Afghan Ethnic And Social Politics Depicted In The Kite Runner

AFGHAN ETHNIC AND SOCIAL POLITICS
DEPICTED IN ‘THE KITE RUNNER’
BY
IRFAN ALI SHAH
AREA STUDY CENTRE
(RUSSIA, CHINA & CENTRAL ASIA)
UNIVERSITY OF PESHAWAR,
PAKISTAN
JUNE 2017

ii
AFGHAN ETHNIC AND SOCIAL POLITICS
DEPICTED IN ‘THE KITE RUNNER’
A dissertation submitted to the University of Peshawar,
Pakistan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy
AREA STUDY CENTRE
(RUSSIA, CHINA & CENTRAL ASIA)
UNIVERSITY OF PESHAWAR,
PAKISTAN
JUNE 2017

iii
Author’s Declaration
I hereby state that my Ph.D., thesis titled ―Afghan Ethnic and Social
Politics Depicted in The Kite Runner” is my own work and has not
been submitted previously by me for taking any degree from the
University of Peshawar or anywhere else in the country/world. At any
time, if my statement is found incorrect, even after my Graduation, the
University has the right to withdraw my Ph.D., degree.
Irfan Ali Shah
June, 2017

iv
Plagiarism Undertaking
I solemnly declare that the research work presented in the thesis titled
“Afghan Ethnic and Social Politics Depicted in The Kite Runner” is
solely my research work with no significant contribution from any
other person. Small contribution/help wherever taken has been duly
acknowledged and that complete thesis has been written by me. I
understand the zero-tolerance policy of the HEC and University of
Peshawar towards plagiarism. Therefore, I, as author of above titled
thesis declare that no portion of my thesis has been plagiarized and any
material used as reference is properly referred/cited. I undertake that if
I am found guilty of any formal plagiarism in the above titled thesis
even after award of Ph.D., degree, the University reserves the right to
withdraw/revoke my Ph.D., degree and that HEC and the University
has the right to publish my name on the HEC/University website on
which names of students are placed who submitted plagiarized thesis.
Student/Author Signature____________________________
Name: Irfan Ali Shah

v
Certificate of Approval
This is to certify that the research work presented in this thesis, titled
“Afghan Ethnic and Social Politics Depicted in ‘The Kite Runner’”
was conducted by Mr. Irfan Ali Shah under the supervision of Prof.
Dr. Sarfraz Khan. No part of this thesis has been submitted anywhere
else for any other degree. This thesis is submitted to the Area Study
Centre (Central Asia) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English, Department of Area Study
Centre (Central Asia), University of Peshawar.
Student Name: Irfan Ali Shah Signature__________________
Examination Committee:
External Examiner 1:
Dr Richard C. Taylor
Associate Professor
Department of English
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858, USA
External Examiner 2:
Dr Richard Lee
Professor of English
Interim Dean of Arts and Humanities
State University of New York (SUNY)
Oneonta, NY
USA
Internal Examiner:
Dr. Nukhbah Taj Langah Signature________________
Dean of Humanities
Associate Professor of English
Foreman Christian College University (FCCU)
Lahore, Pakistan
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sarfraz Khan Signature_______________
Dean/Director:
Prof. Dr. Shabbir Ahmad Khan Signature_______________

vii
Acknowledgments
This research work owes to many individuals. I may not be able to
appropriately acknowledge their help in the completion of this work.
However, first of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks and
gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Sarfraz Khan, Director, Area
Study Centre (Central Asia), University of Peshawar, for his
continuous support, patience, motivation, and immense knowledge that
he extended to me during this research work. His intellectual and
academic guidance helped me enormously during my research and put
me on the track. He is truly my mentor.
I am indebted to the Faculty and Staff of Area Study Centre,
University of Peshawar, particularly, Late Dr. Muhammad Anwar
Khan, former Vice Chancellor, Dr. Khalil ur Rehman, Assistant
Professor, Mr. Sahar Gul, Librarian, and Mr. Roohul Amin, Academic
Assistant. I am also grateful to Dr. Ayaz Ahmad, Senior Lecturer,
Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, for his guidance and immense
knowledge: we had a mutual discussion on various aspects of this
work. Besides, I acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Noor
Muhammad Danish Bittani, Assistant Professor, Pashto Academy,
University of Peshawar, and Dr Noor ul Amin, Senior lecturer, Islamia
College University, Peshawar.
This research work would not have been possible without the financial
support of Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan. I express
my gratitude to the HEC for providing me grant for M.Phil. leading to
PhD, under the scheme ―PhD Fellowship for 5000 Scholars

viii
(Indigenous) Scheme, Batch-V, 2008‖ which enabled me to complete
this work.
I am equally indebted to my employers, Postmaster General, Dr. Aziz
Ullah Khan, the Deputies, Mr. Sami Ullah Khan, and Mr. Rashid Ullah
Khan Kundi, for helping me in their own way and facilitating this
work.
My special thanks go to my dear parents whose prayers kept me
steadfast towards my goal. Particularly my Baba jee (father), who
encouraged me throughout my research work. I am sure they would be
very happy on the achievement of my work.
Last, but not the least, thanks to my wife, whose support gave me the
strength to pursue my research. To my little stars: Jawad, Urooj, and
Mahnoor whose shining faces and glaring eyes rejuvenated me, time
and again, when I felt tired during my research work. Despite all ups
and downs during my research work, I feel happy on the completion of
my work.
Irfan Ali Shah

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Abstract
This work attempts to examine the depiction of ethnic disparity
between the Pashtun and Hazara in the novel, The Kite Runner. It
argues that the ethnic disparity between the Pashtun and Hazara exists
in the novel. It also argues that an internal orientalist discourse is
embedded in the text of the novel. The Kite Runner is the first novel in
English written by Khaled Hossenei, an Afghan-American (and
Hazara), in the United States, in 2003. It portrays the ethno-political
culture of Afghanistan from the end of monarchy (1973) till the fall of
Taliban regime (2001). The story revolves around two characters:
Amir, an ethnic Pashtun, Sunni, and wealthy, and Hassan, servant of
Amir‘s father, an ethnic Hazara, Shia. Novel writing/reading began, in
Afghanistan, in the early 20th
century, while, ethnicity became salient
in last three decades of the century. Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic state,
comprising more than 50 ethnic groups, though, the Afghan
Constitution, 2004, recognizes only 14 ethnic groups: Pashtun, Tajik,
Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, Baluch, Pashai, Nuristani, Aimaq, Arab,
Kirghiz, Qizilbash, Gujar, and Brahui. The Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, and
Uzbek are the major ethnic groups, in the order respectively, whose co-
ethnics reside in the neighbouring states of Afghanistan such as,
Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan. The ethnic Pashtun ruled
the country throughout its history since 1747, barring two brief spans
(1929 and 1992-94) when ethnic Tajik ruled. This work employs
internal orientalism as its theoretical framework and applies analytical
and interpretive methods. To explore discourse of ethnic disparity in
The Kite Runner, Michel Foucault‘s method of discourse analysis has
been applied in chapter 5. Hence, Hossenei‘s relevant statements

x
regarding ethnic: divisions, disparity; polarity; especially, between the
Pashtun and Hazara, have been analyzed and interpreted.
Chapter 1 attempts to develop a conceptual base and theoretical
framework. It provides an overview of the geography, charting various
Afghan ethnic groups and estimates major ethnic groups on the basis
of available surveys and sources in Afghanistan: Pashtun 44%; Tajik
29%; Hazara 9%; Uzbek 7% and other smaller ethnic groups constitute
around 11% of the Afghan population. It also describes instances of
forced displacement of tribes and ethnic cleansing in Afghanistan,
besides introducing the novel, The Kite Runner, its author, Khaled
Hossenei. It states research questions, hypotheses, theoretical
framework and methodology too.
Chapter 2 argues that qaum, a flexible term, referring to (kin, clan,
village, tribe, ethnic/vocational/confessional group, profession, and/or
nation) and ethnicity became salient in Afghanistan during the last
three decades of the 20th
century. It examines how the promulgation of
1964 Constitution in Afghanistan stirred political struggle between
various ethnic groups, the Pashtun and non-Pashtun, for power, and,
how, the Soviet invasion, in 1979, stimulated and politicised ethnicity.
It further describes how, conversely, the Mujahideen (1992-96) and the
Taliban (1996-2001), though Islamists, ethnicised politics that resulted
into ethnic: violence; cleansing; and/or conflict. Ethnicity became
further salient during the post-Taliban periods due to power sharing
arrangements on ethnic basis.
The review of existing literature on the topic in Chapter 3 points out
that ethnic division, polarity, and conflict as core issues have been
strengthened in Afghanistan during the last three decades of the 20th

xi
century. Sectarianism and ethnic: mobilization; cleansing also
increased. During this period, foreign interference and warlordism
increased ethnic and sectarian polarization, however, it did not spread
to the masses. The neighbouring states of Afghanistan: Pakistan;
Tajikistan; Iran; Uzbekistan; comprising a population of same
ethnicity, have a natural advantage to meddle into the political affairs
of Afghanistan.
Chapter 4 discusses the origin and evolution of novel in Afghanistan in
the 20th
century. It establishes that dastan (romances) existed prior to
the advent of novel in the early 20th
century. It further establishes that
French novel was imported into Afghanistan, in form of translation,
through Sirajul Akhbar, from Turkish sources. Novel introduced
Afghans to, non-existent in dastan, realism in story, character
development, and plot. Imported Tajik/Soviet/Kirghiz/
Persian/Russian, and American novels have impacted the Afghan
novel. The important Tajik and Kirghiz novels included: Margi
Sudkur, Yatim, Gulomon, Jalladon-e Bokhara; of Sadriddin Ayni;
Jamila: of Chingez Aitmatov. American novels included: White Fang
of Jack London and The Grapes of Wrath of John Ernst Steinbeck.
Earlier indigenous Afghan novels such as, Paighla (1950) of
Sahibzada Muhammad Idrees, Be-Tarbiata Zoi (1939-40) of Noor
Muhammad Taraki in Pashto, and Jihad-e Akbar (1919) of Molvi
Muhammad Hussain Panjabi, Begum (1930) of Suleman Ali Jaghori in
Dari, written in the 20th
century, reflected societal realities.
Chapter 5 establishes on the basis of interpretation and analysis of
Hossenei‘s statements of ethnic politics in The Kite Runner that
Pashtun is superior but treacherous; unimaginative, brutal, and

