The history of Afghanistan is essentially a chain of the formation of ethnic hegemony.
Author: Mueen Islampoor, former officer of the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan
If we turn to the history of Afghanistan, we will see the bitter reality of ethnic hegemony and national supremacy— a malignant tumor that has persisted throughout different eras, taking on various “hardware” and “software” forms.
Some kings and ruling regimes attempted to symbolically give their ethnic domination a nationalistic tone. However, their political and military conduct quickly exposed them, and the mask of hypocrisy fell away, revealing their true ethnocratic nature.
Every Afghan tyrant went down in history more disgracefully than his predecessor. It is difficult to find a political figure in the country’s history who did not begin his rule with empty slogans such as “national participation,” “national unity,” “national sovereignty,” and similar phrases. With such “national” rhetoric, they merely concealed their ethnic hegemony and ethnocratic policies, which they strengthened during their time in power.
If we pass through the dark periods of dictatorships and totalitarian regimes and briefly examine some fragments of this historical game, the rule of Abdur Rahman Khan (1880–1901) stands out as a vivid example of political despotism and open ethnic repression in the nineteenth century. Through repression of various peoples, mass deportations, and the reinforcement of Pashtun dominance, he consolidated and strengthened his autocratic rule.
According to historical sources, more than 60% of the Hazara population was exterminated due to their ethnic and religious identity, by Abdur Rahman Khan’s orders, aimed at reinforcing ethnic hegemony. The scale of the mass flight abroad and deportations to other regions of the country was extremely brutal and shocking. Another portion of the Hazara population was scattered and turned into refugees. To this day, they remain deprived of their ancestral lands.
Tajiks and Uzbeks faced a similar fate. Their lands and territories were handed over to southern settlers in the North to alter the region’s ethnic composition and weaken the social influence of Tajiks and Uzbeks.
The Period of Zahir Shah and Rule Through His Relatives
Zahir Shah’s uncles (1933–1973), in addition to violence, terror, horror, and the historical humiliation of various peoples, continuously maintained an ethnocratic structure of governance for more than forty years, managing organized deportations and resettlements.
The Republic Under Sardar Daoud Khan (1973–1978)
The chain of despotism during this period was so frightening and tragic that they spared neither themselves nor others. The most prominent manifestation of Daoud Khan’s ethnic hegemony was the “Greater Pashtunistan” project. This ethnic policy brought him to the brink of a full-scale war with Pakistan, but due to Pakistan’s flexible and soft strategy, the imminent war was prevented. This, in turn, strengthened the communist factions “Khalq” and “Parcham” (1979–1992). Although other factors, including the Soviet Union’s interference in Daoud Khan’s government, played a decisive role, the ethnic supremacy approach—today’s “Lara-Bar” theory (referring to Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line)—became the primary factor in the downfall and assassination of Daoud Khan and his family.
The Monstrous Rise of the Taliban (1996–2001)
The Taliban, with their harsh yet outwardly “just” interpretation of Islam and slogans of ensuring security, supported by the intelligence services of several countries, acted against the Mujahideen government and ultimately drove it out of Kabul.
After coming to power, the Taliban acted entirely along ethnic lines. All their judicial and populist slogans proved to be empty. The group focused on strengthening their ethnically based rule.
Even during the era of Western “modern democracy” under Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani (2001–2021), the same ethnic hegemony continued, albeit in a somewhat softer form. A clear example was the inclusion of the term “Afghan” in electronic ID cards.
After the fall of the republic on August 15, 2021, and the Taliban’s return to power, an even darker and more disgraceful period of the occupation-style “Islamic Emirate” began, where religion and faith are used as tools for ethnic politics. This period is even more horrifying and shameful than the autocracy of Abdur Rahman Khan. It can be seen as an explicit revival of ethnic—Taliban hegemony in the spirit of Abdur Rahman Khan’s despotism.
The people of Afghanistan have always been captives, trapped in the cycles of ethnic regimes’ despotism. Instead of acting in the interests of the nation, these regimes operated along ethnocratic and supremacist lines. As a result, for many years, the country did not advance along this path; development and nation-building lagged, and today our society, compared to other countries, has become not only a cursed and despised identity before our neighbors, but also a terrifying nightmare across the world.
The main factor behind this situation has been the ethnic conduct of fascist and populist leaders, who have driven our society into this dark predicament.
