The Soviet-Afghan War
Wed, 10/06/2010 - 13:06 — [email protected]description:
<p>By all accounts, a Marxist revolution and a Soviet invasion should have led to a communist state. But it didn't work that way in Afghanistan.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Year:
1979
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
Asset Type:
Historical
More Information:
<p><i>0004</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>0015</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>0025</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>0054</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>0084</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>0124</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>0139</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>0139</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>0226</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>1170-12</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>118-34</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>84-16</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>84-28</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>G-00199-12</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>K-00301-08</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">"Karl Marx." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karl_Marx.jpg.</div>
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<p>Kingruedi. "Evstafiev-afghan-apc-passes-russian." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 4, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-afghan-apc-passes-russian.jpg.<br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>L-00345-01</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>L-00347-01</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Q-00481-26</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Q-00486-30</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Q-00498-32</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01282-20</i>. ARC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01282-21</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01283-34</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.<br />
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<div class="hang">"Untitled Recording." In <i>Sakata Field Recordings Reel 2-5</i>. Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, 1971.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>V2-01425-07</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Alexis Menten</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Marxism encourages the working classes to rise up against their overlords and seize political power to advance collective ownership. In this way, Marxists believed that a social revolution would inevitably lead to a communist system. But it didn’t work that way in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>There were strong ties within the community to the leader. And when the Marxists came to power in 1978, they in many cases, tried to turn local communities against those leaders. But because of those strong ties of reciprocity, people rejected the Marxist idea that these people were exploiters or feudals or feudal lords. Rather, they saw them as important lynch pins of their community, and to whom they owe obligations and whose wealth and status was recognized to be their god-given right, that they’d earned it and the Marxists had no right to come along and try to take it away.</p>
<p>In 1979 the Soviet Union sent troops across the border to provide support to the Marxist government. Countries around the world were uneasy with Soviet aggression and the apparent expansion of the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>At that point or shortly after that period, the Pakistan government, and with the assistance of the Americans, the Saudis and other foreign interests, began to funnel money, weapons and other kinds of support to mujahideen, to Resistance Fighters who were opposed to the Marxist government in Afghanistan and to their Soviet sponsors.</p>
<p>From that period on, new forms of wealth and new forms of power began to pour into Afghanistan in the form, for example, of AK-47 machine guns and RPG shoulder-launched rockets that were used to take out armored personnel carriers and tanks and that sort of thing.</p>
<p>Despite this influx of firepower to arm the Afghan resistance, the main advantage the Soviets had was their control of the air. Attack helicopters and bombing campaigns turned homes into rubble across the country. Up to a quarter of the Afghan population became refugees in Pakistan and Iran. Most ordinary Afghans who could not flee dug in and tried to wait out the war.</p>
<p>Once again, as had happened across history, a war between global powers was being fought on Afghan soil. And once again, the foreigners had underestimated Afghanistan. As it turned out, the Soviets were unprepared – and vulnerable.</p>
<p>For most of the 1980s, the war was a stalemate. The Soviets held the urban areas and a few bases, but the Afghans controlled the highways and rural areas – up to 80% of the country.</p>
<p>Of the leaders of the Afghan resistance, the most famous was Ahmed Shah Massoud, or the “Lion of Panjshir,” who commanded thousands of troops against the Soviet occupiers.</p>
<p>But neither side could prevail until the introduction of Stinger missiles, which Afghans used to shoot down Soviet helicopters and bombers. This changed the balance of power of the war—and Afghanistan’s future.</p>
A Song for Afghanistan
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 16:09 — [email protected]description:
<p>Musician Malang Kohistani sings a song for Afghanistan.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Year:
2010
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><em>Kabul Transit</em>. Directed by David B. Edwards, Gregory Whitmore, and Maliha Zulfacar. Performed by Malang Kohistani. Oley, PA: Bullfrong Films, 2006. DVD.</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Gregory Whitmore</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Our country has pleasant weather, <br />
beautiful land and fields <br />
Birthplace of brave men, <br />
heroes of the land</p>
<p>The Afghan people are of noble blood <br />
The country has many mineral mines <br />
with its barren lands, <br />
fast-flowing rivers, <br />
and flat deserts, too, <br />
roads and also airports</p>
<p>Look at our strategic location! <br />
It has high mountains, <br />
and many sources of water for electricity <br />
Greedy nations want our land <br />
and they have interfered in our country <br />
We are tired of colonialism, slavery, and politics</p>
<p>From the times of Alexander, <br />
the Russians, Britain, and Genghis Khan, <br />
Now it is Pakistan’s turn <br />
Arabs and Chechens with them</p>
<p>I want to pose a question, <br />
if you don’t mind me asking: <br />
What did you give us? <br />
After you went into space? <br />
After you built the computer? <br />
If you have given us anything, <br />
tell us so we can give something in return</p>
<p>If not, what do you have to do with us? <br />
We are a country <br />
that have fallen behind in technology <br />
Developed countries will either hold our hand or cut it off</p>
<p>Foreign attacks have held us back <br />
and kept us from our work <br />
These attacks have wasted our time <br />
and that is why we have fallen behind</p>
<p>In the decisions of this world <br />
no one listens to the poor people <br />