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aberrant, while Hazara, inferior but loyal; imaginative, humane, and
protector. There exists a binary of Us (Hazara) and Them (Pashtun) in
the novel. The treachery of Pashtun character, and the portrayal of
Taliban confining as ethnic Pashtun is vilifying in the novel. Besides,
Hossenei has eulogized the USA; therefore, the novel may also be
considered an apology for the War on Terror in Afghanistan.
Chapter 6 concludes that Hossenei‘s depiction of ethnic disparity in the
novel seems exaggerated. He created a schism between Pashtun and
Hazara with the help of orientalist knowledge and power. The division
of Us (Hazara) and Them (Pashtun) in the novel is exaggerated,
misleading and biased.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION III
PLAGIARISM UNDERTAKING IV
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL V
DEDICATION VI
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS VII
ABSTRACT IX
GLOSSARY XVI
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1: 12
1. THEORITICAL FRAMEWROK AND CONCEPTUAL BASE
12
1.1 GEOGRAPHY OF AFGHANISTAN 13
1.2 WHAT IS ETHNICITY? 19
1.3 ETHNIC GROUPS IN AFGHANISTAN 21
1.4 THE PASHTUN 26
1.4.1 THE TAJIK 32
1.4.2 THE HAZARA 35
1.4.3 THE UZBEK 41
1.5 SMALLER GROUPS 42
1.6 ETHNIC MAKE UP 46
1.7 FORCED DISPLACEMENT AND ETHNIC CLEANSING 53
1.8 KHALED HOSSENEI 56
1.8.1 THE KITE RUNNER IN BRIEF 58
1.8.2 POINT OF VIEW (NARRATIVE) 60
1.8.3 CHARACTERIZATION 61
1.8.4 OBJECTIVES 63
1.8.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 63
1.8.6 HYPOTHESES 64
1.8.7 PROBLEM STATEMENT/JUSTIFICATION 64
1.9 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK 65
1.9.1 METHODOLOGY 72
1.9.2 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 74
1.9.3 LIMITATIONS AND DELIMITATIONS 75
1.9.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 76
1.10 CONCLUSION 77

xiv
CHAPTER 2: 79
2. SALIENCE OF QAUM, ETHNICITY, IN AFGHANISTAN:
AN OVERVIEW 79
2.1 INTRODUCTION 79
2.1.1 QAUM IN AFGHANISTAN 80
2.1.2 ASCENDENCY OF ETHNICITY IN AFGHANISTAN 82
2.1.3 IMPACT OF WAR (1979-89) ON ETHNICITY 89
2.1.4 SUNNI RESISTANCE 91
2.1.5 SHIA RESISTANCE 93
2.1.6 MILITARIZATION OF ETHNICITY 96
2.1.7 EFFORTS TO RECONCILE ETHNICIZATION 98
2.1.8 THE MUJAHIDEEN AND ETHNICITY (1992-1994) 100
2.1.9 NEIGHBOURING STATES AND ETHNICITY IN AFGHANISTAN
104
2.1.10 THE TALIBAN AND ETHNICITY (1996-2001) 108
2.1.11 POST 9/11 AFGHAN ETHNICITIES 112
2.2 CONCLUSION 116
CHAPTER 3: 118
LITERATURE REVIEW 118
3. INTRODUCTION 118
3.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 118
3.2 CONCLUSION 145
CHAPTER 4: 146
4. THE AFGHAN NOVEL IN THE 20TH
CENTURY 146
4.1 INTRODUCTION 146
4.1.1 DASTAN 147
4.1.2 MEHMUD BEG TARZI 151
4.2 IMPACT OF ENGLISH NOVEL 157
4.3 IMPACT OF PERSIAN NOVEL 161
4.4 IMPACT OF SOVIET/RUSSIAN /TAJIK / KIRGHIZ NOVEL
164
4.5 IMPACT OF AMERICAN NOVEL 173
4.6 AFGHAN NOVEL IN DARI 174
4.7 AFGHAN NOVEL IN PASHTO 180
4.8 CONCLUSION 187

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CHAPTER 5: 189
5. ETHNIC POLITICS IN THE KITE RUNNER 189
5.1 INTRODUCTION 189
5.1.1 HOSSENEI, AS AN OUTSIDER 191
5.1.2 THE IDEA OF AMERICA IN THE KITE RUNNER 195
5.1.3 DISPARITY IN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE 199
5.1.4 DISPARITY IN EDUCATION 204
5.1.5 THE NOTION OF TREACHERY 206
5.1.6 THE PASHTUN 207
5.1.7 THE TALIBAN 218
5.1.8 THE HAZARA 228
5.1.9 REDEMPTION 238
5.2 CONCLUSION 244
CHAPTER 6: 248
CONCLUSIONS 248
BIBLIOGRAPHY 255

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Glossary
Awroussi: The wedding ceremony.
Balay: Yes
Bakhshida: Forgiveness
Burqa: Shuttlecock Burqa, Women's outer garment that
fully covers them.
Buzkashi: Killing of goat. A National game of Afghanistan
played on horseback similar to Polo
Chapan: Traditional, long overcoat worn by Afghan
men.
Chapandaz: A master horseman in Buzkashi competition.
Farsi: The language used in Iran and western
Afghanistan.
Hazara: A minority ethnic group from the Hazarajat
region in central Afghanistan who speak
Hazargi, a dialect of Dari
Hazargi: Language spoken by Hazara
Hizb-e-Wahdat: The political party of Hazara formed in late
1980s.

xvii
Ismailism A branch of Shia Islam different from Twelvers
Jirga: An institution of conflict resolution used in
Afghanistan
Jan: A word of endearment.
Kaka: Uncle.
Kasseef: Filthy.
Khalqis: Literally, a Pashto term, meaning ‗masses‘. It
was a faction of the People Democratic Party of
Afghanistan (PDPA).
Khan: A Turkic word meaning property owner or
sovereign
Khastagari: Official proposal to marriage
Kunni: Gay
Loya Jirga: Great council.
Madar: Persian term, meaning, mother
Mareez: Patient
Masnawi: Six-volume mystical poem by the poet Rumi.
Mujahedin: Literally mujahid (Arabic word) means
‗struggler‘, or ‗striver‘. Muhajideen is the plural
of mujahid which means strugglers. Specifically,
mujahideen are those fighters who fought the

xviii
Soviets during the 1980s in the war in
Afghanistan.
Mullah: A Muslim who lead prayers in the mosque
daily.
Namaz: Prayers, specifically those required by sacred
law of Muslims to be repeated five times daily.
Namoos: Reputation; pride.
Nang: Honor
Naswar: Snuff, or Tobacco particularly used by Pashtun
Padar: Persian term, meaning father
Parchami: A member of Parcham faction of the PDPA
(People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan)
Pashtun: A majority ethnic group residing in the south
and south-west of Afghanistan
Pashtunwali: A Code of life of Pashtuns
Rustam and Sohrab: The two heroic Persian characters in Shahnama
Qawm It is a fluid term, refers to family, clan, tribe,
ethnic groups, vocational group.
Quwat: Courage

xix
Saadi: Medieval Persian poet.
Shah: King or sovereign.
Shahnama A Persian Epic of 11th
century
Ulus: A Turko-Mongol origin, and Hazargi word
means an institution of conflict resolution in
Hazara
Watan: Native country
Yateem: Orphan
Yelda: The longest night of the year.
Zendagi: Life

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MAP OF PROVINCES IN
AFGHANISTAN

xxi
MAP OF ETHNIC GROUPS IN
AFGHANISTAN

xxii
MAP OF LANGUAGES IN AFGHANISTAN

1
INTRODUCTION
There reside more than fifty ethnic groups in Afghanistan. The
major ethnicities include: Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara. Pashtun
are the largest plurality followed by Tajik, Hazara, and Uzbek.
Monarchy flourished in Afghanistan during the period 1747-1978. The
Durrani-Pashtun dynasty founded and ruled Afghanistan throughout its
history, barring two brief spans (1929 and 1992-94) when Tajiks ruled
Afghanistan. The Soviet invasion and subsequent occupation of
Afghanistan (1979), have not only made qaum1
and ethnicity salient,
but, ethnic conflicts, also ensued between the major ethnic groups in
Afghanistan, in the 1990s. Historically, co-existence has been between
various ethnic groups in Afghanistan, however, unequal opportunities
and conflict have also occurred.2
Amir Abdur Rehman (r.1880-1901),
the Pashtun ruler, created centralized state with bounded frontiers with
coercive force. He deported and suppressed various ethnic groups that
led to ethnic polarization. He unified and mobilized the Pashtuns to
suppress non-Pashtun particularly Hazara and Nuristani. Displacement
and deportation of Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara, and resettling of Pashtun
have been tantamount to ethnic cleansing, at times, for strengthening
state building in Afghanistan. It led to ethnic animosity, hatred, and
alienation broadening ethnic cleavages. During the period 1929-73,
1
Qawm is a flexible term that refers to kin, clan, village, tribe,
ethnic/vocational/confessional group, profession, and/or nation in Afghanistan.
2
Wafayezaa, Q, M., Ethnic Politics, Ethnic Politicl Parties, and the Future of
Democratic Peacebuilding in Afghanistan. 2012. Retrieved from
http://dspace.lib.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2297/32790/1/AA12162559-24-
65-91.pdf pp 69-70.

2
little efforts were made to alleviate ethnic and social tensions.3
Cracks began to appear in the socio-political and ethnic
hierarchy in the wake of promulgation of Constitution (1964)4
in
Afghanistan. The Constitution provided freedom of press, allowed
formation of political parties, and opened a window of opportunity for
Afghan ethnic groups to express themselves in politics. The Pashtun,
Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara participated in the multi-ethnic political
parties such as Jamiat-e Islami, the PDPA, Sitm-e Milli, and Shula-e
Javid. Daud Khan (r.1973-78) ended monarchy in 1973, became
president, and declared Afghanistan as republic. His Pashtun-
dominated political party, National Revolutionary Party gathered
support for his Republican regime. His party polarized the ethnicities
more between the Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns, and stirred political
competition. The historical events; The Saur Revolution (1978); and
the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89) stimulated ethnic
divisions further in the wake of penetration of massive foreign arms
and cash into the country. Sect appeared as supplementary force along
ethnicity in the form of Hizb-e Wahdat. The fueling of ethnicity and
sectarianism by Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, India
and Saudi Arabia further intensified ethnic polarization. This led to
3
Mousavi, A, S., The Hazara of Afghanistan: An Historical, Cultural, Economic and
Political Study, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1998, p 122.
4
The 1964 Constitution was the constitution of Afghanistan from 1964 to 1977. It
was drafted by a committee of foreign-educated Afghans appointed for the task
by Mohammed Zahir Shah. The primary goals of the Constitution were to prepare the
government and the people for gradual movement toward democracy and socio-
economic modernization. A Loya Jirgah (grand council of notables) had debated,
modified and approved its innovations, which included a bill of rights for all
Afghans, explicitly including women. After public review the constitution was put
into effect in October 1964.

3
emergence of various ethnic based alliances, mainly non-Pashtun, to
gain political power, in the 1990s. Presently, all four major ethnic
groups are struggling hard to attain/maintain political power, and
influence the state and society. These political turmoils have been
depicted in indigenous literary fictions in Afghanistan.
The genre of novel originated in the West in the 18th
century;
however, diffused to a non-literate society5
like Afghanistan in
translated form, in the early 20th
century. Sirajaul Akhbar (1911-1918)
became the medium to introduce Afghans with the novel. Before that,
Afghan writers wrote dastan (romances). The first Afghan novel in
Persian, appeared in Afghanistan, in 1919. While, the first Afghan
novel in Pashto and English appeared in 1939 and 2003 respectively.
The Kite Runner, published in 2003, is the first English novel written
by Khaled Hossenei, an Afghan-American novelist. Since its
publication, the novel got worldwide fame. It has been published in 38
countries, translated into 62 languages6
including, Chinese, French,
German etc.,7
and sold worldwide into 12 million copies.8
5
Louis Dupree, in his book, Afghanistan, published in 1980, has articulated that
Afghanistan has a literate culture and non-literate society. In non-literate society,
most of the individuals do not have access to the great literature of their culture.
6
In response to my e-mail dated 04-06-2017 addressed to Sandra Hossenei, Khaled
Hossenei‘s wife, Executive Director of The Khaled Hossenei Foundation, in which I
asked about the number of languages in which The Kite Runner has been published,
she responded that the novel has been published into 62 languages. Again, I asked in
a separate email that has the novel been published into Pashto? If not, why? She told
me that the Foundation has not yet published it into Pashto and that they do not
intend to license it officially into Pashto. According to her, this is because the
countries where it is an official language, namely Afghanistan and Pakistan, are not
members of the Berne Copyright Convention, an International treaty protecting
author‘s rights.
7
According to Chandler Crawford, Publication In charge of Khaled Hossenei
Foundation, the novel, The Kite Runner is not available either in Pashto or
Dari/Persian. It was because Afghanistan and Iran are the observer states in Berne

4
Khaled Hossenei, an Afghan-American novelist, physician, and
ethnic-Hazara, was born in Kabul in 1965. He spent eight years of his
childhood in Afghanistan. When the political chaos began in
Afghanistan in the 1980s, The Hosseneis sought and granted political
asylum in the United States. After earning his M.D., in 1993, from the
University of California, he completed residency in 1996. He showed
interest in story writing and story-telling at the young age of 9-10;
because he was influenced by the tradition of oral story-telling and the
classical Persian literature. In the US, he read John Steinbeck‘s (1902-
1968) novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which impressed him and
revived his love of literature. Hossenei began writing The Kite Runner
in 2001 and published it in 2003. He has been a Goodwill Envoy to
UNHCR9
since 2006, and provides humanitarian assistance in
Afghanistan through the ‗Khaled Hossenei Foundation‘.
The plot of The Kite Runner is divided into three historic
periods: Kabul before Soviet invasion (1973-79); the immigrant
experience in the USA in the 1980s; and the Taliban‘s regime (1996-
2001). The story revolves around the two major characters: Amir (an
ethnic-Pashtun) and Hassan (an ethnic-Hazara). Amir is privileged,
literate, dominant, while Hasan is poor, illiterate, and subordinate. The
novel unfolds in 2001, flashes back to the past (1970s), and proceeds
till 2001, against the backdrop of the political history. The major event
Copyright Convention. So, it is neither available in Pashto (Afghanistan or Pakistan)
nor in Dari/Persian (either in Afghanistan or Iran).
8
Daily Dawn: January 8, 2012.
9
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also
known as the UN Refugee Agency, is a United Nations programme mandated to
protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and
assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third
country. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is a member of
the United Nations Development Group.

