The fall of Panjshir is the greatest achievement of the Pashtuns in the last hundred years.
Author: Habib Hamidzada, journalist and writer
The capture of the Panjshir Valley was a dream of the Taliban * and the hegemonists of the Pashtun society. In the days leading up to the fall of the valley, men, and women, the left and right of the Pashtun community rallied against the Panjsher resistance to the Taliban, and in the following days, along with the Taliban, they broadcast videos of the fall of the valley and the raising of the Taliban flag. Even the night before the fall of Panjshir, from Mashriqi (eastern regions) to Kabul, they fired into the air for joy.
On the first day of their arrival in Panjshir, they destroyed the stone of Ahmad Shah Massoud's tomb, the historical and social face of part of the people of society. The fall of Panjshir was the best holiday for the Pashtun hegemonists. No event was more joyful for them than the capture of Panjshir. The fall of Panjshir is the greatest achievement of the hegemonic Pashtuns in the last hundred years.
The Taliban's military campaign in Panjshir was similar to Nadir Khan's campaign in Kuhdaman. In an article for the "Hashte Sobh" newspaper entitled "Afghanistan in the fourteenth century: the power of the Yahya dynasty", I documented and told the story of Nadir Khan's treatment of the inhabitants of Shemali** from reliable sources about Afghanistan, where is written:
“When Nadir Shah captured Kabul, he began diplomacy and dialogue with Habibaullah Kalakani. After sealing the Qur'an, he brought him from Jabalussiraj to Kabul. Nader Khan's government announced a general amnesty in Kabul to show goodwill to the people and forces in the territories of Habibullah Kalakani and made a compromise with the inhabitants of Kapisa and Parwan, who were considered his allies. This was not enough, and, oddly enough for the inhabitants of these areas, he appointed Mirza Mohammad Yusuf Khan, Habibullah Kalkani's chief secretary, as governor. The inhabitants of Parwan and Kapis agreed to obey Nader Shah and his government.
But Nader Khan, having strengthened the foundations of his power, renouncing the oath (on the Koran), first shot Habibullah Kalakani, and then hanged him. After strengthening the government, Nadir Khan conspired and deceived the people of Kohdaman and Shemali to rebel, and under the pretext of its suppression began to oppress all the indigenous people. He gathered an army of twenty-five thousand people from the Ahmadzai, Karukhil, Zozay, Mangal, Tutokhel, Waziri, Wardak, Maidan, and Tago tribes of the south and sent them along with the government armed forces to kill and rob the inhabitants of Shemali. According to Mir Gholam Mohammad Ghubar, the Interior Minister of Nader Khan (Mohammad Gol Mohmand) looted houses, destroyed walls, and gardens, and burned castles. He tortured, insulted, and humiliated the living. Mohammad Gol Khan "demanded the soul from the rebel, and money from those who surrendered, insulted and forgot the denier with a stick, even threatened to summon his wife for public viewing." In the houses where the search was carried out, and there were no weapons and money, the women of the family were threatened with sticking needles in the chest.”
Nader Khan, during the aggression and plunder of Shemali, gathered soldiers from the entire southern tribe, and in Panjshir War the Taliban led half of their troops to all parts of the valley. The last incident in Panjshir at the tomb of Ahmad Shah Massoud belongs to the historical complex. Massoud fought the Taliban until the last days of his life. The Panjshir was an invincible stronghold of Masud during all periods of resistance, and of course, its conquest gave the Taliban great pleasure and enjoyment.
Recently, Taliban militants performed a local Pashtun dance at Massoud's tomb when music is forbidden by their religious government leadership. This cannot be regarded as an accidental action by a group of illiterate poor youth. This is an ethnic maneuver and a demonstration of victory over a front, which claims to change the regime and protect social and national justice.
The attan dance over the grave of Ahmad Shah Massoud will also stain the hearts and minds of his heirs. Traitor heirs who over the past twenty years have only amassed wealth, trampling on all the values of the people, and left the country before others in the difficult days of the Taliban attack on Panjshir.
These events are not the end of the history of Afghanistan. Nothing ends and nothing is sealed. When Hitler's forces shook Europe and all hopes for the liberation of Europe from fascism were pinned only on the small island of England, Churchill went to the British Parliament to find out the opinions of parliamentarians. “Success is not the end, failure is not destructive,” he said in his famous speech to lawmakers. “Only one thing matters and that is the courage to continue.”
We have experienced great events and even greater catastrophes. The blade of ethnic fascism has been blunted by our deaths, but such behaviors have never weakened our people's will to fight and resist. The result of popular struggle may come late, but the result of popular resistance is certain. Right now, people in different parts of Afghanistan are rising up and killing the Taliban from time to time.
The difference between the struggle of this chapter of the history of Afghanistan and the previous ones is that it is conscious. The essence of all of us is known to each other. A peaceful and fraternal life is no longer possible. The wounds we have inflicted on each other's souls are incurable. The next war will either lead to new geographic and political units or at least create a system that deprives the Taliban of superiority over other people of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's main problem is not the Taliban. There is an entity called "hegemony" that manifests itself every few years in the form of the Taliban and other groups. We not only faced and face the Taliban. We have faced and are facing a trend that is historical and has always existed. Amir Abdul Rahman Khan, the Yahya family, Amin, the Taliban, Taqat, Yun, and thousands of other Pashtun public figures who have written and spoken share a common essence that manifests itself in different forms.
* The organization is under UN sanctions or banned due to terrorist activities.
** Shemali is the common name for the provinces north of Kabul - Parwan, Kapisa and Panjshir.
