Afghan Elections

[Tamim]

I am not "anti-pashtun". I don't hate pashtuns. But as a tajik I have my own interests just like pashtuns. Pashtunism is a threat to my identity ergo I reject it.

I don't see how a Pashtun leader would threaten an identity.

Identity is never stagnant. Today, the biggest threat, if you want to call it that, to an identity is the American culture. Globalization has made the American dream the dream identity.

Nonetheless, societies change, people change, cultures change, heck even religions change.

If someone truly wanted to maintain an identity they would find a way to keep it or go back to it.

There is never a guarantee that even electing your own would protect one's identity.

[dehqaanherawi]

I don't see how a Pashtun leader would threaten an identity.

Identity is never stagnant. Today, the biggest threat, if you want to call it that, to an identity is the American culture. Globalization has made the American dream the dream identity.

Nonetheless, societies change, people change, cultures change, heck even religions change.

If someone truly wanted to maintain an identity they would find a way to keep it or go back to it.

There is never a guarantee that even electing your own would protect one's identity.

Thousands of pashtuns were settled in western provinces in order to "pashtunize" us. Names of our villages were changed (Sabzawar,/Shindand, Pol pashto, Pashtun Zarghun, Twoorghondi,etc),.. pashtunism is a threat to us. We have bitter memories from Abdul Rahman Khan, Nadir Khan, Gulbudin and Taliban. And now mr Ghani gets happy when mr Karzai releases talibans from prison.

Most of ethnic groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan consider pashtuns as a threat. Just wonder why.

BTW if a pashtun leader can not be a threaten to us, then whats your problem with a tajik leader? Pashtuns will never accept us. This last electoral fraud proved that. Thats why I think that partition is the best way to bring peace to all of us. You don't want to respect us as equals and we don't want to submit.

We got our rights thanks to war. Thanks to people like Massoud now pashtuns can not ignore us. Before 1979 we did not count... but war changes everything. Now we are a solid reality.

[Tamim]

I actually wanted Dr Abdullah to win. For the exact reason that I think he represents all of Afghans, including Pashtuns.

My main concern with identity is that a lot of it is man-made and it brings unnecessary conflict when wanting to protect it.

People are not rooted in culture or language. Because if we go back, I mean back back, no Persian empire existed, or Pashtuns, or Islam.

As human beings we all have one thing in common, and that is our humanity. What identity TODAY can maintain our common interest in our humanity? I believe that it is Islam. Everything else today will destroy that and we can see that. Even you just admitted that it was through war that you got your rights.

So, the Pashtuns made one mistake, then your people made another. Two wrongs don't make a right. It sets the wrong precedent.

The solution is to find that which we have in common. Hence, why I believed that Dr Abdullah would be the man. Even though I have been very critical of him lately, only because of his behaviour, I still believe that Abdullah is the only hope for Afghansitan.

[Herat]

I am not "anti-pashtun". I don't hate pashtuns. But as a tajik I have my own interests just like pashtuns. Pashtunism is a threat to my identity ergo I reject it.

Good, thats the way it should be, we have no enmity with them as long as they let us be. We want nothing more than to be good neighbours but we can't live together anymore, we go our way and they go theirs, there need be no ill will.

[Tamim]

The problem with dividing the land is that there are people from all backgrounds who live all over Afghanistan. We can't afford Indo-Pak catastrophe.

[Herat]

False, the South is overwhelmingly Pashtun majority and the North is Tajik majority with Uzbek and Hazara minorities (there is a small Pashtun colonial legacy); in the long run, the Uzbeks will either secede or join the melting pot of Tajiks and Hazaras but it is certainly not possible to have a melting pot with you Pashtuns.

[Tamim]

I guess whatever will bring ultimate peace in the end.

I hope that in your divisions, that the next point of contention does not become religion.

[dehqaanherawi]

I actually wanted Dr Abdullah to win. For the exact reason that I think he represents all of Afghans, including Pashtuns.

My main concern with identity is that a lot of it is man-made and it brings unnecessary conflict when wanting to protect it.

People are not rooted in culture or language. Because if we go back, I mean back back, no Persian empire existed, or Pashtuns, or Islam.

As human beings we all have one thing in common, and that is our humanity. What identity TODAY can maintain our common interest in our humanity? I believe that it is Islam. Everything else today will destroy that and we can see that. Even you just admitted that it was through war that you got your rights.

So, the Pashtuns made one mistake, then your people made another. Two wrongs don't make a right. It sets the wrong precedent.

The solution is to find that which we have in common. Hence, why I believed that Dr Abdullah would be the man. Even though I have been very critical of him lately, only because of his behaviour, I still believe that Abdullah is the only hope for Afghansitan.