Those who caused injuries and wounds <br />
should dress the bandages and make amends</p>
<p>We should not suffer <br />
from warring parties and their cruelty <br />
They should go back to their own lands <br />
They should not be tempted by what we have</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
Homeland Security
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 15:59 — [email protected]description:
<p>Another perspective on homeland security.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Geography & Destiny
Identity & Perception
Year:
2008
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Australian Government Department of Defence, and ISAF. "20100129adf8246638_049.JPG." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4329296739/.<br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</p>
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<div class="hang">Australian Government Department of Defense, and ISAF. "20100104adf8246638_131.JPG." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4258452373/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
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<div class="hang">Fayloga, Sgt. Mark. "ANA, Marines Address Local Water Concerns during Operation New Dawn." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. ANA, Marines address local water concerns during Operation New Dawn.</div>
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<div class="hang">German Air Force, Herbert Albring, and ISAF. "OMLT Training." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4140701920/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Henry, Spc. William, and ISAF. "091130-A-2575T-032." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4183433659/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Hubert, US Army Spc. Christopher, U.S. Department of Defense, and ISAF. "091120-A-5864H-033." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4148969349/.</div>
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<div class="hang">ISAF. "Untitled (Gen. Stanley McChrystal)." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4151701671/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Lail, Staff Sgt. Bradley, and ISAF. "ANA NCO Graduation." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4796794970/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Lopez, Tech. Sgt. Efren, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Department of Defense. "American Helicopters." Digital image. U.S. Department of Defense. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.defense.gov/multimedia/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Marino, Lance Cpl. Walter. "091204-M-3612M-014." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4178463246/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Nicholas, U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Christopher, and U.S. Army. "Onlookers from the Rooftop." Digital image.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rafoss, U.S. Marine Corps Corporal John Scott. "090103-M-6058R-033." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3166572484/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Rieger, Michael. "Photograph by Michael Rieger Taken on 09/25/2001 in New York." Digital image. FEMA Photo Library. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.photolibrary.fema.gov/photolibrary/photo_details.do?id=4184.</div>
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<div class="hang">Smith, U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt Laura K., and ISAF. "090208-F-6426S-120." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3276443396/.</div>
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<div class="hang">Wade, Sgt. Teddy, U.S. Army, and ISAF. "100102-A-6365W-160." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4248779652.</div>
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<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin. "Photo of the Day: 7 June 2010." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4677413023/.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>I think that our understanding of security in Afghanistan has been largely oriented toward our security.</p>
<p>We have seen Afghanistan as important in terms of maintaining American security. Ultimately I would argue if we are really concerned with the security of the United States of our geographical borders and of our people abroad, we have to be concerned with Afghan security. We have to be concerned with the integrity of their bodies and their spaces and their livelihoods.</p>
<p>Security for Afghans involves, it involves livelihoods, it involves being able to meet the daily needs of the people, so there’s an economic component of security.</p>
<p>There is a, as well as a component of security related to the physical spaces that they occupy. And one example of where our notion of security conflicts with their notion of security comes in situations where US troops decide that they need to search the domestic compound.</p>
<p>The domestic quarters of someone that they suspect might be with the Taliban or sympathetic to the Taliban or where arms might be hidden. And in pursuit of those arms or in pursuit of those people that they suspect they, the troops go into those homes, force entry into those homes and in doing so they violate the sanctity of that space.</p>
<p>For Afghans that’s a very important part of security. Even though no bodily injury might take place, even though no one is injured in any way or killed, for them the insult that is, that takes place as a result of that violation of the autonomy, the integrity, the independence of the domestic quarters, presents a problem and an insult that sometimes can only be rectified through violence. And I think we have not fully adequately appreciated how important that notion of autonomy and of the security, the sanctity of the home is for Afghans.</p>
<p>We have to make sure this is central now to the counter insurgency doctrine where we understand what the military calls force protection as something that involves a relationship between us and the civilian population.</p>
<p>That the only adequate force protection in the long run is going to come from our ability to interact and gain the cooperation of the local population, and the way that’s going to happen is because they come to believe that we are going to be there, that we are trustworthy, that we are reliable honest brokers, and that we are going to do everything in our power to respect their culture, their life ways, their norms and things like the sanctity of their domestic quarters.</p>
Reconstructing Cultural Heritage
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 15:49 — [email protected]description:
<p>Afghanistan's cultural heritage is being put back together, piece by piece.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
2005
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Boukhari, Sophie, and UNESCO. <i>Head of Buddhist Statue</i>. UNESCO, Kabul, Afghanistan. In <i>UNESCO</i>. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://photobank.unesco.org/exec/fiche.htm.</p>
