The grave yard of empires...

The last time I wrote something for this blog was November 2008 – almost two years ago. That was just a few months after I moved to Afghanistan. I always thought I had a writer’s block but a recent chat with a couple of my friends in Kabul made me realize it wasn’t.

Most of the people that write about Afghanistan are either not Afghans or those who live abroad. Even the professionals that do see what it is like here are only here for a few days or weeks at a time which is not enough to realize the truth before they can write about it. Their perception is what they import with them and then their experiences later exported back in the form of articles. Almost never do their opinions jotted down are separate from their imported thoughts.

Afghanistan – the empires’ graveyard – is a complex state or what today is called a country under that name. The multi-cultural state is not only diverse in terms of languages, religions and social dynamics but also varies in opinions and perceptions from one village to the other in each one of the ~398 districts of the country. Understanding them all and trying to do the right thing has always been a challenge for the Afghan puppet government no matter whose puppet it was or is.

Every puppet prime minister/president imports their own ideologies from their master state; thinking it is the best for the country. This is of course without conducting an intensive research or even a mere opinion research to understand what the locals want. It is always assumed that what the leaders or the master state thinks is right must be the right approach. Of course, they are the ones pouring money so it should be, shouldn’t it?

Afghanistan is not like anywhere else in the world. Understanding its differences may take decades if not centuries but are the key to peace and stability here. Money cannot buy anything other than the time of temporary pimps of the land. When the money is over those pimps will be the first to turn against their masters.

Anyway, I don’t want to talk about the government or policies of the invading nations. It is a series of topics for the future. All I wanted to point out was that the longer you spend in Afghanistan the more imprisoned you feel; and that feeling make you wonder about the future. However, that feeling is not enough to stop you from writing about the country but it is rather the challenge of trying to stay positive.

Negativity seems to be the trend here amongst the writers without a real analysis, which is just too easy to write about since the majority of the readers want that. However, there is much more to this country – things that are real. It doesn’t matter whether it is sad news or joyful, it needs to be reported as it is! That is all I am asking for – reporting without any biases. Understand the country and its culture first before you write or make comparisons. What may look like backward to you may be a step forward to many ordinary Afghans.

As I mentioned before most of the people writing about Afghanistan have never lived here for long enough (more than a few weeks/months). They write based on their short term livening experience, their comparison with their childhood experiences if they were born here, their ideology and/or their wishes and that can never be real.

As for the Afghan bloggers; most of the active ones either live abroad where they feel safe and it is most easy to write based on their comfort or are paid to do so by their foreign masters. They are far away from the reality and the sentiment on the ground. Bring them out in to the reality and I promise they will lose their minds (if they have one to start with of course) because all of a sudden they will not be living in the dreamy bubble they built for themselves. A majority of them (the Afghan writers/bloggers) are fascists and for some reason, perhaps for their ignorance, they are proud of that.

It is time we change that! And the way forward would be to write about the realities on the ground without any fear. If we lose our lives doing that then consider it our sacrifice in the effort to rebuild our nation. I am not a proud Afghan but rather ashamed of it! To me it is not important what we were a long time ago but what we are today. Pride will take us nowhere but shame will make us build our country so that one day our children can be proud of it.

Shame on those who destroyed our country! Shame on those who still are! And shame on the greedy pimps that are selling Afghanistan out for their own financial/personal gains!

Let’s build a future we, our children or grandchildren, can all be proud of for real one day!

Long live Afghanistan!

Preparing for Tomorrow

Is it coincidental that Islam is going through a reformation 1400 years after its birth just like Christianity whose reformation started in the early 1500A.D? Different Christian sects such as the Protestants and Catholics fought with themselves until they learnt to live with their differences (relatively).

Afghanistan, the battlefield of world's most conflicts – first a buffer state between the British Empire and USSR, then the Russian Invasion and US supported war against them, then Al-Qaida’s training camp - is once again being used, not to decide on a new super-power but to decide on which sect is the true recreation of the values that were once in place during the reign of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Wahabi, a Saudi backed sect has been penetrating the South and East of Afghanistan for quite a while now. Shia, an Iranian backed sect has now joined in the race from the North. It is a war of ideology that is working on a grass roots level to gain strength and support in the country. It hasn't resorted to violence yet, but one that will create chaos in the next decade to come. Educational institutes, a place for unbiased and progressive education to flourish, are now at the centre of this divide.

It won’t be the first time religion is used as a reason to make Afghans go to war. The only difference this round will be that the enemy will not be a foreign invader, at least not physically. Both opponents will be Muslims, both believing their chosen sect is the right one and their key to heaven.

