D., shab—night, nama—letter). NIMRUZ (30-30' N, 62-0' E). Nimruz is a province in southwestern Afghanistan with an area of 20,980 square miles and a population of 149,000. The administrative center of the province is Zaranj (population about 42,000), a small town built in the 1960s. The province was called Chakhansur until 1968 and is part of ancient Sistan. Although the second largest in area, it is the smallest province in population. The economy is based primarily on agriculture in the Helmand Valley and animal husbandry. Baluch nomads graze their herds in the deserts. Pashtuns are relative newcomers, having been settled near the Iranian border under Amir Abdul Rahman (1880–1901). The Taliban government also encouraged Pashtuns to move into the area. A strong wind prevails for about 120 days and is harvested by countless windmills. Nimruz is watered by the Helmand, Khash Rud, and Farah rivers, which dissipate in the hamuns east of Zaranj. A multitude of tepe, mounds, indicating ancient settlements, as well as mud brick and baked brick ruins can be found throughout the province, testifying to a flourishing civilization before its destruction as a result of the Mongol invasions. NIZAMNAMA. A code of regulations enacted in the 1920s by King Amanullah that embodies
his reforms, such as the constitution of 1923 (nizam-nama-yi asasi—basic law), the Nizamnama included regulations for the organization of the state and the payment of taxes, as well as rules concerning engagements and marriages and the establishment of schools for women. Traditional elements strongly opposed these innovations, which they considered contrary to Islamic law, and with tribal support succeeded in ousting King Amanullah. See also CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT; ISLAMIC LAW. NOMADS. See POWINDAH. NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO). Established in 1949 for the protection of Western Europe and to contain Soviet expansion, NATO has found a new role in Afghanistan. As a result of the 11 September 2001 attacks against the United States, NATO allies for the first time invoked Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which states that an armed attack against one NATO member country will be considered an attack on all. NATO assumed command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF IV) in August 2003, headed by Lieutenant General Götz Gliemeroth, to set up and strengthen Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) in Afghanistan. Originally based only in Kabul, NATO/ISAF troops cover all of Afghanistan. Their function is to assist the Afghan government in maintaining security for the elections and facilitating the process of reconstruction in Afghanistan. An agreement between NATO and the United States was reached to merge their separate missions in Afghanistan, giving NATO command of an operation that for the first time combines counterterrorism and peacekeeping activities. The merger was accomplished in 2006. Initially, reservations existed regarding the merger. The United States worried whether NATO “was up to the job.” France feared that the force would become “an extension of Washington’s own security interests.” Germany did not want to engage in counterterrorism activities. Both countries wanted assurances that the United States would not leave after handing the job over to NATO. In 2010 the United States has about 100,000 troops and NATO 8,000 under arms, controlling Afghanistan in four zones, with Germany commanding the north, Italy and Spain the west, Britain the south, and the United States the east. NORTHERN ALLIANCE. A tenuous alliance of anti-Taliban forces founded in 1996–1997, the Northern Alliance included the Ittihad-i Islami of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf; the Uzbek Junbesh-i Milli of Abdul Rashid Dostum; the Jam’iat-i Islami of Burhanuddin Rabbani (the nominal leader); General Muhammad Isma’il Khan in Herat; and Ahmad Shah Mas’ud; and the Shi’i Hizb-i Wahdat of Karim Khalili. The Panjshiri military arm of Jam’iat was able to capture Kabul and gain the most powerful ministerial positions in the Interim and Transitional governments. The forces of Dostum and Muhammad Ata of Jam’iat frequently clashed over territory in northern Afghanistan. As a result of the presidential elections in December 2004, the power of the Northern Alliance was severely weakened. President Hamid Karzai formed a new cabinet that removed Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim from the position of minister of defense, ignored Yunus Qanuni and Rabbani, gave Isma’il Khan the portfolio of minister of water and power, co-
opted Dostum for a time as commander in chief, and eventually ousted Abdullah Abdullah as minister of foreign affairs. The power of the Panjshiris, who controlled previous governments, was greatly reduced when they could muster only 47,750 voters. NORTHWEST FRONTIER PROVINCE (NWFP). The Northwest Frontier Province of India (now Pakistan), created in 1901, and the autonomous Tribal Agencies (see PASHTUNISTAN), are inhabited largely by Pashtuns, the same ethnic group that is politically dominant in Afghanistan. Because of the inaccessibility of the frontier area and the martial reputation of its people, the British and Pakistani governments found it preferable to rule the tribal area indirectly, leaving it politically and culturally autonomous under their tribal chiefs. The province, capital Peshawar, had been part of Afghanistan since 1747 but gradually came under British control as Britain was searching for a “scientific frontier” to protect India. In 1893 Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of the government of India, drew a boundary line, subsequently called the Durand Line, in disregard of ethnic and cultural considerations, which Amir Abdul Rahman accepted under “duress.” The 1893 agreement was reconfirmed in subsequent Anglo-Afghan treaties. When the state of Pakistan came into existence, the Afghan government wanted the Pashtuns of the NWFP to be given the choice of reunion with Afghanistan or independence, in addition to the option of union with Pakistan or India. These choices were not given, and a minority of Pashtuns of the NWFP opted for union with Pakistan. The Pashtunistan question subsequently had a deleterious effect on Afghan-Pakistani relations. Pashtun nationalists of the NWFP demand the right to call their province by its ethnic designation, Pakhtunkhwa, Land of the Pashtuns. In the 1980s the province was a base for mujahedin attacks on the Marxist government of Kabul. The Taliban staged their conquest of most of Afghanistan from the NWFP, ruling most of the country until the American intervention in 2001. Since 2006 the Taliban and various jihadist groups have extended their activities into the NWFP, threatening to destabilize social and political life in Pakistan as well. NURISTAN (34-57' N, 70-24' E). Nuristan is a province carved out of Laghman Province in 2001 that comprises an area of 1,404 square miles and has a population of about 120,000; it is part of ancient Kafiristan. The Nuristanis are Sunni Muslims, who predominate in Kunar and Laghman provinces, and speak several languages and dialects of languages that have intrigued historical linguists, since they have elements of both Indian and Iranian languages. This suggests that these languages (and populations) became isolated at a time when Indo-Iranian populations had not differentiated. Their country was called by Afghans Kafiristan (Land of Unbelievers) until 1895–1896, when Amir Abdul Rahman conquered it and converted the Kafirs to Islam. Henceforth the country was called Nuristan (Land of Light—meaning the country enlightened by Islam). The Nuristanis and their neighboring Safi Pashtuns were among the first people to rise in October 1978 in rebellion against the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) regime. After attempts to pacify Nuristan failed, the area remained largely autonomous and was an important base for mujahedin operations. As part of its nationalities policy, the Kabul government elevated Kati (not a lingua franca for all Nuristani
communities) to the status of a “national” language and permitted the publication of radio broadcasts and newspapers in that language. Because of the inaccessibility of the province and its closeness to the Pakistani border, it has been a transit area for jihadist forces fighting the Kabul government and its coalition supporters. American posts have been withdrawn from outlying areas. NURISTANI, ABDUL QADIR (d. 1978). Commandant general of the police and gendarmerie, 1973–1975, and minister of interior, 1975–1978, he participated in the Muhammad Daud coup in 1973 and was responsible for the arrest of Marxist leaders. He was loyal to President Daud and remained with him in the palace when Daud and his family were killed by Marxists who stormed the palace on 27 April 1978. NURISTANI, AHMAD YUSUF. Born in 1946 in Nishigram, Nuristan Province, Ahmad Yusuf graduated from Rahman Baba High School in Kabul and from Kabul University in 1970. He continued his studies at the University of Arizona, where he obtained an M.A. degree in anthropology in 1975 and a Ph.D. degree in Middle Eastern studies in 1991. He was also awarded an honorary Ph.D. degree from the University of Arizona. He was adviser and coordinator of the secretariat of the ex-king in Rome, Italy. In the 1980s he served on the editorial board of the Writers Union of Free Afghanistan (WUFA), published in Peshawar, Pakistan. He also was managing director of the Afghan-German basic education NGO. He was minister of irrigation and environment in the Transitional Government, 2002–2004, and spokesman for the president in the Interim Government of President Hamid Karzai. He was named first deputy minister of defense in January 2005 and vice chairman of the Disarmament and Reintegration Commission. He served as governor of Herat (2009–2010). Nuristani speaks, in addition to Nuristani dialects, Urdu, Dari, and Pashtu. NURZAI. The Nurzai were a large and prosperous tribe of Durranis located primarily in the Rabat and Kadanai districts of Kandahar Province and in Farah and Herat provinces. In the early 1930s they were estimated to number about 30,000 fighting men. They are largely cultivators and live in mud brick villages as well as in the traditional black tents.
O OBAID, OBAIDULLAH (1970–). Born in Kabul, the son of Abdul Wahhab, Obaid was educated at Naderi High School and the medical faculty of Kabul University. He served on the Constitutional Loya Jirga, as adviser on social affairs to the president, and as dean of the Kabul Medical College. Obaid was appointed ambassador to Iran in 2009. OBAIDULLAH, MAULAWI (d. 1940s). An Indian nationalist and revolutionary, Obaidullah was exiled to Kabul in 1915. He was an associate of Mahendra Pratap and with him established the “Free Government of India” in exile, with himself as “home secretary.” He was a Sikh who had converted to Islam and was educated at the Deoband Islamic School in India and subsequently was prominent in the Wahhabi (fundamentalist, anti-British) movement. He fled India in February 1915 and arrived in Kabul in October 1915 where he was a leader of the Pan-Islamic Party of Muslim Indians in Kabul. He eventually returned to India where he founded a political party in the 1940s, known as Jamna Narbada Sind Sagar Party, and died shortly thereafter. OBEH (34-22' N, 63-10' E). Obeh is a small town and administrative district (population of about 50,000) in eastern Herat Province located on the Hari Rud. The inhabitants are primarily Qipchak (Turks) as well as some Taimanis, Ghilzais, and Sayyids. About 26 miles east of Obeh is the village of Chisht, the birthplace of Muinuddin Muhammad (b. 1142), founder of the Chishti Sufi fraternity and one of the great Sufi masters of India. OJHIRI CAMP EXPLOSION. The Ojhiri Camp was the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) command post for the war in Afghanistan. It comprised an area of some 70 to 80 acres, located on the northern outskirts of Rawalpindi, about eight miles from Islamabad. The camp included a training area, a psychological warfare unit, a Stinger training school, and mess halls for some 500 men. Most importantly, it contained the warehouses where some 70 to 80 percent of all arms and ammunition for the mujahedin were held. On 10 April 1988, the entire stock was lost in a giant explosion. According to Yousaf and Adkin (1992, 220), “Some 30,000 rockets, thousands of mortar bombs, millions of rounds of small-arms ammunition, countless anti-tank mines, recoilless rifle ammunition and Stinger missiles were sucked into the most devastating and spectacular firework display that Pakistan is ever likely to see.” About 100 persons died and over 1,000 were wounded as people as far away as eight miles were hit by falling rockets. The depot was stocked to capacity with four months worth of supplies needed by the mujahedin for their spring offensive. The cause of the explosion was never examined in a public inquiry, and Zia-ul Haq dismissed the government that wanted to blame the ISI and the Pakistani army for the disaster. Conspiracy theorists saw it as a result of KGB or CIA sabotage, while others called it an accident. Fire was supposed to have started in a box of Egyptian rockets that had not been defused before shipping. A box was dropped and wounded several people, and the fire was permitted to burn for several minutes while the wounded were
carried away. Ten minutes later, the entire depot went up, and secondary explosions occurred for the following two days. OMAR, MULLA MUHAMMAD (UMAR, 1960–). A Ghilzai Pashtun, born in Nodeh near Kandahar Province, he was a mujahed in the Harakat of Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi and rose to the rank of deputy chief commander. Of heavy build, he is an expert marksman and is reputed to have destroyed several tanks in the battle with Soviet and Marxist forces. He was wounded several times and lost one eye. Omar is said to be of Hotaki Ghilzai background. He taught in a village madrasa in Sangsag (Sang Hisar) some 24 miles west of Kandahar but never finished his religious education. Nevertheless, in April 1996 a shura of about 1,000 members of the ulama recognized him as Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu’minin). For this occasion, Omar wore what is believed to be the cloak of the Prophet. He is the supreme leader and founder of the Taliban movement in 1994 who ruled over much of Afghanistan until the start of American military intervention in October 2001. Omar led his madrasa students in a spectacular campaign to capture Kandahar (1994), Herat (1995), Kabul (1996), and Mazar-i Sharif (1997) and, finally in 1998, to control most of the country. He made Kandahar his center from where he directed the organization. He wanted to establish a “true” Islamic state in Afghanistan and issued a number of fatwas to this effect. Men were to wear beards and native dress. He ordered the closing of girls’ schools and restricted women to their homes. He forbade photography of living creatures, music, TV, video cassettes, cockfights, and kite flying and made sportsmen wear pants from below the knee to the navel. Omar forbade women to walk in public without a male relative and initiated brutal punishment of enemies and “sinners,” striking fear into those who did not accept his interpretation of Islam. After the defeat of the Taliban regime, Omar fled and has not yet been captured. There is a bounty of $10 million on his head. The resurgence of Taliban activity in 2006 has been attributed to Omar’s direction. OPERATION ANACONDA (MARCH 2002). The operation was a United States Army attack on an al-Qaeda stronghold in the Shah-i Kot area, about 20 miles from Gardez, that was praised as “an unqualified and absolute success” by General Tommy Franks and criticized as a “big mistake” by others. Planned by Army Major General Franklin Hagenbeck as a 72-hour operation, the campaign lasted for 12 days and pitted a force of about 1,000 American troops, 1,000 Afghans, and a number of coalition special forces teams against 500 to 1,000 of the enemy on the Takur Ghar range. Not unlike the Soviet experience in the 1980s, the American troops were pinned down, and five of six Apache helicopters were made “nonmission capable” on the first day of fighting. Two helicopters crashed, resulting in the death of eight U.S. soldiers. The valley was narrow, and the enemy was entrenched high on the slopes of the mountain. Fixed-wing aircraft had to fly at an altitude of 20,000 feet to avoid Soviet-made SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, and, in spite of dropping about six million pounds of ordnance, the enemy fighters could not be dislodged from their bases and most of them seem to have escaped. General Hagenbeck blamed the lack of adequate air support, as aircraft had to be repositioned from Kuwait. Afghan allies claimed that the Americans failed to adapt to the
enemy’s guerrilla tactics and that they underestimated the tenacity of the al-Qaeda fighters. After the operation, “fewer than 20 enemy bodies were found” (Brendan O’Neill, The Strange Battle of Shah-i Kot). OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (7 OCTOBER 2001). As a result of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., on 11 September 2001, and Osama bin Laden’s declaration of war on the United States, President George W. Bush announced strikes by the U.S. military “against al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime.” The objective was to destroy the al-Qaeda infrastructure in Afghanistan and capture its members, and, secondarily, to replace the Taliban regime. The intervention began on 7 October 2001, when American and British aerial attacks quickly destroyed whatever existed of the Afghan communications system. For ground forces, the allies employed fighters of the Northern Alliance and tribal groups from the Pashtun areas, who took advantage of the situation and extended their control over the country. The Panjshiri contingent of the Northern Alliance took Kabul, and Burhanuddin Rabbani established himself in the palace. Most of Afghanistan was quickly cleared of al-Qaeda and Taliban forces, and an Interim Government, and subsequently a Transitional Government, was set up in which the Panjshiris continued to have dominant control. An international peace force, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), policed Kabul while American forces continued to hunt for leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda movement. It has been estimated that the first three months of the war cost the United States $3.8 billion, and, while the Taliban regime was largely destroyed, warlords in the service of American campaigns were able to fill the political vacuum, establishing autonomous power bases in defiance of the Kabul government. It took another 10 years for American Special Forces to attack and kill Osama bin Laden in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, THE CAMPAIGN (2001). The American campaign against al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime began on 7 October 2001, with the launching of Tomahawk cruise missiles from ships and submarines in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. Next, attack aircraft from the Gulf and heavy bombers from Diego Garcia and Whiteman air base in the United States continued their attacks. At 5:20 a.m., Kabul was first hit, with the palace, the TV tower, Radio Afghanistan, and the airports as targets. Kandahar was struck next, to eliminate the airport radar facilities. Three training camps near Jalalabad were bombed, and oil depots in Mazar-i Sharif and Herat were destroyed. During the following days, the same urban areas were repeatedly bombed, and by 10 October the United States claimed control of the airspace over Afghanistan. Bombardments intensified; on 15 October some 60 bombers carried out daytime raids, followed the next day by attacks on Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-i Sharif by 150 aircraft. On 1 November, carpet bombing of the Taliban began, and between 5 and 7 November, U.S. B-52 bombers dropped cluster “daisy-cutter” bombs on Taliban positions. On the ground, U.S. Special Forces teams, supported by Northern Alliance troops, fought the retreating al-Qaeda/Taliban army. The U.S. allies captured Mazar-i Sharif by 17 November, and Kandahar surrendered on 6 December.
Tora Bora was a mop-up campaign, and by mid-December 2001 the war against the Taliban regime was ended. The new “Afghanistan Model” was deemed successful: the use of limited American ground forces resulted in a minimum of American casualties; some 3,000 of the enemy were killed, and some 3,000 civilians became casualties of the war. Most of the Taliban/al-Qaeda leadership escaped, and, lacking sufficient ground forces, local leaders/warlords filled the vacuum of power. The government of President Hamid Karzai and his foreign allies have been able to eliminate, or co-opt, some of the warlords, but there has been a considerable resurgence of Taliban forces who continue their guerrilla activities. OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, THE FAILINGS. Carl Conetta offers an appraisal of the American campaign in a monograph titled Strange Victory: A Critical Appraisal of Operation Enduring Freedom and the Afghanistan War. He asks, What was the result of victory? and says, “Seldom has the gap been so great between the clarity of battlefield victory and the uncertainty of what it has wrought.” He estimates the cost to the United States for the first three months of the war at $3.8 billion. Some 3,000 to 4,000 Taliban and foreign troops were killed, and aerial bombardments resulted in the death of some 1,000 to 1,300 civilians. Stability and humanitarian goals were clearly subordinate. “The rush into a large and ambitious military operation precluded making adequate arrangements for the postwar political environment and humanitarian needs.” It proved impossible to quickly assemble a Pashtun alternative as the Northern Alliance captured Kabul and controlled the new government. Conetta remarked that Enduring Freedom was also distinguished by the degree to which military expediency determined strategic choices—such as the decision to unleash the Northern Alliance. This feature of decision-making in the war contributed to the preponderance of inadvertent and unplanned outcomes. . . . The United States engaged in a punitive expedition and a manhunt, not a nationbuilding exercise.
It relied on Afghan militias and the expenditure of 12,000 bombs and missiles, a mix that was wrong for the terminal phase of the war. Aerial bombardment proved too blunt an instrument for interdicting small numbers of enemy personnel because it increased the ratio of enemy to civilian casualties. Most of the Taliban leadership has survived the war. This analysis dates from 30 January 2002; since that time an Afghan constitution has been approved, NATO has taken over the command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and elections were held in October 2004 and August 2009. OPERATION VALIANT STRIKE (MARCH 2003). The operation was an eight-day U.S. mission to search out enemy forces, weapons, and tactical intelligence, and search villages for a “soft breach,” which involved meeting with local elders to explain the American mission before conducting a sweep. On 20 March 2003, some 800 American troops, assisted by Romanian infantry and Afghan fighters, moved into the Sami Ghar area east of Kandahar. They were transported by Chinook and Black Hawk transport helicopters under escort from Apache helicopter gunships. A platoon of the 82nd Airborne 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment landed in the mountain range and began to search villages and cave complexes for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters and weapons. A-10 Thunderbolt pilots of the 104th Expeditionary Fighter
Squadron fired rockets, dropped bombs, and fired 30mm rounds during the offensive. The coalition forces failed to locate any terrorists but found three large weapons caches, capturing more than 170 rocket-propelled grenades, 180 land mines, 20 automatic rifles and machine guns, and tons of rockets, rifles, and launchers with a full range of accessories. A few individuals were taken into custody, and one soldier, Sgt. Craig Pinkley, commented, “The difficult thing about missions like this is to know who is who.” Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Flynn, commander of the “White Devils,” called the operation a great success. OPIUM. See POPPY CULTIVATION. ORAKZAI. A Pashtun tribe, located on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border, the Orakzai are divided into seven clans: the Sultanzai, Bahramzai, Ismailzai, Massuzai, Alizai (or Sturi Khel), Lashkarzai, and Daulatzai. There are various traditions as to its origin: according to one, they are the descendants of a Persian prince, Sikander Shah, who was exiled (“Wrukzai”) in the Kohat area a thousand years ago; another tradition claims its origin from Abdul Aziz, a descendant of Warak, one of three brothers who came from Afghanistan to the Orakzai hills. Western scholars speculate that they are of Indian stock with some infusion of Turkic blood; they are now reckoned to be Ghurghusht Pashtuns (Ridgway, Pathans, 1910). ORAZ, ABDUL RAHIM (HORAZ, 1956–). Born in Fariab Province, Oraz was educated at Naderi High School and the Polytechnic Institute in Kabul. He served as an administrator in the training section of Radio Afghanistan (1981–1989); as first secretary at the Afghan embassy in Ankara, Turkey (1998–1999); and as acting head of the third political division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2007. He was nominated minister of transportation and civil aviation, but the appointment was not approved by parliament. A Tajik, he speaks Dari, Pashtu, Turkic, Russian, and English. ORMURI. A group of perhaps 300 families who speak Ormuri, one of a number of almost extinct eastern Iranian languages, they are Sunni Muslims and also speak Pashtu and Dari and are located primarily in the Logar Valley as well as in Peshawar and Waziristan on the Pakistani side of the border. ORUZGAN (URUZGAN, 33-15' N, 66-0' E). Oruzgan is a province in central Afghanistan with an area of 11,169 square miles and about 297,000 inhabitants; it is also the name of a village and its surrounding district. Oruzgan lost its northern areas to the creation of the Dai Kundi Province in March 2004, making it a largely Hazara province. The remaining, southern part is now predominantly Pashtun. The administrative center of the province is Tirinkot (population about 63,000, including its district). The province was part of the Hazarajat and in the late 19th century was incorporated into Kandahar Province. In 1964 Oruzgan became a province and elected representatives to the Afghan parliament. It is a mountainous area, easily accessible only from the south, through valleys at altitudes of 3,000 to 7,600 feet. It is traversed by the Helmand River and its tributaries. The province is largely agricultural with the cultivation of cereal grains. Major handicrafts include the
production of woven carpets called gelim. In August 2006, NATO assumed authority for the province, and the Netherlands took command of the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) from the United States. NATOAfghan forces staged an offensive called Operation Mountain Trust against insurgents ensconced in the province. From 15 June to 19 June 2007, Dutch and Afghan soldiers defended the town of Chora against a massive assault by Taliban combatants. Because of the insecurity and the Taliban insurgency, no international agencies or NGOs have a permanent presence in Oruzgan. OSMANI, MUHAMMAD YASIN. Osmani is a Pashtun who served as adviser to President Hamid Karzai (2008–2010) and as director general of the High Office of Oversight for Anticorruption, 2010. OXUS. Oxus is the name of the Amu Daria, still used in the West.
P PACHA KHAN ZADRAN (DZADRAN, JADRAN) (1954–). Pacha Khan was a member of the 2001 Bonn Conference and leader of the Pashtun Zadran tribe. He returned to Afghanistan in 2001 from Pakistan exile to help American forces hunt for al-Qaeda and Taliban units in eastern Afghanistan. He claimed to head an army of some 3,000 tribesmen and challenged the Hamid Karzai government when a rival, Abdul Hakim Taniwal, was appointed governor of Khost. He was elected to the Wolesi Jirga in 2005, and one of his younger brothers, Amanullah Zadran, was appointed minister of border and tribal affairs in the Interim Government. PAGHMAN (34-36’ N, 68-57’ E). Paghman is a foothill town about 12 miles northwest of Kabul, where King Amanullah built a modern town, including a royal palace. Members of the upper class also built beautiful villas. A triumphal arch (taq-i zafar) was built in honor of the martyrs in the Anglo-Afghan wars. An open-air theater was constructed for the entertainment of Kabuli citizens who would visit the town on weekends during the hot summer months. The town, population 118,000, lies at an altitude of about 8,000 feet on the eastern slope of the Paghman range. A reservoir and water line from the area supplies Kabul with potable water. Although it is near Kabul, it is surrounded by woods and high mountains and was a shelter for mujahedin groups. Much of the town has been destroyed. Paghman is the birthplace of several prominent political leaders, including the Khalqi president Hafizullah Amin and the radical Islamist mujahedin leader Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. Paghman was controlled by Burhanuddin Rabbani until the surprise victory of the Taliban in September 1996 and has since come under the control of the Kabul government. PAINDA KHAN (PAYANDA). Chief of the Muhammadzai section of the Durranis and ancestor of the families of both King Amanullah and ex-king Zahir Shah, Painda Khan was the son of Haji Jamal Khan (1719–1805), who helped Ahmad Shah gain the throne in 1747. Painda Khan backed Zaman Shah in his struggle for the throne against other sons of Timur Shah but subsequently plotted against him and was executed at the direction of Zaman Shah. Painda Khan’s sons avenged this deed and thus contributed to the downfall of the Sadozai dynasty. His son Dost Muhammad (r. 1826–1839 and 1842–1863) became the founder of the Muhammadzai dynasty. PAKHTUN. A term for Pashtun as pronounced in the eastern dialect. PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS. Relations between the two neighboring states have been marked by hostility since the founding of Pakistan in 1947. Afghanistan cast the only vote against admitting Pakistan to the United Nations on the grounds that the Pashtuns of the Northwest Frontier Province had not had a fair plebiscite. “Historical Afghanistan” at the time of Ahmad Shah, founder of the state of Afghanistan, included most of Pakistan territory up to the Indus River and south to the Arabian Sea. Ranjit
Singh (1780–1839), of the ephemeral Sikh nation, deprived the Afghan ruler of his eastern provinces, and the British, in search a “scientific frontier” to defend their possessions in India, moved into tribal territory of the Afghan heartland. The Durand Agreement of 1893, signed under “duress” by Amir Abdul Rahman, divided Afghan tribal territory, leaving an autonomous area within British India. And when Britain finally agreed to relinquish its hold on India, the Afghan government demanded that the Afghans of the frontier belt be given the choice to opt for independence or union with Afghanistan, in addition to the choice of union with Pakistan or India. This was not granted. The British government replied that it held to the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921 by which the boundary was recognized by both states and asked Afghanistan to abstain from any act of intervention on the northwest frontier. Afghanistan began to agitate for creation of an independent Pashtunistan, and Pakistan rejected all Afghan claims. Armed conflict threatened in June 1949 when Pakistani planes bombed tribal territory as well as Moghalghai, a village within the boundaries of Afghanistan. In July 1949 the Afghan National Assembly repudiated the treaties with Britain regarding the tribal territory, and in May 1955 Afghanistan and Pakistan withdrew their diplomatic representatives. The dispute gained an international dimension when the Soviet Union backed Afghanistan in the Pashtunistan dispute and the American-supported SEATO powers issued a statement declaring that “the region up to the Durand Line is Pakistan territory and within its treaty area.” In August 1956 Prime Minister Muhammad Daud announced the conclusion of a military arms agreement with Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. Another break in diplomatic relations resulted in September 1961, which lasted until August 1963 when the two countries again exchanged ambassadors. In March of that year, Prime Minister Daud resigned, and a new government was elected that concentrated its efforts on the development of the country. A pragmatic government wanted to improve relations with its neighbors and did not press the Pashtunistan issue, resulting in a period of relative calm. When Muhammad Daud in July 1973 abolished the monarchy in a bloodless coup, Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan turned increasingly hostile. The Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government permitted members of the Afghan Jam’iat-i Islami to stage raids into the Panjshir Valley, which marked the beginning of a mujahedin movement to fight the Kabul regime after the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. During the 1980s and 1990s, Pakistan became the predominant power in Afghanistan. Pakistan was the conduit of funds and weapons and the haven of some 3.5 million refugees who formed the reservoir of fighters against the Marxist regime. In 1981 Pakistan recognized six Sunni resistance organizations and began to actively participate in the war effort. Brigadier Muhammad Yousaf (Yusuf), head of the Afghan Bureau of the Inter-Services Intelligence of the Pakistani armed forces, claimed a leading position in the war effort. Radical Islamists received preferential treatment in the supply of funds and weapons. Royalists, nationalists (like members of Afghan Millat), and Shi’as were neglected. Pakistan began to view Afghanistan as an area providing “strategic depth” in a confrontation with India. When the Marxist government was ousted, Pakistan supported the Islamist forces of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the struggle for power between the victorious mujahedin groups.
The Islamists were seen as a Pan-Islamist movement that was not expected to be concerned with the Pashtunistan question. Eventually, the Pakistan government switched its support to the Taliban government, to which it provided financial aid. If it had not been for the fact that Afghanistan provided shelter to Osama bin Laden, the Taliban government might well have prevailed. The irony is that the Taliban regime did not prove to be a willing puppet of Pakistan. It gave shelter to terrorist groups who were wanted in Pakistan, pursued a radical Islamist policy that seemed to threaten to destabilize Pakistan society, and never issued a statement recognizing the Durand Line. After the defeat of the Taliban government, the Hamid Karzai government expressed its willingness to maintain brotherly relations with Pakistan, but the fact that remnants of Taliban and al-Qaeda groups were still continuing guerrilla actions from the safety of the frontier areas has prevented the establishment of cordial neighborly relations. A recent resurgence of Taliban forces has now also extended its activities into Pakistan and threatens to destabilize the country. PAKTIA (33-35’ N, 69-35’ E). Paktia is a province in eastern Afghanistan comprising an area of about 3,860 square miles and a population of about 415,000. The administrative center of the province is Gardez, with a population of about 64,000, including its district. (Paktia lost its southeastern districts to the creation of Khost Province). Until the early 1970s Paktia also included Paktika Province and southeastern parts of Ghazni Province. The province is largely mountainous but well watered and cultivated. It shares a 125-mile-long border with Pakistan. The population is largely Ghilzai Pashtun, but in the south and west are found Jadran and in the east Jaji, Mangal, Tanai, and Waziri tribes. The economy depends largely on agriculture, with wheat, maize, barley, and rice being the principal crops. Landholdings are generally small, and animal husbandry and illegal timber cutting supplement agricultural activities. Paktia was an area of strategic importance for the mujahedin because it has a common border with Pakistan and lies on the route to Kabul. There has been considerable fighting in the area because many of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) leadership were Ghilzais from Paktia, where the Kabul government also enjoyed some support. A mujahedin offensive finally led to the capture of Khost on 31 March 1991. According to United Nations estimates, a large portion of the population lived as refugees in Pakistan, more than from any other province. The area was controlled by various mujahedin groups until it was conquered by the Taliban in summer 1996. Nine years after the United States intervention, the Taliban and jihadist groups have still not been eliminated in this area. PAKTIKA (32-25’ N, 68-45’ E). Paktika Province was created during the tenure of President Muhammad Daud (r. 1973–1978) from the southeastern districts of Paktia and Ghazni provinces. It comprises an area of about 7,336 square miles and has an estimated population of about 352,000. The administrative center is Sharan with a population of about 53,000. The population is largely Ghilzai of the Sulaiman Khel, Kharoti, and Jadran tribes but also includes Tajiks and Waziri Pashtuns. About 31 percent of the population settled as refugees
in Pakistan. Paktika suffered greatly from the war, and the destruction of the ancient system of irrigation in the Katawaz plain has greatly reduced the amount of cultivated land. Unrestricted cutting of timber has denuded formerly forested areas. From 1990, the province was in mujahedin control until captured by the Taliban in summer 1996. After the United States intervention in 2001, the Taliban and various jihadist groups have still not been eliminated from the area. PAMIRS (38-0’ N, 73-0’ E). The Pamirs is a mountain range running in a north–south direction and dividing the Oxus basin from the plains of Kashgar, Sinkiang Province, of China. There is a series of valleys forming plateaus at altitudes of from 11,000 to 13,000 feet. Located in the Wakhan Corridor, which extends to the Chinese border, the plateaus were inhabited by Qirghiz hunters and herders, most of whom fled to Pakistan and later immigrated to Turkey. PANIPAT, BATTLE OF (1761). It was in this battle of 14 January 1761 that Ahmad Shah Durrani decisively defeated the Maratha tribal confederation near the town of Panipat some 50 miles north of Delhi. The Maratha Empire, founded in 1680 by Shivaji in the present Maharashtra Province, gradually grew in size and in a successful guerrilla war supplanted the Moghuls in a wide area of India. They were warriors and champions of Hinduism and became a serious threat to the Afghans when they occupied the Panjab. Ahmad Shah was able to cross the Jumna River unopposed and took up a position near the Maratha army, commanded by Sadashiv Bhau. For two months the two armies engaged in skirmishes with varying success, but eventually the Afghan forces were able to block the supply routes of the Indians. Both armies were organized in the traditional left and right wings with large center divisions; the Afghans had the advantage in numbers, about 60,000 against 45,000 Indian troops. The Marathas were handicapped, with most of their camp followers, families, and supplies located in Panipat, making it impossible for them to retreat quickly. Sadashiv Bhau therefore tried to negotiate, but when the Afghans refused to deal, he was forced into combat. The artillery of the Afghans was lighter and more mobile than the heavy guns of the Marathas; nevertheless, in a desperate move the Marathas seemed to be able to penetrate the Afghan center. But the Afghans were able to bring in reinforcements and enveloped the Marathas from three sides. One squadron after another discharged their muskets, leaving the Indians little opportunity to compose themselves. Wishwas Rao, the nominal head of the Marathas, and Sadashiv were killed, and the Marathas were routed. The battle ended the dreams of both the Marathas and the Afghans to become the rulers of India. Ahmad Shah’s troops hated the heat of the Indian plains and wanted to return home with their plunder, forcing the Afghan ruler to return. PANJA. Panja is the name given to the Wakhan branch of the Amu Daria. PANJAB (PUNJAB). Panjab is an area watered by five rivers (D., panj—five, ab—water): the Beas, Jhelum, Chenab, Rawi, and Sutlej in northern India. Panjab is now divided into the western Panjab of Pakistan and the eastern Panjab of India. It is a rich and fertile area and has been the scene of numerous battles.
PANJDEH INCIDENT (1885). The incident was a military encounter in which a Russian force under General Alikhanov annexed the Panjdeh district north of Herat Province (now part of Turkmenistan). The military action pitted superior Russian troops against about 500 defending Afghan soldiers headed by the Afghan General Ghausuddin. Afghan rulers claimed the area by virtue of the fact that the Turkomans of Panjdeh had been their occasional tributaries, but the Russians insisted that they were part of the Turkoman nation of Khiva and Merv, which Russia had annexed in 1881 and 1884. An Anglo-Russian commission was to meet and resolve the dispute, but military action began on 30 March 1885 before Sir Peter Lumsden, a British-Indian general, and his Russian counterpart had arrived on the scene. Amir Abdul Rahman learned of the incident while he was on a state visit in Rawalpindi, India, and accepted the fait accompli at the urging of Lord Dufferin, the viceroy of India. The fact that Britain did not come to Afghanistan’s defense, as she was obligated to do in case of unprovoked Russian aggression, confirmed the Afghan ruler in his belief that he could not rely on British promises of support. Before the beginning of armed action, the commanding officers hurled insults at each other. Alikhanoff sent a letter to General Ghausuddin saying: Be it known to Ghaus-ud-din. I thought you were a wise man and were a General of an army, and I therefore wanted to come and see you. As you are such a bad man I do not want to see you, and I consider it a disgrace to meet you. But you must know that the order of our General is that, so long as the frontier dispute is not settled, your sowars should not come to this side of Arsh Doshan, nor will our sowars go beyond that place towards Panjdeh.
Ghausuddin replied: From General Ghaus-ud-din Khan, Ghazi. Be it known to Ali Circasion [sic]. You write that, until the surveyors of the two Governments come, Arsh Doshan should be the frontier. You are mistaken. If God please, through the blessings of the Prophet, I will turn you out of Kara Bolan. All the servants who are in Panjdeh were glad to think that to-morrow they would be called ghazis.
In a telegram of 1 April, it was reported that Captain Yate and all British officers at Panjdeh had left and Russians attacked and defeated Afghans, and occupied Panjdeh on the 30th [March]. Afghans are said to have fought gallantly, and have lost heavily, two companies being killed to a man in entrenchments. Survivors retreated along Maruchak road. British officers, who were neutral, left, as Colonel Alikhanoff was reported to have urged Sariks to attack them, and have offered 1,000 krans a head.
On 4 May the Panjdeh question was solved; the secretary of state reported, We propose to accept in principle this arrangement, which would leave to the Amir the three points, viz., Zulfikar, Gulran, and Meruchak. . . . The whole agreement to be ultimately embodied in a Convention between us and Russia. (S. Pol. and Sec. Memo)
PANJSHIR (34-38’ N, 69-42’ E). Panjshir is a province, created in April 2004 out of the northern districts of Parwan (now Kapisa) Province, with an area of about 1,394 square miles and a population of about 300,000. The administrative center is the town of Bazarak. The district is traversed by the Panjshir River, which rises on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush in the vicinity of the Khawak Pass. The population is largely Tajik, converted to Sunni Islam as late as the 16th century. The area
was often independent or autonomous, and although the Panjshiris acknowledged the Afghan amir as their ruler, they rarely paid taxes to the Kabul government. It was only since the time of Amir Abdul Rahman that the Kabul government asserted its sovereignty over the area. The Panjshir Valley is quite inaccessible; therefore, the Soviet and Kabul forces never succeeded in bringing it under full government control. Its location, impinging on the strategic Salang road that connects Kabul with the northern provinces, made the Panjshir Valley an ideal base for mujahedin activity. Ahmad Shah Mas’ud, called “the Lion of Panjshir” by his admirers, was able to withstand numerous Soviet incursions and was not evicted from the valley, making him one of the most successful mujahedin commanders. As irony would have it, when the Taliban captured Kabul in September 1996, Mas’ud was forced to flee to the Panjshir Valley, where he remained until the United States intervention in 2001. He was killed three days before 11 September by jihadists who posed as journalists. PANJSHIR, SOVIET OFFENSIVE (1984). Of about nine offensives, the seventh Soviet Panjshir offensive of April–May 1984 has been cited by military historians as the typical example of Soviet frustration in fighting a counterinsurgency war in this area. It began in response to Ahmad Shah Mas’ud’s refusal to renew his 1983 cease-fire with Soviet forces and involved some 10,000 Soviet and 5,000 Afghan troops (20,000 Soviet and 6,000 Afghans according to Isby, 1989, 32). According to Brigadier Yousaf and Adkin (1992, 71–73), Mas’ud learned of the planned offensive and organized the evacuation of hundreds of villages in the lower portion of the Panjshir Valley. He laid mines along the road up the valley and in one successful ambush was able to destroy 70 fuel tankers and two important bridges. He then pulled back his forces before the start of aerial bombardment. Mountain ridges, rising to 19,000 feet, border the narrow valley and hindered proper approaches of the TU-16 (Badgers) and SU-24 (Fencer) bombers. The high-altitude bombing was often way off the mark, permitting the mujahedin to make spoiling attacks from the flanks. Heliborne units, landing in side valleys, executed blocking actions, but several landed too far from aerial support and were decimated by mujahedin forces. In eight days, the Soviets advanced about 40 miles up to the village of Khenj, and by 7 May, Dasht-i Ravat was occupied. Afghan garrisons were established in the valley, and the Soviet/Kabul troops withdrew, permitting the mujahedin to move back into the valley by the end of June. Total Soviet casualties were said to amount to about 500, and some 200 mujahedin were killed. The Afghan garrisons found themselves isolated in hostile territory and eventually developed a modus vivendi in which they coexisted without causing much harm to each other. Mas’ud was soon again free to attack Soviet convoys on the Salang highway, which provided much of the needs for the survival of the Kabul government. Eventually, the mujahedin captured isolated posts when the garrisons surrendered or defected. After the fall of the Kabul regime in April 1992, Panjshir formed the heartland of Mas’ud’s territory, to which he retreated when the Taliban captured Kabul. PAPUTIN, LIEUTENANT GENERAL VICTOR SEMANOVICH (d. 1979). Paputin was the first deputy minister of internal affairs, said to be in command of the Soviet special forces’ attempt to capture, or assassinate, President Hafizullah Amin. Paputin and Colonel Bayerenov,
a KGB officer, were killed in the mission, apparently by friendly fire, when they tried to leave the defense ministry building. According to another version, Paputin committed suicide because of the failure of his mission to capture Amin alive. PARCHAM. A weekly newspaper founded in March 1968 by the Parcham (Banner) faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), Parcham was published by Sulaiman Layeq and edited by him and Mir Akbar Khaibar, the faction’s major ideologist. It carried articles in Pashtu and Dari and was openly critical of the Afghan government; it was therefore closed in July 1969. One faction of the PDPA that supported Babrak Karmal in opposition to Nur Muhammad Taraki was subsequently named Parcham after this newspaper. PARLIAMENT. See GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS. PAROPAMISUS (34-30’ N, 63-30’ E). Paropamisus is the name given by Western writers to the Safid Kuh and Band-i Baba, the range bounding on the Hari Rud Valley on the north. PARSIWAN. See FARSIWAN. PARWAN (35-15’ N, 69-30’ E). Parwan is a province located north of Kabul with an area of 2,282 square miles and a population of about 726,000. Parwan now includes the former province of Kapisa (created in 1964 and subsequently made a subprovince, loya woluswali). The administrative center of Parwan is Charikar, a town with 157,000 inhabitants (including the district), located at the mouth of the Ghorband Valley about 49 miles north of Kabul. The province is famous for its grapes, some of which are dried and exported as raisins. The first cement plant in Afghanistan was started at Jabal-us-Siraj, and a hydroelectric power plant provided electricity for Kabul. Subsequently a textile industry was developed at Gulbahar. The province is of great strategic importance as it is crossed by the Salang highway, which leads from Kabul north over the Hindu Kush. PASDARAN-I JIHAD-I ISLAM. The Pasdaran are a radical Islamist Shi’i group, inspired and supported by the Iranian Pasdaran (Guardians of the Iranian Revolution), which established itself in the Hazarajat in 1983. Ustad Akbari, one of its leaders, collaborated with Mir Husain Sadeqi of Nasr and by 1984 succeeded in the expulsion of the shura commanded by Sayyid Ali Beheshti from most of the Hazarajat. The Pasdaran were recruited with Iranian support from Hazaras resident in Iran and local militants in the Hazarajat who seceded from the shura. They are led by young members of the ulama, educated in Iran, who follow the line of Ayatollah Khomeini, professing hostility to the former Soviet Union and the United States (“neither East nor West”) and look to Iran as a model for an Islamic state. The Pasdaran seem to be moving away from close cooperation with their Iranian brothers and are now part of the Hizb-i Wahdat. PASHAI. Pashai is a collective term for a Dardic language of an ethnic community of about 100,000 Sunni Muslims located primarily in Laghman and Kapisa provinces. In 1981 the Kabul regime declared Pashai one of Afghanistan’s national languages and began broadcasting
in that language on Radio Kabul. PASHTU (PAKHTU). Pashtu is the language of the largest Afghan ethnic group and of an equal number of people in parts of Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. Until the early 20th century in Afghanistan, only the Pashtu speakers were called Afghans, while the rest of the population were called by their ethnic or tribal designations. Pashtu is an Indo-Iranian language related to Dari, but the two languages are not mutually intelligible. Two main dialects are spoken, the “hard,” or Peshawari, called Pakhto, and the “soft,” or Kandahari, called Pashtu. The former is also called the northern or eastern dialect, the latter the southern or western. The earliest Pashtu book is the History of the Yusufzai (1417), by Shaikh Mali, a Yusufzai chief. There is a considerable amount of native literature, consisting mainly of tribal and national histories and love poems. Most important of these are the Divan (Collection) of Khushhal Khan Khatak (1644–1690); the Makhzan-i Afghani (Afghan Treasure), by Akhund Darwaza, a Tajik; and the Tarikh-i Murassa (History of Jewels), by Afzal Khan, Khatak, a grandson of Khushhal Khan (15th–16th century). In Afghanistan, as in Central Asia and parts of India, Persian (or Dari) was the language of the royal court, but since the early 20th century, Afghan governments have promoted Pashtu as the national language. In 1923 a literary group, Da Pashtu Maraka, was formed for this purpose, followed by the Pashtu Academy (see AFGHAN ACADEMY), which conducted research in Pashtu literature and culture. But Dari remains the language of education in the greater part of Afghanistan, and virtually all educated Afghans speak and understand it. Many urban Pashtuns use Dari as their first language, and some Pashtun nomads are now Dari speakers. The constitutions of 1964 and 2004 declared both Pashtu and Dari official languages. PASHTUN(S). Also called Pakhtuns (and Pathans in India), the Pashtuns are the politically dominant group in Afghanistan, with a population estimated in the 1970s at from six to seven million concentrated largely in the west, south, and east, but also scattered throughout Afghanistan. Another seven million Pashtuns live in Pakistan across the Durand Line. Except for the Turis and a few groups in Pakistan, all Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims, and most were converted to Islam by the 10th century A.D. The Pashtuns are excellent soldiers, and many an invader of India chose to enlist them in his armies rather than force his way through their territory. Tribal society is organized along family, clan, sectional, and tribal lines. The tribe, qabila, or clan, qaum (from the Arabic qama—those who rise together in war), is named after its eponymic ancestor and carries the suffix -zai, as in Muhammadzai, the “sons of Muhammad”; the clan or a group living in the same locality is called khel, as in Yahya Khel; and a kinship group is called the kor, or kahol. Alien affiliated groups, like hamsaya (dwellers under the same shade), are often attached to a tribe and enjoy its protection. Each section has its own chief, or malik, and the most powerful clan often provides the chief of the tribe. Although the tribal system has undergone changes, traditionally chiefs have to be successful leaders and exemplify Pashtun values; that is, they have to be generous and brave. They are not absolute rulers of their fellow tribesmen. Each clan decides matters of its welfare by council, the jirga. Jirgas also arbitrate disputes. The wars in Afghanistan and the
emergence of jihadist forces have contributed to limiting the power of the chiefs. The Pashtuns living in the inaccessible areas on both sides of the Durand Line adhere to their traditional code of behavior, the Pashtunwali, which guides the jirgas in resolving disputes. The principal pillars of this code are nanawati, mediation or protection; badal, retaliation; and mailmastia, hospitality. Urban Pashtuns still have a direct or emotional link to their tribes. The frontier Afghans are politically autonomous along the tribal belt on both sides of the Durand Line, but the rest have come increasingly under the control of the central governments. Their dress consists of long shirts and wide pants that are gathered and tied around the waist. A turban (lungi) is wound in various styles over a skull cap, and open sandals (chaplis) are worn, regardless of the severity of the weather. A shawl of wool or cotton is wrapped around the body for protection from the cold. Frontier tribesmen also carry daggers and guns, which are usually manufactured in village workshops. Women wear long shirts, trousers, and a kerchief and adorn themselves with coins stitched to their shirts, as well as bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. Their long hair is usually kept in a braid. A Pashtun tribal dance, the atan, is performed by men; it has been adopted with some changes as the Afghan national dance. About two million Pashtuns are still partially nomadic, most of them Ghilzai Pashtuns (called Kuchis in Afghanistan and Powindahs in India) who used to migrate each year far into British India. Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan since 1947 and the wars in Afghanistan have ended most of the seasonal transborder migrations, and many nomads from the frontier belt have remained in Pakistan. Because secular education was largely in Dari, the Afghan government opened tribal boarding schools in Kabul and subsequently in the southern and eastern provinces where Pashtu is the language of education. Some of these schools prepared students for higher education in Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar provinces. Many opted for military careers, and Pashtu speakers were drawn into the political mainstream of Kabul politics. See also TRIBES, PASHTUNS. PASHTUNISTAN. “Land of the Afghans” (or Pashtuns), this is the name given by Afghan nationalists to the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and parts of Baluchistan in present day Pakistan. It was part of Afghanistan when the state was founded in 1747 but soon came under the control of the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh and subsequently the British-Indian government. Direct rule of the area was difficult because it is mountainous and difficult to access; therefore the Pashtun tribes were allowed a considerable measure of autonomy. The British government cut the area from Afghanistan in 1893, drawing a border without regard to ethnic or cultural boundaries. Amir Abdul Rahman (r. 1880–1901) had scarcely consolidated his power and felt he had to accept “under duress” the Durand Line as his border (see DURAND AGREEMENT). In 1901, the British-Indian government created the Northwest Frontier Province but left the tribal lands outside of the directly administered areas. Five tribal agencies (Malakand, Khaibar, Kurram, North Waziristan, and South Waziristan) were set up with autonomous khans (chiefs) and governed by tribal councils. A British agent protected the
interests of the government. Tribesmen were engaged as militia to keep order in their own areas, and if a tribe conducted raids into the lowlands, punitive campaigns were organized. In 1947, when India was to be divided on the basis of a plebiscite, the Afghan government and Pashtun nationalists demanded that the Pashtuns be given an option to vote, if not for union with Afghanistan, then for the creation of an independent “Pashtunistan.” This option was not given, and, as a result of a boycott by members of the Frontier Congress, a Muslim party allied with the Hindu Congress party, 68 percent of a low voter turnout agreed to union with Pakistan. Afghanistan protested the procedure and cast the only vote against Pakistan’s admission to the United Nations. Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan were subsequently plagued by the Pashtunistan question. The Afghan government supported the Pashtun nationalists. Pakistan retaliated by closing the border at times. The Pakistani government tended to support Islamist mujahedin groups, like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i Islami, to the exclusion of nationalist groups. Pashtun nationalists have protested the fact that the NWFP is the only province in Pakistan not named after its inhabitants and have demanded the adoption of the name Pakhtunkhwa (P. for Pashtunistan). Neither the Taliban nor the government of President Hamid Karzai have explicitly recognized the Durand Line. See also FOREIGN RELATIONS. PASHTUNWALI. Pashtunwali is the name of the Pashtun traditional code of behavior, which can be summarized under the terms of nanawati, mediation or protection; badal, retaliation; and melmastia, hospitality. Nanawati is the obligation to give protection to anyone seeking asylum, even at the risk of the protector’s life, and to mediate for the weaker party seeking peace with someone he has injured. It is, therefore, a means of ending a feud. Badal must be exacted for personal insults, damage to property, or blood feuds. Badal is exacted for the murder of a member of one’s family or hamsaya (client) and for violation of safe conduct (badragga). Feuds may involve entire tribes and last for years until a jirga of elders, or mullas, succeeds in mediating a solution. Khunbaha, blood money, has to be paid for murder, except in the case when an even number of feuding individuals were killed. Each injury has a price: at the turn of the century, 180 to 300 rupees had to be paid for a life, and the loss of an eye, ear, arm, or leg carried a certain value (the British government in India codified tribal law, including the amounts of money to be paid). Anthropologists disagree as to the major cause of feuding, whether it is in defense of female honor, competition for land, or retaliation for personal insult. Melmastia is considered a sacred duty, and every village has a guesthouse or uses its mosque as a shelter for visitors. A guest’s person and property are protected, and a Pashtun is proud to offer the guest or stranger what he cannot even afford for himself. In a sense, each Afghan tribe constitutes a nation, and no one may enter a tribe’s territory without the permission of the tribe and the assurance of safe conduct, badragga. A traveler pays for an armed escort who will convey him through the territory of the tribe and hand him over to a badragga of a neighboring tribe. Violation of the Pashtun code brings dishonor and shame not just to an individual but to the entire tribe or community. The process of “detribalization,” sedentarization, and Islamization
has led to a weakening of the practice of Pashtunwali. PASHTUN, YUSUF (1947–). A Pashtun, he was born in Kandahar and educated in engineering at Kabul University and the American University of Beirut, where he earned a B.A. degree in engineering and M.A. degrees in architecture (1973) and urban design and planning (1977). He taught at Kabul University’s Department of Architecture and served with various NGOs for 10 years. He was appointed minister of urban development in 2002 and governor of Kandahar in 2003. He served as minister of urban development from 2004 to 2009. His reappointment was vetoed by parliament. PASHTU TOLANA. See AFGHAN ACADEMY. PATHAN. See PASHTUN. PAYAM. The organ of the Watan Party (the new name for the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, PDPA), Payam succeeded the Haqiqat-i Inqilab-i Saur, the former party organ. Payam was under the editorship of Bareq-Shafi’i. PAYAM-I IMRUZ (MESSAGE OF TODAY). A weekly newspaper published in Dari by Ghulam Nabi Khater and edited by Abdul Rauf Turkmani and Muhammad Tahir Muhsini, it was first published on 9 February 1966 and ceased publication on 25 May when the editors resigned. It was an opposition paper that demanded justice, equality, national unity, and the eradication of social vices. It favored the expansion of education and agricultural and industrial development. PAZHWAK, ABDUL RAHMAN (1919–1995). Born in Ghazni and educated in Nangarhar and at Habibia School in Kabul, Pazhwak started a career as a journalist. He was editor of Islah (1939), director general of the Pashtu Tolana (1941), and press attaché at the Afghan embassy in Washington in 1948 and London in 1946 and 1951. In 1955 he was appointed general director of political affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1958 he became Afghan ambassador to the United Nations. A poet, scholar, and writer in Pashtu and Dari, he served as president of the 21st General Assembly of the United Nations in 1966 and as ambassador to Bonn (1972), New Delhi (1973), and London (1976–1978). During the Taraki regime, he was under house arrest and left Afghanistan for medical treatment in 1982. He applied to the United Nations for political asylum and went to the United States; he moved to Peshawar in April 1991 and died there in 1995. PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF AFGHANISTAN (PDPA). The PDPA was an Afghan Marxist party (after June 1990 called Hizb-i Watan, Fatherland Party), founded in 1965 and succeeded to power on 27 April 1978 in a coup called the Saur Revolt (named after Saur, the month of the revolt). The party was officially founded on 1 January 1965 at a meeting of 27 persons in Nur Muhammad Taraki’s house in Karte Char, Kabul. Taraki was chosen general secretary of the party and Babrak Karmal deputy secretary and secretary of a central committee, whose membership consisted of Taraki, Karmal, Ghulam Dastagir Panjshiri, Dr.
