Being a youthful naive American, I had never heard of Afghanistan until
September 11th 2001. Many Americans had to be educated on the subject. Yet this
understanding that most people have is only skimming the surface. The issues in
Afghanistan are older than the Taliban or even the Russian campaign. Afghanistan is an
area with extremely strong regional ties that have always overshadowed the nationalist
emotions in the country. It was created as a buffer between the British and Soviets and
neither groups ever succeeded in making Afghanistan into a functioning nation.
Afghanistan is filled with differences. There are different ethnic groups, different
languages, different leaders and different ideas about what the government should do.
Afghanistan's population is a mix of many ethnicities, but these groups have
never truly acted a nation. Currently the population is forty-two percent Pashtun, twenty-
seven percent Tajik, nine percent Uzbek, four percent Aimak, three percent Turkmen,
and two percent Baloch.1 The Pashtuns tend to be located in the southeast area near
Pakistan and in certain areas near the Iranian border. The Tajiks live in the
mountainous north near the Tajikistan. The Uzbeks tend to reside in the area north of
the Hindu Kush near the Uzbekistan border. The Hazaras are mainly in the mountains
in the center of the nation, they are also in some pockets near the Iranian border. The
Turks tend to be spread near the Turkmenistan border.2 Even though on a standard
1
Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook: Afghanistan. (Washington D.C.: CIA 2005). 4.
2
Ethnic Make up of Afghanistan". War against Terror CNN in-depth. 2005.http://www.cnn.comlSPECIALS/200
l/trade.center/map.ethnic.afghan.html (15 Nov 2005)
2
map these locations do not seem to be that remote from each other, they are. The huge
mountains and brutal winters have lead to isolation between the differing groups. The
vicious terrain of the mountains averages between 4,500 and 6,000 meters, but some
peaks reach as high as 7,500 meters.3 These geographic barriers are part of the reason
behind the regionalism of the area.
Socially, all of these ethnic groups have very traditional customs and values.
Islam lays the foundations for these traditional values, but other traditional have been
created locally. In many areas the Jirga is the government. This tribal council performs
as the government for many areas. The Qwam is the core of the social system in the
region. The Qwam is similar to a tribe, but it can be any communal group in the area,
whether it is the village, a family or an entire ethnic group. Virtually all the important
decisions are made with in the confines of the Qwam. In Pashtun tribes there is a tribal
code called the Pashtunwali. The Pashtunwali holds up key themes to society including
honor, hospitality and revenge.4
Historically the Pashtuns have been the dominant group. The Pashtuns, until
recent decades have held the majority in the population. Up until the fall of the Taliban
the Pashtuns made up about fifty percent of the population. The government of
Afghanistan has also typically been run and biased toward the Pashtuns. It was only
until the Constitution of 1964 that all of the ethnic groups were given equal freedoms in
the eyes of the law. The Pashtun rule began in 1747 with the rise of the Darrani Empire
and did not end until 1992. Yet even today, Afghanistan is run by a Pashtun.5 Hamid
3
Larry Goodman. "The Fragmentation of Culture in Afghanistan." AIif: Journal of Comparative Poetics no. 18
(1998):273.
4
Larry Goodman. 272.
5
Anwar-ul-Haq AIhady. "The Decline of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan." Asian Survey 35 no.7 (Jul1995): 622.
3
Karzai is a democratically elected leader of Afghanistan, but he is still Pashtun.
Pashtuns are just one of the peoples covering Afghanistan, but they have also tended to
be the ones in control of the situation.
