European
man: I have watched many films and many videos about Afghanistan but
I don’t really know about Taliban, who are they and what do they want? What do
the people of Afghanistan think about it?
Afghan
refugee: Well, that is a very nice question and a very typical one.
To answer that question, first I need to know how much you know about
Afghanistan and its people.
European
man: Well, I think Afghanistan
is a country in Asia. It is an Islamic country and all of the people are
Muslims.
Afghan
refugee: Ok, let me tell you something different about Afghanistan.
This country is a gold mine and all super powers want to have their share from
that gold mine. That is the issue number one. Issue number tow is about its
people. It is a multicultural country full of diversity. There are different
religions in that country. Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism are the main religions
in that country. There are atheists in that country. Inside the Islam in
Afghanistan, there are many other sub-divisions. If I tell you easily, Islam is
divided into many other small parts called “Mazhabs”. There are Sunni Muslims
in Afghanistan and there are Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan. Do you know how
many different types of Sunni Muslims are there in Afghanistan and how many
different types of Shiites?
European
man: No, I don’t know. I guess one kind of Sunni and one kind of
Shiites.
Afghan
refugee: No, that is a wrong guess. There
different schools of thought in the world who are called Sunni. There is not
one single Sunni. The most famous branches of Sunni schools of thought are
called:
- Shaafehi
- Maliki
- Hanbali
- Hanafi
- Wahabbi
Afghanistan has got many
followers of the last two branches of Sunni.
There are also many types of
Shiite school of thought in the world but Afghanistan has only two kinds of
Shiites in it.
- Jafari
- Ismaeli
The main problem in Afghanistan
lies in the fact that all these branches doubt in the Muslimhood of each other
and they don’t recognize each other as true Muslims. Now if you want to know
Taliban belongs to which branch of Islam. They belong to Wahabi and Hanafi
school of thought. But most of the Afghans believe that they are not Muslims.
European
man: It is so complicated.
Afghan
refugee: Yes, but that is not all of it. You have to know some other
issues as well to be able to understand the Taliban. Do you know what tribalism
means?
European
man: I guess yes but it is better that you tell me.
Afghan
refugee: There are different tribes in Afghanistan. They are also
called ethnic groups. There are Tajiks, Uzbaks, Turkmans, Pashtuns, Sayids,
Hazaras, Qezel Baash, Bayaats …etc.
All these different ethnic groups
have their own sub-divisions and they follow different branches of Islam. For
example Hazaras are famous for being Shiites while there are Sunni Hazaras as well.
Pashtuns are famous for being Sunni Hanafi while there are many Shiite Pashtuns in
Kandahar. Religion and ethnicity are intertwined and have divided the people of Afghanistan into
different categories. If you want to know the Taliban, you better find out that Taliban falls into which category of
ethnic groups. They are mainly Pashtuns and they have a strong feeling to defend, force and impose Pashto Language and on the the native speakers of other languages of Afghanistan. During the Taliban regime Pashto was the only official langauge and Dari was taken out of the official langauges in that time. Every single Pashtun was a Talib in that time and when Taliban collapsed, all of them changed their clothes and became democrats with a tie. Most of them are now ministers. You better know the idea of “Pan-Pashtunism” in order to know the Taliban.
European
man: What is Pan-Pashtunism?
Afghan
refugee: It simply means a strong discrimination or racism by the Pashtuns agianst other ethnic groups which is based on the idea that all Pashtuns are better than other
ethnic groups and they are the only tribe who has the right to own the
political power of the country. Pan-Pashtunism does not recognize the Durand border between Afghanistan and Pakistan because it devides Pashtuns in two parts. The Pashtun tribe who live in both sides of the borders and Pan-Pashtunism can only get stronger if
they bring those Pashtuns from the other side of the border inside Afghanistan
and give them Afghan citizenship to increase the number of Pashtuns in Afghanistan by importing Pakistani Pashtuns. Those Pashtuns who are in Pakistani side of the border are
mainly Wahabi and they believe they are Pakistani citizens and that is why they
are working for the interests of Pakistan in Afghanistan and they use the
stupid idea of Pan-Pashtunism as a means of influence and intervention in
Afghanistan. They use religion as a motivation for training their soldiers.
European
man: I lost the connection. It is so complicated.
Afghan
refugee: Yes, there is also the issue of political parties.
Hazbi-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is the closest political party to
Taliban with the same mentality and same goals. They are working together.
European
man: What are the main points to know the Taliban, just name them
shortly?
Afghan
refugee: Ok, the main points or bottlenecks to know Taliban can be briefed as below,
regardless of their motivation strategies and what mottos and slogans they use
there in Pakistan to train them:
- Religion and sub-division of religion
- Ethnic groups
- Pan-Pashtunism
- Durand border issue
- Interests of Pakistan in Afghanistan
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