AfghanistanicaAfghanistanicaAn exploration of Afghanistan-related issues. Articles
Introspective Anglos and Soviets Versus Forward-Looking Mujahideen
2007-04-09 00:59:00 April 9, 2007. While browsing video tributes to soldiers who fought in Afghanistan I started to see a pattern. With a small number of exceptions, the most popular videos for different nationalities fell, although not always neatly, into certain style categories. The first up are the Soviet soldiers. The video I chose as representative simply says “we were there” (before degenerating into fictionalized violence from the Russian movie 9th Company). The Soviet/Russian style in this video focuses on the group. The video doesn’t name people or focus long on individuals, and when it does they are anonymous. Perhaps it’s hard to focus on the individual when losses were over 15,000. Also of note, Afghans are totally absent from any humanizing role in the video. The Canadian style is very somber and introspective. The focus is on the tragedy of human loss. Some of the videos even name all the fatalities. This video is representative of the other Canuck vids. The Br... More About: War , Versus , King , Introspective
The Best Book on Afghanistan
2007-04-07 19:17:00 April 7, 2007. If I was only allowed to own one book on Afghanistan , it would most definitely be Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to The Present by Gilles Dorronsoro (Columbia University Press, 2005). Bad book cover, good book. There are a number of scholars who could write a book of equal quality as Dorronsoro has. However, they have teaching and administrative responsibilities that prevent them from putting in the time and effort that Dorronsoro has. What makes this book so comprehensive is that it is based on Dorronsoro’s Ph.D. dissertation. This means that there is a minimum of 3 years work put into this book. Some disserations are far too esoteric to be useful to any but a few scholars hiding in the stacks. Revolution Unending, however, is broad enough to appeal to everybody who wants to better understand Afghanistan. The book ... More About: Book , Best , Ghan
The Other Side of the Soviet Invasion
2007-04-03 23:11:00 April 3, 2007. So the Soviet s showed up and just started bombing the hell out of Afghanistan, right? All they did was kill, maim and torture, right? Well, at the risk of sounding like an apologist, I feel I must discuss the varied strategies that the Soviets employed. There were incentives as well as disincentives (The carrot versus stick argument). But is this propaganda poster merely……propaganda? Rasul Bakhsh Rais noted that while the Soviet Army and the Afghan communist government followed, later in the conflict, a “policy of eviction, bombardment and destruction of infrastructure” in predominantly Pashtun areas, the strategy in the north on the part of the Soviet Union was to deliver aid and development projects as a reward for cooperation (or merely not violently resisting). Many in the north lived through the Soviet-Afghan war in relative peace and prosperity, as these objective fact-based informative representations o... More About: Other , Side , Invasion , Sion
Rory Stewart’s Damn Afghan Dam
2007-04-01 22:18:00 April 1, 2007. Rory Stewart is a fine chap. A good bloke. He’s good people. But that being said……what in God’s name is he writing about in the New York Times/International HT? Joshua Foust at Registan has already talked about the article here. As has Carl Robichaud. My problem with Stewart’s article has several aspects, which I won’t bore you with. But my jaw dropped when I saw an anecdote in Stewart’s article that Robichaud referred to as an ‘edifice complex.’ “Afghans are bored with foreign consultants and conferences and are saying, ‘Bring back the Russians: at least they built dams and roads.” To win them over we should focus on large, highly visible infrastructure to which Afghans will be able to point in 50 years — just as they point to the great dam built by the United States in the 1960s.” Wow! Look at that progress! Man conquering nature! But was/is this dam benef... More About: War , Rory Stewart , Damn , Ghan
Totally out of context quote #6
2007-03-31 22:24:00 March 31, 2007. “…roughly 650,000 soldiers.” Context : This is the number of troops that the Soviet General Staff estimated would be required for a successful occupation of Afghanistan. The Soviet Politburo put a cap on troop levels at 115,000. You can read about the Soviet troop levels in this article in pdf. More About: Tall , Text , Total , Quote
Ahmed Rashid Versus the Uzbeks