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<div class="hang">Cole, Henry Hardy. <i>Miscellaneous Buddhist Sculptures from Mala Tangi, Peshawar District 10031079</i>. 1883. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Cole, Henry Hardy. <i>Miscellaneous Sculpture Pieces from the Upper Monastery, Nutta, Peshawar District</i>. 1883. Courtesy of the British Library Board, London.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>49-24</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>49-52</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>50-62</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>51-100</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>60-R28-8</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>61-180</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>Members of the Conference at the Administrative Quarters</i>. 1970. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>Pseudo-corinthian Capital from the Administrative Quarters</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>Temple within the Walls of Ai Khanoum</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>The Bases in the Hall of the Administrative Quarters</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang">
<p>Ellis, Sean. <i>Giza Pyramids</i>. March 27, 2009. Cairo.Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</p>
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<div class="hang">Kelly, Jim. "Kids with Tiled Minaret." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4072962400/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Kelly, Jim. "Restoration Workshop." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4072192491/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Kelly, Jim. "Some of the New Tilework." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/4072953984/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
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<div class="hang">Mahwash. "Taghafol Tchi Khejlat (The Ashamed Conscience)." In <i>Radio Kaboul</i>. Accords Croisés, 2003, CD.</div>
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<div class="hang">Manoocher, Webistan, and UNESCO. "Kabul Museum - Statue Restoration." Digital image. UNESCO. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://photobank.unesco.org/exec/fiche.htm.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Manoocher, Webistan, and UNESCO. <i>Kabul Museum</i>. UNESCO, Kabul, Afghanistan. In <i>UNESCO</i>. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://photobank.unesco.org/exec/fiche.htm.</div>
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<div class="hang">Podelco, Grant. "Afghanistan: Race To Preserve Historic Minarets Of Herat, Jam." Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. July 18, 2005. Accessed September 05, 2010. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1059997.html.</div>
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<div class="hang">"Preserving Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage: An Interview with Nancy Hatch Dupree." Interview by Alexis Menten. Asia Society. July 7, 2002. Accessed September 30, 2010. http://asiasociety.org/node/475.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01268-35</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Alexis Menten</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<blockquote>“I think that a country is entitled to keep its heritage. But, at the same time, in keeping their heritage they have the responsibility to protect it. This is not always possible.” – Nancy Hatch Dupree, Director, Afghanistan Centre, Kabul University</blockquote>
<p>We all know of Egypt and the preservation in the tombs. Strangely, the steppes of Central Asia, where things were frozen, are also sites of preservation. So hence we have some of the oldest remains in the world found in this part of the world. And archeology then, shows us as a window onto the past.</p>
<p>Every person, every culture, and every country has a heritage. In Afghanistan, as in other countries, history is everywhere, whether artifacts and objects in museums, historical sites, or living traditions like carpet weaving.</p>
<p>But these connections to history are crumbling in Afghanistan. Many of these sites were strategic. They were chosen because they were strategic, and they are still strategic, and hence they are usually in the middle of war zones. I think given the state of Afghanistan today, it’s almost impossible for Afghans even to visit any of these sites, nor would they necessarily want to. Places like Ghazni are notoriously unsafe, and even archeologists are allowed there for an hour or two at a time.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, even where historical sites have survived and are accessible, they are easy targets for looters. This practice not only removes valuable artifacts that would normally go into the hands of researchers and curators into those of private collectors, but it also destroys much of the information that artifacts can provide about where, when, and how people lived.</p>
<p>This is where archeology can provide us with the context, but grave robbers want exactly the opposite. They want to destroy or remove the object from context. Museums today are much more interested in context, and they’re trying to re-establish how were all these artworks used.</p>
<p>One way to protect historical artifacts during wartime is to remove them from the country to keep them safe. But when no one is in charge, as during Afghanistan’s civil war in the 1990s, who can authorize and organize such a move? And how can a country be sure of their return?</p>
<p>In Afghanistan, these questions proved to be impossible to answer. And so after the Soviet withdrawal, when the Afghanistan descended into civil war, some of the country’s most important artifacts were saved by the heroic actions of individuals. The director of the Kabul Museum recognizing the danger involved took what is reported to be the greatest treasure, the Bactrian gold coins of the 3rd century BCE, and stored them away in a government ministry where they survived. The result was when the Taliban were expelled from Kabul, the Bactrian gold coins were intact and returned to the museum.</p>
<p>For other artifacts that were found by foreign archaeologists and removed from the country well before Afghanistan’s present difficulties, the question of how and when they will be returned is still debated. One of the most controversial questions in art in Afghanistan today is the question of repatriation, and should objects be moved back to the places they were found? Or is it the role of the museum at large to show the world what world culture is, in which case all museums should have some objects from all periods in order to share that wealth? There are arguments that can be made on both sides, but for the safety of the objects, in the case of Afghanistan for the moment, it seems that repatriation is not a viable option.</p>
<p>In addition to the threats to historical objects and sites, another concern is that living traditions, such as carpet weaving, embroidery, and metalwork, are slowly dying away due to lack of resources and markets.</p>
<p>Art is a luxury. If you have to feed your family, you can’t be making art. For local people who are displaced and living in refugee camps, unless they can find a way to sell that art, there’s no reason to make it.</p>
<p>So what can be done? In a country where the government has limited capacity, outside organizations are working with Afghans to help pick up the pieces. There has been a revival of crafts, particularly with the help of outside funding now in Afghanistan. So we have two kinds of art going on. We have the revival of crafts in some of these societies, and we have the revival of crafts to sell in order to make money for the outside. It’s hopeful. We are trying to revive old crafts.</p>
