Negotiating Cultural Diversity in Afghanistan

Omar Sadr

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000760903
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Subtopic: Politica asiatica

This book analyses the problematique of governance and administration of cultural diversity within the modern state of Afghanistan and traces patterns of national integration. It explores state construction in twentieth-century Afghanistan and Afghan nationalism, and explains the shifts in the state's policies and societal responses to different forms of governance of cultural diversity. The book problematizes liberalism, communitarianism, and multiculturalism as approaches to governance of diversity within the nation-state. It suggests that while the western models of multiculturalism have recognized the need to accommodate different cultures, they failed to engage with them through intercultural dialogue. It also elaborates the challenge of intra-group diversity and the problem of accommodating individual choice and freedom while recognising group rights and adoption of multiculturalism. The book develops an alternative approach through synthesising critical multiculturalism and interculturalism as a framework on a democratic and inclusive approach to governance of diversity.

A major intervention in understanding a war-torn country through an insider account, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, especially those concerned with multiculturalism, state-building, nationalism, and liberalism, as well as those in cultural studies, history, Afghanistan studies, South Asian studies, Middle East studies, minority studies, and to policymakers.

1

INTRODUCTION

This book theorises the patterns of political and socio-cultural integration in Afghanistan and the extent to which these policies have shaped cultural discrimination and inequality. It will explain shifts in the state’s policies and societal responses to different forms of governance of cultural diversity. By analysing how multiculturalism in Afghanistan is a “movement from below” and not a policy of the state, the study further seeks to identify indigenous formulations about administration and governance of cultural diversity in Afghanistan. Finally, the book aims to go beyond the formalistic understanding of rights to explore discourses and imaginaries of self, belonging and difference. The period that the study covers starts from the Mujahideen capture of power in 1992 until the end of President Hamid Karzai’s term in 2014. The genesis of claims for ethnic rights can be traced to this period, culminating in the Bonn Agreement in 2001.

The first section of this Introduction fleshes out the research puzzle. Accordingly, I present the research question, objectives, propositions, main concepts, and the arguments of the book. Section 2 provides a critique of the existing literature on the role of the modern state in the construction of cultural diversity. It shows how the literature in Political Science and International Relations (IR) does not talk about the cultural dimension of the formation and consolidation of the state. It emphasises the need for an alternative and comprehensive approach to taking into consideration this aspect. It outlines a framework for the study of the issue. Section 3 discusses how the literature on Afghanistan does not cover what has been the role of the state on the mediation of cultural diversity. Section 4 presents the method of the study and, finally, the last section of this chapter outlines the chapterisation of the book.

The contemporary globalised world is characterised by increased diversity in terms of culture. Governance of diversity has turned into a critical issue for academics and policymakers at different levels as the growing diversification demands a process of identity readjustment. On the one hand, there has been anxiety and insecurity over the recognition and practice of culture and identity; on the other hand, there are challenges and questions regarding social and political accommodation. In such a globalised world where values, ideas, and culture transcend the conventional boundaries, governments encountered difficulties in dealing and administering diversity and difference. Cultural diversity functions both as a site of cohabitation and contestation. It may lead to false stereotypes, prejudices, unjustified fears, and finally, multiple and reinforcing conflicts.

Although state as a polity has been in existence for a long period of time, the idea of the nation-state is a relatively modern phenomenon. It is well established that the nation-building process has not been culturally natural, and the nation-state reinforces a collective identity as the basis of socio-political solidarity. The state reveals its cultural biases through the declaration of a certain language, religion or religious sect as official, the legitimisation of certain cultural codes and practices, and through the stratification of the population. In this sense, the modern state tends to protect the culture of the majority and naturalise its identity vis-à-vis all others. In such a scenario, minorities remain in a relatively disadvantageous position. They face not only institutionalised social and cultural discrimination but also social injustice and economic discrimination.

Historically, the state in Afghanistan has adopted different responses to address the issue of cultural diversity and modes of cultural assimilation. While some regimes such as of Shah Amanullah (1919–1929), Nadir Shah (1929–1933), Zahir Shah (1933–1973), Mohammed Daoud (1973–1978), and the Taliban had pursued a cultural homogenisation process, others, such as the communist administration (1978–1992), have opened the space and been supportive of vulnerable ethno-national groups. The homogenisation process has been a violent one, entailing ethnic and religious massacre, deprivation of land and property, resettlements, and discrimination of minorities. However, accommodative policies have recognised minority rights, provided assistance to minority groups, and exempted them from the provisions that were against their culture. Similarly, the democratic space created post-2001 also provides a limited opportunity for intercultural dialogue. However, the modern state in Afghanistan has largely demonstrated cultural bias and discrimination. The declaration of Pashtu as the national language in 1936 has entailed the renaming of places and areas from Persian or Turkic languages to Pashtu, the adoption of national anthem and national currency solely in one language, the discrimination against Shias, and many more such practices indicate institutionalised cultural discrimination (Saikal 2004). This process went to the extent that Afghanistan is upheld as a homogenous nation-state (Hyman 2002; Mahdi 2010; Kawyani 2011).

