>  pre- Abdul Rahman:  British wars in 19th c.
>  Abdul Rahman (1880-1901)
 >  his task
 >  sociocultural conflicts:  state vs local interests
 >  subjection of rural elements:  tribes, religious leaders
>  Habibullah (1901- 1919)
>  Amanullah (1919- 1929)
 >  modern formalities and offense to the religious elite
>  Habibullah [Bache- Saqqaw] (1929)
 >  rise of the rural elements:  tribes/religious elite in the east; bandit
>  Nadir Shah (1929 - 1933)
 >  his control of the religious institutions
>  Zaher Shah (1933- 1973)
 >  early period
  NB:  Mrs Gauhari Born +/- 1945

SOCIETY AS CONSTITUTED: ethnic groups, sectarian groups, weak state.  Qaraqul hats vs turbans

 >  1950s:  young Afghans
  >  conflict with the religious establishment
  >  split among progressives:  communists
  >  Daud Khan and development
  >  Soviet / American help
  >  Pushtunistan

 > Early 1960s 
  1961:  NB:  Mrs Gauhari graduates from high school 
  1961:  I meet Afghan theology student in Cairo
 >  1964
  >  democracy announced
  >  Dr. Yusuf is Prime Minister
  >  Maiwandwal becomes Prime Minister:  democracy
   NB:  Mrs G meets Saleem and marries
   1965:  Mrs G has her first child

SOCIETY AS CONSTITUTED:  stronger secular state and nationalist elite, rural marginality, religious elements disenfranchised and resentful. 

 >  1965
  >  Jan:  Communist party forms, named Khalq 
   >  Islamists react:  Young Muslems
   >  tension between established ulema and the Islamists
 >  1967
  >  Parcham splits from Khalq
 >  1969
 >  Mullahs demonstrate against the “Durud” article praising Lenin

SOCIETY AS CONSTITUTED:  turbans vs qaraqul hats vs bare heads
 >  1973
   > Coup d'etat: Da’ud Khan [1973 - 1978]
  >  King Zaher Shah deposed by Daud Khan
  >  Parchamis in government
  >  Maiwandwal imprisoned, tortured
 >  1974
  >  attempted rebellions by radical Muslim students; most of them turned in by their own people; those who can flee to Pakistan and receive support from Z. Buttho.  These would become leaders in the anticomunist movement later.  [Hikmatyar, Mas’ud]
  >  Nur M.  Taraki [Khalq Communists]

SOCIETY AS CONSTITUTED:  mustaches as marks of communists, vs the rest.
 >  1978
  >  April [Saur] Khalq coup d'etat
  >  Taraki and Hafizullah Amin
  >  reactions around the country

>  1979
  >  Soviet attempts to get control
  >  Hafizullah Amin [Khalq communist] [Aug 1979 - Dec 1979]
  >  late summer, Taraki visits Moscow
  >  Taraki murdered; Hafizullah Amin in control
  >  Aug 4-5, Troops in Ballah Hissar revolt are bombed by air force
  >  December 25:  Soviet’s begin invasion
  >  Babrak Karmal replaces Amin
  >  Babrak Karmal [Parchami communist] [1980 - 1986]

SOCIETY AS CONSTITUTED
 >  The marxist/communist elements:  now threatened but internal rifts and fears:  Khalqis vs Parchamis.  Now it was Parchamis in control.  Babrak was Persian speaking
 >  1978-80, formation of resistance groups: 
  >  The concept of Jehad, mujahedin. 
  >  The resistance organizations: parties formed vs communists
   >  Islamists and 
   >  “traditionalists”

 >  1980 
  >  “official” parties recognized by Pakistan, CIA, and Saudi   intelligence; only one of them was non-Pushtun; none of them was headed by a Durrani Pushtun [Kandahari, because of Pakistan’s opposition to bringing back Zaher Shah]; 
  >  the parties most strongly supported by Pakistan were “Islamists” vs several “traditionalists” headed by pirs [“saints”]
  >  non-official parties and their connections [with Iran, with other parties]
  >  Zia’s problem and his fear of refugees

 >  1980s: 
  >  attempts at a national council popularly based; nixed by Pakistan
  >  the flight of refugees into Pakistan and Iran
  >  size of the refugees and Pakistans acceptance of them; support from Western countries
  >  Hikmatyar [head of Hizb -i Islami] is favorite of Pakistan
  >  Internal contradictions among the Mujahedin: 
  >  Harakat [originally the largest party] was a loose federation; ulema were deferential to tribal / sufi structures; “traditional”
  >  Islamists denegrated tribal structures, distrusted outsiders, were exclusivist; minorities distrusted them; Islamists had virtually no support within the country at the beginning, but with CIA / ISI support built strong network within the country. 
 >  “Moderates”:  Mujaddidi and Gailani
  >  Shia resistance groups were cut out of support from Pakistan but got help from Iran
  >  Non-Communist progressives and “moderates”  where were they?:
   >  RAWA 