Saleh Muhammad Zirai, Shahrullah Shahpar, Sultan Ali Keshtmand, and Taher Badakhshi. Alternate members were Dr. Shah Wali, Karim Misaq, Dr. Muhammad Taher, and Abdul Wahhab Safi. The party drafted a manifesto stating that it was a workers’ party. It declared Afghanistan a feudal society that should be transformed into a socialist state and announced its intention of obtaining power by democratic means. From the beginning, there was rivalry between the two leading personalities. Karmal was urbane and known for his activities on the campus of Kabul University and as a member of parliament. He attracted followers among the Kabul intelligentsia, students, government officials, and some military officers of various ethnic backgrounds. Taraki, on the other hand, was more successful among Pashtuns, military officers, and students and teachers of schools in which tribal Pashtuns predominated. The PDPA published a newspaper, called Khalq (Masses), which first appeared on 11 April 1966. Only six issues had appeared when it was banned on the recommendation of parliament for being “anti-Islamic” and opposed to the new constitution. By 1967 the party had split into two entities, subsequently called Khalq and Parcham, after their respective newspapers. Parcham (Banner) was founded in 1968, published by Sulaiman Layeq and edited by him and Mir Akbar Khaibar. Having been successful in winning a parliamentary seat, Babrak Karmal was willing to cooperate with Afghan governments, while the Khalqis remained aloof. In 1977 the two factions reunited in a tenuous coalition with the help of Soviet and Indian Communist Party mediation. The Saur Revolt was precipitated when the Parcham ideologue Mir Akbar Khaibar was assassinated, according to some sources by Khalqis who resented his recruiting efforts in the army. The Marxists, however, accused the government of the deed, and the party followed up with a funeral procession that turned into a public demonstration by a crowd of about 15,000 against the Muhammad Daud government. The government reacted with arrests of the leadership, but three days later, on 27 April 1978, Marxist officers in the armed forces staged their successful coup. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was proclaimed, and in early May the formation of a government was announced, with Nur Muhammad Taraki as president and premier and Babrak Karmal as deputy premier. The majority of cabinet members were Khalqis. By July the Khalqis had purged members of the Parcham faction, including Babrak Karmal. A number of decrees issued by the Khalq Revolutionary Council established Taraki as the “great leader” (Decree 1), set up a government with Taraki as president of the Revolutionary Council and Karmal as vice president (Decree 2), and abrogated the Daud constitution (Decree 3). Subsequent decrees elevated the status of the Uzbeki, Turkmani, Baluchi, and Nuristani languages to the status of “national languages,” to be promoted in the Afghan media (Decree 4); deprived members of the royal family of their citizenship (Decree 5); canceled mortgages (Decree 6); gave equal rights to women (Decree 7); and ordered land reforms (Decree 8). Former government officials and political opponents were arrested, and thousands were assassinated. Khalqi supremacy, however, did not end strife in the PDPA. Hafizullah Amin became vice premier and minister of foreign affairs and on 8 July 1978 was elected secretary of the
secretariat of the central committee. By that time it had become apparent that he was the dominant personality in the party. He became prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in April 1979 and president on 16 September 1979. Barely a month later, on 9 October, Taraki was assassinated. A split occurred in the Khalqi faction between the “Red Khalqis” of Taraki and the “Black Khalqis” of Amin. A third faction, the followers of a Dr. Zarghun, already existed. They were called the Paktia Khalqis. Increasing guerrilla activity of mujahedin forces prevented further strife in the Khalqi camp. Amin was said to have shown a tendency to develop into an “Afghan Tito” and demanded the recall of the Soviet ambassador, Alexandr M. Puzanov, who expected Amin to follow his bidding. Puzanov was reported to be implicated in a plot to assassinate Amin. Mass arrests and executions, blamed on the Taraki era, were not ended, as was apparent from a list published with about 12,000 names of killed or missing persons. Hafizullah Amin’s intelligence service, KAM, replaced Taraki’s Afghan Security Service (AGSA), and new government and party positions were announced. About 5,000 Soviet advisers resided in Afghanistan when, on 25 December 1979, an airlift of Soviet troops began that eventually brought in some 115,000 troops. On 27 December, a Parchami coup, with Soviet armed support, replaced Hafizullah Amin with Babrak Karmal. Karmal announced a government that included the dreaded head of AGSA, Asadullah Sarwari, as deputy premier and two other Khalqis, Sayyid Muhammad Gulabzoi as minister of interior and Sherjan Mazduryar as minister of transport. KAM was purged and renamed KHAD, and the Parchami regime promised a new deal and an end to the excesses of previous governments. Additional Soviet troops arrived in Afghanistan and established bases in various strategic locations. The government proclaimed a general amnesty and opened the doors of the feared Pul-i Charkhi prison. Early Khalqi decrees of land reform (decrees 6 and 8) were rescinded, and the tricolor replaced the red flag. But it was too late to overcome the sins of the past. The presence of Soviet forces in Afghanistan quickly transformed a civil war into a war of national liberation, and many of those freed from jail augmented the growing forces of the mujahedin. Karmal’s lack of success in destroying the mujahedin was the likely reason for his resignation (or ouster) on 4 May 1986 and his replacement by Dr. Najibullah, the one-time head of KHAD. Ideological evolution continued under Najibullah when the Kabul government initiated a policy of “national reconciliation” and changed the name of the PDPA to Fatherland Party (Hizb-i Watan). The early orthodoxy of adherence to Marxism-Leninism was gradually replaced by a general, socialist orientation and political liberalization, as the Parchamis attempted to survive in a national front coalition of “progressive” parties. Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan on 15 February 1989, but the party continued in power until President Najibullah announced his resignation in April 1992. After the mujahedin conquest of Kabul, the party ceased to exist, and many of its members joined opposing mujahedin groups. In fall 1994, it was reported that members of the Communist Party met in the Microrayon quarter of Kabul and elected Mahmud Baryalai, half brother of Babrak Karmal, as its head. At the time of this writing, most of the Marxist leaders have found political exile abroad.
PESHAWAR ACCORD (1992). The agreement was concluded in April 1992 to form a transitional government after the fall of the Marxist regime in Afghanistan. The 12-point program provided for a leadership council of 51 persons, headed by Sebghatullah Mujaddidi for a period of two months (point 1). Burhanuddin Rabbani was to be president of the Transitional State of Afghanistan for an additional four months (point 2), a period not to be extended even for a day (point 3). The prime minister and members of the cabinet were to be appointed by the heads of the tanzimat (mujahedin) (point 4). The position of prime minister was to go to the Hizb-i Islami (Gulbuddin Hekmatyar) (point 5). A deputy prime minister and the interior ministry were to go to Ittihad-i Islami (Abdul Rauf Sayyaf) (point 6). A deputy prime ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were to go to Mahaz (Sayyid Ahmad Gailani) (point 8). The Ministry of Defense was to go to Jam’iat (Rabbani) (point 9), and the supreme court to Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami (Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi) (point 10). The leadership council was to make appointments for the Shi’a and other parties (point 11), and the total process of interim government formation was to last for six months, after which an interim government was to be established for a period of two years (point 12). Hekmatyar opposed the appointment of Ahmad Shah Mas’ud as defense minister, and the civil war between the various factions began, lasting until the United States invasion in October 2001. PESHAWAR, TREATY OF, 1855–1856. The treaty opened diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Afghanistan. It stipulated that “perpetual peace and friendship should be established between the two governments; that the British Government should respect the territories in possession of the Amir; that the Amir on his part should respect the territories of the British Government, and be the friend of its friends and the enemy of its enemies; and that the British should assist the Amir against his enemies, if they thought fit to do so” (MR, 28). Amir Dost Muhammad never knew whether the British “thought fit” to assist him against his enemies. PIONEERS. The Sazman-i Peshahangan was a youth movement of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) patterned after the Soviet model. It recruited children between the ages of 10 and 15 and was led by adults. Most of the Pioneers were the children of party members. Upon reaching the age of 15, the Pioneers were enlisted into the Democratic Youth Organization of Afghanistan, and upon reaching the age of 21, they were recruited into the PDPA (later renamed Fatherland Party). Under Parchami rule, the former ideological adherence to socialism and Marxism-Leninism gave way to a socialist-oriented, nationalist stage of political development. Like other innovations, the Pioneers disappeared after the victory of the mujahedin. PIR. A pir is a religious leader, old man, or the title given to heads of Sufi orders. POLITICAL PARTIES. Political parties did not exist until the late 20th century. At the time of Amir Habibullah (1901–1919), literary, nationalist, or Pan-Islamic groups emerged, largely confined to members of the court and the urban population. One such group in 1909 was the
Sirr-i Milli, a secret clique that plotted a coup against the amir and intended to establish a republican form of government. It was discovered, and members spent many years in jail. A largely Pashtun group was Wish Zalmayan (Awakening Youth), which wanted to reform Afghan society, fight corruption, advance education, and promote the national welfare. It was founded in 1947 and included well-known writers and poets, including for a time Nur Muhammad Taraki. It tended to be Pashtun nationalist, a fact that contributed to its eventual demise. Afghan rulers considered political parties a threat to their power and therefore forbade them. With the beginnings of a press and journalism, writers began to challenge the political system, and groups with nationalist, Islamist, and socialist tendencies emerged. An early liberal party was Watan, founded in 1951 by Mir Muhammad Ghobar. The constitution of 1964 permitted a relatively free press, “subject to respect for the fundamentals of Islam, the constitutional monarchy, and political morality.” It did provide for the formation of political parties, but the political parties law was never signed by the king. Therefore candidates for election had to stand as individuals, but their ideological message was quickly apparent and usually propagated in party organs. There was a proliferation of party organs beginning in 1966: the Progressive Democratic Party of Muhammad Hashim Maiwandwal with the organ Musawat; the Afghan Social Democratic Party, popularly called Afghan Millat, the name of its party organ. It was Pashtun nationalist at its founding by Ghulam Muhammad Farhad but subsequently strove to be a national party. The People’s Democratic Party was founded with their organs Khalq of Nur Muhammad Taraki and Parcham of Babrak Karmal, 1968. Another Marxist party, banned in 1969, was the New Democratic Party, commonly called Shu’la-yi Javid, the name of its newspaper. It was published by Abdul Rahim Mahmudi and rejected Pashtun hegemony. The National Revolutionary Party of Prime Minister Muhammad Daud, 1975, became the only permitted party until the Marxist coup of 1979. During the 1980s’ war against the Marxist government, the seven mujahedin groups evolved into political movements. The groups commanded by Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi, Sebghatullah Mujaddidi, and Sayyid Ahmad Gailani formed a moderate coalition, and the Islamist parties were headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani, Muhammad Yunus Khales, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. Nuclei of these groups are still politically active. The Taliban regime suppressed all political activity, and the constitution of 2004 provided for parties, resulting in the recognition of some 82 groups. Parties were usually led by a charismatic leader who was succeeded by his son or close relative. Some, like several Marxist parties, were forbidden. Most parties became known and named after their official publication. Most parties did not overcome the ethnic or sectarian divide: three Marxist parties with similar programs existed, divided along majority Pashtun, Tajik, and Shi’i lines. The same is the case with Islamist parties. As is typical for multi-ethnic/sectarian states, people tend to vote for their community. President Hamid Karzai has not succeeded in founding a party loyal to him; it seems he has not even tried.
On 6 September, President Karzai signed a political parties law that required the reregistration of 110 parties. Parties were to have at least 10,000 members, not 700 as previously required, and persons not permitted membership during their tenure include judges, prosecutors, leading cadres of the armed forces, officers, noncommissioned officers, police officers, and personnel of the national security service. The intention of the new law was to prevent a proliferation of small parties. Political parties are forbidden to pursue objectives that are opposed to the principles of the holy religion of Islam; use, threaten with, or propagate the use of force; incite to ethnic, racial, religious, or regional discrimination; create a real danger to the rights and freedom of individuals or intentionally disrupt public order or security; have military organizations or affiliations with armed forces; or receive funds from foreign sources. POLLOCK, FIELD MARSHAL SIR GEORGE (1786–1872). Pollock was commander of the “Army of Retribution” after the British debacle in the First Anglo-Afghan War. He gathered an army of about 8,000 men, composed of eight infantry regiments, three cavalry corps, a troop and two batteries of artillery, and a mountain train. He entered the Khaibar Pass on 5 April 1842, where he overcame an Afridi attack and, after additional encounters on the way, rescued Jalalabad and a British garrison nearly starved to surrender. Marching on the route of the British retreat, Pollock’s army saw the remnants of the “Army of the Indus,” the wheels of the gun carriages crushing the bones of their comrades. He defeated Akbar Khan in the Battle of Tezin and entered Kabul on 16 September 1842. He destroyed the fortification of the Bala Hisar and the magnificent Kabul bazaar and permitted his troops to plunder, resulting in the nearly total destruction of the city. Many hundreds of Afghans were killed or executed (O’Ballance 1993). In September he got the British hostages released after offering Saleh Muhammad, their guardian, a “reward” of 20,000 rupees and a pension of 12,000 rupees per year for life. Pollock’s forces then moved against Istalif and Charikar and destroyed the towns before evacuating Afghanistan on 12 October 1842. POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, KABUL. The Polytechnic is a technical institute for postsecondary education in Kabul, opened in February 1967 with Soviet assistance and staffed with Soviet and Afghan instructors. It awarded degrees in fields of engineering, with special emphasis on geology, exploration, and extraction of mineral and natural gas resources. It was one sector of Afghan education where the Soviet Union was dominant and rivaled the American-supported Engineering Department of Kabul University. Many graduates of the institute went to the Soviet Union for advanced studies. After the Saur Revolt, it was given a monopoly in engineering education, while the Kabul University Engineering Department was closed for reasons of “redundancy.” See also EDUCATION. POPALZAI. The Popalzai are a main division of the Durranis. The Sadozai, a chief branch of the Popalzai, produced the kings of modern Afghanistan from 1747 to the 1830s when the Muhammadzai branch of the Durranis succeeded to power. The Popalzai heartland lies to the north of Kandahar, but colonies of this branch exist also in Multan and Dera Ismael Khan on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line.
POPPY CULTIVATION. There has always been some poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, and opium was smuggled to China, India, and other destinations. During peace negotiations at the Mussoorie Conference (1920), the Afghan government asked for permission to export opium, hemp drugs, and ruble notes through India in bound and sealed packages, provided that it was not sent to “any destination to which the British Government are under obligation to prohibit or limit the dispatch” of these drugs. When this was no longer possible, some smuggling continued, and in 1928 British sources reported the seizure of a consignment of cocaine and heroin in Paris. King Amanullah prohibited the consumption of drugs, and there was not much of a market. It was only as a result of the civil war of the 1990s that poppies began to be cultivated on a large scale. During the Taliban regime, poppy cultivation in Afghanistan experienced a considerable increase, in spite of the fact that the use of opiates is forbidden in Islam. Unaware of the foreign political implications, the new rulers maintained that production was “only for export” and not local consumption. Only as a result of foreign pressure did the government realize that this was not an acceptable justification. The cultivation of poppies requires relatively little water, and the resin can be stored for long periods of time before it is processed into heroin. It is the ideal cash crop for impoverished farmers, and the Taliban government derived a considerable income from its sale. Poppy cultivation began to increase after the fall of the communist regime. By 1999 about 91,000 hectares were planted, which was reduced to about 8,000 hectares in 2001 when the Taliban regime, as a result of foreign pressure, forbade cultivation. After the American intervention, planting increased again. By 2004, about 131,000 hectares were planted, and Afghanistan became the world’s largest opium poppy producer. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cultivation has spread to all 34 provinces, and the number of families involved has been estimated at 356,000. But only about $600 million was earned by the farmers out of a total of about US$2.8 billion. There is irony in the fact that the mission of the coalition forces was to hunt for terrorists, to the exclusion of “nation building” or interdiction of the drug trade. In the meantime, the United States is very much engaged in nation building but has not yet engaged in the task of fighting the drug problem. Haji Bashir Nurzai, the “Pablo Escobar” of heroin trafficking in Asia, was arrested in New York in late April 2005. Eradication harms the farmers and arouses their hostility; therefore the planting of alternative crops seems the only workable procedure. The expansion of the pomegranate industry has been suggested, and its promoters claim that it is also more profitable, permitting farmers to make about $2,000 per acre for $1,320 of poppy cultivation. On the other hand, interdiction has worked in Nangarhar Province, which has moderate climate and an abundant supply of water. Gul Agha Sherzai, the governor of the province, claims to have eliminated poppy cultivation in his area. Crop substitution is costly, and the lack of security and inaccessibility of many parts of the country make counternarcotics efforts difficult. POTTINGER, MAJOR ELDRED (1811–1843). Sent to explore Central Asia, Pottinger came to Kabul disguised as a horse dealer. He reached Herat in 1837 and assisted in the
defense of the city. Lord G. Auckland called him the “Hero of Herat,” responsible for the successful defense of Herat during the second Persian siege of the city from 1837 to 1838. As a reward, he was appointed political officer to Kamran, the ruler of Herat. He was one of two Englishmen to survive the destruction of a British outpost at Charikar in November 1841, in which the Fourth (Gurka) Infantry was wiped out. As the senior surviving officer at Kabul, he negotiated the Treaty of Capitulation with Afghan sardars in December 1841. And as a hostage of Sardar Muhammad Akbar, he was instrumental in negotiating a deal for the release of the hostages in exchange for a monetary reward to their guardian, Saleh Muhammad Khan. The seemingly indestructible Pottinger returned to India, where a court of inquiry in 1842– 1843 accused him of drawing bills for 19 lakhs in favor of the Afghans and for signing a treaty without authorization. He was exonerated but did not get his back pay and was refused the award of a medal for his services. He died in Hong Kong of typhus. POWINDAH (KUCHI). Powindah is a term applied in India to Pashtun merchant-nomads who seasonally traveled far into India. There is disagreement as to the etymology of the name: one source derives the word from the Persian parwinda, a bale of merchandise, because of their occupation as merchant nomads. It is more likely from pawidan, to wander, or perhaps from the Pashtu word powal, to graze flocks. In Afghanistan, Powindahs are called Kuchis. The majority of the Powindah are Sulaiman Khel Pashtuns, one of the largest of the Ghilzai tribes. They lead a pastoral way of life, some as nomad shepherds, others as merchants and camel men, carrying on trade between Afghanistan and India. Individuals who left their families behind at times engaged in day labor, sold clothing, or lent money at interest. They were formerly scattered over northern India and would occasionally travel as far as Burma and Nepal. In the frontier belt, they were always heavily armed, but upon entering India they deposited their weapons, keeping only their daggers and swords. The Powindahs created an image of the Afghan, from their appearance in their “storm-stained Afghan clothing, reckless manners, and boisterous voices,” as tall and haggard but proud and free. Their chiefs, maliks, were in charge only during migration and when crossing hostile tribal territory. They are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school and adhere to a Sufi fraternity, but their law is a mixture of tribal code and the Shari’a (see ISLAMIC LAW). After the British left India in 1947 and Pakistan was created, the Powindah were gradually limited in their migrations across international borders. As a result of the Pashtunistan dispute, Pakistan closed its borders to large-scale migration, and the Powindah were forced to redirect their routes of migration. Afghan governments have tried to settle the nomads but have had only limited success. The nomads have been able to adapt to new ways by moving into the motorized transport business, and former nomads now control much of the transport from Afghanistan to the port of Karachi in Pakistan. PRATAP, MAHENDRA (1886–1979). Pratap was the Hindu member of the HentigNiedermayer Expedition, who formed a “Provisional Free India” government in Kabul with Maulawi Obaidullah as “home minister,” Barakatullah as prime minister, and himself as
president. He was in touch with Indian revolutionaries and independence movements in India and frequently visited Germany and the Soviet Union to solicit support and political recognition. He eventually returned to India and wrote My German Mission to High Asia. He later founded the “Great School of Love,” a religious industrial arts school, and the Society of the “Servants of the Powerless,” a syncretist religion combining aspects of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism. PRESS AND JOURNALISM. According to undocumented claims, the first impetus for the establishment of journalism in Afghanistan came from the great Pan-Islamist and modernist Jamaluddin Afghani, who in the 1860s was said to have published the first newspaper, named Kabul. There is no evidence of the existence of a paper called Kabul or of the fact that Afghani was instrumental in the publication of the Shams al-Nahar (The Morning Sun), which was published in the 1870s during the reign of Amir Shir Ali. An extant copy of this 16-page paper, published in January or February 1873, carried official announcements, “profitable and necessary information,” and reports on events from London, America, Prussia, China, Russia, and Austria, in addition to domestic news from Badakhshan and Kabul. It appeared twice a month and cost 25 rupees a year, which was deducted from the salary of officials; chiefs, courtiers, and notables were invited to make a donation commensurate to their status. The paper ceased publication in the late 1870s as a result of the British invasion in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. In 1906, Maulawi Abdul Rauf, head of the Royal Madrasa at Kabul, started a newspaper called Seraj al-Akhbar-i Afghanistan (Torch of News of Afghanistan), which appeared, however, only once in January 1906. Journalism was permanently established by Mahmud Tarzi, the “Father of Afghan Journalism,” with the publication of the Seraj al-Akhbar Afghaniya (Beacon of Afghan News, 1911–1918). Its name derived from Amir Habibullah’s title, “Seraj al-Millat Wa’d-Din” (Beacon of the Nation and Religion). In the first year of its existence, the paper was lithographed from a handwritten copy by Muhammad Ja’far Kandahari and edited by Mahmud Tarzi. Subsequent issues were typeset and illustrated, and the paper soon became appreciated for its quality and relative independence. It served as a medium of information for a small circle of courtiers, government officials, and literate Kabulis, providing both domestic and foreign news. It adopted a Pan-Islamic, anti-British tone and advocated an Islamic modernist policy of reform. It continued with minor interruptions until 1918. Under King Amanullah, the press experienced considerable growth. The weekly Aman-i Afghan (1919, Afghan Peace— derived from Amanullah’s name) took over the tradition of the Seraj al-Akhbar with a reformist and decidedly nationalistic tone. Provincial newspapers appeared for the first time: Ittihad-i Mashriqi (Unity of the East, 1919) in Jalalabad; Ittifaq-i Islam (Concord of Islam, 1920) in Herat; and the weekly Tulu-yi Afghan (Rise of the Afghan, 1921) in Kandahar. The first national newspaper that survived subsequent regimes was Anis (Companion), first published on 5 May 1927. Islah (Reform), published in late 1929 by Nadir Khan (the subsequent king), served as his organ to counter attacks in Habibullah Kalakani’s Habib alIslam.
Beginning in the 1930s, numerous journals and magazines appeared in both Pashtu and Dari as private individuals and government ministries published their house organs or specialized papers. The press experienced considerable growth with the increasing literacy resulting from the expansion of education after World War II. The Kabul Times, an English-language daily newspaper, was founded in 1962 under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Culture as a semiofficial medium with a measure of editorial autonomy. Article 31 of the constitution of 1964 permitted freedom of the press, subject to respect for the fundamentals of Islam, the constitutional monarchy, and public morality. New, privately funded weeklies appeared in 1966: Payam-i Imruz (Message of Today), published by Ghulam Nabi Khater, demanding “justice, equality, national unity,” and social and economic reforms; Khalq (The People) and Parcham (Banner), organs of the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), published respectively by Nur Muhammad Taraki and Sulaiman Layeq; Mardum (People), an anti-Marxist paper published by Sayyid Moqadas Negah; Wahdat (Unity), published and edited by Maulawi Khasta; Afghan Millat (Afghan Nation), organ of the Afghan Social Democrats and a Pashtun nationalist paper, published by Ghulam Muhammad Farhad; and Musawat (Equality), published by Abdul Shukur Reshad, organ of the Progressive Democratic Party founded by Muhammad Hashim Maiwandwal. Most papers were banned soon after their first appearance on the grounds that they offended Islamic sentiments or constitutional provisions or on such technicalities as lacking an editor. Private newspapers were replete with ad hominem attacks and appealed only to small circles of the Kabul public. Therefore they were not economically viable. A publisher had to obtain a license from the Ministry of Information and Culture and deposit from 10,000 to 15,000 afghanis as a security bond. Khalq and Parcham had the largest circulation of private newspapers, no doubt because they were secretly subsidized and espoused a Marxist line. The relatively free press in Afghanistan ended in the period of President Muhammad Daud and the founding of Jumhuriat (Republic, 1973) as the official organ. No independent papers were tolerated. After the Saur Revolt, the Kabul Times was transformed for a few years into the Kabul New Times. Anis and Haiwad continued under new editorship. The new party organ was the Da Saur Inqilab, renamed Haqiqat-i Inqilab-i Saur under the Parchami regime (later called Payam of the Watan Party). The contents of Kabuli newspapers were reproduced virtually unchanged in the provincial press, which now also included newspapers in Baluchi, Uzbeki, Turkmani, Pashai, and Nuristani. The Kabul government censored the press, and when Najibullah became president, the press had discarded a great deal of the Marxist rhetoric and appealed to the war-weary masses to win acceptance for the continuation of the regime. After the fall of the Marxist regime, no national newspaper existed. Numerous publications, mostly ephemeral, appeared in exile in many parts of the world, but it is beyond the scope of this entry to discuss them here. The Afghan press revived quickly after the establishment of the Hamid Karzai government, and the daily newspapers Anis, Haiwad, and Islah reappeared in Dari and Pashtu, and the Kabul Times in English. Weekly papers appeared in the provinces, and numerous, more-or-less ephemeral private publications are in circulation.
PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP). The PDP was founded by Prime Minister Muhammad Hashim Maiwandwal as a social democratic movement in support of parliamentary democracy and the principles of the 1965 constitution. Its organ was Musawat (Equality), a weekly that first appeared on 24 June 1966, with articles in Dari and Pashtu. It was published by Abdul Shakur Reshad and Muhammad Sharif Ayyubi and edited by Muhammad Rahim Elham and Abdul Ghani Maiwandi. PROVINCES. See ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. PROVINCIAL COUNCILS. Article 138 of the Afghan constitution provides for provincial councils in each of the country’s 34 provinces. The 249 members are elected by the local population according to the size of each province, one quarter of whose members are to be women. Each of the 34 councils sends one delegate to the Meshrano Jirga. The role of the councils includes three areas: participating in provincial development, monitoring and appraising other provincial governance institutions, and participating in activities of conflict resolution. The councils are to provide a share of local governance to the people, but they tend to be marginalized because of the traditional power of provincial governors. There were problems in defining jurisdictions because of disagreements over district boundaries, and it remains to be seen whether the councils can develop into viable institutions. PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION TEAMS (PRT). The PRTs are units of some 100 to 200 American and/or allied troops, Special Forces units, and political advisers operating since late 2002, engaged in building schools and roads and trying to “win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.” At the same time, they gather intelligence for the purpose of providing security and reconstruction, and to strengthen the central government. They provided a measure of security during the presidential elections of October 2004 and 2009, as well as during the parliamentary elections of 2010. The American PRTs also include civilian members from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Justice Department, and the Department of Agriculture. The concept has been strongly opposed by a consortium of nongovernmental organizations (NGO), the Red Cross, and others because it “blurs the lines between humanitarian workers and a combat military force.” They also claim that the PRTs are not cost effective, as operating costs amount to at least $10 million a year, building schools that are worth about $10,000 each. Nevertheless, they have been successful in curbing the power of the warlords. The allies divided Afghanistan into four zones, with Germany commanding the north, Italy and Spain the west, Great Britain the south, and the United States the east. PROXIMITY TALKS. The talks were negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, leading to the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. See also GENEVA ACCORDS. PUL-I CHARKHI (34-33’ N, 69-21’ E). A village on the Kabul River east of Kabul, it is the site of a modern prison, built in the time of President Muhammad Daud and heavily utilized
since. The prison, built from a West German design, had a capacity of 5,000 prisoners, but during the Khalqi period it was said to house more than twice that amount. The prison has special wings for political prisoners, foreigners, and women. During the early years following the Saur Revolt, large numbers of prisoners at Pul-i Charkhi were executed. In 1979, the Hafizullah Amin government produced a list of approximately 12,000 Afghans who had been killed. When Babrak Karmal came to power in 1980, he disassociated himself from the Khalqi executions and amnestied most of the prisoners. The prison was partially destroyed during the subsequent civil war, but it served the Burhanuddin Rabbani regime until it was captured by the Taliban in September 1996. The prison is again in operation. After the American intervention, the United States government has constructed Block D as an addition to Pul-i Charkhi prison. It is a detention center for suspected jihadist prisoners and transfers from Guantánamo with 350 cells and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense, rather than the Ministry of Justice. The guards are members of the Afghan National Army. PUL-I KHUMRI (35-56’ N, 68-43’ E). Pul-i Khumri is an industrial town and the administrative center of Baghlan Province named after a bridge over the Surkhab/Kunduz River on the main highway from Kabul north to Baghlan and Kunduz. In 1938 the textile company Nasaji began construction of an electric power plant and a textile industry as well as a small town. At first the town only housed the industrial workers and staff, but it gradually grew with the addition of other industries engaged in the production of cement and briquettes and in mining nearby. In 1973 the town had about 20,000 inhabitants, mostly Tajik and Pashtuns, but also about 20 percent Hazaras (recent population numbers are about 161,000). According to local tradition, the name Khumri comes from the name of Khumari, a young lady who lived in the area about 400 years ago and had a bridge built to facilitate trade across the river. PURDAH. See CHADARI. PUSHTU. See PASHTU. PUZANOV, ALEXANDR (d. 1979). Puzanov was the Soviet ambassador, accredited to Kabul in 1972, the final year of Zahir Shah, and an important figure during the republican and early Marxist periods. He was an active politician in Kabul and was therefore dubbed the “little czar.” He was credited with helping to reunite the two factions of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1977 and was quoted as saying that the Saur Revolt “came as a complete surprise to me.” One expert describes him as “an alcoholic seventy-two-year-old castoff from Kremlin political struggles . . . [who] was trout fishing in the Hindu Kush” when the Saur Revolt occurred (Bradsher 1983, 83). He supported Nur Muhammad Taraki against Hafizullah Amin and was said to have lured Hafizullah Amin into an ambush. The “palace shoot-out” of 14 September 1979 misfired, and Amin demanded the recall of Puzanov; he left Kabul on 19 November 1979.
Q QADHI. See QAZI. QADIRI (QADIRIYYA). The Qadiri are a Sufi order named after Shaikh Abdul Qadir alGilani (1077–1166), an ascetic preacher, acclaimed the most popular saint in the Islamic world. His tomb in Baghdad is a place of pilgrimage, maintained by the Naqib, custodian of the shrine, who is his descendant and the hereditary head of the Qadiri Sufi fraternity. Sayyid Hasan Gailani, younger brother of the Naqib al-Ashraf of Baghdad, came to Afghanistan in 1905 and established himself there. Upon the death of his brother, he was asked to return to Baghdad, but he stayed in Afghanistan. He was succeeded in Afghanistan by Sayyid Ali Gailani, who was succeeded by Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, who is also the head of the National Islamic Front of mujahedin forces. The Qadiri order is strong among the Ghilzai and Wardakis in southern Afghanistan. QAEDA, AL- (THE BASE). Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization, founded by Osama bin Laden, Abu Ubayda al-Banshiri, and Muhammad Atif in 1988, with the purpose being the “cleansing of the Muslim countries from corrupt and secular rulers, and fighting against the powers that threaten Muslim states and the holy places of Islam.” Specifically, this meant achieving the withdrawal of United States troops from Saudi Arabia and winning independence for the Palestinian people (most American forces have since been withdrawn from Saudi Arabia). Al-Qaeda allied itself with Islamist forces in most parts of the Islamic world. It espouses a Hanbali interpretation of Islam, whose major protagonist is the 14thcentury jurist Ibn Taymiyya. The organization established its headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1992, and, in response to American threats, moved to Afghanistan in May 1996. Al-Qaeda set up training camps in bases, established partly with American support in the war against the communist government, and subsequently provided considerable military assistance to the Taliban regime. Young Muslims from many parts of the Islamic world were trained in Afghanistan for military action in Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia, and other regions of conflict. The U.S. government holds al-Qaeda responsible for numerous attacks, including the 7 August 1998 bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In retaliation, President Bill Clinton ordered cruise missile attacks on Afghan terrorist training camps and the al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. Awards of $25 million each were offered for the capture or assassination of bin Laden and Muhammad Atif. The suicide attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on 11 September 2001 resulted in war and the destruction of the al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan. At the time of this writing, America and its allies are fighting a resurgence of jihadist forces with no clear end of the fighting in sight. QAEDA, AL-, INTERNATIONAL. Once based in Sudan, then in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda is a worldwide organization whose aim is to establish a Pan-Islamic caliphate under the banner of the “World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders.” It is organized in cells
with members and sympathizers in the Islamic world and elsewhere. It was led by Osama bin Laden, who rose to prominence when he called for the withdrawal of American troops from the territory of Saudi Arabia. Because of his hostility to the Saudi government, he was deprived of his citizenship and started his search for a base elsewhere. Al-Qaeda is only one of many jihadi groups, but it has come to be credited for terrorist actions in many countries, including Iraq where insurgents fought coalition forces and their collaborators. Abu Musab Zarqawi was said to have headed the al-Qaeda wing in Iraq. AlQaeda may have lost its base in Afghanistan but seems to have moved some of its operations elsewhere. QALA-I JANGI, BATTLE/MASSACRE OF. The battle was a revolt of some 600 Taliban fighters, held in the Qala-i Jang fortress west of Mazar-i Sharif, from which only 86 “filthy and hungry prisoners” survived. On 24 November 2001, some 300 to 500 Taliban soldiers who had surrendered in the battle for Kunduz were transported to the fortress. Only some of the prisoners were searched, and some had concealed weapons, which they used in suicide attacks on their jailers. One Central Intelligence Agency agent, Johnny (Mike) Spann, who interviewed prisoners, was killed, and another, Dave Tyson, managed to escape. The prisoners were able to capture the armory and provide themselves with weapons and began a four-day battle, which led to their decimation. American Special Forces teams called in air strikes, pinpointing areas of Taliban concentration to devastating effect. British SAS soldiers and Abdul Rashid Dostum’s troops stormed the parapets and picked off the rebels below. The 86 survivors, including the American John Walker Lindh, were forced to surrender on 1 November when the basements were flooded and burning oil was poured upon the prisoners. Hundreds of dead and dying lay scattered over the field, some of them with their hands bound. Television crews from Reuters and the German ARD network filmed some of the action, which was subsequently shown on American television. Time correspondent Alex Perry gave a vivid description of the event. QALAT (QALAT-I GHILZAI) (32-7' N, 66-54' E). Qalat is the administrative center of Zabul Province, located on the road from Kandahar to Ghazni and Kabul, about 87 miles northeast of Kandahar. Its celebrated 18th-century fort was occupied by the British in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. In 1973, the town had about 4,000 inhabitants (now about 29,000, including the district), mostly from the Ghilzai tribe. QANAT. See KARIZ. QANDAHAR. See KANDAHAR. QANUN. Qanun were statutory laws, enacted after the 1964 constitution. QANUNI, YUNUS (QANOONI, 1957–). Born in Rokha, Panjshir Valley, Qanuni joined Ahmad Shah Mas’ud in the war against the Marxist regime and was wounded. He became deputy defense minister in 1993 and retreated to the Panjshir Valley when the Taliban took Kabul. After the assassination of Mas’ud on 9 September 2001, Qanuni became political head
of the Jam’iat-i Islami and formed a coalition to contest the parliamentary elections of 2004. He was a member of the delegation to Bonn that elected an Interim Government in which he was at first appointed as interior minister. Qanuni resigned from his post in July 2004 when he unsuccessfully ran for president in opposition to Hamid Karzai. He received the second highest number of votes with some 16 percent of the count. Elected to parliament, he became speaker of the Wolesi Jirga in 2005 and leader of the New Afghanistan Party (Hizb-i Afghanistan Nawin). He was appointed interior minister in the Transitional Government, but because of overrepresentation of Panjshiris, he was made special adviser on security and minister of education. Qanuni refused the appointment as minister of education. QARAQUL (KARAKUL). The Qaraqul is a sheep bred originally in Russian Central Asia and introduced to Afghanistan at the time of World War I. Uzbek breeders began a lucrative industry in Afghanistan that soon became the major hard-currency winner. Qaraqul skins became popular in Europe, and Afghan merchants were able to corner the market until the end of the 1940s, when the Soviet Union and South Africa became major competitors. In the face of increasing competition, the Afghan Qaraqul Institute was founded in 1966 to provide quality control and promote the export of the pelts. The skins come in various colors, most commonly gray and black but also brown and other colors, and are used in Afghanistan primarily to fashion the customary headgear for men, called kula. QARI, ABDULLAH “MALIK AL-SHU’ARA” (1871–1944). Born in Kabul and selfeducated, Qari became an attendant of Amir Habibullah and tutor to his son Prince Enayatullah. He was a teacher at Habibia School and member of the Afghan Literary Society. He was proclaimed Afghan poet laureate in 1936. His diwan, collection of poetry, was published in India and Kabul. He died in 1944. QARLIQ (QARLUQ). A small ethnic community of Sunni Turks in Kunduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan provinces, the Qarliq migrated north from the Ghorband Valley (now Parwan Province) during the time of Amir Abdul Rahman (1880s). The Qarliq resemble the Uzbek but speak a different dialect. QARQIN, NUR MUHAMMAD (1953–). Born in Tepa of Qarqin district of Jozjan Province, the son of Haji Mohammad Qul Nur, Muhammad finished primary school in Qarqin. He studied at Habibia High School in 1972 and earned a B.A. degree in law at Kabul University. In 1978 he started work as a member of the Uzbek and Turkmen department in the Ministry of Education. He served as minister of education (2002–2004) and was appointed minister of martyrs, disabled, and social affairs in 2006. His appointment was approved by parliament, with 194 votes for and 41 against. A member of the department of Turkoman literature of the Academy of Sciences, Qarqin also worked as director of the Silo of Balkh and director of gas at Hairatan. He migrated to Pakistan after the Saur Revolt and took part in the jihad against the Soviet Union. He was a member of the Loya Jirgas. In 2001, Qarqin was appointed minister of labor and social affairs in the Interim Government. He resigned from his post on 7 September 2004 and became director of the electoral campaign of Hamid
Karzai, and in December 2004 he was appointed minister of education. QASIM-AFGHAN, USTAD MUHAMMAD (1878–1957). Born in Gozar Barana, Kabul, in 1878, Ustad (Master) Qasim-Afghan was the best known singer and musician in Afghanistan in the first half of the 20th century. The son of Ustad Sattar Kashmiri, he was court singer during the rule of Amirs Abdul Rahman, Habibullah, and Amanullah and was responsible for creating an Afghan style of music that was akin to classical Indian music. He was appointed court singer by Amir Abdul Rahman in 1898 and was awarded the title Ustad Qasim “Afghan” by King Amanullah. He had a great talent for singing and reciting ghazals. He trained many Afghan singers. QATIL, SARDAR AZIZULLAH (1892–1935). Born in Kabul, the son of Sardar Nasrullah, Qatil served in the Department of Census during the reign of King Amanullah and was subsequently appointed ambassador to Tehran (1930). He was a poet, diplomat, and honorary member of the Afghan Literary Society (see AFGHAN ACADEMY). He died in 1935. QAZI (QADHI). A qazi is a judge with jurisdiction in cases of civil and criminal law. He usually is a graduate of a madrasa or theological college. See ISLAMIC LAW. QIBLA. The qibla is the prayer direction, toward the Ka’ba in the center of the Great Mosque of Mecca, which Muslims face when performing their daily prayers. In mosques and areas reserved for prayer, the qibla is indicated either by the prayer niche, mihrab, or outdoors by a sutrah (covering). See ISLAM. QIRGHIZ (KIRGIZ). The Qirghiz are a Turkic Sunni community of about three million people in Qirghizstan of whom a small number lived in eastern Badakhshan Province. As a result of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980s, they fled first to Pakistan; later, most immigrated to Turkey. They visited Afghanistan seasonally in the early 19th century from Russian Central Asia and the Sinkiang Province of China and settled in the Afghan Pamirs in the Wakhan Corridor during World War I. They lived in yurts and subsisted as herders of sheep, goats, and yaks. In the early 1970s, the Afghan Qirghiz numbered about 1,900 persons. QIZILBASH. Meaning “Red Heads” (T.), the Qizilbash are a people named after the color of pleats in their turbans. They were one of seven Turkic tribes who revered the Safavid ruler Isma’il (r. 1499–1524) as both a spiritual and temporal ruler. The Persian ruler Nadir Shah Afshar stationed a rear guard (chandawol) of Qizilbash troops at Kabul on a campaign to India. They are Shi’a and were quartered in an area called Chandawol today. Estimated at about 30,000, they no longer speak their original Turkic dialect and live mainly in the cities of Herat, Kabul, and Kandahar. As an ethnic and religious minority, the Qizilbash have tended to be politically inactive to avoid discrimination but have held prominent positions in government service and commerce. They held military positions until the 1860s, the end of Amir Dost Muhammad’s reign (one of his wives was a Qizilbash). QUNDUZ. See KUNDUZ.
QUR’AN. See KORAN.
R RABBANI, BURHANUDDIN (BURHAN AL-DIN, 1940–). Leader of the Jam’iat-i Islamiyi Afghanistan (Islamic Society of Afghanistan), a largely non-Pashtun group, he was president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996. Born in Faizabad, Badakhshan Province, and educated in Islamic studies at Kabul University and Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Rabbani received an M.A. degree in 1968. After returning to Afghanistan, he taught at the faculty of theology at Kabul University. He became editor of Majallat-i Shari’at (the Journal of Islamic Law) in 1970 and was a leading member of the Islamist movement starting in the 1970s. He organized university students to oppose the secular trend in Afghanistan and to counteract the activities of leftist students on campus. The 15-member high council of the Jam’iat-i Islami selected him as its leader in 1971, and in 1974 he fled to Pakistan where he sought the support of the Bhutto government and the Jama’at-i Islami, a radical Islamist party. In 1975, the Jam’iat carried out raids into Afghanistan, and failure of the armed attacks revealed policy disagreements between Rabbani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Thereupon Hekmatyar founded his Hizb-i Islami in 1976. Rabbani continued to lead the Jam’iat after the Saur Revolt. At the fall of the Najibullah regime, Rabbani’s forces, under Commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ud, entered Kabul on 25 April 1992 and quickly expelled members of Hekmatyar’s forces from the presidential palace and the interior ministry. The Uzbek forces of General Abdul Rashid Dostum also cooperated with Jam’iat and other groups, including the Shi’i Hizb-i Wahdat, which occupied portions of Kabul and began the struggle for power between the mujahedin. In June 1992, Rabbani succeeded Sebghatullah Mujaddidi as president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, but he did not effectively control Kabul or the rest of Afghanistan. His refusal to step down after a two-year term resulted in considerable fighting and bombardment of Kabul, primarily by the forces of Hekmatyar. The rise of the Taliban in 1994 posed a serious threat to Rabbani, and in September 1996 the Taliban drove Rabbani from the capital. With the support of American air strikes, the Northern Alliance was able to recapture Kabul in December 2001, and Rabbani established himself in the palace, in spite of the fact that he did not have any position in the Afghan Interim Government of 2001. As a one-time president, Rabbani aspired to regain the leadership of the country. He was dislodged from the palace to make room for Hamid Karzai and the ex-king, who was given the ceremonial title of “Father of the Nation.” Rabbani’s sonin-law Ahmad Zia Mas’ud was selected as Hamid Karzai’s first vice president. RABBANI, MULLA MUHAMMAD (d. 2001). Rabbani was a founding member of the Taliban movement and deputy of Muhammad Omar. He headed the ruling council (Kabul shura), which also included Mulla Muhammad Ghaus, foreign minister; Mulla Muhammad Muttaqi, minister of information; Sayyid Giasuddin, minister of education; Mulla Fazl Muhammad; and Mulla Abdul Razzaq, minister of interior. He negotiated with members of the Northern Alliance, including President Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ahmad Shah Mas’ud, and
Abdul Rashid Dostum. A Kakar Pashtun, Rabbani fought as a mujahed in the Hizb-i Islami Party of Yunus Khales. He is said to have ordered the execution of Najibullah. He died in 2001 of cancer in Pakistan, where he had gone for treatment. RABI’A BALKHI. See BALKHI, RABI’A. RADIO AFGHANISTAN (RADIO KABUL). The National Afghan radio station was first called Radio Kabul, with daily medium-wave and shortwave domestic service in Pashtu and Dari and, after the Saur Revolt, also in several minority languages. Its foreign broadcast program offered regular services in Arabic, English, Urdu, and Russian. Broadcasting began under King Amanullah in 1925 with the construction of a station in Kabul and was temporarily stopped at the end of his reign in 1929. In 1931 the transmitter was replaced, and in 1937 the Marconi company set up transmitters in Kabul, Khanabad, Khost, and Maimana, and experimental broadcasts resumed in 1939. A year later broadcasts reached a relatively wide public: 8,000 radio sets were owned by Afghans, most of them in Kabul, and loudspeakers were set up in bazaars and public places. In order to justify this innovation, the Afghan government stated its purpose as spreading the message of the Koran, promoting a spirit of nationalism, preserving Afghan culture and folklore, and advancing public education. The system soon expanded throughout the country with the establishment of stations in the provinces. Radio Afghanistan contributed to the development of Afghan music. Afghan artists such as Ustad Muhammad Husain Sarahang, Ustad Farida Mahwash, and Ustad Muhammad Hashim Chishti were regularly featured. In 1964 more than half of the domestic programs consisted of native music. Koran and poetry readings were regularly featured, and plays were subsequently added. Programming was controlled by the government, and no private radio or television stations were permitted. In 1977, television was established in Kabul to give a new dimension to the cultural and political objectives of the Afghan government. After the Taliban captured Kabul in September 1996, they renamed the station Voice of the Shar’iat. It was rigorously censored, and the broadcasting of music was forbidden. The Radio Afghanistan building was destroyed by American bombs in 2001; but with the help of the BBC World Service Trust, two new studios with up-to-date equipment were built, and engineers and presenters were trained to bring broadcasting up to international standards. Valuable tapes of the past 40 years were feared lost but have all been recovered. RADIO KABUL. See RADIO AFGHANISTAN. RAHIMI, MUHAMMAD ASIF (1959–). Born in Paghman and raised in Kabul, Rahimi was educated at Kabul University and in management and development programs at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. He worked for CARE-USA as manager in Afghanistan and, after he moved to Canada in 2001, joined CARE-Canada as South Asia regional manager. He returned to Afghanistan in 2005 and joined the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development as head of the national solidarity program. Rahimi served as deputy minister for programs and was appointed minister of agriculture in 2008 and reappointed in 2009.
RAHIN, SAYYID MAKHDUM (RAHEEN, 1946–). Born in Kabul, Rahin graduated in Afghanistan and went to Tehran, where he obtained M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Tehran University in 1973. He served as a lecturer at Kabul University and was director of arts and culture in the Ministry of Information and Culture. He was a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee during the presidency of Muhammad Daud Khan and participated in the Loya Jirga of 1977. After the Saur Revolt he was dismissed and fled to Pakistan where he was a member of the high council and director of the cultural committee of the Ittihad-i Islami (Islamic Unity Party). During the Interim Government (2001–2002), he served as minister of information and culture, and again during the Transitional Government (2002–2005). His continuation in the 2006 government was not approved by parliament, but President Hamid Karzai appointed him ambassador to India in 2006. He served as the director of Radio Free Kabul, transmitted by mujahedin from 1992 to 1995. During the Interim Government of Sebghatullah Mujaddidi he was a special adviser. A poet and popular writer, Dr. Rahin has published in the fields of literature, history, and Islam. He was a recipient of a medal from the “Father of the Nation” in 2004. RAHMAN. See ABDUL RAHMAN and HABIBURRAHMAN, ENGINEER. RAHMAN BABA (1653–1711). Rahman Baba is a Mohmand of the Ghoriah Khel tribe. He was a contemporary of the 17th-century Pashtu mystical poet Khushhal Khan Khatak. Afghans call Rahman Baba the “Pashtun Hafiz” in reference to Shams al-Din Hafiz, the great Persian poet. A school in Kabul, originally intended to teach tribal students in Pashtu, is named after him. His tomb is located near Peshawar. RAHMAN QUL, HAJI. Chief of the Pamir Qirghiz, Rahman Qul fled from the Sinkiang Province of China after the communist takeover in 1949 and settled with about 2,000 followers in the Wakhan Corridor. After the Saur Revolt, he fled to Pakistan with most of his followers and then settled with them in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. RAMADHAN (RAMAZAN). Ramadhan is the name of the ninth month of the Islamic (lunar) calendar and “the month in which the Koran was sent down,” during which Muslims are enjoined to observe complete abstinence from food or drink during daylight hours. RANJIT SINGH (1780–1839). King of the newly founded Sikh nation, a religio-political entity that in 1820 controlled most of the northern Panjab, Kashmir, and Peshawar, Ranjit Singh captured Lahore from its Afghan garrison in 1798, compelling Shah Zaman to appoint the Sikh chief as governor of the Panjab. Ranjit Singh was described as of small stature and blind in his right eye, but quite fearless and a brilliant soldier. Lord Auckland, governor general of India, sided with the Sikh ruler and concluded an alliance with Ranjit Singh and Shah Shuja for the purpose of restoring the latter to the Afghan throne (see ANGLO-AFGHAN WARS; SIMLA MANIFESTO). Ranjit Singh, at that time “an old man in an advanced state of decrepitude,” was wise enough not to send his army into Afghanistan and therefore did not share the British disaster. Ranjit Singh died in 1839, and his empire was soon annexed by his
former British allies. RASUL, DR. ZALMAI (1944–). Born in Kabul, the son of Professor Abdul Qayum Rasul, Zalmai Rasul received his primary and secondary education at Istiqlal Lycée and a doctorate in medicine in Paris, France, in 1973. He served as physician in the research institute of cardiac diseases in Paris. Rasul was in charge of the Haqiqat-i Afghan publication in Paris and served as physician in a military hospital of Saudi Arabia. He was chief of staff of the former king Zahir Shah in Rome, and head of the “Rome Group” of the Bonn delegation in 2001. He served from 2002 as national security adviser to President Hamid Karzai and minister of civil aviation and tourism during the Interim Government. He was appointed minister of foreign affairs in 2009. He speaks Pashtu, Dari, English, French, Italian, and Arabic. RATEBZAD, DR. ANAHITA (1931–). Born in Guldara, Kabul, the daughter of Ahmad Rateb, Anahita graduated from Malalai School, eighth grade, in 1945. She entered nursing school in 1946 and taught at Malalai School in 1947. She graduated from nursing school in Chicago in 1950. Anahita is the author of articles in Parcham and of studies in the field of nursing. She served as director of nursing and teacher at the Women’s Hospital in Kabul in 1953. In 1957 Anahita enrolled in the medical college of Kabul University and graduated in 1963. She was a candidate of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in the 12th parliament from Kabul city in 1965 and founded the Democratic Women’s Organization. She was elected president by this organization’s first congress in 1967. She was appointed a member of the central committee of the PDPA in 1976 and reelected in 1977. After the Saur Revolt of 1978, she was elected a member of the Revolutionary Council (PDPA) and minister of social affairs. In July 1978, she was appointed Afghan ambassador to Yugoslavia and dismissed from office in October 1978. After the fall of Hafizullah Amin, she was appointed minister of education and elected to the politburo and as member of the central committee. She served as caretaker of the ministries of information and culture, higher and vocational education, and public health until June 1981. She was president of the Peace, Solidarity, and Friendship organization. She married Dr. Kiramuddin Akhundzada, of the Kakar tribe and has three children. Her daughters are married to Nur Ahmad Nur and Mahmud Baryalai. Anahita is separated from her husband, Professor Kiramuddin Kakar, a surgeon. Her mother tongue is Dari. RAUNAQ, MUHAMMAD ALI (1929–). Born in Kabul, the son of Muhammad Aman (owner of a workshop), Raunaq was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and in France in radio engineering. A poet and writer, he translated Moliere into Dari and was an important member of the Afghan theater. His mother tongue is Dari. RAWALPINDI PEACE CONFERENCE. See ANGLO-AFGHAN PEACE TREATY OF 1919. RED SHIRTS. This Pashtun independence movement, also called the Servants of God
(Khuda-i Khidmatgaran), was founded in 1921 by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) of India. The movement was organized in cells and had members in most villages in the tribal belt. It was allied with the Indian Congress Party of Mahatma Gandhi and accepted his policy of peaceful resistance to British occupation. Membership adhered to seven basic tenets: (1) admission open to all adults, (2) rejection of the Indian caste system, (3) wearing of national dress, (4) readiness to serve the people, (5) dedication of one’s life to the interests of the people, (6) recognition of all members as brothers, and (7) obedience to the orders of the party. The British government suspected them of being a communist front because of their red uniforms and insistence not only on national autonomy but also on “freeing the oppressed, feeding the poor, and clothing the naked.” Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and his supporters were frequently arrested, and the movement remained localized until 1947 when it espoused the cause of a “Free Pashtunistan.” REFUGEES. Decades of war in Afghanistan, severe drought, political insecurity, banditry, and hunger created the largest refugee problem in the world. Afghans fled in stages. A few thousand, mostly Islamist militants, fled to Pakistan after the Muhammad Daud coup of 1975. The numbers increased after the Marxist coup in April 1979, to turn into a flood during the Soviet intervention from 1980 to 1989 when about 3.5 million Afghans found shelter in Pakistan and some 2.5 million in Iran. Thousands found refuge in Europe, North America, Australia, and elsewhere. In Iran, Afghans were dispersed throughout the country, working as day laborers and in other menial occupations. In Pakistan, refugees were kept in camps, supported by the international community, and enlisted in the war against the communist regime. Each refugee family had to register with one of six (later seven) mujahedin parties to gain refugee status. Large camps provided the manpower for the war against the Kabul regime, where fighters could be rotated between periods of rest and armed activities. Afghan intellectuals, graduates of foreign universities, and professional people found ready asylum in the West. The doors were wide open, as long as the war lasted against the communist regime. Things changed after the ouster of the Marxist regime in 1992 and the beginning of a period of civil war, which was as devastating as previous conflicts. Although some 1.4 million refugees returned home in 1992, the emergence of the Taliban regime created new refugee problems. By that time the international community was no longer as hospitable to the Afghans, and host countries began to refuse entry to most Afghans, who were now considered “economic” rather than political refugees. At the end of 2001, there were still some 4.5 million Afghans living as refugees in various countries, most of them in Pakistan (2.2 million) and Iran (2.4 million). According to United Nations statistics, the United States intervention after 11 September 2001 produced a new wave of refugees: Russia, 100,000; Central Asia, 29,000; Europe, 36,000; North America and Australia, 17,000, and India, 13,000. It is difficult to say how many internally displaced Afghans there are, but in 2002 alone some 230,000 of them were helped to return home and large numbers have since returned to Afghanistan. As of May 2009 there were still about 1.7 million refugees in Pakistan and 935,000 in Iran.
