For centuries the inner-cohesion and tribal balance of the Pashtuns, Afghanistan's ethnic majority, has been maintained by an ancient tribal code of honor called Pashtunwali, or "way of the Pashtuns". This value system has been decimated after three decades of war, corruption, dislocation and religious fundamentalism -- the offspring of incessant foreign meddling, both direct and via proxy.
Today, the Afghan government and the Taliban have made a conscious effort to devitalize Pashtunwali in their respective quests to control the population. Although it's been dramatically weakened over the years, the tribal code still represents the prevailing norms that regulate Pashtun behavior, at both the individual and societal levels, and is still the tribe's "center of gravity".
The core tenets of Pashtunwali are based on self-respect, justice, hospitality, love, forgiveness, tolerance, loyalty, equality and independence. Pashtuns value honor (izzat), above all, which cannot be overemphasized. Without honor he or she is no longer considered a Pashtun, and is not afforded the rights, protection or support of the community.
Because of the repressive form of Islamic radicalism that has dominated the Afghan narrative, most Westerners would find it shocking that Pashtuns are fiercely independent and value individual liberty. A Pashtun sees himself as a free man and accepts no other as his ruler, as a tribesman told a visiting British official in 1809: "We are content with discord, we are content with alarms, we are content with blood...we will never be content with a master."
Afghan tribalism produced its own unique form of democracy, as formal and informal power structures were relatively distributed, vertically-structured, rarely abused and egalitarian in nature, in which nearly all decisions were made based on consensus-building as opposed to orders handed down from a hierarchical command structure.
For example, in principle, no adult male Pashtun can give orders to another -- he must obtain consensus. When justice is served, a tribal meeting called a jirga is assembled where any punishments exacted must first be agreed upon by all.
Tribal elders became leaders because they earned the respect of the people, deriving their power from moral authority as opposed to today's strongmen who derive theirs from the barrel of a gun.
Afghan expert Selig Harrison believes the coexistence and interaction of Pashtunwali with Islam is critical for understanding Pashtun culture:
On the one hand, it explains the inevitable and ritualistic religiosity of a Pashtun, and on the other hand it explains the futility of efforts to inject religious fundamentalism in Pashtun social and political culture as it stands in contradiction to Pashtunwali. In fact, the Islamic identity of the Pashtuns is only one thousand years old whereas Pashtunwali is reportedly five thousand years old.
Prior to hostile European invasions, Pashtunwali was a guide for a peaceful and hospitable Afghanistan that was known to accommodate Jews and Christians, considering them both to be religions of "the book".
Contrast these characteristics with the rigid fascism of the Taliban's perverted Deobandi-Wahhabist Islam which was exported from Pakistan. Wahabbism was relatively unknown in Afghanistan until the Soviets invaded in 1979 when the Pashtun code took a major blow.
Afghan individuality did not lend itself well to military command structures with one exception: when Pashtuns perceived an external threat they temporarily submitted to authority, typically charismatic religious leaders. This was usually followed by a return to normalcy. After the Soviet invasion radical Muslims from around the world flocked to Afghanistan to fight the godless infidels, and the Pashtuns had no problem subordinating to religious leaders to defend the homeland.
Unfortunately, once the Soviets were expelled, the mujahideen, controlled by Pakistan and U.S. intelligence, remained along with their non-indigenous radical ideology. The military might and warlordism of mujahideen commanders undermined the traditional structure of Pashtun society and its concept of equality.
Because of the Afghans' lineal adoration and near-religious belief in the royal bloodline, the lack of a unifying leader, such as a king, provided requisite space and chaos for the mujahideen to secure a foothold.
The acephalous tribal society soon fissured and cracked -- as warlord factions engaged in civil war, paving the way for the Taliban. Although the Taliban's fundamentalist beliefs were an affront to Pashtun sensibilities, they were the only ones capable of bringing order to the madness.
Thomas Rutting of the Afghanistan Analysts Network described this lack of options: "In today's violent atmosphere, between the anvil of the Karzai government and the hammer of the Taliban, there are no viable political alternatives for Pashtuns."