Now a new set of social issues would emerge and the society would change, break up once more—in fact several times.  This is the point from here on and introduces the story of the Taliban

>  1986
  >  Najibullah [1986 -1992]  [Parchami communist but Pushtu speaker]
 >  1986  Stinger; negotiations in Geneva;  Soviets had decided to find a way out
>  Some time during this period Osama Bin Laden joins the war and brings Arab money and fighters: 

>  1989
  >  1989:  Soviets withdraw
  >  Shura controlled by Pakistan
  >  Jalalabad
  >  Refugees in Pakistan:  enforced conformity by mujahedin parties; execution of moderates and former radicals
  >  Our meeting with Hazara “terrorists” in Peshawar
 >  1990  Tanai’s failed coup from within the Communist party; he flees and joins Hikmatyar

>  Events in the Soviet Union, 1985-1992:
  1985:  Gorbachev elected Party Gen Sec 
 >  what he found and tried to do:  perestroika [economic reforms]; glassnost [openness]
 1986: 
  •  27th Party Congress    April 26 Chernobyl disaster 
  •  US/Soviet summit in Reykjavik (Reagan and Gorbachev) 
  •  Gorbachev's anticorruption campaign.  sets 1991 for overhaul of the economy; 
 1987:
  •  Sakharov freed from 7 years of exile in Gorky
  •  Gorbachev sets 1991 as deadline for overhaul of the economy
 1988   unrest in the Baltic republics and early signs of the break-up of the Soviet Union; 
Feb 20:  •  Nagorno-Karabakh soviet declares the region under Armenian control
  May 15: Soviets begin pullout from Afghanistan; 
 1989 
  >  Feb 1 completion of Soviet pullout from Afghanistan 
 >  Mar 26 first multi-candidate elections in Soviet Union; Yeltsen and Sakhrov are elected overwhelmingly; 
 >  April demonstrations in Georgia for independence, coal miners strike in Ukraine, Central Asia, etc, Baltics demonstrations for independence; 
  >  November 1989 Berlin Wall comes down; 
 1990 
  >  Lithuania declares independence; 
 >  June 12 Congress of deputies delcares Declaration of the State Soveregnty of Russia, 
 1991
 >  June 12, 1991, Boris Yeltsin becomes first democratically elected Russian President
 >  August 20 Yanayev, Pugo, Yazov and 3 others announce take over;  Yeltsin speaks to crowd from tank then barricades himself in Parliament building
 >  August 21  Latvia declares its independence 
               Gorbachev returns from house arrest in Crimea
  >  August 22 Pugo commits suicide
  >  August 24 Gorbachev resigns as head of CP and Yeltsin closes Pravda and disbands CP
  >  Dec 25, 1991 Gorbachev announces his resignation and USSR ceases to exist

SOCIETY AS CONSTITUTED IN Afghanistan, late 1980s - 1990s
 >  International involvement, local commanders and networks of support from outside sources
  >  decay of legitimacy 
 >  Fragility of alliances on both sides:  mujahedin leaders; local coalitions and cousins on opposite sides; 
 >  Destruction of civilian populations and targets by the fighting:  Hazara parties in local market town of the Hazarajat; fighting in local communities
  >  local commanders
  >  mullahs as leaders
  >  decay of the social order; quest for brides
  >  drugs and Lapis lazuli trade
 >  Dec, 1991:  collapse of Soviet Union
 >  1991:  First Gulf War:  Osama quarrels with the Saudi leadership:  is bannished to Sudan.

>  1992:  collapse of Communist regime in Kabul
   >  collapse of support for Najibullah:  Dostam and the Ismailis
  >  pillage and rape as the mujahedin move in
  >  Pushtuns do not take Kabul but Mas’ud and Rabbani, Tajiks, who were better organized, and who formed a league with Dostam [psychological blow to Pushtuns, who had always controlled Kabul]
  >  Shia Hizb-i Wahdat takes a prominent place; creates a crisis for Pakistan and Saudi surrogates but esp for Mas’ud whose troops are taking the city

 >  1992-1994
  >  Important place of the Shia in Kabul
  >  the war for control of Kabul:  Mas’ud vs Shia vs Hikmatyar and Sayyaf; Shia and Hikmatyar vs Mas’ud
  >  Shia and the Taliban;  collapse of the Shia in Kabul
  >  flight of Kabulis into Pakistan

