Abstract
This paper explores the racial dimensions of western military and political interventions and asks whether the sociology of race and ethnicity can provide the critical lens by which to understand conflict and the evolution of ethnic tensions in present day Afghanistan. Drawing on the sociology of race and ethnicity I argue that ethnic conflict in Afghanistan is not disconnected from western imperial projects in the region which frame the Pashtun peoples as the pre-modern and violent ‘bad Muslims’. I consider colonial texts related to British India and examine the role of colonial policies of aggression in framing Pashtuns as the cultural ‘Others’. I also draw attention to contemporary discourses about the post 9–11 invasion of Afghanistan and show the linkages between, racial discourses exported by western military and political interventions, and local articulations of Pashtun ethnic identity. I argue that local articulations of Pashtun ethnic as cultural ‘Others’ are not isolated from the broader contexts of colonial power and imperial legacies of domination. Rather, knowledge about the Pashtun identity is closely linked to racialized discourses exported by imperial interventions.
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Notes
- 1.
The language of the Pashtun peoples is Pashtu/Pashto/Pakhto. Pashtunistan refers to the historical territories of Pashtun peoples. Pashtunwali is the “way of life” code. 11 Where I use Taliban, I refer to the political organisation and not to the literal interpretation of Talib which means student or talib-ul-ilm which means “student of knowledge”.
- 2.
Farhan Zahid is listed under “experts” with the Washington Institute and connected to think tanks “specializing” in terrorism. See http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/view/farhan-zahid retrieved March 20, 2017.
- 3.
Farhan Zahid is connected to influential think tanks “specializing” in terrorism. See, The Jamestown Foundation, Global Research and Analysis. Farhan Zahid. Retrieved from https://jamestown.org/analyst/farhan-zahid/, The Mackenzie Institute. Farhan Zahid. Retrieved from http://mackenzieinstitute.com/author/farhan-zahid/ The Washington Institute, Farhan Zahid. Retrieved from https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/view/farhan-zahid.
- 4.
Con Coughlin is the defence editor and chief foreign affairs columnist at The Telegraph. He is cited as a world renowned expert on the Middle East and terrorism by Harper Collins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, RCW Literary Agency and VoxEurop. See, Harper Collins Publishers. Con Coughlin: Ecco, harpercollins ebooks author. Retrieved from https://www.harpercollins.com/cr-100522/con-coughlin Macmillan Publishers. Con Coughlin. Retrieved from http://us.macmillan.com/author/concoughlin/ Rogers, Coleridge, and White Literary Agency. Con Coughlin. Retrieved from http://www.rcwlitagency.com/authors/coughlin-con/ VoxEurop. Con Coughlin. Retrieved from http://www.voxeurop.eu/en/content/author/113771-con-coughlin.
- 5.
For colonial texts specific to the origins of Pashtuns, see Caroe, O. (1958). The Pathans, 550 B.C.–A.D. 1957. London: Macmillan.
- 6.
For more about Pashtun social organization, see Barth, F. (1969). Political leadership among swat Pathans (No. 19). London: Athlone Press. 15 See Pakistan Military Trying to Force Kabul to Accept Durand Line: Karzai TOLOnews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T97nlqH4HA retrieved December 7, 2016.
- 7.
Pashtuns make up ~42–52% of the Afghanistan’s population. Statistical data of ethnicity is a historically contentious issue in Afghanistan, and its examination, though important, however, is beyond the scope of this paper. However, by all accounts it is agreed that the Pashtun people make up the largest ethnic group, and for the purpose of this paper, we only take this to account when examining the role of exported racial projects in fueling or rationalizing ethnic tensions.
- 8.
The interrogation of Pashtun domination thesis, indeed, deserves a critical inquiry; however, this line of questioning is beyond the scope of this paper.
- 9.
My father was an educated middle-class diplomat stationed in Washington, USA. From the age of 3, I was raised in the USA. I did not have any contact with Dari/Farsi and for this reason did not have any recollection of Farsi/Dari. My parents spoke Pashtu at home.
- 10.
Passrafta in Farsi/Dari literally means “backwards” . However, in daily usage it connotes stupidity, rural and premodern.
- 11.
In colonial texts Afghan, Afghaun, Pathan and Pashtu/Pusthun are interchangeably used to refer to ethnic Pashtuns and not, necessarily to the current political identity “Afghan”.
- 12.
See Kaye, J. W. (1874). History of the war in Afghanistan . London: W.H. Allen & Co. 22 See Roberts, P. E. (1916). The First Afghan War. Lord Auckland and Lord Ellenborough (pp. 310-324) India. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- 13.
For more on COIN, see CDR Larry LeGree, US Navy, “Thoughts on the Battle for the Minds: IO and COIN in the Pashtun Belt,” Military
Review, September– October 2010, pp. 21–32 http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/MilitaryReview/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20101031_art006.pdf.
- 14.
For the article on the “Human Terrain System” project, see http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/29/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-human-terrain-system/ retrieved December 11, 2016.
- 15.
See www.rand.org.
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Wardak, L.M. (2018). Exporting Racism: Imperial Interventions and the Occupation with Pashtun Culture. In: Sefa Dei, G., Hilowle, S. (eds) Cartographies of Race and Social Difference. Critical Studies of Education, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97076-9_6
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