REGISTAN (31-0' N, 65-0' E). “The Country of Sand” is a vast expanse of ridges and hillocks of loose red sand that covers the southern parts of Kandahar, Helmand, and Nimruz provinces. This desert is sprinkled with bushes and vegetation, including alluvial soil in the hollows that are cultivated by Baluch and Brahui nomads. It has formed a natural boundary with India (now Pakistan) and has been an obstacle to penetration by conventional military forces. RELIGION. See ISLAM. RELIGIOUS POLICE. See ENJOINING THE GOOD AND FORBIDDING EVIL. RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND WAR. During the war against the communist regime in Kabul, madrasas and religious schools served as the recruiting grounds for mujahedin. The soldiers of Maulawi Muhammad Nabi were in the beginning a force of “maulawi,” graduates of Afghan madrasas. In Pakistan, the former military dictator, Zia-ul Haq, contributed to a considerable expansion of madrasas and religious schools. In 1947 there existed only 137 madrasas, which number had grown to some 20,000 religious schools by the end of the 20th century (according to a World Bank study, this number is greatly exaggerated). The public school system is inadequate to provide education for all, and religious schools offer free instruction, as well as meals and lodging. The Islamist Deoband madrasa trained teachers who fostered an extremist and sectarian interpretation of Islam, and many schools included military training to win recruits for holy war in Afghanistan. Many of the Taliban soldiers came from such schools. Funds from supporters in Pakistan and abroad contributed to keep them in operation. During Taliban offensives, religious schools on the Pakistan frontier were closed to replenish the Taliban forces. Many of these recruits died or were captured after the fall of the Taliban regime, but radical Islamists are still threatening stability in Afghanistan. Governments in many parts of the Islamic world have tried to control madrasas by appointing their shaikhs, paying a salary to ulama, requiring proper qualifications, and demanding a broadening of curricula to include secular subjects. But the majority of religious schools in the frontier areas are independent, supported by their local community, and headed by mullas who themselves often have only an elementary education. RESHTIA, SAYYID QASIM (1913–1998). Born and educated in Kabul, writer, historian, and diplomat Reshtia embarked on a career in government service. He was editor of Salnama (the Kabul Almanac) and Kabul Magazine (1934–1938). He was appointed president of the Department of Press (with cabinet rank) in 1948 and reappointed in 1957; he was appointed minister of press in 1963. He served as ambassador in Prague (1960), Cairo (1962), and Tokyo (1970). He was vice president of the committee for drafting the constitution in 1963 and minister of finance in 1964. He is the author of numerous publications on Afghan history. Reshtia migrated to Europe and died in 1998 in Switzerland. REVOLUTIONARY ASSOCIATION OF THE WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN (RAWA). Jam’iat-i Inqilab-i Zanan-i Afghanistan is an Afghan women’s association founded in 1977 in
Afghanistan for the purpose of “acquiring women’s human rights and contributing to the struggle for the establishment of a government based on democratic and secular values in Afghanistan.” After the Russian intervention in December 1979, leaders of the organization moved to Pakistan where they worked among Afghan refugee women and established schools and hospitals for women and children. Some women participated in armed activities against the Russian forces. Meena “Keshwar Kamal” (Mina), one of the founders of RAWA, was assassinated in Quetta in 1987, reputedly by Islamist radicals. A number of other women activists were assassinated, and many were bloodied or imprisoned during demonstrations. During the Taliban regime, RAWA supported underground schools for girls and agitated for liberation from Taliban tyranny. They staged protest demonstrations in Pakistan and organized protest rallies in a number of European cities. RAWA publishes a journal called Payam e-Zan (Woman’s Message) in Dari and Pashtu to publicize its ideology. Because it calls itself “revolutionary,” it is suspected of leftist tendencies and does not receive any funding from international nongovernmental organizations. RISHTIN, SIDDIQULLAH (1910–1998). Born in Ghaziabad, Mohmand, the son of Maulawi Taj Muhammad, Rishtin was educated at the Hadda Islamic Madrasa and graduated from the Dar al-Ulum-i Arabi in 1939. A Pashtun poet, teacher, and intellectual, he became a member of the Literary Society. He was director of the Pashtu Academy (1941), director of translation of the Encyclopedia Department (1943), director of publications in the Department of Press (1946), vice president of the Pashtu section of the Academy (1948), editor of Haiwad (1950), and president of the Pashtu Academy (1955). He became editor of Sabawun and professor in the faculty of letters at Kabul University (1961) and again president of the Pashtu Academy (1963). He is the author of numerous publications. He died in November 1998. ROBERTS AND “RETRIBUTION.” The London Times (18 February 1879) reported that General F. S. Roberts had caused numerous villages to be looted and burned; that he ordered the cavalry to take no prisoners; and that some 90 prisoners, tied together, were slaughtered. In response the general admitted that nine villages were looted and burned in retaliation for Mangal attacks after they were warned not to do it. He called it an “act of retributive justice.” He ordered Major J. C. Steward, who with 40 sabers charged some 400 men running out of a village, to take no prisoners—but he said he merely meant to disperse them. Only 30 to 40 were killed, but “a ‘nought’ got added during its [official telegram] transmission” and the number appeared to be 300 to 400 killed. His force was too small, so therefore he felt justified in giving the order to kill. He admitted that native officers tried to prevent the escape of prisoners and shot nine and wounded 13, mostly with bayonets. But he claimed that “every possible care was given to the wounded.” The account is dated Camp Peiwar, 1 April 1879. Roberts tried a number of Afghans before a military commission for participating in the attack on the British mission in Kabul. Four were executed “for dishonoring the bodies of the officers” in the embassy; four for possession of property belonging to the mission; six for being armed within five miles of the camp; four for attempting to free Afghan prisoners; and 69 for “murdering camp followers, participating in the attack on the Residency, inciting people to
rise, carrying arms, traitorously firing and killing wounded soldiers.” ROBERTS, GENERAL SIR ABRAHAM (1784–1873). Commander of Shah Shuja’s Army of the Indus in the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842), Roberts escaped the British debacle when he was recalled by Lord Auckland, governor general of the East India Company, who disliked Roberts’s criticism of his policy. His son, Sir Frederick Roberts, was a British general in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. ROBERTS, GENERAL SIR FREDERICK (1832–1914). Sir Frederick, son of Sir Abraham Roberts, was commander of the Khurram Field Force in the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880). He invaded Afghanistan through the Kurram Valley and reached Kabul on 12 October 1879, where he was the de facto ruler after the abdication of Yaqub Khan. He fought at a Paiwar Kotal action on 2 December 1878. After Louis Cavagnari’s assassination at Kabul, 3 September 1879, he commanded the Kabul Field Force. He fought at Charasia, 6 October 1879. He received Amir Yaqub Khan’s abdication and sent him to Indian exile. He was engaged in operations around Sherpur in December 1879. After Maiwand, he marched from Kabul to Kandahar and defeated Ayub Khan on 1 September 1880. He was a legendary figure, called “Bobs” by his fellow generals and famous, or infamous, for ordering indiscriminate executions of Afghans. He arrested Yahya Khan, a nephew of Amir Dost Muhammad, for the purpose of looting his house. General MacGregor said of him, “Bobs is a cruel blood-thirsty little brute, he has shot some 6 men already in cold blood. I have saved three men from his clutches already” (Trousdale 1985). Although Sir Frederick was able to defeat Ayub Khan, the Indian government agreed to withdraw from Afghanistan in April 1881 to avoid a repetition of the disaster of the First Anglo-Afghan War. Sir Frederick died in 1914. ROKETI, MULLA ABDUL SALAM (1958–). Born in Naubahar district of Zabul Province, the son of Haji Masur, Roketi had some religious education until he fled to Pakistan in 1978. He joined the Taliban in 1995 and was appointed governor of Wardak Province. A colorful individual of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf’s Ittihad-i Islami Party, Roketi was robbed by Pakistanis of three Stinger missiles he wanted to sell. In retaliation he took 10 Pakistani hostages, including the deputy commissioner of Ziarat and two Chinese engineers. He demanded that his brother be freed from a Pakistani prison and the return of his Stingers, but he was eventually forced to give up his hostages when the Pakistan government threatened to close Sayyaf’s offices in Pakistan. After the United States intervention, Roketi was imprisoned for eight months in 2002. After being amnestied, he was elected a representative of Zabul Province in 2005. He announced his intention to be a candidate in the presidential election of 2009 but subsequently endorsed President Hamid Karzai. In July 2009 he survived a Taliban ambush during a campaign rally in Baghlan Province. ROSHAN (37-56' N, 71-35' E). Roshan is a district in northern Badakhshan Province on the left bank of the Panja, or upper Amu Daria, with an area of 1,413 square miles and an agricultural population of about 6,500. The Granville-Gorchakoff Agreement of 1873
between Russia and Great Britain defined the Amu Daria as the northern boundary of Afghanistan; it was not known at the time that Shighnan and Roshan included territory on both sides of the Amu Daria. In 1893, Sir Mortimer Durand (see DURAND AGREEMENT) succeeded in forging a compromise in which Afghanistan gained territory on the Afghan side for land lost across the river, thereby reducing the original size of Roshan. The climate of Roshan is moderate in spite of the fact that the valley lies at an elevation of 6,000 feet. There are said to be considerable deposits of iron and copper in the area. Some mines are operated by the population, which consists largely of Ghilzai Pashtuns, Tajiks, and Isma’ilis, as well as Roshanis, Sanglichis, Wakhis, and Shighnanis. RULERS OF AFGHANISTAN. See DURRANI DYNASTY. RUMI. See BALKHI. RUSSIA-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS. Formal diplomatic relations between Russia and Afghanistan began in June 1919, when the Soviet Union and Afghanistan announced their intention to establish legations in Kabul and Moscow. A cease-fire had just been declared in the Third Anglo-Afghan War, and King Amanullah wanted to demonstrate Afghanistan’s independence by establishing diplomatic relations with European powers. A mission, headed by Muhammad Wali, proceeded to Tashkent and Moscow, where it was given a rousing welcome. N. N. Nariman, a spokesman of the foreign ministry, announced that “Russian imperialism, striving to enslave and degrade small nationalities, has gone, never to return.” Muhammad Wali expressed the hope that “with the assistance of Soviet Russia, we shall succeed in emancipating our Afghanistan and the rest of the East.” He presented V. I. Lenin a letter from King Amanullah, which was received “with great pleasure.” A Bolshevik diplomat, Michael K. Bravin (who subsequently defected and was killed by an Afghan), proceeded to Kabul to arrange for the arrival of a permanent representative, Z. Suritz, in January 1920. Suritz immediately set about negotiating the preliminaries for the Treaty of 1921, which recognized the “mutual independence” of both states and bound them not to “enter into any military or political agreement with a third State, which might prejudice one of the Contracting Parties.” The Soviet Union agreed to permit free and untaxed transit of Afghan goods and recognized the independence and freedom of Khiva and Bokhara “in accordance with the wishes of the people.” It provided for Soviet technical and financial aid of one million rubles in gold or silver and promised a return of the “frontier districts which belonged to the latter [Afghanistan] in the last century,” a reference to the area of Panjdeh. Great Britain had held a monopoly in the supply of arms and war materiel, which could only be shipped to Afghanistan by way of India; the treaty now opened a new avenue for materiel purchased in Europe. King Amanullah was able to crush the Khost Rebellion in summer 1924 with the assistance of several aircraft from the Soviet Union and a number of foreign pilots, including several Russians. In spite of the friendly rhetoric, differences existed between the two countries: King Amanullah wanted Khiva and Bukhara to be free from Soviet control, possibly associated with Afghanistan in a Central Asian confederation, but the “Young Khivan and Bukharan” revolted and opted for
membership in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union saw this as an expression of the “wishes of the people” and retained this czarist possession in Central Asia. A more serious crisis in Soviet-Afghan relations occurred in December 1925 when Soviet troops occupied the island of Darqad (also called Urta Tagai or Yangi Qal’a) on the Amu Daria. At the turn of the 20th century, the course of the Amu Daria had changed from south of the island to north, and since the main stream was designated as the Afghan boundary, Kabul considered the island Afghan territory. After the Bolshevik Revolution, refugees from the Soviet Union settled on the island, including some Basmachi counterrevolutionaries, who made it a base for raids into Soviet Central Asia. The matter threatened to develop into an international conflict, but the Soviets apparently wanted good relations with King Amanullah and evacuated their troops on 28 February 1926. Moscow paid the promised subsidy only irregularly, and by the mid-1920s the Kabul government had expanded its diplomatic base to the extent that it did not need to maintain a special relationship with the Soviet Union. During the 1929 civil war, the Soviet Union maintained its embassy in Kabul and immediately recognized the government of Muhammad Nadir Shah. The new king sent Muhammad Aziz, his half brother, as ambassador to Moscow to indicate the importance of the post, but he was determined to end Soviet influence in Afghanistan. He renegotiated and signed (24 June 1931) the Treaty of 1921, with the inclusion of an article calling for the prohibition in both territories of activities that “might cause political or military injury” to the other. Nadir Shah was thinking of the followers of ex-king Amanullah who might attempt a return to power, and the Soviets were concerned about the Basmachi threat. A commercial treaty had to wait until 1936, and the Afghan government did not renew a Soviet airline concession, eventually dismissing all Soviet airline pilots and mechanics. The Afghan government turned increasingly to Germany for its technological and developmental needs, and a special relationship developed, which greatly disturbed Moscow and was accepted in London only as the lesser of two evils. The outbreak of World War II and the temporary alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union resulted in fears in London and Kabul that the Soviets might support a proAmanullah coup. And indeed these worries were not unwarranted. The German foreign ministry considered Muhammad Zahir Shah pro-British and toyed with the idea of supporting a coup against the monarch. Count Schulenberg, the German ambassador in Moscow, queried Vyacheslav Molotov whether the Soviet Union would permit the transit of forces into northern Afghanistan. But Molotov was noncommittal, and the matter was dropped. On 22 June 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union, and Moscow joined the Western alliance. The alliance of Great Britain and the Soviet Union caused considerable anxiety in Kabul because Afghan foreign policy had been based on the premise that its territorial security depended on the continued rivalry between its imperialist neighbors. Concerted Allied action was soon to follow: in October 1941, the Allies presented separate notes to the Afghan government demanding the expulsion of all Axis nationals. Kabul was forced to comply, and the Afghan king convened a Loya Jirga, Great Council, which gave retroactively its approval after the Axis nationals left. The Afghan government insisted that they be given safe passage to a neutral country. From that time, the Afghan government kept its northern border closed to
nondiplomatic travelers, but trade continued between the two countries. When India became independent in 1947 and the state of Pakistan was created, Afghanistan repudiated the treaties that accepted the Durand Line as the international boundary and demanded that the Afghans of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) be given the choice of independence. Afghanistan was the only country that voted against the admission of Pakistan to the United Nations. The Cold War had begun, and the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration sought to contain Moscow’s expansionism by sponsoring alliances with states bordering on the Soviet Union. Washington supported the creation of the Baghdad Pact (later renamed CENTO), which united Britain, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan in a defensive alliance. This alliance guaranteed international borders but ignored irredentist and nationalist aspirations in the Middle East. As a result, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a Western ally, turned increasingly hostile. The Afghan government “normalized” its relations with the Soviet Union and in 1946 agreed to accept the thalweg (middle) of the Amu Daria as the international boundary. A telegraph link was established with Tashkent in 1947, and in 1950 Afghanistan signed a four-year trade agreement with the USSR. The Soviet government praised Afghanistan’s “positive” neutrality, and, when in December 1955 Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin came to Kabul, the stage was set for a major rapprochement. The two countries renewed the Treaty of 1931 for 10 years, the Soviet Union granting Afghanistan a $100 million loan at 2 percent interest for projects selected by a joint USSR-Afghan committee. The Afghan national airline started flights from Kabul to Tashkent in 1965, which were subsequently extended to Moscow and other European cities. The Afghan government wanted to purchase arms from the United States, and when it was unable to obtain what it wanted, Prime Minister Muhammad Daud turned to the Soviet Union for help. In 1956 the first shipments of Eastern Bloc weapons arrived, and the Afghan armed forces began to be Soviet equipped. Thousands of Soviet advisers came to Afghanistan, and thousands of Afghan technicians and military officers went to the Soviet Union for training. The result was a growing cadre of military officers, students, and technocrats with leftist, if not pro-Russian, sympathies. When Muhammad Daud staged a coup with leftist support on 17 July 1973, the stage was set for the Saur Revolt that brought a Marxist government to power. The new Kabul government accepted Soviet advisers in virtually all its civilian and government branches and concluded a series of treaties that made the Soviet Union the dominant influence in Afghanistan. On 5 December 1978, the Nur Muhammad Taraki regime concluded a treaty of friendship—similar to one the Soviet Union concluded with Vietnam—that also provided for military assistance and that became the basis for military intervention a year later. Resistance was growing against the Marxist regime, resulting in a civil war that turned into a war of liberation when Soviet troops tried to prop up a faltering regime. The war turned out to be costly to Afghanistan: mujahedin sources claim that as many as one million Afghans perished, whereas the Kabul government claimed that 243,900 soldiers and civilians were killed. After Soviet troops evacuated Afghanistan on 14 February 1989, Moscow announced it had suffered about 13,000 (according to later Soviet sources, 26,000) deaths and another
35,000 wounded. See also appendixes 2 and 3; FOREIGN RELATIONS; LIMITED CONTINGENT OF SOVIET FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN. RUTSKOI, ALEXANDR (1947–). One of the Russian Afgantsy, he served in Afghanistan in 1985–1986 and again in 1988 and was a “Hero of the Soviet Union,” having flown 428 combat missions and been shot down twice, once over Pakistan. He became deputy commander of the 40th Army’s air forces and with other Afgantsy is an important actor on the political scene in Russia. He was vice president of Russia (1991–1993) and a head of the parliamentary opposition to President Boris Yeltsin in October 1993. He was ousted and spent five months in Leforto prison in Moscow as a result of his challenge to Yeltsin. Rutskoi is leader of the conservative Great Power Party.
S SAADABAD PACT (1937). This treaty of friendly relations and cooperation between Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey was concluded in 1937 and renewed in 1943. The treaty, also dubbed the Oriental Entente, was a gesture of solidarity rather than being of political importance. One Afghan diplomat commented on the nature of the agreement, posing the rhetorical question, “What do you get when you add zeros?” Nevertheless, the Soviet government suspected some kind of British plot in view of the fact that Iraq was still not emancipated from British control and could be seen as a de facto member. When Great Britain and the Soviet Union occupied Iran in World War II, none of the signatories of the pact protested. SADEQI, HOJJAT AL-ISLAM MIR HUSAIN (1930s–). A Hazara, Sadeqi was born in the early 1930s in Nili in the Turkman Valley and studied Shi’i theology in Kabul under Shaikh Muhammad Amin Afshar and in Najaf, Iraq. A book entitled Sayyid Gera’i, published under his name, questioned the political control of the Sadat (non-Hazara sayyids) of Hazara society. He is said to have advocated armed struggle against Pashtuns as well as against Soviet forces, and he broke with Sayyid Ali Beheshti who supported the unity of the Afghan state. He fled to Iran in 1974 where he became active in the Islamist movement. Sadeqi is one of the founders of the Sazman-i Nasr (Victory Organization), a Hazara movement that follows the line of Ayatollah Khomeini but appeared to be not under Iranian political control. The movement was publicly proclaimed by Sadeqi and three other ulama (Shafaq and Abdul Ali Mazari) in 1980 in Meshed and controlled most of the Hazarajat. SADO. Sado is the eponymic ancestor of the Sadozai dynasty, which ruled Afghanistan from 1747 to 1818. His place of birth is not known, but from the poetry he wrote, Afghan historians assume that Sado belonged to the Mohmand tribe. The line from Sado to Ahmad Shah extends over five generations. He lived in Qal’a Bahadur, near Peshawar, and is buried in Hazar Khana, Peshawar. See also DURRANI DYNASTY. SADOZAI. See DURRANI DYNASTY. SAFAVID DYNASTY (1501–1732). The Safavid dynasty was named after Shaikh Safi al-Din (d. 1334), a Sufi saint, who established the Safavid order in Ardabil in northwestern Iran. A descendant of the shaikh, Shah Isma’il, founded the dynasty in 1501, unified the country, and established Twelver Shi’ism as the religion of the new state. He created a personal force, the Qizilbash (Red Heads), and a tribal force, the Shah Sevan (Friends of the Shah) as praetorian guards. His tribes venerated Isma’il and thought him invincible. It was only when the Ottomans defeated the shah in the battle of Chaldiran in 1514 that the ruler lost some of his charisma. But the Safavids retained some of the quasi-divine status. An Afghan army finally defeated the Safavids in the Battle of Gulnabad in 1722.
SAFFARI, SUHRAB ALI (1945–). Born in Behsud district of Wardak Province, the son of Haji Saffar, Saffari received his primary and secondary education in this district and graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in 1961. From 1961 to 1965 he served in the faculty of engineering of Kabul University, and from 1977 to 1982 he earned a doctorate degree from the Gdansk Polytechnic in Poland. Appointed minister of public works in December 2004, and again in March 2006, his appointment was approved by 133 votes versus 96. Saffari was appointed ambassador to Kazakhstan in 2010. He is fluent in Dari, Pashtu, English, and Polish and knows some German. He gave up his dual citizenship to retain his position. SAFI (QANDARI). The Safis are a tribe, located northeast of Jalalabad, that is of Nuristani origin and speaks a Kohistani dialect in addition to Pashtu (some scholars count them as Pashtuns). They claim to be the descendants of the original Gandharis and among the last to convert to Islam when they adopted the name Safi as well as Qandari. They are divided into three sections—the Gurbuz, Mas’ud, and the Wader. At the turn of the century they numbered about 3,000 fighting men. The Safis revolted in 1947–1949 and as a result were forcefully moved to areas in northern Afghanistan. SAFID KUH (SPIN GHAR) (33-58’ N, 70-25’ E). The “White Mountain” is a high range on the Pakistan side of the border, forming part of the Sulaiman mountain system that separates the basin of the Kabul River from Kurram. Its highest point is the Sikaram Peak at a height of 15,620 feet. The Paiwar Kotal (Pass) is about 5 miles from the peak. Another range with this name is in the eastern part of the Koh-i Baba, which runs south of the Hari Rud Valley into the vicinity of Herat. SAFRONCHUK, VASILY S. Safronchuk is a Soviet economist and career diplomat who was in Kabul from 25 May 1979 to 1982. Officially, he was counselor-envoy of the USSR embassy, but unofficially, he was an adviser to the Afghan foreign ministry. He unsuccessfully tried to prevent the rift between Taraki and Amin and was said to have recommended the establishment of a broad-based, national-front government with the inclusion of noncommunists. Nur Ahmad Etemadi, who was held in the Pul-i Charkhi prison at the time, was said to have been suggested for the position of prime minister. Hafizullah Amin refused, and Etemadi was executed in his prison cell (Cordovez and Harrison 1995, 38). Safronchuk published two articles in International Affairs (January and February 1991), Moscow, in which he denied that he did more than advise Amin in matters relating to the United Nations and international relations. He characterized Amin as a “commonplace petty bourgeois and an extreme Pashtu nationalist.” SAIFI, MUHAMMAD FAZL. Afghan ambassador to Bulgaria in 2003 and Turkmenistan in 2009. He is a member of the Tajik community. SALANG PASS/TUNNEL (35-12’ N, 69-13’ E). A village and district, population 22,000, in Parwan Province, it is located near the Salang Pass at an altitude of 13,350 feet. It is a choke point to north–south traffic on the 300-mile-long Termez–Salang–Kabul highway. The highway
and a 1.7-mile-long tunnel, located at an altitude of 11,000 feet, was built by Soviet experts and opened to general traffic in 1964. It was one of the routes of Soviet occupation in December 1978 and soon proved to be vulnerable to mujahedin attacks. In October 1984 an explosion in the tunnel was said to have led to the death of 1,000 people, including 700 Soviet troops. Commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ud, whose center of operations included the Panjshir Valley, staged numerous ambushes against the road, including one in March 1984, when he was reported to have destroyed 70 fuel tankers destined for Kabul. Repeated Soviet Panjshir campaigns could not secure safe passage through this vital link to Kabul. Completely renovated by two Turkish construction companies under a program funded by the World Bank, it became fully operational in mid-December 2003. It has a capacity of between 1,500 and 2,000 vehicles per day and is the major channel of commerce and transit between the northern provinces and Kabul. Nevertheless, it is still a dangerous road. In early February 2010 a massive avalanche covered two miles of the Salang road, killing 75 people and injuring hundreds who were trapped in their cars. SALE, GENERAL SIR ROBERT HENRY (1782–1845). A controversial general called “Fighting Bob,” he was known for his exploits in the Burmese War in 1823. When the Army of the Indus invaded Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War, Sale was in command of the First Brigade of the Infantry Division of the Bengal Column. He defeated Amir Dost Muhammad at Parwan Darra, 2 November 1840. He forced the Khurd Kabul Pass and reached Jalalabad on 12 November 1841. Unable to return as ordered by General William Elphinstone, he remained besieged in Jalalabad until 7 April 1842, when he sallied out of the city with almost his entire force of 1,430 men and six guns and defeated Akbar Khan. Was relieved by General George Pollock’s “Army of Retribution” and went to Kabul in September 1842. A severe disciplinarian, he ordered hundreds of lashings for the least infringement by his soldiers. He returned to India in September 1842 and was made a Knight Commander of the Bath for the capture of Ghazni, in spite of the fact that he “nearly muffed the whole operation” when he ordered the bugler to sound the retreat at the time a storming column had already effected a breach. He pursued Dost Muhammad into Bamian but was repulsed by his forces and failed to come to General Elphinstone’s aid at Kabul. “He would have surrendered Jalalabad without firing a shot if Havelock and Broadfoot [two of his officers] had not intervened. His victory over Akbar Khan outside Jalalabad was only achieved because his officers forced him to attack against his own judgement” (Pottinger 1983/Macrory 1966, 153). Many times wounded, Sale was killed in a battle with the Sikhs in 1845. SALEH, AMRULLAH (1971–). A Tajik member of the Northern Alliance, Saleh was a liaison of Ahmad Shah Mas’ud’s forces with the American CIA. After the United States intervention, he became head of Department One at Kabul (2001–2003), in succession to Muhammad Arif Sarwari, and head of the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS, 2004–2010). Saleh resigned in June 2010 as a result of the failure to provide security during the peace jirga in June 2010. He was temporarily replaced by Ibrahim Spinzada. SALE, LADY FLORENTIA (1790–1853). The wife of Brigadier Sir Robert Sale,
commander of the garrison at Jalalabad during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842), Lady Sale was a hostage with other British women and some of their officer husbands and thus escaped the general massacre of the British forces. She recorded her experience in a book entitled A Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan, 1841–1842, which is an important source on the British misadventure. SALIMI, MUHAMMAD ARSLAN (1924–1978). A writer, poet, and Pashtun nationalist, Salimi was born in Wardak, the son of Muhammad Asad Khan, and was educated privately and in the college of Arabic (Islamic) sciences at Kabul. He was appointed an official of the Pashtu Academy of Kandahar in 1934; clerk at the Kandahar Court in 1935; member of the staff of Islah in 1936; member of the Pashtu Academy in 1939; editor of Ittihad-i Qataghan in 1940; member of the Pashtu department of the Ariana Encyclopedia in 1943; editor of Worange, Paktia, in 1944; vice president of Da’erat al-Ma’aref in 1946; deputy director of the Bakhtar News Agency in 1948; director of propaganda at the tribal affairs department in 1949; vice president of the tribal affairs department in 1953; vice president of the Department of Press in 1959; and president of administration of the Ministry of Justice in 1965. SALJUQI, FIKRI ABDUL RAUF (1900–). Poet, historian, and expert on the Herati school of miniature and Persian calligraphy, he was born in Herat and is a cousin of Salahuddin Saljuqi. SALJUQI, MUHAMMAD ARSHAD (1939–). An artist and teacher, Saljuqi was born in Pai Hasar, Herat, the son of Fikri Saljuqi. He was trained by his father and became one of the most famous artists of Herat. He won the prize for miniature painting in 1966, and his works have been exhibited widely. Saljuqi also did work in watercolors and oil, as well as pencil sketches in the tradition of Kamaluddin Behzad of the Timurid period. He is also a fine calligrapher and musician, performing on the Dutar. SALJUQI, USTAD SALAHUDDIN (1895–1960s). Born in Herat, the son of Sirajuddin Mufti, Saljuqi received a traditional education and became a teacher of Persian and Arabic at Habibia and Istiqlal schools. Appointed director of the Herat newspaper Ittifaq-i Islam (Consensus of Islam, 1923) and Sarwat (Wealth, Kabul, 1925), Saljuqi became secretary to King Amanullah in 1926. He was appointed consul general in Bombay in 1931 and Delhi in 1935. He participated in the Ariana Encyclopedia project and was a member of the Pashtu Tolana (Academy); he was appointed president of the Department of Press in 1953. A philosopher, writer, and poet in Persian and Arabic, he served as ambassador to Cairo from 1955 to 1962. He died in the late 1960s. SAMA. See KALAKANI, ABDUL MAJID. SAMAD, OMAR (1961–). Samad was born in Kabul and educated at Istiqlal Lycée in Kabul and at French schools in Paris and London. He left Afghanistan in 1979 and came to the United States where he obtained a B.A. degree from American University and an M.A. degree in international relations from Tufts University’s Fletcher School. Samad served as spokesperson
for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2001–2004) and as Afghan ambassador to Canada in 2004 and to France in 2009. SAMANGAN (36-15’ N, 67-40’ E). Samangan is a province in north-central Afghanistan with an area of 6,425 square miles and a population of about 378,000. The administrative center of the province is Aibak, with about 81,000 inhabitants (including the district), which is an important archaeological site. The province is rich in mineral resources and is famous for its fruits, especially melons. The population is largely Uzbek who breed horses for the famous buzkashi games. An earthquake in March 2002 killed and wounded several hundred people. See also TASHQURGHAN. SAMAR, DR. SIMA (1957–). Born of a Hazara family in Jaghuri, Ghazni Province, Samar was educated at Kabul University where she received a medical degree in 1982. Dr. Samar fled to Pakistan and opened the first women’s hospital in Quetta in 1989 and schools and clinics for women and children. She was chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Dr. Samar was selected as vice president of the Loya Jirga in 2002 and minister of women’s affairs in the Interim Government. SANA’I, HAKIM (1081–1150). Acclaimed as one of three great mystical poets in Persian, Sana’i was born and died in Ghazni in present Afghanistan. He was a scholar, philosopher, physician, and mystical poet who wrote the first mystical epic in Persian. SANGIN, AMIRZAI (1949–). Born in Urgun district of Paktika Province, the son of Amir Gul Gulshah Khel, Sangin received his primary education in Urgun and his secondary education in Gardez, Paktia Province, and he graduated from the 12th grade of the Communication Training Center. In 1973 he earned a degree in electronics and communication from Southern London University, England. Sangin started his professional career as a teacher in the Communication Training Center in 1975. From 1978 to 1980 he was the director of the center. He left Afghanistan and went to Sweden in 1980 where he was one of the founding members of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. He was appointed director of Afghan TeleCom in July 2004 and had a major role in the formation of the company. Sangin was appointed minister of communications in December 2004 and again in the new government of March 2006. He is married and has one daughter and three sons. He gave up his dual citizenship to retain his position. SARAHANG, USTAD MUHAMMAD HUSAIN (1924–1983). Sarahang was born in Kharabat, the musicians’ district of Kabul, the second son of the famous musician Ustad Ghulam Husain. Initially trained by his father, he was sent to the Patyala School of Music in British India, where he became a pupil of Ustad Ashik Ali Khan, “The Light of the Panjab.” He returned to Afghanistan at age 25 and competed in a festival, winning a gold medal, and later the title “Sarahang.” He participated in international conferences, taught music, and produced a number of publications. Sarahang was acclaimed as the “Greatest Master” of Eastern classical music, which is appreciated more in the Indian subcontinent than in Afghanistan. He died in
Afghanistan in 1983. SARAI. A sarai is a resting place for travelers and their animals, surrounded by high walls for protection from marauding bandits or tribes. Before the advent of aerial warfare, fortified sarais existed to garrison troops and ammunition. They were built at intervals of 12 miles along main roads and in major towns, accommodating as many as 300 men. The average sarai covered an area of 80 to 100 yards square with sun-dried brick walls 15 to 20 feet high and 2 to 3 feet thick. A covered gateway 10 feet wide led to loopholed corner bastions, and firing platforms existed on top of the wall. Quarters for troops were located along the interior of the walls, and a well, often in the center of the yard, provided potable water of varying quality. Governors and high military officials would reside in sarais provided with a citadel for defense, and all officials of rank and distinguished visitors would be offered hospitality there. The use of heavy artillery has rendered the sarai obsolete as a fortification in modern military warfare, and it serves now primarily as a shelter for passing caravans where motor transport is not possible. In the frontier area, tribal chiefs maintain sarais with watchtowers and fortifications that provide adequate protection in local skirmishes. SARANDOY (TSARANDOY). Sarandoy was the name of the Afghan Boy Scouts organization, begun in 1932 and headed by the Afghan Crown Prince Zahir Shah (the subsequent king) and later by his son Ahmad Shah. President Muhammad Daud organized a gendarmerie force called Sarandoy of some 20,000 men, which the Khalqi government continued and Babrak Karmal in 1981 reorganized into a defense force of six brigades, 20 battalions of 6,000 men and various support units. The Sarandoy forces were stationed in major urban areas held by the Kabul government. The Sarandoy was under the direction of the Ministry of Interior and was a Khalqi stronghold under Colonel General Sayyid Muhammad Gulabzoy and his successors. It used to rival the power of Parcham-dominated KHAD until the Tanai coup of March 1990. After the fall of the Marxist regime, the organization disintegrated, its members joining competing mujahedin groups. SARDAR. Sardar is the title of the head of a Durrani clan, meaning leader, general, or prince. The title was also awarded by the king to commoners but subsequently only referred to members of the Afghan royal family. SAR-I KOL (ZOR QUL) (37-25’ N, 73-42’ E). Called Lake Victoria by the British, Sar-i Kol is a lake located at the head of the Pamir branch of the Amu Daria. It is 12 miles long and 1.5 to 2.5 miles wide and lies at an altitude of 13,390 feet. SAR-I PUL (36-13’ N, 65-55’ E). Sar-i Pul is a province (population 468,000) created by the Marxist government in 1988. It is also the name of a town and a district formerly in Jozjan Province. The town is located at an altitude of 2,155 feet (population about 141,000, including the district) and lies on the river of the same name. During the reign of Ahmad Shah Durrani, Sar-i Pul was a dependency of Maimana. It became independent in 1810 but was annexed by the Kabul government in 1875. A village with about 950 families in 1885, the town and its
district counted 12,000 to 16,000 inhabitants in 1973, who are mostly Uzbeks and Tajiks. A new town on the northwest edge was started in 1963. A shrine, the Ziarat-i Hazrat-i Yahya, is a well-known place of pilgrimage that attracts many visitors, especially during Nauruz—New Year (21 March). The discovery of natural gas and oil nearby has led to the construction of buildings and workshops. An oil refinery was planned but never constructed. SARSHAR, GHULAM SHAH (1930–1983). A noted Dari poet, born in Parwan, the son of Baba Sahib, Sarshar graduated from Parwan High School in 1946 and Kabul Teachers College in 1949. He was employed as a journalist and became editor of Anis in 1977 and deputy director of Jumhuriat until April 1978. He was killed in Kabul in 1983. SARWARI, ASADULLAH (1930–). Born in Ghazni and educated in Afghanistan, Sarwari went to the Soviet Union to be trained as a helicopter pilot. He participated in the Muhammad Daud coup in 1973 and after the Saur Revolt became first deputy prime minister and vice president of the Revolutionary Council. Sarwari was a member of the Khalq faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and head of the Afghan Security Service (AGSA, Da Afghanistan da Gatai da Satana Edara), the security service of Nur Muhammad Taraki. He was replaced by Hafizullah Amin’s nephew Asadullah Amin in October 1979. When Babrak Karmal succeeded to power in the last days of December 1979, Sarwari was appointed vice president and deputy prime minister, but he was soon afterward appointed ambassador to Ulan Bator, Mongolia (1980–1986). He was stripped of membership in the politburo in 1981 and expelled from the central committee in July 1986. Dr. Najibullah appointed him ambassador to Berlin until 1988, and to Aden, South Yemen, in 1989. He was reported to have been arrested in India and extradited to Afghanistan where he has been kept in prison for 13 years and was sentenced to death in February 2006, but the sentence was not carried out. SARWARI, MUHAMMAD ARIF (ENGINEER ARIF, 1961–). Born in Kabul in 1961, the son of al-Hajj Muhammad Osman, a Tajik, Sarwari was educated at Naderia High School and the Kabul Polytechnic Institute. He left before graduation and joined the mujahedin in the Panjshir Valley. He became head of the communications committee of the Shura-i Nazar in Panjshir, chief of security of Kabul, and major general in 1984, and first deputy of the National Security Directorate. Sarwari served as head of the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), 2001–2003, and member of the Meshrano Jirga from Panjshir. Sarwari speaks Dari, Pashtu, Russian, and English. SAUR REVOLT (REVOLUTION). The Marxist coup of 27 April 1978, named after the Afghan month (7 of Saur 1357), which initiated 11 years of rule by the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). SAYYAF, ABDUL RASUL (ABD AL-RABB AL-RASUL, 1946–). Born in Paghman and educated there at Abu Hanifa Theological School, and at the faculty of theology of Kabul University, Sayyaf went to Egypt and obtained an M.A. degree at Al-Azhar University. He was
a member of the Islamist movement in 1971 and deputy of Burhanuddin Rabbani. In 1974, when he was about to leave for the United States for legal training, he was arrested at Kabul International Airport by intelligence officers and spent more than five years in prison. Freed by the Parcham regime in 1980, he went to Peshawar and joined the mujahedin as spokesman of the alliance. Elected head for a period of two years (1980–1981), he wanted to continue in this position but was forced to step down. He then formed his own group. He is an eloquent speaker in Arabic and has been able to receive financial support from Arabic Gulf states. Sayyaf is ideologically close to the groups headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Yunus Khales and allied himself with Arab “Wahhabi” mujahedin groups. During the civil war, he had frequent clashes with the Hizb-i Wahdat and has allied himself with the Jam’iat of Rabbani. In May 1996, he was instrumental in achieving a reconciliation between Rabbani and Hekmatyar, which resulted in the establishment of a government with Hekmatyar as prime minister. But by September, the rulers of Kabul were in flight when the Taliban captured Kabul. Sayyaf is presently a professor of theology at Kabul University and leader of the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan (Ittihad-i Islami Barayi Azadi-yi Afghanistan), and now of Afghanistan’s Islamic Mission Organization (Tanzim-i Dawat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan), a radical Islamist movement that aims at the establishment of an Islamic state in Afghanistan. See also ISLAMIC ALLIANCE FOR THE LIBERATION OF AFGHANISTAN. SAYYID. Sayyid (pl. Sadat) means prince, lord, chief, or mister in Arabic and is applied as a title for the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. In Afghanistan the name is also applied to healers and holy men. Communities of sayyids exist in Kunar Province and the Hazarajat, where they constitute a hereditary clergy. SAYYID HUSAIN (1895–1929). A Tajik of Charikar and minister of war in the government of Amir Habibullah Kalakani, Sayyid Husain was the son of a wealthy landowner, who “quickly squandered” his inheritance and “never had any profession but highway robbery.” As minister of war he made himself unpopular with his extortions and cruelty. He was executed together with Habibullah on 1 November 1929. SAYYID-I KAYAN (1960s). Sayyid Nadir Shah Husain, commonly called Sayyid-i Kayan, was elected head of the Isma’ili community in Afghanistan by the Aga Khan and served for 45 years until his death in the 1960s at age 83. He was a scholar and writer who published a number of works on religious, literary, and historical topics. Before his death, he appointed his son Sayyid Shah Nasir Nadiri as his successor. Sayyid Shah Nasir Nadiri was born in 1933 in Darra-yi Kayan in Baghlan Province. He was elected to parliament in 1965 and in 1968 became vice president of the Wolesi Jirga. Six months after the republican coup of 1973, Sayyid Nadiri and his four brothers were imprisoned. Freed after two years, Sayyid Nadiri and his brothers were again jailed after the Saur Revolt. He was in Pul-i Charkhi prison until Babrak Karmal proclaimed an amnesty in 1980. Sayyid Shah Nasir Nadiri left Afghanistan in 1981 for England. His brothers Sayyid Nuruddin Raunaq, Sayyid Abdul Qadir, and Sayyid Gauhar Khan are missing and presumed dead. Raunaq was a noted Afghan poet. Sayyid Mansur is acting head of the community.
SAZMAN-I NASR. See NASR, SAZMAN-I; SADEQI, HOJJAT AL-ISLAM MIR HUSAIN. SCHOOLS. See EDUCATION. SECOND ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR (1878–1879). The “signal catastrophe” of the previous war inclined the British to pursue a policy of “masterly inactivity,” which was to leave Afghanistan to the Afghans. But a generation later the advocates of a “forward policy” to counter Russian moves in Central Asia succeeded in being heard. Technology had considerably advanced since the First Anglo-Afghan War, and British conquests had extended across the Indus River and approached the passes leading into Afghanistan. British-Indian telegraph lines and rail terminals had reached the borders of Afghanistan. The Indian forces, now wearing khaki uniforms, were equipped with breech-loading Martini-Henry and Snider rifles, which were faster to operate. The Afghan army still depended largely on the jezail and muzzle-loading rifles. Amir Shir Ali (r. 1863–1879), a son of Amir Dost Muhammad, had ascended the Afghan throne after eliminating a number of rivals. He gained British recognition in 1869 and was invited to meet Lord Mayo in Ambala, India. Shir Ali was worried about Russian advances in Central Asia and wanted British guarantees from Russian aggression and recognition of his son, Abdullah Jan, as crown prince and his successor; but the viceroy was not willing to make any such commitment and merely gave the Afghan king 600,000 rupees and a few pieces of artillery. Disappointed, Shir Ali was receptive when General Kaufman, the Russian governor general at Tashkent, made overtures, promising what Britain was not willing to give. General Stolietoff arrived uninvited in Kabul on 22 July 1878 with the charge to draft a treaty of alliance with the Afghan ruler. Lord Lytton was now alarmed and sent General Neville Chamberlain to lead a British military mission to Kabul. Arrangements were made with the independent tribes on the frontier for the mission’s escort of 1,000 troops, but when the British reached the border, they were prevented from entering Afghan territory. In response to this “insult,” the Indian government issued an ultimatum and dispatched an army under General Frederick Roberts, which entered Kabul on 24 July 1879. Shir Ali fled north in the hope of receiving Russian support. No help was forthcoming, and the amir died of natural causes in Mazar-i Sharif on 21 February 1879. The Indian government wanted the “Complete establishment of British influence in Afghanistan, and the rectification of the frontier.” It did not want too much territory, “only the passes leading into India” (OA 2, 177). Great Britain recognized Shir Ali’s son Yaqub Khan as the Afghan ruler (Abdullah Jan had preceded his father in death) at the cost of his signing the Treaty of Gandomak on 26 May 1879. Louis Cavagnari was established as British envoy at Kabul, and history repeated itself when on 3 September 1879 mutinous troops, whose pay was in arrears, stormed the British mission and assassinated the envoy and his staff. The incident encouraged attacks on British positions elsewhere, which grew in spite of British attempts at pacification, culminating in the rout of General Burrows at the Battle of Maiwand (27 July 1880). Fearing a repetition of the “signal catastrophe,” the British-Indian government recognized Abdul Rahman as “amir of
Kabul and its dependencies” and thus facilitated an orderly exit from Afghanistan. For India the war was an economic disaster; instead of the original estimate of £5 million, it cost £19.5 million exclusive of 395,000 rupees paid to the amir, and an additional sum of 50,000 rupees per month for six months. The exchequer bore a share of £5,000,000; the Indian revenues paid the rest (OA 2, 723). The greatest number of troops employed in Afghanistan at any one date was about 20,000 with 72 guns in the main theater, and 50,000 men with 74 guns on the lines of communication (MR, 65). According to one source (Hanna 1910), the British suffered 40,000 casualties, which, if correct, must include the thousands of camp followers. Almost 99,000 camels perished, a loss that was long felt in the areas from which they had been requisitioned. SECOND ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR, REASONS FOR ENDING. An interesting source as to the reasons for ending the Second Afghan war is a memo by T. F. Wilson, dated 10 July 1880. It gave the “political and financial reasons why we should withdraw from Northern Afghanistan.” It stated that for 18 months the government had carried on a war with the peace establishment. Not a petty war, but one involving 50,000 men and more. “This has denuded India to a great extent of troops, and left our garrisons weak, especially in European soldiers.” The majority of the viceroy’s council had protested against the war, and he quotes Sir Mortimer Durand: “Peace in India is but an armed truce.” Our Asiatic subjects see “that we have met with considerable difficulty and opposition, while the persistent drain on the country for transport animals, such as bullocks, asses, mules, ponies, and camels, has brought the matter home in a convincing manner to even remote parts of India by the detrimental effect which it has more or less exercised on agricultural industry.” Members of the Native Army were away too long. He quotes the commander in chief, saying, The position is very serious; we have to face extended operations in Afghanistan, and a more or less prolonged occupation of the country. Our cavalry regiments on service, instead of being 500 strong, have only 378 effectives, and our infantry corps, instead of 800, have only 587 effectives. Constant marching and fighting, and harassing fatigues, and the vicissitudes of a climate severe and trying beyond measure for natives of India, have reduced our numbers and impaired the health of every Native regiment, while recruiting is at a standstill, the entire Bengal Army having obtained only 46 recruits during the month of January late. . . . Such is the picture of the Bengal Native Army in 1880, painted by its own chief. Even in the darkest days of the mutiny of 1857 no difficulty existed in raising new regiments. Stories of First War seem to discourage others. [We] underestimated cost of war at 14 million, add to this renewals required, pensions to Afghan collaborators— altogether no less than 20 million. It is now nine months since we occupied Cabool—after a resistance just sufficient to throw the Commander of the army off his guard . . . followed by the narrowest escape of his force from destruction; this last resulting in a scare which has never been entirely shaken off. In fact, the occupation of Cabool has been marked by three distinct epochs; the first that of heedless audacity and misguided unnecessary executions and severity; the second by surprise and defeat, followed by timidity, want of enterprise, and a general condonation of all offenses; and the third by aimless, costly, and weak attempts at diplomacy resulting in fruitless efforts to win over influential people to our interests. Since early in January last, our force at Cabool has not been less than from 8 to 9,000 . . . yet it has never taken the initiative or ventured to do much more than hold the position of Sherpore . . . fortifications continued to be piled on each other, the army being allowed to grow into a belief that it could only command the ground on which it stood behind its defenses. Seeing all this, and remembering how their foot soldiers captured our horse artillery guns, drove us into Sherpore, and plundered the city at their leisure under our eyes; is it to be wondered at that the Afghan nation continue elated and defiant?
Kabul is 190 miles from Peshawar, 19 marches, but 15,000 men are barely sufficient to keep the line open. In short, our military position in Afghanistan is this. We have 11,500 men at Candahar, and on its line of communication with India; 20,000 at Cabool, or in its immediate vicinity; 15,000 holding the line through Jellalabad and the Khyber to Peshawar; and 8,500 locked up in the Kurram valley; or a total of 57,000 men in the field, yet we command little more than the ground on which we stand. The creation of “the strong and friendly Government at Cabool,” and our determination “to have an English Ambassador at the Dooranee Court,” are now but dreams of the past, from which Englishmen turn to the thought of, How can we best get our army back to India? How can we best disentangle ourselves from the false position we occupy? We have recently based our hopes on Abdool Raheeman [Abdul Rahman] as the best candidate for the vacant masnud . . . [but] we must not forget that he has for years past been in receipt of a liberal pension, and an honored guest in Russian dominions. This need not result in any gratitude to the Russians for whatever he may now say or promise, he will in the future act only according to his own views and belief . . . if we can come to some patched up arrangement with this man that will enable us to quit the country without absolute discredit. Whenever we withdraw care must be taken to avoid all appearance of precipitancy . . . the enemy should be prevented from following our troops. The last withdrawal awoke in India a belief that we had at last met with a nut we could not crack; and two legacies resulted—the long and severe struggle with the Punjab and the Mutiny. In every Native Court it will be said “the Feringhees could not hold Cabool.” [He did, however, recommend keeping Kandahar and demanding some border adjustments.] In the present temper of Parliament, and the people of England . . . whether we leave the “strong and friendly Government” behind us or anarchy . . . Government or no Government, Ameer or no Ameer, coute qu’il coute, we shall withdraw early in the autumn. Abdool Raheeman is playing with us. . . . Evidently he is not such a fool as to come to Cabool and accept the throne from us.
And, indeed, the amir came with an army, possibly to make war with Britain, but he concluded an agreement that permitted the British forces to withdraw with a semblance of dignity. SEPAH-I PASDARAN. See PASDARAN-I JIHAD-I ISLAM. SERAJ AL-AKHBAR AFGHANIYA. The Siraj al-Akhbar was a biweekly newspaper, published during the reign of Amir Habibullah from 1911 to 1918. It was edited by Mahmud Tarzi and propagated Pan-Islamic and modernist ideas. One of the staff members was Abdul Hadi Dawai who became president of the Afghan senate, 1966–1973. During the first year of its existence the paper was lithographed, but subsequent editions were handsomely typeset and illustrated, occasionally with political cartoons. Although circulation was small (1,600 copies), the paper had a regular readership as far distant as Russian Central Asia, Iran, the Ottoman Empire, India, and even Japan. To make the paper economically feasible, Mahmud Tarzi requested courtiers and government and military officials to subscribe. The newspaper was independent, but Amir Habibullah occasionally censored an issue when the British-Indian government protested its hostile attitude. The paper ceased publication in December 1918, two months before the assassination of Amir Habibullah. See also PRESS AND JOURNALISM. SERAJ AL-MILLAT WA’D DIN. “Torch of the Nation and Religion”—this is the title adopted by Amir Habibullah upon being sworn in as amir in 1901. His descendants subsequently adopted Seraj as a family name. SETAM-I MILLI. See BADAKHSHI, TAHIR. SEWWUM-I AQRAB. The Sewwum-i Aqrab (corresponding to 25 October 1965) is the Afghan date of a series of demonstrations when students under leftist leadership protested the
secret session of parliament, which was to decide on a vote of confidence for the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Yusuf. Troops responding to stone-throwing students opened fire and killed three and wounded several others. As a result of the demonstrations, the prime minister resigned, and the “Sewwum-i Aqrab” subsequently became a rallying cry of the Afghan left. SHAFIQ, MUHAMMAD MUSA (1930–1978). Born in Kabul, Shafiq attended Koran school and the Islamic College (Dar al-Ulum) in Kabul, and Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt; he studied Islamic and comparative law at Columbia University. He opened the first private law firm in Kabul in 1961 and had a major role in drafting the constitution of 1964. He served as ambassador to Cairo from 1968 to 1971. Shafiq was appointed Afghan foreign minister (1971) and prime minister from October 1972 until the coup of Sardar Muhammad Daud in July 1973. He was arrested by the Daud government, 1973–1976, and was later under house arrest until the Saur Revolt, when he was executed during the Taraki regime. SHAH-ALAMI, ABDUL HAKIM (1901–1981). A government official and diplomat, ShahAlami was born in about 1901 in Kabul and was educated at Habibia High School. He served as assistant inspector, later inspector, in the Ministry of Education and was appointed secretary at the Afghan legation in Rome, 1924, and Moscow, 1928. He was appointed an official in the press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1929 and second secretary at the Afghan embassy in Berlin in 1932, as well as director of the Indian and West European departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1934. He was appointed governor of the Eastern Province in 1938, acting president of agriculture in 1943, governor of Qataghan in 1944, and president of the department of tribes in 1947. He was also appointed minister of communication, 1952; minister of public works, 1953; and minister of interior, 1956. He was said to be close to Prime Minister Muhammad Daud and accompanied him on his first official visit to the Soviet Union in September 1956. He was ambassador to Moscow from 1956 to 1965. He died in 1981 in Kabul. SHAH MAHMUD GHAZI. See GHAZI, SHAH MAHMUD. SHAHNAMA. See FIRDAUSI, ABU’L QASIM MANSUR. SHAHRANI, NEMATULLAH (1931–). Born an ethnic Uzbek in Shahran-i Khash, Badakhshan, the son of Ibadullah Shahrani, Nematullah was educated in Faizabad and at Abu Hanifa High School, Paghman, and at the faculty of Islamic law of Kabul University. He studied at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He was affiliated with the Jam’iat Islami and lived in Peshawar during the Marxist period. He was appointed adviser to the president on religious affairs, and vice president and chairman of the Constitutional Drafting Committee. SHAHRANI, WAHIDULLAH (1973–). Born in Kabul, the son of Ne’matullah, Shahrani received his primary and secondary education in Peshawar, Pakistan, and his M.S. level education in banking and finance from the University of Middlesex in London, 1999–2001. He
served for two years as lecturer in economics at the faculty of business and economics of Richmond upon Thames College of Kingston University. Shahrani was appointed deputy minister of finance in 2004 and served from 2005 to 2008 as adviser to President Hamid Karzai. He was alternate governor of the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the World Bank. He was the first governor of the Afghan central bank (Da Afghanistan Bank) and alternate governor of Afghanistan at the International Monetary Fund. SHAHR-I BARBAR. Shahr-i Barbar are the remains of an ancient city on a hill between the Firuzbahar and Band-i Amir streams in Bamian Province. It is said to have been the capital of a kingdom comprising the Hazarajat and inhabited by a people called Barbar, probably the ancestors of the Hazaras who were also known as Barbari. SHAHRYAR, ISHAQ M. (1936–2009). Born in Kabul and educated at Kabul University, Shahryar obtained a B.S. degree in chemistry and an M.A. degree in international relations from the University of California at Los Angeles. He was president of the Afghan Student Association, 1967–1968, and Afghan ambassador to the United States, 2001–2003. An Afghan industrialist, he was founder and president of Solec International Inc. in California, which produces photovoltaic (PV) cells, modules, and systems. He was an inventor and manufacturer of low-cost PV solar cells. He was manager of processing at Halex Inc., 1972– 1973, and director of international operations at Spectrolab Inc. from 1973. He and his wife, Hafiza, had one son, Alexander, and one daughter, Jahan. SHAH SHUJA-UL-MULK (r. 1803–1810 AND 1839–1842). Born about 1792, the seventh son of Timur Shah, Shah Shuja became governor of Peshawar in 1801 during the reign of his full brother Shah Zaman. In 1803 he captured Kabul, imprisoned his brother Mahmud Shah, and proclaimed himself king. He accepted a British mission in 1809 under Mountstuart Elphinstone and concluded a treaty of alliance which states in Article 2, If the French and Persians in pursuance of their confederacy should advance towards the King of Cabool’s country in a hostile manner, the British State, endeavoring heartily to repel them, shall hold themselves liable to afford the expenses necessary for the above-mentioned service to the extent of their ability.
This treaty was to prevent a Franco-Persian invasion of India, which never occurred; but it did not protect the amir from attack by Persia alone. At that time, Mountstuart Elphinstone described the Afghan ruler as “a handsome man . . . his address princely,” and he marveled “how much he had of the manners of a gentleman, or how well he preserved his dignity, while he seemed only anxious to please” (Macrory 1966, 32). Two years later, Mahmud, who had managed to escape, captured Kabul and forced Shah Shuja to flee to Bukhara and later to India where he remained as an exile for almost 30 years. En route to India, he had to pass through the territory of the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh who took from him the Koh-i Nur, a prized diamond which is now part of the British crown jewels. The internecine fighting between the Sadozai princes brought Dost Muhammad to power and marked the end of the Sadozai dynasty. In 1839 Great Britain invaded Afghanistan and restored Shah Shuja to the throne in a campaign that became known as the First Anglo-Afghan
War. At that time the amir was described as “elderly, stout, pompous and unheroic” (Macrory 1966, 298). The Sadozai ruler was not able to govern without British protection; he remained ensconced in the protection of the Bala Hisar and was assassinated by a Barakzai sardar on 25 April 1842, only a few months after the British army was forced to a disastrous retreat. SHAH WALI, MARSHAL (1885–1976). Conqueror of Kabul from the forces of Habibullah Kalakani in October 1929, Shah Wali was the son of Sardar Muhammad Yusuf Khan and brother of Nadir Shah. He headed Amir Habibullah’s bodyguard, and commanded King Amanullah’s forces during the Khost Rebellion of 1924–1925. He left for France in 1926 and remained there with Nadir Khan until they started their campaign against the Tajik king. Nadir Shah appointed him minister in London in 1930 and Paris 1932; Zahir Shah assigned him as ambassador to Karachi in 1947 and London 1949. During the later reign of Zahir Shah, he was an adviser to the king. He carried the title of Marshal. President Muhammad Daud placed Shah Wali under house arrest until he permitted him to go into Italian exile. He died in Rome in 1976. SHAH ZAMAN (r. 1793–1800). Shah Zaman was born in 1772, one of 23 sons of Timur Shah, and his successor to the throne in 1793. During most of his reign he was engaged in intermittent warfare with his brothers Mahmud Shah and Humayun. He wanted to win the British for a concerted war against the Maratha confederacy in India. Instead, the British concluded an alliance with Persia to keep the Afghans out of India (see FOREIGN RELATIONS). Shah Zaman appointed Ranjit Singh governor of Lahore, in spite of the fact that he had previously revolted. He abolished the hereditary posts established by Ahmad Shah Durrani and carried out bloody executions, which antagonized many Afghans. While he was in the Panjab, Mahmud captured the Kabul throne. Shah Zaman was blinded and imprisoned but eventually escaped and lived in Indian exile until his death in 1844. SHAIKH ALI HAZARAS. See HAZARAS. SHAMS AL-NAHAR. The Sun of the Day was the first Afghan newspaper, published during the reign of Amir Shir Ali at Kabul from 1873 to 1877. An extant copy in possession of this author (dated the 15th Zi al-Hijja 1290, corresponding to February/March 1873) shows a masthead consisting of an emblem inscribed Shams al-Nahar Kabul, positioned between two lions who hold a dragon with one paw and a sword in the other. Around it are four couplets, which state, “The work I have begun with your support, you, my Lord, complete with excellence.” The price of a copy was 10 annas, in cash or deducted from the creditor’s account (salary). Notables, courtiers, chiefs, and government officials paid “according to their glorious ranks and names.” The 16-page paper featured public announcements, international and domestic news, and a weather report. Human interest stories discuss the manner of solving paternity suits in China and Kafir religious practices, as told by a recent convert to Islam. Only the name of the printer, one Mirza Abdul Ali, was given. See also PRESS AND JOURNALISM.
