JANN

日本アフガンNGOネットワーク

Japan Afghan NGO Network

JANN Afghanistan Briefing Pack

 

Section 1. Introduction

 

1.1 Historical Background

(This section is taken from: BAAG (2003) ‘Afghanistan Briefing Pack' p.7)

The roots of the Afghan conflict go back to the early part of the 20th century when new intellectual movements met with resistance from conservative tribal and religious elements. The political changes that resulted in the PDPA (communist party) coup of April 1978 and the Soviet invasion of December 1979 were the culmination of this process of political and ideological struggle.

The ten years of Soviet occupation, and the subsequent three years in which the Soviet-backed government remained in power, saw a major investment by the USA, Saudi Arabia and others in the provision of arms to the resistance and in the development of Islamic organisations. When the Soviet-backed regime fell in April 1992, the various Mujahidin resistance parties were unable, from the outset, to agree on an appropriate powersharing arrangement and fighting broke out between them almost immediately as each sought to achieve its objectives by military means. Over the four years before the Taliban took Kabul, many areas of the capital were reduced to rubble, with the Taliban also contributing to the destruction during the build up to the takeover.

The emergence of the Taliban in October 1994 can be seen as a response to the anarchy that prevailed in Kabul and much of southern Afghanistan. They had their origins as a small group of students living near Kandahar who objected, on moral grounds, to the behaviour of the commanders controlling the area. When these students, or Taliban, resorted to violence against the commanders concerned, elements within Pakistan saw an opportunity to achieve certain strategic, political and economic objectives through support to the Taliban and this gave them the resources to engage in a military campaign aimed at the creation of an Islamic state based on Shari'a Law.

Initially, their creed was based on a wish to restore what they perceived as the moral value systems that had prevailed before the various reform movements of the 20 th century introduced liberal concepts and this took an extreme form. The radicalism of the creed offered certainty to a war -weary population but its imposition on the population met with mixed reactions as they moved forward to conquer new areas, particularly in the non-Pushtun areas of northern Afghanistan. Over the 1998-2001 period they became progressively more hard-line in response to military defeats in the north , the US air strikes of August 1998 and subsequent UN sanctions, together with growing influence on the part of radicals from other parts of the Islamic world.

The collapse of the Taliban in November 2001, as a result of the US-led military intervention, led to the Bonn Agreement of 2001. This agreement, in which the international community had a strong hand , provided for a staged process leading to national elections and the reconstruction of a democratically elected Afghan state.

 

1.2 Geography

(This section is taken from: BAAG (2003) ‘Afghanistan Briefing Pack' pp. 8-9)

Afghanistan can largely be characterised as a mountainous desert, with isolated valleys and oases, where rivers and springs permit irrigated agriculture or rainfed agriculture can thrive. The north of the country is divided from the south by a range of mountains that extends from the eastern end of the Iranian plateau to the western edge of the Himalayan massif. In the extreme north-east, the peaks rise to 7,470 metres in the Wakhan corridor that separates Pakistan from Tajikistan. The northern plains are largely scrubland, with areas of cultivation around the key population centres, of which Mazar -i-Sharif is the foremost. South-western Afghanistan is pure desert, with high dunes presenting a constant threat to settlements and cultivation along the Helmand River valley. The Kabul River Valley , which stretches from the capital, through Jalalabad, to the Pakistan border and beyond, is particularly fertile, as the Shomali Valley, to the north of Kabul, used to be. Elsewhere, fertility is highly variable in response to the opportunities that hills, mountains and soil types present.

The main population centres are the capital, Kabul, Kandahar in the south, Herat in the West, Mazari- Sharif in the north and Jalalabad in the east. Kabul was an economic backwater from 1996 to 2001 as a result of the collapse of the state infrastructure and the effective cessation of trade from Central Asia and northern Afghanistan through this route. Since the beginning of 2002, the trading economy has revived and the capital has also benefited from the large-scale influx of expatriates working for aid organisations, embassies and the media. However, this influx has had negative side-effects in stimulating dramatic inflation in the housing market and also making it impossible for the government bureaucracy to compete with international bodies for professional staff. Herat is a wealthy oasis standing on a crossroads traditionally connecting the trade of Persia, the Gulf, Central Asia and the Indian sub-continent. In the past it has been the cultural centre of Afghanistan, with its beautiful historic buildings and traditions of music, miniaturism and painting. Kandahar and Jalalabad have been important trading centres. Mazar-i-Sharif, where the shrine of Ali − Islam's fourth Caliph − is located, has religious and cultural significance for Afghans. It also suffered economically from the collapse of trade with Central Asia during the Taliban period but has since revived.

