Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival

353 Pages·2004·1.38 MB·English

by  Amin Saikal

Modern Afghanistan

Modern Afghanistan
A H istory of Struggle an d Survival
Amin Saikal
with assistance from
Ravan Farhadi and Kirill Nourzhanov
Published in 2004 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by
Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St Martin’s Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © Amin Saikal, 2004
The right of Amin Saikal to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof,
may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN 1 85043 437 9
EAN 978 1 85043 437 5
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress catalog card: available
Typeset in Ehrhardt MT by Steve Tribe, Andover
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 From Tribal Confederacy to National Coalescence 17
Chapter 2 National Awakening and Nationalism 40
Chapter 3 Independence and Radical Modernisation 58
Chapter 4 The Nadiri Dynasty: Politics of National Gradualism
and ‘Royal Dualism’ 93
Chapter 5 The Cold War and the Rise of a Rentier State 117
Chapter 6 Experiment with Democracy, 1963–1973 133
Chapter 7 Daoud’s Republicanism 169
Chapter 8 Communist Rule, the Soviet Invasion and Resistance 187
Chapter 9 Mujahideen Islamic Rule, Taliban Extremism and US
Intervention 209
Conclusion 231
Notes 241
Bibliography 317
Index 335

Preface
THE IDEA FOR THIS book first came to me in the early 1980s – not too long
after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in late December 1979. It was a
time when the Soviet-backed communist regime was busy rewriting Afghan
history to suit its ideological purposes, and Afghanistan had become the
subject of more international focus than ever before. Whereas up to this
point only a handful of western scholars had concentrated on Afghanistan
as the main subject of their intellectual inquiry, suddenly many more
established (and instant) scholars and observers of Afghan history, politics
and society rushed to analyse the Afghan situation in both historical and
contemporary terms. As I had recently completed a doctorate in Australia
and was no longer able to return to Afghanistan, my home country, because
of my opposition to the Soviet occupation, I was fortunate to have access to
most of what was published about Afghanistan’s past and present. While
some works struck me as offering objective portrayals based on an in-depth
historical understanding of the complexity of Afghan politics and society, as
well as its region, in the context of broader world affairs, there were many
works which were simply penned as a response to the call of the day for
more focus on and publicity about Afghanistan. The concern which gripped
me was that virtually all the western scholarly works overlooked some
fundamental issues – most importantly the dynamic interactive relationship
which had evolved between the factors of royal polygamy, major power rivalry
and ideological extremism in heavily influencing the evolution of the modern
Afghan state ever since its foundation in 1747. These were the issues which
were quite plain to the eyes of many Afghan scholars and political
viii Modern Afghanistan
practitioners, especially those who had a deep insight into the Afghan history
or had been intimately involved in the operation of Afghan politics at some
point in their lives, but could not be easily discerned by non-Afghan minds.
With this concern in mind, I visited Paris in early 1982 to speak with Dr
Ravan Farhadi, who had recently escaped the Soviet occupation after having
been jailed by the communist regime of Nur Mohammad Taraki and
Hafizullah Amin for some 18 months. Dr Farhadi had been a mentor ever
since I was a high school student in Kabul in the 1960s. He had impressed
me as a powerful intellect and influential policymaker, with such personal
integrity and social richness as to become (and to remain to the present day)
a role model for me and many other Afghans like me. After having spent
hours discussing the project, we agreed that I should proceed with this book.
He kindly offered to serve as a source of information and criticism, and his
wisdom was to prove indispensable, even as he assumed new responsibilities
in the 1990s as Afghanistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative at
the United Nations. It was from that point that I commenced research for
this book. However, since this was one of several projects which I had
undertaken, it was to be a long-term project, to be completed over several
stages as Afghanistan’s turbulent historical journey took a bloody and
uncertain direction over the next two decades. As I reached the final stages
of the research and writing, I was very fortunate to find another valuable aid
and at the same time colleague, Dr Kirill Nourzhanov, who provided much-
needed and creative editorial help with the second half of the manuscript
and the footnoting of the entire manuscript. His knowledge of Russian sources
proved to be vital to the shape of the final product.
This book could not have been completed without the valuable assistance
of Drs Farhadi and Nourzhanov. I owe both of them a world of gratitude,
but dedicate the book to Dr Farhadi for all his selfless services to Afghanistan
and world of scholarship, and to the people of Afghanistan for their love of
freedom and human dignity.
Beyond this, over the long years of research, I conversed with many
relevant Afghan and non-Afghan scholars, policymakers and activists, and
benefited from support of many institutions. I am extremely thankful to all
of them. Obviously, I cannot mention them all individually here, but there
are a few I must name. The first and foremost are Professors William Maley
and Robert McChesney. William acted not only as a reader and critic of the
manuscript, but also as a very dear, loyal friend and source of encouragement
throughout my years of research and writing. Robert, whose friendship has
been inspirational, has enriched me so much as a source of intellectual
influence through his writings and frequent personal interactions that I cannot
Preface ix
thank him enough. I am also indebted to the former Afghan Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Finance, the late Sayyed Qassem Rishtya, who in
two long conversations provided me with more insight into the working of
pre-communist Afghan governments than any source of literature could do.
Further, I am very thankful to Carol Laslett for acting (often beyond the call
of duty) to lighten my workload in the university so that I could devote a
great deal of time to my research. Of the many institutions which supported
this project either directly or indirectly, I owe a debt of gratitude to the
Rockefeller Foundation, the Institute of Development Studies, University
of Sussex, the Center of International Studies, Princeton University and
above all the Australian National University, especially its Faculty of Arts,
where I have held an academic position since 1983.
Of course, this book would have not originated had it not been for the
inspiration and support of my extended and immediate families. I was and
continue to be influenced by the dedication of my late parents, five brothers
and two sisters to both the cause of Afghanistan’s independence and
wellbeing, and to what it takes to embrace many worlds as both proud Afghans
and global citizens. Each one of them in their separate ways has had an impact
on my knowledge about Afghanistan, but perhaps none of them more so
than my youngest brother, Mahmoud Saikal, who has devoted most of his
adult life to serving in whatever capacity necessary to preserve Afghanistan’s
independence and to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people. My family
has a story of its own in the struggle for a free, independent and forward-
looking Afghanistan, which I hope will be told at another time. As for my
immediate family, my wife, Mary-Lou Hickey, has given all the love and
support that I have needed to get through this project and several more,
though perhaps less daunting than this one. I also cannot thank her enough
for reading and formatting the entire manuscript. Although my three
daughters, Rahima, Samra and Amina were born at times when I had already
become deeply immersed in this project, they had to endure my many
moments of aloofness and long absences as I became more and more
preoccupied with my research and writing. Yet despite my neglect of their
many social and school occasions, they have continued to grow lovingly and
delightfully, to manage to keep my feet on the ground, as much as an
Australian as an Afghan. They are the pride and joy of my life.
Amin Saikal
Canberra