SHAMSI CALENDAR. The solar (shams, A., “sun”) year calendar was introduced in Afghanistan under King Amanullah. See CALENDAR. SHAMS, MUHAMMAD JALIL (1940–). Born in Herat Province, Shams received his elementary and secondary education in Herat (1958), a B.A. from Cairo University (1964), and a Ph.D. from Bochum University in Germany (1973). He served as assistant professor in the faculty of economics of Kabul University, 1964–1966, and from 1969 to 1971 served as vice president of the Bank-i Milli in Hamburg. From 1973 to 1974 he was lecturer in economics at Essen Polytechnic in Germany. He served as managing director of the London branch, 1974– 1976, of the Bank-i Milli and resigned from his post because of the nationalization of the bank in 1976. Shams was appointed deputy minister of foreign affairs in 1992 and resigned in 1994. In September 2005 he was appointed deputy minister of energy and water. He holds two fulltime jobs: chief executive officer (CEO) of Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat and minister of economics, appointed in 2006 and reappointed in 2009. SHARI’A. See ISLAMIC LAW. SHERZAI. See GUL AGHA SHERZAI. SHI’A, SHI’I, SHI’ISM. The Shi’a are a Muslim sect that derives its name from Shi’at Ali, the party of Ali, and holds that leadership of the Islamic community should be by dynastic succession from Imam Ali (cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad) and his descendants. Their view conflicts with the Sunni principle, that Muhammad’s successor, khalifa (caliph), should be elected. Shi’as divide into three major sects according to which of their imams is believed to be the “Expected One,” who will return on judgment day: the fifth, seventh, or twelfth imam. In Afghanistan the small Qizilbash and Farsiwan communities, and most of the Hazara population, are “Twelver” (Ithna ‘Ashariyya, or Imami) Shi’as, the same sect that predominates in Iran. There are also small groups of Isma’ilis, or “Seveners,” who live in northeastern Afghanistan. The Twelvers believe their imam is infallible and that their theologians, the mujtahids, may legislate in the absence of the hidden imam. In addition to Mecca and Medina, their holy places are Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, as well as Mashshad and Qum in Iran. They accept the practice of temporary marriages, mut’a (called sigha in Dari), and taqqiya, prudent denial of their religion if in danger of persecution. They believe in an esoteric interpretation of the Koran but like the Sunnis accept the Five Pillars of Islam (see ISLAM) with only minor exceptions. In Afghanistan the Shi’as constitute about 15 percent of the Afghan population and, in addition to being a sectarian minority, are also an ethnic minority. See also ISLAM; SHI’I MUJAHEDIN GROUPS. SHIBERGHAN (36-41’ N, 65-45’ E). The administrative center of Jozjan Province, Shiberghan is located some 80 miles west of Mazar-i Sharif. The town and its district were estimated to have 146,000 inhabitants. Afghan historians link the name to Asaburgan, a prosperous ninth-century town that was destroyed as a result of Turco-Mongolian invasions.
The town was surrounded by a wall and was the seat of an independent Uzbek khan (chief) until it was annexed in 1859 by Amir Dost Muhammad. In the late 1930s the Afghan government began construction of a new town, and further expansion resulted from the discovery of natural gas in the vicinity and the construction of a pipeline and complex of buildings for the needs of the rapidly growing oil industry. A World Bank study estimated that the fields at Yatimdagh, Khwaja Gugerdak, Jarquduq, and Khwaja Burhan, northeast and southeast of Shiberghan, contain a combined reserve of natural gas amounting to 140 billion cubic meters. In the 1970s Shiberghan was a modern town with wide open streets and avenues and flat-roofed houses, and a thriving handicraft industry in leather and wood. Because of the large number of Russian personnel involved in the oil industry, Shiberghan was popularly called the “Russian” town (Lashkargah being the “American” town). The Americans left in the late 1970s, and most Russians departed with the Soviet troops in 1989; the rest left after the fall of the Marxist regime in April 1992. General Abdul Rashid Dostum controlled Jozjan and other northern provinces for a long time. President Hamid Karzai reappointed him as chief of staff to the commander in chief. SHIGHNAN (37-27’ N, 71-27’ E). A district (population 24,000) in northern Badakhshan that until 1859 was an independent Tajik khanate, Shighnan came under the direct administration of the Kabul government in 1883. Great Britain and Russia in 1873 recognized the Amu Daria as Afghanistan’s northern boundary and the limit of Russian influence. But the agreement (see GRANVILLE-GORCHAKOFF AGREEMENT) was concluded in ignorance of the fact that Shighnan extended across the river. The boundary question continued to be an issue until in 1893 Amir Abdul Rahman ceded the portions of Shighnan lying across the river in exchange for Darwaz, which was on the Afghan side of the river. The Shighnanis speak a language of their own and are Isma’ili Shi’as. See also ROSHAN. SHI’I (SHI’ITE). See SHI’A. Shi’i is used as an adjective. SHI’I MUJAHEDIN GROUPS. The people of the Hazarajat, home to a large part of the Afghan Shi’i population, revolted in February 1979 and by the end of the year had liberated their area from Marxist control. The Revolutionary Council of Islamic Unity of Afghanistan (Shura-i Inqilab-i Ittifaq-i Islami-yi Afghanistan) established a government headed by Sayyid Ali Beheshti, with its administrative center at Waras in Bamian Province. It set up administrative offices, formed a defense force drafted from the local population, and collected taxes to defray the costs of running a state. Until about 1983, the shura was the dominant movement; but radical Islamist parties emerged, which challenged the authority of the traditional shura. The Organization for Victory, Sazman-i Nasr, headed by Mir Husain Sadeqi, and the Guardians Pasdaran (modeled after the Iranian Sepah-i Pasdaran and following the line of Ayatollah Khomeini) gained strength and conquered much of the Hazarajat from the shura. Smaller groups controlling enclaves in the Hazarajat were the Union of Islamic Fighters (Ittihad-i Mujahedin-i Islami), led by Abdul Husain Maqsudi, and the Islamic Movement (Harakat-i Islami) of Muhammad Asef Muhsini, headquartered in Quetta and subsequently allied with Burhanuddin Rabbani at Kabul. Numerous groups, like Thunder
(Ra’d), headed by Shaikhzada Khaza’i; the Party of God (Hizbullah) of Shaikh Ali Wusuki; and others, Islamist or Marxist, published their manifestos but never succeeded in winning much popular support. In 1987 they founded the Council of Islamic Alliance, which the shura joined a year later. During a meeting of commanders in Bamian on 16 June 1990, the creation of the Party of Islamic Unity of Afghanistan (Hizb-i Wahdat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan) was announced. Abdul Ali Mazari was appointed its leader, followed by Karim Khalili after Mazari’s assassination. Ustad Akbari, who broke away from Wahdat, also joined the Burhanuddin Rabbani government at Kabul. Major divisions exist between on the one hand the traditional and Islamist groups, and on the other a multitude of notables and khans, sayyids, and the new elite of Islamists who were competing for leadership. Wahdat issued a declaration supporting the independence of an indivisible Afghanistan, demanding freedom for all nationalities and sects and security and social justice for all. It supports women’s rights, including the right to vote. SHI’ITE. See SHI’A. SHINDAND (SABZAWAR) AIR BASE (33-18’ N, 62-8’ E). A town and district in Farah Province, Shindand was the location of the largest operational air base of Soviet forces in Afghanistan. It was one of the objectives in a pincer move into Afghanistan on 27 December 1978, when the 357th Motorized Rifle Division advanced from Kushka to Herat and established its control at Shindand. The airfield was considerably expanded in 1980–1982 to become the largest Soviet air base in Afghanistan. It was located in flat territory and surrounded by a three-ringed security belt, covering an area of 40 kilometers. Although it was well protected, mujahedin claim to have destroyed some 22 aircraft, 2 helicopters, and 18 oil tankers in a spectacular case of sabotage on 8 June 1985. After the fall of the Kabul regime, Shindand became the major air base of Muhammad Isma’il Khan until it was captured by the Taliban on 2 September 1995. Shindand is now a major American base. SHINWARI. The Shinwaris are Pashtuns who migrated in the 16th century into the area of Nangarhar. The tribe is divided into four divisions: the Mandezai, Sangu Khel, Sipah, and Alisher Khel who can muster a fighting force of 12,000 men. The Alisher Khel, on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line, have a reputation as excellent soldiers. In the early 11th century, the Shinwaris accompanied Mahmud of Ghazni on his invasions of India. They fought the British in three Anglo-Afghan wars and in the late 19th century repeatedly rose against Amir Abdul Rahman. The Shinwaris were members of a coalition of tribal forces that caused the downfall of King Amanullah in 1929. See also SHINWARI MANIFESTO. SHINWARI, FAZL HADI (1930–). A Pashtun, Shinwari was educated in India and Pakistan and graduated from the Dar al-Ulum in Kabul. He was chairman of the Afghan National Council of Ulama and interim chief justice of the supreme court, 2005–2006. He suffered a stroke in 2009 and is in a hospital in India.
SHINWARI MANIFESTO. A proclamation by the Shinwari leaders Muhammad Alam and Muhammad Afzal, in November 1928, listing their principal grievances against the government of King Amanullah and declaring war against the Afghan king. The manifesto objected to the king’s legal and social reforms, such as the framing of legal codes, the recommendation of monogamy, the removal of purdah, and the opening of theaters and cinemas in Kabul. They infiltrated Dakka and Jalalabad and tied down Amanullah’s forces, enabling Habibullah Kalakani to capture Kabul and install himself on the Kabul throne. SHIR ALI, AMIR (r. 1863–1866 AND 1868–1879). Shir Ali was one of Amir Dost Muhammad’s 27 sons, who became amir of Afghanistan in 1862–1863 and spent much of his tenure meeting challenges from his brothers who governed various provinces. By 1869 he had consolidated his power and traveled to Ambala, India, in response to an invitation from the viceroy, Lord Mayo. He was willing to form an alliance with India in exchange for British protection from Russian attacks, assistance in weapons and money, and recognition of the succession of his favorite son Abdullah Jan. But the viceroy merely expressed his pleasure that the war among the princes had come to an end and, as a gesture of friendship, gave the Afghan ruler a present of 600,000 rupees and a few pieces of artillery. Disappointed in his dealings with Britain, the amir decided to listen to Russian overtures. Russia sent General Stolietoff to Kabul on 22 July 1878, who promised what Britain was not willing to grant. Alarmed, the viceroy’s government decided to send General Neville Chamberlain to Kabul, but he was not permitted to enter Afghanistan. Following an ultimatum, a British army invaded Afghanistan in a campaign known as the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Shir Ali left his son Muhammad Yaqub in command at Kabul and went north to seek Russian support, but General Constantin Kaufman, the Russian governor general of Turkestan Province, merely advised Shir Ali to make peace with the British. Shir Ali died on 21 February 1879 in Mazar-i Sharif and was succeeded in Kabul by his son Yaqub. Shir Ali was the first to initiate modern reforms: He established an advisory council to assist in the administration of the state and created an army organized on European lines. He abolished the feudal system of tax farming, set up a postal system, and published the first Afghan newspaper, the Shams al-Nahar (Sun of the Day). SHIR (SHER) DARWAZA. Shir Darwaza is the name of a hill on the outskirts of Kabul, overlooking the town and the location of the “noon cannon,” which sounds noontime and the end of daylight fasting during the month of Ramadhan (see ISLAM). SHIRKAT-I SAHAMI-YI MILLI. See BANK-I MILLI. SHU’LA-YI JAVID. Shula-yi Javid is the name of a weekly Marxist newspaper with articles in Dari and Pashtu, published by Dr. Rahim Mahmudi. The newspaper was banned in July 1969, three months after its first appearance, because it advocated the violent overthrow of the Afghan government. It was the organ of the New Democratic Party (Jam’iat-i Demukrati-yi Nawin), popularly also called Shu’la-yi Javid (Eternal Flame), which vied with other leftist groups in organizing strikes and student demonstrations. The party opposed Pashtun
nationalism and advocated the right of self-determination of all nationalities and therefore found supporters among ethnic and sectarian minorities. It appeared to be ideologically closer to China than to the Soviet Union. Prominent leaders included Dr. Abdul Hadi Mahmudi, brother of Rahim, and Professor Akram Yari and Muhammad Osman. After the Saur Revolt, the party opposed the Khalqi regime and set up a mujahedin group, but it was soon decimated and most of its members fled abroad or were killed. SHURA. A shura (council) is a consultative body or parliament. Islamic political theory demands that rulers seek council, shura. Islamic modernists base their demands for a representative government on this principle. After the downfall of the Marxist government in Kabul, local mujahedin groups, remnants of the Afghan army, and even some Marxist groups united in shuras to maintain local control in various area of Afghanistan. SHURA-I INQILAB-I ITTIFAQ. See BEHESHTI, SAYYID ALI. SHURA-I NAZAR. See SUPERVISORY COUNCIL OF THE NORTH. SIKH, SIKHISM. The Sikh state was a religio-political community that rose in the Panjab, India, in the 15th century, founding a state that reached its height under Ranjit Singh in the late 18th century. Sikhism began as a syncretist religion, combining Islamic and Hindu beliefs under Nanak, the first guru (sage). Subsequently, belief in 10 gurus and the Granth Sahib, their sacred book, constituted the creed of the Sikhs. In constant conflict with Indian and Afghan rulers, the Sikhs became increasingly militant and under Ranjit Singh captured Multan in 1818, Kashmir in 1819, and Peshawar in 1834. The Sikh nation supported the British invasion of Afghanistan in the First Anglo-Afghan War, but after the death of Ranjit Singh, the British ended Sikh rule when they annexed the Panjab in the “Sikh Wars” of 1845–1846 and 1848–1849. In the 1970s, there were about 10,000 Sikhs in Afghanistan. SIMLA MANIFESTO (1838). A document issued by the governor general of India on 1 October 1838, the Simla Manifesto declared war on the Afghan Amir Dost Muhammad. It accused him of “a sudden and unprovoked attack” on its ally, Ranjit Singh, and announced Britain’s intention of restoring to the Afghan throne Shah Shuja, “whose popularity throughout Afghanistan had been proven to his Lordship [the governor general] by the strong and unanimous testimony of the best authorities” (Sykes 1940, 339). The result was the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842) and the British disaster in Afghanistan. See FOREIGN RELATIONS. SINGH. See RANJIT SINGH. SIRAJ. See SERAJ. SIRAT, ABDUL SATAR (1937–). An Uzbek, Sirat was born in Samangan, was educated at Abu Hanifa Madrasa, and graduated with a B.A. degree in Islamic law from Kabul University. He served as lecturer at the faculty of theology in 1962 and as dean from 1965 to 1967. He
studied in the United States and at Al-Azhar University in Mecca, 1967–1968. Sirat served as minister of justice, 1969–1971, and as minister without portfolio, 1971–1972. After the Soviet intervention, he went to Saudi Arabia and taught at Umm al-Qurra University in Mecca. He was the representative of the Rome Group and one of the candidates to head the 2001 Interim Government. He ran for president in 2004 but received less than 1 percent of the vote. SIRR-I MILLI. Sirr-i Milli (Secret of the Nation) was the name of a secret organization that in 1909 plotted a coup against Amir Habibullah, aiming at the establishment of a republican form of government (mashruta). Its reputed head was Maulawi Muhammad Sarwar Wasif, a native of Kandahar. Dr. Abdul Ghani, an Indian Muslim who was head of Habibia School, and some of his students were accused of membership in the Sirr-i Milli. The organization wrote increasingly threatening letters to Amir Habibullah, telling him to “mend his ways, or face the consequences.” Abdul Ghani was arrested and jailed until 1919, when King Amanullah ascended the throne. SOBHRANG, DR. SURAYA RAHIM. Born in Herat and educated at the medical faculty of Kabul University, Sobhrang worked for the Aliabad and Zezhantun hospitals and left for Germany for additional training. She returned to Afghanistan in 2002 and was appointed deputy minister of women’s affairs. She started work as adviser with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in 2005, until her appointment as commissioner in 2006. SOCIETY OF ULAMA. See JAM’IAT-I ULAMA. SORABI, HABIBA (SARABI, 1958–). Born in Sorab, Ghazni Province, the daughter of Abdul Hamid, a Hazara, Sorabi was educated in Baghlan and Gulbahar schools and at Aisha Durrani School in Kabul. She graduated from the faculty of pharmacy of Kabul University in 1987 and taught at the Medical Institute in Kabul, 1983–1996. During the Taliban regime, she headed various training programs in Pakistan. Habib was appointed governor of Bamian Province in March 2005, being the first woman in Afghanistan to be appointed to the position of governor. She served as minister of women’s affairs, replacing Dr. Sima Samar in June 2002. Habiba is married with three children. SOVIET-AFGHAN RELATIONS. See RUSSIA-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS. SOVIET-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1921. After King Amanullah gained Afghanistan’s independence as a result of the Third Anglo-Afghan War, he sent a mission headed by Muhammad Wali to foreign capitals to establish diplomatic relations (see FOREIGN RELATIONS; RUSSIA-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS). Moscow was the first capital visited by the mission, and de facto relations were established in 1919. Ambassadors were subsequently exchanged, and the Treaty of 1921 was signed in Moscow by Georgy Vasilievich Chicherin and Lyov Michailovich Karahan for the Soviet Union and Muhammad Wali Khan, Mirza Muhammad Khan, and Ghulam Siddiq Charkhi for Afghanistan. The treaty established diplomatic relations (Article 1), pledged each country not to enter into any military or political
agreement with a third state “which might prejudice one of the Contracting Powers” (Article 2), and made provisions for the opening of legations and consulates in each country (Article 3). Russia agreed to “the free and untaxed transit” through its territory of goods purchased by Afghanistan abroad (Article 6). This was to end the British monopoly of access to Afghanistan. Article 8 recognized “the independence and freedom of Bokhara and Khiva . . . in accordance with the wishes of their people.” However the Young Bokharan revolutionaries opted for union with the Soviet state. The Soviet Union agreed to “hand over to Afghanistan the frontier districts which belonged to the latter in the last century, observing the principles of justice and self-determination” (Article 9). This seemed to refer to Panjdeh, but the “people” never opted for Afghanistan. The Soviet Union agreed to give Afghanistan financial and other assistance (Article 10). A supplemental clause provided for a yearly subsidy of one million rubles, in coin or bullion, to construct a telegraph line from Kushk to Herat, Kandahar, and Kabul, and to provide technical and other specialists. Help was forthcoming, and the Soviet Union provided a number of aircraft and flight personnel to the extent that the British-Indian government felt that for a short period the Afghan air force had become a Russian service. But a number of incidents (the Urta Tagai affair and Ibrahim Beg’s activities) and the Afghan government’s desire not to involve neighboring states in Afghanistan’s development soon led to a reduction of Soviet influence. SOVIET INTERVENTION/INVASION. The question as to the motive for Soviet intervention in Afghanistan is a matter of conjecture. Some saw it, as well as the Marxist coup in Afghanistan, as part of a master plan with the objective of gaining access to the resources and the warm-water ports of the Persian/Arabian Gulf. But recent revelations of politburo notes indicate that it was to be a temporary effort to rescue a faltering Kabul regime from defeat by rebel forces. Recent disclosures of minutes of politburo meetings in March 1979 indicate that requests by Nur Muhammad Taraki for direct military assistance were at first not granted. Yuri V. Andropov, chairman of the KGB, is quoted as saying, “We can suppress a revolution in Afghanistan only with the aid of our bayonets, but that is for us entirely inadmissible. . . . Thus our army if it enters Afghanistan will be an aggressor.” Premier Alexei N. Kosygin added, “We cannot introduce troops. . . . There would be huge minuses for us . . . and no pluses for us at all.” In a meeting with Taraki in which also the Defense Minister Dimitri F. Ustinov participated, the Soviets pointed out that Vietnam never demanded assistance of foreign troops. Taraki was told that he could expect considerable assistance: “You have working for you 500 generals and officers. If necessary we can send an additional number of party workers, as well as 150–200 officers.” But, he was told, the introduction of Soviet forces would alarm the international community and would involve the Soviets in a conflict with the Afghan people, and “a people does not forgive such things.” By the end of 1979, these prescient words were forgotten, or the situation had deteriorated to a degree that the Kremlin agreed on intervention. Its legality was based on the Soviet-Afghan treaty of friendship and cooperation of 5 December 1978, which stated in Article 4 that “the high contracting parties . . . shall consult each other and take by agreement appropriate measures to ensure the security, independence, and territorial integrity of the two countries.” The
“temporary occupation” was legalized under a status of armed forces agreement signed in April 1980. The Kabul government claimed that the rebels were supported by foreign powers and that the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan (LCSFA) would withdraw at the end of foreign interference. The reconnaissance for the intervention was said to be carried out by General Ivan Pavlovski, a Soviet deputy defense minister, who spent three months in Afghanistan prior to the invasion. And the overall command was under Marshall Sergei Sokolov. By the time the Soviet 40th Army entered Afghanistan on 27 December 1979, two airborne assault brigades had already secured the Bagram air base, about 40 miles north of Kabul, and in 180 sorties of Antonov-12 and Antonov-22 transport aircraft escorted by 100 combat aircraft, troops and munitions were brought in. The Salang Pass/Tunnel and the Kabul airport were secured by paratrooper and Spetsnaz units. Two motorized rifle divisions crossed the Amu Daria on pontoon bridges; in a pincer movement the 357th proceeded from Kushka south to Herat and Shindand; and the 360th “Nevel-Polovsk” moved from Termez to Salang and to Kabul and Kandahar (Isby 1989, 23). (Urban [1990, 42] gives the route to Kandahar via Herat.) The Soviet forces were equipped for conventional war, including an SA-4 antiaircraft missile brigade and chemical warfare decontamination units. Within a week some 50,000 Soviet troops with some 350 tanks and 450 other armored vehicles had crossed the Amu Daria (O’Ballance 1993, 89). The objective was to secure the key cities and links of communication. The Soviet armed forces were intended for the protection of major towns and lines of communication, leaving counterinsurgency tasks to the Afghan army, but they were inevitably drawn into search-and-destroy missions, which cost 80 percent of Soviet casualties. SPANTA, RANGIN DADFAR (1954–). Born in Karokh district of Herat Province, Spanta finished his primary and secondary education in Herat and then entered Kabul University. In the mid-1970s, Spanta went to Turkey for further education, and in 1991 he earned a doctorate and became a professor at Aachen University and director of the university’s Third World Studies Institute. After the Soviet invasion in December 1979, Spanta went to Iran and participated in the publication Sada-ye Afghanistan (Voice of Afghanistan). He moved to Germany in 1982 and returned to Afghanistan in January 2005 to serve as adviser for international affairs to President Hamid Karzai. He served as foreign minister, 2006–2009, and was succeeded by Zalmai Rasul. Parliament voted to oust him from his position as foreign minister in May 2007, but the supreme court annulled this decision. A political scientist, Spanta taught at the Institute for Political Science at the Technical University of Aachen. SPECIAL FORCES A-TEAM. What came to be called the “Afghanistan Model” of unconventional warfare consisted of 12- to 14-man Special Forces units who entered enemy territory to locate forces hostile to the Taliban. They had authority to pay, hire, and bribe their own intelligence sources, and develop agents and assets with links to the enemy. Their major task was to use laser markers to pinpoint enemy targets for precision bombing. Each team consisted of a commander, usually a captain, and a warrant officer as the executive
officer and second in command; sergeants, or gifted noncommissioned officers; two intelligence sergeants, two weapons sergeants, two medical specialists, two demolition sergeants, and two communications specialists (each member was cross-trained in at least one more skill); and two air force sergeants, one a senior targeteer/observer and one a targeteer/observer (Moore 2003, 18). A 12-man A-Team 595 landed 50 miles south of Mazar-i Sharif with the mission to “find and support Dostum, stay with him and help. Go with him wherever he goes—if he wants to take Kabul, go. If he wants to take over the whole . . . country, that’s fine too. If he starts mass executions on the way, call HQ and advise, maybe exfil if you can’t rein him in” (Moore 2003). The team had difficulty communicating, but eventually Russian served for rudimentary understanding. Some 316 Special Forces teams and 110 CIA officers distributed about $70 million in direct cash outlays on the ground in Afghanistan (Woodward 2002, 317). There are said to be two types of special operations forces: the white Special Forces who are trained to develop sources and cultivate informants, and the black Special Forces who are the door kickers and parachute artists assigned to go after “high-value targets.” SPETSNAZ. Special Operations Forces (Spetsnaz) are an elite counterinsurgency force that, together with airborne, air assault/air mobile, and designated reconnaissance units, made up 10 to 20 percent of the Soviet forces deployed in Afghanistan. The elite force was created in 1941–1942 during World War II and in the 1960s expanded to battalion size. In December 1978, Spetsnaz forces were said to have been employed in securing airfields, communications centers, and other key points in Afghanistan prior to the invasion. They constituted the commando that was responsible for the assassination of Hafizullah Amin. Spetsnaz operated as raiders, sabotage teams, and reconnaissance and intelligence commandos. According to McMichael (1991, 108), they operated disguised as shepherds, nomads, and itinerant traders. It is not clear how effective they could have been, since they were primarily of Slavic background, blond haired and blue eyed, and not familiar with any Afghan languages. Altogether about nine battalions, each with 250 men, are said to have been active in Afghanistan. They were stationed at Asadabad, Baraki-Barak, Ghazni, Shahjoy (about midway between Ghazni and Kandahar), Lashkargah, Farah, Kandahar, and Jalalabad. Brigade headquarters were at Lashkargah and Jalalabad. STINGER. An American infrared, heat-seeking missile with a high explosive warhead, it is capable of engaging low-altitude aircraft, including high-speed jets, and has been credited with dipping the tactical balance in favor of the mujahedin. Long sought by the resistance, the first missiles were fired in September 1986 and became an immediate success. According to General Yousaf, head of the ISI, the American government trained Pakistanis who then trained Afghans. The first missiles were delivered to commanders of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Yunus Khales, and possession of a Stinger soon became the ultimate status symbol. The American government agreed to deliver 250 grip stocks with 1,000 to 2,000 missiles per year (Yousaf and Adkin 1992, 182). The missiles were deployed by American forces first in 1981
but were never used in combat. According to Yousaf and Adkin, the mujahedin achieved a hit rate of 70 to 75 percent (68 percent according to Isby 1990), much better than the rate of their Pakistani or American teachers. To reward success, mujahedin commanders were given two Stingers for each hit (Rubin 1995, 196). As was to be expected, a Spetsnaz commando was able to capture a number of missiles in an ambush, and one commander, Mulla Malang, boasted of having sold four launchers for $1 million each with 16 missiles to Iran (Rubin 1995, 336, n. 45). Overby (1993, 115) claims that of 1,150 Stingers originally sent only 863 reached the mujahedin. China obtained several Stingers and was said to be copying them (Nouvelles 1990, No. 63). In 1987 the Soviet/Kabul forces had 150 to 200 air losses, and the much-feared Hind D helicopter never recovered its tactical preeminence. Isby (1990, 114) quotes Commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ud as saying, “There are only two things Afghans must have: the Koran and Stingers.” See also ROKETI, MULLA SALAM. STOLIETOFF, MAJOR GENERAL N. G. Stolietoff was head of an uninvited Russian mission sent to the court of Amir Shir Ali by General Kaufman in 1878 to conclude an alliance against Great Britain. He reached Kabul on 22 July at a time when General Kaufman was dispatching a force of 15,000 men to the upper reaches of the Amu Daria. Not being able to prevent the mission from reaching Kabul, the amir treated the Russian and his staff of six officers with courtesy. Stolietoff presented several “letters of friendship,” in one of which Kaufman wrote, I have deputed my agent, Major-General Stolietoff, an officer high in the favour of the Emperor. He will inform you of all that is hidden in my mind. I hope that you will pay great attention to what he says, and believe him as you would myself. . . . The advantage of a close alliance with the Russian Government will be permanently evident.” (Sykes 1940, 97)
The draft of a treaty promised what Britain was not willing to offer: protection from foreign aggression and recognition of his son Abdullah Jan as heir apparent. Article 3 of the treaty stated that The Russian Government engages that if any foreign enemy attacks Afghanistan and the Amir is unable to drive him out, and asks for the assistance of the Russian Government, the Russian Government will repel the enemy either by means of advice or by such other means as it may consider proper. (Sykes 1940, 107)
The fact that the type of Russian support was left to the discretion of the Russian government apparently did not occur to the amir. His refusal to permit a British mission under General Sir Neville Chamberlain to proceed to Kabul was taken as Lord Lytton’s excuse to start the Second Anglo-Afghan War. SUFISM. Islamic mysticism (A., tasawwuf) emerged in the eighth century A.D. and rapidly spread over most of the Islamic world. The generally accepted etymology derives the word Sufism from suf—wool, the robes of coarse wool worn by Muslim mystics. Sufism was long in conflict with Islamic orthodoxy because it sought the personal experience (ma’rifa) of union with God rather than rational knowledge (‘ilm), the scholasticism of Sunni Islam. Al-Ghazzali (d. 1111), the great canonist and theologian, was largely instrumental in reconciling Sufism with orthodox Islam. Sufi orders originated among the urban artisan classes, which organized into brotherhoods
(tariqa—way, path) following a particular spiritual leader or saint (pir, shaikh, or murshid). Sufi lodges (khanaqah) were founded at the residence or tomb of a venerated pir and supported with contributions of the disciples (murid). Members meet regularly in homes or public places to perform zikr (A., remembrance), ecstatic recitations of the names of Allah, or passages of the Koran, accompanied by rhythmical breathing and physical movement. Sufism has experienced a revival in Turkey after orders were closed in the early 1920s in conformance with the Kemalist policy of secularization. The Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence prevalent in Saudi Arabia also does not accept Sufism as an orthodox practice. Famous mystical poets which Afghanistan shares with the Islamic world are Sana’i of Ghazni, who wrote the first mystical epic in Persian in the early 12th century A.D.; Jalaluddin Rumi (Balkhi), famous for the maulawia, whirling dervishes, who was born in 1207 in Balkh (therefore called Balkhi by Afghans); and Jami born in Jam, Khorasan, who died in Herat in 1492. The most important contemporary Sufi orders in Afghanistan are the Qadiri and Naqshbandi. The Qadiri order is headed by Pir Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, whose ancestor, Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. 1166)—“the Sultan of Saints”—founded the order. Gailani’s devotees are primarily among the Pashtuns in southern and eastern Afghanistan. The Naqshbandi order originated in Bukhara in the 14th century and is found in parts of northern and southern Afghanistan. The Mujaddidi family is associated with devotees of the Naqshbandi order in southern Afghanistan. Of about 200 orders, 70 are still active in the Islamic world. SULAIMAN KHEL. A division of the Ghilzai tribe. See POWINDAH. SULAIMAN RANGE. The Sulaiman range is the name given by Western geographers to the southern portion of the great watershed between the Helmand and the Indus rivers. The range probably got its name from the Sulaiman Khel Ghilzais through whose territory it passes. Starting from the Shutur Gardan Pass (11,200 feet) in Paktia Province, it runs in a southsoutheasterly direction under the names of the Mangal and Jadran hills, where its peaks reach altitudes between 11,000 and 12,000 feet. The British-Indian general staff considered the route over the Shutur Gardan the best avenue for an attack on Kabul. There are two ranges with this name—one that extends along the Afghan border and the other, the eastern range, that runs along the Baluchistan-Panjab border in a generally north–south direction. SUNNA. Sunna (A., “trodden path”) is the tradition, the deeds, sayings, and model behavior of the Prophet Muhammad, which have become part of Islamic law. SUNNI. The Sunni is the major branch of two Islamic traditions, comprising about 80 percent of Muslims. It is also called the orthodox branch in distinction to the Shi’i branch. See also ISLAM; ISLAMIC LAW. SUPERVISORY COUNCIL OF THE NORTH. The council was a party founded by Ahmad Shah Mas’ud and is part of the Northern Alliance. It is essentially a party of the Panjshiris, headed in the first Hamid Karzai government by Muhammad Qasim Fahim, vice president and minister of defense; Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, minister of foreign affairs; and Yunus
Qanuni, minister of education and special adviser to the president on security affairs. Originally part of the Jam’iat-i Islami of Burhanuddin Rabbani, members of the Shura-i Nazar distanced themselves from Rabbani, whom Mas’ud accused as being responsible for the civil war when he refused to step down at the end of his term. SUPREME COORDINATION COUNCIL OF THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN AFGHANISTAN (SCCIRA). The council was an alliance of four groups fighting the Burhanuddin Rabbani government, comprising Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i Islami, Karim Khalili’s Wahdat, General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s Junbesh, and Sebghatullah Mujaddidi’s Jabha. Mujaddidi was its leader, but he resigned and the organization broke up when Hekmatyar negotiated a separate deal with Rabbani that established him as prime minister in Kabul in summer 1996. SUPREME COURT. Stera Mahkama is the court of last resort, established in conformance with the constitution of 2004. It consists of nine members, headed by the chief justice Abdul Salam Azimi who succeeded Fazl Hadi Shinwari in 2006. The court is divided into four divisions (diwans): criminal, public security, civil and public rights, and commercial. Each is headed by a member of the court on a rotational basis. Justices are appointed by the president for 10-year terms with the approval of the Wolesi Jirga (the lower house of parliament). The president selects the chief justice from the nine members. Justices must be trained either in civil or Islamic law, and jurisdiction is according to the Sunni Hanafi school. Shi’as are subject to the Jaffari school in cases dealing with personal matters. Problems in interpretation of cases occurred when Shari’a and constitutional provisions seemed in conflict, as in matters of women’s rights. In addition to the chief justice, the members include Bahauddin Baha, Abdul Rashid Rashid, Gulam Nabi Nawai, Zamen Ali Besudi, Muhammad Qasem, Muhammad Alim Nasimi, and Muhammad Omar Barakzai. See also GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS; ISLAMIC LAW.
T TAIMANI. One of the Chahar Aimaq tribes, the Taimani numbered in the 1960s about 180,000 Farsi-speaking Sunni Muslims. They are the most numerous of the Chahar Aimaq and occupy the hilly country southeast of Herat between the district of Sabzawar (also called Shindand) in Farah Province in the west and the Hazarajat in the east. Their country is virtually barren of trees and bushes except for the upper course of the Farah Rud. The Taimanis are of TurcoMongol origin. TAIMURI (TIMURI). Also called Aimaq-i Digar (“the other Aimaq”) as distinguished from the Chahar Aimaq, the Taimuris are Sunnis, numbering in the 1960s about 30,000, and inhabit the area of northwestern Herat, Farah, and southern Fariab provinces. They claim Arab descent and derive their name from Sayyid Timur, Kurkhan, of Tirmiz in Bukhara. The Taimuris participated on various sides in the civil wars of the Sadozai princes, as a result of which a part of the tribe was compelled to move to Khorasan, Persia. In 1893 there were about 12,000 Taimuris each in the Khorasan Province of Iran and western Afghanistan. TAJIK. A name generally applied to Farsi/Dari speakers whose number was estimated in the 1960s at about four to five million people. The term Tajik comes from the Persian tazi (running) or taj (crown), meaning “Arab,” but the Turks applied it to non-Turks and eventually only to Farsi speakers. They are largely Sunni Muslims, except for the “mountain Tajiks,” who are Isma’ilis (see SHI’A) and inhabit various areas of Badakhshan Province. The Tajiks are the ancient population of Khorasan and Sistan who were sedentary and made a living as traders. They were also located in northern Afghanistan and predominated in Balkh Province and Bukhara until they moved south as a result of Timurid invasions. Now they are scattered all over the country but are concentrated in communities in western, northern, and northeastern Afghanistan. They are mainly agricultural, except in the towns, where many are artisans or engage in commercial activities. They have been engaged as clerks and predominate in government administration. As a community, the Tajiks are relatively better educated and more modernized. Conscious of a great cultural tradition, the elite of the Tajiks have been the “men of the pen,” whereas the Pashtuns have been the “men of the sword” of Afghanistan. TAKHAR (36-30' N, 69-30' E). A province in northeastern Afghanistan, Takhar has an area of 6,770 square miles and a population estimated at 750,000. The province borders on Tajikistan in the north, Badakhshan Province in the east, Parwan/Kapisa in the south, and Baghlan and Kunduz in the west. Since 1963 the administrative center of the province has been Taloqan, a town and its district of about 180,000 inhabitants. Major agricultural products of the province include cotton, corn, and wheat; local industries include gold and silver mining and carpet production. Takhar provides two-thirds of the salt used in Afghanistan. TALIBAN. A movement of taliban, “students,” who attended religious schools in Pakistan
and suddenly emerged as a politico-military force in Afghanistan. Headed by Maulawi Muhammad Omar, a Nurzai from Oruzgan, and his deputy Maulawi Muhammad Hasan, the movement first came to public attention in November 1994 when it rescued a Pakistani truck convoy bound for Central Asia from mujahedin captors. The Taliban then captured the city of Kandahar and moved north against Kabul. On Monday, 13 February 1995, they captured Pul-i Alam and the next day Charasiab, the stronghold of Hizb-i Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar was forced to flee to Sarobi, about 37 miles east of Kabul. In March 1995, the Shi’i Hizb-i Wahdat surrendered its enclave in Kabul to the Taliban, and Abdul Ali Mazari was killed while in Taliban captivity. On 3 September the Taliban captured Shindand, an important air base, and two days later the city of Herat. In September 1996 the Taliban renewed their offensive and captured Jalalabad and Sarobi, and by the end of the month they were installed as rulers in Kabul. It came as a surprise to many that the Taliban were able to quickly defeat the supposedly battle-hardened mujahedin. Afghans were sick of war and the rule of warlords, and financial support from the Gulf and armed assistance from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), as well as foreign volunteers, made the difference. Often they conquered without a fight as ex-army officers and mujahedin commanders defected or were bribed to join the new forces. The Taliban claimed not to be affiliated with any of the mujahedin groups and only desired to unite Afghanistan, end the power of the warlords, and create a “true” Islamic state. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan and sent missions to Kabul. The Taliban government ended with the United States invasion, but nine years later the Taliban have regrouped and again control large portions of rural Afghanistan. TALIBAN, ORGANIZATION. According to a table published in the Frontier Post by Ibrar Ahmad Qureshi, the Taliban political structure in 1995 was as follows: Maulawi Muhammad Omar—Amir INNER SHURA 1. Malawi Muhammad Rabbani—Chief of Staff 2. Maulawi Ehsanullah—Head of Administration 3. Maulawi Abbas—Political Spokesman 4. Maulawi Muhammad—Field Commander 5. Maulawi Pasani—Chief Justice CENTRAL SHURA 1. Maulawi Bor Jan—Commander, Kabul Front 2. Maulawi Muhd. Hasan—Acting Governor, Kandahar 3. M. Nuruddin
4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Maulawi Wakil Ahmad Maulawi Sher Muhd. Mulang Maulawi Abdul Rahman Maulawi Ibrahim Maulawi Abdul Hakim Sardar Ahmad Haji Muhammad Ghaus Masum Afghani LIAISON OFFICER NWFP LIAISON OFFICER QUETTA
Abdul Rahman Zahid Muhammad Masum PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS Kandahar—M. Muhammad Hasan Helmand—M. Abdul Muhammad Herat—M. Yar Muhammad Oruzgan—M. Abdul Salam Zabul—M. Abdul Ghani Wardak—M. Turabi (Les Nouvelles, 68, 17) TAMERLANE. See TIMUR-I LANG. TANAI (TANI). A section of the Khostwal Pashtun tribe, the Tanai inhabit the southwest corner of the Khost Valley. TANAI COUP. See TANAI, LIEUTENANT GENERAL SHAHNAWAZ. TANAI, LIEUTENANT GENERAL SHAHNAWAZ (1960–). Tanai was born in Dargai, Paktia Province, of the small Tanai tribe. A captain major until the Saur Revolt, he was considered a rising star in the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), when on 6 March 1990 Tanai and several Khalqi officers staged a coup against the Najibullah government from the Bagram air force base. They attacked the presidential palace and key government facilities in Kabul but were unable to topple the government. Tanai and some of his closest supporters escaped from Bagram air base in three military aircraft and a helicopter and landed in Parachinar, Pakistan. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Islamist and most radical of mujahedin groups, gave the coup his support. This alliance of hard-line Khalqis and radical Islamists caused considerable consternation in Afghanistan. Tanai and Hekmatyar were seen as determined to win power regardless of ideological considerations. Najibullah’s control of the air force and scrambling of the communications network enabled him to rout the rebels. On 16 March, Tanai made his appearance in the Hekmatyar camp in Logar Province,
claiming to continue the campaign against Najibullah but remaining a loyal member of the PDPA. After the fall of Najibullah in April 1992, many Khalqi officers also joined Hekmatyar’s forces. Tanai is said to have joined the Taliban in November 1995. After the establishment of the Hamid Karzai government, Tanai returned to Afghanistan and founded a political party called the Afghanistan Peace Movement (Da Afghanistan Da Solai Ghorzang Gund) in preparation for the presidential elections of August 2009. Tanai was a member of the Khalq faction of the PDPA, chief of general staff since 1986, and minister of defense from 1988 to 1990. TANDAR, HUMAYUN (1956–). Born in Kabul of a Tajik family, Tandar graduated from Istiqlal Lycée in 1975, with a B.A. degree in art and archaeology, and with an M.A. degree in archeology from the Sorbonne (Paris IV) in 1981. He obtained a diploma in international relations from the Institute International d’Administration Publique in Paris in 1994, and a D.E.A. degree in political science from the University of Geneva in 2001. Tandar was a member of the United Front at the Bonn Conference and served as chief of the office of Commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ud in Paris (1980–1990). He served at the Afghan embassy in Paris (1992–1993) and as minister counselor and chargé d’affaires at the United Nations office in Geneva, Switzerland (1995–2002). He was chief of mission with the European Community, 2002, and served as Afghan ambassador to Belgium, 2002–2007, and the United Kingdom, 2007. He is married and has two children. TANG-I GHARU (34-34' N, 69-30' E). The Tang-i Gharu is a spectacular gorge through which pass the Kabul River and the road linking Kabul to Jalalabad. The gorge begins 5 miles below Pul-i Charkhi, about seven miles east of Kabul, and extends for about 10 miles to the vicinity of the village of Gogamanda. It is an alternate route to the difficult Lataband Pass (alt. 7,950 feet) and replaced it in 1963 when the new paved highway to Tor Kham at the Afghan border was completed. At the top of the gorge, one can see five or six levels of highway winding within a short distance of three miles. The gorge narrows in places to 20 yards, with cliffs on both sides rising almost perpendicularly. TANIN, ABDUL ZAHIR (1956–). Born in 1956 and a graduate of Kabul Medical School, Tanin was a research fellow at the International Relations Department of the London School of Economics from 1994 to 1995. He began his career in journalism in Kabul in 1980 and was editor in chief of Akhbar-i Haftah and Sabawun. Appointed ambassador to the United Nations in December 2006, he served as a vice president of the General Assembly during the 63rd Session and on a number of committees. He is married and has two children. TARAKI. A section of the Burhan branch of the Ghilzai tribe, estimated in the early 19th century at about 12,000 families, the Taraki inhabit Muqur and the country to the south. TARAKI, NUR MUHAMMAD (1917–1979). Taraki was born of a Ghilzai nomad family in Ghazni Province. After attending a village school in Nawa, Ghazni Province, he took night courses in Bombay and college credit in Kabul. He worked as a clerk for Abdul Majid Zabuli
at the Pashtun Trading Company in Kandahar and at its office in Bombay. Because of his knowledge of English, he was able to obtain employment in various Afghan ministries and at Bakhtar News Agency. In the 1950s he became known as an author and journalist, and in 1953 he served for a few months as press attaché at the Afghan embassy in Washington. Subsequently he opened the Nur Translation Bureau in Kabul, which translated Dari and Pashtu materials for various foreign missions in Kabul, including the American embassy. Taraki was a member of the Khalq faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and, after the Saur Revolt, president of the Revolutionary Council and prime minister of the PDPA. His ideological transformation from social critic to communist occurred in the early 1960s. Taraki convened the “founding congress” of the PDPA on 1 January 1965, which was attended by 27 persons. The members elected him secretary general in a split decision, some voting for his subsequent rival Babrak Karmal, who was elected secretary of the central committee. In April 1966, Taraki started publication of Khalq, the party organ, which also became the name of his faction of the PDPA. In 1967 the party split into two factions over tactical and leadership disputes, but 10 years later, in April 1978, they reunited and attained power in a coup. After the Saur Revolt, Taraki became the “Great Leader,” and a personality cult prepared the way to legitimize his rule as the “teacher and great guide” of the communist movement. Leading Parchamis were purged from government positions, and Taraki’s Khalqis ruled until a new split developed among the Khalqis. Hafizullah Amin attacked his former teacher as unfit for leadership. The “Red Khalqis” of Taraki and the “Black Khalqis” of Amin were pitted against each other, and Hafizullah prevailed. On 9 October 1979, Taraki was secretly killed. TARNAK (31-26' N, 65-31' E). The Tarnak is a river that rises near Muqur in Ghazni Province and, flowing in a southwesterly direction, runs into the Dori River about 25 miles southwest of Kandahar. TARZI, GHULAM MUHAMMAD (1830–1900). A calligrapher and poet, he took the pen name Tarzi (the stylist). He was the author of a large body of religious, mystic, and secular poetry. He was the son of Rahmdil Khan, a Muhammadzai from Kandahar. He received a yearly stipend from Amir Dost Muhammad, but Amir Abdul Rahman in December 1881 forced him and his family into Indian exile. Tarzi traveled in 1885 to Baghdad and Istanbul and from there to Damascus, where he lived as a pensioner of the sultan/caliph, Abdul Hamid. Ghulam Muhammad had five daughters and six sons, one of whom, Mahmud Tarzi, returned to Afghanistan after the death of his father and held high offices at the courts of Abdul Rahman’s successors. TARZI, MAHMUD (1865–1933). Born in Ghazni in 1865, the son of Ghu-lam Muhammad Tarzi, Mahmud accompanied his father into exile and was educated in India and Damascus under the supervision of his father. He was a prominent Afghan nationalist and was called the father of Afghan journalism; he was a high government official during the reigns of Amir Habibullah and King Amanullah. He returned to Kabul after the death of Amir Abdul Rahman and became editor of the Seraj al-Akhbar. During the reign of King Amanullah, Tarzi served
as foreign minister (1919–1922) and headed the Afghan delegation at the peace conferences at Mussoorie in 1920 and Kabul in 1921. He was the first Afghan minister at Paris (1922–1924), and again foreign minister (1924–1927), and left Afghanistan with King Amanullah in January 1929. He was a great reformer but did not agree with some of King Amanullah’s innovations. One of his daughters was married to King Amanullah and another to Sardar Enayatullah. He died in Istanbul in 1933. TARZI, NANGYALAI (NANGUYALAI, 1940–). Born in Kabul, the son of Muhammad Siddiq Tarzi, he was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and graduated from Kabul University in 1964. Tarzi obtained a Ph.D. degree in international law from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1970. He taught international law and international relations at Kabul University from 1964 to 1970. He started his diplomatic career in 1970 as a member of the department of information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as second secretary at the Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C., 1973–1977, and as political adviser, 1979–1986. From 1986 to 1992, Tarzi served as observer of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to the United Nations office in Geneva. He was appointed Afghan ambassador to Pakistan in 2001, ambassador to Switzerland in January 2007, and finally ambassador to India in 2010. Tarzi is married to Hasina; he speaks Dari, Pashtu, English, and French. TASAWWUF. See SUFISM. TASHQURGHAN, NOW KHULM (36-42' N, 67-41' E). The town, now called Khulm, in Balkh Province with 28,000 inhabitants, was once the principal market between Central Asia and Kabul. It was founded on the site of an ancient town (destroyed as a result of TurcoMongol invasions) in the early 19th century by Amir Kalich Ali Beg, Khan of Khulm, who built a citadel there and called it Tashqurghan (T., stone, brick, fort). Ali Beg was able to expand his domains, creating the largest khanate in Afghan Turkestan. In 1850, Amir Dost Muhammad defeated the khan and brought Tashqurghan under the control of Kabul. TATAR. An ethnic group of Sunnis claiming to be of Mongol descent, the Tatars numbered about 60,000 in the 1960s and inhabit the northern part of Bamian and parts of Samangan provinces. Larger numbers of Tatars also live in Bukhara and Khiva in Uzbekistan. In the mid19th century their chief was Shah Pasand Khan. His son Dilawar Khan supported Amir Shir Ali (r. 1863–1866 and 1868–1879) in the wars of the princes, but in the early 1880s Amir Abdul Rahman took the khanate under Kabul control. TAWANA, SAYYID MUSA. A founder of the Islamist movement in Afghanistan, born in Takhar Province, Tawana was educated at the Dar al-Ulum-i Shari’a (now Abu Hanifa) madrasa, Kabul University, and Cairo’s Al-Azhar University. In the late 1950s he belonged to a small circle at Kabul University who perceived a “danger of apostasy among university students.” The group designed a three-point program of action: (1) refute the claims of secularists on questions of Islam, (2) write and translate articles to propagate the teachings of Islamist scholars, and (3) study communism and European history with a view to
understanding the enemy. In 1961 he graduated from Kabul University and became lecturer there in the faculty of theology until 1964, when he proceeded to Cairo to study at Al-Azhar University. After graduating with a Ph.D. degree in 1971 he returned to Kabul and in 1972 was appointed a professor at the faculty of Shari’a of Kabul University. At that time the professors founded the Jam’iat-i Islami with Burhanuddin Rabbani as head and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf his deputy. Habiburrahman was secretary and in charge of military affairs. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was in a Kabul jail at the time. As a result of the Daud coup on 17 July 1973, the Islamist movement had to go underground. TAZI. See AFGHAN HOUND. TERRORISM. There seems to be no commonly agreed upon definition. President Ronald Reagan’s “freedom fighters,” who fought communism in Afghanistan, quickly became terrorists when they continued their jihad after the fall of the communist regime. One definition states that Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstances unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other nature that may be invoked to justify them. (UN Resolution language 1999)
A more concise definition calls terrorism a deliberate use of violence against noncombatants for political ends. Perpetrators can be states, agents of states, or individuals or groups acting independently or in cells. [It] does not apply to all acts of politically inspired violence. (The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, ed. John Esposito)
In other words, the criterion of a terrorist act is violence against the civilian population. In practice, much guerrilla activity also harms noncombatants as do counterinsurgency measures by the state and its allies. In the war against communism in Afghanistan and the subsequent civil war, combatants did not respect the laws of war as defined by the Geneva Conventions. As a result of the attacks of 11 September 2001, President George W. Bush issued a declaration of war, stating that the United States would carry out strikes against al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Operation Enduring Freedom began with aerial bombardments on 7 October 2001, and by the end of December, the Taliban regime was destroyed. Far-reaching changes have been introduced in America to forestall future terrorist attacks on the United States. THIRD ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR (1919). A short war between Afghanistan and BritishIndian forces, the Third Anglo-Afghan War lasted from May 4 until the conclusion of a ceasefire on 3 June 1919. Amir Amanullah ascended the throne in February 1919 after the assassination of his father, Amir Habibullah. He was an ardent nationalist and reformer and was said to be a member of the “war party” at the Afghan court, which favored an attack on India during World War I. Afghanistan had remained neutral in the “holy war” against Great Britain, and Amir Habibullah expected a generous financial reward and British recognition of Afghanistan’s complete independence. But once the European conflict was ended, Britain showed no intention of freeing the country from its control.
