"Golden period", which laid the foundation for war and tragedies in Afghanistan
Author: Farid Yunus, Professor Emeritus of Cultural Anthropology and Islamic Philosophy, California State University, Member of the Sangar Advisory Board
On Wednesday, July 13, 2022, Radio Kitab, broadcast from London by Mr. Naveed Mohseni via Zoom, invited guests to discuss about the results of the decade of democracy (1963-1973), and I was one of the guests. I write summaries of my words.
The decade of Afghan democracy initiated by the late Zahir Shah had both negative and positive aspects, but, as a historian, I think that this period of history is one of the most brilliant periods in the recent history of Afghanistan. He had his mistakes. The only book written about this period is that of the late Sabahuddin Qashqaki, minister of information and culture in the cabinet of the late Mohammad Musa Shafiq, the last prime minister of the decade of democracy.
After the dictatorial period of the late Prime Minister Muhammad Daudkhan, people could breathe easily. The most important political issue was the transfer of power to a non-family person. That is, political power passed to the people, and the late Dr. Mohammad Yusuf, originally from Kabul, became the prime minister.
The 1964 constitution can be considered a digestible constitution, despite the fact that it had its shortcomings in terms of citizens' rights, which is the subject of a separate discussion. People traveled freely. Total security prevailed. Religion was not imposed. The government was open to "minority" citizens, and the first Shia lady of Afghanistan, originally from Herat, was included in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1968. Non-Pashtun officials were also given the opportunity to be promoted to higher positions. Prior to this, the Pashtuns exclusively prevailed in the Ministry of Defense.
The author of these lines was young at the end of the decade of democracy, was an interpreter for French tourists, and traveled easily and comfortably in the provinces. Commercial theories that bring income to the people have penetrated into Afghanistan. Newspapers were absolutely free and diverse. Those who had a business traveled and did business. Kabul, which at that time had a population of no more than three hundred and fifty thousand people, has become a dynamic and energetic city. Various cinemas, restaurants and clubs were opened. Many refer to this period as the “golden age” of Afghanistan.
In terms of regional political methods and the "Great Game", which made Afghanistan a buffer zone, although Afghanistan was not a party to a military pact such as CENTO, but quietly wanted to get out of the influence of Soviet Russia, which destroyed the neutrality of Afghanistan and its status as a non-bloc during the time of the prime ministers -Ministry of Sardar Mohammad Daoud.
We should be aware of CENTO because this agreement brought Afghanistan under the indirect influence of Soviet Russia or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the time of the late Sardar Mohammad Daudkhan. The CENTO Treaty, which was first created in Baghdad under the name of the Middle East Treaty Organization and became known as the "Baghdad Treaty", later became the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). On February 24, 1955, a military alliance, originally designed by the British and including Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, and England, was created, which served as a military barrier to the advance of communism. This organization was dissolved in March 1979.
The people were not afraid of the government. But the biggest problem of the decade of democracy was that, from the point of view of political sociology, democracy for Afghanistan was not defined as what an Afghanistan democracy should be. This problem led to the fact that the law on the parties was not passed because the country and the king did not know how our uncertain democracy would be going. One smart man suggested that the king not sign the law on parties. Parties in an ethnic, tribal, and Sunni country have no other result than strife and clashes. Moreover, Islam does not approve of political parties and considers it expedient to have a council among the people. Party society is the ideology of Western democracy, not Islamic.
July 14, 2022, Commemoration of the French Revolution