Those who have a religion carry a great amount of love and respect for it – some consider it personal while others believe it is their duty to spread it far and wide. There are different methods used by religious preachers to spread their selected religion and the one they believe is the right one. A religious missionary in his or her truest form will never harm, but only try to raise awareness about the path he/she believes is the right one and will make the world a better place. Fundamentalism, on the other hand is largely politically motivated – using the less informed to turn them in to extremists.

When thinking about religious fundamentalism the first thing that comes to mind implied is Islam - a misleading idea promoted by the Western media to justify the shameful war in Afghanistan and Iraq. There are Christian and Jewish fundamentalists, certainly more (some are) discrete in their operations and with more control of the situation to keep their work low profile. The dispute on ID and evolution is a good example of the existence of fundamentalism in the American politics.

Fundamentalism doesn’t have quick fixes; it cannot be resolved by war. Those who are fighting the war know this – a clear indication that the current war has other political/financial reasons than abolishing fundamentalism. It is a widely known fact that prevention is better than cure. It is too late for prevention in some cases. To undo that damage will require strategic work and time. Where it is not too late, staying vigilant and protecting the society from the things that would cause harm is important, such as in the case of preventing a future sectarian war.

Looking back at history, when the Christians were busy fighting the inter-religious war and while there was still religious persecution in place from the 1300AD to 1600AD they stayed confined to Europe and made no significant scientific progress. The current state of the Muslim world explains why that was the case. On the contrary, this (between 8th and 16th century) was a peaceful time for the Muslims; they made significant scientific discoveries and were at the peak of their cultural and intellectual progress – known as the Islamic Golden Age. Ibne-Sina (Avicenna), Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (Rumi), Alzheimer, Algebra, chemistry (then Alchemy) are well known contributors and contributions to scientific and intellectual progress. (Wikipedia article - Science in medieval Islam is a good starting point to find out more for those interested)

Moreover, the Muslim empire was spread over three continents, Africa, Asia and Europe. (See Map of the Islamic Empire) Its downfall started when Muslims diverted their focus to nationalism, power and greed. It coincides with the rise of the Christian's progress in both scientific and intellectual fields.

Afghanistan is not the only country in the region with a Muslim population of different religious groups (sects). However, what makes this country more vulnerable to its devastating effect is the high level illiteracy and religious ignorance. In addition to this it is an already divided nation on many fronts widely known such as ethnicity, language, and now religion. The attitude of divide has grown so much that it is in everything we do. If there is no reason for a divide, we create one. The latest one that came with the American invasion was the gender divide. Every Afghan woman I meet with the potential of making a real difference in the life of all Afghans work for the progress of women alone and every man is against it. What about the nation? What about integration? Without noticing it, we have formed an imbalanced society which is vulnerable and incomplete. Afghans’ good majority, who will soon be on the front line of this sectarian war, cannot differentiate religious obligations to cultural. Some widely known examples are:

• Divorce is an acceptable but not favoured practice in Islam; however it is over ruled by the Afghan culture. In most cases, no matter how unhappy the couples are in a marriage, they are not allowed to divorce.

• Racism and slavery were forbidden by Islam 1400 years ago. In the famous farewell pilgrimage speech by the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), he said ‘There is only one God, and no Arab is superior to a Non-Arab; nor is a Non-Arab superior to an Arab; a White is not superior to a Black, nor a Black over the White. The only criterion for superiority is Taqwa – i.e. righteousness, piety, and God-consciousness'. Yet the first question an Afghan asks you will pertain to if you are an Afghan: “Where in Afghanistan are you from?” The answer to this question decides whether you qualify to be human or not, in his/her eyes. Most Afghans seem to think every other ethnicity should be wiped off the face of the earth or at least suppressed because their own tribe/ethnicity is the best. All the other ethnicities are a curse God sent upon them. This is fascism in its clearest form obviously banned by Islam.

• Islam has mentioned men and women exactly the same number of times in the Quran (24 times each), explicitly gave them an equal status, and made education a must on both of them. The culture only favours men. Culture over rules Islam yet again.

It is probably weaknesses in religious practices, as above, and the lack of understanding of the religion Islam itself amongst the general public that is fuelling religious conflicts. Whatever the reason is, it is going to set Afghanistan and possibly the region back in to chaos for many decades. The flames of this conflict will most certainly burn whatever is left of Afghanistan if preventative measures are not taken immediately.