5
of the novel is the molestation of Hassan by three Pashtun boys during
a Kite-fighting tournament10
in Kabul in 1975. Amir, (half-brother &
close friend of Hassan) betrayed Hassan, when he did not intervene
and stood by him. Amir was dominant like a master in his relationship
with Hassan. The Soviets invade Afghanistan in 1979, Amir flees to
the USA, while Hassan stays in the Hazarajat11
(homeland). The guilt
or betrayal of Amir follows him throughout. Rahim Khan falls sick in
Peshawar and calls Amir to see him before he dies. He reminds Amir
about his past guilt, and tries to persuade him to redeem himself by
saving Sohrab from the barbarity of Taliban in Afghanistan. Thus, he
sacrifices himself, saves the child, and takes him to the USA. The
sacrifice gives Amir a feeling of redemption.
Besides, in 2007, Marc Forster has directed The Kite Runner,
an adaptation of this. Having dialogues in Dari and English, with a
duration of 128 minutes, Dream works and Paramount Vantage
distributed the US movie worldwide. Though, the setting of the novel
is Afghanistan, parts of the film have been shot in Kashghar and China
(Xianjiang) due to the danger of fueling ethnic tensions in Afghanistan.
Amir, the protagonist,12
narrates the story of the novel from
10
Every winter, kite-fighting is used to be the public hobby in Afghanistan where
people fly their kites and try to cut the other kites in the sky.
11
The Hazarajat is a regional name for the territory inhabited by the Hazara people,
which lies in the central highlands of Afghanistan, among the Koh-i-Baba mountains
and the western extremities of the Hindu Kush. The name Hazarajat first appears in
the 16th century Baburnama, written by Mughal Emperor Babur.
12
A protagonist (from Ancient Greek protagonistes, meaning 'player of the first part,
chief actor) is the main character in any story, such as a literary work or drama. The
protagonist is at the center of the story, typically makes the key decisions, and
experiences the consequences of those decisions. The protagonist usually affects the
main characters' circumstances as well, as they are often the primary actor propelling
the story forward. If a story contains a subplot, or is a narrative made up of several
stories, then there may be a character who is interpreted as the protagonist of each
subplot or individual story. Besides, according to The Pinguin Dictionary of Literary

6
first person narrative. This technique unfolds opinions, thoughts, and
feelings of the narrator. It seems that the characters and the readers are
thinking with the narrator. The story is told from his perspective.
Besides, the novel contains twenty five chapters: twenty four are
narrated by Amir, while, the sole chapter, sixteen, is narrated by Rahim
Khan. Amir, Hassan, Assif, Baba, Sohrab, Ali, Farid are the main
characters in the novel. Including Afghan, there are Russian,
American, Indian, and Pakistani characters. The story revolves around
Amir and Hassan, the Afghan characters.
Some Afghan writers and diaspora,13
influenced by the West,
have been easy prey to Western Orientalism. According to Jannete
Edwards,14
The Kite Runner is a fictional story, having no connection
terms and Literary Theory, published by Pinguin Group, first published in England in
1977, reprinted in 1999, written by J, A, Goodson, protagonist is the the first actor in
a play or the principal actor or character. In Greek tragedy, the playwright was
limited to the protagonist. The protagonist has come to be the equivalent of the hero.
13
The term is derived from the Greek verb diaspeiro, "I scatter", "I spread about" and
that from dia, "between, through, across" +
the verb speiro, "I sow, I scatter".
A diaspora is a scattered population whose origin lies within a smaller geographic
locale. Diaspora can also refer to the movement of the population from its original
homeland. Diaspora has come to refer particularly to historical mass dispersions of
an involuntary nature, such as the expulsion of Jews from Judea and the fleeing
of Greeks after the fall of Constantinople. Other examples are the African Trans-
Atlantic slave trade, the southern Chinese or Hindus of South Asia during
the coolie trade, the Irish during and after the Irish Famine, the Palestinian
diaspora, and the Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries in the 20th century,
the exile and deportation of Circassians, and the emigration of Anglo-Saxon warriors
and their families after the Norman Conquest of England, many of whom found
employment in Constantinople and bolstered the elite bodyguard of the emperor,
the Varangian Guard. Recently, scholars have distinguished between different kinds
of diaspora, based on its causes such as imperialism, trade or labor migrations, or by
the kind of social coherence within the diaspora community and its ties to the
ancestral lands. Some diaspora communities maintain strong political ties with their
homeland. Other qualities that may be typical of many diasporas are thoughts of
return, relationships with other communities in the diaspora, and lack of full
integration into the host country.
14
She serves as Associate Professor in the faculty Development Program at the
United States Department of Defense.

7
with reality,15
Hossenei‘s voice is unauthentic and motives suspect.16
Khaled Hossenei, having a perception of an internal orientalist,17
has
created a difference between familiar subaltern; Us (Hazara) and a
strange dominant; Them (Pashtun), in the novel, to highlight ethnic
disparity, divisions, and discrimination, in Afghanistan. For him,
Pashtun is superior but treacherous, unimaginative, brutal, and
aberrant, while Hazara, inferior but loyal, imaginative, humane, and
protector. Here, it deviates from Said‘s Orientalism, for whom, the
superior was rational and humane, while the inferior; irrational and
aberrant. Retaining the critical force of Said's original formulation in
Orientalism, and taking into account the Othering18
practices, internal
15
Janette, E., Expatriate Literature and the Problem of Contested Representation:
The Case of Khaled Hosseini‟s The Kite Runner. Inter-Disciplinary.net. 2008.
Retrieved from
file:///C:/Users/irfan/Downloads/Expatriate_Literature_and_the_Problem_of_Contest
ed.pdf on 10-02-2015
16
Ibid., p 5.
17
The term internal orientalist has been adopted from Louisa Schein‘s article
‗Gender and Internal Orientalism in China‘ published by Sage Publications in 1997
(http://www.jstor.org/stable/189464). According to Louisa, ‗Internal Orientalism‘ is a
set of practices that occur within China, and that, in this case, refers to the fascination
of more cosmopolitan Chinese with "exotic" minority cultures in an array of
polychromatic and titillating forms. These encounters were most commonly
structured by a class/gender asymmetry in which minorities were represented chiefly
by rural women, while Han observers appeared characteristically as male urban
sophisticates. This article has explored the ramifications of such uneven
configurations as a means of gaining insight into China's post-Mao social order. In
this thesis, the term internal orientalist refers to Hossenei‘s manipulation of theme of
ethnic disparity, projecting Pashtun; superior but treacherous; unimaginative, brutal,
and aberrant, while Hazara, inferior but loyal; imaginative, humane, and protector.
Internal orientalism is the theory adopted to explain orientalist perspective in the The
Kite Runner.
18
Othering is the process by which a person or a group is placed outside of the norm,
into the margins. It is a system of discrimination whereby the characteristics of a
group are used to distinguish them as separate from the norm. Othering plays a
fundamental role in the history and continuance of racism and other forms of
discrimination. For example, by objectifying culture as something different, exotic or
underdeveloped is to generalise that it is not the same as ‗normal‘ society. Europe‘s
colonial attitude towards the Orient exemplifies through the attitude that the East was
the opposite of the West; feminine where the West was masculine, weak where the
West was strong and traditional where the West was progressive. By making these

8
orientalism as theoretical framework describes a discourse of power
relations, coupled with ethnic disparity, between the Pashtun and
Hazara ethnic groups in Afghanistan, as developed in The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hossenei. The work is analytical and interpretive. It uses
Foucauldian discourse analysis as Qualitative research method on The
Kite Runner in chapter 5. The relevant statements related to ethnic
disparity, polarity, and divisions between the Pashtun and Hazara in
the novel, are interpreted in the light of primary and secondary sources
to explore the philosophical discourse of ethnic disparity.
To drive this research work, it is found that ethnicity and ethnic
politics have gained great importance in the present socio-political
milieu of Afghanistan. Thus, this work attempts to examine the
discourse of ethnic disparity between Pashtun and Hazara in The Kite
Runner. It argues that the discourse of ethnic disparity and tensions
between the two ethnic groups exists in the novel. It further argues that
an orientalist perspective is embedded in the text of the novel.
Chapter 1 of the thesis attempts to describe briefly the
geography, the concepts of ethnicity, ethnic make-up and ethnic
cleansing in Afghanistan. It further attempts to introduce briefly The
Kite Runner, and the author, Khaled Hossenei. The rest of the chapter
deals with the objectives of the work, research questions, hypotheses,
justification, theoretical framework, methodology, rationale for the
study, limitation & delimitation, and significance of the study.
Chapter 2 argues that qaum and ethnicity became salient in
Afghanistan during the last three decades of the 20th
century. It
generalizations and othering the East, Europe was simultaneously defining herself as
the no.rm, further entrenching the perceived gap.

9
examines how the promulgation of 1964 Constitution in Afghanistan
stirred political struggle between various ethnic groups, the Pashtun
and non-Pashtun, for power, and, how, the Soviet invasion, in 1979,
stimulated and politicised ethnicity. It further describes how,
conversely, the Mujahideen (1992-96) and the Taliban (1996-2001),
though Islamists, ethnicised politics that led to severe infighting
between major ethnic groups and resulted into ethnic: violence;
cleansing; and/or conflict. Ethnicity became further salient during the
post-Taliban periods due to power sharing arrangements on ethnic
basis.
The existing literature on the topic in Chapter 3 points out that
ethnic: division; polarity; conflict; as core issues, have been
strengthened in Afghanistan during the last three decades of the 20th
century. Sectarianism and ethnic: mobilization; cleansing also
increased. During this period, foreign interference and warlordism
increased ethnic and sectarian polarization, however, it did not spread
to the masses. The neighbouring states of Afghanistan: Pakistan;
Tajikistan; Iran; Uzbekistan; comprising a population of same
ethnicity, have a natural advantage to meddle into the political affairs
of Afghanistan.
Chapter 4 discusses the origin and development of novel in
Afghanistan in the 20th
century. It establishes that dastan (romances)
existed prior to the advent of novel in the early 20th
century. It further
establishes that French novel was imported into Afghanistan in the
form of translation from Turkish sources through Sirajul Akhbar. The
genre of novel introduced Afghans to, non-existent in dastan, realism
in story, character development, and plot. Imported

10
Tajik/Soviet/Kirghiz/ Persian/Russian, and American novels have
impacted the Afghan novel. The important Tajik and Kirghiz novels
included: Margi Sudkur, Yatim, Gulomon, Jalladon-e Bokhara; of
Sadriddin Ayni; Jamila: of Chingez Aitmatov. American novels
included: White Fang of Jack London and The Grapes of Wrath of
John Ernst Steinbeck. Earlier indigenous Afghan novels such as,
Paighla (1950) of Sahibzada Muhammad Idrees, Be-Tarbiata Zoi
(1939-40) of Noor Muhammad Taraki in Pashto, and Jihad-e Akbar
(1919) of Molvi Muhammad Hussain Panjabi, Begum (1930) of
Suleman Ali Jaghori in Dari, written in the 20th
century, reflected
societal realities.
Chapter 5 argues that the discourse of ethnic disparity between
the Pashtun and Hazara in Afghanistan exists in The Kite Runner. It
further argues that an internal orientalist perspective is embedded in
the text of the novel. Amir (Pashtun), the protagonist, is the narrator of
the novel. Hossenei depicts Pashtun: superior but treacherous;
unimaginative, brutal, and aberrant, while Hazara, inferior but loyal;
imaginative, humane, and protector. There exists a strong binary of Us
(Hazara) and Them (Pashtun) in the novel. Though, Hossenei claims to
have a deeper understanding of history and culture of Afghanistan,
however, one finds him wanting in knowledge of indigenous cultural
history of Afghanistan. He is a story-teller, who presents his internal
orientalist views in a fictional art form. The treachery of Pashtun
character, and the portrayal of Taliban confining as ethnic Pashtun is
vilifying in the novel. Besides, Hossenei has eulogized the USA;
therefore, the novel may also be considered as an apology for the War
on Terror in Afghanistan.