The principal communication route is the highway which extends from the Turkmenistan border at Torghundi through Herat, Kandahar and Kabul, to Mazar-i-Sharif and Shibarghan. Branching from this are major spur roads from Herat to the Iranian border at Islam Qala, from Kandahar to the Pakistan border at Chaman, from Kabul to the Pakistan border at Torkham, from Pul-i-Khumri through Kunduz to the Tajikistan border at Sher Khan Bandar and from Tashaurghan to the Uzbekistan border at Hairaton .

Figure 1. Map of Afghanistan

(A more detailed general map can be downloaded from the UN Cartographic Section website)

 

1.3 Population and ethnicity

(This section is adapted from: BAAG (2003) ‘Afghanistan Briefing Pack' p.8)

Afghanistan has a population of 29,928,987 people, living in 34 provinces (CIA World Factbook − Afghanistan July 2005 estimate). Ethnic identity has, over the past three centuries, been a determinant of access to power. The Pushtuns, whose territory covers much of southern Afghanistan, have been the largest group, although they have not constituted an absolute majority. The rulers of Afghanistan from 1747 to 1992 were Pushtun, with the exception of less than a year in 1929, when an ethnic Tajik was in power. There was also a strong Tajik element in the Mujahidin Government that ruled in Kabul from 1992 to 1996 . With the emergence of the Taliban from 1994 onwards, a predominantly Pushtun movement again took power.

Figure 2: Ethnicity by percentage (Source: CIA World Factbook)

The majority of Pushtuns speak Pashto while the majority of other ethnic groups speak Dari, a dialect of Persian. Both languages are official languages of government. A majority of the ethnic groups (80% of the population) espouse Sunni Islam, the primary exceptions being the Hazaras and the Ismailis who are Shi'a (19% of the population). The Hazaras have tended to be marginalized politically and economically and they have also been the victims of a number of massacres over the past century or so.

 

1.4 Economy

(Emily Perkin)

The Afghan economy was devastated during the conflict years. Recently, however, donor-supported reconstruction activities have contributed to promoting strong economic growth − although economic growth so far seems to have done little to alleviate inequality by income, gender or geography (UNDP (2005) Afghanistan Human Development Report). At the same time, it is difficult to predict how the economy will fare in the medium- to long-term, since economic growth is influenced by a range of wider issues.

Key issues relating to the Afghan economic situation can be listed as follows:

•  Drought and flooding: as an economy that is largely based on agriculture (namely wheat and livestock), droughts and flooding have major economic significance in Afghanistan. For example, this is shown by the crippling effects of the four-year drought that ended in 2003.

•  Drug economy: official GDP figures do not include opium production, although it is estimated to be equivalent to at least 40% of formal GDP(UNODC (2003) ‘Afghanistan: Opium Survey 2003' ).

• Security: it is widely acknowledged that security worries remain a serious barrier to investment and economic development.

• Illicit trading: it is estimated that 90% of Afghanistan's exports to Pakistan are in fact illicit ‘re-exports' of goods which were imported from Pakistan in the first place (Fujimura (2004) ‘The Afghan Economy after the Election' ADBI).

 

 

 

1.5 Islam in Afghanistan

(Jawed Ludin, BAAG ‘Afghanistan Briefing Pack' p. 22)

Islam means submission, that is, submission to the will of God. Muslim is based on the same Arabic root as Islam and means one who submits to God, that is, a believer in Islam . The concept of “God” in Islam is based on the premise that Allah (or Khoda/Khodai as in Afghan languages of Dari/Pashto) is the “supreme being”, the one and only God. Allah is the same God as that worshipped by the Jews and Christians. The Arabic-speaking Christians also use the word Allah referring to God.

The Quran (also spelled Koran), meaning reading or recitation, is the holy scripture revealed by Allah to Muhammad. Quran is the direct Word of God to mankind through the prophet Muhammad. All Muslims believe in the entirety and integrity of the Quran, which is compiled in 114 chapters and a total of 6,666 verses. In addition to the Quran, God's message was conveyed through Muhammad in form of Sunnah − meaning tradition − which is based on the leadership and guidance of the Prophet in practical as well as ideological matters. The Sunnah is what Muhammad ordered, forbade, did or acknowledged in his capacity as prophet. The sayings and traditions of Muhammad are called Hadith. Hadith books, containing records of the Prophet's sayings and actions, are considered essential religious texts.

The main aspect that distinguishes Islam from its sister-creeds, Christianity and Judaism, is its concept and practice of worship. Despite the great body of tradition and law, the practice of Islam is essentially personal − between God and the believer. Like all Muslims, Afghans believe that worship is not limited to religious rituals and basically covers everything one says or does for the pleasure of Allah . This, of course, includes rituals as well as beliefs, social activities, and personal contributions to the welfare of one's fellow human beings. Such terms as Sawab (meaning ‘a good deed'), Ajr (meaning reward for a good deed) and Gunah (meaning sin or evil) are common in the ordinary conversation between Afghans.

 

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