2007-03-29 20:54:00 March 29, 2007. You’ve read Taliban, the influential book by superstar reporter and author Ahmed Rashid , right? Of course you have, everybody has. And everybody seems to have it on their bookshelf, displayed prominently as proof of their interest and expertise in Afghanistan. Here’s a fun game to play when you see said book: 1) Pick up book and say “Oooh! What an interesting book! Do you recommend it?” To which the book’s owner says “Of course! It is indispensable.” 2) Go to page 56 and 57, as well as page 149 and read out loud (in a fake Oxbridge British accent) the passages about the Uzbek s. 3) Watch the owner of the book squirm in front of the other people present and hear him/her claim to have missed those parts. So what do those passages contain? Here’s a sample: “The U zbeks, the roughest and toughest of all the Central Asian nationalities, are noted for their love of marauding and pil... More About: Versus
The “Moral Incoherence” of Afghanistan
2007-03-27 01:16:00 March 26, 2007. What is to blame for the persistent conflict that Afghanistan has faced throughout its history? The most popular explanations are foreign invasions and interference, imported religious and political ideologies, economic and social underdevelopment, incompetent rulers and unruly citizens. But what else? Other countries have faced similar hardships and overcome similar difficulties. Why not Afghanistan? Are there other factors? David B. Edwards may have an answer to that question. Photo: David B Edwards on the left, getting his anthropology on. In David B Edwards’ book Heroes of the Age: Moral Fault Lines on the Afghan Frontier (University of California Press, 1996), he puts forth what counted as quite an original idea when nearly everybody else was pointing their fingers at the usual suspects listed above. Edwards’ argument is that, among Pashtuns (or Pakhtuns), the moral authority of their t... More About: Here , Ghan , Oral
Afghanistan Blogs
2007-03-23 22:15:00 March 23, 2007. I have been negligent this week and have not written a new entry on Afghanistan ica. That is because I have been busy working on a blog index for The Afghanistan Analyst. In their errant judgement, the powers that be at that website (which is an incomplete working version at the moment) have allowed me to create a comprehensive list of Afghanistan-related blogs. That index took a long, long time. There was some serious googling and technorati action going on (on dial-up). Anyways, I created it since there is no decent comprehensive up-to-date list of Afghanistan blogs on the internet. And a warning to Afghanistan bloggers: The Afghanistan Analyst will be undergoing a large update with much new content. When that is complete within about ten days the website will send out a notice over a number of listservs/email lists that focus on Afghanistan. Anyways, the people on these lists are academics, researchers, students, ngo workers, government types, etc… Hope... More About: Blogs , Blog , Logs , Ghan
CIA Officer Operated Without Fact-checker for Book on Afghanistan
2007-03-19 00:58:00 March 18, 2007. When I read former CIA officer Gary Schroen’s book First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan , I was looking for a level of accuracy and incisiveness regarding Afghanistan that one should expect from an intelligence officer who, on September 11, 2001, was the deputy chief on the Near East and South Asia Division of the Directorate of Opera tions in the CIA, a position of enormous importance. Schroen first arrived in Islamabad in 1978 and later moved to the Kabul bureau and stayed until it was closed in 1988. From there he returned to Islamabad until 1990 and then moved up the ranks in the Near East Bureau (which includes Afghanistan) of the CIA before returning to Islamabad in 1996 and taking control of responsibilities for the Bureau there and coordinating all Pak-Afghan issues. He even made numerous trips into Afghanistan during this time. What I found inside the book confirme... More About: Office , Book , With
Afghanistan Film Preview: Journey to Kafiristan
2007-03-16 22:23:00 March 16, 2007. I thought that I would start to preview (or review) films about Afghanistan . Generally, I won’t make any strong recommendations about whether or not you should see the movies I mention since everybody has different tastes. For example, some people thought Kandahar was brilliant in its subtlety while others thought it was the most painfully boring movie ever. I generally ignore movie reviews and make a decision based on the movie trailer (see trailer below). But let’s get to today’s preview of Journey to Kafiristan (2001). Hmmm…. That lady is dressed sort of boyishly (I love the hairstyle. It’s cute!). But more on that later. First of all, Kafiristan (Land of the Infidels/Unbelievers) is the old imposed name for Nuristan, before Amir Abdur Rahman of Afghanistan “gently persuaded” the people there to convert to Islam little more than 100 years ago. The new name, Nuristan, means “Land of the Enlightened,” but is sometimes translated as “Land of Ligh... More About: Film , Preview , Review