11
Chapter 6 concludes that Hosseini has made a schism between
the Pashtun and Hazara in the novel with the help of orientalist
knowledge and power. The depiction of ethnic disparity, and division
of Us (Hazara) and Them (Pashtun), in The Kite Runner, seems
exaggerated, misleading and biased.

12
CHAPTER 1:
1. THEORITICAL FRAMEWROK AND
CONCEPTUAL BASE
Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic state, comprising around fifty
ethnic groups. It has witnessed political turmoils and upheavals for the
last three decades of the 20th
century. That, not only, resulted into the
ascendency of qawm and ethnicity, but also, ethnic conflicts between
the major ethnic groups in Afghanistan. Since the fall of Taliban in
2001, there has been a surge of ethnic politics in Afghanistan, which
has been affecting the social-political order. Particularly, the non-
Pashtuns (Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara) in Afghanistan are, not only,
challenging the dominant role of Pashtun in the state and society, but
also, effecting socio-political order.19
Khaled Hossenei, an Afghan-
American, has presented in The Kite Runner, fictional portrayal of the
relationship between Pashtun and the Hazara ethnic groups in
Afghanistan at the backdrop of political history (1973-2001). This
work explores ethnic disparity between the Pashtun and Hazara in The
Kite Runner. It further explores that an internal orientalist perspective
is embedded in The Kite Runner. Before embarking upon that
exploration in the work, it is necessary to find the conceptual base and
theoretical framework to the work. Thus, this chapter attempts to
describe briefly the geography, the concepts of ethnicity, Afghan
ethnic: groups; make-up; and cleansing in Afghanistan. It further
attempts to introduce briefly the novel, The Kite Runner, and the
19
Saleh, A., The Crisis and Politics of Ethnicity in Afghanistan. June, 2012. Retrieved
from http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/06/201262013830446913.html
on 20-04-2015

13
writer, Khaled Hossenei. The rest of the chapter deals with the
objectives, research questions, hypotheses, justification, theoretical
framework, methodology, rationale for the study, limitation &
delimitation, significance of the study, and chapterization.
1.1 GEOGRAPHY OF AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan lies in Central Asia, between 29 and 38 degrees
North Latitudes, and 61 and 72 degrees East Longitude, with a strip in
the north-east, the Wakhan corridor, that reaches to the 75th degree
East Longitude. Completely landlocked, it has an estimated area of
245,000 square miles, less than the size of Texas. Its extreme length
from west to east is 770 miles, its greatest width from north to south is
over 350 miles,20
it is bounded by China to the north-east, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the north, Iran to the west, and
Pakistan to the south and south-east.21
Humlum, the Danish geographer has divided Afghanistan into
ten natural provinces (zones). His zones include: East, South, Central,
West, Northwest, North, Nuristan, Badakhshan, Wakhan, and
Monsoonal Afghanistan.22
Louis Dupree has divided Afghanistan into
eleven geographic zones: the first six zones (the Wakhan Corridor-
Pamir Knot, Badakhshan, Central Mountains, Eastern Mountains,
Northern Mountains and Foothills, Southern Mountains and Foothills)
relate to the Hindukush mountain system, young rugged ranges (like
20
Wilber, N, Donald., Afghanistan: Its People, its Society, its Culture. HRAF Press,
New Heaven 1962, p 24.
21
Emadi, Hafizullah., Dynamics of Political Development in Afghanistan: The
British, Russian, and American Invasions. Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2010, p 1.
22
Johannes Humlum, La geographie de I‟ Afghanistan : etude d‟un pays aride,
Ferdinand. Copenhague, Gyldendal: Avec des chapters de M. Koie B K., 1959.

14
the Rocky Mountains) with sharp peaks, deep valleys, and many
almost impenetrable barriers. The remaining five zones include:
Turkistan Plains, Herat-Farah Lowlands, Sistan Basin-Hilmand Valley,
Western Stony Deserts, South-western Sandy Deserts. They embrace
the deserts and plains surrounding the mountains in the North, West,
and Southwest23
. Besides, Asia Foundation has been conducting
annual surveys in Afghanistan (since 2004-16), this organization
divides Afghanistan into eight regions for empirical research such as,
Central/Kabul, East, South East, South West, North East,
Central/Hazarajat, and North West,24
though, presently, Afghanistan
constitutes 34 provinces.25
Thomas Barfield has divided Afghanistan into four basic
regional building blocks. They are easily identified by their ancient
urban centers. These include; Herat in the West, Kandahar in the
South, Balkh (Mazar-i-Sharif) in the North, and Kabul in the East; they
all have fluctuating frontiers due to their adjacent mountain, steppe,
and desert hinterland they controlled. Each has survived and reemerged
as a distinct region, despite changes in political organization, arrivals
of new populations or religions, or attempts to impose larger and more
uniform identities on them.26
Herat is the third largest city of Afghanistan.27
It is linked to
Kandahar and Mazar Sharif, and serves as the capital of Herat
province, situated in the fertile valley of the Hari Rud river. It is linked
23
Dupree, L., Afghanistan. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 1980,
pp 5-31.
24
Asia Foundation Survey of Afghanistan 2013. Retrieved from
https://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/Afghanistanin2015.pdf, Accessed 12-05-
2015
25
Ibid., p 5.
26
Barfield, T., Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. Oxfordshire: Princeton
University Press, New Jersey 2010, pp 48-9.
27
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herat Accessed 15-05-2015

15
with Kandahar and Mazar Sharif, the two major cities of Afghanistan,
and Mashhad in Iran.28
The Pashtun constitute the majority.29
The
other ethnic groups in numerical order are the Tajiks, Hazara, Uzbek
and Turkemen.30
Dari is the ligua franca, while Pashto is the second
language that many understand. Its population composed of a mixture
of Sunni and Shia brands of Islam. Culturally and politically, Herat has
long been tied into the Iranian world as one of the major cities of
Khorasan. It owed its importance to its agricultural productivity and its
advantageous location for international trade. It was a junction city that
linked the Iranian plateau to China via the Central Asian silk route.
Herat was also a key city in Indian trade. During Timurid Empire,
Herat was a center of art and literature, particularly renowned for its
production of Persian miniature paintings and poetry.31
Besides, Herat
has been a strategically and politically vital place in the rivalry
between the Russian and British empires in later half of the 19th
century.32
Kandahar, the second largest city,33
is southern Afghanistan‘s
dominant city and has been its regional political center for more than
five centuries. It lies in Afghanistan‘s southern desert, but has thrived
as a rich agricultural zone. Kandahar is the center of the Durrani
(Abdali) Pashtun tribal confederation population, which extends from
there to Herat. Pashtun constituted the majority of the urban
population, and Pashto is the dominant language. The Pashtun identity
28
Ibid
29
Ibid
30
Ibid
31
Barfield, 2010, p 49.
32
Khan, A, M., England, Russia and Central Asia: A Study in Diplomacy (1857-
1878). University Book Agency, Khyber Bazaar, Peshawar N. Y, p 1-29.
33
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandahar#Demography_and_culture ,
Accessed on -16-05-2015

16
became politically significant when Ahmad Shah Durrani established
the Durrani (Pashtun) dynasty in 1747. This dynasty ruled Afghanistan
from 1747 until 1978. The dynastic capital was replaced at the founder
death34
when Taimur, the favourite son of Ahmad Shah, moved it from
Kandahar to Kabul.35
The Pashtun make up the overwhelming majority
population of the city, however, Tajiks, Hazara, Baluch and Uzbek
follow in smaller number.36
Pashto serves as the main language of the
city.
Balkh, the ―mother of cities‖ as the Arabs called it, is one of the
oldest urban centers in the world. The capital of ancient Bactria, it was
reputed to be the home of Zoroaster and the richest of all the provinces
in the Persian Empire.37
Today, Balkh is just an impressive set of ruins,
having been displaced by nearby Mazar-i-Sharif in the 19th century as
the region‘s major city. But Mazar still plays the same dominant role in
the north as did Balkh, and the site of Afghanistan‘s major Islamic
shrine, attracts a large number of pilgrims. Balkh‘s location north of
Hindu Kush put it outside the normal South Asian political sphere. It
took a high degree of military and political power to control the
northern plains from capitals based south of the Hindu Kush, so when
that power weakened for any reason the north was the first region to be
lost.38
By contrast, it was far easier to dominate the region from nearby
Bukhara and Samarkand in Central Asia, a connection that was later
reinforced by the shared Turkish ethnicity among rulers there. Over the
34
Barfield, 2010, pp 50-51.
35
Rasanayagum, A., Afghanistan: A Modern History; Monarchy, Despotism or
Democracy? The problems of Governance in Muslim Tradition. I.B.Taurus & Co,
Ltd, London, New York 2005, p xiv.
36
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandahar#Demography_and_culture ,
accessed on 16--05-2015
37
38
Ibid., p 52.

17
course of the past thousand years so many waves of Turkish-speaking
nomads arrived in the region that it became known as Turkistan.39
Yet
these immigrants (who became the Uzbek and Turkmen of today) did
not so much displace the older Persian population as merge with it.
Persian remained the language of the cities and the valley populations,
reinforced by Tajik and Hazara migrants from the mountains.40
The
ethnicities residing in the city include; Tajiks in the majority, followed
by Hazara, Pashtun, Turkemen and Uzbek. The dominant language in
the city is Dari, followed by Uzbeki and Pashto. 41
Eastern Afghanistan with Kabul at its center, is the heart of the
Afghan state. The eastern region encompasses the drainage basin for
the Kabul River and its tributaries as well as the area around Gardez
and Ghazni to the south. From ancient times, the area has been the
strategic link to the passes through the Hindu Kush to its north and the
passes to India to its east. It was the region‘s location rather than its
intrinsic wealth that made it a center of political power. Afghan state
first rotated its administrative capital between Kabul and Peshawar.
When Peshawar lost to the Sikhs in the early nineteenth century,
Jalalabad became the winter capital.42
Eastern Afghanistan has
historically had both the highest regional population densities in the
country, four times that found in the south and, twice that found in the
northern plains, and the largest percentage of its country‘s population
as 30 percent. Kabul has closer connections with the higher mountain
villages bordering the agricultural valleys than does Kandahar, Herat,
or Balkh, since they lie so much closer. In modern times, Kabul has
39
Ibid., p 52.
40
Ibid., p 52.
41
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazar-i-Sharif#Demography accessed
on 17-05-2015
42
Barfield, Afghanistan, 52.