<p>Reconstruction of historic sites is underway across the country. But it’s not straightforward. One of the ongoing questions in the scholarly and more general world, is what to do with these buildings and how much should they be restored. We don’t necessarily have the same techniques that they used in earlier times. Should we add concrete to buildings that were built without it? And there is a vast and heated ongoing discussion about this. There is a counter-drive, saying this is inauthentic, and we are restoring things that we don’t know were necessarily there. Having restored them, the next question is what do you do with them?</p>
<p>Sometimes, rebuilding after war doesn’t just mean rebuilding roads and hospitals and schools. It can be just as important to rebuild the past, which is a far more complicated and difficult task.</p>
Jirga: A Tradition of Participation
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 15:46 — [email protected]description:
<p>Violent headlines make Afghanistan seem like a place of uninterrupted conflict. But Afghans succeed every day in resolving conflicts and finding peace through a consensus process called jirga.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
2003
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Afghan National Orchestra, performer. "Afghan National Orchestra." In <i>Music of Afghanistan</i>. Smithsonian Folkways, 1960, CD.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang">AfghanKabul. "Malalai Joya Visits a Girls School in Farah Province in Afghanistan." Digital image. AfghanKabul's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2083277099/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang">"Ahmad-Shah-Durani." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ahmad-Shah-Durani.jpeg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Boisvert, Ech. Sgt. Brian, U.S. Air Force, and ISAF. "Untitled." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4340651872/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>The Brave and Historical Speech of Malalai Joya in the LJ</i>. Watandar2000's YouTube Channel. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLC1KBrwbck.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">"Demonstration in Kabul, 10 December 2009." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed January 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4174030722/in/photostream/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Greeson, Staff Sgt. William, and U.S. Marine Corps. "Afghan Citizens Count Election Ballots during a National Election." Digital image. Official U.S. Navy Gallery's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavynvns/3855795109/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>King Amanullah Addressing the Loya Jirga</i>. 1927. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Molvi Mohammad and Yunis Khalis</i>. 1989. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Mujahideen at a Jirga</i>. 1989. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-06343</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">UNAMA. "Posters." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed January/February, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/3715331217/in/set-72157618947457368/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">UNAMA. "SRSG Kai Eide Addresses National Peace Jirga of Afghanistan, Kabul: 18 June 2009." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed January 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/3637679591/sizes/o/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">U.S. Army, and Chris Shin. "Town Meeting in Afghanistan." Digital image. The U.S. Army's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/531605535.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">U.S. Department of State. "Hamid Karzai Became Winner at the 2002 Loya Jirga." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hamid_Karzai_became_winner_at_the_2002_Loya_Jirga.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">U.S. Department of State. "Loya Jirga 2002." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loya_Jirga_2002.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin, and UNAMA. "SRSG Kai Eide Addresses National Peace Jirga of Afghanistan, Kabul: 18 June 2009." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/3637679589/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin. "Attack in Kabul: 18 January 2010." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4284846506/in/photostream/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin. "Protest against Taliban." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed January 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4174030728/in/photostream/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin. "SRSG Kai Eide Addresses National Peace Jirga of Afghanistan, Kabul: 18 June 2009." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/3638488514/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin. "Women Protesting." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed January 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4146190177/in/photostream/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Wahidy, Farzana. "Photo of the Day: 12 March 2010." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4423950551/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">
<p>Warsame, Abdurahman. "Abdullah Abdullah." Digital image. Abdurahman Warsame's Flickr Photostream. Accessed January 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shirsoore/3946823503/.<br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en</p>
</div>
<div class="hang">Wickman, Capt. Tony, and U.S. Air Force. "091022-F-9933W-151." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4048521207/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Wickman, Capt. Tony, U.S. Air Force, and ISAF. "091022-F-9933W-134." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4048522675/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Wickman, Capt. Tony, U.S. Air Force, and ISAF. "091022-F-9933W-170." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4048521923/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Wood, Graeme. "Afghan Election Billboard, July 2009." Digital image. Gcawflickr's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/3770571295.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Violent headlines make Afghanistan seem like a place of uninterrupted conflict, but these stories hide the quiet ways that people succeed every day in reaching common ground.</p>
<p>For centuries, Afghans have governed their affairs through a system called the jirga.</p>
<p>A jirga is a meeting of elders who gather to resolve conflicts and debates. These are traditionally Pashtun, but today several ethnic groups in Afghanistan have adopted them. But a jirga is perhaps the most challenging way to govern. It requires patience, compromise, and extreme diplomacy.</p>
<p>The members must rule through consensus rather than voting which means that by the end of a meeting, every single person in the room must agree on the resolution. Jirgas can go on for days until all members are united.</p>
<p>A loya jirga is a larger version of the jirga. Loya jirgas are only held periodically in history, for the most important national events. In 1747 a loya jirga met to declare Ahmad Shah Durrani the leader of the Durrani Empire. And in 2002, a loya jirga confirmed Hamid Karzai as the interim president of Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The key to a loya jirga’s success depends on whether the people accept the leaders as their representatives. In the 1980s, the Marxists in power held several loya jirgas but the people rejected both the decisions and the decision-makers—and the loya jirgas were deemed failures.</p>