 SOCIETY AS CONSTITUTED in 1992-1996
 >  Afghanistan is in a state of “virtual disintegration” [Rashid p. 21]
  >  In many places traditionalists and Islamists fought “mercilessly”, by 1994 the traditionalist leaders were eliminated. (Rashid p.19) 
  >  [21] Warlords fought, switched sides, abused local populations.  In south Pushtuns were at war with each other.  Kandahar was wrecked by local warlords who tore down the city and sold it off to Pakistani traders.  Seized homes, farms, land, kidnapped young girls and boys for sexual pleasure, robbed local merchants.
  >  NB:  the transport mafia:  truck transporters, their history, based in Quetta, Kandahar.  Long experience smuggling goods through Pakistan and Iran.  Trying to open up routes into Turkmenistan.
  >  Local displeasure, among merchants, etc.  The mullahs in Kandahar area:  Mullah Omar, Mullah Ghaus, Mullah Hasan—all from Urozgan, had fought together in the war.  They were in fact from the “traditional” ulema tradition.  Trained in Deobandi schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  [p22]
  >  Deobandi schools in Pakistan:  “hundreds of madrassas” set up in the refugee camps during the 1980s and 1990s, where young boys could get free food, shelter, and Quranic education, the only place where boys from poor families could get an education.  Set up by the Jamiat -i Ulumaa- i Islami.  Were ignored by the Pakistan’s ISI, who were dominated by the Jamaa’at-ul Islam.  By 1988 there were 8,000 official madrassas and 25,000 unofficial ones, altogether half-millian students.
  >  Taught by local mullahs, poorly educated, mostly Quranic memorization, no sense of the times, history, much distrust of the mujahedin of the past, and of non-Muslims.  Dozens of breakaway factions, the most important was Haqqania in Akhora Khatak between Peshawar and Islamabad, led by Maulana Samiul Haq.  His schools gives MA and PhD degrees in Islam.  Free education because funded by public donations.  Now draws students from Central Asia [who were from opposition factions] [Rashid 88-90].  Besides the top leadership of the Taliban, who studied inside Afghanistan, most of the troops around him were from Pakistan Deobandi schools, especially Haqqania.
  >  Several other Deobandi factions, I.e. of the JUI, began to join the Taliban, one from Karachi, another one that was intensely anti-Shia [killed many Shia in Pakistan, were driven out by Pak police, and fled to Kabul.]  Many of this latter group were trained in Osama’s camps inside Afghanistan. 
 >  1996: Taliban handed over camp Badr near Khost to another radical splinter group who trained recruits for the wars in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia.  This was the camp attacked by US missles in 1998. 
  >  Hikmatyar had failed—ISI was unable to use him.  Never had much support among the Afghans, many hated him.
 >  1993 or 1994:  Ismail Khan called a Shura in Herat, failed to work out a common solution.

 >  1994: 
  >  key players:  commanders/war lords; common people; “transport mafia”; religious establishment [in the madrassahs]; development agencies [disappeared when aid into Afghanistan could not be organized; foreign interests [Pakistan; pipeline companies; Iran]
  >  also:  children of the refugees in Pakistan [who were being educated in the madrassas.  Rashid p 23
  >  also:  “Arab Afghans” had been involved in the war, a different culture, more shrill Islamists, resented by many Afghans, supported by Saudi money, fanned out elsewhere in the Muslim world with similar jehad agendas.  Osama Bin Ladin
 >  Taleban [1994 - ]

 >1994 
  >  spring:  [p 25] commander abducted 2 girls, shaved heads and took them to camp where they were raped.  Omar enlisted 30 talibs, had 16 rifles, attacked the camp, killed the leader.
  >  summer:  two commanders fought in streets over a boy they wanted to sodomize.  Omar’s group freed the boy.  became a Robin Hood figure.
  >  the new interest in Kandahar as a link transport route into Turkmenistan [vs via Kabul into Uzbekistan].  The conjoining of interested parties:  transport mafia, B Bhuto’s Pakistan gov’t, Pushtun military within Pakistan.
  >  the new opportunity for the Jamiat-ul Ulema-i Islami [vs the Jamaat Islami]:  Fundamentalists and Islamists.
  >  September:  official contacts with Mullah Omar, leader of the Taleban
  >  Mullah Omar:  b. circa 1959 near Kandahar, poor family, landless, Hotaki tribe but totally unknown;  during 1980s family moved to Uruzgan for safety.   Fa died when he was young, Omar moved to a small village and became the village mullah, opened a mullah school for boys.  When Soviets invaded he joined Khalis’s party, wounded 4 times, lost one eye.  has 3 wives, 5 children all of them studying in the madrassa.  Now lives in secret.  formall communications now dictated by Pakistani advisors.
  >  October, with Pak help Taleban drive out Hikmatyar’s forces at Chamand
  >  October 29:  convoy through Kandahar:  stopped by war lords; removed by Taleban Nov 3.  Set up one toll system [in place of the many]
  >  Nov - Dec. Afghan and Pakistani volunteers from madrassahs swarm into Afghanistan to help the Taleban
  >  Taleban new regulations:  Shariat law as they know it