Upon accession to power, Amir Amanullah demanded a treaty that would end Afghanistan’s political dependence on Britain and establish normal, neighborly relations between the two states. Lord Chelmsford, the viceroy of India, however, suggested that no new treaty was required, despite the fact that previously India had held that the agreements with Afghan rulers were personal and therefore subject to renegotiation with each new ruler. He merely acknowledged Amanullah’s election as amir “by the populace of Kabul and its surrounding,” implying that he was not in complete control of his country. The subsidy paid to previous Afghan rulers was halted, and when Amanullah sent his new envoy to India, he was asked “what amir” he represented. On the occasion of a royal darbar on 13 April 1919, Amanullah showed himself belligerent, announcing to an assembly of dignitaries I have declared myself and my country entirely free, autonomous and independent both internally and externally. My country will hereafter be as independent a state as the other states and powers of the world are. No foreign power will be allowed to have a hair’s breadth of right to interfere internally and externally with the affairs of Afghanistan, and if any ever does I am ready to cut its throat with this sword. He turned to the British agent and said, “Oh Safir, have you understood what I have said?” The British agent replied, “Yes I have.” (Adamec 1967, 110)
To emphasize his demands, Amanullah sent three of his generals to the border: Saleh Muhammad, the commander in chief, arrived at Dakka, the border town, on 3 May; Abdul Quddus, the prime minister (sadr-i a’zam) moved to the area of Qalat-i Ghilzai on 5 May; and a day later Muhammad Nadir, the subsequent king of Afghanistan, moved to Khost with a tribal lashkar (army) of several thousand men in addition to his regular forces. On 5 May the government of India stopped demobilization of all combatant forces in India and began to recall all British officers. India intended to confront the Afghans with an overwhelming force in the Khaibar to induce them to withdraw quietly. Lieutenant General G. N. Molesworth described the Afghan regular forces as ill trained, ill paid, and probably understrength. But the superiority of the British-Indian forces was to a certain extent matched by the power of the Pashtun tribal lashkars from both sides of the border. They were aggressive fighters and operated in an inaccessible terrain that was well known to them. The Pashtun soldiers of the British Khaibar Rifles were not willing to fight their Afghan brothers and, given the choice, 600 men out of 700 elected to be discharged, making it necessary for the British to disband the units (OA 3, 22–23). Lord Chelmsford was warned by the London government, “You will not have forgotten [the] lessons of history, that we have not so much to fear from [the] Afghan regular Army as from the irregular tribesmen and their constant attacks on our isolated camps and lines of communications” (Adamec 1967, 116). Hostilities began on 4 May 1919, when Afghan troops cut the water supply to Landi Kotal on the Indian side of the border and Britain retaliated by closing the Khaibar Pass. The Afghans wanted to make a concerted effort involving the frontier tribes and the people of Peshawar, but a Peshawar revolt was prevented when British forces cut the supplies of water, electricity, and food to the city. Saleh Muhammad’s forces became prematurely engaged and had to give ground. It was primarily on the Waziristan front that the Afghans were able to break through the
British defenses and lay siege to the British base at Thal. The entire Northwest Frontier was in ferment, and Indian tribesmen were ready to rally to support the Afghans. John Maffey, the chief political officer with the field force, indicated in a letter that the “threat to Thal has delayed the Jalalabad move, as the motor transport available does not admit of two simultaneous offensives.” He was also afraid that British forces would have to push so far that there would be nobody to settle up with (Adamec 1967, 118). Therefore the Indian government permitted the Afghan envoy in India to proceed to Kabul to persuade Amanullah to end his hostile activities. Amanullah agreed, and a cease-fire was concluded, leading to peace and the establishment of normal neighborly relations after long and heated negotiations at Rawalpindi, Mussoorie, and Kabul. On the southern front, British forces captured Spin Boldak but could not follow up on their conquest, and no major campaign occurred on the northern, Chitral, front. British casualties included 236 killed (49 British ranks), 615 wounded (British ranks 133), as well as 566 deaths of cholera and 334 of other diseases and accidents. British “ration strength” reached 750,000 British and Indian, and animals involved reached 450,000 (Molesworth 1962, vii). No figures are available on Afghan casualties. See also ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY, 1919; ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY, 1921; FOREIGN RELATIONS; MUSSOORIE CONFERENCE. THIRD ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR, LESSONS OF. Great Britain again learned the bitter lesson that its hold on the tribal territory on the northwest frontier of India was as tenuous as it had been in the past. The frontier militias had to be disbanded because they were unwilling to fight their Afghan brothers, and the entire tribal belt was preparing to obey the Afghan king’s call to jihad. The British realized, “We must expect a portion, or all, of them to be hostile to us in the case of another war with Afghanistan.” The extremes in temperature, lack of water and supplies, endemic disease, and the inhospitable nature of the territory proved to be serious problems in spite of the British advantage of superior weapons technology. The use of frontier militias as a covering force behind which the field army was to concentrate proved a failure in the Khaibar and Waziristan. The lesson learned was that “irregular troops should not be left to meet the first onslaught of the invader.” They should be replaced with strong, mobile columns of regular troops. The British employed a system of troop movements whereby “the 1st Division was replaced at Peshawar and Nowshera by the 2nd Division, which in turn was pushed forward when relieved by the 16th Division.” This caused the staff and transport to become disorganized, and the field army disintegrated. The tactical lesson of the value of pursuing a vigorous offensive was proven correct, because it kept the fence-sitting tribesmen out of the war; whereas inaction at Dakka and the Khaibar encouraged the tribesmen to join the Afghan forces. This was the first major use of aerial warfare, and although it had a great moral effect, there were limits to airpower. Most of the British planes were obsolete—their climbing power was low, so tribesmen were able to shoot at them from hilltops; but the bombing of Dakka, Jalalabad, and Kabul proved to have a great moral effect. In short-distance tactical reconnaissance, aircraft were of no value, because the tribesmen soon learned to break up into small groups and take cover at the sound of an approaching aircraft. The armored car possessed great firepower and was an invulnerable
target, but its use was limited to patrolling roads, it was liable to engine trouble, and the heat in the turrets when closed became intolerable. Howitzers were employed with great effect, and machine guns were eminently suitable to the hilly terrain as they could be employed for direct overhead cover. Grenades were used to good effect, but many failed to explode or were thrown without the pin being removed. The British felt that permanent pickets proved to be preferable to temporary ones, although it deprived them of their mobility. The British felt a need for more effective training to “cultivate dash, and a desire to close with the enemy with the bayonet.” Much more transport than in previous wars was needed because of the more extensive use of artillery and machine guns (General Staff Branch, India 1926). For the Afghan side, the lesson was clear that great efforts were needed for improving the effectiveness of the Afghan army. New weapons, more intensive training, and a rationalization of logistics were only some of the needs. As in the past, the tribesmen proved to be better fighters but lacked staying power, having provisions for only a few days. They were prone to plunder, which they wanted to carry to their villages. They operated best in their own tribal areas and were good in short aggressive attacks. Afghan offensives on the Waziristan front were largely due to tribal support. The tribes on the British side of the border were ready to join the war against India, but they could not be mobilized and equipped before the short war was ended. TIMURIDS. See TIMUR-I LANG. TIMUR-I LANG (TAMERLANE, 1370–1405). The “Lame Timur” founded the Timurid dynasty and wreaked destruction on the towns he conquered, but he made Samarkand into a city of splendor. He was a warrior, not an empire builder, and he could not hold his extensive territorial conquests. Timur-i Lang was a Turk, born at Kesh, near Samarkand, who claimed Mongol descent and began as a raider for booty. Claiming to wage jihad, holy war, he fought Muslim rulers in Russia and India and subdued the Ottomans at the Battle of Ankara in 1404. He was preparing a campaign against China when he died in 1405. His son Shahrukh chose Herat as his capital and made it an important cultural center. Under Husain Baiqara (1468– 1506), the last of the great Timurid rulers, Herat experienced a cultural renaissance, and artists, poets, and scholars enjoyed the sponsorship of the Timurid court. Architectural remains from the Timurid period include the Musalla (minarets) and the mausoleum of Gauhar Shad, the wife of Shahrukh. Timurid rule ended when the Uzbek Shaibanid dynasty took Herat in the early 16th century. The government of Uzbekistan celebrates Timur as a national hero; others remember him as a destroyer of civilizations equal to Genghis Khan. TIMUR SHAH (1773–1793). One of Ahmad Shah’s six surviving sons and governor of Herat at the time of the death of his father, Timur Shah defeated his brother, Sulaiman Mirza, and quickly established himself as successor to the Afghan throne at Kandahar. To weaken the power of the Durrani chiefs, he moved his capital to Kabul where he continued his father’s policy of forging an alliance with the Barakzais, granting hereditary offices, and maintaining a strong army. He made alliances by marriage and further strengthened his power by creating an elite bodyguard of non-Pashtun soldiers.
However, he was unable to create a centralized state. Afghan historians describe him as “humane and generous but . . . more a scholar than a soldier.” He appointed his sons Zaman, Humayun, Mahmud, Abbas, and Kohandil as governors of Afghan provinces, and upon his death in 1783 they started an internecine struggle for power that eventually cost the Sadozai rulers their throne. TIRAHI (TIRA’I). A small ethnic group that was moved by Timur-i Lang from the area of Tehran to the Tirahi plateau. Later expelled from Tirah, they settled in the Nangarhar Valley, where they are engaged in agriculture. They were Shi’as at one time but became Sunnis and speak Pashtu, although some may still know their original language. The Tirahis are divided into three sections: the Shabadwani, Sipai, and Lartoi. At the turn of the 19th century, they numbered about 3,000. TOKHI. The Tokhi are a section of the Ghilzai tribe. TORA BORA, BATTLE OF (2001). Tora Bora was the scene of a campaign to destroy alQaeda and Taliban forces and capture Osama bin Laden who controlled a complex of cave fortifications near the village of Tora, about 35 miles south of Jalalabad, near the Pakistan border. After the capture of Kandahar by United States and allied forces on 11 December 2001, U.S. Special Forces, supported by Hazrat Ali and Haji Zaman and their Pashai and Khugiani tribal contingents, moved east to trap the enemy ensconced in the Tora Bora mountain range. Pakistani forces sealed the border. U.S. ground soldiers operated as spotters for B-52 sorties coming in at 20-minute intervals. Allied tribal forces did much of the fighting. The enemy, estimated at 1,500 Arab and Chechnyan fighters, proved to be fierce opponents, holding out until 16 December, when some 21 al-Qaeda fighters were taken prisoner, an unknown number were killed, and most managed to escape. Osama bin Laden was last seen in the final days of November 2001, when he made preparations to flee to the autonomous tribal area on the Pakistani side of the border. Although the American allies fought bravely, they may have permitted the enemy to escape. TORA BORA, CAVE FORTIFICATIONS. Caves in many parts of Afghanistan served to shelter the mujahedin in their war against the communist forces. They stored weapons, food, and the necessities of life in these caves, some of which, near the Pakistan border, were excavated to hold as many as 1,000 fighters. One such complex of caves at Tora Bora was carved 1,150 feet into a 13,000-foot mountain and was said to have served as Osama bin Laden’s headquarters. Mountain streams generated hydroelectric power, and a complex system of ventilation brought air into the caves. A main entrance leads through a 50-foot tunnel, wide enough to permit vehicles to enter. Staircases connect to offices, dormitories, and communal rooms. Weapons are stored in armories. The complex is not visible from the air, and exits are closed with steel doors or hidden behind mud walls. Some exits are booby-trapped. According to one report, American bombing closed the main entrance, but another bomb opened it again. If it had not been for the American intervention, no Afghan rival could have defeated the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies.
TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT (TRANSITIONAL AUTHORITY, 2002–2004). The Transitional Authority was established on 20 June 2002 for a two-year period as a result of an emergency Loya Jirga and the selection of cabinet members by President Hamid Karzai. The Panjshiris retained the positions of defense and foreign affairs, but Yunus Qanuni lost control of the interior ministry, which was given to the 80-year-old Pashtun, Taj Muhammad Wardak (and subsequently to Ali Ahmad Jalali). Qanuni became special adviser to the president on security. Muhammad Qasim Fahim became first vice president and retained the position of defense minister. Powerful local commanders (warlords), including Isma’il Khan, Abdul Qadir (later killed), Abdul Rashid Dostum, Muhammad Ata, and Gul Agha, formed the national defense commission. Hedayat Amin Arsala was replaced by Ashraf Ghani to head the finance ministry. Sima Samar, the former minister of women’s affairs, was replaced by Mahbuba Huquqmal but retained the position of human rights commissioner. It was clear that Karzai was under intense pressure to reserve positions for the major actors on the political scene. Burhanuddin Rabbani, the one-time president of Afghanistan, did not receive a portfolio, but attention was paid to keeping an ethnic and sectarian balance. It is not surprising that Karzai was unable to satisfy all contenders. For members of the Transitional Government, see the chronology. A dramatic change in Afghan power relationships occurred as a result of the presidential elections on 9 October 2004, in which Karzai was the winner with 55.4 percent of the vote. He formed his new cabinet, replacing the leaders of the powerful Northern Alliance. Fahim, Qanuni, and Muhaqeq were out; Dostum was ignored; and Isma’il Khan, the only survivor, was co-opted as minister of water and power. Karzai declared that he would not form a coalition government, even with Qanuni, who was a distant second in the election with 16.3 percent. This marked the end of the Transitional Government and the beginning of the first government chosen by the Afghan people. TRANSPORTATION. Afghanistan owes its independence to the fact that its terrain poses severe obstacles to communications. Motorized traffic was possible only since the early 20th century, and Afghan rulers discouraged the idea of permitting its powerful neighbors to extend their rail links into Afghanistan. In the early 1920s, King Amanullah permitted the construction of a local rail link, connecting the new capital, Darulaman, with the center of Kabul. The project was discontinued after Amanullah was deposed. Aviation also began in the 1920s, mostly maintained by the Soviet Union and Great Britain, until the establishment of Ariana Afghan Airlines in the 1950s. There are now 47 airports, 10 of which have paved runways. Motorized traffic was greatly expanded in the 1950s and 1960s when the Soviet Union and the United States supported the construction of the “ring road,” which circled the mountainous core of the country. The Salang Tunnel (at 11,000 feet), constructed with Soviet help in the 1960s, permitted all-weather travel from Kabul north to Termez on the Soviet border. The center route through the Hazarajat is still not passable for cars during the winter. There are about 13,000 miles of highways; 13 percent are paved, 8 percent are gravel, and 79 percent are dirt. American and international help is contributing to expansion of the road system. Roads leading to Pakistan, Iran, and the Central Asian states in the north have been improved,
and bridges have been built across the Amu Daria. Railways still do not exist in Afghanistan, but both Russia and British India moved their rail systems up to the Afghan border. Afghan rulers did not approve extending their links into Afghanistan. But in the early 1970s the Shah of Iran expressed his willingness to finance a rail link from Meshed in eastern Iran to Herat, Kandahar, and on to Kabul. Things remained in the “exploratory stage,” and the Iranian lines now only connect to the border. Short pipelines for natural gas and oil connected sources in Shiberghan with Hayratan and the Soviet Union. Western oil companies were interested in extending pipelines from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan through Afghanistan and on to Pakistan and India. But the continued insecurity in the country has prevented implementation of any projects. In the central highlands and the northeast, camels and other pack animals are still used for conveying goods. TRANSPORT, MILITARY. Until the end of World War II, motorized transport was limited to the major roads, leading from Herat to Kandahar and from there to Kabul or south to Quetta. A road connected the capital over the Lataband, about 20 miles east of Kabul, with Jalalabad and the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. From Kabul to Mazar-i Sharif, a tortuous road led over the Salang Pass, which was not passable in the winter. The Hazarajat in the center of the country was closed to motorized traffic. Until the 1930s, only a few landing strips existed for small aircraft. Therefore, invaders of Afghanistan depended on large numbers of animal transport. Bullocks, donkeys, ponies, horses, and camels were the major animals used; elephants and mules were less frequently employed. Donkeys were excellent for transport work; they could easily move in the mountainous terrain and carry loads up to 160 pounds. The Afghan camel was superior to camels from India; it was sure-footed and hardy, could travel with ease over mountain tracks, and was used for long-distance travel. The British army lost 20,000 camels during the First Anglo-Afghan War and 100,000 during the second (Handbook of Kandahar Province, 1933) and had difficulty providing replacements by hire or confiscation from the Afghans. British lines of communication remained vulnerable to Afghan attacks. Overby (1993, 167) quotes Amir Abdul Rahman as saying, “100,000 English soldiers require more transport animals than 1,000,000 Afghans, because they require so many kinds of provisions. . . . The Afghans are such a strong, healthy people that they can run over the mountains nearly as fast as horses, carrying their guns and food on their backs.” In the 1980s no more than 3,000 miles of hard-surface roads existed, and many of those were severely damaged as a result of the war. The mujahedin employed contractors who used their own pack animals to transport supplies into Afghanistan. As animals died, horses and mules were imported from Argentina, China, and Pakistan. Mules would carry mortars, machine guns, and other heavy equipment, as well as ammunition, close to the firing points. Initially, convoys of pack animals traveled by night, but during the latter stages of the war they traveled unhindered even during the day. However, in many areas close to the enemy, the mujahedin had to carry their heavy weapons over paths that did not permit the use of pack animals. The United States faced no serious problems with transportation. It was, indeed, costly to ferry coalition troops and weapons into the country, but everything needed could be provided.
As a priority, the Kabul–Kandahar highway was resurfaced, other strategic roads were repaired, and vehicles of various types could be employed to carry men and their arms to areas of conflict. In a country with a largely destroyed communications system, satellite phones made effective communication possible. TREATIES. See under individual treaties, ANGLO-AFGHAN WARS; FOREIGN RELATIONS. TREATY OF KABUL. See ANGLO-AFGHAN TREATY OF 1921. TREATY OF SIMLA. See TRIPARTITE AGREEMENT. TRIBES. See individual entries. TRIBES, PASHTUNS. Pashtuns are tribally organized and derive their origin from an eponymic ancestor. Although almost all speak Pashtu, some may have been of Turkic or other ethnic background. Today, the Pashtuns are the dominant factor in Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. Beyond these boundaries they can be found in considerable numbers in India and other neighboring countries. The Pashtuns (Pathans) of the NWFP include the following tribes: Afridis
Bahramzais
Bajauris (or Tarkanris)
Bangash
Bannuchis
Barbars
Batannis
Chamkannis
Daudzais
Daurs
Dilazaks
Gandapurs
Gaodarras
Gharbinas
Gigianis
Jajis
Khalils
Khasors
Khattaks
Khetrans
Kundis
Lohanis
Mahsuds
Makbals
Mangals
Marwats
Mishwanis
Mohmands
Muhammadzais
Mullagoris
Multanis
Niazis
Orakzais
Safis
Sam Ranizais
Shinwaris
Turis
Urmars
Ushtaranas
Utman Khel
Wazir (or Darwish Khel)
Yusufzais
Zaimukts
Pashtuns in Baluchistan include the following:
Achakzais
Babis Barech
Ja’fars
Kakars Kansis
Lunis
Mando Khel Shiranis
Tarins
Zmarais
Pashtuns in Afghanistan include the following: Durranis
Ghilzais Khostwals
Jadrans
Safis Shinwaris
Utman Khel
Yusufzais
as well as others present in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) (Ridgway 1910). For information on the major Pashtun tribes, see individual entries. See also ETHNIC GROUPS for major non-Pashtun groups, and PASHTUNISTAN. TRIPARTITE TREATY (1838). The agreement, also called the Treaty of Simla, was signed on 16 July 1838 between Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikh nation of the Panjab; Shah Shuja, the exiled king of Afghanistan; and the British government. It stipulated relations between the future Afghan ruler and Ranjit Singh and allied the three powers in an attempt to restore Shah Shuja and the Sadozai dynasty to the Kabul throne. Ranjit Singh was not required to commit his army (but Sikhs were included in the army) and wisely left the task of invading Afghanistan to the British Army of the Indus. He was thus spared the British defeat in the First AngloAfghan War. See also FOREIGN RELATIONS; SIMLA MANIFESTO. TSARANDOY. See SARANDOY. TURI. The Turis are a Pashtun tribe of the Ghurgusht branch. Babur Shah, founder of the Moghul (Mughal) dynasty of India, mentions the Turis as residing in 1506 in the Kurram Valley, where they are found today. Kurram was part of Afghanistan until 1880 when the Turis revolted, coming under British “protection” in 1882. They are Shi’as and disciples of one of four Sayyid families: the Tirah, Ahmadzai, Kirman, and Maura. In the conflict between the mujahedin and the Kabul government, the Kurram Valley was an important supply route of mujahedin operating in the Kabul area. This resulted in friction between them and the local population of Turis. TURKMANI, ABDUL RAUF (1910–). A writer and military officer, Turkmani was born in Darra-i Turkman. He attended secondary school and had military training. He served in the military until retirement. He was editor of Payam-i Imruz, 1966, and publisher and editor of Payam. TURKOMAN. A Sunni Turkic people, estimated at from 125,000 to 400,000 in the 1900s, the Turkomans inhabit the northwestern part of Afghanistan, where the majority of them fled after
the Bolshevik Revolution. They contributed greatly to the Afghan economy as breeders of Qaraqul sheep and weavers of Turkoman carpets. The Marxist government tried to win minority support and declared Turkmani one of the national languages, permitting the publication of newspapers and broadcasts in that language. TWELVER. See SHI’A.
U ULAMA. The doctors of Islamic sciences are called ulama. The word comes from the Arabic word ‘alim (pl. ulama) and denotes “one who possesses the quality of ‘ilm, knowledge, or learning, of the Islamic traditions and the resultant canon law and theology.” Afghan rulers established a hierarchy of ulama, headed by the chief of the ulama (khan-i-‘ulum) and including the judges (qazis), canon lawyers (muftis), and preachers (mullas), who, at the time of Amir Abdul Rahman, were members of his royal council (darbar-i-‘am). They seldom enjoyed political power but were an influential factor in mobilizing the masses against King Amanullah in 1929 and against the Marxist regime when it was in control of the Kabul government. The Taliban regime wanted to establish a theocracy of the ulama and their “students.” See also ISLAMIC LAW. ULFAT, GUL PACHA (1909–1977). Born in 1909 in Laghman Province, Ulfat Gul Pacha was educated in Islamic studies. In 1936 he became editor of the daily newspaper Anis and subsequently served as director of Ziray (1938), Himanat (1940), Kabul Magazine (1942), and Ittihad-i Mashriqi (1947). He was a member of the Loya Jirgas of 1956 and 1964 and of the seventh and eighth parliaments. He was a social critic, political writer, and Pashtun nationalist; he was one of the founders of Wish Zalmayan, president of the Pashtu Academy (1957, see AFGHAN ACADEMY), president of tribal affairs (1963–1965), and a popular Pashtu poet. He died on 20 December 1977. See also PRESS AND JOURNALISM. UMAR. See OMAR. UMMA. Umma is the name for the Islamic community, the Pan-Islamic concept that all Muslims belong to one community or Islamic nation. UNITED NATIONS AND AFGHANISTAN. Afghanistan joined the United Nations in 1946 and soon benefitted from various types of assistance. It became a member of such organizations as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD); the International Development Association (IDA); the International Monetary Fund (IMF); the United Nations Development Program (UNDP); the World Health Organization (WHO); the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and others. UN experts visited Afghanistan to assist in agricultural, industrial, rural, and educational development. The United Nations sponsored malaria eradication and vaccination projects and provided emergency food shipments and economic aid at various times. Afghanistan opposed Pakistan’s admission to the United Nations because of the Pashtunistan problem (see PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS). The country was honored when in 1966 Abdul Rahman Pazhwak was elected president of the 21st Session of the General Assembly. Politically, the United Nations became involved in the mediation of disputes during the Marxist period when the General Assembly voted with an overwhelming
majority to urge the withdrawal of “foreign forces” from Afghanistan. Diego Cordovez, undersecretary-general for political affairs, initiated “proximity” talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan under the auspices of the United Nations, which, after six years of grueling negotiations, resulted in the Geneva Accords of April 1988 and the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. During the civil war, following the fall of the Marxist regime in April 1992, UN representatives vainly tried to mediate between the various factions. Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, and the German diplomat Norbert H. Holl unsuccessfully continued the effort to end the Afghan civil war. The United Nations was unable to save ex-president Najibullah from Taliban assassins after he found shelter in the UN compound in Kabul. Eventually the United Nations took an increasingly hostile stand against the Taliban regime for its support of international terrorism, trafficking in illegal drugs, discrimination against women, and refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden. On 19 November 1999, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions that required an embargo of arms sales and military assistance to the Taliban; withdrawal of foreign military advisers from Taliban territory; closure of all Taliban overseas representative offices; closure of Ariana Afghan Airlines’ overseas offices; a freeze on funds and assets belonging to bin Laden, his associates, and his al-Qaida organization; and a ban on the sale to the Taliban of heroin precursor chemicals. The sanctions came into force on 19 January 2000. It was only as a result of American intervention and the destruction of the Taliban regime that Brahimi was able to bring the forces together to agree on an Interim Government established on 22 December 2001. This prepared the way for a Transitional Government under President Hamid Karzai and the election of Karzai on 7 December 2004 as president. The United Nations became heavily involved in “nation building” to help produce a democratic, Islamic government in Afghanistan. UNITED NATIONS DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION, AND REINTEGRATION PROGRAM (DDRP). The program began in October 2003 in Kunduz and was subsequently extended to other provinces. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Development Program (UNDP), in cooperation with the Afghan Ministry of Defense, were supporting Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Program (ANBP), which coordinates the DDR efforts in Afghanistan. Its task is to “honorably decommission” the Afghan military forces not yet integrated in the Afghan National Army (ANA). By early May 2005, some 30,800 weapons were collected as well as about 9,000 heavy weapons. In 228 locations, a total of 1,145,573 pieces of ammunition were found, but almost none for the popular AK-47. The country is, however, still awash with small arms, and warlords and local chiefs maintain hidden arms caches. Demobilized officers and soldiers will be helped to enter the ANA or return to civilian life. Most will be absorbed in the agricultural and small-business sectors. Some 850 unofficial militias, controlled by warlords, drug lords, or local strongmen, with more than 65,000 members, have not been included in this program. On 2 May 2005, 30 Afghans were killed and more than 70 wounded when the secret arms dump of a local strongman exploded. An underground bunker in Bajgah, Baghlan Province, north of Kabul, belonging to one Jalal-i
Bajgah, exploded and destroyed a great number of houses in the village. Jalal was not home at the time, but 22 members of his family were among those killed. Jalal’s forces had been decommissioned, but his stock of ammunition had not yet been surrendered. UNITED STATES–AFGHANISTAN RELATIONS. The United States was slow in establishing diplomatic relations with Afghanistan because of several factors: Afghanistan had achieved independence from Great Britain in the Third Anglo-Afghan War, but Washington still considered the country within the British sphere of influence. Afghanistan was not attractive as a market for American industrial products or as a source of vital raw materials. Americans knew little about the country; whatever the U.S. government wanted to know it learned from the British, and they were not eager to have American competition in Afghanistan. Therefore, it is not surprising that Washington did not establish a legation at Kabul. The mission of Muhammad Wali, which visited European capitals for the purpose of establishing diplomatic relations, arrived in Washington in July 1921 with high hopes. Faiz Muhammad Zikria, a member of the mission, later described the event as follows: After waiting for some weeks to present the letter from King Amanullah to the President of the United States the members of our delegation were very much humiliated to read in the newspapers that President Harding had entertained Princess Fatima [the Afghan “princess” was not known by any member of the mission] at luncheon. Some days later we were received briefly and informally, presented our letter and received in reply one in which the President expressed regret at the death of the King’s illustrious father [Amir Habibullah] and congratulated His Majesty on his ascension to the throne. It was all very disappointing and heart-breaking.
The Afghan government wanted to embark on a plan of development and modernization for which it needed the assistance of Western know-how. Both Great Britain and the Soviet Union were too close to permit a relationship of dependency. Kabul, therefore, hoped that the United States would become a “third power” that would balance the influences of Afghanistan’s neighbors. Afghanistan offered incentives to American enterprises: In 1930–1931, an American firm sold 68 trucks for $121,000 to the Afghan government, but Britain made this an expensive deal, insisting that the trucks be transported on the Indian railroad rather than proceeding on their own power. In the same year the U.S. consul at Karachi came to Kabul, but when asked why the United States was not ready to establish diplomatic relations with Afghanistan, he could not give a satisfactory reply. The speaker of parliament reproached him, saying, “Americans had always said kind things about Afghanistan but, despite the fine opinion of the country, they refused to recognize a friendly state.” In May 1935, W. H. Hornibrook arrived from Tehran to arrange for accreditation of U.S. diplomats stationed in India. The Afghans were ready to offer an oil concession to the United States. The Afghan foreign minister explained, “For obvious reasons we cannot give the concessions to the British and for the same reasons we cannot give it to the Russians. . . . We therefore look to your country to develop our oil resources.” He added that this would require a permanent American legation in Kabul. An oil concession was signed and ratified in April 1937 with the Inland Oil Exploration Company, but the company canceled the concession a year later “in view of the worsening of the international situation.” Finally, in 1942, the U.S. government established a permanent legation in Kabul because of
geopolitical reasons. The German advance on Stalingrad threatened the Allied logistics link through western Iran. Eastern Iran or western Afghanistan were the only areas for an alternate route. An American presence in Kabul could help gain Afghan approval for construction of a railroad. Therefore, on 6 June 1942, Cornelius van Engert became the first resident minister. The German defeat at Stalingrad made it unnecessary to raise the question of a railroad project with Kabul. In the post–World War II era, the United States provided aid for the war-torn and impoverished world, and Afghanistan received loans in 1950 and 1954 to finance its Helmand Valley electrification and irrigation projects. The American Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company undertook the ambitious task, which consumed a considerable amount of Afghanistan’s hard-currency reserves and did not live up to expectations. The beginning of the Cold War further complicated American-Afghan relations. The United States sought allies in its effort to contain Soviet expansionism and promised economic and military assistance to those states that were willing to join. The Afghan government was unable to obtain American guarantees of protection from Soviet aggression, but Pakistan did and became a member of the Baghdad Pact. The U.S. Department of State made the decision to defend the Indian subcontinent at the Khaibar rather than at Afghanistan’s northern boundary. This was bound to exacerbate relations with Pakistan, and Vice President Richard M. Nixon visited Kabul to convince Prime Minister Muhammad Daud to change his policy of support for an independent Pashtunistan. Muhammad Daud instead opted for a policy of “positive neutrality,” which eventually led to dependence on the Soviet Union. President Dwight D. Eisenhower spent a six-hour visit in Kabul in December 1959 and assured Afghanistan of continued economic support at a time when Soviet influence had begun to grow. The American government was willing to help, but Washington was not willing to match Soviet aid. Between 1950 and 1971, the total of American loans and grants amounted to about $286 million as compared to $672 million from the Soviet Union. American policy was to foster cordial relations with Afghanistan, help expand its communications infrastructure, participate in certain sectors of education, and provide moral, but not military, support to strengthen Afghanistan’s independence. The Peace Corps established its activity in 1962 until the Marxists took power in Kabul. In the late 1970s the U.S. Department of State downgraded the American embassy in Kabul to the category of missions of countries of least importance to the United States, and Afghanistan was tacitly left in the Soviet sphere of influence. After the Saur Revolt, the United States recognized the Marxist government, but relations quickly deteriorated. The assassination in February 1979 of the American ambassador, Adolf Dubs, in a botched rescue attempt from kidnappers by Kabul police further worsened relations. The Soviet military intervention in December 1979 resulted in vital American support for the mujahedin, forcing the Soviet government to withdraw its forces by February 1989. Fearing a general massacre in Kabul and the quick defeat of the Kabul government, the United States closed its embassy for “security reasons” in January 1989 and prevailed on others to do likewise. As a result of the Taliban’s capture of Kabul in September 1996, the American government evaluated developments to determine whether conditions permitted the
establishment of diplomatic relations but, in view of the Taliban’s harsh regime, human rights violations, and toleration of continued poppy cultivation, decided against it. The 2001 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the declaration of war by Osama bin Laden finally led to the United States intervention and the defeat of the Taliban regime. Washington resumed diplomatic relations and appointed Robert P. Finn as American ambassador to Kabul, who was succeeded by the Afghanistan-born Zalmai Khalilzad on 29 November 2003. Considerable American and international aid was forthcoming, and repairs of the communications infrastructure and demobilization of armed militias were undertaken. Presidential elections in 2004, which legitimized Hamid Karzai’s government, permitted curbing the power of warlords. The establishment of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, with the participation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, allowed further consolidation of the Kabul government. With the election of an Afghan parliament, the mandate of the Bonn Conference came to an end. No status of forces agreement existed to regulate the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, but steps were taken in May 2005 to come to some kind of arrangement. In February 2005, the U.S. senator John McCain visited Kabul and called for the establishment of “joint military permanent bases” in Afghanistan. On 5 May, President Karzai convened an assembly of about 1,000 notables, including some members of the 2003 Loya Jirga, to discuss the establishment of a “strategic partnership” with the United States (see UNITED STATES– AFGHANISTAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP). On 23 May, on the occasion of his visit to the United States, President Karzai signed an agreement with President George W. Bush that states, “U.S. military forces operating in Afghanistan will continue to have access to Bagram air base and its facilities, and facilities at other locations as may be mutually determined and that the U.S. and Coalition forces are to continue to have the freedom of action required to conduct appropriate military operations based on consultations and pre-agreed procedures.” The agreement, called by Karzai a “Memorandum of Understanding” and by President Bush a “Strategic Partnership,” does not specify the duration of foreign troops in Afghanistan. The Taliban regime was defeated, but it took almost 10 years after the American intervention for Osama bin Laden to be found and killed. Mulla Omar still heads the Taliban forces who have achieved a remarkable resurgence in recent years. UNITED STATES–AFGHANISTAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP. With the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2004 and 2005, the mandate of the Bonn Conference has ended, and Afghanistan has a legal government. But no status of forces agreement legalizing the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan existed with the United States or coalition forces, who came as conquerors. Therefore, Hamid Karzai convened a meeting of almost 1,000 notables to agree to the creation of a “strategic partnership” with the United States. The vaguely worded document permits the presence of foreign troops outside the jurisdiction of Afghanistan for an indefinite period of time and the establishment of American bases. The document calls for cooperation for “Democracy and Governance, for Prosperity, and for Security.” And it states,
It is understood that in order to achieve the objectives contained herein, U.S. military forces operating in Afghanistan will continue to have access to Bagram Air Base and its facilities, and facilities at other locations as may be mutually determined and that the U.S. and Coalition forces are to continue to have the freedom of action required to conduct appropriate military operations based on consultations and pre-agreed procedures.
It further adds that “as Afghan Government capabilities increase, Afghanistan will continue to cooperate against terrorism, to promote regional security, and combat the drug trade; the Afghan Government, over time, will move to assume Afghan security force sustainment costs.” Afghanistan will not have a veto over foreign military activity, nor will it hold prisoners taken by the coalition forces. It is clear to see that this agreement, called a “Memorandum of Understanding” by Karzai, may become a source of trouble for him once parliament is established. UNITED STATES INTERVENTION. In response to the 11 September 2001 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the declaration of war by Osama bin Laden, President George W. Bush issued a declaration of war. Aerial bombardments started on 7 October 2001, and 10 days later the United States conducted the first ground combat operations. The American military command devised what came to be known as the “Afghanistan Model” of warfare: Afghan ground troops supported by American Special Forces A-Teams who targeted aerial bombardments. One team was instructed to find and support Dostum, stay with him and help. Go with him wherever he goes—if he wants to take over Kabul, go. If he wants to take over the whole fucking country, that is fine too. If he starts mass executions on the way, call HQ and advise, maybe exfil if you can’t rein him in. (Moore 2003)
Some $70 million were spent to win the support of local leaders/warlords. Rules of engagement were agreed upon. Under the heading “Military Strategy,” allies and local “assets” were told: 1. Instruct all tribal allies to ground and identify all their aircraft immediately. 2. Instruct the tribals to cease all significant military movement—basically to stand down and hold in place. 3. The future plan was to have the opposition forces drive to isolate enemy forces, but to wait before moving. 4. Instruct all assets throughout Afghanistan to begin sabotage operations immediately everywhere. This would include tossing hand grenades through Taliban offices, disrupting Taliban convoys, pinning down those moving Taliban supplies and ammunition, and generally making pests of themselves. 5. Informing all of them that paramilitary insertions would go forward in the south and be combined with more specific air strikes. 6. All would have to design no-strike zones—hospitals, schools. 7. All tribal factions and leaders should identify and locate primary targets. 8. Assets should identify possible escape routes out of Afghanistan for bin Laden and his alQaeda leadership—and then try to set up reconnaissance of the routes for interdiction.
9. Be prepared to interrogate and exploit prisoners. 10. Assess humanitarian needs. (Woodward 2002, 201–202) One question to resolve was who should occupy Kabul. During a meeting in the Oval Office, Vice President Dick Cheney suggested, “We should encourage the Northern Alliance to take Kabul.” CIA Director George Tenet said, “We can’t stop them from trying to take Kabul—the only issue is whether they can do it or not” (Woodward 2002, 215). National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice wrongly stated, “You know, the Russians never took Kabul” (Woodward 2002, 219). It was also decided not to support the king to head the government. Eventually, it was the Panjshiris of the Northern Alliance who took the capital and filled the most important ministries in the Interim Government. American and allied forces quickly eliminated the Taliban regime and dispersed its al-Qaeda supporters (see OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, THE CAMPAIGN). Subsequent actions were Operation Valiant Strike at Sami Ghar, east of Kandahar; the Battle of Tora Bora; and Operation Anaconda in the Shah-i Kot area, about 30 kilometers from Gardez. Some of these engagements were not an unqualified success; neither Muhammad Omar nor Osama bin Laden was captured. The Pentagon held the mission to destroy the Taliban/alQaeda leadership and not to get involved in “nation building” or interdicting the narcotics trade. It was only with the establishment of Provincial Reconstruction Teams and the formation of the Afghan National Army that efforts were made to support the Hamid Karzai government in the provinces. The United States maintained about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan, supported by a North Atlantic Treaty Organization force of about 9,000 soldiers, and a growing national Afghan army of 21,000. This has since increased to about 100,000 American and 8,000 NATO forces. Osama bin Laden, if not al-Qaeda, was eliminated when on 1 May 2011 a force of Navy Seals attacked his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed the al-Qaeda leader. See also FRANKS, GENERAL TOMMY; HAGENBECK, MAJOR GENERAL FRANKLIN L.; INTERNATIONAL COALITION AGAINST TERROR; INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ASSISTANCE FORCE; McNEILL, LIEUTENANT GENERAL DAN K. URTA TAGAI (37-30' N, 69-30' E). A 160-square-mile island in the Amu Daria, Urta Tagai, also called Yangi Qal’a and Darqad, became an issue in Soviet-Afghan relations in the 1920s. USAMA. See LADEN, OSAMA BIN. UZBEK (UZBAK). The Uzbeks are the largest Turkic-language group in Afghanistan, estimated to number about 1.3 million (Uzbekistan has a population of about 17.5 million, half of them Uzbeks). They inhabit northern Afghanistan from Fariab Province in the west to Badakhshan Province. The Uzbeks trace their name to an eponymic ancestor or a major tribe that migrated from the area north of the Syr Daria to the area north of the Afghan border. In the 15th century the Uzbeks were clients of various Timurid princes but soon struck out independently and by the early 16th century had captured Bukhara, Samarkand, and Khiva.
They expelled Babur Shah from Ferghana, were defeated by Shah Isma’il of Persia in 1510, and carved out a khanate in Transoxania. Ahmad Shah Durrani gave Balkh to Haji Khan, an Uzbek, to protect the border from raids, but after the latter’s death the khanate became a source of dispute between the Afghans and the amir of Bukhara. In 1869, Amir Shir Ali placed the khanate under the administration of the governor of Balkh. The Uzbeks are distinguished from other Turkic groups in their dress. They wear long striped chapans (kaftans—still popular in Afghanistan), small turbans rather than the Turkoman sheepskin caps, and boots of soft leather which fit tightly over wool stockings and reach up to the knees. They are largely sedentary agriculturalists. The Marxist government tried to win their support and proclaimed Uzbek a national language, permitting the use of the language in education, the press, and the broadcasting media. Some Uzbek groups served the Marxist government in Kabul as militia units in Pashtun areas, and General Abdul Rashid Dostum, leader of the Uzbeks, controlled six provinces in north-central Afghanistan. See also JOZJANIS.
V VEIL, ISLAMIC. In the pre-Islamic Middle East the veil was a status symbol, worn only by aristocratic ladies and subsequently by urban women; it became obligatory only in the ninth century. Christian and Jewish women also wore the veil, whereas Muslim peasant and nomad women only wore a kerchief, as the veil would have interfered with agricultural labor and the mobility of the nomads. Increasing urbanization led to a variety of veils, from full body covers to those that revealed parts of the face. Modernization and the growth of Western influence in parts of the Islamic world have led to a demand for making the veil optional. Muslim modernists pointed out that there is no clear indication in the Koran that makes the veil obligatory. Traditionalists point to the example of the Prophet, who ordered a partition (hijab) put up in his room, separating the women from the daily conduct of affairs of state. They point to a passage in the Koran, which says, “O Prophet! Tell Thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when out of doors). That is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested” (33:59). And “Say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (ordinarily) appears thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband’s fathers, their sons, their husband’s sons, their brothers or their brothers’ sons. Or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or their slaves whom their right hands possess, or male attendants free of sexual desire [eunuchs], or small children who have no carnal knowledge of women” (24:31). The reference to women’s breasts seems to forbid the pre-Islamic practice of Arab women baring their breasts to incite their men to bravery in battle. There is widespread disagreement on the obligation of seclusion (purdah) and the wearing of the veil. The Taliban, during their ill-fated tenure in Afghanistan, made the all-covering chador (also called burqa) obligatory and wanted to confine women to their homes. Young women in many parts of the Middle East, and even in Europe, have adopted “Islamic dress,” consisting of a kerchief that covers their hair but leaves the face free. VICEROYS AND GOVERNORS GENERAL OF INDIA. GOVERNORS GENERAL Hastings, Warman
1773–1785
Cornwallis, Charles C.
1786–1793
Wellesley, Richard Colley
1798–1805
Cornwallis, Charles C.
1805
Minto, Gilbert Elliot
1807–1813
Moira, Hastings
1813–1823
Amherst of Arakan, William P.
1823–1828
Bentinck, William Henry C.
1833–1835
Auckland, George Eden
1836–1842
Dalhousie, James Andrew
1848–1856
VICEROYS Canning, Charles John
1858–1862
Elgin and Kincardine
1862–1863
Napier, R., officiating
1863
Denison, W.
1863
Lawrence, John Laird Mair
1864–1869
Mayo, Richard Southwell B.
1869–1872
Strachey, John, officiating
1872
Lord Napier, officiating
1872
Northbrook, Thomas George B.
1872–1876
Lytton, Edward Robert B.
1876–1880
Ripon, George Frederick R.
1880–1884
Dufferin and Ava, Frederick T.
1884–1888
Lansdowne, Henry Charles K.
1888–1893
Elgin and Kincardine, Victor
1894–1899
Curzon, George Nathaniel
1899–1904
Baron Ampthill, officiating
1904
Curzon, G. N.
1904
Minto, Gilbert John Murray
1905–1910
Hardinge of Pehshurst, Charles
1910–1916
Chelmsford, Frederic John
1916–1921
Reading, Rufus Daniel I.
1921–1926
Lytton, Earl of, acting
1925
Baron Irwin
1926
Goschen, Viscount, acting
1929
Willingdon, Earl of
1931
Sir G. F. Stanley, acting
1934
Linlithgow, Victor Alexander
1936–1943
Baron Brabourne, acting
1938
Wavell, Viscount
1943
Sir John Colville, acting
1945
Mountbatten, Viscount
1947
VITKEVICH, CAPTAIN IVAN (WITKIEWICZ) (1806–1839). A Russian agent, or adventurer, of Lithuanian descent, Vitkevich came to Kabul in December 1837 for the purpose of establishing commercial relations with Afghanistan. He had a letter from Count Simonich, the Russian ambassador to Tehran, and an unsigned letter purported to be from the Tsar. Alexander Burnes was also at Kabul on a similar assignment for the British-Indian government. Consulted by the amir, Burnes told him to receive Vitkevich and inform the British of his objective. Dost Muhammad wanted to regain Peshawar from Sikh control, but Burnes told him that he must surrender all claims to Peshawar and should make his peace with the Sikh ruler. Having gotten no help from the British, Amir Dost Muhammad negotiated with Vitkevich for Russian support. Vitkevich was later repudiated by the Russian government and, upon his return to St. Petersburg, committed suicide. The mission aroused fears in Great Britain that Dost Muhammad would ally himself with Russia, and the decision was made to depose the Afghan ruler. See ANGLO-AFGHAN WARS.
W WAHDAT. The name of a weekly newspaper in Dari/Pashtu, Wahdat was published and edited by the poet and calligrapher Khal Muhammad Khasta in 1966. It was the organ of the National Unity Party (Wahdat-i Milli), which was headed by the poet Khalilullah Khalili. The paper closed after six months because of financial difficulties. An issue dated 31 January 1966 (11 Dalw 1344) published the party’s manifesto. It demanded the rule of law, constitutionalism, nonalignment, struggle for human rights, and peaceful coexistence. It asked for agricultural development and Afghan cultural revival, the expansion of medical and educational facilities, and equal rights for women. WAHDAT. See HIZB-I WAHDAT. WAKHAN (37-0' N, 73-0' E). Wakhan is the name of a town, population 13,000, in the extreme northeastern district of Badakhshan Province, extending from Ishkashim in the west to the borders of China in the east and separating Tajikistan from the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. The Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission awarded this area in 1895–1896 to Afghanistan to create a buffer between the two empires. Amir Abdul Rahman was reluctant to accept this gift, declaring he was not “going to stretch out a long arm along the Hindu Kush to have it shorn off.” But eventually the amir accepted the award when the gift was sweetened with a special annual subsidy of 50,000 rupees. The Wakhan is inhabited by some 6,000 Isma’ilis (Wakhis) and fewer than 2,000 Sunni Qirghiz. The latter immigrated to Turkey as a result of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. The area was ruled by an independent mir (from A., amir, prince) until 1882 when it came under the administrative control of the governor of Badakhshan. The Wakhan Corridor consists of high valleys traversed by the Wakhan River, which flows into the Ab-i Panj, as the upper Amu Daria is called there. The two-humped Bactrian camel and yak are the major beasts of burden. In the years before the Saur Revolt, the Wakhan Corridor attracted hunters for Marco Polo sheep and alpinists who explored its peaks. The inhabitants of the Wakhan Corridor are Uzbeks, and Wakhis. The Qirghiz herders lived in a symbiotic relationship with the agricultural Wakhis. WALI, MUHAMMAD (d. 1933). He was a descendant of the royal family of Darwaz and became custodian of Amir Habibullah’s correspondence. He headed a mission to travel to Moscow and major European capitals to establish diplomatic relations. Muhammad Wali served as Afghan foreign minister (1922–1924), minister of war (1924–1925), and regent during King Amanullah’s journey abroad (1927–1928). In July 1922 the mission arrived in the United States but could not convince President Harding to establish relations with Afghanistan. After the downfall of King Amanullah, Muhammad Wali was imprisoned and, when Nadir Shah ascended the throne, was sentenced to eight years, but he was executed with a number of supporters of King Amanullah in September 1933. WARDAK (34-15' N, 68-0' E). Wardak is a province in east-central Afghanistan (formerly
called Maidan) with an area of 3,745 square miles and a population of about 413,000. The administrative center is the newly constructed town Maidanshahr (population including its district, about 32,000, replacing Kot-i Ashro), located a few miles west of the Kabul–Kandahar highway. The province is mountainous, crossed by the Kabul–Kandahar highway, the road west into the Hazarajat, and the road northwest to Bamian Province. The inhabitants are Ghilzai and Durrani Pashtuns in the south and Hazaras in the north and west. The province is 80 percent pasture land. About 60 percent of the farms comprise areas of less than five jaribs (one jarib = about 0.5 acres). The province suffered considerably during the civil war (1980s) and saw large-scale destruction of the infrastructure built during the 1970s. WARDAK, GENERAL ABDUL RAHIM (1945–). Born in Wardak Province, the son of Abdul Ghani, he graduated from Habibia High School and the Afghan Military Academy. He received advanced military training by Soviet instructors in Kabul and subsequently at Lackland Air Force Base, Fort Benning, Fort Knox, Fort Sill, and Fort Leavenworth in the United States and at the Nasser Academy of the Egyptian War College. He served as instructor at the Afghan Military Academy and deputy director of foreign relations at the Ministry of Defense in Kabul. He was military attaché at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi and defected in 1978 to join the resistance. Wardak was chief of staff of the National Islamic Front and the moderate Alliance of Sayyid Ahmad Gailani, Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi, and Sebghatullah Mujaddidi. In 1992 he served as a member of the Kabul defense and security council at the fall of the Kabul government and became chief military adviser to the Afghan Interim Government. During the jihad he served in major operations, including Khost, Kunar, Kabul, and Nangarhar and was three times wounded in action. Wardak is the author of three books: Fundamentals of War, Geopolitics, and Afghan Military History, as well as a number of articles in the Military Review, Logistics Review, Military Academy Review, and other journals. He served as deputy minister of defense with Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim in the Transitional Government. Wardak was appointed minister of defense in the Hamid Karzai government of December 2004. WARDAK GHULAM FARUQ (1959–). Born a Pashtun in Chak Wardak of Wardak Province, Ghulam Faruq was educated in Wardak and Kabul provinces. He graduated from the faculty of pharmacy of Punjab University in 1986. He fought against the Marxist regime as a member of the Hizb-i Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Wardak worked for the United Nations from 1996 to 2001 in Pakistan and at the same time continued his studies, earning an M.S. degree from Preston University in Peshawar. He served as director of the Constitutional Commission Secretariat (2002–2004) and as director of the joint election management body’s secretariat (2004–2005). President Hamid Karzai appointed him minister of state for parliamentary affairs in 2006 and minister of education in 2008. WARDAKI. The Wardaki are a community of Sayyids inhabiting a region that runs from the Hazara portion of Ghazni Province to the western part of the Logar Valley. They are said to derive their name from an eponymic ancestor called Ward. In the late 19th century they numbered about 20,000 families.
WARLORD(ISM). Warlord is the designation of a person who exerts military and civil authority, but not legal authority, over a subnational region. As a local leader, he defies the authority of the central government, and his rule can have pernicious or beneficial effects. He may prevent the people from predatory taxation by the central government, or he may, himself, exploit his power for short-term profit. President Hamid Karzai has co-opted some warlords but has not been able to eliminate them all. WATAN (HOMELAND). This biweekly, liberal newspaper was published in Persian by Mir Ghulam Muhammad Ghobar and Mir Muhammad Siddiq Farhang in 1951–1952. It was closed by the government after the appearance of 48 issues. WATAN, HIZB-I. “Homeland (or Fatherland) Party” was the new name of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) after June 1990. WATANJAR, MUHAMMAD ASLAM (1946–2000). Watanjar was born in Paktia Province of an Andar Ghilzai family and was educated in military schools at Kabul and in the Soviet Union. He held positions as minister of communications, interior, and, finally, defense in Prime Minister Fazl Haq Khaliqyar’s government of May 1990. A member of the Khalq faction of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), he had a leading role in the coup of Muhammad Daud (1973) and the subsequent Saur Revolt (1978). In both events he rode the lead tank in the assault on the palace, and his tank was placed on a pedestal in the square facing the presidential palace in commemoration of the 1978 coup. In April 1978, he and General Abdul Qadir headed the Revolutionary Council, which formed the government until Nur Muhammad Taraki was installed as president. In September 1979 he was said to have been involved in a plot to remove Hafizullah Amin from power and fled to the protection of the Soviet embassy in Kabul until the Parcham takeover. After the revolt of Shahnawaz Tanai in March 1990, Dr. Najibullah appointed Watanjar minister of defense, the position previously held by Tanai. He apparently fled abroad after the fall of the Marxist regime in April 1992 and died of cancer in Odessa in 2000. WAZIRI. The Waziris (also called Darwish Khel) are Ghurghusht Pashtuns claiming descent from Wazir. Their original home was in Birmal (now Paktika Province), from where they gradually moved eastward in the 14th century and settled in the present Waziristan and across the border in Afghanistan. They were estimated to number about 250,000 in the 1950s, most of them on the Pakistani side of the border. They are divided into two major branches: the Ahmadzai and Utmanzai. They supported Nadir Khan (the subsequent king) in his war against Habibullah Kalakani and, under the command of Marshal Shah Wali and their leader Allah Nawaz Khan, captured Kabul and the royal palace in October 1929. WEAPONS BAZAAR. See ARMS BAZAAR. WILSON, CHARLIE (1933–2010). A member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Wilson “was known for his abiding fondness for hot tubs, women and Scotch whiskey” and was credited for having been a “major player” in the Afghan war. During the 1980s he “used his
seat on a military appropriations committee to steer billions of dollars in secret funds to the Central Intelligence Agency to funnel arms to the mujahedin.” George Crile describes Wilson’s activities in a book titled Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History. It was the first time that the CIA operated with “Presidential Findings” that authorized it to mount operations to kill Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan (168). Crile comments: No insurgency had ever enjoyed such a range of support: a country (Pakistan) completely dedicated to providing it with sanctuary, training, and arms; a banker (Saudi Arabia) that provided hundreds of millions in funds with no strings attached; governments (Egypt and China) that served as arms suppliers; and the full backing of a superpower (the United States). All of that plus various kinds of support from different Muslim movements and governments, as well as the intelligence services of England, France, Canada, Germany, Singapore, and other countries. (408)
Wilson died on 10 February 2010. WISH ZALMAYAN. The “Awakened Youth” was a liberal political organization founded in 1947 in Kandahar by writers and Pashtun nationalists. It included such individuals as Abdul Hai Aziz, Gul Pacha Ulfat, Shamsuddin Majruh, Abdul Rauf Benawa, Mir Ghulam Muhammad Ghobar, Faiz Muhammad Angar, and Nur Muhammad Taraki. The organization wanted to reform Afghan society and aimed at the advancement of education, the eradication of corruption, the promotion of national welfare, understanding and respect among the people, and steadfastness in advancing toward their objectives. It was one of the earliest political groups in Afghanistan. WOLESI JIRGA. Literally “People’s Council,” this is the name of the lower house of parliament, established by the constitutions of 1964 and 2004. See also CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT. WOMEN. The position of women in Afghanistan and the rest of the Islamic world has been greatly influenced by historical precedence. In the tribal society of pre-Islamic Arabia, women were part of the estate of their husbands, fathers, or close male relatives. The birth of a girl was considered a misfortune, and it was common to have female infants buried alive. The Koran refers to it, saying, “When news is brought to one of them of [the birth of] a female [child], his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people, because of the bad news he has had. Shall he retain it on [sufferance and] contempt, or bury it in the dust? Ah, what an evil [choice] they decide on” (16:58–59). Islam brought change: It gave women a right to inheritance and limited the number of wives to four, although as a result of wars and slavery, there was no limit to the number of concubines. According to tradition, women have a soul, like men, but the functions of men and women differ: The woman is respected as a mother, and the man is responsible for her support. But even since the early period of Islam, women have played important roles in society. Khadijah, the wife of Muhammad, conducted business with Syria in which Muhammad was employed for a time. Fatima, the wife of the Prophet, is the example of the virtuous woman, and ‘A’isha is the transmitter of a great number of hadith. She participated in the Battle of the Camel in 656 during the civil war against ‘Ali, the caliph. Shajar al-Durr (Tree of Pearls) was
sultan of Egypt in the beginning of the Mamluk sultanate. Rabi’ah al-’Adawiyyah is a much revered female mystic. Islamic law permits a man to punish a disloyal wife. Adultery requires four witnesses or a confession of the culprits to be punished, and an accusation of adultery by a husband can be voided if the woman swears to her innocence. It takes the testimony of two women for that of one man in a Shari’a court, but punishments and fines are half those for a man. A woman does not have to fight in war and does not share in the booty, and she is not to be killed in war. Change came about in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the number of women in public life is still limited even in more westernized states. Traditional occupations include the medical fields, education, business, and menial labor in the textile trades and agriculture. Although in urban areas a greater number of women attend public schools, illiteracy is much greater among women than men. In Afghanistan, as elsewhere, urban women were veiled and more or less restricted to their homes, educating their children and caring for them, but nomad women did not wear the traditional veil (chadari), and peasant women worked in the fields wearing only a kerchief. During the period of King Amanullah (1919–1929), women were first permitted to abandon the veil. Traditional hostility ended that experiment in modernization, but in 1959 Prime Minister Muhammad Daud (1953–1963) took a major step in emancipating women, permitting them to discard the veil and enter the professions, politics, and other public activities. Under the constitution of 1964, women got the right to vote. Women like Shafiqa Ziayi and Kubra Nurzai attained ministerial rank, Anahita Ratebzad was a high-ranking minister of the Marxist government, and Dr. Suhaila Siddiqi, a surgeon in the army hospital, was promoted to the rank of general and was permitted to work even during the Taliban regime. Afghans celebrate the martyrdom of Malalai, the Afghan “Joan d’Arc”; Queen Soraya, wife of King Amanullah; and various princesses during the period of the reformer king who were active in contributing to the emancipation of women. Meena, founder of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), who was assassinated in February 1987; Nahid who was shot when she led anticommunist demonstrations; and General Khatol Muhammadzai, the parachutist, have inspired an increasing number of women today in fighting for equal rights and their emancipation. The Taliban regime came in on a wave of reaction. They wanted to create the “purest” Islamic state in the world and proceeded to again restrict women. Girls’ schools were closed, and women were prohibited from active participation in economic life. This caused innumerable hardships because many women were the sole support of their families. Mulla Qalamuddin, head of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, defined woman’s place, saying, “God Almighty declared women were created so a man can be intimate with them and be married and make a home with them.” The defeat of the Taliban regime in December 2001 ended the severest discriminatory measures against women, and the gradual consolidation of the elected Afghan government, which includes women, promises a new start in the emancipation of women.
