Hassan Kakar

Formerly professor of history at

Kabul University

An Ancient country and a crossroads linking Central Asia with south Asia and the Middle East with China Afghanistan, formerly known Aryana and Khurasan, is the land where the Vedic, A vestan and Buddiest civilizations had spread and flourished. Alexander the Great spent about four years in fighting with its people until he pacified them and left for the subcontinent of India. His death was followed by the rule of Bactrian Greek kings until about 55 BC. Afterward a number of dynasties rose and fell the most famous being the Kushan empire embracing northern India, Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia. The two huge Buddhist statues destroyed recently were made in this period probably in the second Christian century. All this time big caravans for trade purposes crossed the land. But after the discovery of seaways and the diversion of trade Afghanistan gradually lost in significance.

Still in the Islamic times great empires were centered in Afghanistan, the most famous being those of the Ghaznawi dynasty, 961-1186, and the Ghuri dynasty 1145-1215. The most important event of these periods was the spread of Islam in India. The ruler most responsible for this was Emperor Mahmud Ghaznawi who undertook 17 military campaigns there. Afterward there arose in India a series of Muslim dynasties, called Delhi Sultanat, or the Delhi kingdom, that lasted for about one thousand years. Pakistan is a distant product of this development. But with the concentration of activity in India Afghanistan proper was largely ignored. In the following there centuries Afghanistan was overran by the famous Central Asian conquerors known as Chingis Khan, Timur Lane and Babur. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was divided between the Safavi Empire of Persia and the Maghul Empire of India.

Modern Afghanistan began in the eighteenth century with the rise of the Hotakay dynasty and afterward of the Durranay dynasty in 1747. Ahmad Shah Durranay, the founder of the Durranay dynasy, not only liberated the whole of Afghanistan from foreign yoke; he also founded an empire that included Panjab, Sind, Kashmir, Baluchistan, and Persian Khurasan and lasted until 1818. The dissolution of the empire coincided with the replacement of the old dynasty with a new one. The ensuing struggles between them, the loss of the empire and its revenue, and another round of struggle among claimants of the new Mohammadzay dynasty weakened Afghanistan at a time when the British East India Company was overrunning province after province in India until it invaded Afghanistan in 1838 in what came be known as the First Anglo-Afghan war. The invasion was pushed back with the loss of 16,500 soldiers and camp followers to the invaders. The founder of the new Mohammadzay dynasty, Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, consolidated his rule with the help of his numerous sons and grandsons. However, after his death in 1862 a new period of wars began among his sons until Amir Sher ‘Ali Khan overcame them, and began his rule for the second time with the introduction of a series of civil and military reforms. He was thus the first Afghan ruler to lay down the foundation of a modern state. This was, however, the time when Afghanistan had become sandwiched between the Tzarist empire in the north and the British empire in south-east of the country. The Great Game for the domination of Central Asia that had earlier began between them was now in full swing. Afghanistan became once again its victim when the British invaded it for the second time in 1878. Again the British failed to make Afghanistan a colony, and left it after fighting numerous pitched battles with Afghans.

This time, however, they succeeded in winning the concession to conduct the external relations of Afghanistan. Other than this the new amir or ruler, Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, was free in ruling the country with a subsidy and support form the British government of India. Russia had already agreed to an Afghanistan as a country to be beyond its sphere of influence. All this gave a chance to the new amir to institute within internationally agreed borders a strong central government with a strong standing army, bureaucracy, a wide network of intelligence service, the ability to collect kinds of revenue and rule the country directly by its own agents. Headed by him as an absolute ruler the amir thus instituted a political system based largely on the Islamic law, as well as newly promulgated laws. He did all this to secure his dynasty and Afghanistan from the Russian and British threats that loomed so large and so close.

When the amir died in 1901 he bequeathed a country that was ripe for modernization and industrialization. His son and successor gradually embarked on these schemes particularly the expansion of modern education. Toward the end of his reign and assertive educated middle class had emerged and worked for a constitutional movement. His pro-British policy during the First World War and his heavy handedness toward the constitutionalists caused him his life.

The new ruler, King Aman Alla (1819-1926), distinguished himself first by afterward by the introduction of reforms particularly educational reforms on a big scale. In the new constitution all citizens were declared equal, and female education was not only granted, the unveiling of women was stressed. Students of both sexes were sent to Turkey for higher education. To popularize education the king personally taught students in a school while the emancipated queen worked for the welfare of women. Afghanistan was no longer a closed but an open society. The king also summoned loya jirgas or great assemblies of notables with whose participation and the backing of the constitutionalists he planned to run the country and legitimize the reforms. But his reforms had a setback when the conservative Afghans led by mullas staged a rebellion in 1924. Following the suppression of the rebellion some of the reforms were cancelled. But since he believed that the underdeveloped land can not be developed without the introduction of social and economic reforms he once again embarked on them but this time on a much bigger scale. The second round of reforms he began after he returned from a trip to Europe, Turkey, Egypt, and Iran that had lasted for over six months. This time not only he stressed the same reforms; he carried them with full zeal and speed, acting as a dictator with no regard to the sensitivity of the people. He wanted to uplift them overnight so to speak without organizing a strong army to effectively respond to emergencies. The result were popular discontent and rebellions. As the kind-hearted king did not want the throne at the cost of the people he preferred abdication to a prolonged fighting. An illiterate social bandit operating in nearby hill to the north of the city of Kabul seized the throne, and held on the power for nine turbulent months until a former general of the army, Mohammad Nadir Khan, ousted him and founded a new Mohammadzay dynasty.

