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Historical memory of Afghanistan

As a society, how do we remember and forget the past, and in what form The Afghans historical and collective memory emerge and impact? Do these remembrance and forgetting change, and if so, what does this tell us about our collective consciousness, cultural identity?

The history of modern Afghanistan began in the 18th century with the coalescence of Afghan tribes during the reign of Ahmed Shah Durrani. The ebb and flow of borders crystallized into something resembling the current map through the leadership of Dost Mohammed in the following century. With the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi in August 1919, the modern nation of Afghanistan was formed under Emir Amanullah In 1921. But all over the history from Amanullah khan (1919) to now (2016) all governments tried to introduce and promote their choice commentary from history of Afghanistan. So they tried to control the public consciousness and collective memory of the people by media.

Introduction 

This article explains the historical memory of Afghanistan after 1919 and the collective memory of Afghans from significant and influential events which occurred in Afghanistan and formed a different historical and collective memory among the people. And also how these memories impacted on collective consciousness of the people and its roles in other social aspects such as: awareness of community mental, notion of collective sense, creation of national identity and strengthen of national unity in Afghanistan.

The main purpose of my research in this article is to comprehend and highlight the causes and backgrounds of historical memory of Afghanistan in order to seek and discover the solutions for current nation building challenges in Afghanistan. 

What is historical and Collective Memory? 

Collective and historical memory is understood as a representation of the past shared by a group or community. People tend to communicate about historical and collective memory by comprehension and notion of the past and referring to individual memory which is combined and formed by impacts of collective awareness (Wulf, 2002: 180).

Historical and Collective memories work much the same way – they foster and define group and national identities, telling a group or a nation where they have come from, who they are and how they should act in the present and future (John, 1994:7).

Collective memories like that historical memories and notions that mingle the society can make it look like widely shared and accepted versions of history, but they rarely start out that way. Disagreements over how to remember the past both about what events occurred and what sorts of stories to tell about them – are a nearly universal phenomenon (Michael,1993:13).

Memories aremostcontestedat moments of great uncertainty. Because collective memory operates to locate and reify group or national identities, the economy of memory is often linked to challenges and complications to identity. During periods of crisis and instability, appeals are often made to 

collective memory. In contrast, cultural memory refers to the texts, ceremonies, images, architectures, and monuments designed to memorialize important events (Wulf, 2002:182, 195).

The material memorials are generally sanctioned by both governments and community citizens. Cultural memories offer a public, even if contested, narrative of a historical event (David, 1989: 1127). 

The historical memory of Afghanistan 

Afghanistanhasaverylongandrichhistory, more than five thousand years ago there had established the first Arians kingship in Bukhdi (Balkh) , Zarathustra emerged there as a prophet among Arians and their civilization and culture progressed and expanded to other parts of the world. In current territory of Afghanistan there had emerged great empires and kingships such as Bactrians, Greeku Bactrian, Kushan, Hephthalite, Kydarian, Kabul kings, Taherian, Saffarids, Ghaznavian, Ghoryan, Thimurid, Hotakian, Abdalian etc. But the history of modern Afghanistan starts from 1919 after three major war against British Empire and declaration of independence. Unfortunately because of several decades conflicts and crisis the majority people of Afghanistan did not have access to education and forgot their historical averments, one of the other cause was the official governmental history which wrote and introduced an artificial and incomplete history for the people and it caused to mislead the historical and collective memory of Afghanistan.

King Amanullah Khanmovedtoendhiscountry’s traditional isolation in the years following the Third Anglo-Afghan war. He established diplomatic relations with most major countries and, following a 1927 tour of Europe and introduced several reforms intended to modernize Afghanistan. He fought for Article 68 of Afghanistan’s first constitution, which made elementary education compulsory.

Some of the reforms that were actually put in place, such as the abolition of the traditional Muslim veil for women and the opening of a number of co-educational schools, quickly alienated many tribal and religious leaders. Faced with overwhelming armed opposition, Amanullah was forced to abdicate in January 1929 after Kabul fell to forces led by Amir Habibullah Khan Kalakani.