18
been Afghanistan‘s leading city, with two and a half to three times the
population of any other city in the country.43
Various ethnic groups
reside in Kabul including Sikhs and Hindus44
, but Tajiks, Pashtun,
Hazara and Uzbek are the major ethnic groups residing in the city.45
Dari and Pashto are widely used in the region, however; Dari is the
lingua franca.46
Kabul and the east are also the most ethnically diverse parts of
the country because they sit on an ethnic fracture zone. The plains
north of Kabul and the city itself are home to the Tajiks; the lands
south and east are home to the Ghilzais Pashtuns. Hazara inhabit many
sections of the city in substantial numbers, since their mountain
homeland lies directly to the west. Kabul also has minority populations
such as the Qizilbash and Nuristanis. It is presently the most important
urban center in the country. Being largest Afghanistan‘s Pashtun
group, the Ghilzais reside throughout the east,47
the tribes include;
Hotaki, Tokhi, Kharoti, Nasiri, Taraki, Sulaiman Khel, and
Ahmadzai.48
43
Ibid., pp 52-53.
44
Matinuddin, K., Power Struggle in the Hindukush: Afghanistan (1978-1991).
Wajid Alis (Pvt) Limited, Lahore 1991, p 3.
45
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kabul Accessed 17-05-2015
46
Ibid.
47
48
Tapper, R (Edited) The Conflict of Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan, (New
York: CROOM HELM. London & Canberra. ST. MARTINS PRESS, 1983, 125.
(hereafter cited as Tapper, Tribe and State)

19
1.2 WHAT IS ETHNICITY?
The widely agreed upon, but not uncontroversial, the basic
social anthropological model of ethnicity49
outlined by Richard
Jenkins, can be summarized as under;
I. Ethnicity involves cultural differentiation and
identification; it contains a dialectical relationship
between similarity and difference.
II. Ethnicity reflects shared meanings or culture. It is also
produced and reproduced during interaction.
III. Ethnicity is not fixed rather constructivist.
IV. Ethnicity is biologically replicating.
V. Ethnicity is identification, collective and individual. It is
categorization of others, identification of the self.50
For Nathan Glazer and Daniel Moynihan, ethnicity appeared as
a new term, in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972.51
David
Riesman, the American sociologist, used it for the first time in
1953.52
Derived from the Greek ethnos (itself derived from the word
ethnikos)53
, the word ‗ethnic‟ is, however, much older, and originally
meant heathen or pagan. In English, it began to use in this sense from
mid-14th
- mid-19th
centuries.54
This turned gradually to refer to racial
49
Jenkins, R., Rethinking Ethnicity. SAGE Publications, London, California, New
Delhi, Singapore, 2008, p 42.
50
Ibid., p 14.
51
Burchfied, W, R., Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary Volume 1, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, Reprint edition, 1972.
52
Erikson, 2008, p 3.
53
Ibid., p 4.
54
Ibid., p 4.

20
characteristics.55
In its earliest record form, ethnos indicated a large,
identical number of animals or humans. In the Illiad,56
Homer has
used ethnos for a variety of ‗bunches‘: hosts of men, flocks of
animals, and swarms of insects. During the World War II, ‗ethnics‘
was used as a polite term in the USA for Jews, Italian, Irish and
people considered inferior to the dominant White Anglo-Saxon
Protestants (WASP group).57
Except Max Weber (1864-1920), none
of the founding members of sociology and anthropology, has granted
ethnicity much attention.58
Fredrik Barth‘s (1928-2016)59
work,
Ethnic Groups and Boundaries has proposed originally the notion of
ethnicity as the social organization of culture difference;60
this
seminal work has stemmed much current anthropological
conventional wisdom about ethnicity. Barth, in ‗Introduction‘ to that
collection has outlined the model of ethnicity, which is intended as a
corrective to the structural-functionalist understanding of the human
world, dominant within anthropology as a system of more or less
55
Ibid., p 4.
56
Homer., The Iliad: The Story of Achilles, Translated by W.H.D. Rouse. First
Published by Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, N.P. 1938, pp 309.
57
Erikson, 2008, p 4.
58
Weber, M., Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretative Sociology, ed.
Guenther, Roth and Claus, Wittich, Berkeley. University of California Press, Los
Angeles, London., 1978, pp 385-398.
59
Fredrik Barth, a Norwegian social anthropologist published several ethnographic
works with a clear formalist view. He was well-known among anthropologists for his
transactional analysis of political processes in the Swat Valley of northern Pakistan,
and his study of micro-economic processes and entrepreneurship in the area of Darfur
in Sudan. Barth edited Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (1969), and outlines an
approach to the study of ethnicity that focuses on the ongoing negotiations of
boundaries between groups of people. According to him, such groups are not
discontinuous cultural isolates, or logical a priories to which people naturally belong.
60
Barth, F., (ed). Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of
Cultural Difference. Published in Norway by Universitetsforlaget, Bergen, Oslo, In
United States of America by Little Brown and Company, Boston, In United Kingdom
by George Allen & Unwin, London, 1969.

21
unproblematic, more or less firmly bounded societies and social
groups. Although it has clear predecessors in the Chicago School, in
Leach‘s work, the Copperbelt studies and in less known contributions
by Soviet scholars.61
Barth‘s essay was remarkable for its clarity and
conciseness and played a pivotal part in delineating the field of
enquiry in the anthropological study of ethnicity.62
For practical
purposes, he discarded culture from the concept of ethnicity and for
him, ethnic boundaries were psychological boundaries. Boundaries
are established in ethnic groups as result of group relations through
mutual perceptions and not by means of any objectively distinct
culture.63
Common culture is regarded as an implication than a
primary and definitional characteristic.64
However, Barth (1994)
emphasized later that the cultural stuff did matter.65
In Afghanistan,
qaum, a flexible term, referring to (kin, clan, village, tribe,
ethnic/vocational/confessional group, profession, and/or nation, and
ethnicity) has been found constructivist. Religion may be the banner
of unity for all Afghan ethnic groups. Besides, disparity, according to
The Oxford Dictionary, is the quality or state of being unequal rank,
condition, circumstances, etc.
1.3 ETHNIC GROUPS IN AFGHANISTAN
For Fredrik Barth, ethnic groups include four criteria: they are
biologically replicating, share fundamental cultural values, constitute a
61
Bromley, Y., (Edited). Soviet Ethnology and Anthropology Today. Monton &Co.
N.V., Publishers. The Hague. 1974.
62
Erikson, 2008, pp 43-44.
63
Isajiw, 1993, pp 407-27.
64
Erikson, 2008, p 11.
65
Barth, F., Enduring and Emerging Issues in the Analysis of Ethnicity‘ in ‗The
Anthropology of Ethnicity Beyond Ethnic Groups and Boundaries‘, ed. Hans,
Vermeulen & Cora, Govers, Amsterdam: HET SPINHUIS, 1994.

22
field of communication and interaction, and are defined through self-
definition and definition by others‖.66
The focus of Barth was the
ethnic boundary not cultural content.67
To Eller, an American
anthropologist, ethnicity produces ethnic groups. It is related to the
process of attachment, identity, cohesion, solidarity, and belonging, or
it is ―consciousness of difference‖ and ―mobilization around
difference.‖68
Beginning in the United States, the notion of ethnicity
had no appearance in widespread anthropological use until the 1960s,69
Thomas Hylland confirms that view.70
The terms such as, ethnicity,
ethnic, and ethnic group, steadily emerging from late 1960s until
1990s, have widely been used since then, for two reasons, first, owing
to the changes in the world, second, variations in dominant thoughts in
anthropology.71
Therefore, ethnicity is a flexible aspect of relationship
between the social groups, having cultural identification and
categorization (Us and Them).
Ethnicity has been found constructivist in Afghanistan. For
Nazif Shahrani, an Afghan-American anthropologist, ethnicity is ―a
means of adaptation for individuals and collectivities within the
changing socio-ecological conditions of their environment, it is a
dynamic phenomenon, subject to temporal redefinition and
reorganization with potential for defining structural integrity,
66
Barth, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries, 1969, pp 10-11.
67
Ibid., p 15.
68
Eller, J, D., From Culture to Ethnicity to Conflict: An Anthropological Perspective
on International Ethnic Conflict. Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press,
2002, pp 8-9.
69
Ibid., p 18.
70
Erikson, H, T., Ethnicity and Nationalsim: Anthropological Perspectives. Pluto
Press, New York 2010, p 1.
71
Ibid., pp 11-12.

23
distinctiveness and effectiveness for people so organized‖.72
According
to Thomas Barfield, though, ethnic groups in Afghanistan assert that
ethnicity is primordial, however, in practice, it has been found flexible
rather constructivist.73
A tribal group may change a significant ancestor
in an oral genealogy to reflect social distance. Even, groups in conflict
cut back ties to make their lineages appear more distant and less
worthy of cooperation. To promote cooperation, Pashtun may
incorporate a neighboring group by grafting their genealogy onto one‘s
own at a higher level.74
Discussing ethnic composition of Afghanistan, Erwin Orywal
and collaborators have listed 55 ethnic groups.75
For him, these groups
and identities as local categories are relative, varied, and dynamic.76
His ethnic groups include: ―Arab (Arabic speakers), Arab (Persian
speakers), Aimaq, Baluch, Baluch (Jat Baluch), Brahui, Eshkashimi,
Farsiwan, Firuzkuhi, Gavarbati, Gharbat, Gujar, Hazara, Hazara-Sunni,
Hindu, Jalali, Jamshedi, Jat, Jogi, Kirghiz, Kutana, Maliki, Mawri,
Mishmast, Moghol, Mountain-Tajik, Munjani, Nuristani, Ormuri,
Parachi, Pashai, Pashtun, Pikraj, Qarliq, Qazak, Qipchak, Qizilbash,
Rushani, Sanglichi, Shadibaz, Sheghrani, SheykhMuhammadi, Sikh,
Taheri, Tajik, Tatar, Taymani, Taymuri, Tirahi, Turkmen, Uzbek,
72
Shahrani, Nazif., Ethnic Relations and Access to Resources in Northeast
Badakhshan. In Ethnic Processes and Intergroup Relations in Contemporary
Afghanistan: Papers presented at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Middle East
Studies Association at New York City, Nov, 10, 1977. P 15. Accessed from,
http://www.afghandata.org.8080/xmluilbitstream/haret_ds354_5_a53_1928_w.pdf?S
equence+1&isAlowed=y
73
74
Ibid., pp 21-22.
75
Orywal, E., 1986, (Hg.)
DieethnischenGruppenAfghanistans.FallstudienzuGruppenidentitätund
Intergruppenbeziehungen.BeiheftezumTübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients
(TAVO), Reihe B, Nr. 70, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag.
76
Ibid., pp 9-18.

24
Wakhi, Wangawala, Yahudi, and Zuri‖.77
It is evident that he has taken
into account kin, clan, village, tribe, ethnic/vocational/confessional
group, profession and nationality.
H. B. Bellow has mentioned six ethnic groups in his Races of
Afghanistan, viz. the Afghans (Pashtun), Tajik, Hazara, Aimaq, Uzbek
and Kafir.78
Louis Dupree cited twenty one such groups, including:
Pashtun, Tajik, Farsiwan, Qizilbash, Hazara, Aimaq, Moghol, Uzbek,
Turkmen, Kirghiz, Pamiri, Baluch, Brahui, Nuristani, Kohistani, Gujar,
Jat Guji (called Gujar in North), Arab, Hindu, Sikh and Jew.79
Abdul
Ghani mentioned eleven ethnic groups and divided them into Afghans
(Pashtun) and non-Afghans (Tajik, Turk, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen,
Hindki, Arab, Qizilbash, Hindu and Jew.80
Thomas Barfield has
described seventeen ethnic groups including: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara,
Uzbek, Turkmen, Aimaq, Nuristani, Pashai, Qizilbash, Baluch, Arab,
Pamiris, Jugis, Jats, Kirghiz, Hindu, Sikh.81
The Constitution of
Afghanistan, 2004 has recognised fourteen ethnic groups including:
Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, Baluch, Pashai, Nuristani,
Aimaq, Arab, Kirghiz, Qizilbash, Gujar, and Brahui.82
The four major
ethnic groups, Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara constituting 90% of the
Afghan population,83
are considered to be prominent players in the
77
Ibid., pp 18-19.
78
Bellow, B, H., Races of Afghanistan. Thacker, Spink And Co, Calcutta 1880, p
13.
79
Dupree, 1980, pp 55-65.
80
Ghani, A., A Brief Political History of Afghanistan. ed. Abdul Jaleel Najfi. Najaf
Publishers, Lahore N.Y, p 31.
81
82
Article 4, The Constitution of Afghanistan, 2004.
83
Wafayezada, Q, M., Ethnic Politics, Ethnic Political Parties and the Future of
Democratic Peacebuilding in Afghanistan, p- 69. Retrieved from
http://hdl.hsndle.net/2297/32790, Accessed on 25-05-2015, and Riphenburg, J, K.
Electoral Systems in a Divided Society: The Case of Afghanistan. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20455479 on 25-05-2015.