<p>What this means is that the success of the rule of law depends on whether all the people have been heard. In the past, this meant that laws were built by listening to what constituents wanted and by meeting adversaries halfway. This is a stark contrast to the democratic system where the majority makes the decisions, and the minority must swallow its pride—or protest from the sidelines.</p>
<p>As Afghanistan builds a fledgling democracy, it’s trying hard to reconcile the jirga system with the democratic system. In 2003, a loya jirga gathered to ratify Afghanistan’s first constitution. That constitution declared that the loya jirga would remain the most supreme legal body in Afghanistan and could even overrule the decisions of the president and the government.</p>
<p>Just how to build a loya jirga is another question. After 30 years of war, its harder than ever to build consensus. When it comes to militants and insurgents, it’s not easy to agree on who should and should not be heard. This question came to the forefront in 2003 when a young parliamentarian challenged a loya jirga.</p>
<p>Afghanistan will need to decide whether consensus or majority is the most effective way to heal its fractured nation.</p>
<p>In January 2010, President Karzai made a bold move that attempted to make sense of this question. He announced that he would invite Taliban leaders to an upcoming loya jirga to engage them in more peaceful discussion.</p>
Miracles and Other Powers of Storytelling
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 15:26 — [email protected]description:
<p>Afghanistan has a storytelling culture: it connects Afghans to their past and to one another. Among other things, stories remind people of both the greatness and the universality of their struggles.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
2002
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <i>85-124</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>Folio from an Unidentified Text; The Angel Israfil</i>. 1580-90. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC. In <i>Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery</i>. http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=S1986.219.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>G-00209-12</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>G-00209-14</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>G-00209-15</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">ISAF. "Sharing Smiles." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4251620972/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang"><i>KES-763-A-162</i>. Khalilullah Enayat Seraj Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">
<p>Lemoyne, Roger, and United Nations. "A Young Girl Attends School." Digital image. United Nations Photo's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/3837229586/.Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en</p>
</div>
<div class="hang"><i>The Makhzan Al-asrar (Treasury of Secrets) by Mawlana Haydar</i>. 1577-78. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC. In <i>Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery</i>. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=S1986.54.</div>
<div class="hang"><i>Muj_around_fire</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Omar, Mohammad, performer. "Tabla Solo in the Rhythmic Cycle of Jhaptal (10-beat Cycle)." In <i>Ustad Mohammad Omar: Virtuoso from Afghanistan</i>. Smithsonian Folkways, 2002, CD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Rich, Sebastien, UNICEF, and UNAMA. "Photo of the Day: 5 March 2009." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/3329763851/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-04715</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Kate Harding</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Afghans are connected to their past primarily through stories.</p>
<p>It’s very much a storytelling culture. It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of storytelling in Afghanistan and the extent to which it pervades all levels of society. But in a country where only 28% of the people can read, storytelling is especially important for conveying information and for teaching the values of the society to a new generation.</p>
<p>It’s an oral culture more than a visual culture, even more than it’s a musical culture, although music is also important in parts of the country. But stories are the main lynchpin for understanding, not only the past but also the present.</p>
<p>Stories also bring entertainment, and they work to contextualize the daily struggles of individuals within a lighter world: Afghans, for example, have a wonderful sense of humor and lots of their stories are funny stories some of them are bawdy, a little bit racy. And they find ways to entertain themselves through stories. </p>
<p>Think about those long winter months. And Afghanistan is a cold country. Parts of it, at least, are cold during the winter, and there are long periods when people stay inside. And they find ways to entertain themselves and they have to do it themselves. There are no iPods, no DVD players. People were dependent upon the entertainment that they could provide for themselves. In a culture without much access to digital media, storytelling continues to play an important role today—for communicating with people within the culture and also for communicating with people outside of the culture.</p>
<p>While storytelling can be used to make individuals feel less alone in their struggles, it can also be used to give examples of exceptional figures. In the case of Afghanistan, these exceptional figures remind the faithful of the power of God.</p>
<p>In the case of Islam, one of the things that I noticed was that people, when they talked about great leaders of the past, great figures, great Islamic figures of the past, they told me about them by telling me about the miracles that they performed in the past. It struck me that miracle stories themselves were important in capturing how these, you might call traditional Afghans, viewed the importance, the role of Islamic figures, a particular genre of Islamic figures, the Sufi leaders, the mystical figures of the past. That they told stories about the miracles that they had performed.</p>
<p>And those miracles themselves were interesting because within those stories you found the kinds of potency, the kinds of power that was associated with Islam, and all of that potency and power ultimately derived from God and from an understanding of God’s role and his status as creator, and the ultimate source of all power in the universe. And these individuals were viewed as founts of that power, or vehicles of that power, expressions of that power.</p>
<p>Storytelling gives Afghans hope that they are not alone, that this trail has been blazed before by both common and exceptional figures. The power of storytelling lies in its ability to be a reminder of both the greatness and the universality of their struggles.</p>
A Fragile Nation Divided
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 15:04 — [email protected]description:
<p>The civil war between the Northern Alliance and Taliban attracted international attention.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Geography & Destiny
