With the permission of the author, I'm posting this article "Understanding Afghanistan" in full, originally found here:
During the 60s and 70s, the author lived for nearly five years in Afghanistan, learned to speak Pushto (a.k.a. Pakhto, Pashto, Pukhto, Pashtu, Pushtu or Afghani), and some of the culture as well.
One of the more interesting parts of the article is seeing the learning curve in progress in the context of some interesting stories about the people and the culture. The occasion for this article is a somewhat off the cuff response to a comment made about Afghanistan, one that could just as well have been made here on DU - by an apparently well-intentioned person.
Understanding Afghanistan
On a mailing list I subscribe to, somebody posted a lengthy comment about Afghanistan. He said that it isn't a country, it is a lot of tribes scattered over a geographic area and united by a common religion and language.
He wrote that the Afghan people consider strangers with guns to be their enemies.
Although he admitted that Afghanistan cannot be conquered by force, he felt that it can (and should) be conquered by diplomacy.
To this effect he suggested that we should get to know the Afghan people and find out what they want.
He then went on to say that they need roads, schools, jobs, and green energy technology to replace opium poppies, donkeys, and camels.
He concluded with some vile words (which I repeat in turning them around) for the way that male Afghan religious extremists treat women.
Although he advised humility rather than arrogance, it was obvious he had never sat down with Afghans to learn what they wanted, and simply assumed that they wanted what most Americans want.
That in itself is a form of arrogance.
Here is what I wrote in response:Actually, Afghanistan is a nation. It isn't a centralized government like ours, it is decentralized. But it has survived that way for thousands of years and whether we will survive another fifty is dubious.
I lived in Afghanistan for almost five years in the late '60s, early '70s. I went there on my own and was not connected with any governmental or nongovernmental organization. I volunteered in a hospital and ran a free clinic in my home. I learned Pushto. I spent most of my time with Afghans rather than with Americans.
Afghanistan does not have a common language. It has two major or official languages, Farsi (Persian) and Pushto, but there are about 30 other languages.
Whether you do or don't have a gun, as long as you don't attack them, the Afghan people have a tradition of welcoming strangers and are very friendly and hospitable. As all Afghan males usually have guns, they don't see anything wrong with strangers having guns, as long as they aren't hostile or part of an invading army.
While it is true that the Afghans will never be conquered by force, they will never be conquered by diplomacy either. If you could live with them for an extended length of time and learn what they want, you'd find that what they want is not to be conquered and to continue the traditional way of life that has sustained them for thousands of years. Many Afghans have traveled to or have relatives in the U.S. and Europe, they know what modern development has to offer, and they don't want it. They certainly don't want roads, as roads would only make things easier for invading armies.Why bring in solar panels and storage batteries when they already have a sustainable green system? Donkeys and camels don't have to be produced in capitalist sweatshops out of raw materials gained through genocidal resource wars, they reproduce naturally. And they provide fertilizer instead of toxic wastes that are impossible to dispose of. Donkeys and camels are totally organic, sustainable, and biodegradable. I don't know of any green energy source that you can say the same about.
As for the opium poppies, if the CIA didn't need heroin profits to fuel its black budgets, Afghans would grow no more opium than they did when I was there, some for herbal medicinal use, and some for barter. They had no drug problem because they didn't use it recreationally and they weren't desperate enough to need it to drown out reality the way many westerners do.
Americans seem to think that everybody wants to be rich. Most Afghans would be ashamed to be rich, as it would mean that they hadn't shared their good fortune with their neighbors and had hoarded it for themselves, a disgrace that could easily see them ostracized. One Afghan once told me, "Most Americans are rich, but you're an American and you aren't rich. I'm poor, but that's okay because everybody here is poor. But it must be terrible for you to be poor in a rich country." This was an illiterate Afghan who had never been to school. I know many Americans with doctorates who aren't half that astute.
They don't need education either. We have education for jobs that don't exist and I've spent 7 decades of my life watching our educational system decline.
The Afghan people are moderate Muslims when they're not being attacked. When they're invaded, they expect the religious warriors among them to lead the fight to drive off the invaders, so they become more militant, but it doesn't last once the invaders are gone.
As for the treatment of women, when I was in Afghanistan there was no prostitution. Women were sold into marriage, not sold to pimps and brothels. Most Afghan men love their wives and children.
Do you judge the U.S. by abusive husbands, brutal pimps, exploitive pornographers, and the other types of male bovine excrement that abound in our society? The Taliban were nothing and had no power until we started funding them to fight the Russians. The Russians had done things in Afghanistan that we considered totally unacceptable, such as allowing women equal rights, funding schools for both girls and boys, providing free health care, etc. We destroyed the Soviet Union because we abhor Communist crimes like that. Our oligarchs fear that if such heresy spreads, it could interfere with their corporate profits.
I remember the first time I tried to take a taxi at the Khyber pass. There were several empty taxis, but they were unattended. One taxi had five ferocious looking men in it, all with turbans or those pancake hats, beards and mustaches, rifles, and bandoliers full of ammunition. They kept smiling at me and gesturing to me to get into their taxi, but I was terrified--certain they intended to rob me. Finally somebody who spoke English turned up and he explained to me that the taxi couldn't leave until it had a full load of passengers and they only needed one more. It turned out to be a pleasant ride and was my introduction to overcoming stereotypes.Understanding the world is a long journey,
I pass along to you the standard Pushto greeting, "St'rai m'shee," which means, may you not be tired.Source:
http://fubarandgrill.org/node/514 (reprinted in full with express permission and link to source)
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