Y YANGI QAL’A. See URTA TAGAI. YAQUBI, GENERAL GHULAM FARUQ (1938–1992). Born in Kabul, the son of Khan Muhammad, and educated at Najat School and the Kabul police academy and in West Germany, he began his career as a lecturer at the police academy in 1961. Subsequently he served as director of operations and general director of the criminal department of the Ministry of Interior. He was deputy president of the State Security Service (KHAD, see AFGHAN SECURITY SERVICE). He became a member of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) politburo in 1986 and was said to be an important ally of Dr. Najibullah, 1980–1985. He became president of KHAD, succeeding Dr. Najibullah in December 1985. His position was upgraded to that of minister of state security (WAD), a position he held in the 1988 and 1990 governments. He committed suicide on 16 April 1992 or, according to one source, was assassinated by a Parchami rival. YAQUB KHAN, AMIR MUHAMMAD (1849–1923, r. February–October 1879). Born the son of Amir Shir Ali and serving as his governor of Herat, Yaqub Khan also coveted Kandahar and was greatly disturbed when in 1868 the amir gave his favorite son Abdullah Jan that post. In 1871 Yaqub Khan revolted and marched on Kabul but was forced to retreat to Herat. Amir Shir Ali forgave Yaqub Khan and reappointed him governor of Herat. Yaqub Khan came to Kabul under a promise of safe conduct, which the amir did not keep, holding him in confinement until December 1878, when British troops invaded Afghanistan. Amir Shir Ali fled to northern Afghanistan and appointed Yaqub his regent. The latter proclaimed himself amir in February 1879 after he learned of the sudden death of his father. Hoping to save his throne, Yaqub concluded the Treaty of Gandomak with Great Britain and accepted a mission under Sir Louis Cavagnari at Kabul. When the latter was assassinated during an insurrection of troops, the British took control of government powers, and Yaqub was forced to abdicate in October 1879. He went to India and lived there until his death in 1923. See also ANGLO-AFGHAN WARS. YAR MUHAMMAD, WAZIR (d. 1851). Wazir (prime minister) of Prince Kamran (1830– 1842), who ruled Herat as an independent principality, Yar Muhammad is said to have been an able but cruel man who eventually became the virtual ruler of Herat. He ably withstood Persian attempts to capture Herat and led the defenses in two sieges in 1833 and 1837–1838, in which the Russian general Berovski participated on the Persian side and Eldred Pottinger on the side of the defenders. Yar Muhammad had Prince Kamran assassinated in 1842 and embarked on an ambitious plan of conquest. He allied himself in marriage with Akbar Khan, son of Amir Dost Muhammad, and conquered the western Uzbek khanates of Afghan Turkestan. YASINI, MIRWAIS (1962–). Born in Kama district of Nangarhar Province, the son of Abdul
Satar Yasini, Yasini attended primary and secondary school in Nangarhar and graduated with an L.L.B. degree in Shari’a and law from the International University in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 1991, and with an M.A. in law in 1993. He was elected member of the emergency Loya Jirga and became director of foreign relations and economic evaluations at the Ministry of Finance in 2002. He was appointed general director of the Counternarcotics Department in 2003 and deputy minister at the Ministry of Counternarcotics in 2005. In the same year, he was elected the first deputy speaker of the Wolesi Jirga. He was a candidate in the presidential election of 2009, ranking fifth in the preliminary results with 47,458 votes, or 0.92 percent of the total. Yasini speaks Dari, Pashtu, Arabic, English, and Urdu. YAZDAN-BAKHSH, MIR (b. 1790). The son of Mir Wali Beg, the chief of Behsud, Hazarajat, Yazdan Bakhsh expelled his older brother, Mir Muhammad Shah, who had become chief of Behsud after his father was assassinated by a minor chief. Mir Yazdan-Bakhsh consolidated his power to become the undisputed chief of the Hazaras (1843–1863). Amir Dost Muhammad Khan called him to Kabul and had him imprisoned. He escaped and fled to Bamian where he was assassinated. YOUSAF, MOHAMMAD (YUSUF, MUHAMMAD, 1937–). Brigadier Muhammad Yusuf, head of the Bureau of the Inter-Services Intelligence of the Pakistan military from 1983 to 1987, claims to have held a pivotal position in the war of the Afghan mujahedin against the Soviet and Kabul forces. In his book, The Bear Trap: Afghanistan’s Untold Story (coauthored with Mark Adkin), this “commander in chief” of the mujahedin forces controlled the distribution of weapons bought with CIA and Saudi Arabian funds from the United States, Great Britain, China, and Egypt. He organized the training of rebels and planned missions of sabotage, ambushes, and assassinations inside Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. He was succeeded in 1978 by General Hamid Gul at a time when the Soviet government had decided to end its involvement in Afghanistan. YUNUS KHALES. See KHALES, MUHAMMAD YUNUS. YUSUF, DR. MUHAMMAD. See MUHAMMAD YUSUF. YUSUFZAI. A Pashtun tribe, originally settled in Peshawar, the Yusufzai migrated to the Helmand Valley and the Kabul region in the fifth century A.D., and in the 16th century returned to the northeastern corner of the Peshawar Valley. They now inhabit the Pakistan districts of Peshawar, Mardan, and Swat. They then divided into two great branches: the Yusufzai and the Mandanr. They are agriculturists, usually dress in white clothes, and shave their heads, leaving “a pair of love locks” at their temples. They have been romanticized as the “Pashtuns of the Pashtuns,” among whom the Pashtunwali is still a living code of behavior. Khushhal Khan Khatak, not himself a Yusufzai, extols their sense of honor, saying, The nobles of the Afghans are the Yusufzai’is, Hard in battlefield and hospitable at home, All Pakhtuns possess the sense of honor (nang) None, however, can vie with them.
Z ZABIHULLAH, ABDUL QADIR (1951–1984). Born and educated in Mazar-i Sharif, Zabihullah worked as a teacher and became a member of the Islamic movement. After the Saur Revolt, he adopted the nom de guerre Zabihullah. He operated with Ahmad Shah Mas’ud in the Panjshir Valley and later moved to Mazar-i Sharif where he coordinated the activities of commanders and administered the territory under his control. A mujahedin commander affiliated with Jam’iat-Islami, Zabihullah was a member of the Islamist youth organization and operated successfully in the Mazar-i Sharif area. He was said to have been trained by Commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ud in Panjshir and subsequently cooperated with him. He was killed in December 1984 when his jeep hit a land mine. After his death, effective, large-scale resistance collapsed in the Mazar-i Sharif area. ZABUL (32-0' N, 67-15' E). Zabul is a province in south-central Afghanistan with an area of 6,590 square miles and a population of 258,000. The administrative center of the province is the town of Qalat (including the district, population about 29,000), located about 87 miles northeast of Kandahar. The province is arid with almost perpetual winds, and agriculture is limited to the valleys of the Tarnak and Arghastan rivers and a few areas that are irrigated by means of kariz. The province, however, abounds in almond trees, one of the major items of export. The Zabulis are noted as good horsemen and perform a game called “tent pegging” (naiza bazi) in which they spear pegs planted in the ground. The population is largely Pashtun in the south and Hazara in the north. ZABULI, ABDUL MAJID (1896–1998). Zabuli was the most successful early Afghan capitalist and the financier who founded the Ashami Company in 1933, which eventually developed into the Bank-i Milli. He became the minister of national economy in 1936 and established industries in Pul-i Khumri, Kunduz, and Kabul. He was instrumental in charting the course of Afghan economic development in cooperation with German commercial and industrial enterprises. Zabuli resigned in 1951 and went abroad. He was born and educated in Herat and later at Tashkent. In 1917 he headed his father’s export-import company in Herat, trading with Iran and Russia. In 1922 he moved his firm’s office to Tashkent and from there to Moscow to operate a textile mill under the Soviet New Economic Policy. He moved to Germany in 1929 and devoted his activities to international investment. Invited by Nadir Shah to return to Afghanistan, he founded the Ashami Company in 1932 with 80 percent private and 20 percent government shares. He issued paper money and founded the Da Afghanistan Bank, Industrial Bank, and Bank-i Milli branches in Berlin, London, Bombay, Karachi, Peshawar, and later New York (the Afghan-American Trading Company). Zabuli was seen as having political ambitions: he favored a laissez-faire economy and cooperation with Germany in Afghan economic development. Disagreements with Prime Minister Shah Mahmud Ghazi led to his resignation, but members of his family continued to tend to family interests in Kabul. He retired and lived in the United States from 1970 until his death in 1998.
ZADRAN. See JADRAN; PACHA KHAN ZADRAN. ZAHIR, AHMAD (1946–1979). The most popular Afghan singer, Zahir was educated at Habibia School where he gave his first performance and obtained the title “Bulbul-i Habibia” (Nightingale of Habibia). He accompanied his father to India and continued his musical studies there in 1967. Upon his return to Afghanistan in 1969, he took a position with the Kabul Times and Afghan Films. He composed many of his songs, and in the 1970s he was internationally acclaimed. Born 14 June 1946, the son of Abdul Zahir (prime minister 1971–1972), he died in a car accident on his 33rd birthday in 1979. According to rumors he was assassinated during the Khalqi regime because Hafizullah Amin’s daughter was one of his fans. ZAHIR, MUSTAFA (1964–). Born in the palace at Kabul, the son of Muhammad Nadir and grandson of King Muhammad Zahir, Mustafa was educated in Rome, Vienna, London, and Ontario. He was diplomatic assistant to ex-king Zahir, 1991–2000; ambassador to Italy, 2002– 2005; and director general of the National Environmental Protection Agency, 2005. Allied with the National Front, 2007–2008, he is the cofounder of the Afghan Medical Relief Organization (AMRO) and a member of the International Committee for the Afghan World Foundation. He was at one time considered to replace Dr. Abdullah as foreign minister. ZAHIR SHAH, MUHAMMAD (1914–2007). King of Afghanistan, 1933–1973, he was born on 15 October 1914, the only surviving son of Nadir Shah. Educated at Kabul and in France, Zahir was proclaimed king on 8 November 1933, within a few hours of his father’s assassination, and adopted the title “Confident in God, Follower of the Firm Religion of Islam” (Al-Mutawakkil Ala’llah, Pairaw-i Din-i Matin-i Islam). During the early period of his kingship (1933–1946), the young king reigned while his uncles Muhammad Hashim and Shah Mahmud Ghazi ruled, holding the powerful position of prime minister. His cousin, Muhammad Daud, succeeded as prime minister from 1953 until 1963, when Zahir Shah forced his resignation. In 1964 he promulgated a new constitution, which excluded members of the royal family from certain government positions (see CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT) and provided for a bicameral parliament, free elections, a free press, and the formation of political parties. It ushered in a period of unprecedented political tolerance that was marred only by the intransigence of parliamentary representatives who could not establish a working coalition. The law on political parties was never ratified by the king, but parties were tolerated, although not legally permitted, and numerous groups published their manifestos in privately published newspapers and periodicals. Members of parliament were elected as independents, not as members of a party, but parliament was stymied with political infighting. Foreign aid from East and West kept flowing into the country, and Kabul experienced considerable growth. However, not all sectors of Afghan society benefitted from the economic development. Zahir Shah toured Afghanistan on several occasions and frequently traveled abroad. During one of his trips abroad, his cousin Muhammad Daud staged a coup and established a republican government with himself as president. Zahir Shah abdicated in August 1973 and moved to Italy. After the defeat of the Taliban regime, Zahir Shah returned to Afghanistan and was given the honorific title “Father of the Nation.” He supported the
establishment of a Loya Jirga and the presidential and parliamentary elections. He died on 23 July 2007. ZAKHILWAL, OMAR (1968–). Born in Badakhshan Province, Zakhilwal’s family fled to Pakistan in 1984. He received a B.A. degree in economics from the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba and earned an M.A. degree in economics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He completed work on a doctorate in economics from Carleton University in 2001. Zakhilwal served as president of the Afghan Support Agency (AISA), as acting minister of transport and civil aviation, and as member of the supreme council of the Da Afghanistan Bank. He taught economics at Carleton University in Ottawa, was appointed chief economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai in 2008, and was appointed minister of finance in 2009, with 177 votes of confidence out of 198. ZAMAN SHAH. See SHAH ZAMAN. ZHAWAR, BATTLE OF (1986). Zhawar is a village in Paktia Province south of Parachinar and about six miles from the Pakistan border. It was the major base along the mujahedin supply route for attacks on the Kabul garrison at Khost. The importance of the base can be seen from the fact that about 60 percent of mujahedin supplies passed through Zhawar and Ali Khel (Yousaf and Adkin 1992, 164). The base, built by a Pakistani construction company, had large underground facilities; seven tunnels housed living and medical quarters as well as depots of weapons and other facilities. Generators provided electricity and permitted radio communication. The base was defended by commanders of Yunus Khales, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi, and Sayyid Ahmad Gailani. Jalaluddin Haqani was one of the major commanders. Some 400 men provided close protection and administrative support, and some additional 10,000 mujahedin controlled positions between Zhawar and Ali Khel. Being close to the Pakistan border, reinforcements could quickly be obtained. The mujahedin had antiaircraft protection, including British Blowpipe missiles, three Oerlikon guns, and shoulder-fired SA-7s. Antitank minefields, mortars, and other heavy artillery provided for a formidable defense. Destruction of the base and closure of the supply line had long been an object of the Kabul government, and in early 1986 it started a major offensive. Major General Tanai, who was a native of this area, was in tactical command, and Brigadier Abdul Ghafur led the Soviet/Afghan contingent. The Soviets deployed one air assault regiment of the 103rd Guards Airborne Assault Division, and the Afghan forces included units of the 7th and 8th Division in Kabul, the 12th Division of Gardez, and the 14th Division at Ghazni and Khost, numbering altogether about 12,000 men. After a slow and fiercely disputed advance, the Soviet/Kabul forces reached Zhawar on 11 April and during the subsequent week succeeded in isolating the base and destroyed the underground structures with laser-guided bombs. A Soviet heliborne commando brigade, landing in an open area, was destroyed to a man. The mujahedin fired 13 Blowpipe missiles, without destroying an aircraft (Yousaf and Adkin 1992, 171); nevertheless, at the end of the battle, the mujahedin claimed to have downed 13 helicopters and aircraft. The Kabul government captured the base but withdrew shortly thereafter, and the mujahedin
returned within 48 hours. The Kabul government claimed to have killed 2,000 and wounded 4,000, and the mujahedin claimed to have captured 100 Afghan soldiers and killed or wounded about 1,500. A mujahedin spokesman said only 300 mujahedin were killed. The Kabul campaign did not achieve its objective. ZIAYI, SHAFIQA (1928–). Born in Kabul, a Muhammadzai, Ziayi was educated at Malali School and in the faculty of science at Kabul University; she received an M.A. degree in mathematics at Columbia University in 1965. She began her academic career as inspector and teacher in the Department of Women’s Schools and as teacher at Malalai School. She was director of the Zarghuna Girls’ School, a member of the Institute of Education, deputy president of the women’s division in the Department of Secondary Education, president of the Department of Compilation, and translations adviser in the Ministry of Planning. She retired in July 1973. She is married to Abdul Azim Ziayi. Her mother tongue is Dari. ZIKRIA, ABDUL FARID (1959–). Afghan ambassador to the United Arab Emirates in 2005 and chief of the protocol department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2004, he was educated at Istiqlal Lycée and received B.A. and M.A. degrees in nuclear reliability engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. He worked as senior engineer with Information Systems Laboratories in the United States from 1998 to 2002. ZIKRIA, FAIZ MUHAMMAD (ZAKARIA, 1892–1979). Born in Kabul, Faiz Muhammad was educated at Habibia School and entered the foreign service in 1921. He accompanied the Afghan mission under Muhammad Wali to Europe and the United States to conclude agreements for establishing diplomatic relations. He became King Amanullah’s minister of education in 1925 and subsequently served as a member of Habibullah Kalakani’s “Council for the Maintenance of Order.” Appointed foreign minister by Nadir Shah in 1929, he served until 1938 and was also ambassador to Turkey (1938–1948), Great Britain (1948–1950), and Saudi Arabia (1955–1960). He retired in 1960 and lived in the United States, where he died in 1979. He is buried in Peshawar. ZULFIQAR, MALIHA (ZULFACAR, 1961–). Born in Kabul, the daughter of a diplomat, Maliha graduated from Rabia Balkhi High School in Kabul, attended the German Technical Institute at Braunschweig, and graduated with a Ph.D. degree in sociology from Paderborn University in 1998. She served as professor of sociology at Kabul University until 1979 and at the California Polytechnic State University in San Louis Opispo. During summers she taught sociology at Kabul University. She was the Afghan ambassador to Germany from November 2006 to 2010. She was a member of the emergency Loya Jirga and director of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies, 2004. She was the writer and assistant producer for a documentary film called Darman-i Kabul.
Appendix 1 Major Sections of the Durand Agreement and the Legal Case for the Durand Line MAJOR SECTIONS OF THE DURAND AGREEMENT (1) Agreement Signed at Kabul on the 12th November, 1893 Whereas the British Government has represented to His Highness the Amir that the Russian Government presses for the literal fulfilment of the Agreement of 1873 between Russia and England by which it was decided that the river Oxus should form the northern boundary of Afghanistan from Lake Victoria (Wood’s Lake) or Sarikul on the east to the junction of the Kokcha with the Oxus, and whereas the British Government considers itself bound to abide by the terms of this Agreement, if the Russian Government equally abides by them, His Highness Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, G.C.S.I., Amir of Afghanistan and its Dependencies, wishing to show his friendship to the British Government and his readiness to accept their advice in matters affecting his relations with Foreign powers, hereby agrees that he will evacuate all the districts held by him to the north of this portion of the Oxus on the clear understanding that all the districts lying to the south of this portion of the Oxus, and not now in his possession, be handed over to him in exchange. And Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, hereby declares on the part of the British Government that the transfer to His Highness the Amir of the said districts lying to the south of the Oxus is an essential part of this transaction, and undertakes that arrangements will be made with the Russian Government to carry out the transfer of the said lands to the north and south of the Oxus. (Signed) H. M . DURAND Kabul 12th November, 1893 (Signed) AM IR ABDUR RAHM AN KHAN 12th November, 1893 (2nd Jamadi-ul-awal 1311) (2) Agreement Signed at Kabul on the 12th November, 1893 Whereas certain questions have arisen regarding the frontier of Afghanistan on the side of India, and whereas both His Highness the Amir and the Government of India are desirous of settling these questions by a friendly understanding, and of fixing the limits of their respective spheres of influence, so that for the future there may be no difference of opinion on the subject between the allied Governments, it is hereby agreed as follows: 1. The eastern and southern frontier of His Highness’s dominions; from Wakhan to the
Persian border, shall follow the line shown in the map attached to this agreement. 2. The Government of India will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of Afghanistan, and His Highness the Amir will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of India. 3. The British Government thus agrees to His Highness the Amir retaining Asmar and the valley above it, as far as Chanak. His Highness agrees on the other hand that he will at no time exercise interference in Swat, Bajaur, or Chitral, including the Arnawai or Bashgal valley. The British Government also agrees to leave to His Highness the Birmal tract as shown in the detailed map already given to His Highness, who relinquishes his claim to the rest of the Waziri country and Dawar. His Highness also relinquishes his claim to Chageh. 4. The frontier line will hereafter be laid down in detail and demarcated, wherever this may be practicable and desirable, by Joint British and Afghan Commissioners, whose object will be to arrive by mutual understanding at a boundary which shall adhere with the greatest possible exactness to the line shown in the map attached to this agreement, having due regard to the existing local rights of villages adjoining the frontier. 5. With reference to the question of Chaman, the Amir withdraws his objection to the new British Cantonment and concedes to the British Government the rights purchased by him in the Sirkai Tilerai water. At this part of the frontier the line will be drawn as follows: From the crest of the Khwaja Amran range near the Psha Kotal, which remains in British territory, the line will run in such a direction as to leave Murgha Chaman and the Sharobo spring to Afghanistan, and to pass half-way between the new Chaman Fort and the Afghan outpost known locally as Lashkar Dand. The line will then pass half-way between the railway station and the hill known as the Mian Baldak, and, turning southwards, will rejoin the Khwaja Amran range, leaving the Gwasha Post in British territory, and the road to Shorawak to the west and south of Gwasha in Afghanistan. The British Government will not exercise any interference within half-a-mile of the road. 6. The above articles of agreement are regarded by the Government of India and His Highness the Amir of Afghanistan as a full and satisfactory settlement of all the principal differences of opinion which have arisen between them in regard to the frontier; and both the Government of India and His Highness the Amir undertake that any differences of detail, such as those which will have to be considered hereafter by the officers appointed to demarcate the boundary line, shall be settled in a friendly spirit, so as to remove for the future as far as possible all causes of doubt and misunderstanding between the two Governments. 7. Being fully satisfied of His Highness’s goodwill to the British Government, and wishing to see Afghanistan independent and strong, the Government of India will raise no objection to the purchase and import by His Highness of munitions of war, and they will themselves grant him some help in this respect. Further, in order to mark their sense of the friendly spirit in which His Highness the Amir has entered into these negotiations, the Government of India undertakes to increase by the sum of six lakhs of rupees a year the
subsidy of twelve lakhs now granted to His Highness. (Signed) H. M . DURAND (Signed) AM IR ABDUR RAHM AN KHAN Kabul, 12th November, 1893. (3) Letter from Sir Mortimer Durand, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., to His Highness the Amir of Afghanistan and Its Dependencies, Dated Kabul, the 11th November, 1893 [After compliments] When your Highness came to the throne of Afghanistan, Sir Lepel Griffin was instructed to give you the assurance that, if any foreign power should attempt to interfere in Afghanistan, and if such interference should lead to unprovoked aggression on the dominions of your Highness, in that event the British Government would be prepared to aid you to such extent and in such manner as might appear to the British Government necessary in repelling it, provided that your Highness followed unreservedly the advice of the British Government in regard to your external relations. I have the honour to inform your Highness that this assurance remains in force, and that it is applicable with regard to any territory which may come into your possession in consequence of the agreement which you have made with me today in the matter of the Oxus frontier. It is the desire of the British Government that such portion of the northern frontier of Afghanistan as has not yet been marked out should now be clearly defined; when this has been done, the whole of your Highness’s frontier towards the side of Russia will be equally free from doubt and equally secure. PLEASE NOTE: This is not the complete text. Some Afghans claim that the treaty was limited to 100 years, but do not give any sources. Also note that parts of the Mohmand border were not demarcated, because the tribes did not permit the demarcation team to enter. THE LEGAL CASE FOR THE DURAND LINE A secret document found by this writer in the archives of the Oriental and India Office Collection of the British Library seems to indicate that the Afghan government could have engineered the annexation of the tribal area on its northeastern border “if the tribes had placed themselves under the protection of Afghanistan or if, with the consent of the tribes, the tribal areas had been annexed by Afghanistan.” The British Foreign Office sought legal advice in the matter in case the frontier dispute was taken for arbitration to an international tribunal. Afghan nationalists would have liked to integrate all of the Northwest Frontier Province of India and Baluchistan into “historical” Afghanistan, but London confined this issue to “the tribal area lying between the outer boundary of the Province and the line recognised by Article 2 of the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921.” The area in question included the five Tribal Agencies: Malakand, Khaibar, Kurram, North Waziristan, and South Waziristan. The British government considered this area to be “part of India, but not British India.” According to subsection (2) of Section 2 of the Indian Independence Act of 1947, “The tribal 1
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areas (over which on that day [15th August, 1947] His Majesty’s powers, rights, authority and jurisdiction lapsed by virtue of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 7 of the India Independence Act) were not included in Pakistan.” Therefore, “The tribal areas of the North-West Frontier became a sort of international limbo, not being part of any state. This being so and the tribal areas being independent of Pakistan, though having certain treaty relations with her as regards customs, communications and similar matters, it would appear that Pakistan could not have inherited either the frontier fixed by the Treaty with Afghanistan of 1921 or any right under Article 2 of that treaty.” However, London felt that since the tribes did not request independence or union with Afghanistan and in fact voted for union with Pakistan, the matter has been legally resolved. This ignores the fact that the tribes were not given the right to vote for independence or union with Afghanistan—the choice was rather for union with Pakistan or India. Furthermore, Pashtun nationalists contend that a boycott by members of the Frontier Congress, a Muslim party allied with the Hindu Congress, resulted in a low voter turnout (68 percent)—given the choice to which the tribes were entitled they would not have voted for union with Pakistan. When Amir Abdur Rahman (r. 1880–1901) was forced to accept the Durand Line as the international border of Afghanistan, a British document declared the tribal areas as “not lying within the limits of India” and referred to the tribes as “independent tribes.” After the death of the Iron Amir, the London government, hoping for concessions in a new treaty, declared that the agreements concluded with Amir Abdur Rahman were personal and not with the state of Afghanistan. At the same time Britain insisted that the Durand Agreement was perpetual. The question was moot, because the government of India eventually renewed the agreements when it recognized Amir Habibullah (r. 1901–1919) in 1905. In the peace treaty of Rawalpindi (8 August 1919), a passage in Article 5 stated that “the Afghan Government accept the IndoAfghan frontier accepted by the late Amir,” a pledge that was renewed in the Treaty of Kabul of 1921 (ratified on 6 February 1922) and subsequent renewals. London, however, felt that Afghanistan could denounce the treaty “and thus annul Durand Line agreement and create Pashtunistan.” It seems that Afghan diplomacy missed a chance to regain the Pashtun Tribal Belt, but it was a very slim chance. The Western governments discouraged irredentist movements and supported the legitimacy of boundaries drawn by the colonial powers, and it seemed easier to implement the union of the tribal areas with Pakistan. The dream of Afghan nationalists of gaining the entire Northwest Frontier Province of India, as well as Baluchistan to win access to the Arabian Sea, was not to come true. But there was a chance, no matter how small, that Afghanistan could have gained the unadministered areas of the tribal belt. Would the addition of this area have been an asset to the state of Afghanistan? The area was essentially independent because neither the British nor the Afghan government could rule the area directly. Had it become part of Afghanistan, the preponderance of the Pashtun element would only have increased at the cost of the interests of the other ethnic groups. Although the heart of the frontier tribes was with Afghanistan, they could not resist the temptation of raiding Jalalabad during a British air raid in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Could 3
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Kabul have controlled the tribal belt any better than anyone else? The conservative influences from the tribal belt might well have changed the course of Afghan history: no democratization, emancipation of women, political revolution, and Marxist control. Afghanistan might have remained in its traditional mold—not much different from the state the Taliban planned to establish in Afghanistan. 28th April, 1949 SECRET
Dear Chancery, We and the Commonwealth Relations Office recently thought it necessary to test our hitherto tacit assumption, based on the legal opinion contained in Afghan print section 1 of the 5th November, 1947, F 14976/9774/97, that (if) the issues were submitted to an international tribunal, the court would without doubt find that Pakistan had inherited from the British Government the international frontier laid down by Article 2 of the 1921 Treaty. We stated our problem as follows. First we noted that in the days of British rule in India the area described loosely and the North-West Frontier consisted of (i) the North-West Frontier Province, which was part of British India, and (ii) the tribal area lying between the outer boundary of the Province and the line recognised by Article 2 of the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921, these areas being part of India, but not British India. The term “tribal area” is defined in sub-section (1) of section 311 of the Government of India Act, 1935 as “the areas along the frontier of India or in Baluchistan which are not part of British India, of Burma or of any Indian state or of any foreign state.” (There are, of course, tribal areas on the frontiers of India other than those on the North-West Frontier now in dispute.) Definition of “India” and “British India” to be found in the same subsection of the Government of India Act, 1935. In the second place we noted the definition in sub-section (2) of Section 2 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, of the territories of Pakistan as created on the 15th August, 1947. From this sub-section it is seen that the tribal areas (over which on that day His Majesty’s powers, rights, authority and jurisdiction lapsed by virtue of a paragraph of sub-section (1) of section 7 of the India Independence Act) were not included in Pakistan which, [illegible]. . . . Frontier Province, i.e., the area which was formerly British India. Nor, of course, were these tribal areas included in the new India, to which also former territories of British India were assigned. On these grounds we asked the following questions. If Pakistan did [not?] inherit the territory (i.e., the tribal areas) where the boundary line de[marcated?] in Article 2 of the 1921 Treaty runs, can it be said that the Pakistan Government inherited the international frontier laid down by that Article [on?] frontier which does not touch the territories assigned to Pakistan by the Indian Independence Act? In asking this question we wondered whether the Legal Adviser, in giving his opinion which now appears in the print section [of] 5th November, 1947 under reference, was aware of the fact that the whole of India as defined in sub-section (1) of section 311 of the Government of India Act, 1935, was not parcelled out between the new India and Pakistan and (that) both received only British India territory which did not include the tribal
areas. We have found that in fact the Legal Adviser was not aware, when he gave his opinion in 1947, of the fact that the North-West Frontier Province of British India did not extend as far as the Afghan frontier and that the tribal areas constituted a gap between the boundary of British India and the boundary of India. The Legal Adviser now considers therefore that the tribal area did not become part of Pakistan or India under Article 2 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947. They were areas to which Article 7(i)(c) and also the proviso to Article 7(i) applied. As from the 15th August, 1947, all the rights and obligations of His Majesty with respect to those areas ceased in accordance with Article 7(i)(c); under the proviso Pakistan was to continue to give effect on a provisional basis to certain agreements relating to customs, transit and communications, posts, telegraphs and other like matters; but the proviso did not operate to make the tribal areas part of Pakistan or to make Pakistan responsible for their international relations. This interpretation of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, is borne out by paragraph 17 of His Majesty’s Government statement of Policy in India of the 3rd June 1947 (Cmd.7136). On the 15th August 1947, therefore, the tribal areas of the North-West Frontier became a sort of international limbo, not being part of any state. This being so and the tribal areas being independent of Pakistan, though having certain treaty relations with her as regards customs, communications and similar matters, it would appear that Pakistan could not have inherited either the frontier fixed by the Treaty with Afghanistan of 1921 or any right under Article 2 of that treaty. This does not mean to say that the Durand line ceased to be the international frontier of Afghanistan. The new situation did not give Afghanistan any right to extend her territories to include the tribal areas without the consent of the tribes any more than it gave Pakistan the right to do so; but it may well be that Pakistan would not have been able to raise any legal objection if the tribes had placed themselves under the protection of Afghanistan or if, with the consent of the tribes, the tribal areas had been annexed by Afghanistan. However in the view of our legal adviser the situation now brought to light does not affect the ultimate result of the substance of Pakistan’s case, though it may affect the way in which it should be put to an international tribunal. Whether or not there was a period following the division of India when Afghanistan could have accepted a voluntary request for incorporation from the tribal areas, the tribes did not make any such request and in fact, in the Jirgas described in Karachi telegram No.530 to the Commonwealth Relations Office, requested and obtained affiliation with Pakistan. This gives Pakistan the conduct of their foreign relations and enables Pakistan to claim the observance of the boundary on their behalf. There was provision in Section 2(3) of the Indian Independence Act for the inclusion in Pakistan at any time of areas additional to those parts of British India allotted to Pakistan under Section 2(2) of the Act. Perhaps much greater care than we had supposed would be required in putting the Pakistan case, but our legal adviser still does not think there is any doubt that the Afghan claim that the Durand line is no longer valid is bad in law. It seems therefore that neither Pakistan nor we need have any hesitation on legal grounds about taking the frontier dispute to an international tribunal. Whether reference to an international tribunal is desirable on political grounds is of course a different question.
Copies of this letter are being sent to Washington, Moscow, Singapore and United Kingdom High Commissioners in Karachi and New Delhi. Yours ever, South East Asia Department Notes 1. Pol-Ext. 6912/49. Foreign Office, S.W. 1. 2. Ludwig W. Adamec, Afghanistan, 1900–1923: A Diplomatic History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. This volume contains copies of the Anglo-Afghan agreements and treaties. 3. IO, P&S, Despatch 155 (16-8-1892). 4. Adamec, 1967. 5. L/P&S/12/1822.
Appendix 2 Taliban Codex, Book of Rules for the Mujahedin (Layeha) From the highest leader of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan. Every Mujahid must abide by the following rules: (1) A Taliban commander is permitted to extend an invitation to all Afghans who support infidels so that they may convert to the true Islam. (2) We guarantee to any man who turns his back on infidels, personal security and the security of his possessions. But if he becomes involved in a dispute, or someone accuses him of something, he must submit to our judiciary. (3) Mujahideen who protect new Taliban recruits must inform their commander. (4) A convert to the Taliban, who does not behave loyally and becomes a traitor, forfeits our protection. He will be given no second chance. (5) A Mujahid who kills a new Taliban recruit forfeits our protection and will be punished according to Islamic law. (6) If a Taliban fighter wants to move to another district, he is permitted to do so, but he must first acquire the permission of his group leader. (7) A Mujahid who takes a foreign infidel as prisoner with the consent of a group leader may not exchange him for other prisoners or money. (8) A provincial, district or regional commander may not sign a contract to work for a nongovernmental organization or accept money from an NGO. The Shura (the highest Taliban council) alone may determine all dealings with NGOs. (9) Taliban may not use Jihad equipment or property for personal ends. (10) Every Talib is accountable to his superiors in matters of money spending and equipment usage. (11) Mujahideen may not sell equipment, unless the provincial commander permits him to do so. (12) A group of Mujahideen may not take in Mujahideen from another group to increase their own power. This is only allowed when there are good reasons for it, such as a lack of fighters in one particular group. Then written permission must be given and the weapons of the new members must stay with their old group. (13) Weapons and equipment taken from infidels or their allies must be fairly distributed among the Mujahideen. (14) If someone who works with infidels wants to cooperate with Mujahideen, he should not be killed. If he is killed, his murderer must stand before an Islamic court. (15) A Mujahid or leader who torments an innocent person must be warned by his superiors. If he does not change his behavior he must be thrown out of the Taliban movement. (16) It is strictly forbidden to search houses or confiscate weapons without the permission of a district or provincial commander. (17) Mujahideen have no right to confiscate money or personal possessions of civilians. (18) Mujahideen should refrain from smoking cigarettes. (19) Mujahideen are not allowed to take young boys with no facial hair onto the battlefield or into their private quarters. (20) If members of the opposition or the civil government wish to be loyal to the Taliban, we may take their conditions into consideration. A final decision must be made by the military council. (21) Anyone with a bad reputation or who has killed civilians during the Jihad may not be accepted into the Taliban movement. If the highest leader has personally forgiven him, he will remain at home in the future. (22) If a Mujahid is found guilty of a crime and his commander has barred him from the group, no other group may take him in. If he wishes to resume contact with the Taliban, he must ask forgiveness
from his former group. (23) If a Mujahid is faced with a problem that is not described in this book, his commander must find a solution in consultation with the group. (24) It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of the infidels. True Muslims should apply to study with a religiously trained teacher and study in a Mosque or similar institution. Textbooks must come from the period of the Jihad or from the Taliban regime. (25) Anyone who works as a teacher for the current puppet regime must receive a warning. If he nevertheless refuses to give up his job, he must be beaten. If the teacher still continues to instruct contrary to the principles of Islam, the district commander or a group leader must kill him. (26) Those NGOs that come to the country under the rule of the infidels must be treated as the government is treated. They have come under the guise of helping people but in fact are part of the regime. Thus we tolerate none of their activities, whether it be building of streets, bridges, clinics, schools, madrasas (schools for Koran study) or other works. If a school fails to heed a warning to close, it must be burned. But all religious books must be secured beforehand. (27) As long as a person has not been convicted of espionage and punished for it, no one may take up the issue on their own. Only the district commander is in charge. Witnesses who testify in a procedure must be in good psychological condition, possess an untarnished religious reputation, and not have committed any major crime. The punishment may take place only after the conclusion of the trial. (28) No lowerlevel commander may interfere with contention among the populace. If an argument cannot be resolved, the district or regional commander must step in to handle the matter. The case should be discussed by religious experts (Ulama) or a council of elders (Jirga). If they find no solution, the case must be referred to well-known religious authorities. (29) Every Mujahid must post a watch, day and night. (30) The above 29 rules are obligatory. Anyone who offends this code must be judged according to the laws of the Islamic Emirates. This Book of Rules is intended for the Mujahideen who dedicate their lives to Islam and the almighty Allah. This is a complete guidebook for the progress of Jihad, and every Mujahid must keep these rules; it is the duty of every Jihadist and true believer. Signed by the highest leader of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan. (Editor’s note: this Book of Rules was distributed initially to the 33 members of the Shura, the highest Taliban council, at their meeting during Ramadan 2006.)
Appendix 3 Political Parties Law CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1 This law is adopted pursuant to article 32 of the 1964 Constitution on the establishment, functions, rights, obligations and dissolution of political parties in Afghanistan. Article 2 In this law, “political party” means an organized society consisting of individuals which undertakes activities for attaining its political objectives, locally and/or nationwide, based on the provisions of this law and its own constitution. Article 3 The political system of the State of Afghanistan is based on the principles of democracy and pluralism of political parties. CHAPTER TWO: ESTABLISHMENT AND REGISTRATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES Article 4 Afghan citizens of voting age can freely establish a political party, irrespective of their ethnicity, race, language, tribe, sex, religion, education, occupation, lineage, assets and place of residence. Article 5 Political parties can function freely on the basis of the provisions of this law, and have equal rights and obligations before the law. Article 6 Political parties shall not: pursue objectives that are opposed to the principles of the holy religion Islam; use force, or threaten with, or propagate, the use of force; incite to ethnic, racial, religious or regional discrimination; create a real danger to the rights and freedom of individuals or intentionally disrupt public order and security; have military organizations or affiliations with armed forces; receive funds from foreign sources.
Article 7 The headquarters and any regional offices of a political party shall be located in Afghanistan. The government shall ensure the security and safety of the political party’s offices. Article 8 All political parties shall be registered with the Ministry of Justice. The procedure for establishing and registering political parties shall be regulated by separate regulation. Article 9 The Ministry of Justice may refuse the registration of political parties which: (a) do not fulfill the requirement of Article 6 (b) have fewer than 700 members at the time of registration (c) wish to register under the name of a political party that has already been registered. Article 10 If the Ministry of Justice rejects the registration of a political party, the applicant shall have the right to appeal to the relevant court. Article 11 A political party may officially start its activities after being registered by the Ministry of Justice. Article 12 A registered political party shall enjoy the following rights: Independent political activity; Permanent or temporary political alliance or coalition with other political parties; Open and free expression of opinions, both in writing and verbally, on political, social, economical and cultural issues, and peaceful assembly; Establishing an independent publication organ; Access to the media at the expense of the political party; Introducing candidates at all elections; Other rights in accordance with the aims and duties of a political party as indicated in its constitution. Article 13 Afghan citizens who have completed the age of 18 and have the right to vote can acquire membership of a political party. A person shall not be member of more than one political party at a time. Judges, prosecutors, leading cadres of the armed forces, officers, noncommissioned officers, other military personnel, police officers, and personnel of national security, shall not be members of a political party during their tenure of office.
CHAPTER THREE: FINANCIAL MATTERS Article 14 The funds and expenses of political parties shall be public and transparent. Article 15 (1) Political parties may receive income from the following sources: (a) Membership contributions, (b) Donations by Afghan natural persons up to two million afghanis per year, (c) Income from a party’s movable and immovable property, (d) Subsidies by the government in connection with elections, (e) Other contributions by members. (2) Political parties shall register all their income with relevant offices and deposit it in a bank account. Article 16 The leadership of the political party shall bear financial responsibility during its tenure. In order to carry out its financial affairs, the leadership of the political party shall appoint one or more authorized representatives and introduce their signatures to the relevant bank. The movable and immovable property of political parties shall be registered in the office of the party and in the Ministry of Finance through legalized documents. CHAPTER FOUR: DISSOLUTION OF A POLITICAL PARTY Article 17 The dissolution of a political party shall not be ordered unless: the party uses force, or threatens with the use of force or uses force to overthrow the legal order of the country, or the party has a military organization or affiliations with armed forces, lawful measures taken to prevent the situations mentioned in subitem 1 of this Article are not effective, or the party acts against the articles of the Constitution and/or this law. Article 18 The Supreme Court shall, upon the request of the Minister of Justice, order the dissolution of a political party according to the articles of this law. Article 19 The Supreme Court shall consider a request for dissolution of the political party as a priority matter and in the shortest possible time. The hearings of the Supreme Court shall be open to the public. Article 20 The leader or the authorized representative of the political party shall have the right to request the Council of the Supreme Court to replace the presiding officer or one or more of the judges. If the Council of the Supreme Court considers the request justified, it shall appoint another
presiding officer or judge. Article 21 The leader or authorized representative of the political party shall have the right to be heard and to participate in the hearings of the Supreme Court. Article 22 The Supreme Court shall fully state its reasons when ordering the dissolution of a political party. The order by the court for the dissolution of the political party shall be definite and final, and shall be published by mass media. CHAPTER FIVE: FINAL PROVISIONS Article 23 All political parties and political organizations shall register in accordance with the provisions of this law. Political parties shall not enjoy the rights in this law unless they are registered. Article 24 Financial and commercial governmental organs, and the responsible officials heading those organs, shall not use their position to favor or to disadvantage any political party. Article 25 This law shall be in effect from the date it is published in the Official Gazette. This law shall abolish the political parties’ law published in the Official Gazette No. (733), dated 29/10/1369.
Appendix 4 Durrani Genealogy The genealogy presented here is an edited version of diagrams produced in 1896 by Captain (later Sir) A. H. McMahon, head of the Afghan Boundary Commission of 1894–1895 and the Sistan Mission, 1903–1905. It was part of a memorandum on the Durranis by the British-Indian military intelligence branch. McMahon claimed that the genealogies were the “result of careful enquiry and are based on the information given to me by influential members of each of the numerous families concerned. They embrace the whole of the Durani tribe.” McMahon’s compilation ends with the 19th century. The diagrams show the major descendants of the Barakzai (without the Muhammadzai), Achakzai, Popalzai (including the Sadozai), and Alikozai. Of the Panjpai, only the most important, the Nurzai branch, is included. For a genealogy of the Muhammadzai branch, updated partly to 2008, see Adamec’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Afghanistan (2008). Other genealogies of the Pashtun tribes can be found in Hayat-i Afghan and the Tawarikh-i Khurshid-i Jahan of Sher Muhammad Khan, published in 1311/1894. Except for the updated Muhammadzai branch, all genealogies quoted here do not go beyond the late 19th century.
Diagram 1: Durranis 1A: Durranis 1B: Durranis 2: Nurzais 3: Durranis 4: Alakozai 5: Sadozais 6: Sadozais 7: Sadizais 7A: Sadozais 8: Ahmad Shah 9: Timur Shah
Page 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491
Diagram 10: Shahzaman 11: Shahzaman 12: Timur Shah 12A: Timur Shah 13: Timur Shah 14: Achakzai 15: Achakzai 16: Achakzai 17: Achakzai 18: Muhammadzai 19: Muhammadzais
Page 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502
Bibliography INTRODUCTION The sources presented in the following sections are a representative selection of books and articles, with special emphasis on materials in English. Because French and German scholars have been pioneering in certain fields (archaeology and the sciences), a number of sources in French and German are also listed. The reader who desires a comprehensive survey may refer to the bibliographies listed below, especially the one by Keith McLachlan and William Whittaker (1983). An excellent, though dated, bibliography is the two-volume Bibliographie der Afghanistan-Literatur (1968 and 1969), which also lists sources in Dari and Pashtu. Scholars may obtain access to the library of the Bibliotheca Afghanica, founded by Paul Bucherer-Dietsche, which is located in Liestal, Switzerland. The Afghanistan Archiv of the Institut für Entwicklungsforschung und Entwicklungspolitik of the Ruhr University of Bochum has a considerable amount of material in the fields of economics and the sciences. Probably the best library for Dari/Pashtu sources in the United States is at the Center for Afghanistan Studies in Omaha, Nebraska, headed by Thomas E. Gouttierre. The center published two catalogs of its sources in 1995, compiled by Shaista Wahab, entitled Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection Bibliography, Vol. 1, Pashto and Dari Titles; and Bibliography of the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection at the University Library, University of Nebraska at Omaha. Both are available from the center. The Centre de Recherches et d’Études Documentaires sur l’Afghanistan in Paris, France, published in 1994 a bibliography of its sources by Xavier Pette, entitled Afghanistan: Catalogue des Livres, Monographies, Périodiques de la Bibliothèque du CEREDAF and a detailed chronology, entitled Afghanistan: Chronologie, 1973–2001 (2002) by Etienne Gille et al. The most important sources for archival materials are the National Archives of India at New Delhi, India, and the British Library Oriental and India Office Collection in London, England. German foreign ministry archives exist on microfilm from about 1867 to 1945. Catalogs of files and microfilms of the German foreign ministry archives are available in the United States at major university libraries. Microfilm copies of German sources may be obtained from the United States National Archives in Washington, D.C. The Washington archives also have American consular reports and studies by various American agencies. Most foreign political archives are closed for a period of 25 years; but with special permission a scholar may obtain access to closed materials. The reader may note that we still have to rely on older studies in subjects where extensive field work is required. The reason for this is that almost 30 years unrest and war has not permitted that kind of research. On the other hand, we have a proliferation of publications on the politics of war and critical analyses of various regimes. Of general surveys up to the end of the monarchy, Vartan Gregorian’s The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan (1969) and Louis Duprees’s Afghanistan (1973) are the most
comprehensive. Afghanistan’s foreign relations to the 1960s are discussed in this author’s Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs to the Mid-Twentieth Century: Relations with the USSR, Germany, and Britain. The Marxist period and the subsequent wars are superbly examined by Anthony Arnold in Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion in Perspective and Afghanistan’s TwoParty Communism. Olivier Roy is one of the foremost experts on Afghan society and Islam, and his latest publication From Holy War to Civil War is a penetrating analysis of this period of transition. Barnett Rubin, a sociologist, published The Fragmentation of Afghanistan. Other publications of these authors are listed below. Also mentioned must be the works of Henry S. Bradsher, Mark Galeotti, Fred Halliday, Selig Harrison, William Maley, Asta Olesen, and Ahmed Rashid. Military history is covered by David C. Isby, Scott McMichael, Edgar O’Ballance, Mark Urban, and this author’s Historical Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies. A number of books have recently appeared about al-Qaeda, an important one being Rohan Gunaratna’s Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror. Biographical data is available in this author’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Afghanistan, and general information is presented in his Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. His six-volume Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan provides a wealth of geographical, tribal, and social information, and his Historical Dictionary of Islam presents an outline of Islamic law, history, and culture. GENERAL Bibliographies Beaureceuil, Serge de L. Manuscrits d’Afghanistan. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1964. Bleaney, C. H., and Heather Bleaney. Afghanistan: A Bibliography. New York: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006. Deutsches Orient Institut. Bibliographie der Afghanistan Literatur, 1945–1967. Vol. 1, Literatur in europäischen Sprachen. Vol. 2, Literature in orientalischen Sprachen. Hamburg and Bochum: Institut für Entwicklungsforschung und Entwicklungspolitik der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 1969. Hall, Lesley A. A Brief Guide to Sources for the Study of Afghanistan in the India Office Records. London: British Library, Oriental and India Office Collection, 1981. Jones, S. Afghanistan. World Bibliographical Service. Oxford: Clio Press, 1992. ———. An Annotated Bibliography of Nuristan (Kafiristan) and the Kalash Kafirs of Chitral: Selected Documents from the Secret and Political Records, 1885–1900. Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, part 1 (1966), part 2 (1969). Mayel-Harawi, Ghulam Reza. Fehrest-i Kutub-i Matbu’-i Afghanistan az Sal-i 1330 ila 1344. Kabul: Government Press, 1965. McLachlan, Keith, and William Whittaker. A Bibliography of Afghanistan. Cambridge, U.K.: Menas Press, 1983. Ovesen, J. “An Annotated Bibliography of Sources Relating to the Pashai People of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 32, no. 1 (1979): 87–98. Pette, Xavier. Afghanistan: Livres, Monographies, Périodiques. Paris: Centre de Recherches et d’Etudes sur l’Afghanistan, 1994. Pourhadi, Ibrahim V. Persian and Afghan Newspapers in the Library of Congress, 1871–1978. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979. Stwoda, M. Ibrahim, and Ahmad Ziya Mudarresi. Hutakian: Ketab-shenasi-yi Tausifi 1357/1978 (Bibliography of the Hotakis). Kabul: Government Press, 1357/1978. Wahab, Shaista. Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection Bibliography. Vol. 1, Pashto and Dari Titles. Lincoln, Neb.: Dageforde Publishing, 1995. ———. Bibliography of the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection at the University Library. Omaha: University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1995.
Witherell, Julian W. Afghanistan: An American Perspective: A Guide to U.S. Official Documents and GovernmentSponsored Publications. Washington, D.C.: 1986.
Archival Works Aitchison, C. U. A Collection of Treaties Engagements and Sanads Relating to India and Neighboring Countries. Vol. 13, Persia and Afghanistan. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing, 1933. Baluchistan Intelligence Bureau. Notes on the Tribes of Afghan Descent in Baluchistan. Quetta: Government of India, 1937. Bruce, C. E. The Tribes of Waziristan. London: India Office, 1929. Defense Mapping Agency. Gazetteer of Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: 1983. Dundas, A. D. F. Précis on Afghan Affairs, 1927–1936. New Delhi: Government of India, 1938. General Staff, India. Brief Gazetteer of the Most Important and Useful Place Names in the Waziristan District. Dera Ismail Khan: General Staff, 1935. (Official use only.) ———. A Dictionary of the Pathan Tribes on the North-West Frontier of India. Calcutta: Government of India, 1910. ———. Handbook of Kandahar Province, 1933. Simla: Government of India, 1933. (Secret.) ———. Military Report, Afghanistan. Delhi: Government of India, 1925. ———. Routes in Afghanistan, South-East. Calcutta: Government of India, 1937. Intelligence Branch, Army Headquarters, India. The Second Afghan War, 1878–80. Abridged Official Account, compiled by S. P. Oliver. London: 1908. Johnson, H. H. Notes on Mahsuds. London: India Office, 1934. Maconachie, R. R. Précis on Afghan Affairs, 1919–1927. Simla: Government of India, 1928. Maitland, P. J. A Note on the Movements of Turkoman Tribes. Simla: Government of India, 1888. Raverty, Henry G. Notes on Afghanistan and Part of Baluchistan. Reprint from 1888 edition. Quetta: Gosha-ye Adab, 1976. Ridgway, Major R. T. I. Handbooks for the Indian Army: Pathans. Calcutta: Government of India, 1910. Robinson, J. A. Notes on Nomad Tribes of Eastern Afghanistan. Peshawar: Government of India, 1934. (Confidential.) Wheeler, J. Talboys. Memorandum on Afghanistan Affairs, from A.D. 1700. Calcutta: Government of India, 1896. Wynne, LePoer. Narrative of Recent Events in Afghanistan from the Recovery of Candahar to the Conclusion of the Rebellion of Yacoob Khan. Simla: Government of India, 1871. (Secret.)
Dictionaries and Grammars Arayanpur-Kashani, Abbas. The Concise English–Persian Dictionary. Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1977. ———. The Concise Persian–English Dictionary. Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1976. ———. The New Unabridged English–Persian Dictionary. 6 vols. Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1963. Badakhshi, Shah Abdullah. A Dictionary of Some Languages and Dialects of Afghanistan. Kabul: Government Press, 1960. Chavarria-Aguilar, O. L. Pashto Basic Course. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1962. Dulling, G. K. The Hazaragi Dialect of Afghan Persian. London: Central Asian Research Center, 1973. Edelman, D. I. The Dardic and Nuristani Languages. Moscow: Nauka, 1983. Farhadi, A. G. Rawan. The Spoken Dari of Afghanistan. Kabul: Peace Corps, 1975. Gilbertson, George W. The Pakkhto Idiom: A Dictionary. 2 vols. Hertford, U.K.: Austin & Sons, 1932. Haim, S. The Larger English–Persian Dictionary. 2 vols. Tehran: Beroukhim, 1959, 1960. ———. New Persian–English Dictionary. 2 vols. Tehran: Beroukhim, 1960, 1962. Lorentz, M. Lehrbuch des Pashto/Afghanisch. Leipzig: VEB Verlag, 1979. Morgenstierne, Georg. An Etymological Vocabulary of Pashtu. Oslo: Det Norske Videnskaps-Academi, 1927. Pashtu Academy. English–Pushtu Dictionary. Kabul: Pashtu Academy, 1975. Penzl, Herbert. A Grammar of Pashto. Washington, D.C.: American Council of Learned Societies, 1955. ———. A Reader of Pashto. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1962. Phillot, D. C. Higher Persian Grammar. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1919. Raverty, H. G. Dictionary of the Pukhto, Pushto, Language of the Afghans. Karachi, Pakistan: Indus Publications, 1980. Steingass, F. A Comprehensive Persian–English Dictionary. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1957.
Yearbooks Afghanistan Almanac. A yearbook, published in Dari and Pashtu by the Afghan government from 1311/1932 under the title Salnama-yi Majalla-yi Kabul until 1940 and then called in Pashtu Da Kabul Kalanai and finally Da Afghanistan Kalanai. Kabul: Government Press.
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, Kabul, Afghanistan. The A to Z Guide to Afghanistan Assistance, 2009. Baryalai, Mahmud. Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Annual: Saur 7, 1358. Kabul: Government Press, 1979. ———. Republic of Afghanistan Annual. Kabul: Government Press, 1978. Danishyar, Abdul Aziz. Afghanistan Republic Annual, 1975. Kabul: Government Press, 1975. ———. Afghanistan Republic Annual, 1976. Kabul: Government Press, 1976. ———. Afghanistan Republic Annual, 1977. Kabul: Government Press, 1977. Khalil, Sayyid. The Kabul Times Annual, 1970. Kabul: Government Press, 1970. Rahimi, Nur M. The Kabul Times Annual, 1967. Kabul: Government Press, 1967. Yusufzai, G. R. Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Annual. Kabul: Government Press, 1980.
Guides and Description Abdul-Karim, Khan, and Lucien Ellington. Afghanistan: A Global Studies Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Abdul Rahim, Munshi. Journey to Badakhshan, 1879–80. Calcutta: Government of India, n.d. Adamec, Ludwig. Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan. 6 vols. 1972–1985. Graz: Acadmische Druck u. Verlagsanstalt, 1985. ———. Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. 3rd ed. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2003. Ali, Muhammad. A New Guide to Afghanistan. Kabul: Afghan Historical Society, 1958. Asia Foundation. Afghanistan in 2006: A Survey of Afghan People. Kabul: Asia Foundation, 2006. Batia, Shyam. Contemporary Afghanistan: A Political Dictionary. New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications, 2003. Boese, Mike, ed. The Al Qaeda Manual. Kingston, ON: Ace Tomato Productions, 2003. Dupaigne, Bernard, and Gilles Rossignol. Guide de Afghanistan. Lyon: Manufacture, 1989. Dupree, Nancy Hatch. Bamian. Kabul: Afghan Tourist Organization, 1967. ———. Herat: A Pictorial Guide. Kabul: Afghan Tourist Organization, 1966. ———. An Historical Guide to Afghanistan. Kabul: Afghan Tourist Organization, 1970. ———. An Historical Guide to Kabul. Kabul: Afghan Tourist Organization, 1977. ———. The Road to Balkh, Kabul, Koh-i-Daman, Salang, Pul-i-Khumri, Surkh Kotal, Samangan, Tashkurghan, Mazar-i-Sharif, Qunduz. Kabul: Government Press, 1967. Evans, Anne. A Guide to Government in Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2004. Fodor, Les Guides Modernes. Afghanistan. Paris: Edition Vilo, 1972. Gharghasht, Muhammad Naser. Rahnama-yi Kabul (A Guide to Kabul). Kabul: Government Press, 1345/1966. Girardet, Edward, and Jonathan Walter. Essential Field Guide to Afghanistan. Media Action International, 1998. Hayat Khan, Muhammad. Afghanistan and Its Inhabitants. Translated by Henry Priestley. Lahore, India: Indian Public Opinion Press, 1874. Kabul Times Publishing Agency. Afghanistan at a Glance. Kabul: 1967. Khan, Abdul Karim, and Lucien Ellington. Afghanistan: A Global Studies Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Klimburg, Max. Afghanistan. Wien: Austria Edition, 1966. Kohzad, Ahmad Ali. Bala Hesar-i Kabul. Kabul: Government Press, 1340/1961. Kraus, Willy. Afghanistan. Tübingen, Germany: Horst Erdmann Verlag, 1972. Kushkaki, Maulawi Burhanuddin. Rahnama-yi Qataghan wa Badakhshan. Kabul: Ministry of War, 1302/1923. Translated from Dari into French by Marguerite Reut under the title Qataghan et Badakhshan. Paris: Sorbonne, 1979. Oeppen, Ceri, and Angela Schlenkhoff. Beyond the “Wild Tribes”: Understanding Modern Afghanistan and Its Diaspora. London: Hurst, 2010. Omrani, Bijan, and Mettew Leeming. Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide. Hong Kong: Odyssey Books, 2005. ORBIS. Afghanistan Yesterday and Today. Prague: 1982. Poulton, Michelle, and Robin Poulton. Que Sais-je? L’Afghanistan. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1981. Research and Evaluation Unit. The A to Z Guide to Afghanistan. Kabul: 2006. Schinasi, May. Kaboul 1773–1948: Naissance et Croissance d’une Capital Royale. Naples: Universita degli Studi di Napoli Orientale, 2009. Tate, George P. The Kingdom of Afghanistan. Delhi: D. K. Publishing, 1973. Tissot, Francine, ed. Catalogue of the National Museum of Afghanistan. Paris: UNESCO, 2006. United States Government, Government Printing Office. Afghanistan: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Author, 1986. United States International Business Publications. Afghanistan Country Studies Guide. 2006.