Year:
1996
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>0030</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>26-13</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Albright, Senior Airman Rylan, and ISAF. "Looking Out in Afghanistan." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4737768883/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Arnesen, Marius. "Gunnar Trying a Burqa - Herat, Afghanistan." Digital image. Marius Arnesen's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/anarkistix/4112252824/in/[email protected]/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Batoor, Barat Ali. ""Kite Runner" in Kabul: 14 September 2009." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/3919091655/in/photostream/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Bluuurgh. "Taliban-Torkham-2001." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taliban-Torkham-2001.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Collet, U.S. Army Spc. Jeff, and ISAF. "100308-A-9647C-113." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4534100118/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">DING, Dawei. "GB2767_18." Digital image. Daweiding's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/4035703439/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>80-655</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Fekrat, Nasim. "Hazara Woman." Digital image. Afghan LORD's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sohrab_kabuli/2814898600/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang">Geo Swan. "Taliban Fighters on a Pickup Truck." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taliban_fighters_on_a_pickup_truck.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Huffman, Todd. "The Road." Digital image. Todd Huffman's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/3819504701/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang">Lambert, Olly. "Kabul Football Stadium." Digital image. Olly L's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ollylambert/423940195/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang">Logari, Durai. "More Nare Kele." Radio-Television Afghanistan Archives. </div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">McNeeley, Mass Communication Specialist Chad J., and U.S. Department of Defense. "100330-N-0696M-108." Digital image. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejointstaff/4476752207/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Millucci, Barbara. "Afghanistan - Red Cross -." Digital image. Barbara Millucci's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2168691015/.
<div>Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang">Montgomery, Carl. "Darulaman Palace, Kabul Afghanistan, a Little Rocket Weary." Digital image. Carl Montgomery's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlmontgomery/3068050936/.
<div>www.carlmontgomery.com/ ; Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="hang">"Phonograph Record Store." Digital image. Foreign Policy. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/27/once_upon_a_time_in_afghanistan.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Q-00492-19</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Stone Upon My Soul (Russian Propaganda Film Showing Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan)</i>. Restored by Gregory Whitmore. Williams Afghan Media Project, Previously Unpublished.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Tabios, Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan, and ISAF. "090912-N-1175T-099." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3960898469/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Unknown. "020114-N-8242C-005." Digital image. Defenseimagery.mil. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://tinyurl.com/2ehm5j7.</div>
<div class="hang">U.S. Navy, and ISAF. "Taliban Use Mosque to Hide Weapons Cache." Digital image. Isafmedia's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/4850775420/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin, and UNAMA. "Attack in Kabul: 18 January 2010." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4284056235/in/photostream/.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Grace Norman</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>For people who know Kabul, it’s hard to reconcile what life is like today compared to 50 years ago.</p>
<p>When the Soviet Union withdrew its troops, it also withdrew its financial and infrastructural support to the Afghan government. The Afghan government—unable to provide for its people—quickly lost credibility. Various warlord-led militias grouped outside of Kabul, vying for power. It wasn’t clear whether the government was trying to hold things together, or if it was ripping itself apart by participating in factional fighting. In the power vaccuum that resulted, no one was left to protect the capitol city of Kabul.</p>
<p>Fierce gun fights and rampant missile strikes, spiraled downwards into abject rejection of wartime conventions. Hospitals were bombed, the Red Cross targeted, civilians killed. By the time the Taliban arrived in Kabul in 1996, their numbers far outranked most of the other factions. The Taliban chased the warlords out of Kabul. The people who were left in Kabul cheered the Taliban liberators and welcomed a return to relative peace. But cheering was replaced by despair all too soon.</p>
<p>The Taliban had a very particular and narrow interpretation of sharia, the Islamic law. Cultural artifacts were destroyed because they were anti-Islamic in the eyes of the Taliban. Music was silenced. Shiites and Hazaras were persecuted and many were slaughtered. All men were commanded wear beards and a head covering and live by a strict code of conduct. Women had to wear burqas and were not allowed to work or have an education. Seemingly innocent past times were punishable by public flogging, mutilation, or worse.</p>
<p>Life, as Afghanistan had known it, had changed radically. The people were persecuted by harsh laws and even harsher punishments.</p>
<p>Muslims around the world argued that the practices in Afghanistan were a desecration of the sharia. But in Afghanistan, there was no room for debate.</p>
<p>After the fall of Kabul, the Taliban went on to control an estimated 95% of Afghanistan by September 2001. Taliban rule, following a quarter century of fighting, had all but destroyed Afghanistan. The chaos that resulted harbored an international terrorist movement that would lead Afghanistan to war with a faraway, but very powerful nation.</p>
The Persistence of War
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 14:57 — [email protected]description:
<p>Imagine three decades of war by looking at wartime photographs taken by Afghans.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Geography & Destiny
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1995
