My article:Downfall of our civilisation

[mashouqa]

^Could you please tell us what you are not agreeing whith? I am curious.

I disagree with Amanullah Khan's reforms and Soviet invasion presented here to be steps towards modernity.

[AFG21]

I disagree with Amanullah Khan's reforms and Soviet invasion presented here to be steps towards modernity.

Hmm I think Amanullah Khan wanted to much to fast. And about the Soviet invasion I think he meant that we were forced to work whith them becuase the other didn't help us.

[akbarkhan]

old commie, new coat.

[کیش]

So, I read your essay as if your in a college course (that is what you wanted right?). Your thesis, "the downfall of the Pashtun civilization" was rather interesting. I have noticed some parts which could be improved. One thing is you placed too many commas in one sentence. You wrote an essay with a thesis and not an "article". When I was reading, I noticed some claims which NEEDS sources. its not that I don't belief you, but since you wrote this in a somewhat professional matter.


You are trying to say that Pashtuns are stupid people? That is what I am getting in your message. Pashtuns are easily manipulated and their war(s) which has been going on for decades aren't theirs, but only a handful of Arabs and their "Pakistani" stooges?

[Afghanistan2010]

And of mankind is he who purchases idle talk to mislead from the Path of Allah ﷻ, without knowledge, and takes it by way of mockery. For such there will be a humiliating torment.” [Luqmaan 31:6]

But how many thanks will the words of Allah ﷻ recieve compared to a man-made text ? This is how you spot munafiqs...

MashaAllah , Allah ibarak feek.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

I don't agree with much of it and think it ought to be discussed further, but I do think you have strong skills in the English Lexicon and idiom and think that you will prosper as a writer Maseed Saib. Its a well written essay. You will be a formidable opponent for your detractors.

[khushal]

Currently our downfall of the Pashtun civilisation is quite obvious, even at present, our people are just mere mercenaries for outsiders, our whole infrastructure has been under developed due to our backward mentalities, which has many roots for this being, such as Desert ideologies like Alqueda/Taliban and the whole radical change of our society from a progressing society in the 60’s and 70’s to a radical Arabian Ikhwani USA/Pakistan/Saudi sponsored model society.

So what your saying is that pashtuns dont have a natural tendency o resist. All resistance is imported from foreign meddling and foreign ideologies. The 60's and 70's that you long for was the result of the confederacy that ahmed shah durrani created and the destruction of it resulted from the dismantling of that confederacy by daud and tariki,

Our people are just merely “Chowkidars”,”gate keepers” and “Drivers” for our oppressors. The constant propaganda circulating within our community about how we Pashtuns are invisible to pain and torment from foreigners, is just fact less nonsense that brings nothing but misinforms the reality of our society and the extent we as Pashtuns suffer due to the hands of outside powers.

Pashuns suffer because of its division due to the Durrand line and its landlocked position which makes it dependent on its neighbors.

Since the 1900’s, our great motherland Afghanistan has been meddled with, divided and given to others, without the concerns of the natives taken into consideration,

the meddling in afghanistan started long before 1900 and the durrand line was established in 1893.

Take the example of King Amanullah Khan, the man who brought modernity to Afghanistan, was confronted by a Tajik called Habibullāh Kalakāni who opposed all forms of modernity such as female education and was your typical Taliban at the time. Habibullah, being a Non-Pashtun but a Tajik of the Islamic faith, once again, demonstrated this continuous trend of the mis-handling of our masses to provide the comfort and interest of our enemies, who work against us.
If Amanullah Khan had succeeded, Afghanistan would have been a different place, for the first time in Afghanistan history, women were given rights, a constitution was written and a independent judiciary was created. As usual, when such things occur in Afghanistan, there is always someone there who revolts and brings the nation backwards and in this case, it was led by Kala Khan also known as Habibullah.

I dont know if your trying to scapegoat the problems on the tajiks here, but bringing reforms to a conservative tribal society with such speed actually defeats the purpose.

History once again repeated itself, as modernity becomes an issue in Afghanistan, the usual culprits, the social rejects, start to justify a campaign for its removal, due to the insecurities of foreign elements, and in this case being Pakistan, Arab (Muslim world), Iran and the West.

It was not the insecurities of foreign elements, it was the total rejection by the indigenous population of the reforms that were being proposed.

Most Afghans, refused to follow the footsteps of Islamists, the only safe haven for them, was Pakistan. Most of the Islamists were Non Pashtuns, such as Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Masood. The group Jamiet Islami was led by Tajiks, who opposed Pashtun nationalism, and any form of modernity including the education of female Afghans. Pakistan gave shelter to all these unsavoury figures,

Pakistan and the rural villagers gave shelter to one side and the soviets protected the other side with troops burning rural villages to the ground. Don't just give one side of the story.

A Loy Jirga was called at the time, which resulted the Pashtun people rejecting the Durrand line, and skirmishes continued in 1950; Pakistan responded by blocking all petroleum supplies to Afghanistan for a period of three months, this became the major factor why Afghanistan had to turn to the Soviet Union for aid.

Ofcourse, this goes back to my point that because of its landlocked position, it depends on its neighbors. Iran recently blocked gas shipments to Afghanistan and Fahim had to visit Tehran, do some ass kissing before Iran relieved the blockage.

Never in our history, have the Pashtun people ever executed glorified the killing of their fellow Pashtun sister in public until the influx of Arab Jihadis backed by America and Pakistan started to infest the minds of the people with Arab style militancy, that led to the hanging of Dr Najibullah, the same Dr Najibullah who rightfully stated, that Jerusalem is not in Afghanistan, but did the Arab criminals such as Abdullah Azzam and Osama listen? They did not, and wanted to use Afghanistan as a staging ground for the global hatred for the world, ignoring the consequences which will affect the Afghan people more than them.

If najibullah actually did his job and protected the afghans from soviet warplanes, maybe the afghans would have stood by him. Much like karzai failing to do his job.

[Alchemist]

The title of your article is inaccurate and it reflects on your bias.
No offence, but there never was a "Pashtun Civilization". Pashto literature has hardly peeked given the fact that pashto scrip, a derivative of arabic, was adopted only a hundred or so years ago. If you really want to de-arabize pashtuns you could start by coming up with a new script for a change. It's obvious from your paper that by "foreign" you mean, tajik, arab and Islam are an impediment to "modernization".
More importantly the first thing that came to my mind was that during Amanullah khan's time, his biggest threat wasn't the "Taliban", but Russia and England. Did you forget that Afghanistan was cut off from the rest of the world after the durrand line treaty? You could hardly 'modernize' when you are isolated.

Your idea of modernization and liberation seems to be that women should wear mini skirts and you should be able to approach them at your friends party with a beer in your hand, then offer to take them to a secluded place in your volkswagan beetle. Either that...or by modernization you actually mean colonization.

Your article is good...for making pashtuns seem blameless, gullible, easily motivated by religious sermons and foolish.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Oh, btw Mr. Maseed, we need references for this article as well. And it will be added to your portfolio of creative writing pieces until you furnish those. You get an A for effort, a B+ for style and an F for supporting evidence.