Wolfe, Nancy Hatch (Dupree). The Valley of Bamian. Kabul: Afghan Tourist Organization, 1963. World Bank. A Guide to Government in Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2004.
Journals AfghaNews. Peshawar, Pakistan: Jam’iat Islami Afghanistan. Afghan Information Centre. Peshawar, Pakistan: Edited by Sayyid B. Majruh. Afghanistan Journal. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 1974–1982. Afghanistan Tribune. Aachen, Germany: Afghanisches Nachrichtenmagazin in Deutscher Sprache. American Universities Field Staff Reports: Afghanistan. New York: Louis Dupree. Central Asia: Journal of Area Study Centre. Peshawar, Pakistan: University of Peshawar. EFIS Afghans. Paris: Bureau International Afghanistan (BIA). Kultur. Bonn: Afghanisches Kulturzentrum. Les Nouvelles d’Afghanistan. Paris: Amitié Franco-Afghane (AFRANE). Writers Union of Free Afghanistan (WUFA). Peshawar, Pakistan: Editor-in-chief, Rasul A. Amin.
CULTURAL Archaeology and Prehistory Allchin, F. R., and N. Hammond. The Archaeology of Afghanistan from the Earliest Times to the Timurid Period. New York: Academic Press, 1978. Baker, P. H. B., and F. R. Alchin. Shahr-I Zohak and the History of the Bamian Valley. Oxford, U.K.: B. A. R., 1991. Ball, Warwick. Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan. 2 vols. Paris: Editions Recherches sur les Civilisations, 1982. ———. The Monuments of Afghanistan: History, Archaeology and Architecture. London: I. B. Tauris, 2008. Barger, Evert, and Philip Wright. Excavations in Swat and Explorations in the Oxus Territories of Afganistan. New Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1985. Barthoux, J. Les Fouilles de Hadda: Figures et Figurines. Paris: G. Van Oest, 1930. Basham, A. L. The Wonder That Was India. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1966. Behrendt, Kurt A., and Pia Brancaccio. Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, and Texts. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006. Bernard, P. “Ai Khanum on the Oxus: A Hellenistic City in Central Asia.” London: Proceedings of the British Academy, 1967. ———. “La Campagne de Fouilles de 1970 à Ai Khanoun (Afghanistan).” Paris: Comptes Rendus de l’Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 1971. Berre, M. Le, D. Schlumberger, and B. Dagens. “Monuments Pré-Islamiques d’Afghanistan.” Paris: Memoires de la Délégation Archeologique Française en Afghanistan 19, 1964. Bombaci, A. “Ghazni” East and West 8 (1957): 247–260. Courtois, J. C. “Summary of the History of Archaeological Research in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 16, no. 2 (1961): 18–29. Dor, R. “Lithoglyphes du Wakhan et du Pamir.” Afghanistan Journal 3, no. 4 (1976): 122–129. Dupaigne, Berard. Afghanistan: Monuments Millénaires. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 2007. Dupree, L. “An Archaeological Survey of N. Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 15, no. 3 (1960): 13–15. ———. “Results of a Survey for Palaeolithic Sites in Dasht-i-Nawur.” Afghanistan 29, no. 2 (1976): 55–63. Fischer, K. “Archaeological Field Surveys in Afghan Seistan, 1960–1970.” Edited by N. Hammond. South Asian Archaeology (1973): 131–155. Foucher, A. “The French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan Oct. 1922–Nov. 1925.” Paris: Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions 1927, 117–123. Franz, H. G. “Der Buddhistishe Stupa in Afghanistan, Ursprünge und Entwicklung.” Afghanistan Journal 4, no. 4 (1977): 131– 143, and 5, no. 1 (1978): 26–38. ———. “Erste Monographie zur Archäologie Afghanistans.” Afghanistan Journal 6, no. 4 (1979): 109–116. Fussman, G. “Daniel Schlumberger, 1904–1972.” Bulletin de l’Ecole Française d’Extrème-Orient 60 (1973): 411–422. ———. Monuments Buddhiques de la Region de Caboul. Paris: Boccard, 1976. Gaulier, S. Buddhism in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1976. Ghirshman, R. “Die Franzosische Archäologische Forschung in Iran und Afghanistan, 1940–1952.” Saeculum, Jahrbuch für Universal Geschichte 4, no. 1 (1952). Golombek, Lisa. The Timurid Shrine in Gazur Gah. Royal Ontario Museum, 1969. Goya, Sarwar. “The Green Dome of the Mausoleum of the Timurid Princess.” Afghanistan 1, no. 1 (January–March 1946):
16–17. Grenet, F., J. Lee, and R. Pinder-Wilson. “Les Monuments Anciens du Gorzivan (Afghanistan du Nord-Ouest).” Afghanistan Quarterly 33, no. 3 (1980): 17–51. Grousset, R. “Un Savant Français: Joseph Hackin.” Revue de Paris 52, no. 1 (1945): 78–85; Afghanistan 5, no. 4 (1950): 1– 12. Hackin, J. Diverses Recherches Archeologiques en Afghanistan (1933–1940). Paris: Presses Universitaire de France, 1959. ———. “The Recent Work of the French Archaeological Mission at Bamiyan.” Indian Art and Letters 8, no. 1 (1934): 36–42. ———. “Recherches Archéologiques en Afghanistan.” Revue de l’Art Ancien et Moderne (1937): 302–304. Hallet, Stanley Ira, and Rafi Samizay. Traditional Architecture in Afghanistan. New York: Garland, 1980. Hiebert, Fredrik T. Origin of the Bronze Age Oasis Civilization in Central Asia. Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum, 1994. Jackson, A. V. W. “The Tomb of the Moghul Emperor Babar in Afghanistan.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 68, no. 3 (1929): 195–207. Jettmar, K. “Bronze Axes from the Karakoram.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 105, no. 1 (1961): 98– 104. Kazimee, Bashir A. Urban/Rural Dwelling Environments: Kabul, Afghanistan, Case Studies, Proposed Model. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1977. Knobloch, Edgar. Monuments of Central Asia. New York: I. B. Tauris, 2001. ———. “Survey of Archaeology and Architecture in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 8, no. 1 (1981): 3–20. Kohzad, A. A. “Archaeology in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan (1956): 1–8. Krieken-Pieters, Juliette van. Art and Archaeology of Afghanistan: Its Fall and Survival, a Multi-disciplinary Approach. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2006. Masson, C. “Notes on the Antiquities of Bamian.” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1836): 707. Moline, J. “The Minaret of Jam.” Kunst des Orients 9 (1973–1974): 131–148. Motamedi, A. A. “Hada after the Last Seasons of Excavation at Tepe Hotor.” Afghanistan 32, no. 3 (1979): 49–55. Papadopoulos-Marigo, Véra. Hadda au Royaume de Nagarahara en Afghanistan. Lieu de Passages et de Rencontres. Une Recherche Historique. Paris: Université, Paris IV, 1995. Pugachenkova, G. A. “A l’Etude des Monuments Timurides d’Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 23, no. 3 (1970): 24–49. Sarianidi, V. I. The Golden Hoard of Bactria: From the Tillya-Tepe Excavations in Northern Afghanistan. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1985. Schlumberger, Daniel. “The Archaeological Exploration of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 2, no. 4 (1947). ———. Le Temple de Surkh Kotal en Bactriane. Vols. 2, 3, and 4. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, Journal Asiatique, 1954, 1955, and 1964. Szabo, Albert, and Thomas J. Barfield. Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991. Trousdale, W. “The Homeland of Rustam.” Afghanistan 29, no. 2 (1976): 64–71. Van Krieker-Peters, Juliette. Art and Archaeology of Afghanistan. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2006.
Architecture Anand, M. R. “The Development of Islamic Architecture in Afghanistan.” Marg 24, no. 1 (1970): 17–46. Ball, Warwick. The Monuments of Afghanistan: History, Archaeology and Architecture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Bechhoefer, W. B. “Architectural Education in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 4, no. 4 (1977): 147–148. ———. “Serai Lakon: Traditional Housing in the Old City of Kabul.” Afghanistan Journal 3, no. 1 (1976): 3–15. Behrendt, Kurt A. Buddhist Architecture of Gandhara. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2004. Edelberg, Lennart. Nuristani Buildings. Aarhus, Denmark: Jutland Archaeological Society, 1984. Emadi, Hafizullah. “Kabul.” In Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures: Cities and Cultures around the World. Vol. 2. Danbury, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files at Yale University, Grolier, 2002. Etemadi, Goya. “The General Mosque of Herat.” Afghanistan 8, no. 2 (1953): 40–50. Fischer, K. “Interrelations of Islamic Architecture in Afghanistan: The Remains of Afghan Seistan.” Marg 24, no. 1 (1970): 47– 56. Frye, R. N. “Notes on the History of Architecture in Afghanistan.” Ars Islamica 11–12 (1946): 200–202. ———. “Observations on Architecture in Afghanistan.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6, no. 29 (1946): 129–138. Hallet, S. I., and R. Samizay. Traditional Architecture of Afghanistan. New York: Garland, 1980.
Marigo, Alain. “Herat sous les Timourides 15–16ème Siècle.” Paris: Les Nouvelles d’Afghanistan, 41–42 (March 1989). Najimi, Abdul Wasay. Herat: The Islamic City, a Study in Urban Conservation. Copenhagen: Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies, 1988. Pope, Arthur Upham. Persian Architecture: The Triumph of Form and Color. New York: G. Braziller, 1965. Raji, Abdul Shukoor. “Traditional Dwellings: Domestic Heating Systems of Afghanistan.” Master’s thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1986. Stark, F. The Minaret of Djam: An Excursion in Afghanistan. London: J. Murray, 1970.
Linguistics and Literature Ahmad, Aisha, and Roger Boase. Pashtun Tales. London: Saqi, 2008. Ahmadi, Wali. Modern Persian Literature in Afghanistan: Anomalous Visions of History and Form. New York: Routledge, 2008. Ali, M. “Khushhal Khan Khattak, the Soldier Poet.” Afghanistan 17, no. 3 (1962): 1–6. ———. “Maulana Jalal-du-Din Balkhi, the Great Sufi Poet and Profound Philosopher.” Afghanistan 18, no. 1 (1963): 1–12. Barret, P., and J. Ahmad. A Collection of Afghan Legends. Kabul: Education Press, 1970. Beaureceuil, Serge de. “Abdullah Ansari, a Profile.” Afghanistan 29, no. 1 (1976): 88–90. ———. “Studying Ansari of Herat.” Afghanistan 29, no. 1 (1976): 91–97. Becka, Jiri. “Young Afghan Prose in Dari.” Afghanistan Journal 5, no. 3 (1978). Benava, A. R. “Les Poétesses de l’Aryana.” Afghanistan 9, no. 3 (1954): 49–55. Bezhan, Faridullah. “A Contemporary Writer from Afghanistan: Akram Osman and His Short Stories.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 35, no. 1 (2008): 21–36. Biddulph, C. E. Afghan Poetry of the Seventeenth Century, Being Selections from the Poems of Khosh Hal Khan Khatak. London: Kegan Paul, 1890. Breshna, A. G. “Haji Mirwais Khan, an Historical Play.” Afghanistan 23, no. 2 (1970). Dhar, Asha. “Folk Tales of Afghanistan.” In Folk Tales of the World. New Delhi: Sterling, 1982. Dupree, L. “Ajmal Khattak, Revolutionary Pushtun Poet.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 20, no. 9 (1976). Dvorjankov, N. A. “The Development of Pushtu as the National and Literary Language of Afghanistan.” Central Asian Review 14, no. 3 (1966): 210–220. Farhadi, A. G. R. “The Meaning of Love According to Mawlana Jalaluddin of Balkh.” Afghanistan 29, no. 1 (1976): 1–7. Fussman, G. Atlas Linguistique des Parlers Dardes et Kafirs. 2 vols. Paris: Ecole Française d’Extrême Orient, 1972. Gilbertson, George W. The Baluchi Language: A Grammar and Manual. Hertford: Gilbertson, 1923. Habibi, A. H. “Pashto Literature at a Glance.” Afghanistan 20, no. 4 (1968): 51–64; 21, no. 1, 53–57. Moran, Neil K. Kipling and Afghanistan. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2005. Morgenstierne, G. Indo-Iranian Frontier Languages. 3 vols. Oslo: Instituttet for Sammenlignend Kulturforskning, 1929–1944. ———. “The Languages of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 20, no. 3 (1967): 81–90. Weiers, M. “Die Sprache der Hazara und der Mongolen von Afghanistan in Lexikostatischer Sicht.” Afghanistan Journal 2, no. 3 (1975): 98–102.
Travel Akbar, Said Hyder. Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager’s Story. New York: Bloomsbury, 2005. Bonner, Arthur. Among the Afghans. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1987. Byron, Robert. The Road to Oxiana. London: Macmillan, 1937. Ferrier, Joseph P. Caravan Journeys and Wanderings in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkestan and Baloochistan, with Historical Notices on the Countries Lying between Russia and India. London: J. Murray, 1857/1976. Foster, Leila M. Afghanistan: Enchantment of the World. New York: Children’s Press, 1997. Gauhari, Farooka. Searching for Salem: An Afghan Woman’s Odyssey. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. Jones, Ann. Kabul in Winter: Life without Peace in Afghanistan. New York: Metropolitan, 2006. Michaud, Roland, and Sabrina Michaud. Caravans to Tartary. New York: Viking, 1978. Millepoix, Camille, et al. Afghanistan in Pictures. New York: Sterling, 1989. Palmer, Louis. Adventures in Afghanistan. London: Octagon, 1990. Petkov, Boris. Afghanistan Today: Impressions of a Journalist. New Delhi: Sterling, 1984. Seierstad, Asne, and Ingrid Christophersen. The Bookseller of Kabul. London: Little, Brown, 2003. Vollmann, William T. An Afghanistan Picture Show: Or How I Saved the World. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992.
ECONOMIC General Armstrong, J., and A. Ager. “Perspectives on Disability in Afghanistan and Their Implications for Rehabilitation Services.” International Journal of Rehabilitation Research 28, no. 1 (2005): 87–92. Asian Development Bank. Economic Report on Afghanistan. Kabul: ADB, 1973. Asiel, M. A., and G. Schmitt-Rink. Aussenhandel und ‘Terms of Trade’ Afghanistans 1961–1975. Bochum, Germany: Studienverlag, 1979. Balland, D. “Une Nouvelle Génération d’Industries en Afghanistan. Contribution à l’Etude de l’Industrialisation du Tiersmonde.” Bulletin de la Société Languedocienne de Géographie 7, no. 1 (1973). Buescher, H., N. Assad, and H. Berger. “Betriebswirschaftiche Probleme in Afghanischen Industrieunternehmen.” Afghanische Studien (Meisenheim, Germany: Anton Hain) 17 (1977). BusinessWeek. “Afghanistan: The Economy.” 7 January 2002, 16. Chouvy, Pierre-Arnaud. Opium: Uncovering the Politics of the Poppy. London: I. B. Tauris, 2009. Cressey, George B., and Aloys Arthur Michel. “Review of the Kabul, Kunduz, and Helmand Valleys and the National Economy of Afghanistan.” Geographical Review 50, no. 4 (1960): 609–610. Dorner, K. Entwicklung und Entwicklungpolitik in Afghanistan. Bochum, Germany: Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 1967. Felbab-Brown, Vanda. “Kicking the Opium Habit? Afghanistan’s Drug Economy and Politics since the 1980s.” Conflict, Security & Development 6, no. 2 (June 2006): 127–149. Fry, M. J. The Afghan Economy: Money, Finance and the Critical Constraints to Economic Development. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1974. ———. The Financial Institutions of Afghanistan: Description and Analysis. Kabul: USAID, 1973. ———. Kabul and Kandahar Money Bazaars: Their Role in Afghanistan Foreign Trade. Kabul: USAID, 1973. Goodhand, Jonathan. “From Holy War to Opium War? A Case Study of the Opium Economy in North Eastern Afghanistan.” Central Asian Survey 19, no. 2 (2000): 265–280. ———. “From War Economy to Peace Economy: Reconstruction and State Building in Afghanistan.” Journal of International Affairs (New York) 58, no. 1 (2004): 155. ———. “Frontiers and Wars: The Opium Economy in Afghanistan.” Journal of Agrarian Change 5, no. 2 (2005): 191–216. Guha, Amalendu. “Economic Development of Afghanistan, 1929–1961.” International Studies 6 (1965): 421–439. ———. “The Rise of Capitalistic Enterprises in Afghanistan, 1929–45.” Indian Economic and Social History Review 1 (1963): 145–176. Jalalzai, Musa Khan. Pipeline War in Afghanistan: Oil, Gas, and the New Energy Great Game. Lahore, Pakistan: Sang-e Meel Publications, 2003. ———. The Political Economy of Afghanistan. Lahore, Pakistan: Sang-e Meel Publications, 2003. Jazayery, Leila. “Migration Development Nexus: Afghanistan Case Study.” International Migration 40, no. 5 (2002): 231– 254. Jensch, W. Die Afghanischen Entwicklngspläne vom Ersten bis zum Dritten Plan. Meisenheim, Germany: Verlag Anton Hain, 1973. Kanun, M. H. “The System of Taxation of Afghanistan in the Nineteenth Century.” Afghanistan 30, no. 3 (1977): 1–26. McChesney, R. D. “The Economic Reforms of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan.” Afghanistan 21, no. 3 (1968): 11–34. Nafziger, E. Wayne, Frances Stewart, and Raimo Vayrnen. War, Hunger and Displacement: The Origins of Humanitarian Emergencies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Noorzoy, M. Siddieq. “Alternative Economic Systems for Afghanistan.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 15 (1983). Paul, A. “Constraints on Afghanistan’s Economic Development and Prospects for the Future.” Asia 29 (1973): 1–15. Picard, P. A Chief Social and Economic Survey of the Central Provinces. Kabul: Ministry of Agriculture. Rubin, Barnett R. “The Political Economy of War and Peace in Afghanistan.” World Development 28, no. 10 (2000): 1789. Stilz, D. Entwicklung und Struktur der Afghanischen Industrie. Meisenheim, Germany: Verlag Anton Hain, 1974. United States Agency for International Development. Afghanistan—Financial Development Committee Reports 1973. Kabul: 1973. Wennmann, Achim. “Resourcing the Recurrence of Intrastate Conflict: Parallel Economies and Their Implications for Peacebuilding.” Security Dialogue 36, no. 4 (2005): 479–494.
Agriculture
Allan, Nigel J. R. “Men and Crops in the Central Hindukush.” Thesis, Syracuse University, New York, 1979. Allen, R. H. Agricultural Development in Afghanistan. Kabul: Nathan Associates, 1965. Amin, H. Agricultural Geography of Afghanistan. Kabul: Kabul University, 1974. Anderson, Jon Lee. “The Taliban’s Opium War: The Difficulties and Dangers of the Eradication Program.” New Yorker, 9 July 2007, 60–71. Borcherdt, Edward. Winning the Invisible War: An Agricultural Pilot Plan for Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: Center for Technological National Security Policy, 2008. Brandolini, G. V. “Options for Market and the State in Afghan Agriculture.” Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development 100, nos. 1–2 (2006). Bruno, Greg. “Nourishing Afghanistan’s Agricultural Sector.” Council on Foreign Relations. Washington, D.C.: 2009. Burns, R. H. Helmand Valley and Research Programs. Kabul: Wyoming Team, 1957. Coleman, J. C. Afghanistan: Helmand-Argandab Valley Project Executive Management. Bost, Afghanistan: USAID, 1967. Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The Democratic Land Reforms in Afghanistan: Full Action to Uproot Feudalism. Kabul, n.d. International Cooperation Administration, et al. Development of Afghan Agriculture. Kabul: ICA, 1960. Janata, A. “Landwirtschaftliche Struktur Afghanistan.” Bustan 3 (1963): 36–48. Kubei, Sam, and Shahabuddin Shahab. “Analysis of the Seed Market in Afghanistan.” Kabul: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2007. Lateef, N. V. Characteristics and Problems of Agriculture in Afghanistan. Background Country Study 5. Rome: FAO, 1957. Lewis, R. H. General Description of Afghanistan and Its Agriculture. Kabul: USAID, n.d. Maletta, Hector. “Arable Land Tenure in Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era.” African and Asian Studies 6, no. 1 (2007): 52. McDowell, N. “Looting and Vandalism Threaten Afghanistan Seed Distribution.” Nature 419 (12 September 2002): 1. Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (Afghanistan). First Five Year Plan of Ministry of Agriculture. Kabul: 1957. ———. Summary of Five Year Plan of Ministry of Agriculture, 1961–1966. Kabul: 1961. Ministry of Planning (Afghanistan). Afghan Agriculture in Figures. Kabul: 1978. Pain, Adam, and Jacky Sutton. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Warwickshire, U.K.: Practical Action Publishing, 2007. ———. Reconstructing Agriculture in Afghanistan. Warwickshire, U.K.: Practical Action Publishing, 2007. Schah-Zeidi, M. “Die Afghanische Agrarverfassung.” Bustan 8, no. 3 (1967): 36–48. Senzai, M. O., and R. K. Harlan. Agrifacts: Report on Economic Survey of Agriculture in Nangarhar Province. Kabul: Kabul University, 1965. Stevens, I. M., and K. Tarzi. Economics of Agricultural Production in Helmand Valley, Afghanistan. Denver, Colo.: U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 1965. Sutton, Jacqueline. Reconstructing Afghanistan: Agriculture and Food Security. Practical Action Publishing, 2007. Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. Agricultural Survey of Afghanistan: Repatriation and Rehabilitation of Afghan Refugees. Peshawar: 1993. ———. Farming Systems in Afghanistan. Peshawar: 1993. ———. Farming Systems of Maydan Shahr District. Wardak: 1992. ———. Farming Systems of Mehterlam, Laghman Province. Peshawar: 1992. ———. Farming Systems of Nad Ali District, Helmand Province. Peshawar: 1992. ———. Farming Systems of Nejrab District, Kapisa Province. Peshawar: 1992. ———. Farming Systems of Qarabagh District, Ghazni Province. Peshawar: 1992. ———. Farming Systems of Shulgara District, Balkh. Peshawar: 1992. ———. Farm Power. Peshawar: 1989. ———. Northern Afghanistan Food Deficit Survey. Peshawar: 1990. ———. Northern Afghanistan Insect Damage Survey. Peshawar: 1990. ———. Regional Farming Problems. Peshawar: 1991. ———. Repatriation and Rehabilitation of Afghan Refugees. Peshawar: 1993. ———. Repatriation and Rehabilitation Survey, Part III, Kandahar. Peshawar: 1992. ———. Repatriation and Rehabilitation Survey, Part IV, Central Nangarhar. Peshawar: 1992. ———. Repatriation and Rehabilitation Survey, Part V, Western Paktia. Peshawar: 1992. ———. Survey, 1991, Fourteenth Report. Peshawar: 1992. Tkachev, N. D. Survey of Land and Water Resources: Afghanistan, General Report. Rome: FAO Reports, UN, 1965. Wesa, Tooryalai. Afghan Agricultural Extension System: The Impact of Neglect and Prospects for the Future. New York: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009.
Mining and Minerals “Afghanistan.” World Oil 157, no. 3 (1967): 188–189. “Afghanistan.” World Petroleum Report, 1973, 1974, 1975. Aurah, A. L., and A. Q. Majeed. “Case History of the Khwaja Gogerdak and Yatim Tagh Gas Fields of Northern Afghanistan.” Third ECAFE Symposium on the Development of Petrol Resources in Asia and the Far East 3, no. 43 (1965). Bouladon, J., and A. F. de Lapparent. “The Hajigak Iron Ore Deposit: Afghanistan Stratigraphic Position, Geological Environment and Paragenesis (Lower Paleozoic).” Miner Deposita 10, no. 1 (1975): 13–25. Bruckl, K. “Die Minerallagerstätten von Ost-Afghanistan; Versuch einer Gliederung nach Genetischen Gesichtspunkten.” Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Abhandlungen 72, no. 1 (1936): 1–97. Economist. “Business—Mining in Afghanistan—Copper Bottomed?” Economist (London) 381, no. 8505 (2006): 84. Fuchs, G., A. Matura, and O. Schermann. “Preliminary Report on Geological and Mineral Investigations in Nurestan, Afghanistan.” Verhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt 1 (1974): 9–23. Furon, R. “Les Resources Minières de l’Afghanistan.” Revue Scientifique, 1924. Geological Survey. Assessing the Coal Resources of Afghanistan. Reston, Va.: U.S. Department of the Interior, 2005. Hendrikson, K. H. Industrial Survey, 1966/67–1969/70. Kabul: Ministry of Mines and Industries, 1971. International Business Publications. “Afghanistan Mining Laws and Regulations Handbook.” International Business Publications USA, 2008. Kalukievicz, A. “Emerald Mining in Afghanistan.” Mining Engineering 57, no. 9 (2005): 17–21. Kinney, G. T., ed. “Survey Finds Gas Prospects Good in N. Afghanistan.” Oil and Gas Journal 75, no. 15 (1977): 40. Kulke, H. “Die Lapislazuli-Lagerstätte Sare Sang (Badakhshan). Geologie, Entstehung, Kulturgeschichte und Bergbau.” Afghanistan Journal 3 (1976): 43–56. Mazina, B. G. Mineral Resources of Iran and Afghanistan. Moscow: Gol Izdat, 1949. Parker, Kevin. “Surrounded by Riches, Afghanistan Seeks to Mine Its Own.” Hart’s E&P 82, no. 5 (2009). Rossovskiy, L. N., and V. M. Chmyrev. “Distribution Patterns of Rare-Metal Pegmatites in the Hindu Kush (Afghanistan).” International Geological Review 19, no. 5 (1977): 511–520. Rossovskiy, L. N., V. M. Chmyrev, and A. S. Salakh. “New Fields and Belts of Rare-Metal Pegmatites in the Hindu Kush (Eastern Afghanistan).” International Geological Review 18 (1976): 1339–1342. Shroder, John F., Jr. The USSR and Afghanistan Mineral Resources. Omaha: University of Nebraska at Omaha, n.d. Smith, G. I. Potash and Other Evaporite Resources of Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey 75/89, 1975. Weber, G. “Afghanistan (Petroleum Production Statistics).” International Petroleum Encyclopaedia 10 (1977). Williams, L. “Afghanistan Coal (Development).” Mining Magazine 136, no. 6 (1977): 509.
Water Ahmadi, Mumtaz A., and Robin Saha. Recommendations for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Projects. Kabul: VDM Verlag, 2009. Anderson, Ian McAllister. Water Management, Lifestock and the Opium Economy. Kabul: Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, 2006. Auden, J. B., and A. E. Pallister. “Survey of Land and Water Resources.” Afghanistan 2, nos. 1–2 (1965). Brice, Charles. “Teamwork to Improve Irrigation in Afghanistan.” Military Engineer 101 (1–2): 2009. Favre, Raphy, and Gholam Monowar Kamal. Watershed Atlas of Afghanistan. Vols. 1 and 2. Kabul: AIZON, 2004. Field, N. C. “The Amu Darya: A Study in Resource Geography.” Geographical Review 44 (1954): 528–542. Fitzherbert, Anthony. “Water Management, Lifestock and the Opium Economy.” Kabul: AREU, 2007. Hagen, E., and J. F. Teufert. Flooding in Afghanistan: A Crisis in Threats to Global Water Security. Netherlands: Springer, 2009. Helmand River Delta Commission. Report of the Helmand River Delta Commission: Afghanistan and Iran. Kabul: Author, 1951. Jentsch, C. “Die Kareze in Afghanistan.” Erdkunde 24, no. 2 (1970): 112–120. Kreutzmann, Hermann. Sharing Water: Irrigation and Water Management in the Hudukush, Karakorum, and Himalaya. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2000. Latkovich, Vito J. Activities of the Senior Field Engineer, Surface-Water Research Project, Afghanistan, 1964–68. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1968. Lee, Jonathan L. Water Management, Livestock and Opium Economy: Social Water Management. Kabul: Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, 2006.
Masood, Ahmad. Water Resource Development in Northern Afghanistan and Its Implications for Amu Darya Besin. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2004. McEwen, Alec, and Sharna Nolan. Water Management, Livestock and the Opium Economy. Kabul: Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, 2007. Merz, Juerg. Water Balances, Floods and Sediment Transport in the Hindu Kush Himalayas: Data Analyses, Modelling and Comparison of Selected Meso-Scale Catchments. Bern, Switzerland: Institute of Geography, 2004. Proctor and Redfern International Ltd. Water Supply, Sewage Drainage and Solid Waste Systems for Greater Kabul. 3 vols. Kabul: World Health Organization, n.d. Rathjens, C. “Das Hilmend-Projekt in Afghanistan.” Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen 100 (1956). Rawlinson, H. C. “Monograph on the Oxus.” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 42 (1872). Schockley, Dale R. Irrigation Structures, Helmand Valley, Afghanistan. San Francisco, Calif.: International Engineering Co., 1961. Thompson, J. T., et al. “Snow Harvesting: A Potential Water Source for Afghanistan.” Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. Kabul: 2009. Westfall, Arthur O. Surface Water Investigations in Afghanistan, 1952–1969. Washington, D.C.: USAID, 1969. Westfall, Arthur, and V. J. Latkovich. Surface Water Resources Investigations Plan for Afghanistan. Kabul: USAID, 1966. World Health Organization. Water Quality in Afghanistan. WHO, 1972.
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL Early Period to the End of the Monarchy Abdul Ghani. A Brief Political History of Afghanistan. Edited by Abdul Jaleel Nafji. Lahore, Pakistan: Najaf Publishers, 1989. Abu Zahab, Mariam, and Olivier Roy. Islamist Networks: The Afghanistan-Pakistan Connection. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Adamec, Ludwig W. Afghanistan 1900–1923: A Diplomatic History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. ———. Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs to the Mid-Twentieth Century: Relations with the USSR, Germany, and Britain. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1974. ———. Historical and Political Who’s Who of Afghanistan. Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1975. ———. Les Dourranis aux 18e et 19e Siècle. Paris: CEREDAF, 1995. ———. Mission of an Afghan Prince to London: Nasrullah Khan’s Visit to Britain as Reflected in the Press. Occasional paper 33. New York: Afghanistan Forum, 1995. Alder, G. J. British India’s Northern Frontier 1865–95: A Study in Imperial Policy. London: Longmans, 1963. Ali, Mohammed. Afghanistan (The Mohammadzai Period): A Political History of the Country since the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century with Emphasis on Its Foreign Relations. Lahore, Pakistan: Punjab Educational Press, 1959. ———. Aryana or Ancient Afghanistan. Kabul: Afghan Historical Society, 1957. ———. “The Battle of Maiwand.” Afghanistan 10, no. 2 (1955): 26–38. ———. A Cultural History of Afghanistan. Lahore, Pakistan: Punjab Educational Press, 1964. Anwar Khan, M. England, Russia and Central Asia: A Study in Diplomacy, 1857–1878. Peshawar, Pakistan: 1963. Barry, Michael. History of Modern Afghanistan. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Bellew, Henry W. Afghanistan and the Afghans. London: Sampson Low Marston, 1979. Beveridge, A. S. The Babar Nama. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1905. Bosworth, Clifford E. The Gaznavids: Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran, 994–1040. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1963. ———. The Later Ghaznavids: Splendor and Decay. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1977. Buescher, H. “Demokratisierung und Ansätze zur Parteienbildung in Afghanistan.” Vierteljahresberichte 3942 (1970): 1–32. Bunbury, N. L. A Brief History of the Hazara Pioneers. London: n.p., 1949. Burnes, Alexander. Cabool Being a Personal Narrative of a Journey to and Residence in That City in the Years 1836, 1837 and 1838. Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1973. Cardew, F. G. The Second Afghan War, 1878–80. London: John Murray, 1908. Caroe, Olaf. The Pathans, 550 BC–AD 1957. London: Macmillan, 1958. Castagne, Joseph A. “Notes sur la Politique Extérieure de l’Afghanistan depuis 1919.” Revue du Monde Musulman 48 (1921): 1–75. Curzon, G. N. Russia in Central Asia in 1889, and the Anglo-Russian Question. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1967.
Diver, Maud. The Hero of Herat. London: John Murray, 1924. ———. Kabul to Kandahar. London: Peter Davies, 1935. Docherty, Paddy. The Khyber Pass. Winchester, Mass.: Faber, 2007. Dupree, Louis. Afghanistan. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980. Dupree, Louis, and Linette Albert, eds. Afghanistan in the 1970s. New York: Praeger, 1974. Dupree, Nancy Hatch. Afghanistan over a Tea Cup. Stockholm: Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, 2009. Edwardes, Michael. Playing the Great Game. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1975. Elliot, H. M., and J. Dowson. History of Ghazni. Calcutta: Susil Gupta, 1953. Elphinstone, Mountstuart. An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, and Its Dependencies in Persia, Tartary and India. London: Longman, 1815. Ewans, Martin. Afghanistan: A New History. Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 2001. Ferrier, J. P. History of the Afghans. London: John Murray, 1858. Fitzgerald, Paul, and Elizabeth Gould. Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story. San Francisco, Calif.: City Lights Books, 2009. Fletcher, Arnold C. Afghanistan: Highway of Conquest. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1965. Fraser-Tytler, W. Kerr. Afghanistan: A Study of Political Developments in Central and Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. Fuller, Graham E. Islamic Fundamentalism in Afghanistan: Its Character and Prospects. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corp., 1991. Gall, Sandy. Afghanistan: Agony of a Nation. London: Bodley Head, 1988. ———. Behind Russian Lines: An Afghan Journal. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1983. Ghobar, G. Afghanistan dar Masir-i Tarikh. Kabul: Government Press, 1968. Glatzer, Bernt. Afghanistan. New York: Routledge, 2008. Grassmuck, George, and Ludwig W. Adamec. Afghanistan: Some New Approaches. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1969. Gray, John A. My Residence at the Court of the Amir. London: Bentley, 1901. Gregorian, Vartan. The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics of Reform and Modernization, 1880–1946. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1969. Grevemeyer, Jan-Heeren. Afghanistan. Berlin: Express Edition, 1986. ———. “Bericht über die Afghanische Historiographie.” In Neue Forschungen in Afghanistan, by K. Rathjens. Opladen: n.p., 1981. ———. Herrschaft, Raub und Gegenseitigkeit: Die Politische Geschichte Badakhschans. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1982. Griffiths, John C. Afghanistan. London: Pall Mall Press, 1967. ———. Afghanistan: Land of Conflict and Beauty. London: Andre Deutsch, 2009. Habberton, W. Anglo-Russian Relations Concerning Afghanistan. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1937. Habibullah, Amir. My Life from Brigand to King. London: Sampson Low Marston, n.d. Hamilton, Angus. Afghanistan. New York: Scribner, 1906. Hanifi, Shah Mahmoud. Connecting Histories in Afghanistan Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Harpviken, Krisitan Berg. Political Mobilization among the Hazara of Afghanistan. Oslo: Department of Sociology, University of Oslo, 1995. Harrison, Selig S. In Afghanistan’s Shadow: Baluch Nationalism and Soviet Temptations. New York: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1981. Haskins, James. Count Your Way Through Afghanistan. Old Tappan, N.J.: Millbrook Press, 2006. Hiebert, Fredrik. Lost Treasures of Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2008. Holdich, Thomas H. The Gates of India. London: Macmillan, 1910. Holt, Frank Lee. Alexander the Great and Bactria. Mnemosyne, 1995. ———. Into the Land of Bonmes: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Hopkins, Ben. The Makings of Modern Afghanistan. Houndmills, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Jansson, Erland. India, Pakistan or Pakhtunistan? Uppsala, Sweden: Almqvist, 1981. Kakar, M. Hasan. Afghanistan: A Study in Internal Political Developments, 1880–1896. Lahore, Pakistan: Punjab Educational Press, 1971. ———. Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir Abd al-Rahman Khan, 1880–1901. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979.
———. The Pacification of the Hazaras of Afghanistan. New York: Afghanistan Council, 1973. ———. Political and Diplomatic History of Afghanistan: 1863–1901. New York: Brill’s Inner Asian Library, 2006. Khan, Sultan Mahomed. The Life of Abdur Rahman: Amir of Afghanistan. London: John Murray, 1901. Kohzad, Ahmad Ali. Men and Events through 18th and 19th Century Afghanistan. Kabul: Historical Society, n.d. Lal, M. M. Life of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan of Kabul. 2 vols. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 1978. Lee, Jonathan L. The “Ancient Supremacy”: Bukhara, Afghanistan, and the Battle for Balkh, 1731–1901. New York: Brill, 1996. Lockhart, L. The Fall of the Safavi Dynasty and the Afghan Occupation of Persia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958. ———. Nadir Shah: A Critical Study Based Mainly on Contemporary Sources. London: Luzac, 1938. Loyn, David. In Afghanistan: 200 Years of British, Russian, and American Occupation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Lynton, Ronken. Mission to Kabul. Ahmedabad, India: Mapin Publishing, 2008. Macrory, Patrick A. The Fierce Pawns. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1966. ———. Signal Catastrophe: The Story of the Disastrous Retreat from Kabul, 1842. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1966. Malek, Hafeez. US Relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan: The Imperial Dimension. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Malleson, George B. History of Afghanistan from the Earliest Period to the Outbreak of the War of 1878. London: W. H. Allen, 1879. Manz, B. F. Central Asia in Historical Perspective. Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1995. Masson, Charles. Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and the Panjab, Including a Residence in Those Countries. 2 vols. Graz: ADEVA, 1975. Maxwell, Leigh. My God—Maiwand! London: Leo Cooper, 1979. McChesney, R. D. Kabul under Siege: Fayz Muhammad’s Account of the 1929 Uprising. Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener, 1999. ———. Waqf in Central Asia: Four Hundred Years in the History of a Muslim Shrine, 1480–1889. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1991. McMunn, G. Afghanistan from Darius to Amanullah. London: G. Bell, 1929 and 1977. Michaud, Roland, and Sabrina Michaud. Afghanistan. Paris: Vendome Press, 1980. ———. Caravanes de Tartarie. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2008. Miller, Charles. Khyber: British India’s North West Frontier. London: MacDonald & James, 1977. Morison, John L. From Alexander Burnes to Frederick Roberts: A Survey of Imperial Frontier Policy. London: Proceedings of the British Academy, 1936. Nawid, Senzil. Religious Response to Social Change in Afghanistan, 1919–1929. Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda, 1999. Nazim, M. The Life and Times of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1931. Nematullah. History of the Afghans. Translated by Bernhard Dorn. London: Oriental Translation Committee, 1829. Newell, Richard S. The Politics of Afghanistan. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1972. Noelle, Christine. “The Anti-Wahhabi Reaction in 19th Century Afghanistan.” The Muslim World, January–April 1995. ———. State and Tribe in 19th-Century Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan, 1826–1863. Richmond Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 1997. Pazhwak, Abdur Rahman. Afghanistan (Ancient Aryana). Hove, U.K.: Key Press, 1954. ———. Pakhtunistan. Hove, U.K.: Key Press, 1955. Pennel, Theodore L. Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier. London: Oxford University Press, 1927. Poladi, Hasan. The Hazaras. Stockton, Calif.: Mughal, 1989. Pottinger, George. The Afghan Connection: The Extraordinary Adventures of Major Eldred Pottinger. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1983. Poullada, Leon B. “Afghanistan and the United States: The Crucial Years” Middle East Journal 35 (1981). ———. Reform and Rebellion in Afghanistan, 1919–1929. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973. Poullada, Leon B., and D. J. Leila. The Kingdom of Afghanistan and the United States, 1828–1973. Omaha: University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1995. Poulton, M., and R. Poulton. L’Afghanistan. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1981. Rasanayagam, Angelo. Afghanistan: A Modern History. London: I. B. Tauris, 2005. Reshtia, Sayed Qassem. Between Two Giants: Political History of Afghanistan in the Nineteenth Century. Peshawar: Afghan Jehad Works, 1990. Richardson, Bruce G. Afghanistan: A Search for Truth. Toronto: Afghan Post, 2007.
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Ewans, Martin. Conflict in Afghanistan: Studies in Asymmetric Warfare. New York: Routledge/Curzon, 2005. Fiscus, James W. America’s War in Afghanistan. New York: Rosen Publishing, 2004. Friedman, Norman. Terrorism, Afghanistan, and America’s New Way of War. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2003. Galiullin, Rustem. The CIA in Asia: Covert Operations against India and Afghanistan. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1989. Gannon, Kathy. I Is for Infidel: From Holy War to Holy Terror in Afghanistan. New York: Public Affairs, 2006. Giustozzi, Antonio. Empires of Mud: Wars and Warlords in Afghanistan. London: Hurst Publishers, 2009. ———. War, Politics and Society in Afghanistan: 1978–1992. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2000. Goodwin, Jan. Caught in the Crossfire. New York: Dutton, 1987. Hamilton, John. Operation Enduring Freedom. Edina, Minn.: ABDO and Daughters, 2002. Hanson, Victor Davis. Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq. New York: Random House, 2004. Hardcastle, Nate. American Soldier: Stories of Special Forces from Iraq and Afghanistan. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2002. Jones, Seth G. Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corp., 2008. ———. In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan. New York, Norton, 2009. Johnston, Sheila E. The War in Afghanistan. Canada: Altitude Publishing, 2007. Kessler, Ronald. The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Campaign against Terror. New York: St. Martin’s, 2003. Kiesbye, Stefan. How Should the U.S. Proceed in Afghanistan? San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Kolhatkar, Sonali, and James Ingalls. Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2007. Mackey, Chris, and Greg Miller. The Interrogator’s War: Inside the Secret War against Al-Qaeda. London: John Murray, 2004. Maley, William. The Afghanistan Wars. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Maloney, Sean M. Enduring Freedom: A Rogue Historian in Afghanistan. Dulles, Va.: Potomac Books, 2007. Margolis, Eric. War at the Top of the World. Toronto, ON: Key Porter Books, 2007. Marsden, Peter. Afghanistan: Aid, Armies, and Empires. London: I. B. Tauris, 2009. McElroy, Robert H. “Afghanistan: Fire Support for Operation Anaconda.” Field Artillery, September–October 2002, 5–9. Melton, Stephen L. The Clausewitz Delusion: How the American Army Screwed up the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Minneapolis, Minn.: Zenith Press, 2009. Miller, Raymond H. The War in Afghanistan. San Diego, Calif.: Lucent Books, 2004. Mills, Nick B. Karzai: The Failing American Intervention and the Struggle for Afghanistan. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2007. Misra, Amalendu. Afghanistan: The Labyrinth of Violence. Cambridge, U.K.: Malden Press, 2004. Naylor, Sean D. Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda. New York: Berkeley Books, 2005. Neumann, Ronald. The Other War: Winning and Losing Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2009. Neville, Leigh, and Ramiro Bujeiro. Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan: Afghanistan 2001–2007. Colchester, U.K.: Osprey, 2008. Palmer, Monte, and Princess Palmer. At the Heart of Terror: Islam, Jihadists, and America’s War on Terrorism. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. Pezzullo, Eric L., and Gary Berntsen. Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Queda. New York: Crown, 2005. Pigott, Peter. Canada in Afghanistan: The War So Far. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press, 2007. Pressfield, Steven. The Afghan Campaign. New York: Doubleday, 2006. Rais, Rasul Bux. Recovering the Frontier State: War, Ethnicity, and State in Afghanistan. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2008. Roberts, Jeffery J. The Origins of Conflict in Afghanistan. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003. Rogers, Paul. A War of Terror: Afghanistan and After. Sterling, Va.: Pluto Press, 2004. Rothstein, Hy S. Afghanistan and the Troubled Future of Unconventional Warfare. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2006. Runion, Meredith. Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2009. Ryan, Myke. Battlefield Afghanistan. Stroud, U.K.: History Press, 2007. Schofield, Victoria. Afghan Frontier: Feuding and Fighting in Central Asia. London: Tauris, 2003. Shaw, Geoffrey D. T. A Military History of Afghanistan: Between the Hammer and the Anvil. Greenwood, Conn.: Praeger, 2008. Shroen, Gary C. First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan. New York: Presidio/Ballantine, 2005. Simons, Suzanne. Master of War: Blackwater USA’s Eric Prince and the Business of War. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. Sinno, Abdulkader H. Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2008.
Tripp, Robert S. Lessons from Operation Enduring Freedom. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corp., 2004. ———. Supporting Air and Space Expeditionary Forces: Lessons Learned from Operation Enduring Freedom. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corp., 2004. Vendrell, Francesc. “Current Conflicts: Afghanistan.” Adelphi Series 48 (2008): 400–401. Willis, Clint. Boots on the Ground: Stories of American Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004. Wolf, Wojtek M. Winning the War of Words: Selling the War on Terror from Afghanistan to Iraq. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2008. Woodward, Bob. Bush at War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002. ———. The Commander. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. ———. Plan of Attack. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. ———. Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981–1987. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. Yancey, Diane. Life of an American Soldier in Afghanistan. San Diego, Calif.: Lucent Books, 2004. Zapata, Regulo, Jr. Desperate Lands: The War on Terror through the Eyes of a Special Forces Soldier. Gilroy, Calif.: Nadores, 2007. Zepezauer, Mark. Boomerang: How Our Covert Wars Have Created Enemies Across the Middle East and Brought Terror to America. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage, 2003.
Political Islam, Taliban, and Al-Qaeda Abu Khalil, Asad. Bin Ladin, Islam, and America’s New War on Terrorism. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2002. Abu Zahab, Mariam, and Olivier Roy. Islamist Networks: The Afghanistan-Pakistan Connection. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Afsar, Shaid A., and Christopher Samples. The Evolution of the Taliban. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center, 2008. ———. The Taliban: An Organizational Analysis. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center, 2008. Alexander, Yunah. Usama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda: Profile of a Terrorist Network. Ardsley, N.Y.: Transnational Publishers, 2001. Anderson, Jon Lee. “Double Agents, Defectors, Disaffected Taliban, and a Motley Army Battle for Konduz,” New Yorker, 10 December 2001. Armstrong, Karen. The Battle for God. New York: Knopf, 2000. Atwan, Abdel Bari. The Secret History of Al Qaeda. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006. Barth, Kelly. The Rise and Fall of the Taliban. San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Beinin, Joel, and Joe Stork. Political Islam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. Benjamin, Daniel, and Steven Simon. The Age of Sacred Terror. New York: Random House, 2002. Bergen, Peter L. Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of bin Laden. New York: Free Press, 2001. Bick, Barbara. Walking the Precipice: Witness to the Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. New York: Feminist Press, 2008. Bin Laden, Osama. The Al-Qaeda Reader. Edited by Raymond Ibrahim. New York: Doubleday, 2009. ———. Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden. Translated by James Howarth. New York: Verso, 2005. Bodansky, Yossef. Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on Afghanistan. Rose-ville, Calif.: Forum Press, 1999. Boese, Mike, ed. The Al Qaeda Manual. Kingston, ON: Ace Tomato Productions, 2003. Brentjes, Burchard. Taliban: A Shadow over Afghanistan. Varanasi, India: Rishi Publications, 2000. Brisard, Jean-Charles, and Guillaume Dasquie. Forbidden Truth: U.S.-Taliban Secret Oil Diplomacy and the Failed Hunt for bin Laden. Translated by Lucy Rounds et al. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2002. Burke, Jason. Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004. Buttersworth, Charles, and I. Zartman. Political Islam. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1992. Calabresi, Massimo. “The Bin Laden Capture That Never Was.” Time, 20 March 2000. Chalk, Peter. “Bin Laden’s Asian Network.” Jane’s Intelligence Review, 1 December 1998, 6. Chayes, Sarah. The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan after the Taliban. New York: Penguin, 2006. Cody, Edward. “Taliban’s ‘Hide-and-Wait’ Strategy Failed.” Washington Post, 23 December 2001, 12. Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10. New York: Penguin, 2004. Corbin, Jane. Al-Qaeda: The Terror Network That Threatens the World. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2002. Crews, Robert D., and Amin Tarzi. The Taliban and the Crisis in Afghanistan. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
2008. Davidson, Lawrence. Islamic Fundamentalism. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1998. Dobbins, James. After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan. Dulles, Va.: Potomac Books, 2008. Dorronsoro, Giles. Pakistan and the Taliban: State Policy, Religious Networks and Political Connections. Paris: Center for International Studies and Research, 2000. ———. The Taliban’s Winning Strategy in Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2009. Dunn, Michael Collins. “Osama bin Laden: The Nature of the Challenge.” Middle East Policy, October 1998, 23. Duran, Khalid. Islam und Politischer Extremismus. Hamburg: Deutsches Orient Institut, 1985. Edwards, David B. Before Taliban: Genealogies of the Afghan Jihad. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. Farivar, Masood. Confessions of a Mullah Warrior. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2009. Fuller, Graham E. Islamic Fundamentalism in Afghanistan: Its Character and Prospects. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corp., 1991. Fury, Dalton, and Col. David Hunt. Kill Bin Laden: A Delta Force Commander’s Account of the Hunt for the World’s Most Wanted Man. New York: St. Martin’s, 2008. Giustozzi, Antonio. Decoding the New Taliban: Insights from the Afghan Field. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. Gohari, M. J. The Taliban: Ascent to Power. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2001. Goodson, Larry P. Afghanistan’s Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001. Government Documents. Taliban: Engagement or Confrontation. Y4F76/2:S HGG 106–868. Griffin, Michael. Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban Movement in Afghanistan. Sterling, Va.: Pluto Press, 2001. Gutman, Roy. How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2008. Hiro, Dilip. Holy Wars: The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism. New York: Routledge, 1989. Hodes, Cyrus. The Search for Security in Post-Taliban Afghanistan. New York: Routledge, 2007. Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Huggler, Justin. “Taliban Defectors Seek Power-Share in New Afghanistan.” Independent (London), 11 December 2001, 12. Hussain, Raja G. Badal: A Culture of Revenge, the Impact of Collateral Damage on Taliban Insurgency. Monterrey, Calif.: Naval Postgraduate School, 2008. Hussain, Zahid. “Top Taliban Defectors Set Up Splinter Group.” Gazette (Montreal), 4 December 2001, B12. Ibrahim, Raymond, Ayman Zawahiri, and Osama Bin Laden. The Al Qaeda Reader. New York: Broadway Books, 2007. Innes, Michael A. Denial of Sanctuary: Understanding Terrorist Safe Havens. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2007. Jacquard, Roland. In the Name of Osama bin Laden. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2002. Jalal, Ayesha. Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008. Jalalzai, Musa Khan. Holy Terror: Al-Qaeda, Taliban and Its Roots in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Lahore, Pakistan: Dua Publications, 2002. ———. Taliban and the Post-Taliban Afghanistan. Lahore, Pakistan: Sang-e Meel Publications, 2003. ———. The Taliban Insurgency in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Violence, Suicide Attacks and the Search for Security in the Region. Lahore, Pakistan: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 2008. Jenkins, Brian M. Countering Al-Qaeda. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corp., 2002. Kepel, Gilles. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002. Kepel, Gilles, and Jean-Pierre Milleli. Al Qaeda in Its Own Words. Translated by Pascale Ghazaleh. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap, 2008. Kleiner, Juergen. “Diplomacy with Fundamentalists: The United States and the Taliban.” Hague Journal of Diplomacy 1, no. 3 (2006): 209–234. Labévière, Richard. Dollars for Terror: The United States and Islam. New York: Algora Publishing, 2000. Lacey, Jim. A Terrorist’s Call to Global Jihad: Deciphering Abu Musab Al-Suri’s Islamic Jihad Manifesto. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2008. Latifa. My Forbidden Face: Growing Up under the Taliban. New York: Hyperion, 2001. Lia, Brynjar. Architect of Global Jihad: The Life of Al-Qaeda Strategist Abu Musab Al-Suri. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Maley, William. The Foreign Policy of the Taliban. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2000. ———. Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
Maloney, Sean M. Confronting the Chaos: A Rogue Military Historian Returns to Afghanistan. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2009. Marsden, Peter. The Taliban: War, Religion and the New Order in Afghanistan. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 1998. Mazurana, Dyan E., and Neamatollah Nojumi. After the Taliban: Life and Security in Rural Afghanistan. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. Metz, Alec E., and Harold Ingram. The Taliban Divide: Baitullah Mehsud and Mission Creep. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Techncial Information Center, 2008. Moore, Robin. The Hunt for Bin Laden: Task Force Dagger. New York: Random House, 2003. Murshed, Iftikhar. Afghanistan: The Taliban Years. London: Bennet & Bloom, 2006. Nojumi, Neamatullah. The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region. New York: Palgrave, 2002. Parker, William J., and Heidi Bridges. Jihadist Strategic Communication: As Practiced by Usama Bin Laden and Ayman alZawahiri. Bloomington, Ind.: Author House, 2008. Peters, Gretchen. How Opium Profits the Taliban. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 2009. Rashid, Ahmed. “The Taliban: Exporting Extremism.” Foreign Affairs 78, no. 6 (November–December 1999): 22–35. ———. The Taliban: Islam, Oil, and the New Great Game in Central Asia. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000. Reeve, Simon. The New Jackals: Ramsi Yusef, Osama bin Laden, and the Future of Terrorism. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999. Ridley, Yvonne. In the Hands of the Taliban: Her Extraordinary Story. London: Robson Books, 2001. Roy, Olivier. The Failure of Political Islam. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994. ———. Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ———. “The Origins of the Islamist Movement in Afghanistan.” Central Asian Survey (Oxford) 3, no. 2 (1984): 117–127. Rubin, Michael, and Daniel Benjamin. “The Taliban and Terrorism: Report from Afghanistan.” Washington Institute for Near East Policy Special Policy Forum Report, 6 April 2000. Semple, Michael. Reconciliation in Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2009. Singh, Dushyant. Al Qaeda as a Charismatic Phenomenon. Monterrey, Calif.: Naval Postgraduate School, 2009. Skaine, Rosemarie. The Women of Afghanistan under the Taliban. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002. Smucker, Philip. Al-Qaeda’s Great Escape: The Military and the Media on Terror’s Trail. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2004. Stewart, Jules. The Khyber Rifles: From British Raj to Al-Qaeda. Stroud, U.K.: Sutton, 2005. Tawana, Sayyed Musa. “Glimpses into the Historical Background of the Islamist Movement in Afghanistan.” Afghan News, pts. 1–8 (April–July 1989). Tomsen, Peter. “Response: A Chance for Peace in Afghanistan—the Taliban’s Days Are Numbered,” Foreign Affairs, January 2000. Venter, Al. “Bin Laden’s Tripartite Pact.” Jane’s Intelligence Review, 1 November 1998, 5. Weaver, Mary Ann. “On Bin Laden.” New Yorker, January 2000. Williams, Paul. Al Qaeda: Brotherhood of Terror. Parsippany, N.J.: Alpha, 2002. Yusufzai, Rahimullah. “Pakistani Taliban at Work.” The News, 21 December 1998. Zaeef, Abdul Salam. My Life with the Taliban. London: Hurst, 2010. Zaidi, Syed Manzar Abbas. The New Taliban: Emergence and Ideological Sanctions. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Nova Science, 2009. Zawahiri, Ayman. IntelCenter Words of Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Alexandria, Va.: Tempest Publication, 2008. Ziaulhasan, Faruqi. Deoband School. New York: Asia Publishing House, 1963.