King Mohammad Nadir restored peace and order and carried on the reforms but gradually and with a degree of caution and conservatism. He was a reformer but a realist and harsh in treating the constitutionalists for their pro-Aman Allah stand until a student assassinated him while he was watching a student parade. He ruled only for three years and succeeded by his only son, King Mohammad Zahir. Those who actually ruled the country were his three uncles one of whom, Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan, acted as prime minister for 17 years for the most part as an absolute ruler.

The three clean-shaven and well-suited brothers believed in modernization, but concentrated much on maintaining security and the dynastic rule. They carried on reforms but still more gradually. The Second World War made them still more cautious but they managed to keep Afghanistan neutral, an accomplishment in itself. After the end of the war when Afghanistan applied for membership to the newly founded United Nations they had to relax their rule. Shah Mahmood Khan became the new prime minister relatively free parliamentary elections characterized the new period. In the new parliament the liberal and nationalist members became extremely assertive, and the government on the defensive. At the same time the problem of self-determination for the people of the tract of land already severed from Afghanistan, now known Pashtunistan, marred relationship between Afghanistan and the newly founded Pakistan after the British left India for good in 1947. Mohammad Da’ud, the peer cousin and brother-in-law of the King took over as prime minister in 1953.

Mohammad Daw’ud’s decade-long premiership was characterized by the implementation of developmental plans with foreign credits and assistance in which many socio-economic and agricultural projects were carried out, secondary and high schools functioned, university education expanded and the army was modernized. But political reforms were not touched, and the nascent democracy of the early period was suppressed. Instead a benevolent dictatorship was allowed to function. In the Cold War atmosphere experts from the two rival block countries particularly the Soviet block countries as well as experts from the United Nations helped the developmental projects to succeed. As a result an educational middle class emerged and women were emancipated in 1959 and the conditions from socio-political reforms were created.

But Afghanistan during this period came to have a serious problem with Pakistan on the issue of Pashtunistan. While the West in particular the US backed Pakistan the USSR stood with Afghanistan. Afghanistan still followed the policy of non-alignment. But since Afghanistan is a landlocked country, and depends on Pakistan for its overall contacts with the Western world the latter pressured Afghanistan very much indeed, going as far as closing the borders and severing diplomatic relations with it. Consequently Premier Daw’ud resigned in 1962.

Premier Daw’ud’s resignation opened the door for what was called the constitutional monarchy. Shortly afterward a new constitution was promulgated in which the executive was separated from the monarchy and the former was to have the vote of confidence of the parliament. In the new constitution Afghan enjoyed democratic and civil rights as never before. Twice parliamentary election were held with the minimum degree of government interference. Members of the royal family were constitutionally debarred from taking part in politics and the executive consisted of members of the educated middle class who were experts and experienced bureaucrats. Freedom of the press was ensured in theory and practice. Political parties of all types functioned, though they were still not legal because the law that the parliament had passed about it the king did not sign. Freedom came with democracy, and Afghanistan during this decade long period became a haven for world tourists especially the happies of the 1960s. the pro-Moscow, pro-Beijing, and Islamic fundamentalist parties became so active that together they kept the political atmosphere in permanent turmoil in Kabul especially on the campus of the Kabul University. For months the university and higher institutes of learning were closed and students took to streets every day. In this disturbed and chaotic atmosphere a number of government came and went and none was able to function effectively. When Premier Mohammad Musa Shafiq tried to steer the government toward the West by resolving the outstanding issues with Pakistan and Iran as well as taking stern measures against chaos the former Premier Mohammad Daw’ud overthrew the monarchy by a coup with help from leftist military officers in 1973.

President Mohammad Daw’ud abrogated the constitution, and relied on pro-Moscow leftist military and civilian officers at least in the beginning. In other spheres his republic was the continuation of the previous system. Indeed after the initial stage the government functioned well and came to have normal relations with all countries as before. President Daw’ud was still a nationalist, but so interested in state power that did not hesitate to share power with known leftists. Latter on he removed them one by one from sensitive and strategically significant positions, but by resorting to a coup in overthrowing a constitutional system he opened the way for others to follow. Some attempts were made to overthrow his regime also, but they failed. But when he like Premier Shafiq before him tried to distance Afghanistan from the Soviet Union and bring it closer to Pakistan, Iran, the Arab world and by extension to the Western countries he lost the gamble. Led by some members of the People’s Democratic party of Afghanistan the army staged a violent coup in which President Daw’ud with 18 members of his family were killed, and the Mohammadzay dynasty effectively came to an end. The PDPA was pro-Moscow communist party in all but name but name. Afghanistan has still not been able to manage the effects of this coup.