25
socio-political milieu of Afghanistan. The above discussion constitutes
Afghanistan as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural state.
All major ethnic groups of Afghanistan except the Hazara, have
overlapping international borders into neighbouring countries. In the
south-east, Pashtun overlap with Pashtun in Pakistan; specifically, with
Tribal Areas (FATA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa84
and Baluchistan85
. The
Baluch residing in the south and southeast of Afghanistan (Nimroz,
Helmand, Kandahar), overlap with Baluch in Baluchistan (Pakistan)
and Iran (Siestan) in the southeast.86
In the north, Tajik, Uzbek and
Turkmen have their own co-ethnics residing in independent states of
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan respectively. The Hazara,
though Mongols, have Shia confessional ties with Iran. In the west,
Herat, mainly Pashtun and Tajik dominated, have cultural ties with
Iran. In the north-east, Wakhi overlap into Pakistan (Wakhan, Kalash)
and Chinese Uighur (Sinkiang), while Brahui overlap into the south-
east with Baluchistan, Pakistan. The neighbouring states of
Afghanistan have in-built mechanism and incentives to meddle into its
internal affairs (see Chapter 4).87
Situations had been further
complicated when the regional (Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, China)
and extra-regional (West, NATO) states interfered into by fueling or
undermining ethnicity. Following are the brief descriptions of the four
major ethnic groups including the smaller ones.
84
Dupree, 1980, pp 55-65.
85
Goodson, 2001, p 14.
86
Dupree, 1980, p 57.
87

26
1.4 THE PASHTUN
Scholars tend to agree that Pashtun comprise the largest
plurality in Afghanistan followed by Tajiks, Hazara and Uzbek.88
The
Pashtun, politically dominant since 1747, have ruled the country
throughout its most history. Historically, the word ―Afghan‖ has been
synonymous with ―Pashtun‖. In that sense, Afghanistan could be
equated with the ―land of the Pashtuns‖.89
However, presently,
―Afghan‖ stands for the national character, and the outside world view
them regardless of ethnic origin.90
Yet, the ethnic groups other than
Pashtun contest it, they prefer ―Afghani‖ or ―Afghanistani.‖ For them,
Afghan implies Pashtun.91
The origin of Pashtuns is shrouded in mystery. We have no
appearance of the word ‗Pashtun‘ in historical records prior to 17th
century A.D. except the word paktuk, which appears in Herodotus‘s
(484-430 B.C.) 92
work while composing the Greek strides in around
the northwestern borders of ancient India. Pactyica is mentioned as the
land of Pashtun in this work.93
When the Aryan tribes came to Bakhdi
and Bakhtar, and Balkh (their central place), a tribe named pakht
(Pakhtun) remained from Bakhtari Aryans, which spread to Indian and
Iranian lands crossing Indus. Veda, the Aryan‘s holy book written
around 1400 B.C. describes mostly about present Pashtun lands,
88
Maley, W., The Afghanistan Wars. Macmillan: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, p 20.
89
90
Ibid., p 24.
91
Ibid., p 24.
92
Khan, A, M., Peoples of Central Asia. Biannual Research Journal No.48 (Summar
2001) ‗Central Asia‘. Area Study Centre (Russia, China & Central Asia), University
of Peshawar, pp 22-24.
93
Habibi, H, A., Da Pakhto Adbiyato Tarikh, Volume-1. Government Printing Press,
Kabul, Pashto Academy, 1946, p 30.

27
mountains and rivers.94
Avesta, another book of the region, written
around 1000 B.C., though does not mention the word Pakht or
Pakhtun, but shows description of Bakhdi-Balkh culture.95
Pakht of
Veda and Pakti or Paktis of Herododus seem same leading to the word
order such as, bakhd-bakht-pakht-pakt-pakht.96
For Varaha Mihira (505-587 A.D.), the Indian astrologer, the
first mention of Afghan dates back to the 6th
century. The Afghans,
living within the territory of eastern Afghanistan, were referred to as
―Avagana‖ (presumably Afghan) in his book, Brhat Samhita. During
his visit of India in the 7th
Century (629-645 A.D.), the Chinese pilgrim
Hsuan Tsang mentions ―A-pokien‖, a people suggestive of Afghans.
They lived more precisely in the area of the Suleiman Range.97
Besides, in Muslim sources, there may be found an earliest mention of
Afghan, particularly in the work of the Arab chronicler Ibn‘l Athir
(976), and in Hudud al-Alam (982).98
The latter work is an anonymous
Persian geography. The Persian works mentions Afghan a small
population inhabiting the Suleiman Range. Al-Utbi, the secretary of
the King Mahmud of Ghzni, reports in his 11th
century work, Tarikh-I
Yamini that Afghan formed a contingent in the Ghaznavide monarch‘s
army. Alberuni, later, identified various Afghan tribes located along
the frontier of Western-India. Ibn Battuta had passed through Kabul in
1333. He claimed that he had met ―a tribe of Persians called Afghans‖
who were mostly highwaymen living in the Suleiman Range, and
94
Ibid., p 26.
95
Ibid., p 29.
96
Ibid., p 30.
97
Gregorian, V., The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics of Reform and
Modernization (1880-1946), Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1969, p
29.
98
Ibid., p 29.

28
possessed considerable strength.99
According to Schurmann, during
Babur‘s time, the term, ―Afghanistan‖ used in a restricted sense,
referred to south of Ghazni, inhabited by Afghans. However, from the
end of the 13th
century on, Afghans are mentioned in the Kirman-
Yazd-Fars regions of Persia, fighting as mercenaries of the Kurt rulers
of Herat, and plundering caravans going between Persia and India.
During 11-18th
centuries, the Afghan expansion from the Suleiman
Range and their nature of early Afghan society, remains unstudied.100
The word Pashto appears for the first time in a historical text
called Madan-e-Ikhbaar-e-Ahmadi by Ahmad Bin Bahbal Bin Jamal
Kamgaar written in 1611.101
The treatise on theology Khairul Bayan102
by Bayazid Ansari (1522-84 A.D.), written in 1572 in four languages
such as Pashto, Persian, Arabic and Punjabi 103
is another report on the
existence of Pashto language.104
Besides, Tazkeratul Aoliya, a
fragmentary Pashto work of which we have 4-6 pages extant in
original, was written in 1215 A.D. by Sulaiman Makoo.105
In
Makhzan-e-Afghani or Tarikh-e- Khan Jehani106
written by Khwaja
Nematullah Harwi in early 17th
century, in Deccan, India, attributes
semitic origin to the Afghans, that Qais Abdur Rashid, the putative
common ancestor of Pashtuns, converted to Islam, and his grandson
99
Ibid., p 29.
100
Ibid., pp 29-30.
101
Khan, A, M., 2001, p 24.
102
Roshan, B., Khairul Bayan. Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Kabul University
1975.
103
Habibi, H, A., Pakhto Nasar Ta Karkatanai. Academy of Sciences, Kabul 1981, p
5.
104
Khan, A, M., 2001, pp 22-24.
105
Hewadmal, Z., Da Pakhto Nasar Ata Sawa Kala. Millat Printers, Lahore 1996, pp
132-147, and Habibi, H, A., , 1981, p 5. Lahore:
106
Ibid., Habibi, p 5.

29
was named Afghaniah.107
However, this fact is not supported by the
writings and histories of the 10th
century Utbi (Kitabul Tamini),
Alberuni (Kitabul Hind), Ibnul Asir (Taarikh-e-Kamil) and Fakhri
Mudabir (Adabul Harb Val Shujaa) all 10th
, 11th
and onward centuries
works mention the region in general and Afghans in particular, who
were non-Muslims, converted to the new faith with the Ghaznavide
and Ghoride occupations of this area.108
The Afghan writers Abdul Hai
Habibi, Ahmad Ali Kohzad and Mir Ghulam Muhammad Ghubar,
mostly reach somewhat close to the issue, are lost at the end.109
Russian writer and translator of Makhzan in 1820, Bernhard Dorn, the
Norwegian linguist G. Morgenstierne, and the two British writers G. P.
Tate and Olaf Caroe reject Nematullah‘s theory and consider Pashtuns
an indigenous product of the ethnic cosmopolity.110
Besides, H. B.
Bellow assumes Afghans (Pashtun) from Bani Israel.111
According to
Gregorian, both Afghan and western writers ascribed Jewish origin to
the Pashtun, however, western writers after substantiating this theory,
found no convincing evidence to consider the theory of the Jewish
origin of the Pashtuns.112
Modern scholars trace that Afghans belong to
the Irano-Afghan branch of the Indo-European or Aryan peoples.
According to them, Pashtuns have some admixture of Turkic, Mongol,
and other groups.113
107
Harwi, N, K., Tarikh-e-Khan Jehani wa Makhzan-e-Afghani (compiled). Markazi
Urdu Board Gulberg, Lahore 1978.
108
Ibid., p 25.
109
Ibid., p 25.
110
Ibid., p 25.
111
Bellow, B, H., The Races of Afghanistan: Being a Brief Account of the Principal
Nations inhabiting that Country. Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, Chinnai,
2004, pp 15-16.
112
Gregorian,1969, p 27.
113
Ibid., pp 28-29.

30
Qais Abdur Rashid, the putative father of all Pashtuns, had
three sons; Sarban, Bitan and Ghorghast, from whose lines multiple
subtribes of the Pashtuns sprang, placed in the Central Asian
surroundings, in and around Afghanistan.114
Pashtun descent groups
are composed of lineages. United into larger clans, they are grouped in
four maximal descent groups: Durranis, Ghilzais, Gurghusht, and
Karlanri.115
The Durranis comprise the descendants of Qais‘s first son
that reside in the south and southwest of Afghanistan. Their major
tribal components are divided between the Zirak (Popalzai, Alikozai,
Barakzai, and Achakzai) and the Panjpao (Nurzai, Alizai, and Isaqzai).
The Pashtun tribes in Peshawar: Yusafzai, Shinwari, and Mohmand
claim descent through this line.116
Qais second son‘s descendants are,
the Ghilzais, but they are considered through his daughter. Being
largest Afghanistan‘s Pashtun tribal group, Ghilzais reside throughout
the east, the tribes include; Hotaki, Tokhi, Kharoti, Nasiri, Taraki,
Sulaiman Khel, and Ahmadzai.117
Qais third son‘s descendants are the
Ghurghusht, the tribe include; Kakar, and Musa Khel (bordering the
Baluch) and the Safi (in the Kunar region). Besides, the Karlanri (often
labeled Pathans by the British), asserted to be descendants of an
adopted child of uncertain origin, straddling the Afghan-Pakistan
border. Bulk of its populations reside in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the
tribes include; Wardak, Orakzai, Afridi, Wazir, Jaji, Tani, Khattak,
114
Khan, 2001, pp 24-25.
115
116
Ibid., p 25.
117
Tapper, R., N.Y., p 125.