JURIDICAL: LAWS AND CONSTITUTIONS Afghanistan. “The Flag Law in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 27, no. 1 (1974): 1–8. Arjomand, S. A. “Constitutional Developments in Afghanistan: A Comparative and Historical Perspective.” Drake Law Review 53, no. 4 (2005): 943–962. Asia Society. “Afghanistan: Laws, Statutes, etc.: English Translation of Some of the New Laws Promulgated by the Republic of Afghanistan.” New York: Afghanistan Council, 1975. ———. The Constitution of the Republic of Afghanistan. New York: Afghanistan Council, 1977. Beck, Sebastian. “Afghanistan: Das Höchste Gericht.” In Die Höchsten Gerichte der Welt. Leipzig: Julius Magnus, 1929. ———. “Das Afghanische Strafgesetzbuch vom Jahre 1924 mit dem Zusatz vom Jahre 1925.” Die Welt des Islam 2, nos. 1–2
(1928). Brunner, Christopher. New Afghan Laws Regarding Agriculture. Occasional paper 12. New York: Afghanistan Council, 1977. Clemens, Jeffrey. “Opium in Afghanistan: Perspectives of the Success of Source-Country Control Policies.” Journal of Law and Economics 51, no. 3 (2008): 407. Dari, Gholam M. Huquq-i Famil dar Afghanistan (Family Law in Afghanistan). Kabul: Government Press, 1971. Dupree, Louis. “Constitutional Development and Cultural Change.” American Universities Field Staff Reports: Afghanistan 9, nos. 1–10 (1965). Fazelly, Muhammad Kacem. La Loya Djirga. Paris: CEREDAF, 1989. ———. “L’Islam dans le Droit Afghan.” Les Nouvelles d’Afghanistan 12–13 (March 1983). Hager, P. “Compiled Translations of the Laws of Afghanistan.” United Nations Development Programme. Kabul: Government Press, 1975. Haqqani, Abdul Karim. Rahnama-yi Mu’amilat (Guide on Transactions). Kabul: Government Press, 1348/1969. Hossain, Kamal. The Situation in Afghanistan and Its Situation of Human Rights. New York: United Nations, 13 August 2002. Huquqi, Walid A. Judicial Organization in Afghanistan. Kabul: Government Press, 1971. International Business Publications. Afghanistan: Business Law Handbook. 2005. Jensen, Eric G., and Larry Kramer. An Introduction to Law in Afghanistan. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Law School, 2009. Kamali, Muhammad H. Law in Afghanistan. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1985. Karimi, Ahmadullah. “The Constitution of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 1, no. 1 (1946). Khan, Sultan Mahomed. The Constitutions and Laws of Afghanistan. London: John Murray, 1900. Kouvo, Sari. State-Building and the Rule of Law: Lessons from Afghanistan. Rome, Italy: NATO Defense College, Research Division, 2009. Malikyar, H. “Development of Family Law in Afghanistan: The Role of the Hanafi Madhhab, Customary Practices, and Power Politics.” Central Asian Survey 16, no. 3 (1997): 389–400. Massoum, Gholam Sakhi. “Der Völkerrechtliche Status von Afghanistan.” Ph.D. diss., Hamburg University, 1960. Miller, Laurel, and Robert Perito. Establishing the Rule of Law in Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 2004. Munib, Bashir. “Law of Land Tenure and Transfer of Property in Times of War.” In Shari’a in the Constitutions of Afghanistan, Iran, and Egypt: Implications for Private Law, edited by Najma Yassari. Tübingen: Mohr Siebek, 2005. Parker, G. L. “Central Bank Law” (Preliminary Draft). Kabul: Nathan Associates, 1967. Roy, Olivier. “Islam et Code Tribal.” Les Nouvelles d’Afghanistan 12–13 (March 1983). Stanfield, David J. Upgrading the Property Rights Recording System. Kabul: Terra Institute, 2006. Suhrke, Astri, and Kaja Borcjgrevink. “Negotiating Justice Sector Reform in Afghanistan.” Crime, Law, and Social Change 51, no. 2 (2009): 211–230. United Nations. The Situation in Afghanistan and Its Implications for International Peace and Security and Emergency International Assistance for Peace. New York: United Nations, 30 November 2005. ———. The Situation of Women and Girls in Afghanistan. New York: Economic and Social Council, 2005. United States Agency for International Development. Commercial Law of Afghanistan. Kabul: USAID, 1955. United States Department of Labor. Labor Law and Practice in Afghanistan. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1969. Wardak, A. “Building a Post-War Justice System in Afghanistan.” Crime, Law, and Social Change 41, no. 4 (2004): 319–341. ———. “Jirga Power and Traditional Conflict Resolution in Afghanistan.” In Law after Ground Zero, edited by J. Strawson. London: Cavendish, 2002. Weinbaum, Marvin G. “Legal Elites in Afghan Society.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 12, no. 1 (1980): 39– 51. ———. “The Legislator as Intermediary: Integration of the Center and Periphery in Afghanistan.” In Legislatures in Plural Societies: The Search for Cohesion in National Development, edited by Albert F. Eldridge. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1977. Wilber, Donald N. “Commentary on the Constitution of Afghanistan of 1st October 1964.” Middle East Journal, Spring 1965. Williamson, Myra. Terrorism and International Law: The Legality of the Use of Force against Afghanistan in 2001. Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate Publishers, 2009. Wily, Liz Alden. “Land Rights in Crisis: Addressing Tenure Insecurity in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. Kabul, 2003. Wiseman, H. Victor. “The New Constitution of Afghanistan: Some Observations.” Parliamentary Affairs 18, no. 4 (1965): 434–441.
Zhwand, Samiuddin. “The Judiciary.” Kabul Times Annual, 1967.
SCIENTIFIC Flora and Fauna Aitchinson, J. F. T. “The Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Commission.” Transactions of the Linnean Society: Botany 3 (1888): 1–139. Akhtar, S. A. “Ab-Istadeh, a Breeding-place of the Flamingo in Afghanistan.” Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 47, no. 2 (1947): 308–315. Annandale, N. “Report on the Aquatic Fauna of Seistan.” Record of the Indian Museum 18 (1919–1921): 1–24. Balthazar, V. “Neue Spheciden aus Afghanistan (Opuscula Hymenopteralogica).” Mitteilungen der Munchner Entomologischen Gesellschaft 47 (1957): 186–200. Breckle, S. W., and W. Frey. “Afghanistanische Drogen und Ihre Stammpflanzen, 1. Seissholz.” Afghanistan Journal 6, no. 3 (1979): 87–91. ———. “Botanical Literature of Afghanistan.” Edinburgh Royal Botanical Garden Notes 29, no. 3 (1969): 357–372. ———. “Botanical Literature of Afghanistan: Supplement 1.” Edinburgh Royal Botanical Garden Notes 33, no. 3 (1975): 503–521. ———. “Die Vegetationsstufen in Zentralen Hindukusch.” Afghanistan Journal 1, no. 3 (1974): 75–80. Cumming, J. W. N. “Birds of Seistan, Being a List of the Birds Shot or Seen in Seistan by the Arbitration Commission, 1903– 1905.” Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (1905): 686–699. Dupree, L. “Note on the Distribution of the Indian Crested Porcupine.” Afghanistan Journal of Mammalogy 37, no. 2 (1956): 299–300. Eshghy, N., and M. K. Nushine. “Insecticide Resistance of Anopheles Culicifacies in the Province of Helmand, Southwest Afghanistan, 1976.” Mosquito News 38, no. 1 (1978): 97–101. Freitag, H. “Flora und Vegetation.” Afghanistan Laendermonographie. Liestal, Afghanistan Archiv, 1986. Gaedike, R. “Austrian Entomological Expedition to Iran and Afghanistan, Contributions to the Lepidoptera Fauna.” Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 72 (1968): 529–533. Hassanyar, A. S. “Environmental Problems in Afghanistan.” Geographical Review of Afghanistan 12, no. 2 (1973): 1, 9–17. Hassinger, J. D. “A Survey of the Mammals of Afghanistan.” Feldiana Zoology 60 (1973): 195. Hoogstraal, H. “Biological Patterns in the Afghanistan Tick Fauna.” Proceedings of the Third International Congress of Acarology, Prague (1971): 511–514. Kitamura, S. Flora in Afghanistan, Results of the Kyoto University Scientific Expedition to the Karakorum and Hindu Kush, 1955. Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 1960. ———. Plants of West Pakistan and Afghanistan, Committee of the Kyoto University Scientific Expedition to the Karakorum and Hindu Kush. Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 1964. Kullmann, E. “The Mammals of Afghanistan.” Science Quarterly Journal 3 (1965): 20. Leviton, A. E. “Report on a Collection of Reptiles from Afghanistan.” Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 29, no. 12 (1959): 445–463. Linchevsky, I. A., and A. V. Prozorovski. “The Basic Principles of the Distribution of the Vegetation of Afghanistan.” New Bulletin 2 (1949): 179–214. Meyer-Oehme, D. “Die Säugetiere Afghanistans 3. Chiroptera.” Science Quarterly Journal, 1965. Millett, E. R. Annual Reports, Regional Insect Control Project, Afghanistan. Kabul: USAID/USDA/ARS, 1960. ———. Annual Reports, Summary of Insect Conditions in Afghanistan. Kabul: USAID, 1961. ———. “Insect Pests Identified from Afghanistan.” In USDA and USNM Taxonomists. Kabul: USAID, 1961. Paludan, Knud. On the Birds of Afghanistan. Copenhagen: C. A. Reitzel, 1959. Papp, L. “New Species and Records of Sphaeroceridae (Diptera) from Afghanistan.” Acta Zoologica 24, nos. 1–2 (1978): 149–168. Rathjens, C. “Klimatische Jahreszeiten in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 1, no. 1 (1974): 13–18. ———. “Vegetation and Flora of the Central Hindu Kush, Afghanistan.” Geographische Zeitschrift 69, no. 2 (1981): 159. Schneider, P. “Honigbienen und ihre Zucht in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 3 (1976): 101–104. Vaurie, C. “A Revision of the Bird Family Dicruridae: Afghanistan.” American Museum of Natural History 93, no. 4 (1949): 199–342. Wendelbo, P., and J. Hedge. Studies in the Flora of Afghanistan. Bergen, Norway: Arbok University 18 (1963): 56.
Geography Adamec, Ludwig W. Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan. 6 vols. Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1972–1985. Ali, Muhammad. “Afghanistan’s Mountains.” Afghanistan 8, no. 1 (1953): 47–52. ———. Guide to Afghanistan. Pakistan: Northern Pakistan Publishing, 1938. Amin, Hamidullah, and Gordon B. Schiltz. A Geography of Afghanistan. Omaha, Neb.: Center for Afghanistan Studies, 1976. Arez, G. J. “Geography of Afghanistan.” Kabul Times Annual (1970): 19–28. ———. “The Urban Structure of Kabul.” Geographical Review of Afghanistan 12, no. 3 (1973): 1–19. Arez, Ghulam Jailani, and Andreas Ditmann. Kabul: Aspects of Urban Geography. Peshawar: 2005. Balland, D. “Le Coton en Afghanistan: Essai d’Analyse Géographique et économique d’une Culture Industrielle dans un Pays Sous-Industrialise.” Revue Géographique de l’Est 13, nos. 1–2 (1973): 17–75. ———. “Reflexions d’un Géograph sur une Décennie de Recherches Françaises en Afghanistan (1968–1978).” Mission Scientifique, Afghanistan Bulletin 8 (1979): 3–21. Brandenburg, D. Herat: Eine Timuridische Hauptstadt. Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1977. Burnes, A. Kabool: Being a Personal Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in That City, in the Year 1836, 7, 8. London, 1842; and Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1975. Dehmel, R. “Neue Stauseen in Afghanistan.” Geographische Rundschau, 1953. Diemberger, A. “Begsteiger Erschliessen den Hindukush.” Jahrbuch des Deutschen Alpenvereins 90 (1965). Douglas, W. O. “West from the Khyber-Pass.” National Geographic Magazine 114 (1958). Dupree, Louis. “Aq Kupruk: A Town in North Afghanistan.” Part 1, “The People and Their Cultural Patterns.” Part 2, “The Political Structure and Commercial Patterns.” Universities Field Staff: South Asia Series 10, nos. 9–10 (1966). English, P. “The Traditional City of Herat, Afghanistan.” In From Madina to Metropolis, by L. C. Brown. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973. Fairchild, Inc. “Making of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 3 (1960). Field, Neil C. “The Amu Daria: A Study in Resource Geography.” Geographical Review 44 (1954): 528–542. Fischer, K. “Zur Lage von Kandaharan Landverbindungen zwischen Iran und Indien.” Bonner Jahrbuecher 167 (1967): 129– 232. Fischer, L. “Afghanistan eine Geographisch-Medizinische Landeskunde.” In Medizinische Länderkunde. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1968. Fisher, W. B. “Afghanistan: Physical and Social Geography.” Middle East and North Africa Yearbook 1990. London: Europa Publications, 1990. Geokart. National Atlas of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Warsaw: Geokart, 1985. Ghoubar, M. “Les Provinces Orientales de l’Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 2 (1947). Glicken, Milton. “Making a Map of Afghanistan.” Photogrammetric Engineering 26, no. 5 (1960). Grötzbach, Erwin. Afghanistan: eine Geographische Landeskunde. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1990. ———. Aktuelle Probleme der Regionalentwicklung und Stadtgeographie Afghanistans. Meisenheim, Germany: Verlag Anton Hain, 1976. ———. “Kulturgeographische Wandel in Nordost-Afghanistan seit dem 19. Jahrhundert.” Afghanische Studien (Meisenheim, Germany: Verlag Anton Hain) 4 (1974). ———. Städte und Basare in Afghanistan. Wiesbaden, Germany: Reichert, 1979. Hahn, Helmut. “Die Stadt Kabul (Afghanistan) und ihr Umland.” Part 1, “Gestaltwandel einer Orientalischen Stadt.” Part 2, “Sozialstrukstur und Wirtschafliche Lage der Agrarbevölkerung im Stadtumland.” In Bonner Geographische Abhandlung. Bonn: 1964, 1965. ———. “Geography in the Frame of the Social Sciences.” Geographical Review of Afghanistan 1–2, no. 9 (1962): 38–40. Hasse, D. “Hindukusch: Allgemeiner Überblick sowie Vorschlag für eine Begrenzung und Gliederung.” Osterreichische Alpenzeitung 83 (1965). Humlum, J. La Géographie de l’Afghanistan. Copenhagen: Scandinavian University Books, 1959. Kohzad, Ahmad Ali. “Nimruz ou le Bassin Inférieur de l’Hilmend.” Afghanistan 8, no. 4 (1953). ———. “The Panjshir.” Afghanistan 3–4 (1948). Kohzad, Mohammad Nabi. “Kabul.” Afghanistan, vol. 8, no. 4–vol 14, no. 1 (1958–1959): 1–15. Kushkaki, Burhanuddin. Kataghan o Badakhsan. French translation by Arguerite Reut. Paris: Edition du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1979. Masson, Ch. Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan, and the Panjab. London, 1842. Reprint, Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1975. Mattai, James. A Geographical Introduction to Herat Province. Kabul: Faculty of Education, Kabul University, 1966.
Michaud, R., and S. Michaud. Caravans to Tartary. Paris: Editions du Chêne, 1978. ———. “Winter Caravan to the Roof of the World.” National Geographic Magazine (April 1972): 435–465. Michel, Aloys A. “The Kabul, Kunduz, and Helmand Valleys and the National Economy of Afghanistan.” National Academy of Sciences, 1959. Niedermayer, O. V. Afghanistan. Leipzig: W. Hiersmann, 1924. Rathjens, Carl. “Afghanistan.” Die Weltwirtschaft 2 (1957): 59–60. ———. “Der Afghanische Hindukusch.” Jahrbuch des Deutschen Alpenvereins 80 (1955). ———. “Erschliessung des Hindukusch.” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Alpenvereins 17 (1965): 8–10. ———. “Kabul die Hauptstadt Afghanistan.” Leben und Umwelt 13 (1957): 73–82. ———. “Landschaft und Mensch im Hindukusch.” Geographical Review of Afghanistan 2 (1963): 1–12. Reshtya, Sayed Qasim. “L’Afghanistan du Point de Vue Geographique.” Afghanistan 2, no. 1 (1947): 16–22. ———. “The Rivers of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 2, no. 2 (1943): 8–14. Snoy, Peter. “Die Bevölkerung.” In Afghanistan. Innsbruck: Penguin Verlag, 1985. ———. “Nuristan und Mungan.” Tribu 14 (1965): 101–148. Thesiger, Wilfred. “A Journey in Nuristan.” Geographical Journal 123 (1957): 457–464. Wiebe, D. “Die Räumliche Gestalt der Altstadt von Kandahar: Ein Kultur-geographischer Beitrag zum Problem der Partiellen Modernisierung.” Afghanistan Journal 4 (1976): 132–146.
Geology Afghanistan Geological Survey. South Afghanistan, Sedimentary Basin Structure. Kabul University, 1963, 198–200. Bowersox, Gary W. Gemstones of Afghanistan. Tucson, Ariz.: Geoscience Press, 1995. Clapp, F. G. “Geology of Afghanistan.” Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 50, no. 12 (1939): 1904. Desio, A. Geology of Central Badakhshan, North East Afghanistan and Surrounding Countries. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1975. Fuchs, G., and A. Matura. “The Geology of the Nilaw Area in Central Nurestan, Afghanistan.” Jahrbuch der Geologischen Bundesanstalt 119, no. 2 (1976): 97–128. Griesbach, C. L. “Afghan Field-Notes.” Records of the Geological Survey of India 18, no. 1 (1885): 57–64. ———. “Geologische Notizen aus Afghanistan.” Verhandlungen der K. K. Geologischen Reichsanstalt 28 (1885): 314–315. Hayden, H. H. “The Geology of Northern Afghanistan.” Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 29, no. 1 (1911). Hunger, J. P. Geological Survey in Afghanistan. Kabul: Government Press, 1964. Lapparent, A. F. de. “La Montagne du Fer d’Hajigek en Afghanistan Central.” Afghanistan Journal 2, no. 1 (1975): 8–11. Nasiri, A. “The History of Lapis Lazuli in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan, vol. 17, no. 4, and vol. 18, nos. 1–2 (1962). Peters, Stephen G. Preliminary Non-Fuel Mineral Resource Assessment of Afghanistan. Reston, Va.: U.S. Geological Survey, 2007. Popal, S. A. “Geologie von Afghanistan.” Ariana 1955. Reed, F. R. C. “Upper Carboniferous Fossils from Afghanistan.” Palaeontologia Indica (1931): 1–39. Rosset, L. F. “Precious Stones in Afghanistan: The Diamond.” Afghanistan 2, no. 1 (1947). Schwab, M. Establishment of a Geological Survey Department in Afghanistan. New York: UN Report, 1955. Stenz, Edward. “Earthquakes in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 1, no. 1 (1946). Wolfart, R., and H. Wittekindt. Geologie von Afghanistan. Berlin: Born-traeger, 1980.
Meteorology British Embassy. Weather Records for Kabul, 1942 through 1953. Kabul, 1953. Matthai, J. Climate Statistics for Afghanistan. Kabul: Faculty of Education, Kabul University, 1966. Rathjens, C. “Hohe Tagessummen des Niederschlags in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 5, no. 1 (1978): 22–25. Sivall, T. R. “The Problems of Meteorology in Afghanistan.” Geographical Review of Afghanistan 1–2 (1962): 16–21. Stenz, E. “Precipitation, Evaporation and Aridity in Afghanistan.” Acta Geophysica Polonica 5 (1957): 245–266. United States Air Weather Service. Baghlan, Afghanistan. Asheville, N.C.: Federal Building, 1969. . ———. Farah, Afghanistan. Asheville, N.C.: Federal Building, 1969. ———. Ghazni, Afghanistan. Asheville, N.C.: Federal Building, 1969. ———. Herat, Afghanistan. Asheville, N.C.: Federal Building, 1969. ———. Kandahar, Afghanistan. Asheville, N.C.: Federal Building, 1969. ———. Kunduz, Afghanistan. Asheville, N.C.: Federal Building, 1969. ———. Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Asheville, N.C.: Federal Building, 1969.
———. Lashkargah, Afghanistan. Asheville, N.C.: Federal Building, 1969
SOCIAL Anthropology Afridi, A. Qayyum. The Hill Tribes, along the Eastern Side of the Durand Line: Origin & Social Structure, Customs & Traditions. Peshawar: Author, 2003. Anderson, Jon. “Tribe and Community among the Ghilzai Pashtun: Preliminary Notes on Ethnographic Distribution and Variation in Eastern Afghanistan.” Anthropos 70 (1975): 575–601. Azoy, G. Whitney. Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan; Symbol and Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982. Bacon, Elizabeth E. “The Inquiry into the History of the Hazara Mongols of Afghanistan.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 7 (1951). Barfield, Thomas J. The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981. Bauer, W. P., and A. Janata. “Kosmetik, Schmuck und Symbolik in Afghanistan.” Archiv für Völkerkunde 28 (1975): 1–43. Bellew, Henry W. The Races of Afghanistan, Being a Brief Account of the Principal Nations Inhabiting That Country. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1880. Canfield, R. Factions and Conversion: Study on the Hazara. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1969. ———. Hazara Integration into the Afghan Nation, some Changing Relations between Hazaras and Afghan Officials. New York: Asia Society, 1973. Centlivres-Demont, Micheline, and Pierre Centlivres. Portraits d’Afghanistan. Paris: A. Biro, 2002. Debets, G. F. Physical Anthropology of Afghanistan. Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum, 1970. Hussain, Mohammad. “The Hazaras of Afghanistan: A Study of Ethnic Relations.” M.A. thesis, McGill University, 2003. Ioannesian, Arakadevich. Afghan Folklore from Herat. Amherst, N.Y.: Cambria Press, 2010. Jettmar, Karl. Cultures of the Hindukush. Wiesbaden, Germany: Franz Steiner, 1974. Jones, S. Men of Influence in Nuristan: A Study of Social Control and Dispute Settlement in Waigal Valley, Afghanistan. London: Seminar Press, 1974. ———. An Outline of the Political Organization of the Kam Kafirs. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, 1965. Katz, David J. “Kafir to Afghan.” Ph.D. diss., University of California at Los Angeles, 1982. Lentz, W. Zeitrechnung in Nuristan und am Pamir. Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1978. Mills, Margaret Ann. Oral Narrative in Afghanistan: The Individual in Tradition. New York: Garland, 1990. Paine, Sheila. The Afghan Amulet: Travels from the Hindu Kush to Razgrad. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994. Ridgway, R. T. I. Pathans. Calcutta: Government Printer, 1910. Schurmann, H. F. The Mongols of Afghanistan. Gravenhage, Netherlands: Mouton, 1962. ———. The Mongols of Western Afghanistan: An Ethnography of the Mongols and Related People of Afghanistan. Berkeley: University of California, 1957. Shahrani, M. Nazif. The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979. Spain, J. W. The Way of the Pathans. London: Hale, 1962. Zadran, A. S. “Kinship, Family and Kinship Terminology.” Afghanistan Quarterly 33, no. 2 (1960): 45–68.
Art/Music Allchin, F. R. The Ancient Art of Afghanistan. Tokyo: Afghanistan Kodai Bijutsu, 1964. Alvad, T. “The Kafir Harp.” Man 54 (1954). Alvad, T., and L. Edelberg. “The Nuristani Harp.” Afghanistan 8, no. 3 (1953). Auboyer, J. The Art of Afghanistan. Middlesex: Hamlyn House, 1968. Baily, John. “Can You Stop the Birds Singing?” The Censorship of Music in Afghanistan. London: Freemuse, 2001. ———. “A Description of the Naqqarkhana of Herat.” Asian Music 11, no. 2 (1980). ———. Music of Afghanistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. ———. “Recent Changes in the Dutar of Herat.” Asian Music 8, no. 1 (1976). Behrendt, Kurt. The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum, 2007. Blanc, J. C. Afghan Trucks. London: 1976. Bucherer-Dietsche, P. A. “Ein Freilichtmuseum in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 2–3 (1975). Centlivres-Demont, M. Popular Art in Afghanistan. Graz: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 1976.
Cook, N. C. “Songs of Kabul.” Afghanistan 9, no. 2 (1954). Darmsteter, J. “Afghan Life in Afghan Songs.” Contemporary Review, 1887. Dupaigne, Bernard, and Françoise Cousin. Afghan Embroidery. Lahore, Pakistan: Ferozsons, 1993. Dupree, A., and A. A. Motamedi. A Guide to the Kabul Museum. Kabul: Education Press, 1964. Fischer, K. “Ikonographische Besonderheiten in Buddhistischen Reliefs von Kundus in Baktries.” 24th International Orientalistenkongress, 1957. Munich, 1959. Foucher, A. “The Cradle of Greco-Buddhique Art.” Journal of the Panjab University Historical Society, 1920–1021. Friedman, A. C. “The Handicrafts of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 25, no. 2 (1972): 11–21. Frye, Richard N. “The Cultural Tradition of Afghanistan.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6, no. 29 (1946). Habib, A. H. “A Fine Collection of Art and Literature.” Afghanistan Quarterly 33, no. 2 (1980). Hackin, J. L’Art Buddhique de la Bactriane et les Origines de l’Art Greco-Buddhique. Kabul: Afghan Academy, 1937. Howell, E. B. “Some Border Ballads of the North-West Frontier.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1907. Janata, A. Schmuck in Afghanistan. Graz: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 1980. Karomatov, F. “On the Regional Styles of Uzbek Music.” Asian Music 4, no. 1 (1972). Marshack, A. “AQ Kupruk, Art and Symbol.” Afghanistan 27, no. 3 (1974). Morgenstierne, G. Some Folk Songs of Nuristan. The Hague: Mouton, 1967. Motamedi, H. “Paintings from Bamian.” Afghanistan 28, no. 2 (1975). Naimi, A. A. “Afghan Calligraphy, Illumination, and Miniaturework in the 9th Century A. H.” Afghanistan 1, no. 1 (1946). Negargar, M. I. “Afghan Folk Literature after the Soviet Invasion.” Writer’s Union of Free Afghanistan, WUFA 2, no. 2 (April–June 1987): 80. Paine, Sheila. Embroidery from Afghanistan. London: British Museum, 2006. Rice, F. M., and B. Rowland. Art in Afghanistan: Objects from the Kabul Museum. Coral Gables: University of Miami, 1971. Robertson, G. S. “Festivals and Dancing among the ‘Kafirs of the Hindu Kush’” Asian Music 8, no. 1 (1976). Rowland, B. Ancient Art from Afghanistan: Treasures of the Kabul Museum. New York: Asia House Gallery, 1966. Sakata, Hiromi Lorraine. “Afghan Musical Instruments.” Afghanistan Journal 6, no. 4 (1979). ———. “The Concept of Musicians in the Persian-Speaking Areas of Afghanistan.” Asian Music 8, no. 1 (1976). ———. Music in the Mind: The Concepts of Music and Musician in Afghanistan. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1983. Shahrani, Enayatullah. “The History of Fine Arts in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 26, no. 3 (December 1973): 20. Slobin, M. Music in the Culture of Northern Afghanistan. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1976.
Demography American Universities Field Staff. Population: Perspective 1973. Hanover, N.H.: Freeman, Cooper, 1973. Amerkhail, N. “Family Planning in Afghanistan.” Population Review, 1961. Asia Society, Afghanistan Council. Demographic Research in Afghanistan: A National Survey of the Settled Population. New York, 1977. Blanc, J. C. L’Afghanistan et Ses Populations. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1976. Dupree, L. “Population Review 1970: Afghanistan.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 15, no. 1 (1971): 20. Government of Afghanistan and United States Agency for International Development. National Demographic and Family Guidance Survey of the Settled Population of Afghanistan. 3 vols. New York: USAID, 1975. ———. A Provisional Gazetteer of Afghanistan. 3 vols. Kabul: Central Statistics Office, 1975. Hendrick, P. Infant and Early Childhood Mortality Survey: Protocol for Prospective Study in Kabul. Kabul: Ministry of Public Health, 1973. Institute of Social Studies. Methodology of Population Censuses and Practical Problems in Afghanistan. The Hague, 1970. Langley, G. Population: Family Planning. Kabul: USAID, 1972. Puffer, R. R. Patterns of Mortality in Childhood. Report of the Inter-American Investigation of Mortality in Childhood. Washington, D.C.: Pan American Health Organization, 1973. Trussel, J., and E. Brown. “A Close Look at the Demography of Afghanistan.” Demography 16, no. 1 (1979): 137–156.
Education ———. “The Afghan-American Education Commission.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 18, no. 2 (1974). ———. “Afghan Studies: An Overview, with Notes on Research, Institutional Activity and Bibliography.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 20, no. 4 (1976).
Ekanayake, S. B. Education in the Doldrums: Afghan Tragedy. Islamabad, Pakistan: Al-Moor Publishers, 2000. Harris, F. Public School Education in Afghanistan. Kabul: U.S. Operations Mission to Afghanistan, n.d. Hoelgaard, S. Plan for Operation for Improvement of Primary Education in Afghanistan. Kabul: UNICEF, 1974. Majrooh, Sayed Bahauodin. “Education in Afghanistan, Past and Present: A Problem for the Future.” In The Sovietization of Afghanistan. Edited by S. B. Majrooh and S. M. Y. Elmi. Peshawar, Pakistan: Afghanistan Information Center, 1987. Martin, R. T. Kabul University, Its Role in Education, Research, and Public Service in Afghanistan. Kabul: Kabul University, 1959. Ministry of Education (Afghanistan). Education in Afghanistan during the Last Fifty Years. Kabul: 1968. ———. Education Statistics, Afghanistan: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972. Kabul: 1969–1972. Natik, G. N. Engineering Education in Afghanistan. Kabul: Kabul University, 1972. Rahel, S. Monograph on Cultural Policy in Afghanistan. Paris: UNESCO, 1975. Rishtya, Sayyid Q. “Education in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 1, no. 1 (1946): 20–25. Weinbaum, Marvin G. “Foreign Assistance to Afghan Higher Education.” Afghanistan Journal 3, no. 2 (1976). Ziai, A. Hakim. “The Role of Education in Securing Human Rights.” Afghanistan Journal 19, no. 2 (1964).
Ethnography Ali, Muhammad. Manners and Customs of Afghans. Lahore, Pakistan: Punjab Education Press, 1958. Ali, Sharifa Enayat, and Sharifa B. Ali. Afghanistan: Cultures of the World. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, 1995. Anderson, Jon W., and Richard F. Strand. Ethnic Processes and Intergroup Relations in Contemporary Afghanistan. New York: Afghanistan Council of the Asia Society, 1978. Bacon, E. E. “The Inquiry into the History of the Hazara Mongols of Afghanistan.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 7 (1951): 230–247. Bellew, H. W. An Enquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan Prepared for and Presented to the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists. London, 1891. Reprint, Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1973. ———. A General Report on the Yusufzeis. Lahore, India: Government Press, 1864. Broguetti, Michele. The Current Situation in Hazarajat. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Burnes, A. “On the Siah-posh Kafirs, with Specimens of Their Language and Costume.” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 7 (1838): 325–333. Centlivres, P. “La Contribution Française et Suisse à l’Ethnographie de l’Afghanistan Depuis la Séconde Guerre Mondiale.” Central Asiatic Journal 16 (1972): 181–193. Charpentier, C. J. Bazaar-e Tashqurghan: Ethnographical Studies in an Afghan Traditional Bazaar. Uppsala, Sweden: SEU, 1972. Clifford, M. L. The Land and People of Afghanistan. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1973. Dhar, Asha. Folk Tales of Afghanistan. New Delhi: Sterling Press, 1982. Dianous, H. J. de. “Hazaras and Mongols in Afghanistan.” Orient 19 (1961): 71–98. Dupree, L. “Nuristan: (The Land of Light) Seen Darkly.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 15–16 (1971). Edelberg, L., and S. Jones. Nuristan. Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1979. Edwards, David B. Heroes of the Age: Moral Fault Lines on the Afghan Frontier. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. Ferdinand, K. “Ethnographical Notes on Chahar Aimaq, Hazara and Moghol.” Acta Orientalia 28, nos. 3–4 (1964): 175–203. Fischel, W. J. “The Rediscovery of the Medieval Jewish Community at Firuzkuh in Central Afghanistan.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 85 (1965). Jackson, Virginia. Art Museums of the World: Afghanistan-Nigeria. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1987. Janata, A. “Die Afghanischen Sammlungen des Museums für Völkerkunde in Wien.” Afghanistan Journal 1, no. 1 (1974): 5– 12. ———. Schmuck in Afghanistan. Graz, Austria: ADEVA, 1980. Khan, Rukhsana. The Roses in My Carpets. New York: Holiday House, 1998. Mousavi, Sayed Askar. The Hazaras of Afghanistan: An Historical, Cultural, Economic, and Political Study. Richmond, Surrey, U.K.: Curzon, 1998. Nabi, Eden. “The Uzbeks in Afghanistan.” Central Asian Survey 3, no. 1 (1984). Olesen, Asta. Afghan Craftsmen: The Culture of Three Itinerant Communities. London: Thames & Hudson, 1994. Orywal, Erwin. Die Ethnischen Gruppen Afghanistans. Wiesbaden, Germany: Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1986. Parsons, R. D. Oriental Rugs: The Rugs of Afghanistan. Woodbridge, Suffolk, U.K.: Oriental Textile Press, 1992. Rais, Rasul Bux. Recovering the Frontier State: War, Ethnicity, and State in Afghanistan. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books,
2008. Rao, A. “Qui Sont les Jat d’Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 8, no. 2 (1981): 55–65. Raverty, H. G. “Indian, Afghan and Pathan Tribes.” Asiatic Quarterly Review 7 (1894). Rice, Frances Mortimer. Art in Afghanistan: Objects from the Kabul Museum. London: Allen Lane, 1971. ———. “Kafiristan and the Kafiri Tribes.” Calcutta Review, 1896. Robertson, G. S. The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush. London: Oxford University Press, 1974. Rowland, Benjamin, Jr. Ancient Art from Afghanistan: Treasures of the Kabul Museum. London: Penguin, 1971. Schurmann, H. F. The Mongols of Western Afghanistan: An Ethnography of the Mongols and Related Peoples of Afghanistan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1957. Shah, Amina. Tales of Afghanistan. London: Octagon Press, 1982. Shahrani, M. N. M. The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979. Snoy, Peter. Ethnologie und Geschichte. Festschrift für Karl Jettmar. Wiesbaden, Germany: Franz Steiner, 1983. Tapper, Richard, ed. The Conflict of Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan. London: Croom Helm, 1983. United States. Afghanistan Ethnic Groups. Washington, D.C.: Central Intelligence Agency, 2005. Wadud, A. The Story of Swat. Peshawar, Pakistan, 1963.
Health Care Medico. Report on Afghanistan Nutrition Study Project. Kabul: USAID, 1970. Clarke, J. A. K. Nutritional Status in the Hazarajat. Kabul: Medical Assistance Program, 1970. Fischer, L. Afghanistan: Eine Geographischmedizinische Landeskunde. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1968. ———. “Volksmedizin in Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 1, no. 3 (1974): 15–64. Gobar, A. H. “Drug Abuse in Afghanistan.” Bulletin on Narcotics 28, no. 2 (1976): 1–11. Helfenbein, S., and M. Higgins. Afghanistan Nutrition Study Project. Final Report. Kabul: Care Medico, n.d. O’Connor, R. W. Health Care in Muslim Asia: Development and Disorder in Wartime Afghanistan. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994. ———. Managing Health Systems in Developing Areas: Experiences from Afghanistan. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1980. Prowi, T. T. Foods and Nutrition in Afghanistan. Kabul: Kabul University, 1962. United States Agency for International Development. A Health Survey of Afghanistan. Kabul: USAID, 1963. Wakeham, P. Annual Report of the Medical Assistance Program, Afghanistan Project. Kabul, 1972–1973.
Refugees Dadfar, Muhammad Azam. “Refugee Syndrome.” WUFA, Quarterly Journal of the Writers Union of Free Afghanistan, 1986. Dupree, Nancy Hatch. “The Afghan Refugee Family Abroad: A Focus on Pakistan.” WUFA, Quarterly Journal of the Writers Union of Free Afghanistan, 1987. Mayotte, Judy A. Disposable People? The Plight of the Refugees. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1992. Rogers, Tom. “Afghans in Exile: Refugees—a Threat to Stability?” Conflict Studies 202 (1987). Shaharani, M. Nazif. “Afghanistan’s Kirghiz in Turkey.” Cultural Survival Quarterly 8, no. 1 (1984). Steul, Willi, and Wolfgang G. Beitz. Hilfe für Afghanistan. Bonn: 1981. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR Background Reports. Ghazni Province, 1990; Wardak Province, 1990; Laghman Province, 1989; Logar Province, 1989; Kandahar Province, 1989; Kunar Province, 1989; Paktia Province, 1989; Paktika Province, 1989.
Religion Adamec, Ludwig W. The A to Z of Islam. 2nd ed. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2009. ———. Historical Dictionary of Islam. 2nd ed. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2009. Anderson, Jon W. “How Afghans Define Themselves in Relation to Islam.” In Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan. Berkeley, Calif.: Institute of International Studies, 1984. Barry, M. “Afghanistan, Terre d’Islam.” Les Temps Modernes 408–409 (1980): 29–52. Canfield, R. L. Faction and Conversion in a Plural Society: Religious Alignments in the Hindu Kush. Ann Arbor: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1973.
———. Suffering as a Religious Imperative in Afghanistan. Ninth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, 1973. Centlivres, Pierre, and Micheline Centlivres-Demont. “Hommes d’Influence et Hommes de Partis: L’Organization Politique dans les Villages des Réfugiés Afghans au Pakistan.” In Neue Beiträge zur Afghanistanforschung, edited by Erwin Grötzbach, 29–43. Liestal: Stiftung Bibliotheca Afghanica, 1988. Daftary, Farhad. The Isma’ilis: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Dupree, L. “Afghanistan, Islam in Politics: A Symposium.” Moslem World 56 (1966): 269–276. ———. “The Afghans Honor a Muslim Saint: Reprise.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 20, no. 7 (1976): 12. ———. “Militant Islam and Traditional Warfare in Islamic South Asia.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 21 (1980): 12. ———. “Saint Cults in Afghanistan.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 20, no. 1 (1976): 26. Edwards, D. B. “Print Islam: Media and Religious Revolution in Afghanistan.” Anthropological Quarterly 3 (July 1995). Einzmann, H. “Religious Folk Tradition in Afghanistan, Pilgrimage and Veneration of Saints.” In Islam in Southern Asia, 61– 63. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University, 1975. Farhadi, A. G. R. “Ibn Sina und Sufism.” Afghanistan Quarterly 33, no. 2 (1980): 1–8. Fazelly, Muhammad Kasem. “L’Islam Shi’ite en Afghanistan.” Paris: Les Nouvelles d’Afghanistan 12–13 (March 1983). Gaulier, Simone, Robert Jera-Bezard, and Monique Maillard. Buddhism in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1978. Ghani, Ashraf. “Disputes in a Court of Shariaa, Kunar Valley, Afghanistan, 1885–1890.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 15 (1983). ———. “Islam and State-Building in a Tribal Society, Afghanistan 1880–1901.” Modern Asian Studies 12 (1978): 269–284. Ghobar, M. “Le Rôle de l’Afghanistan dans la Civilisation Islamique.” Afghanistan 1, no. 1 (1946): 27–34. Haroon, Sana. Frontier of Faith: Islam in the Indo-Afghan Borderland. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Jalalzai, Musa Khan. Sectarianism and Ethnic Violence in Afghanistan. Lahore, Pakistan: Vanguard Books, n.d. Jettmar, K. The Religions of the Hindukush. Warminster, U.K.: Aris & Phillips, 1986. Kohzad, A. A. “L’Afghanistan au Point de Vue de la Religion.” Afghanistan 8, no. 3 (1953): 1–17. Lafrance, Pierre, Gilles Rossignol, and Pierre Centlivres, et al. “L’Islam en Afghanistan.” Les Nouvelles d’Afghanistan 12–13 (March 1983). Majrouh, S. B. “The Message of a Sufi for the Modern World.” Afghanistan 29, no. 3 (1976): 38–55. Marshall, Paul. Radical Islam’s Rule: The Worldwide Spread of Extreme Sharia Law. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. Momen, Moojan. An Introduction to Shi’i Islam. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985. Nawid, Senzil. Religious Response to Social Change in Afghanistan, 1919–1929: King Amanullah and the Afghan Ulama. Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1999. Noelle, Christine. “Anti-Wahhabi Reaction in 19th Century Afghanistan.” The Muslim World 1–2 (April 1995). Olesen, Asta. “Islam and Politics in Afghanistan.” In Neue Beiträge zur Afghanistanforschung. Liestal, Switzerland: Bibliotheca Afghanica, 1988. Schimmel, A. “The Meaning of Prayer in Mawlana Jalaloddin Balkhi’s Work.” Afghanistan 23, no. 3 (1974): 33–45. Tabibi, A. H. “The Great Mystics of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan 30, no. 2 (1977): 25–39. ———. Sufism in Afghanistan. Kabul: Author, 1977. Utas, B. “Notes on Afghanistan: Sufi Orders and Khanaqahs.” Afghanistan Journal 7, no. 2 (1980): 60–67. ———. “Scholars, Saints and Sufis in Modern Afghanistan.” In The Tragedy of Afghanistan, edited by Bo Hultdt, Erland Jansson, et al. London: Croom Helm, 1988. Wiebe, D. “Die Heutigen Kultstätten in Afghanistan und Ihre Inwertsetzung für den Fremdenverkehr.” Afghanistan Journal 7, no. 3 (1980): 97–108. Wilber, D. N. “The Structure and Position of Islam in Afghanistan.” Middle East Journal 6, no. 1 (1952): 41–48.
Sociology Ahady, Anwar-ul-Haq. “The Decline of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan.” Asian Survey 35, no. 7, July 1995. Ahmed, A. S. Social and Economic Change in Tribal Areas. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 1977. Anderson, Jon. Doing Pakhtu: Social Organization of the Ghilzai Pakhtun. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1979. ———. “Khan and Khel: Dialectics of Pakhtun Tribalism.” In The Conflict of Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan, edited by R. Tapper. London: Croom-Helm, 1983. ———. “Social Structure and the Veil: Comportment and Interaction in Afghanistan.” Anthropos 77 (1982).
———. “There Are no Khans Anymore: Economic Development and Social Change in Tribal Afghanistan.” Middle East Journal 32, no. 2 (1978): 167–183. Buescher, H. Die Industriearbeiter in Afghanistan: eine Studie zur Gesellschaftpolitischen Problematik Sozial Schwacher Bevolkerungsschichten in Entwicklungsländern. Meisenheim, Germany: Verlag Anton Hain, 1969. Dupree, L. “The Green and the Black: Social and Economic Aspects of a Coal Mine in Afghanistan.” American Universities Field Staff Reports 7, no. 5 (1963): 30. ———. “Religion, Technology and Evolution: A Case Study of a Muslim Community.” Journal of Social Research 4 (1961): 341–354. ———. “Tribalism, Religionism and National Oligarchy.” In Expectant Peoples, edited by K. Silbert, 41–76. New York: Random House, 1963. Ferdiand, Klaus. “Les Hazara.” In Peuples du Monde Entier. Paris: Alpha, 1976. Ghani, A. “Continuity and Change in the Function of Pashtun Intellectuals.” Afghanistan 30, no. 2 (1977): 40–53. Harpviken, Kristian Berg. Political Mobilization among the Hazara of Afghanistan, 1978–1992. Oslo: Department of Sociology, 1995. Jarring, G. “An Uzbek on His Native Town and Its Circumstances.” Ethnos 4 (1939): 73–80. Mormann, H., and E. Ploger. Buskaschi in Afghanistan. Frankfurt: Bucher, 1978. Sarwari, M. S. Afghanistan Zwischen Tradition und Modernisierung. Frankfurt: H. Lang, 1974. Shalinsky, A. Central Asian Emigres in Afghanistan: Problems of Religious and Ethnic Identity. New York: Afghanistan Council, Asia Society, 1979. Strand, R. F. “The Changing Herding Economy of the Kom Nuristani.” Afghanistan Journal 2, no. 4 (1975): 123–134. Swinson, A. North-West Frontier: People and Events, 1839–1947. London: Hutchinson, 1967. Weiner, Myron, and Ali Banuazizi. The Politics of Social Transformation in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1994.
Nomads Besters, H. H., and K. H. Kraus. “Nomadismus als Entwicklungproblem.” In Bochumer Symposium. Bielefeld, Germany, 1969. Centlivres, P., and M. Centlivres-Demont. “Chemins d’Eté, Chemins d’Hiver entre Darwaz et Qataghan.” Afghanistan Journal 4, no. 4 (1977): 155–163. Dakshieyger, G. F. Settlement and Traditional Social Institutions of the Former Nomads (on the Example of the Kazakh People). Ninth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Moscow, 1973. Ferdinand, Klaus. Afghan Nomads, Caravans, Conflicts and Trade in Afghanistan and British India, 1800–1980. Copenhagen: Rhodos International Science and Art Publishers, 2006. ———. Aspects of the Relations between Nomads and Settled Populations in Afghanistan. Moscow: Seventh International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Studies, 1964. ———. “Nomad Expansion in Central Afghanistan: A Sketch of Some Modern Trends.” Folk 4 (1962): 123–159. ———. “Nomadism in Afghanistan with an Appendix on Milk Products.” In Viehwirtschaft und Hirt Kultur, edited by L. Forder, 127–160. Budapest, 1969. ———. “Ost-Afghanischer Nomadismus ein Beitrag zur Anpassungs-fähigkeit der Nomaden.” Nomadismus als Entwicklungsproblem (1969): 107–128. Glatzer, B. Nomaden von Gharjistan: Aspekte der Wirtschaftlichen, Sozialen und Politischen Organisation Nomadischer Durrani-Paschtunen in Nordwest-Afghanistan. Wiesbaden, Germany: F. Steiner, 1977. Jentsch, C. Das Nomadentum in Afghanistan. Meisenheim, Germany: Verlag Anton Hain, 1973. ———. “Die Wirtschaftlichen und Politischen Aspekte des Nomadentums in Zentralasien. Besonders die Jungste Entwicklung Afghanistan.” In Seminar Uber das Nomadentum in Zentralasien (Afghanistan, Iran, USSR), edited by National Schweizerische UNESCO—Kommission, 45–57. Schlussbericht Bern, 1976. ———. “Structural Changes of Nomadism in Afghanistan.” Geographical Review of Afghanistan 7, no. 2 (1969): 8–13. Kraus, R. W. H. “Siedlungsprojekte in der Provinz Helmand (Afghanistan) unter Besonderer Berucksichtigung Gesiedelter Nomaden.” Vierteljahresberichte 46 (1971): 419–432. Majruh, S. B. “Aktuelle Fragen des Nomadismus in Afghanistan.” Nomadismus als Entwicklungsproblem (1969): 155–160. Nichols, Robert. A History of Pashtun Migration, 1775–2006. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Pedersen, G. Afghan Nomads in Transition. London: Thames & Hudson, 1994. ———. “Socio-economic Change among a Group of East Afghan Nomads.” Afghanistan Journal 8, no. 4 (1981): 115–122. Renesse, E. A. von, and H. C. G. Sponeck. “Nomadism in Afghanistan.” Nomadismus als Entwicklungs-problem (1969):
173–182. ———. “Nomadismus in Afghanistan als soziookonomisches Problem.” Nomadismus als Entwicklungsproblem (1969): 161– 170. Robinson, J. A. Notes on Nomad Tribes of Eastern Afghanistan. Quetta, Pakistan: Nisa Traders, 1978. Shahrani, M. N. M. “Kirghiz Pastoral Nomads of the Afghan Pamirs: A Study in Ecological and Intra-Cultural Adaptation.” M.A. thesis, University of Washington, 1976. Singer, A. “Problems of Pastoralism in the Afghan Pamirs.” Asian Affairs 63 (1976): 156–160. Strand, R. F. “The Changing Herding Economy of the Kom Nuristani.” Afghanistan Journal 2, no. 4 (1975): 123–134. Tapper, N. “Pashtun Nomad Women in Afghanistan.” Asian Affairs 64, no. 2 (1977): 163–170. Tapper, Richard. “Who Are the Kuchi? Nomad Self-Identities in Afghanistan.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 14, no. 1 (2008): 97–116.
Women Abirafeh, Lina. Gender and International Aid in Afghanistan: The Politics and Effects of Intervention. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2009. Ahmed-Ghosh, Huma. “Voices of Afghan Women: Human Rights and Economic Development.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 8, no. 1 (2006): 110–128. Akseer, Spogmai. So Far Away: Voices of Rural Afghan Women. Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller, 2008. Armstrong, Sally. Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan’s Women. Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008. ———. Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002. Bernard, Cheryl. Women and Nation-Building. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corp., 2008. Bernard, Cheryl, and Edit Schlaffer. Veiled Courage: Inside the Afghan Women’s Resistance. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. Boesen, I. W. “Women, Honour and Love: Some Aspects of the Pashtun Woman’s Life in Eastern Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Journal 7, no. 2 (1980): 50–59. Brodsky, Anna E. With All Our Strength: The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. New York: Routledge, 2004. Colberg, Janet Ollila. Alla’s Orphans: The Story of an Afghan Girl. Helena, Mont.: Summer Kitchen Press, 2004. Delloye, Isabelle. Women in Afghanistan. St. Paul, Minn.: Ruminator Books, 2003. Doubleday, Veronica. Three Women of Herat: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Friendship in Afghanistan. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006. Ellis, Deborah. Women of the Afghan War. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2000. Emadi, Hafizullah. “Breaking the Shackles: Political Participation of Hazara Women in Afghanistan.” Asian Journal of Women’s Studies 6, no. 1 (2000). ———. Repression, Resistance, and Women in Afghanistan. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2002. ———. “Struggle for Recognition: Hazara Isma’ili Women and Their Role in the Public Arena in Afghanistan.” Asian Journal of Women’s Studies 8, no. 2 (2002): 88–89. Fluri, Jennifer. “‘The Beautiful Other’: A Critical Examination of ‘Western’ Representation of Afghan Feminine Corporeal Modernity.” Gender, Place, and Culture 16, no. 3 (2009): 241–257. Gauhari, Farooka. An Afghan Woman’s Odyssey. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. Heath, Jennifer, and Ashraf Zahedi. Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. Hussain, Naila. Afghan Women: Tales of Sorrow and Hope. Karachi, Pakistan: Church World Service, 2005. Joya, Malalai. Raising My Voice: The Extraordinary Story of the Afghan Woman Who Dares to Speak Out. Sydney: Pan Macmillan, 2009. ———. A Woman among Warlords. New York: Scribner, 2011. Kamali, Mohammad Hashim. “References to Islam and Women in the Afghan Constitution.” Arab Law Quarterly 22, no. 3 (2008): 270–306. Kiviat, Katherine, and Scott Heidler. Women of Courage: Intimate Stories from Afghanistan. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith Publishers, 2007. Knabe, E. Frauenemanzipation in Afghanistan. Ein Empirischer Beitrag zur Untersuchung von Soziokulturellem Wandel und Sozio-Kultureller Beständigkeit. Meisenheim, Germany: Verlag Anton Hain, 1977. Lamb, Christina. The Sewing Circles of Herat: My Afghan Years. London: Harper Perennial, 2004. Lemmon, Gayle Tzemach. The Dressmaker of Khar Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family and the Woman Who
Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe. New York: Harper, 2011. Mertus, Julie A. War’s Offensive on Women. Bloomfield, Conn.: Kumarian Press, 2000. Mills, Margaret A. “Off the Dust and the Wind: Arranged Marriages in Afghanistan.” In Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East, edited by Donna Lee Bowen and Evelyn A. Early. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. Ordyniec, J. Women’s Education in Afghanistan: Mission Oct. 1967–March 1970. Paris: UNESCO, 1970. Palmer, Caitriona. “The Taliban’s War on Women.” Lancet 352, no. 9129 (29 August 1998): 734–735. Pankhurst, Donna. Gendered Peace: Women’s Struggle for Post-War Justice and Reconciliation. New York: Routledge, 2008. Rahimi, Fahima. Women in Afghanistan. Liestal: Stiftung Bibliotheca Afghanica, 1986. Rodriguez, Deborah. Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil. New York: Random House, 2007. Rostami-Povey, Elaheh. Afghan Women: Identity and Invasion. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Samad, Khorshied. Afghan Women, Media and Emerging Democracy: Social Evolution in Post-Taliban Afghanistan. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2009. Shah, Saira. The Story Teller’s Daughter. New York: Anchor, 2004. Shavarini, Mitra K. Women and Education in Iran and Afghanistan: An Annotated Bibliography of Sources in English. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2005. Skaine, Rosemarie. Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2008. ———. The Women of Afghanistan under the Taliban. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002. Slezic, Lana. Forsaken: Afghan Women. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Power House, 2007. Tapper, Nancy. Bartered Brides: Politics, Gender, and Marriage in Afghan Tribal Society. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. ———. “Pashtun Nomad Women in Afghanistan.” Asian Affairs 64, no. 2 (1977): 163–170.
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WEBSITES Afghan Analyst Bibliography. http://www.afghanistan-analyst.org. Afghan Islamic Press. http://www.afghanislamicpress.com/site/home/default. Afghan Links. http://www.afghanlinks.org. Afghan Musicians Biography. http://www.afghanland.com/entertainment/music/bio.html. Afghan News. http://www.afghannews.net. Afghan News Channel. http://www.afghan-network.net/News. Afghan Online Press. http://www.aopnews.com/today.html. Afghan Women’s Mission. http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/index.php. Afghanistan Newspapers. http://www.abyznewslinks.com/afgha.htm. Afghanistan Peace Organization. http://www.afghanistannews.net. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit—A to Z Guide. option=com_content&task+view&id+3&Itemid+17. Ariana Television Network. http://www.arianatelevision.com. Bakhtar. http://www.bakhtarnews.com.af/?Lang=E. Cabinet Members Biography at: http://afghanemb-canada.net. Daily Outlook Afghanistan (newspaper). http://www.outlookafghanistan.net. Kabul Press. http://kabulpress.org./my/spip.php?rubrique60.
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Kabul Weekly. http://www.kw.af/english. National Afghanistan News Center. http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com. Online Concise “Encyclopedia” of Afghanistan. http://www.afghanhero.com. Other Afghan Personalities Biography: http://www.afghan-web.com/bios. Outlook Afghanistan. http://www.outlookafghanistan.net. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. http://www.voanews.com. Sahar, David. “The Art of Gudiparanbazi.” http://www.afghana.com/Entertainment/Gudiparanbazi.htm. Wikipedia. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki.
About the Author Ludwig W. Adamec (B.A., political science; M.A., journalism; Ph.D., Islamic and Middle East studies, UCLA) is an emeritus professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Arizona and was director of its Near Eastern Center for ten years. Widely known as a leading authority on Afghanistan, he is the author of a number of reference works on Afghanistan and books on Afghan history, foreign policy, and international relations, including Afghanistan 1900–1923: A Diplomatic History; Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs to the Mid-Twentieth Century; a six-volume Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan; The Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan; The Historical Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies; The Historical Dictionary of Islam; and The A to Z of Islam.