However before Amanullah khan even after Ahmad shah Abdali there were lots of internal dangerous, spoiler and bloody conflicts among the royal families and the members of one family or between tow brothers to come to power and reign, but those bitter experiences and instructive historical memories could not reinforce and develop our historical memory and did not create a strong and bright collective memory in our social consciousness (Wikipedia, 07/09/2016).

Although Afghanistan has more than fifty ethnic groups, but in political, cultural and other important social aspects there are four major active and participants more than other ethnic groups (Tajiks, Pashtuns, Hazaras and Uzbeks) who have the great role in political, cultural and economical aspects.

The Hazaras are one of over fifty different ethnic groups in Afghanistan and comprise up to 19 per cent of the country’s population. Most are Shiite Muslims, making them a significant religious, minority among a predominantly Sunni Muslim population. Targeted because of ethnic and religious differences, Hazaras tell harrowing stories of fleeing Taliban persecution. Significantly, a longer history of suffering also characterises their stories and memories. As some take glory in the founding events, others are dispossessed and humiliated. Although silenced, the oppressed usually maintain their own view of the past, passing it between generations to form an ‘archive’ of collective memory, In a bid for justice, a compulsion to emphasise old grievances grows, while other bits of the past are forgotten. Wounds call out ‘for healing’ and memory can become characterized by melancholia and bitterness. So in this way a wounded memory develops. These theories have implications for Hazaras’ memories. Belonging to an oppressed minority, their memories are historically rooted in modern Afghanistan’s founding violence (Mousavi, 2000: 61-62).

Abdur Rahman declared the ethnic Pashtuns supreme and mobilized a religiousand ethnicbased hatred against the Hazaras to conquer them in the Hazara-Afghan wars of 1890 to 1893. Hazaras were tortured, raped and massacred, and sold into slavery. Much of the Hazarajat was laid waste and its agricultural economy destroyed, causing starvation (Burchard and Helga, 2000: 75).

Under the banner of nationalism in the early twentieth century, the ruling Pashtuns claimed racial superiority and tried to assert their identity, culture and history over all other ethnic groups. Taliban soldiers advanced on the villages in the Hazarajat in 1998, that Hazaras hid in caves where some eventually starved to death or tried to commit suicide in fear of being raped (Emadi,1997: 363).

For the first time in the history of Afghanistan, political parties were allowed in (1973), on the condition, however, that their aims and activities should conform to the fundamental principles of the Constitution, Islam, constitutional monarchy and individual freedom. But all the political parties in modern Afghanistan formed by ethnic specifications and a religious or ideological covers, but the ethnic influences in structure and function of the political parties caused ethnic conflicts and enmity. So this challenge caused to establish governments in Kabul by ethnic policies and strategy and the historical memory full of obsessions and adventuresome (Tanean, 2005: 45).

The Soviet-Afghan war also represents one of those major impacts on historical and collective memory of Afghanistan resulting in conducting a complex investigation – of reconstitution (by means of oral history instruments) and connection of individual destinies with the great history shows a religious and ethnic parties who were united into religious and ethnic military parties and groups which relived an ethnic memory by a military power during holy war (Jahad). (Radosav, 2009:106).

The connection between the two enemy camps Afghan resistance and the Soviets – was outlined not only by the military actions, but also by a mutual study, conceptual and somatic identification, analysis of the fight strategy and tactics etc. Despite the resentments against enemies, there were as well singled out certain abilities of their The Soviet-Afghan military confrontations were marked by the asymmetric typology of the conflict and were focused on the important areas from geostrategical perspective. Depending on the dynamics of the war. After the leaving of Afghanistan by Soviet army there emerged a dangerous civil war among different ethnic groups which were armed during war against Soviet army and created a complicated ,dark and aggressive historical memory in modern period. This policy of USA about Afghanistan caused to present a negative and unreliable image from The USA among all Afghan`s leaders and even in collective memory of common people. However Afghans had the image of a positive and colleague friend from Americans in their collective memory and public opinion because of Americans comprehensive support from Afghans during their fight against The Soviet union (Xenofontov, 2006: 335).