A Job in Afghanistan for a Person Who Does Not Exist
2007-03-15 19:35:00 March 15, 2007. What is this cute little Nuristani girl laughing at? I think she is laughing at the job advertised by an American Department of Defense private contractor. Photo: John Tobias When I saw this job announcement 2 years ago I actually laughed out loud. A government contractor thinks that it can find someone who can speak “Nuristani.” Well, Kati actually, and there is no indication as to whether it is Eastern or Western Kati (or even Mumviri possibly). The requirements, that the linguist be an American citizen, narrows the prospects down to one person; Richard Strand. And I’m pretty sure he could not get a secret clearance based on his travel history. Not that he is looking for a job or anything. If you are an American who speaks “Nuristani” fluently, are able to get a secret security clearance (if you know anybody named Muhammad or anybody from China you’re screwed), you like being located at a Forward Operating Base that gets attacked regularly, you like w... More About: Afghanistan , Person , Ghan , Exist
Totally Out of Context Quote #5
2007-03-14 02:47:00 March 13, 2007. “I often hear the Afghans designated as cowards…..and I can only suppose it arises from the British idea among civilised people that assassination is a cowardly act. The Afghans never [hesistate] to use their long knives for that purpose, ergo they are cowards; but they show no cowardice in standing as they do against guns without using any themselves, and in escalading and taking forts which we cannot retake.” Context : Lady Florentia Sale, wife of a British officer and one of the few members of the British expeditionary force to survive, comments on the bravery of the Afghans. Quote taken from her book Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan 1841-2. (Published in numerous versions by various publishers.) The book is a great critique of the incompetent and arrogant officers who led the expedition in the First Anglo-Afghan War. Some officers brought as many as 40 servants for a total of 38,000 servants for half as many soldiers, one brigadier had 60... More About: Tall , Text , Total
Conflict or Culture? Which Factor is More Important in the Denial of Women
2007-03-11 21:33:00 March 11, 2007. At the center of journalists’ attempts at analyzing social issues in Afghanistan is often the subject of gender and women’s rights. And usually, journalists go for the tabloid-type stories of pre-pubescent girls being sold into marriage to some old white-beard while pretty much ignoring stories such as the one where a man journeyed across the country searching for his missing daughter. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t object to the media running stories like the one where a girl in northern Afghanistan was traded for a fighting dog. I object to the media portraying Afghans as being OK with this kind of treatment of women. Stories like the man searching for his daughter show that there is not a monolithic social norm regarding women in Afghanistan. In fact, there are thousands of Afghan men who know that their daughter, sister or wife was raped. In some cases they were forced to watch at gunpoint. And yet extremely few have killed their loved ones in order to... More About: Women , Culture , Cult , Men , Port
America Soldiers Winning Hearts and Minds With Dance. Seriously.
2007-03-09 07:52:00 March 9, 2007. I usually use this blog space for frivolous musings and barely relevant ramblings concerning the goings-on in Afghanistan. But today I shall do some serious analytical work. The conundrum that is on everybody’s mind, from Mazar-i Sharif to Billings, Montana is this: Can America n soldiers dance? And will their dancing win over the people of Afghanistan? A lot is at stake. Previous foreign armies have arrived in Afghanistan with sub-par dancing skills, and we’ve all seen what happened to them (I’m looking in your direction, British Army of the Indus, circa 1839. Tsk, tsk!). If you doubt the power of dance, you’ve clearly never seen movies such as “Footloose,” “Dirty Dancing,” or any Bollywood film ever made. The Soviets never saw those movies. And just look what happened to them. So, what of the current situation? How are American soldiers faring in “The Great American-Afghan Dance -off?” (That phrase is henceforth copyrighted and ... More About: Arts , With , Hear
Totally out of context quote #4
2007-03-09 01:14:00 March 8, 2007. “They came, they uprooted, they burned, they killed, they plundered, they left.” Context : I’m 98% sure that this quote is from the writings of the 14th century Persian poet and scholar Hafez. That’s all the context I have. Sadly, this quote seems like a description of the last 30 years of history in Afghanistan. More About: Tall , Text , Total , Quote
Why No Ethnic Separatist Movements in Afghanistan?