 >  1995
  >  fighting still in Kabul, between Mas’ud and Hikmatyar
  >  then between Mas’ud and Hazaras [with Hikmatyar’s help]
  >  Taleban offer to help Hazaras

 >  1996
  >  the people I met in Peshawar in 1996:  ex Kabulis, ex-communist; no mujahedin
  >  September:  Taleban take Kabul:  execute Najibullah
  >  p 50 new strict rules
  >  [p20] Mullah Omar took the cloak of Muhammad and showed it to a crowd of Taliban, who named him Amir-ul-Mumenin
  >  Osama arrives in Jalalabad barely a month after the cloak event.
  >  the Taleban take most of the rest of the country:  Mas’ud holds only a small section in NE
  >  NB the brutal enforcement of Taleban rules by former communists [cf report by H. E.]
  >  Laila flees Kabul because a Taliban neighbor wants to marry her and take her daughters [to marry for himself?  or to give out to others?] 

 >  1998
  >  Taliban groups in Pakistan were banning TV and videos among Pushtun populations, imposing Sharia punishments [stoning, amputation, killing Pakistani Shia, imposing dress code on women]
  >  Feb:  Osama in a fetwa declares war against the United States
  >  August:  bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salam kill 224 people; had been planned for several years [5?].  Date was chosen on anaversary of US introductionof troops into Saudi Arabia to fight Iraq.
  >  response of US government was 13 days later 80 missles [several missed by many miles] were shot at Badr camp near Khost

 >  1999- 2000
  >  October 12, 2000:  bombing of the ship Cole, presumed to be caused by supporters of Osama
  >  Late November:   Afghanistan/Pakistan braces for a missle attack by Bill Clinton 
  >  Dec 19:  UN is urged by US to place sanctions and embargo on Afghanistan Taliban

SOCIETY AS CONSTITUTED IN 2001
 2001
  >  Taleban vs “Northern Alliance”:  implying Pushtun vs non-Pushtun elements [”Perisan speaking”]
  >  Dependence on Pakistan:  Pakistan Jamiat ul Ulema-i Islami
  >  Merging of competing Islamic elements, radical and “traditional” in opposition to and fear of US.
  >  Dependence on several kinds of radical Deobandi Islamic schools [mostly in Pakistan], especially Haqqani school, for troops
  >  :: Involvement in the wide network of radical Islamist groups involved in Chechnia, Kashmir, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere that want to establish Islamist governments
  >  Osama as a central heroic figure among Islamists:  Osama Arabs as advisors
  >  Secretive resentment and rebellion in Kabul:  secret video market, “Titanic” hair cuts
  >  In summer, 2001:  Foreign minister of Taliban tries to warn US of coming attack by Al Qaeda; fears that the US will retaliate against Taliban.
 >  2001
  >  Drug industry
   >  growth, largest source of heroin in world
   >  Taliban recent attempts to control it
   >  addiction :  in Pakistan, Iran
  >  recent control of the drug production industry; now moved into Tajikistan and elsewhere
  >  Greater Central Asian politics: 
>  instability, anti-government movements in Central Asia
   >  Kashmir
   >  Uzbekistan, Namangani now protected by Taliban
 >  nuclear weapons:  India, Pakistan [now on submarines?]
   >  Sanctions against Afghanistan
  >  Internal politics in Pakistan:  J-i Islami vs J. Uluma-i Islami
   >  Kashmir and the training camps inside Afghanistan
  >  Refugees 
   >  on border of Tajikistan
   >  Drought and greater refugees, Herat
   >  Pakistan closed the border
   >  UN has no financial support
   >  Last winter:  cold
  >  War in Afghanistan 
  >  Pakistanis, Arabs, Chechnians in the war; an internal coup de etat by Osama and the Arabs
  >  Spring and summer in Afghanistan 
   >  Buddhas in Bamian
  >  Missionaries in Kabul:  8 imprisoned; 16 Afgthans and others

 >  2001:  9/11:
  >  American responses; accuse Osama
  >  Oct 7 bombing begins

 >  2002
 >  January and following [reported March 2]:  thousands of Pushtuns have been rounded up and killed by Hazaras in Mazar-I Sharif; they are fleeing into Pakistan