Nationalism or rather a lack of nationalism has added to the ethnic conflict in the
area. Afghanistan was molded as the region between two world empires. On the west
was the giant Soviet Empire that controlled Afghanistan's neighbors; to the east was the
pressure from the British colonies. Here, Afghanistan is a somewhat "neutral” zone from
colonization. Both sides had tried to colonize the area, but the terrain and weather were
too harsh. So instead, each side tried to pressure Afghanistan not to become a colony
for the enemy. The result of all this pressure was the creation of a state for purely for
security reasons. Local areas realized the risks of not being unified for protection so in
1747 the first Afghan state was established by the Duranni Pashtuns. This empire did
not last that long, but the Pashtun dominance remained. After the empire fell, there still
was a unified Afghanistan for defense, but regionalism dominated throughout the area.6
The international pressure had ultimately forced the region to act as a nation security
wise, but not in any other ways. Afghanistan was called a nation, but it did not truly
function as one. There never was any federal tax system or any federal laws. The
people were, as stated before, basically self sufficient as society. Laws and taxes were
all decided by the Jirga. For some this loosely held together style has created so many
of the problems that has plagued the area. Yet some feel that this more regionalist
approach has kept Afghanistan together.7
6
Anwar-ul-Haq Alhady. 621
7
Deepa Ollapally. United States Institute of Peace. Unfinished Business in Afghanistan: Warlordism.
Reconstruction. and Ethnic Harmony. Washington D.C.2003. 5.
4
Another factor in the ethnic conflict in Afghanistan is language. Today
Afghanistan has two official languages Dari or Afghan Persian and Pashtu. Dari is the
traditional language used for government and other business purposes. Pashtu is the
language of the Pashtuns. In the nation fifty percent of the population speaks Dari,
thirty-five percent speak Pashtu, eleven percent speak Turkish languages and the other
four percent speak thirty different minority languages, mainly Balochi and Pashai.8 With
the coup in 1978 the government had tried to solved the language issue by having the
schools be taught in one of the two major languages, depending on which is the home
language. Then each school would have classes to learn the other language. A problem
developed when Pashtu could not be as easily learned as Dari. Pashtu is incredibly
hard to learn unless a person is a native speaker. Instead of creating equality the
changes in the educational system created a greater dominance for the Pashtuns.9
Today’s official stance on language is still creating Pashtun dominance. By only
recognizing Pashtun language as the only official ethnic language, the government is
still putting Pashtuns ahead of other groups. If the Afghanistan wants to be fair to all
ethnic group, it either needs to recognize all ethnic languages or no ethnic languages.
South Africa has recognized nine languages as official to put all the differing groups on
an equal footing. In the United States there is not an official language so that there is
not this prejudice. Afghanistan should follow one of the examples from other nations.
In Afghanistan, international influence after World War II added to the collective
memory of the people of Afghanistan. In 1947 the British left Asia. When this occurred
Afghanistan lost its military support provided by the British. At this point the Afghan
8
Central Intelligence Agency.4.
9
Eden Naby. "The Ethnic Factors in Soviet-Afghan Relations." Asian Survey 20 no. 3 (Mar 1980)
237-256
5
government asked the United States to provide support. When the United States
declined, the Soviet Union agreed to provide Afghanistan with support.10 Since the
1950s the Soviets, not only provided military support, but also economic development
for Afghanistan. The Soviets also helped to construct a major highway connecting much
of the nation. Over the years the Soviets played an increasingly involved role with the
government.11
Actions leading up the Russian invasion in December of 1979 actually started in
1978. In April of that year a coup was held ousting Mohammed Daoud who sought to
limit the amount of Soviet influence in the country. He was ousted by Soviet trained
army officer, yet there was no actual evidence to connect the Soviet Union to the
operation. By the end of the year every government official had a Soviet advisor. Taraki
became the new leader of Afghanistan and had a willingness to work with the Soviets.
Taraki became too zealous in his efforts to assert his power over the government. He
tried to impose taxes and redistribute land in the remote areas that have traditionally
been self-sufficient. Taraki’s regime led to a resentment of the government by landlords,
tribal leaders and peasantry. Traditional medieval punishments such as torture, mess
executions and imprisonment of thousands were used to eliminate to political opposition.
These extreme tactics led popular hatred of the government.12 Here the Soviet
misjudged exactly how charismatic Taraki would be as a leader. This miscalculation
caused some of the resentment Afghanis felt toward the Soviets.
10
Shaheen F Dil. "The Cabal in Kabul: Great-Power Interaction in Afghanistan." The American
Political Science Review 71 no. 2 (Jun 1977): 468.
