Analysis: Powerful cross-border bonds
[ US Crusade Home ] [ News and Views Board ]
September 29, 2001
By Daniel Lak
Few borders in the world are more rugged than the Durand Line between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It is not just the terrain - the people on either side are among the hardiest and fiercest warriors on the planet.
The border is named after Sir Mortimer Durand, a British diplomat who arbitrarily drew his pencil along a map in 1893, dividing British Indian territory from fiercely independent Afghanistan to the north and west.
To this day, neither Afghanistan nor the Pushtoon tribespeople on both sides of Durand's border recognise its existence.
It is said that the bonds of tribe and ethnicity amongst the Pushtoons are as important as their Islamic faith.
A look into history - ancient and modern - sheds considerable light on the anger in Pakistan's Pushtoon areas against the prospect of American-led attacks on Afghanistan - whether to catch Osama Bin Laden or to dislodge the largely Pushtoon Taleban movement.
The origins of the 18 million or so Pushtoons living along the Durand Line are shrouded in mystery and controversy.
Some say the tribesmen - tall, light-skinned and often with fierce hawk-like profiles - are descended from one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel.
Others believe they are descended from stranded soldiers of Alexander the Great, who spread Hellenic influences to the banks of the Indus River 2,300 years ago.
Modern scholars dispute both theories and say the Pushtoons are a complex mix of South and Central Asian peoples, with Turkic and Persian influences. But no one knows for sure.
Different sub-tribes seem to have different origins, but they are united by language, Islam, and a code of behaviour that emphasises honour, dignity, relentlessly seeking vengeance when wronged, and warm, protective hospitality. No one who has ever stayed in a Pushtoon household will dispute that last point.
Another tradition is to resolve intractable problems, once violence has produced only stalemate, through a jirga or gathering of elders and respected figures. This usually promotes compromise, payment of blood money or obeying collective decisions.
Hospitality and the notion of seeking compromise go some way to explaining the continuing refusal of the Taleban to give in to Washington's demands to "hand over" Osama Bin Laden.
The Taleban insist that their ideology is purely Islamic, but there is undoubtedly more than a trace of Pushtoon tribal tradition.
Among Pakistan's many internal challenges, in the years since independence in 1947, has been a powerful Pushtoon independence movement that seeks to unite the tribes divided by the Durand line.
While not supported by all Pushtoons, tribal nationalism has been a thorn in Pakistan's side, not least because of the autonomy of the so-called "tribal areas" along the border with Afghanistan.
The British agreed - after countless skirmishes with Pushtoon irregulars in the 19th Century - that the tribesmen would be left alone to run their own affairs if they gave minimal allegiance to the Viceroy in Delhi. The situation continued after Pakistan came into being.
To this day, the tribal areas are seen by Islamabad as a source of guns, drugs and Islamic revivalism, where Pakistani law has no authority.
The arrival of the Taleban in Kabul in September of 1996 was a significant moment for almost all Pushtoons. A four-year hiatus in almost three centuries of continual rule in the capital by a Pushtoon had ended.
Latter-day opposition to the Northern Alliance, under the ethnic Tajik leadership of Ahmed Shah Masood until his death in a suicide attack in mid-September, is largely rooted in the Pushtoon peoples' historic claim on control of Afghanistan.
Non-Pushtoon Pakistanis like Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and former Army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, who urge Washington not to support the Northern Alliance, are also adherents to this view.
An important question in the coming days and months - especially if Taleban rule in Afghanistan is disrupted by events - is the identity of the Pushtoon authority figure that can rally enough support to stabilise the situation.
Some say the former King Zahir Shah or one of his descendants would be the answer.
Others point out that few in Afghanistan's overwhelmingly young population have any notion of a monarchy that ended in 1973.
Only one thing is certain. Another period of intense instability has begun along the Durand Line.
------------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright BBC For fair use only.[ SEPTEMBER HOMEPAGE ] [ AFGHAN HISTORY ]
