The territory of Afghanistan is divided into Kulyab and Punjab, and its inhabitants are also divided into Kulabis and Punjabis.
Author: Farid Ahmad Kulabi
TEXT OF THE PHOTO: Greetings to the local Kulyabians, whose stronghold is the Hindu Kush mountains. Their resistance is directed against tyranny, oppression, barbarism, injustice, inequality, lack of culture, illiteracy, women's rights, human rights, social justice and... Victory for the upright, proud and free kulabis!
There is a big campaign on social networks - Facebook and Twitter, in which a large number of users in their posts express pride that they are “Kulabis”, and even added the word “Kulabi” (Kulabis) as pseudonyms behind their names on social networks. For example, "Maryam Kulabi", "Partizan Kulabi", "Ahmad Panjshiri Kulabi" and...
The posts that are published are interesting! For example, one writes: “We, the people of Kulab, today are courageously fighting for the territorial integrity of this country and opposing tyranny.” Or "Hello to the proud and courageous Kulabies of Khorasan!"
If a person from Tajikistan or anywhere else besides Afghanistan reads such posts, they will definitely be intrigued and ask: what is going on?
The fact is that the label “Kulabi” is not so new for the Tajiks of Afghanistan, especially for today's resistance. A few years ago, a Pashtun-Afghan named Mohmand in Mazar-i-Sharif rebelled against Ustad Atamuhammad Nur and, after being severely beaten by Mr. Nur's supporters, called him a "Kulabi" in his post.
The Afghans or Pashtuns believe that the Tajiks of Afghanistan migrated to Afghanistan from Kulab and should return or be returned back (that's what the subtitle on this photo says).
General Raziq of Kandahar once praised Mullah Omar and said that the Taliban had driven the Tajik leaders into Kulab. Abdulrab Rasul Sayyaf, one of the leaders of the jihadists of Afghanistan, also remembered Kulab at the memorial meeting of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani and spoke about his escape with him to the Tajik city of Kulab.
Kulab, or Tajikistan, has always been a haven for Afghan Tajiks. During the First Resistance to the Taliban (1996-2001), Tajikistan was a country that sheltered anti-Taliban leaders and did not refuse to help them. Now we are witnessing a repetition of that history.
During the Second Resistance to the Taliban (since 2021), most of the anti-Taliban forces took refuge in Tajikistan, and so far, it has been Tajikistan that has directly supported the rights of not only Tajiks, but also other non-Pashtun peoples of Afghanistan.
Martyr Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the First Resistance, also referred to the Pashtun Taliban as "Punjabis" or "Punjabi mercenaries". But he hinted that they were the mercenaries of Punjab or Pakistan ISI. He respected and collaborated with the Pashtuns - anti-Taliban and considered Afghanistan the birthplace of all ethnic groups.
Since that time, the anti-Taliban have called the Taliban "Punjabis", and today the Pashtuns, apparently, call the Tajiks, who are their main rivals for the control of Afghanistan, "Kulabis".
In the past, the Taliban have openly said and now continue to say that "Tajiks should go to Tajikistan, Uzbeks to Uzbekistan, and Hazaras to Mongolia." But these are not the words of a simple Pashtun, but Mullah Omar himself, the founder of the Taliban movement, who told Ahmad Shah Massoud in a telephone conversation.
Unlike the Tajiks, the leader of the Taliban, in general, Taliban with a tie or Pashtunists - Pashtun nationalists consider Afghanistan the land of Afghans or Pashtuns in the same geography as it is now. They accept the presence of other ethnic groups on the condition that they give up their language and identity and consider themselves "Afghans".
Something that the non-Afghan peoples did not accept for 100 years, but took away their peace and security.
What is the difference between "Kulabi" and "Punjabi"?
Let's first look at the responses from the same Facebook and Twitter users.
“Being a Kulabi is not a shame,” writes Najib Barvar, a well-known Tajik poet from Afghanistan. - Kulab today is a human dwelling of civilized people who sent nothing but good things to Afghanistan... But being a Punjabi is a shame for our seventy generations. The Punjab is brainwashing the children and youth of our country and sending them back to our land in women's clothing and with bombs. Being a Punjabi is a historical disgrace that some rub against their foreheads and the forehead of a certain ethnic group in Afghanistan.”
Maqsud Haidariyan, another user: “Kulab and Punjab sound the same and in the same rhyme. One name of the region in Tajikistan, another in Pakistan. It is interesting that the Punjabis, who for 20 years put on a suicide belt and shed the blood of thousands of our citizens, ironically call us Kulabis, and not knowing that Kulab is our heart and soul and the day when the name of Afghanistan will be erased from this land, the best name for it will be exactly Kulab. I would like you to have the courage to call your land Punjab.”
Let put feelings aside, but the question is: are Tajiks immigrants in Afghanistan, especially from Kulab?
In the northeastern provinces of Afghanistan, such as Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz and Baghlan, the Kulab dialect of the Tajik language is still kept in the language of most people. But when you go to the mountains, especially the Andrab region of Baghlan province and other provinces like Panjshir, Samangan, Saripul, Parvan and Kapisa, they all call themselves “Samarqandi” and even have the surname “Samarqandi”.
Most of them at different times took refuge in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, especially during the Arab, Mongol and Turks invasions, because at that time these lands were common and there were not “Afghans” and Afghanistan, but were Ariana and Khorasan.
In all historical monuments written for at least the last 1000 years, these lands are mentioned as belonging to the Tajiks and Aryans, and after the invasion of the Mongols and Turks, they also had new neighbors - the Khazarians and Turks.
Kabul, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif were without a doubt Tajik and mostly Tajik-populated cities. Most of Afghanistan's cities, including Gardez, Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Lashkar Gah, were Tajik, and all the monuments that remain have Tajik insignia and are still inhabited by Tajiks. Tajiks have been civilized and urbanized from the very beginning, and their existence in the centers of most provinces in Afghanistan testifies to this assertion.
The names of the Taliban leaders of Tajik origin should remain secret, for they deny their identity. We do not ask if the "Afghan" cities gave such great world personalities as Imam Azam, Mawlana Jalaluddin and Buali Sina Balkhi and ... What can you do, the same Punjab, and Pakistan - Tajik names!
Afghanistan is, as it were, split in the minds of its inhabitants, who are divided into Kulyabians and Punjabis, and the main culprit for this is the Taliban. This situation also raises the morale of the resistance, because these “kulabis” are fighting for their home, cities, language, culture and identity, and are not mercenaries of other countries.
This is the big difference between them and the Punjabis!