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>0096</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>0122</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0124</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0126</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0152</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0167</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0191</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0203</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0206</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0218</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>0222</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>10-16</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>1081-33</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>1170-17</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>1179-22A</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>118-34</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>161-9</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>456-28</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>804-23A</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>89-3A</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>G-00193-35</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>G-00194-22</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>H-00211-24</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Mahwash. "Gar Konad Saheb-E-Man (If My Eyes Meet The Ones Of The Lord)." In <i>Radio Kaboul</i>. Accords Croisés, 2003, CD.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Q-00497-08</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Q-00504-03a</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01268-08</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Q2-01276-24</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-03283</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-06139</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-06209</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>V2-01412-30</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>V2-01417-10</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Grace Norman</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>It’s hard for Americans to appreciate the impact of 30 years of war.</p>
<p>Imagine the number of casualties, the number of refugees, the amount of weapons that have flooded into this country, the breakdown of the central government, the anarchy that’s existed in many parts of the countryside.</p>
<p>Afghanistan is a war more than any other reason because people have interfered with Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Afghans have to take responsibility as well, but when you look at who the key players are, who the key people responsible for the war in Afghanistan, they are people who prior to 1978 were unimportant people. The way that they became important people was because they gained the sponsorship of one or another foreign interest groups. So without that support, then they’d never materialize. They’d never become the people that they became. They’d never become important political actors.</p>
<p>If left to their own devices Afghans would have indigenous Afghan leaders who would emerge out of indigenous Afghan institutions and processes.</p>
<p>But because of the interference of outside actors, people like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, or Mullah Mohammad Omar or Osama bin Laden who is one of those outside actors, those are the people who have created the problems in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>When you don’t have a central government, when the central government is broken down or as it was during the Soviet period confined to cities and bases, then those people become more and more important in the country. And nowadays the means of destruction are not in the hands of armies; they are in the hands of independent actors.</p>
<p>When I first went to Afghanistan in 1982, by and large the only weapons you saw were old army surplus Lee-Enfield rifles. And within a year, this is about 1982, 1983, within a year there was a flood of AK-47 Kalashnikov machine guns that flooded into Pashawar, Pakistan and ultimately over the border into Afghanistan. And of course by any price of those AK-47s on the market went plummeting.</p>
<p>They became widely available, along with rocket propelled grenade launchers and other kinds of instruments that a small group of people could harness. So it didn’t take, maybe back in the days of Abdul Rachman, you had to have horses and you had to have sabers and only major political figures, warlords if you want to use that term or dynastic contenders, only those people could really put troops in the field.</p>
<p>But now starting in the late ‘70s, you could have small groups of people who could devastate a whole area, who could gain control of a whole area.After the Soviets withdrew this became particularly true.</p>
<p>When I visited Afghanistan in 1995 I was with a former Mujahedin commander for the Hesbius Lamie party and he had a Toyota Hilux pickup truck, and he had five guys in the back of the pickup truck with Kalashnikovs, and with those five guys and his pickup truck he could control an area probably of 20 kilometers.</p>
<p>Assuming that there weren’t other commanders with their Toyota pickup trucks and their five guys with Kalashnikovs in the back.</p>
<p>So violence, the means of violence became distributed, they became disseminated, diffuse throughout the social fabric. And where did those guys come from? Where did that Toyota pickup truck come from, where did those AK-47s come from? They came from abroad. They came from somebody else who wanted to influence events in Afghanistan.</p>
Wealth and Warlords
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 14:45 — [email protected]description:
<p>Who are the Afghan warlords?</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1992
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>50-50</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>59-R19-16</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>83-1663</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>A69-561</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Awalmir. "Esta De Qasam Wi." Radio-Television Afghanistan Archives. </div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>H-00240-10</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>K-00313-01</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-00001</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-05563</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>Sl-05765</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Alexis Menten</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Afghan society is an intricate web in which multiple relationships connect individuals to the whole. These include not only relationships to family, ethnic groups, and the land, but also relationships based on power and authority.</p>
<p>In traditional Afghan society, say for example, among the Pashtuns, when leaders had greater wealth and greater prestige, greater status, greater authority among their people, they also tended to recycle that prestige and that wealth back into the community.</p>
<p>One way they did that was through hospitality. And men who were of notable ancestry, of notable prestige, of authority, had maintained guesthouses. And people who were poorer than them would often avail themselves of the hospitality of the leader, and come frequently to sit in his house, to sit and chat with the people who were there, to receive the food that was offered at lunchtime, for example.</p>
<p>Because there were few ways for these leaders to horde their wealth, it was more strategic to use it to acquire obligations from others in their community. And as a result, there were strong ties within the community to the leader. And if over time, people received hospitality from an individual over and over and didn’t return it, that reciprocity would be broken and it would be understood that those people were essentially clients. They were obliged to that leader. And he could ask them to do favors for him or to do services for him.</p>
