Afghanistan - Background

Afghanistan gained its independence in 1919 after winning the third Anglo-Afghan war against the British. In the following decades the country experienced several civil wars until 1933 when Zahir Shah became king and formed a monarchy until 1973, when Mohammed Daud seized power in a coup d’etat. He was overthrown and killed in what is known as the Great Saur Revolution in 1978 by the leftist People's Democratic Party who installed one of many to follow communist governments. The atheist doctrine, land reforms and changes to marriage customs of these governments led to a strong upheaval in the countryside by Muslim groups. These so called Mujahideen were financed and trained by the UK, Pakistan and China as well as the US. Under the Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan Communist movements were around the world countered in this manner. Among these Mujahideen forces also was Osama bin Laden who became a stinger missile expert.

The first deployment of Soviet troops took place in November 1979 to support the Communist government in power that had asked for help, in line with the bilateral treaty of friendship and cooperation that had been signed in 1978. The strong opposition by the Mujahideen, who are supposed to have killed about 15,000 Soviet soldiers during the 10 years the war lasted, the difficult financial situation and the growing internal opposition within the Soviet Union to fighting this war, led to the eventual retreat of the Soviet armies in 1989.

Yet for the Afghanis this did not mean the end of the civil war, since the Communists only eventually lost ground. It took almost three years until the Mujahideen were able to overthrow the government. The several Mujahideen factions quickly began fighting among each other for power, resulting in the warlord clan structure still observable today.

The Taliban movement turned out to be the most powerful faction and took over power in 1996, controlling 90% of the territory. The only major opposition to their regime, the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, known in the west as the Northern Alliance, was found in the north-east region of the country.  The founded Taliban government was only recognized by three states: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. The regime introduced a system of government based on the Sharia, a set of laws based on the Koran that combines the public with the religious sphere. This meant very strict rules governing the lifes of the people. Women had to wear black clothing, covering their faces. Furthermore they were not allowed to participate fully in the public life and were generally treated as citizens of second class, not allowed to receive proper education. All forms of movies, imagery, sports, music and theater were forbidden. These laws were enforced by applying the Sharia, meaning the use of stoning, amputation and torture.

The reign of the Taliban came to an end in 2001, when US- American troops attacked to bring an end to Islamic terrorist camps in the country and to get hold of members of Al Qaeda who had found shelter in an affiliated Islamist state. This war brought about a major change in the power structures in Afghanistan, pushing the Taliban’s influence back, while leading to a greater influence of the Northern Alliance on the country.

The Bonn Agreement from December 2001 set out steps towards the construction of a democratic state, “the first step being the creation of a Temporary Authority, followed by the Transitory Authority, and later the first democratic government of the country. The year 2004 started with the proclamation of the Constitution approved by the Grand Assembly Loya Jirga and ended with the Parliamentary election [which took place in 2005].” (Belden 2005: Afghanistan: The Life after Bonn. CIP-FUHEM research paper).

Apart from historical reasons, the difficult and unsettled situation in this country today can also be explained by the mix of cultures and ethnicities that prevail there as well as the external interventions which occurred during the last decades.

Cultures and Ethnicities:

Among the roughly 30,000,000 inhabitants the biggest ethnic groups are the Pashtuns who, according to the CIA Worldfactbook represent 42 % of the population, followed by the Tajiks with 27 % and the Hazaras and the Usbeks each with a 9% share. Other smaller ethnicities exist, making up for 13% of total population. These groups also speak a variety of languages, stemming from their cultural and ethnic background. Among these the most widely spoken languages are the two official languages Dari (50%) and Pashtu (35%) as well as Turkic languages (11%) and 30 minor languages (4%).

During the time of the warlords following the fall of the Communist government in 1992 the several militias split along ethnic lines, creating groups of soldiers who were rather homogenous within in their ethnicity.
In the 2001 Afghanistan War the Northern Alliance, consisting mainly of Tajik, Tajara and Uzbek fighters, were fighting with the US troops against the Taliban movement, which recruited itself mainly from Pashtuns, Pakistanis and Islamic fighters from all over the world. Many of today’s warlords still base their power on people from their ethnic groups.

Afghanistan has for decades experienced the influence of external forces on their territory.
Apart from the American and Soviet invasions, many of the direct neighbors of the country supported certain groups financially and militarily. Pakistan supported the Taliban first in their fight against the Soviets, later in their struggle for the control over Afghanistan while Iran, Tajikistan and Russia supported the Northern Alliance in their war against the Taliban.