11
Milton F Goldman. "Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan: Roots & Causes." Polity 16 no. 3
(Spring 1984): 385.
12
Milton F Goldman. 386.
6
The Soviets continued to interfere up until their invasion of Afghanistan in
December of 1979. In the early months of 1979 the Soviets wanted to replace the
Prime Minister of Afghanistan Amin with Karmal. Amin was one of the key leaders
encouraging the torture of political opponents. Soviets were feeling the hatred of these
acts and wanted some one less brutal. This did not work out the way the Soviets
wanted. Amin outwitted everyone and caused the removal and execution of President
Taraki. Once Amin rose to power, he limited the influence of the Soviets, but he could
not suppress the growing rebellion in the region. He had lost control of seventy-five
percent of the nation.13
With Afghanistan in an uncontrollable state, The Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan in December on 1979. The Soviet Union expected no resistance to the
action other than some dissenting view from some foreign nations. During this time The
Cold War was still prevalent and would be for another decade. The Russians saw
America as weak during this time. Jimmy Carter was president at the time and was
viewed as being hesitant toward military action. The Soviet Union was also afraid that if
they did not take control of Afghanistan that some other nation in the area would do so,
especially China. China seemed to be the sleeping super power that was just waiting
for the Soviet Union to falter to take over. 14 The Soviet Union felt that it’s own ethnicity
could be threatened if they did not act.
The Mujahideen created the resistance that the Soviet Union had not expected.
In March of 1979 The National Islamic Front of Afghanistan called for an Afghan Jihad
against the Kabul government. These resistance fighters became known as the
13
Milton Goldman. 388.
14
Milton Goldman. 396.
7
Mujahideen meaning Holy War Warrior. When the Soviets invaded the country this
Jihad was automatically enlarged to fight against the Soviet campaign. By the time of
the invasion there were roughly forty different groups. These warrior groups were
extremely independent and were very reluctant in cooperating with each other.
Traditionally Islam was the key stone of values for many of these Mujahideen groups.
Those groups that did not include Islam quickly realized that should add it or their group
would disappear. By 1982 the Peshawar Seven emerged, the seven major Mujahideen
groups including The Muslim Brotherhood, The Islamic Association, Hizbi islami, The
Islamic Unity for the Liberation of Afghanistan, The Islamic Revolutionary Movement,
15
The National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, and National Liberation Front. The
Mujahideen wanted to keep Afghanistan Islam and would fight to do so.
During the Russian occupation, the Mujahideen was a growing group. We do not
know exactly how many members the different Mujahideen because it was such an
underground group in some area. Our best estimates are somewhere between one
hundred thousand and two hundred thousand members. As these groups grew, so did
the Jihad. The Mujahideen continuously wanted better quality weapons in bigger
quantities to fight the Soviets with. The major issue that held these groups from their
goal was unity. The International community did not want to give money to Afghanistan
until the Mujahideen groups were working together. This is one reason why the
Peshawar Seven formed. Once the Mujahideen was more organized international
funds rolled in. The United States while acting through the Central Intelligence Agency
gave three hundred and fifty million a year to the Mujahideen for the first two years of
15
Edgar O’Ballance. Afghan Wars 1839-1992: What Britain Gave Up and the Soviet
Union Lost (New York: Brassey’s. 1993). 166.
8
fighting against the Soviets.16 As previously stated, this is still during the cold war. The
United States feels as though it need to stop this Soviet communist expanse. Other
countries in the area also aided the Mujahideen in their Jihad to rid Afghanistan of the
Russians.