<p>Once the Soviet-Afghan War began, these relationships between wealthy leaders and the people of their community began to change.</p>
<p>When we turn to the concept of warlords, I think we really are dealing with a different sort of phenomenon, and one that has been perverted by the situation of Afghanistan over the last 30 years. At that point or shortly after that period, the Pakistan government, and with the assistance of the Americans, the Saudis and other foreign interests, began to funnel money, weapons and other kinds of support to Mujahideen, to Resistance Fighters who were opposed to the Marxist government in Afghanistan and to their Soviet sponsors.</p>
<p>Now the leaders who had wealth—and therefore positions of authority—were war leaders.</p>
<p>Suddenly people who did not have an established position in Afghanistan, who were not tribal leaders, were being given great wealth that gave them a disproportionate power over other Afghans. And they used that wealth in part to try to defeat the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan; in part to try to defeat their rivals; and to gain more power for themselves.</p>
<p>After the Soviets withdrew, the support to the mujahideen was also withdrawn. Now the war leaders had to find their own sources of wealth to maintain their power. And those people were preying, essentially preying on the people. They became predators who were trying to take advantage of their lost wealth; take advantage of the people in order to gain wealth for themselves. And so those are the people who are really called warlords now.</p>
Rise of the Taliban
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 14:33 — [email protected]description:
<p>The Taliban became notorious for their authoritarian rule, harboring terrorists, and insurgency against the American-led coalition. But in the beginning, they were considered a force for good.</p>
Era:
Afghanistan Today
Theme:
Geography & Destiny
Identity & Perception
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
1990
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>151</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<div id="export-html">
<div class="chicagob">
<div class="hang"><i>88-221</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Bluuurgh. "Taliban in Herat." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taliban-herat-2001_retouched.jpg.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>0030</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>1102-27</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>80-554</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>84-376</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>88-73</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>A Sign for a Mosque and Madrassah by Saudis</i>. 1988. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>R7-5</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>K-00305-27</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>K-00315-19a</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>L-00335-21</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang"><i>L-c-00351-04</i>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">Logari, Durai. "More Nare Kele." Radio-Television Afghanistan Archive. </div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">UNAMA, and Eric Kanalstein. "Photo of the Day: 4 January 2010." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4243349911/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">UNAMA, and Fardin Waezi. "Attack in Kabul: 18 January 2010." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4284846506/in/photostream/.</div>
<div class="hang"> </div>
<div class="hang">UNAMA, and Fardin Waezi. "Attack in Kabul: 18 January 2010." Digital image. UNAMA's Flickr Photostream. Accessed September 5, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4284846506/in/photostream/.</div>
<hr />
<div class="hang">Producer: Alexis Menten</div>
</div>
</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>The Taliban have become infamous across the world for their authoritarian rule over Afghanistan in the 1990’s, for harboring Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, and for their ongoing insurgency against the American-led coalition. But when they originally took power in Afghanistan, they were seen as a force for good.</p>
<p>When the Marxists took power in 1978, a large percentage of the population, 3 ½ million people over the next five years, fled into Pakistan; and an estimated million people fled to Iran. At the time, that was probably close to 20, 25% of the Afghan population became refugees.</p>
<p>There were reportedly originally more than 100 Afghan political parties in existence in Peshawar, Pakistan across the political spectrum—nationalistic, regional, tribal, socialist, conservative. But the Pakistan government decided that they were only going to recognize seven official political parties. All seven of those parties were Islamic. So it was really the decision of the Pakistan government that indicated or that determined that it was only going to be Islamic parties that became legitimate representatives of the Afghan people.</p>
<p>During this period of time, the Saudis and other outside groups had funded religious schools. And so there were a large number of religious madrasas that had sprung up to deal with the younger generation of refugee males.</p>
<p>I think that’s significant because a lot of those people, while they were Afghan they spoke Afghan languages, they were nominally Afghan in terms of their culture, many of them had never actually been in Afghanistan. They had never been, many of these young men had never grown up in villages, they’d never been around their aunts and their sisters and the normal range of females of different ages and different relationships to themselves that somebody growing up in a village would have. A lot of them had been in boarding schools and religious schools only among other boys for most of their lives.</p>
<p>After the Soviets withdrew in 1989, Afghanistan entered into a period of chaos.</p>
<p>What followed from 1989 until 1992 was a period in which the Islamic political parties that had first taken root in Peshawar in Pakistan started fighting amongst themselves. And all through that period up until 1995 they were fighting amongst themselves, and because they were no longer receiving funding from abroad, and at least not in the same amounts as they had been, they also started preying on the Afghan people. Started looking for revenues by taking the resources from the people themselves.</p>
<p>The Taliban initially came to end this chaos and to eliminate these warlords and commanders who were taking advantage of the Afghan people. It was only later when the Taliban came to power that they became more rigid, more autocratic, more authoritarian in the rule, and particularly in Kabul, which was a more liberal city, a more modern city, through this whole period of the Soviet occupation, particularly women had been educated and had roles in ministries and other occupations.</p>
<p>They really clamped down on the role of women in social life. And it was then that the Taliban got their reputation as being backward and particularly despicable in relation to their treatment of women.</p>
<p>But initially it’s important to recall that they were considered by Afghans a force of good, of reclaiming morality in the country.</p>