2007-03-07 06:02:00 March 7, 2007. Yeah! Why no ethnic or sectarian separatist movements in Afghanistan ? Everybody else has them! Why not Afghanistan? What factors are depriving Afghanistan from enjoying some sort of separatist related violence? I’m sure you are dying to know why so I’ll put forward a number of reasons. I’m not putting them out there as my concrete beliefs, I’d just like to get people to think about the reasons and maybe come up with some not listed here. Some factors given are original thoughts and others I have stolen from a number of eminent scholars (most of whom get some sort of credit at the bottom of this blog entry). The opportunity for separatism clearly existed from the Soviet withdrawal until September 11 of a certain year. Yet nobody took this wonderful opportunity. Without further ado, the reasons: #1 Separatism could mean joining another country; such as Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmen joining Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and an insane asylum, respectively. But really, wh... More About: Men , Ethnic , Para , Move
Totally out of context quote #3
2007-03-06 03:35:00 March 5, 2007. “The worst is behind us. The traitors have betrayed. The corrupt have led their war of corruption. A purified army remains. A fine army that will now mount a counter-attack. I promise you.” Context : Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the anti-Taliban Shura-yi Nazar, speaking in 1998 to village elders in the Panjshir valley. Quote taken from page 332 of Bernard-Henri Levy’s book “War, Evil, and the End of History.” (Melville House Publishing, 2004). More About: Tall , Text , Total
The Power(lessness) of Today’s Riots in Jalalabad
2007-03-04 20:55:00 March 4, 2007. If you conscientiously follow the stream of good news coming out of Afghanistan then you have definitely heard about the riot in Jalalabad (affectionately called “J-Bad” by the troops). And even if you only occasionally tune into news from Afghanistan you can’t miss hearing about the incident since it is the lead story in the western media at the moment. The coverage is, as usual, poor and incomplete. The sketchy details so far are this: minibus bomb and ambush targeting American patrol in city of Jalalabad turns into 8 civilians being shot and killed by US soldiers. And, as one can predict, angry locals take to the streets for the ritual of anger. So why am I bringing this up when you can get the news anywhere? Well, last week I wrote about riots in Afghan cities in an entry titled “The Power (lessness) of the Mob in Afghanistan.”. This was not out of any sort of prescience, but rather a timely coincidence. You can read my post here. If... More About: Today , Ness , Lala , Less
Totally out of context quote #2
2007-03-04 02:00:00 March 3, 2007. “One obedient uneducated person is better than 100 disobedient intellectuals.” Context : Current Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Ismael Khan expressing his appreciation for educated Afghans while speaking to a reporter in October 2005. Quote taken from page 6 of Antonio Giustozzi’s report titled “Genesis of a ‘Prince’: The Rise of Ismail Khan in Western Afghanistan, 1979-1992.” Available online here in pdf. More About: Tall , Text , Total
The Deceptive Afghan Translator
2007-03-03 02:19:00 March 2, 2007. Almost all NGO workers, military personnel, foreign government representatives and journalists operating in Afghanistan have the same impediment: the language barrier. So everybody hires a translator. Without a translator the various members of the “international community” would be like a newly blinded person attempting to take a route never before traveled. Tran s lators do not just translate the language directly; they translate culture as well. They save their usually naïve and often ignorant employers from committing social faux pas and they often take much liberty with their translations. Translator s often are given (or take) leeway to interpret situations for their employers as best as possible. For example: NGO worker X tells their interpreter to ask a local government official if Valley Y is safe to travel in. The translator and the local then engage in a 3 minute long conversation that the translator translates with a simple “yes.” Another example: ... More About: Ghan , The D
Totally out of context quote #1
2007-03-02 01:41:00 March 1, 2007. “In the Pakhtun [Pashtun] world, the rifle is the symbolic marker of a man’s identity as a man. To take away someone’s rifle is therefore extremely provocative; to do so in front of his wife is far worse, virtually a form of sexual assault which conveys the message that the wife is the assailant’s to possess.” -Anthropologist David B. Edwards on page 74 of his book “Heroes of the Age: Moral Fault Lines on the Afghan Frontier.” (University of California Press, 1996) More About: Tall , Text , Total , Context , Quote
How the Hippies destroyed Afghanistan
More articles from this author:2007-02-28 05:26:00 February 27, 2007. OK, maybe the title of this post is a little bit of an exaggeration. However, one author, Martin Ewans, argues that the Taliban were motivated partially by a strong disdain for the morals of the west, and that the foundations of this disdain may be traced back to the hippie tourists who passed through Afghanistan in the 1960s and 1970s. The Afghans showed these hippies their trademark pre-conflict hospitality and the hippies, for their part, smoked a lot of dope and did unmentionable things with each other in public. Ewans dedicates less than a page to the issue that can be summed up by this passage: “…Afghans were deeply shocked at the visitors’ nihilism and irresponsibility, as well as at the loose morals that many of them, and women in particular, displayed. Their conclusion was that if this was how Westerners behaved, Afghanistan wanted no part of it.” Martin Ewans is no sociologist or anthropologist (in fact he is a former diplomat) and he is not a f... More About: Hippies , Troy , Pies , Ghan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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