Lawdog's Lessons: Tribalism

Another fine lesson from the Lawdog. Since he's pointed out that truly understanding the situation over there is post-graduate level in several fields, he wanted me to make clear that these are meant as thumbnail sketches off the top of his head. I think they'd make an excellent intro to the topic, and hope he does more like this. I'll also note that these were written a few days before it got really bad over there... 

Ok. The Taleban.

The Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. When they did so, they left a power vacuum that led to several different factions of mujahedeen indulging in a civil war for the country -- with Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence Agency meddling about, keeping the whole thing at a simmer.

Coincidentally, at the same time that the Paki Goon Squad -- excuse me, Pakistani ISI -- was stirring the pot, they also hosted a whole bunch of Pushtun kids at madrassas (religious schools) run by the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam throughout Pakistan.

We'll briefly note that the Pushtun word for 'students' is 'taliban', a loan-word from Arabic, with a connotation of 'those whose seek'.

We'll also note that the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam at the time was becoming fairly heavily influenced and funded by the fundamentalist Wahabbis -- with the attendant shift to hard-line religious fundamentalism.

Come about 1994, and one of these graduates got a severe case of the ass at the rampant sexual excesses of the Afghan warlords, got three or four dozen of his madrassa buddies together, and hung one of said warlords from the barrel of a tank gun.

This graduate -- name of Muhammad Umar -- quickly got himself a vision, announced that he -- personally -- was going to end bacha bazi (the practice of sodomizing young boys), and started thumping paedophiles left, right, and centre.

This got the attention of more madrassa graduates (and the Paki ISI), and before you could turn around twice, Young Umar was in the lead of about 12,000 frothing-at-the-mouth religious students (and a hundred or so ISI agents. For communication and training, of course.), and the non-fanatic locals -- finally seeing someone bringing the warlords to heel -- starting using Umar and his student as neutral arbiters in all sorts of disputes.

Next thing you know (and to the absolute delight of the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence Agency) the tired, fed-up locals were looking at these neutral monkish students and handing the reins of power over to them.

As an odd little aside, Austere Islamic Religious Scholar Muhammad Umar never made the hajj to Mecca.

Anyhoo, Umar and his group of students kept getting more and more power, and more and more "aid" and "guidance" from the Goon Squad at ISI; and finally wound up taking over Afghanistan in 1996. At which point those charming religious students turned into the Islamic version of Nazi Puritans From Hell.

Voila. The short and dirty history of the Taleban in Afghanistan.

***

Ok. Northern Alliance.

Whew. That's ... complicated.

The Pashtuns are native to Southern Afghanistan, speak Pashto and Dari.

The Northern area is home to Kirghiz, Nuristani, Tajik, Turkoman, and some others -- including a minority Pashtun -- and they are fiercely tribal.

In addition, Northern Afghanistan is a crossroads. The Hazara (descendants of Mongols, and distinctly physically different than most Afghans) rub shoulders with the Gujjar (blonde, blue-eyed, and speaking a language not remotely related to any other in the area) who do business with Sikhs and Hindus and live next to Nuristani (who trace their lineage back to Greece, and were called 'kaffiri' and 'infidel' until they converted to Islam -- in the 20th Century).

This crossroads feature has led the Northern tribes to tend to be a little more liberal in outlook than the Taleban.

They don't trust outsiders -- remembering that 'stranger', 'outsider', and 'enemy' are frequently synonyms -- and the Taleban, who owe allegiance to a religion instead of a person, speak a different dialect, with a different accent, and have no ancestral claim to any land -- are as much outsiders as we are.

While Johnny Taleban is following his strict religious teaching as to Ramar Singh ... the Singh family has been in this valley longer than the Taleban have existed. Who the hell are you, stranger, to tell us how to handle our Sikhs?

Who are you to tell us that the Tajiks may not allow their women to work? The Tajiks who have been in this valley since before your great-great-grandsire had a beard?

Like I said: complicated.