Too late, bro. What is done is done. Afghanistan did not work, does not work and will never work. Its time to get over it.

We are human beings, sir. Every human being has his own identity. I don't care about what happened two thousand years ago. Frankly speaking I am not even a proud tajik. I think we need to educate ourselves. But I must also say that at least we tajiks are trying our best and we wanna improve. In few decades we will become a tolerant and educated society. Unfortunately in pashtuns future I only see talibanism. I don't want to share that future.

[Tamim]

Too late, bro. What is done is done. Afghanistan did not work, does not work and will never work. Its time to get over it.

We are human beings, sir. Every human being has his own identity. I don't care about what happened two thousand years ago. Frankly speaking I am not even a proud tajik. I think we need to educate ourselves. But I must also say that at least we tajiks are trying our best and we wanna improve. In few decades we will become a tolerant and educated society. Unfortunately in pashtuns future I only see talibanism. I don't want to share that future.

I guess each to his or her own. I just hope that whatever happens happens peacefully.

[dehqaanherawi]

Good, thats the way it should be, we have no enmity with them as long as they let us be. We want nothing more than to be good neighbours but we can't live together anymore, we go our way and they go theirs, there need be no ill will.

Indeed, beche khale. Live and let live.

Please, pashtun brothers, you just got to give us political autonomy. You can not even accept federalism because you want to keep us under your control. Pashtuns are aware that in a federal system, they would lose all their privileges. Since we have everything and they have nothing, they can not face that fact.

Pashtuns are behind every problem in Afghanistan. All of them are because pashtuns. Ethnofascism, women oppression, drug dealing, terrorism, religious fanatism,.. etc.

[dehqaanherawi]

I guess each to his or her own. I just hope that whatever happens happens peacefully.

I hope so, bro. Many innocent people have died. Hope this sh*t ends for once and for all. I think we all deserve peace.

[Herat]

Indeed, beche khale. Live and let live.

Please, pashtun brothers, you just got to give us political autonomy. You can not even accept federalism because you want to keep us under your control. Pashtuns are aware that in a federal system, they would lose all their privileges. Since we have everything and they have nothing, they can not face that fact.

Pashtuns are behind every problem in Afghanistan. All of them are because pashtuns. Ethnofascism, women oppression, drug dealing, terrorism, religious fanatism,.. etc.

Bache khala, the last three sentences were gratuitous insults; Pashtuns are not the cause of Afghanistans misery, they have their own interests and way of life and we have ours, the problem of Afghanistan thus is its ethnic heterogeneity, which will be solved for good with a partition as you say.

[Tamim]

Indeed, beche khale. Live and let live.

Please, pashtun brothers, you just got to give us political autonomy. You can not even accept federalism because you want to keep us under your control. Pashtuns are aware that in a federal system, they would lose all their privileges. Since we have everything and they have nothing, they can not face that fact.

Pashtuns are behind every problem in Afghanistan. All of them are because pashtuns. Ethnofascism, women oppression, drug dealing, terrorism, religious fanatism,.. etc.

With all due respect, non-Pashtuns are not innocent. We are human in the end, so we all have our flaws. Remember, I said that the one thing we share in common is our humanity, and because of that we share in the problems of the world and in the solutions.

In my opinion, whoever wants to leave can leave, however, their problems will not end there. The world evolves on a daily basis, so the solutions of today will not be those of tomorrow.

[dehqaanherawi]

Bache khala, the last three sentences were gratuitous insults; Pashtuns are not the cause of Afghanistans misery, they have their own interests and way of life and we have ours, the problem of Afghanistan thus is its ethnic heterogeneity, which will be solved for good with a partition as you say.

I know and I am sorry, but I sometimes feel like pashtuns don't want live as equals with us. And that just pi*s me off.

[dehqaanherawi]

With all due respect, non-Pashtuns are not innocent. We are human in the end, so we all have our flaws. Remember, I said that the one thing we share in common is our humanity, and because of that we share in the problems of the world and in the solutions.

In my opinion, whoever wants to leave can leave, however, their problems will not end there. The world evolves on a daily basis, so the solutions of today will not be those of tomorrow.

Brother, all this tajikism, gurgen turkistan,.. and all that nationalist cr*p did not exist few decades ago. Three decades ago we only had pashtunism and loy awghanistan nationalism. Pashtun nationalism started all this ethnic nationalism.

I hate nationalism. I did not choose my country nor my ethnicity. But I feel closer to "my people" and I know that despite all our wrongdoings we are trying and working hard to leave behind our feudal way of life.