31
Zadran, Mangal, Mahsud, Khugiani118
, Marwat, Banuchis, Dawar,
Bangash, Turi, Hani, Utman khel, Dilazak, and Zazi.119
The emergence of Pashtun to prominence in Afghanistan (since
1747) brought their tribal code Pashtunwali as a legal system in the
settling of disputes. Pashtunwali is a way of life, its primary features
include: melmastia (hospitality); nanawati (asylum); badal (blood
revenge); torah (bravery); meranah (manhood); isteqamat
(persistence); sabat (steadfastness); imandari (righteousness); ghyrat
(defense of the property and honour); and namus (defense of the
honour of women). Pashtunwali is a code of behavior, while, jirga is
an institution of conflict resolution in Afghan society.120
According to
Frederik Barth, melmastia (hospitality), jirga (council) and purdah
(seclusion) are the three central institutions providing organizational
mechanisms to realize core Pashtun values fairly successfully.121
Pashtuns ideals demands adherence to Pashtunwali and the ability to
speak Pashto.122
Though, the ability to speak Pashto is not enough. The
person who does Pashto, not speaking Pashto, is considered Pashtun,
and ‗doing‟ Pashto in this sense means living by a rather exacting
code, Pashtunwali in terms of which some Pashto speakers
consistently fall short.123
The Pashtun tribal organization is based on the principals of
patrilineality, honour, and obligation as realized for political and
judicial purposes through the mechanism of the council (jirga). Its
118
119
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pashtun_tribes#karlani. Accessed 28-
06-2015
120
121
Barth, 1969, pp 120-123.
122
123
Barth, F., Features of Person and Society in Swat Collected Essays on Pathans,
Volume-II.( ed). Adam, Kuper. Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, London 1981, p 105.

32
model of whole system is the group of brothers. It includes
independent men with separable interests. They keep peace by
common blood. Their unification is based on equality and as corporate
body through joint decision making.124
The tribal political structures of Pashtun are essentially
acephalous: they constitute by lineage councils (jirgas) arranged in a
hierarchy of inclusiveness. Within councils of every level the interest,
and in the long run, survival, of individuals and segments can only be
secured through debate, requiring the skilled use of idiom. Besides,
Baluch tribes have a centralized form: socially stratified. Their
structure is composed of channels of communication through echelons
of leaders.125
Thus, Pashtun as a majority ethnic group in Afghanistan,
have a long history, established socio-cultural system, with a political
culture.
1.4.1 THE TAJIK
The term, Tajik has derived from Taiy; (its original form,
Tazik/Tezik), the Arabic tribal name. It was used for ‗Arab‘ in Central
Asia. Later, it came to be used for the Iranian subjects of the Arabs in
contrast to the Turks.126
H.B. Bellow supports this theory,127
however,
the owner of rich culture and pomp society, the Tajiks are by most
accounts considered an Aryan stock living since recorded history in
Turkistan, Afghanistan, the Pamir region, in parts of Sinkiang, Iran and
even moved with the passage of time on to the Indo-Pak sub-
continent.128
For Gregorian, they constitute the aboriginal inhabitants
124
Ibid., pp 95-99.
125
Ibid., pp 93-94.
126
Akiner, S., Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union. p-303
127
Bellow, 2004, pp 109-110.
128
Khan, 2001, p 21.

33
of the country.129
The western writers such as, T. Noldeke and W. W.
Barthold hold the emphasis on the theory of Bano Tay, which was the
nearest bordering Arab tribe on the north-east of desert An-Nefud
towards Persia. Every Arab entering the west from Basra to Persia was
Tay or Tay Chik (belonging to Tay). Tay developed to Tazi, which in
Persian means Arab. Thus, Arab travelers and/or traders were called
Tazi in Persian, the word, later on, moved to Central Asia. Every
person entering from Persian side, irrespective of his ethnicity, was
called Tazi, and the people thus called Tajiki.130
To an Iranian, Tajik is
a non-Turk, non-Arab and a descendent of the Arab settled in Ajam
(Persia). They are considered Persian by the Turkic population of
Central Asia. To an Afghan, they are migrant from the north-west.
Tajik for themselves use the term Parsigoay. A large number of Tajik
sub-tribes, known after the residence, include; Badzhus, Bartangi, Khik
or Vakhi, Khufis, Ghugnan, Rushan, Shikomshi or Ishkasji and
Yazgulmish.131
The Tajiks, usually defined as non-tribal Persian-speaking
Sunni Muslims, having the least internal coherence,132
do not make a
genealogical claim of association between its members.133
However,
they maintain common identity distinguished primarily by residence.134
They reside chiefly around Kohistan and Kabul, and in the
valleys of the Panjshir River and the Upper Oxus.135
They make up the
129
Gregorian, 1969, p 32.
130
Ibid., pp 21-22.
131
Ibid., p 21.
132
133
Ghittard, C, A., (Unpublished Senior Thesis). Qawm: Tribe-State Relations in
Afghanistan from Darius to Karzai. The College of Arts and Sciences, Boston. 2011,
Retrieved from https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-
ir:102201/datastream/PDF/view Accessed on 05-06-2015
134
135

34
majority urban residence in Kabul, Herat and Mazar. Tajiks respond
with their regional affiliation (Badakhshi, Panjsheri, Shmali, Salangi
etc) or city residence (Kabuli or Herati) when asked about their
identity. Tajiks of rural areas practice subsistence farming, but those in
urban areas, overwhelmingly associated with business community,
bureaucracy, and the educated clergy. Dari is the lingua franca in
Afghanistan as well as the language of government administration.
Literacy in Persian provide Tajik a great edge in Afghanistan. It gives
them powerful role no matter who rules the country. A tendency exists,
according to which, some Dari speaker groups classify any Dari
speaker as a Tajik. Some categorize any detribalized urban resident as
Tajik. This inclination may be found particularly in Kabul. Co-ethnic
Tajiks reside across the border in Tajikistan.136
According to Bellow, Tajik, during the second half of 19th
century, occupied a subordinate, and to some extent, a servile position
amongst the inhabitants of Afghanistan, and had no voice in the
government or politics.137
Besides, enjoying high reputation for their
intelligence, fidelity and industry, they were engaged in high skillful
jobs in the cities such as, accountants, secretaries and overseers in
public and private establishments, and worked as farmers and
gardeners in rural areas138
. Throughout history, Afghanistan witnessed
two Tajik rule in the 20th
century; in 1929 (for a period of 9 months)139
and another during 1992-94.140
Presently, the Tajiks are much
established in the socio-economic and political fields.
136
Gladstone, C., Afghanistan Revisited. Nova Publishers, 2001, p 128.
137
Bellow, 2004, pp 111-112.
138
Ibid., p 112.
139
Rasanayagam, 2005, p 22.
140

35
Some of the finest Asiatic writers, poet and thinkers emerged
from Tajiks such as, Bu Ali Sina (Avicena), Alberuni, Farabi, Jami,
Behzad and Roomi. The Soviets included Saadi, Khyyam and Firdousi
amongst them, though they were Persian.141
1.4.2 THE HAZARA
The Hazara reside in the central range of the Hindu Kush, in
Afghanistan, a region known as Hazarajat. They are Shia Muslims,
engaged in alpine subsistence agriculture and livestock breeding,142
however, Ismailism is widespread among the Shaikh Ali Hazara,
though, the Aimak and Taimani Hazara are Sunni Muslims.143
Some
Tajiki-speaking Sunni Hazara are found in the upper reaches of central
valleys of Badakhshan.144
The Hazara converted to Twelver (Imami)
shiism in the 1500s when Iran converted to the same belief by the
Safavids.145
This made Pashtun and Uzbek their enemy in the
neighbourhood.146
The Hazara, descended from the Mongol armies (13th
century),147
speak Hazargi, a dialect of Dari. There seems difficult to
establish direct linguistic connections between Hazara and Mongols. A
large Mongolian element exists in the Hazara dialect. It suggests
fundamental cultural contact with the Mongols in history.148
According
to Mousavi, their ancestors can be traced back to the Turkic inhabitants
141
Khan, 2001, p 22.
142
143
144
Shahrani, Nazif., 1977, p 15.
145
Williums, G, B., Afghanistan.Retrieved from http://www.
brianglynwilliums.com/pdfs/20120301114407597.pdf
146
Ibid., p 183.
147
Barfield, 2010, p 27, and Williums, G, B., Afghanistan, p183.
148
Gregorian,1969, pp 33-34.

36
of Central and Eastern Asia, who had migrated to the Hazarajat from
Southern and Northern Hindu Kush more than 2300 years ago.149
They came to spread Buddhism from the south and to conquer India
from the north. A probability is based on the artifacts found in
Bamiyan valley that the Buddhist monks who brought Buddhism into
the region were from Nepal, Tibet and southern China.150
According to
Bellow, the interior of Hazara country was unknown to Europeans
until the second half of 19th
century.151
Besides, the Hazara had a
reputation of brave and hardy race, though, among the Afghans
(Pashtun) were considered faithful, industrious and intelligent as
servants.152
Hazarajat contains three principal groups- the Dai-Kindi,
Dai-Zengi and Bahsud. In addition to the Hazarajat, six other groups of
Hazara are; the Koh-i-Baba, Sheikh Ali, Badakhshan, Aimak, and
Taimani.153
Hazara formed agriculture and animal husbandry until the
second half of 19th
century, however, money economy had been
unknown to them.154
Mousavi has presented three theories about the origin of
Hazara. The first theory, proposed by French scholar J. P. Ferrier in the
19th
century, states that Hazara are inhabitants of Afghanistan since the
time of Alexander the Great155
and are Indo-Aryan.156
Abdul Hai
Habibi supports this theory, and according to him, the word Hazar
originated from an ancient Aryan word meaning ‗pure-hearted‘ and
„generous‟, it does not mean thousand, the Farsi translation of the
149
Mousavi, 1998, p 43.
150
Ibid., p 43.
151
Bellow, 2004, p 113.
152
Ibid., p 116.
153
154
Ibid., p 34.
155
Mousavi, 1998, pp 21-22.
156
Ibid., p 22.

37
Mogholi ming.157
The proponents of the second theory are Armenius
Vambery, Mount Stuart Elphinstone, H. W. Bellow and Alexander
Burns, according to which, the Hazara descended from Moghol
soldiers who came to Afghanistan with Chingez Khan‘s army.158
They
imbued in the language and culture of Tajiks.159
Other supporters of
this theory believe Hazara as descendants of Turko-Mongol origin.
They consider Hazara as descendants of both Moghol and Turkic
soldiers, who came with Chingez Khan and Amir Timur respectively,
and settled. The third theory assume that Hazara are the descendants of
mixture of various peoples such as Turks, Moghols, Tajiks, Afghan
etc.160
This theory was put forward by H. F. Schurmann in 1962, and
supported by M.H. Kakar. According to Schurmann, Hazara was not
an ethnic group, but a social name, which referred to nomads
inhabiting south-eastern Iran and south-western Afghanistan in 14th
century, which included other ethnic groups such as the Nikudaris,
Nauruzis, Jurmais, and even Afghans. They migrated to the east,
Hazarajat, and Kabul, and, resultantly, during the reign of Babur, the
Hazara people were formed.161
Kakar assumes Hazara as the
descendants of Moghol soldiers, mainly Chaghatain, who entered
Afghanistan in between 1229 and 1447, married the aboriginal Barbar
(Tajik) women of central and neighbouring regions of Afghanistan,
and formed the people Hazara in the 16th
century.162
Resultantly, we
can conclude Hazara as descendants of Chingez Khan‘s army who
invaded this region in the 13th
century.
157
Ibid., p 23.
158
Bellow, 2004, p 114.
159
160
Ibid., p 29.
161
Ibid., pp 29-30.
162
Ibid., p 30.

38
Prior to the suppression by Amir Abdur Rehman during the
period 1890-1893 in Afghanistan, the Hazara remained independent
and autonomous in Hazarajat. However, the Amir subjugated the
Hazarajat by then.163
The Hazara were suppressed, sold as slaves in
Kabul, and their pasture lands were given to Pashtun. They were
forced to leave Hazarajat; numerous population migrated outside
Afghanistan, while a lot of population displaced internally. Population
transfer made their number third in Kabul by size in the 1970s. 164
Hazara are shia by sect and Mongol by race. Due to these, they were
victim of prejudice on religious and racial grounds. This made their
social mobility difficult in Afghanistan. They were considered at
bottom in Afghanistan‘s ethnic hierarchy. Systematically, the Pashtun-
dominated governments excluded them from almost all government
positions and educational opportunities.165
Hazara are traditionally
treated as non-conformist, hostile, and heretical. Religion was often
used as a pretext for subjugating them. In the early 19th
century, the
Sunni Uzbek fought the Shia Hazara more than once in the name of
religious unity and purity. Slavery officially abolished in 1895 in
Afghanistan, however, the Hazara continued to have little economic or
social status.166
Until the 1960s, they were generally denied access to
higher education or the higher ranks of military or bureaucracy.167
The Hazara reacted sharply against the dominance of Pashtun
among the Khalqi officials, who enforced Taraki‘s government
reforms. By autums 1978, the Hazara fighters and the Kabul regime
forces battled in Bamiyan, The Hazara viewed Khalqi-communist
163
Gregorian,1969, p 35.
164
165
Ibid., p 27.
166
Gregorian,1969, pp 34-35.
167
Rasayanagum, 2005, p 131.