The Mujahideen were success in stopping the Soviet conquest for Afghanistan,
but it destroyed the country to a point where there was basically no infrastructure at any
level in place. Any progress that Afghanistan had made toward nation build had totally
been wiped out. One and a half million Afghans were killed in the fighting and another
two million were injured. The “rubblization” policy that both side took destroyed almost
everything in the nation. By the end of the fighting Afghanistan was mine-ridden. Both
sides planted mines all over the country side the kill the enemy. The Mujahideen
created maps of their own fields so they would not step on them. The mines were just
another way that the fighting lead Afghanistan to become a big pile of rubble. 17 The one
great road that connected Kabul with the mountainous north was destroyed. Social and
political structures changed. Kabul’s attacks on the local governments took away, at
least temporarily, much of the power that the Qwam and the Jirgas once held.18 Over a
decade’s worth of fighting tends to ruin a culture, at least temporarily and Afghanistan is
no exception.
Sadly, the fighting did not end with the Soviet pullout, it just sparked another war.
On February 15th 1989, the last Soviet solder left Afghanistan and then the unity
between the Mujahideen groups fell apart. It became each person for himself. Without
the soviets invading, the international pressure was more subdued. It was actually the
16
Edgar O’Ballance. 119.
17
Edgar O’Ballance. 181.
18
Larry Goodson. 276.
9
international involvement that sparked this new fighting. The Soviet Union placed
between thirty six and forty eight billion dollars worth of military equipment into
Afghanistan. The United States, Saudi Arabia and China gave an estimated six to
twelve billion in weapons to the Mujahideen. All these weapons left in the nation were
then used to fight a civil war.
The Taliban is one of the Pashtun groups that have unified the Afghanistan for
security reasons. The Taliban was the group that won control of the government after
the civil war. Taliban translates to Islamic student.19 For members of the Taliban, they
lived for Allah. The composition of the Taliban was largely male and ignorant. Many of
the members were exiles from the civil war. These men were like rank and file soldiers
that tended to do what ever their orders were.20 Many of the Taliban were illiterate, but
some had had some training. In Pakistan some members would be schooled at
Madrasas. These Madrasas are Islamic seminaries where the students would be
educated in ultraconservative Islamic beliefs.21 Even though some of the these men
were trained, we still need to keep in mind that this group that ruled the nation
somewhat successfully until the US intervention was ignorant to the world. These men,
before they were in power, were poor, illiterate and had nowhere else to go.
The Taliban was just one of the many groups trying to fight for power. The
Taliban became successful because of international support. Historically Afghanistan
has been a part of the Silk Road. Much of the trade between Europe and Asia came
through Afghanistan enriching the area. Today the similar issues are affecting
19
Barnett R Rubin. "Women and Pipelines: Afghanistan's Proxy Wars." International Affairs 73 no.2 (Apr 1997).
283.
20
Larry Goodson. 277.
21
Barnett R Rubin. 386.
10
Afghanistan today. Instead of silk, oil pipelines are the key item. Countries such as
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan want to ensure that they can have their pipelines pass
through Afghanistan without problem. For example in the spring of 1996 the American
company Unocal and a Saudi company partnered together for a multimillion dollar oil
and gas pipeline project from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Qandahar.22 Corporations
are not willing to risk such a huge project when they do not have the backing from the
government. By supplies the Taliban with money they ensure that their project will go
smoothly. This was not just a practice done by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Many
countries were trying to profit from the war by picking a winner.
The Taliban, once in power erected extremely restrictive policies that lead to
international support calling for the end of their reign. The Taliban first made their
repressive policies a national law when they captured Kabul on September 26, 1996.
One of the first orders given was for the castration and execution of former president
Najibullah. Even though Najibullah had committed torture in the past the international
community did not really remember what he had done years ago; they just saw what
has happening at the time.23 This marked the beginning of these repressive policies.
The policies toward women were the cornerstone of their Islamization of the country.
Women had to wear a burqa, the full length covering. Women were no longer allowed to
receive an education or have a job. If a woman left the home then she had to have a
male escort. Basically the only function that women have left was to be at home to
serve their husbands. Public baths were closed. This resulted in hygiene issues
because now women had no place to fully bath. Men were also affected by the new
22
Barnett R Rubin. 288.
23
Barnett R Rubin 284
11
policies. Now all men were required to have a beard of a certain length. They also had
to always wear a turban.24
The Taliban's policies also served to kill the culture of the different ethnic groups.