After the September 11th attack on New York City and the Pentagon, The USA and Afghanistan relationship started in new and different forms and aspects, it begun a new historical epoch which caused to create a new and important historical memory in contemporary Afghanistan`s history and changed the collective memory of the people in Afghanistan. however Afghanistan and USA relationships has a historical background.

After Amir Habibullah khan`s regime, during Nadir shah`s reign in 1930s, the number of travelers from the United States to Afghanistan increased. Among them were tourists, businessmen, writers, and scholars. In 1933, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., cousin of the then newly-elected President Franklin Roosevelt, and his wife stayed in Kabul. They were greeted with much fanfare and encouraged to return to the United States with King Nadir Shah’s consent for future collaborations. No doubt A.C. Jewett’s continued fame contributed to the Afghan government’s request for American engineers to work in Afghanistan, among them Rex Vivian and Ernest Fox in the mid-1930s. It is not coincidental that this period saw the importation of U.S.-made Caterpillar tractors. Afghan leaders also recognized the value of hosting English language teachers from America, including instructors who would become well known in the capital and elsewhere such as G. Felix Howland and Wilbur V. Harlan, the latter a distant relative of Josiah Harlan.

But after the failure of the soviet army in Afghanistan, Americans did not pay attention to Afghanistan`s situations and forgot it among the smoke and fire of civil war ,ethnic and group conflicts for a long time. Although USA was one of the major supporter of Afghan guerrillas and Jihadist groups during Jihad period (the Afghans fight against the red army). So in historical and collective memory of Afghans institutionalized the roots of different oppositions, distances and distrust and during Hamid Karzai regime from 2001 to 2014 the enormous cost and opportunity spent to consolidate the bases of a joined and coherent nation and national identity; but unfortunately this process faced the big challenges and failed. One of the major cause was the lack of an acceptable collective memory among all ethnic groups. political parties which had emerged in the new field of policy by an ethnical historical background could not play the national and professional role in political process and the collective memory of the people also had the same status (meridian,13/16/2016). 

Conclusion 

As a brief conclusion I could write that historical memory of every country and society is a dynamic comprehension, because it is a forgetting and remembering process. But Afghanistan has its own specifications and conditions. During Reforms of Shah Amanullah every one thought that the history of Afghanistan has started a different and hopeful period, but after few years everything retuned to back ,Although in first year of 21th century Afghanistan became the owner of the strong and free modern media and press in region among its neighbors which was so wide and unprecedented, but still Afghan society could not feel and gain a strong national correlation because of scattered and conflicting interpretations from the pas, and the ethnical dependence of these media and press caused to challenge the creation of a bright national identity and shared collective memory.

 

References 

  1. Burchard, Brentjes and Helga Brentjes. (2000) Taliban, A Shadow over Afghanistan, Varanasi: Rishi Publications London: p75. David, Thelen. (1989) “Memory and American History,” Journal of American History vol. 75. Indiana: p1127.
  2. Emadi, Hafizullah. (1997) ‘The Hazaras and their role in the process of political transformation in Afghanistan’ (Central Asian Survey 16) London: p 363.
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Afghanistan.(07/09/2016)
  4. http://www.meridian.org/insmallthingsremembered/about-the exhibition/remembering-the-past-the-early-years-of-u-s-afghan relations.(13/16/2016)
  5. John, Gillis. (1994) “Memory and Identity: The History of a Relationship” in Commemorations, ed. John Gillis (Princeton: Princeton University Press. Princeton: P7.
  6. Michael, Kammen. (1993) the Mystic Chords of Memory (Vintage Books: P13.
  7. Mousavi, Sayed Askar .(2000) translated by Asadullah Shefae, The Hazaras of Afghanistan.Tehran: p61, 62. Radosav, Xenofontov. (2009) Editorial/ la Anuarul de Istorie Oral, nr. V. Chisinau: p 106.
  8. Tanean, zahir. (2005) Ad, Afghanistan in twentieth century. Kabul: p,45.
  9. Wulf Kansteiner. (2002) “Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies,” History and Theory vol.41. New York: p p.180-182,195.
  10. Xenofontov I. (2006) “Dedovûcina” Raporturile ierarhice între combatan ii .Chisinau :p335.

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