Afghanistan-Pashtuns

You can not understand politics unless you also under stand ethnicity and linguistics. The largest tribe and people in Afghanistan is the Pashtuns. They speak the Pashto language. They are mainly located in Afghanistan. However they are also located in Southern Iran and all along the border of Pakistan.

It for this reason that there is an easy migration between Afghanistan and the other countries. To the Pashtun people, tribe outweighs nationality. For that reason a Pashtun individual in Kandahar may have much more in common with the Pashtun in Pakistan than with with the Turkamen or other nationalities in Northern Afghanistan.

Most of the Taliban are Pashtun. Their language is Pasto. Pasto is one of the languages used in Afghan's schools. The Pashtun are also fiercely Islamic.

Interestingly, the current President of Afghanistan, Karzhai, is Pashtun. This is helpful in taking many of the actions of the current government of Afghanistan.

The border of Afghanistan is called the Durand Line. It is named after a British diplomat who arbitrarily divided the British Indian territory (Pakistan was a part of India then) from Afghanistan in 1893.

The Pashtun people who are on both sides of this border do not recognize the existence of this line.

This background somewhat explains the migration of the Taleban forces back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Pashtun people are known to be tall, light-skinned with hawkish features. They are also known for being fierce warriors, taking revenge in disputes, and warm hospitality. They are Sunni Muslims as opposed to Shiites.

Their code of hospitality may explain to some degree why they would never give up Osama Bin Laden.

There has been a Pashtun independence movement for a number of years that tries to united Pashtun people on both sides of the Durand line.

The Pashtun people have been hard to manage. The British generally left them alone. The Pakistanis have pretty much done the same thing; allowing tribal law to govern. For that reason, it may be difficult to demand that Pakistan now control Pashtun areas that have been out of control for years.

Afghanistan has 12.5 million Pashtuns; Pakistan has 28 million. Get the picture.

The legend is that the Pashuns come from stranded soldiers of Alexander the Great. Most scholars, however, take the position that they are a mix of Asiatic people.

Afghanistan is a country complicated by its ethnicity and its languages. But these differences along with an understanding of Islam explain much of what is going on there.

It also explains the relationship of the Taleban with their brothers in Pakistan. (I do not recall hearing that the Taleban had ever been defeated in Pakistan; nor do I think that we have U.S. military actions going on in Taliban areas of Pakistan.

If the Pakistan area of the problem could ever be controlled, there could then be success in the Afghanistan area. Until then, we treat the symptom but not the disease.

I am sure military strategists out there are aware of these things; but not much is said in the media.

HarleyDad

HarleyDad