According to a white paper by the New World Strategies Coalition (NWSC), tribal conventions were weakened during the Taliban reign as they tried to replace tribal-centered villages with madrassa-centered structures. The Taliban have continued to uproot the tribal foundation, evidenced by their assassination campaign against tribal elders.
Earlier it was illustrated how much Pashtuns despise being ruled, but the Karzai administration has been so inept it's enabled the Taliban to fill the void with brute force. As Brigadier Justin Kelly once said: "Unless you are confident in the ability of your government to enforce its peace, then the man with a gun at your door at midnight is your master."
It's easy to see how the traits of the U.S.-installed Afghan government are anathema to Pashtuns, considering the Karzai regime embodies everything Pashtuns would consider dishonorable, such as its uber-centralization of justice and services, nationalization of defense forces, predatory nature, unprecedented consolidation of wealth, abuse of power, extreme hierarchical structure, fraud, graft, peculation and the fact it's beholden to foreign powers.
Kabul has fought against restoring the tribal balance and inter-tribal solidarity, even ignoring the decisions of local jirgas. The Karzai clique is threatened by tribalism, seeing it as much too egalitarian, instead preferring an exclusive patronage network that has benefited a few societal elites, mafia figures and other maligned actors.
NATO forces must learn more about the Pashtun code according to U.S. Major John Cathell, such as the importance of revenge in protecting an Afghan's honor, because they might better understand the impact that civilian causalities have on the collective psyche of the Afghan people. According to Cathell:
This is important to remember when conducting operations in Pashtun areas. If soldiers force entry into a Pashtun's home, he is dishonored. If they enter the home's female quarter, his women are dishonored. If he is detained and forcibly removed in front of his neighbors, he is disgraced. He must take revenge to restore his honor.
The Afghan people are caught in a violent nexus between the Taliban's Islamic extremism, Western neocolonialism and the Afghan government's rampant corruption, making it clear why a power-sharing arrangement between Karzai and the Taliban is a formula for disaster. This unholy alliance will further degrade tribal institutions such as the Pashtun moral code, guaranteeing that Afghanistan remains a shell of the nation it once was, before the global elite decided to use it as a geopolitical chessboard.
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This discussion in this forum will not bear any fruit for unity and Afghan National Reconciliation.
Organized by New World Strategies Coalition Inc. (NWSC Inc.) www.nwscinc.org
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Can't you my fellow Afghans see we are the victims and used by the superpowers for ever, the foreigners akin to Pakistan and Iran, only to serve them?
If Iran can buy Karzai with sacks of money then what should be the expectation for the rest of us? He is the head of the snake for this disunity amongst us.
Isn’t time to ask ourselves this question; are we going to kill each other to last man?
Or move forward and stop this ethnic hatred and divide?
Living off others' tax dollars, drugs, smuggling and looting are all world knows about your great leaders. My friend has mistaken "great looters" with "great leaders".
See one of the studies as an example:
According to a representative survey, named "Afghanistan: Where Things Stand", a combined effort by the American broadcasting channel ABC News, the British BBC, and the German ARD (from the years 2004 to 2009), and released on February 9th 2009, the ethnic composition of the country is (avarege numbers):[6]
41% Pashtun
38% Tajik
10% Hazara
6% Uzbek
2% Turkmen
1.2%Aimaqs
1% Nuristani
1% Baloch
1% others
If one adds Farsi speaking Aimaqs, Arabs, Qizilbash to Tajiks which in the case of Pashto speaking Arabs and others being done with the Pashtuns; then Tajiks can be termed as " largest ethinc group" rather han Pashtuns.
As for as his explanation regarding so called "Pashtuwali" is concerned, I will not comment on it but rather I would love to quote Great Winston Churchill in this regard. Refering to Pashtuns' code of ethic or "Pashtunwali". Wiston Chirchill writes : "“Their system of ethics, which regards treachery and violence as virtues rather than vices...is incomprehensible to a logical mind”.