The Taliban tried to totally erase the current popular culture form the area. Music and
movies were forbidden. Even kite flying and chess were banned. Sports were
considered illegal. Interestingly enough, banning sports went too far for the people of
Afghanistan. On a national scale teams were allowed to play soccer again only if they
wore the appropriate attire.25 In some way we can see how if the Taliban eliminated the
differences in the ethnic groups so that there could not be as a much conflicts coming
form these groups, but the Taliban went too far. People would be severely beaten if they
did not follow these codes exactly. Also people need certain items to be able to relax
and to feel like themselves. Women totally lost their position in society. Men felt like they
had to follow these policies so they would not be beaten. It was a lose of individuality
and personality. Women had to be covered, but then even men could not even decide
how they wanted to look.
The Taliban’s extreme policies unified their enemies and lead to the end of their
rule. When the United States entered Afghanistan on December 7, 2001 it had already
contacted the Northern Alliance and set up Agreements. The Northern Alliance
originally began in 1992 and was composed of non-Pashtun Mujahideen leaders who
were an apprehensive of a United Nations peace formula that could place the Pashtuns
back in power. Ahmad Shah Masud founded the Northern Alliance with the help of
Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari, Uzbek General Dostam and Ismaili sect leader Jaffer
24
Barnett R Rubin. 289.
25
Larry Goodson. 283.
12
Naderi. The original purpose of the group was to overthrow President Najibullah to stop
the peace plan. The Northern Alliance was successful in removing Najibullah. Masud’s
group used the military equipment and weapons in Kabul after capturing the city while
Dostam took over the military equipment used by the Afghan army and air force.26
Najibullah lost the battle, but the Northern Alliance’s victory just elongated the length of
the civil war. The United States picked this group because these are the groups that did
not follow the beliefs of the Taliban. To them, The Taliban was extending the Pashtun
reign which ironically was the reason for the 1992 actions against the president that led
to the eventual Taliban control of the country.
Today warlords are a major problem in trying to solve the regional differences in
the area. Currently up to seventy-five percent of Afghanistan is controlled by warlords. A
warlord is an individual who exercises a combination of military, political and economic
power outside the legal framework of a country. Warlords control an area without having
any actual rights to this power. People that live under warlords tend to like the security
provided by them. Like with many of the groups that have led Afghanistan for the safety
of the common people, this has kept these warlords in power. When the United States
came to Afghanistan in 2001, they chose some warlords to support. Yet these warlords
do not always follow what Karzai and the United States want. The warlords are going to
do what they please. The current challenge facing the area is how to remove these
warlords from power. There is no one to replace the warlords with. There is nothing in
place to provide security for the people if the warlords are removed.27 It is a very sticky
situation. There are still warlords because the government has not transformed enough
26 26
Anwar-ul-Haq Alhady. 626.
27
Deepa Ollapally. 3.
13
to stop their involvement, but there are so many issues the new Afghanistan has deal
with it cannot handle ridding the country of warlords at this time.
Connected to warlords is the rampant drug trade in the area. Today Afghanistan
is the world leader in heroin production, a drug considered illegal to grow in Afghanistan
by the Karzai government. In 2004 a half a million acres of opium poppies were grown
in Afghanistan. Those fields produced four thousand tons of opium which in turn
produces four hundred tons of opium and morphine. This is the largest amount of any
drug ever produced in one year by one single country. Meaning that there is more
heroin coming out of Afghanistan than the amount of cocaine coming out of Columbia.
Today Afghanistan makes three billion dollars in illegal revenue each year. This is half
of the economy. Since 2001 there has been a two thousand percent increase in opium
production.28
Today corruption in the government and the drug trade go hand in hand
Afghanistan has one of the most corrupt governments in the world. Some estimates
place up to ninety percent corruption levels in certain areas of government. Afghanistan
has become a narcostate where the power comes form the drug kingpins and some of
these drug kingpins and drug lords are now part of the government. In the Helmand
province, the governor of the region Sher Muhammed Akhundzada seems to be a drug
lord. In his office he kept the province's seized opium, nine and a half tons of it.
