In his
introduction in The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, Vartan Gregorian,
mentions a quote from Mohammed Ali’s book, A New Guide to Afghanistan, as
follows:
“No
country comparable to Afghanistan in size and no people approaching the Afghans
in historical interest and importance have received so little consideration at
the hands of modern writers as have Afghanistan and the Afghans.”
For its
importance and its relevance, Gregorian, puts this quote, contextually, in the
19th century of Afghanistan in which he argues that Afghanistan, for the most
part, was culturally isolated, and protected as a parochial region in the
Muslim world. That is one of the reasons that Afghanistan remained an unknown
region to the rest of the world. He then draws a bigger picture by putting
Afghanistan in the colonial frame; Gregorian says that causality of this
“isolationism” and “parochialism,” relates to the fact that Afghanistan never
undergone of a period of direct, and intensive European colonial rule.
This kind of argument has always made, and for the most part, it is true that
Afghanistan in the 19th century had been thrown into the ditch of negligence.
In part, colonialism could be blamed for this negligence, on another part,
imperialism, however, by in large, it was the Afghans who had been the most
neglectful, and ignorantly resentful to spread of any modern, or, European
thought in their country. The effect of the harbouring resentment, of course,
as Gregorian mentions in his book, was almost a total isolation that its effect
has been destructively but invisibly palpable throughout the 19th and 20th
century.
There was a chance, at the time, for Afghanistan to layout the ground and
expect the waves of modernism, or, European thoughts, which could help
Afghanistan not to be completely ignored. Unfortunately, however, it was the
tribal Afghan Kings – who were mostly Pashtuns – were unable to understand the
necessity of basic human needs, let alone modern thought, and
developmental tools; they rather dragged Afghanistan into their Pashtun tribal
domination, Pashtun parochialism, and Pashtunwali (a non-written tribal
code of conduct of the Pashtuns).
Tribal
groups among Pashtuns began fighting over power – that who should rule
Afghanistan – and as a result of blood feuds, they not only wrecked their own
bases of tribal unison, but they wreaked havoc on potentiality of human
development of other tribes in Afghanistan, namely the Tajiks, the Hazaras, and
the Uzbeks. Therefore, Vartan Gregorian’s argument is legitimate, and
understandable that if, today, one wonders why modern writers neglected
Afghanistan, the clue is to dig into the history of modern Afghanistan,
specifically, the period of 18th and 19th century.