Pashtunwali is not a code of conduct to be practiced in the 21 first century.
Then come more spin: "Pashtoon tribalism produced its own unique form of democracy... based on consensus-building."
What about common practice of trading little girls to settle petty disputes? And, how many Pashtoon rulers have died of natural causes if there were democracy?
And, more self-congratuations borrowed from Khalis Nouri: "The core tenets of Pashtunwali are based on self-respect, justice, hospitality, love, forgiveness, tolerance, loyalty, equality and independence."
Have you heared of Pashtoon savage violence over petty issues, making living out of wars+looting, revenge killings that run for generations?
As mentioned above, the code of Pashtunwali calls for “trust” on a tribal level, and its violation carries a critical burden in Afghanistan; especially when the violation applies to a head of state like Karzai, and is verified within a timely manner by a real and impartial authority (such as a United Nations -Elections Commissioner) deliberating specifically to guarantee fairness.
http://www.usborderfirereport.com/afghanistan_needs_a_tribal_busin.htm
According to Cathell:''This is important to remember when conducting operations in Pashtun areas. If soldiers force entry into a Pashtun's home, he is dishonored. If they enter the home's female quarter, his women are dishonored. If he is detained and forcibly removed in front of his neighbors, he is disgraced. He must take revenge to restore his honor.'' So called International friends of Afghanistan know this but they are still waidely ignoring Pashtuns and working with Pashtuns.
Pashtun Code of conduct is also based on 'promise' and honesty.If you break your promise you are no longer a friend. For instance, international community came to Afghanistan as peace keepers but they continuously killed and abused Pashtun civilians so they broken their promise and you can't justify the behaviour of international troops specially American military in Afghanistan ,thats why they considered occupiers.
When you break the promise then the following areas of code of Pashtunwali are applicable becuase they will not tolerate taunts :
Badal (revange )
Tureh (bravery) -
Sabat (loyalty)
Imandari -courage.
Isteqamat (endurance) and trust on Allah ,
Ghayrat (self honour or dignity) -
Namus (Honor of women) - A Pashtun must defend the honor of Pashtun women at all costs and must protect them from verbal and physical harm.
The "Iran" and "warlord" blackmails have long been used to promote Pashtoon grip on power in Afghanistan. The West have now realized this. The good thing is that the Iranian regime is unlikely to survive the mideast changes. Once gone, the Pashtoons and their master, Pakistan, will no longer be the darling of the West. And, the Pashtoonwali promoters will lose their Western nanny for ever.
Why alexander the great destroyed Iranian empire because it was threat to the civilization in the region. Look at current Iran. Every in the world is agreed that Iranian regime is a threat to humanity. This is Iran that disseminating arms to particular factions in Afghanistan as an element of conflict in the country.
Afghans are in war since more than three decades; they will change and accept the civilization once foreigners don't kill their children and women in their own land.
A civilized young man or young woman in military dress going to their villages without permission they entering their houses and killing their peaceful children and women or this civilized young men went to a second country and killing civilians and posing with death bodies ,employing kill teams ,fighting in a second country. If it you, will be able to tolerate this?
Sir Winston Chuhill's description of Pashtuns' code of ethics is for you to read is this:
"“Their system of ethics, which regards treachery and violence as virtues rather than vices...is incomprehensible to a logical mind”.Churchill
In 1722 when King Mahmoud Hotak, destroyed Persian Soltan Husein and his empire in Iran, Pashtun army emerged kind and helpful for ordinary Iranian and ruled them for nearly a decade. Iranian attacked Afghanistan several times but never succeed to govern Afghanistan, rapidly got teeth breaking defeat as we defeated Red Army in the recent decades.
Mirwais Hotak the grandfather of Afghans upraised against Iranian army in early 1700s in southern Afghanistan opened a door for his son Mahmoud Hotak to occupy Iran and whole Persia. This is the opportunist Iranian who see war shattered Afghans in conflict, trying to impose its ideology on Afghanistan.