Akhundzada claims that the opium had to be stored in a secure location. It just seems
that this location does not have to be a closet in his personal office. The Helmand
28
Addicted to Heroin. Prod Cockhorn. 60 Minutes. CBS. 16 Oct 2005.
14
province where Akhundzada rules in one of the most resistant and crime filled regions in
Afghanistan, but this government corruption is everywhere in the country. 29
Afghanistan is trying to win this uphill battle against opium. Karzai leads this
campaign. Currently there are British task forces trying to combat the drug trade in
Afghanistan. Even though the United States was the leader in taking down the Taliban
government, its forces are involved in combating terrorism in the area. Karzai is trying to
change the ways of the country, but he simply does not have the power to. There is too
much corruption in government for this to be quickly resolved. Karzai is offering health
services to those who give up growing poppies. Yet none of these services have
actually been created to help these people. Now those who offered to stop growing
poppies are growing them again. It is also extremely hard to combat the drug trade
when there is no criminal justice in the area. The police force is almost totally corrupt
when it comes to the drug trade. Only one hundred individuals are in prison on drug
charges. The laws pertaining to drug are not being enforced so the problem continues
to grow.30The British can continue to raid and confiscate, but it is not going to help if the
guilty are not punished.
Karzai believes that the opium problem in Afghanistan will slowly fix itself. The
growing of Poppies increases when a more expensive cash crop is needed. The heroin
production increased during the civil war just as it is now, but today the growth is on a
larger scale. Karzai believes that as the economy and nation becomes more stable and
less corrupt the drug trade in Afghanistan will slowly dissipate.31 Karzai is correct that
the drug trade will decrease when a stable government is in place. Yet the amount of
29
Addicted to Heroin
30
Addicted to Heroin.
31
Addicted to Heroin.
15
opium and how much it is a part of society is too great to wait for a stable government
and economy. Karzai has been in power since 2002 and since that point the
government has gotten more stable, but the opium production still continues to grow.
Some major changes need to take place.
Religion is used as more of a tool in Afghanistan than as a building block. Almost
all of the population is Muslim. Eighty percent of the population of the population of in
Sunni Muslim and nineteen percent is Shi’a Mulsim. The formal name of the nation is
The Islamic republic of Afghanistan.32 In other ethnic conflicts religion is used to divide
groups. Here religion is used to unite groups. The Mujahideen used the term Jihad to
make a larger impact on the people of the nation. A jihad made what was happening in
Kabul not only wrong, but also unholy. The Taliban used religion as a way to repress
culture and even went as far as to destroy the eighteen hundred year old Buddhas
carved in the mountains. During the years under the Taliban religion was everything and
no religion other than Islam was acceptable.
Education is a holding mechanism that Afghanistan needs to strengthen if a
stable nation is to take shape in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has the lowest literacy rate in
the world. Only thirty six percent of the adult population can read and write. Fifty one
percent of men are literate, but only an estimated twenty one percent of women are. 33
The people of Afghanistan need to understand what is occurring in their country and all
over the world. This need is complicated so much when the majority of the population is
ignorant. The Taliban hindered the educational needs of the nation by closing all
education to women. That policy banned the education to half of the population of the
32
Central intelligence Agency. 5.
33
Central intelligence Agency. 4.
16
entire country. This education needs to also be unbiased. We do not want a linguistic
dilemma like we had with the education of language program in 1978.
The economy of Afghanistan needs major improvement; a country cannot survive
with half of its revenue coming form illegal drug. It is hard to have a stable government
when the majority of public officials are corrupt and are involved in illegal trade. The
United States need to take a more active role in Afghanistan. The United States military
is slowly helping to remove terrorists from the region, but there needs to be more
involvement. There needs to be more of United States and hopefully more international
help in ending corruption. When the United States finally pulls out of Iraq some of those
troops need to be placed in Afghanistan. We know that the United States in going to be
in Iraq for years, but by the size to Afghanistan’s problem, it will still be there.