39
reforms as the ‗rebirth of Pashtun power‘, and resisted it with tooth and
nail. Later by 1981, the Soviet-Afghan forces ceased attacking
Hazarajat provinces, leaving the control of the area exclusively in local
hands.168
During the PDPA‘s government (Parcham rule) the Hazara
situations changed somewhat; a Hazara became prime minister and
another a deputy minister of Afghanistan, as well as they got minor
government posts. 169
Sultan Ali Keshtmand, a Hazara, appointed
prime minister by Babrak Karmal,170
and the Hazara were engaged in
lucrative transport activities. In early 1990s, the government in Kabul
armed them against the Mujahideen.171
Before 1987, the Pashtun had
been allowed to form a Jirga. After that, Hazara were able to form the
first Jirga-ye-Sarasari-e- Milliyat-e- Hazara (the Central Council of
the Hazara People).172
The PDPA government treated minorities justly
because of the constitutional rejection of classification such as tribe,
language and religion.173
It considered all ethnic groups equal and
entitled to equal legal rights according to the law.174
The languages of Uzbek, Turkemen, Baluchi and Nuristani
were elevated to the status of national languages like Dari and
Pashto.175
The Soviets viewed nationalities policy as a source of
weakening the religious opposition to the state, and of establishing
168
Alam, T, M., The Betrayal of Afghanistan: An Analysis of the Afghan Resistance
Against Soviet Union. (Ed), M.Y. Effendi, Area Study Centre (Russia, China &
Central Asia), University of Peshawar, 2005.
169
Mousavi, 1998, p 176.
170
Rasayanagum, 2005, p 132.
171
Ibid., p 132.
172
Ibid., pp 176-177.
173
Ibid., p 176.
174
The Constitution of Afghanistan, Clause 36, 1987:11)
175
Ibid., p 99.

40
political ties between the various ethnic groups in Afghanistan and
their co-ethnics in Iran and Pakistan.176
Gharjistan, the first independent publication by Hazara, not
only criticized openly the government, but for the first time, discussed
the inhuman discrimination they suffered at the hands of ruling
Pashtun.177
During the national resistance movement (1978-92), the
Hazara played active and unique role, however, little recognized. The
active presence of Hazara in the war (1980s) made them socially,
politically and culturally aware (in 1990s). The political awareness
provided them sense of ethnic identity, self-determination and social
justice.178
The Taliban made them particular targets during their
rule.179
When they were united and politically aware, the Constitution,
2004, provided them equal rights in the country along with other major
ethnic groups.
It is very difficult for Hazara to trace their ancestors back more
than seven or eight generations.180
Tol, Tolwar, or Tolwara are the
larger units made up by several Hazara families. Every family is
genealogically related to a Tol, Tayefa and Qaum. The Tol consists of a
Malik, while several Tols make up a Tayefa. A complex unit than the
Tol, Tayefa consists of a network of social and economic relations.
Tayafa has Arbab or Khan as head. It is linked to the families through
the Maliks. They refer any problems to the Arbab or Khan. The highest
unit in the social hierarchy of the Hazara is the Qawm, made up of a
collection of many Tayefas. Qawm is more complex network of
176
Banuazizi, A., & Weiner, M (Ed). The State, Religion and Ethnic Politics:
Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Syracuse University Press, USA., p 15.
177
Ibid., p 176.
178
Mousavi, 1998, pp 175-190.
179
Rasanayagum, 2005, p, 157.
180

41
relations than the Tol or Tayefa. It covers political social, economic,
military and cultural relations.181
Ulus182
, a Turko-Mongol origin and
Hazargi word, not Pashto, is the institution of conflict resolution in the
Hazara. Ulus was used for decision making from personal and tribal
matters to military and national affairs, is still exist and more effective
than the state‘s apparatus.183
1.4.3 THE UZBEK
The word, Uzbek, originated in the 15th
century, is a
combination of two Turkic words Uz (himself or his) and Beg (master)
or it is a changed form of the Oguz Turkic tribe.184
The Uzbek trace
back their genealogy to the Mongol house of Chingez Khan.185
Living
mingled with the Tajik all across the northern plains of Afghanistan,
they extend from Faryab province to Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan
province (or in the important cities of Mazar-i-Sharif, Maimana,
Khanabad, Kunduz and Kataghan).186
There may be found many
mixed Uzbek and Tajik villages. Each live in separate residential
quarters. Uzbek also reside across the Afghan border, in the north, in
their own state of Uzbekistan.187
The Uzbeks of Afghanistan are an
extension of the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan.
The Uzbek, sunni Turkic-speaking people, descended from
nomadic tribal confederations, live mainly in the northern part of
Afghanistan. Until the end of 19th
century, they formed ten semi-
181
Ibid., p 46.
182
Ibid., p 50.
183
Ibid., p 50.
184
Khan, 2001, p 6.
185
Ibid., p 7.
186
187
Gladstone, C, Afghanistan Revisited‘.2001, p 129.

42
independent petty khanates and were predominantly nomadic. Today
the majority have settled near the major towns of northern Afghanistan
such as, Mazar-i-Sharif, Maimana, Khanabad, and Kunduz, and in the
provinces of Qataghan and Badakhshan.188
Most of Uzbek are
sedentary farmers, merchants and craftsmen, some breed horses and
karakul sheep, a source of Afghan valuable export.189
Occupying an
important geopolitical landscape between the Hindu Kush and the
Amu Darya, their language and culture is closer to people in
Uzbekistan than mainstream Afghanistan. Majority of them speak Dari
as a second language.190
Several Uzbek are identified by their old tribal
names. Some refer to their towns of origin in Central Asia. Uzbek
follow a strict patriarchal social structure. Begs, arbab or khans are
bestowed considerable authoritative powers. Hazara cherish marital
endogamy.191
1.5 SMALLER GROUPS
The smaller ethnic groups in Afghanistan constitute around 13
percent or less of the total population. Some groups are politically
important and have attained historical significance beyond their
numbers. The Pashtun rulers have frequently followed an old strategy:
to appoint members of small ethnic groups to high positions in the
government and military. The objective behind was to make them
more loyal. The non-existence of any political base of these groups
within the larger population, made them unlikely to betray their
188
189
Ibid., p 35.
190
Rais, B, R., Recovering the Frontier State: War, Ethnicity, and State in
Afghanistan. Lexington Press, UK 2008, p 45.
191
Gladstone, C., Afghanistan Revisited, p 130.

43
masters.192
The smaller ethnic groups include; the Turkmen, Parsiwan,
Aimaks, Kirghiz, Pamiri, Baluch, Brahui, Nuristani, Pashai, Qizilbash,
Kohistani, Gujar, Arabs, Hindus, Sikhs and Jews.193
The Turkmen, another substantial Turkic group within the
country, reside in the towns of Bala Murghab, Daulatabad, and Aktcha.
Predominantly nomadic or semi-nomadic, they moved freely across the
Persian and Russian borders. They constitute two main tribes; the Salor
and the Ersari; in 1880, the Ersaris furnished substantial military help
to Amir Abdur Rehman (r.1880-1901)194
in his effort to assume full
power, many Turkmen, later, were recruited into his cavalry.195
Farsiwan (or Parsiban) are Imami Shia and mainly agriculturist.
They reside in Herat, Kandahar, Ghazni and other southern and
western Afghan towns. Mistakenly, they are often referred to Tajik in
literature.196
The Aymaq, Dari speaking semi-nomadic social group,
straddling between Herat and Hazarajat,197
are sunni Muslims.
Mongoliod in physical features, they are incorrectly referred to as
―Chahar‖ (Dari ―four‖) Aymaq (Turkic ―tribe‖). They never use
―Chahar‖ unless and until prompted by interrogator. Rather, they refer
to their tribal designations198
such as, Jamshedis, Firuzkuhis, Taimanis,
192
193
Dupree, 1980, pp 59-64.
194
He was the third son of Mohammad Afzal Khan, and grandson of Dost
Mohammad Khan. Abdur Rahman Khan re-established the writ of the Afghan
government after the disarray that followed the second Anglo-Afghan war. He
became known as The Iron Amir after defeating a number of rebellions by various
tribes who were led by his relatives. He ruled Afghanistan from 1880 till 1901.
195
Gregorian, 1969, pp 35-36.
196
Ibid., p 59.
197
Rais, 2008, p 33.
198
Ibid., p 60.

44
Timuris, and Hazara-i-Qala-I Nau.199
They all have distinctive cultural
traits, and speaking variants of the Dari language closer to Herati
accent. Their relations with the Pashtuns have been peaceful and
cooperative.200
Their language resembles modern Persian due to the
mixture of Turkic, Mongol, and Tajik elements although.201
Aymaq
reside in Iran too. There, they are called ‗Barbari‖ or ‗Berberi‘.202
The Nuri, or Kafirs, one of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the
Hindu Kush, are an ethnic group, whose history is obscure.203
Some
consider them descendants of the aborigines of central Afghanistan;
other believe them to be of Greek origin. They had been divided into
two groups, the Siapush (clothed in black) and the Sefidpush (clothed
in white). The first group consisted of five tribes, while, the second,
comprised three.204
Nuris converted to Islam in 1890s. It was once
considered the only major pagan group inside Afghanistan. They
professed a polytheistic religion. It combined elements of animism, fire
worship, and ancestor worship.205
Because of a distinct outlook and
culture of the area, they remained a people apart.206
In 1895-96, Amir
Abdur Rehman making inroads into their lands, converted them
forcibly to Islam; their Islamization completed during the rule of Amir
Habibullah Khan, naming their land as Nuristan instead of
Kafiristan.207
They have always opposed the hegemony of the
neighboring Pashtun tribes.208
Later on, the descendants of Nuri
199
200
Rais, 2008. P 33.
201
202
Duprre, 1980, p 60.
203
204
Ibid., p 37.
205
Ibid., p 37.
206
Alam, 2005, p 156.
207
208
Alam, 2005, p 156.

45
migrated to Kabul, and became an important element of government
and military.209
During Sardar Daud‘s rule (r.1973-1978), many
Nuristanis achieved significant positions in army and police. However,
the Khaliqis executed many of the Nuristani officers in order to win
over the support of Pashtuns living in the neighborhood of Nuristan.
This led to a revolt in the Kunar valley in 1978; by March 1979, most
of the upper Kunar valley was in the hands of Nuristani rebels, who
had declared an Azad (free) Nuristan.210
Their language is different
from any others in Afghanistan. Internal division exists in tribes of
Nuristani. They reside in isolated valleys and speak different
languages.211
Besides, the Pashais have culturally similarity to their
immediate neighbours; Nuristanis. They keep their separate identity
intact.212
The Baluchis, speaking Baluchi, an Iranian tongue, live along
the southern and southwestern frontiers of Afghanistan. There is a
belief that Baluchis migrated from Central Asis to this part of
Afghanistan in the early centuries of Christian era as the last of the
Indo-European migrations.213
Being largely pastural nomads, they
lived, until recently, an isolated life. In 19th
century, their tribal
elements disrupted commercial relations between Iran and
Afghanistan, constantly raiding the province of Siestan.214
Qizilbash, the Turkic people, professed Shia Islam. They
settled in Kabul as garrison troops in the early 18th
century. They
remained an important fighting force in the Afghan civil wars during
209
210
Alam, 2005, p 156.
211
Ibid., p 29
212
Ibid., p 29.
213
214
Ibid., 38.

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