Afghanistan needs to move away from using warlords as allies. The international
community needs to provide the means to remove these corrupt officials and to train
new ones on how a province should be run.
Afghanistan has many issues and needs all the help the international community
is willing to give. Afghanistan is in the unique category that it was proclaimed a nation
before the people of Afghanistan truly wanted to be a nation. Security issues have
plagued Afghanistan through out its history. The people of Afghanistan whether it be a
Pashtun or Uzbek just want to live safely in their communities. True security has never
been accomplished. Afghans have had to rely on the Pashtuns or the Taliban or
currently warlords to ensure that they can live with out worry. The International
community has created many of the exacerbating factors it needs to contribute more to
fixing them.
17
Afghanistan Bibliography
Addicted to Heroin. Prod Cockhorn. 60 Minutes. CBS. 16 Oct 2005.
This is an overview of how bad the drug trade has become in Afghanistan.
Alhady, Anwar-ul-Haq. "The Decline of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan." Asian Survey 35.
Alhady describes how the group that founded the nation has been in decline since the
overthrow of the government in 1992.
Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook: Afghanistan. Washington D. C.: CIA. .
A general overview of the situation in Afghanistan including a statistical breakdown of
the area.
Dil, Shaheen F. "The Cabal in Kabul: Great-Power Interaction in Afghanistan." The
American Political Science Review 71 no. 2 (Jun 1977): 468- 476.
Dil explains how charismatic leaders gain and lose power in Afghanistan
"Ethnic Make up of Afghanistan". War against Terror CNN in-depth. 2005.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001ltrade.center/map.ethnic.afghan.html (15 Nov 2005)
A good website describing the people located in Afghanistan and how the United States
is trying to combat the terrorism in the area.
Goldman, Milton F. "Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan: Roots & Causes." Polity 16 no.
3(Spring 1984): 384-403.
Goldman analyzes why in 1979 the Russians thought they should invade Afghanistan and
why the Soviet Union would want Afghanistan in the first place.
Goodson, Larry. "The Fragmentation of Culture in Afghanistan." Alif: Journal of
18
Comparative Poetics no. 18 (1998): 269-189
This Article discusses how the people of Afghanistan have differing background, but the
entire country changed. At first Afghanistan was a buffer been between The British and
Russian Empires and then the area became a war zone.
Khalilzad. Zalmay. "Afghanistan in 1995: Civil War and a Mini-Great Game." Asian
Survey 36 no. 2 (Feb 1996) 190-195
This article explains the situation in 1995. At that point the country was still at war and
the Taliban had not taken over yet.
Naby. Eden. "The Ethnic Factors in Soviet-Afghan Relations." Asian Survey 20 no. 3
(Mar 1980) 237-256.
Naby discusses the mixture of ethnicities in Afghanistan and how the minority is treated.
He also analyzes how this ethnicity affects Russia.
O’Ballance, Edgar. Afghan Wars 1839-1992: What Britain Gave Up and the Soviet
Union Lost (New York: Brassey’s. 1993).
A resource detailing the different political struggles in the country.
Ollapally. Deepa. United States Institute of Peace. Unfinished Business in Afghanistan:
Warlordism. Reconstruction. and Ethnic Harmony. Washington D.C.2003.
This Report tells of the current situation in the country since the US entered. In particular
How warlords are rampant in areas and how we can combat them.
Rais. Rasul Bakhsh. "Afghanistan and the Regional Power." Asian Survey 33 no. 9 (Sep
1993).905-922.
The Article emphasis how divided the people of Afghanistan are. It also details the power
that these regional groups have.
19
Rubin, Barnett R. The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in
the International System. Michigan: Yale U. 1995.
Rubin discusses and analyzes how Afghanistan got in the place it is today. He tries to
answer many of the questions that people had after September 11th.
Rubin, Barnett R. "Women and Pipelines: Afghanistan's Proxy Wars." International
Affairs 73no. 2 (Apr 1997) 283-296.
This article talks about the changes that took place when the Taliban can into power. It
also describes the situation that lead to the Taliban's Reign.