Besides the state, the Afghanistan diaspora has played a noticeable role in redefining the idea of nation and nationalism in Afghanistan. The diasporic community has played an important role in reclaiming the cultural diversity of Afghanistan while maintaining its sense of belonging to one country. Different ethnic diaspora has produced their own respective conceptions of group identity, group rights and of what suffering in the civil war meant, and has organised themselves culturally. They influence and shape public debates at the international level through demonstrations and intellectual debates that, in turn, have a boomerang effect on the state.

The choice of 1992–2014 as the timeframe of the research is because of several reasons. The modern Afghanistan which was made through coercive centralisation of power and administrative structure, unification of the country and monopolising the use of force by Amir Abd-ur-Rahman (1880–1901), demarcation of territorial boundaries by the colonial interventions of the British and Russian Empires, and subsidising the rulers of newly established state of Afghanistan by the colonial British Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century was disintegrated with the collapse of communist administration in the last decade of 20th century. The colonially shaped state of Amir Abd-ur-Rahman continued for one century. This state was characterised by high centralisation of power, the domination of Pashtun in the hierarchy of politics, marginalisation, and discrimination of minor ethnic groups.

The last decade of the 20th century has also been marked by the rise in ethnic tensions and identity politics at the global level. Civil wars, ethnic cleansing, demands for recognition, and the rise of xenophobia have highlighted the centrality of identity politics, the crisis of governance of diversity, and the crisis facing centralised ethno-national states. With no doubt, Afghanistan has witnessed demands for recognition and identity politics to a large extent. The civil war in the 1990s was a clear indication of the failure of the earlier assimilationist policy and centralisation of power. The collapse of the state, the political turmoil following the civil war, and claims for ethnic and cultural rights have challenged the national governance framework in Afghanistan.

The trajectory of power structure changed in the course of 14 years armed resistance against Soviets (1979–1992) in Afghanistan. The traditional power structure has been broken down, and the people’s perspective with regard to sovereignty and governance has changed (Saikal 2004; Mansor 2009; Spanta 2010; Pedram 2015). With the grace of resistance against Soviets, the marginalised and repressed ethnic groups armed themselves and entered into the battle for restructuring the state. They wanted redistribution of resources and power that observed their group rights. The outcome of such a process was manifested in the Mujahideen government established in 1992.

1992 was the negation of the state constructed by Amir Abd-ur-Rahman and colonialism. The timeline 1992–2014 manifests the efforts for renegotiation for the boundaries of power and reconstruction of the state in a new and accommodative form. In a sense, history repeats itself. The rampant ethnic claims desired recognition of equality among groups by the state and political participation and representation in the power structure. The Amir Abd-ur-Rahman designed structure of the state was contested and renegotiated several times. Covering 22 years, the years 1992–2014 have witnessed at least two political transitions and negotiation of the state structure. The first transition is after the disintegration of state with the falling of the communist administration, and the second transition is the establishment of a political settlement after the defeat of the Taliban in 2001. Both these transitions are characterised by the failure of political order. At the core of both failures is mechanical enforcement of the one kind of state—the Westphalian state. The centralised, and unitary form of nation-state did not and does not fit to the multicultural and diverse society of Afghanistan. Though the democratic political system post-2001 has recognised equal social and political rights of all people, however, the state apparatus has remained unitary, and centralised and current democracy does not provide space for the cultural rights of communities, cultural diversity of the country, and multiple layers of loyalty.

In this context, the book elaborates the efforts and counter-efforts for making of a multicultural state and having an intercultural dialogue. The study focuses on the following research question: How was cultural diversity in Afghanistan mediated by the state from 1992 to 2014? In order to operationalise this question, the research will specifically look at the following sub-questions:

1. 1 What are the indigenous intellectual and popular formulations of governing and administering cultural diversity in Afghanistan?
2. 2 What have been the practices of cultural integration and patterns of cultural discrimination in Afghanistan?
3. 3 What explains the shifts in state policies with regard to the governance of cultural diversity?
4. 4 What has been the influence of external actors on the policies pertaining to cultural diversity in Afghanistan?
5. 5 How to address intercultural contradictions and conflicts through intercultural dialogue and how to make a balance between individual rights and group rights?

The study puts forward four arguments about the governance of cultural diversity in Afghanistan. First, the modern centralised state has pursued an assimilationist policy with regard to minorities, which has led to cultural discrimination in the country. Second, the legacy of Amir Abd-ur-Rahman continued to influence the transitions in the 1990s and 2000s, which repeats the faulty model of centralised Westphalian State. Third, while multiculturalism in the West is about the integration of the migrants into the mainstream society, in Afghanistan, it is a critical movement from below demanding inclusive politics and recognition of equality among ethnocultural groups. And fourth, the prospect of intercultural dialogue is challenging in a fragile context such as Afghanistan.

For the purpose of this study, cultural diversity implies a plurality of identities, customs, practices, values, modes of political discourse, and ideals in a state. Cultural integration is a socio-political process and policy through which the state attempts to reconcile unity with diversity. The emphasis on either unity or diversity within a state could lead to homogenisation or accommodation, respectively. Bhikhu Parekh identifies assimilation as a mode of social integration wherein a group is required to accept the cultural norms of the dominant group in society. The political space that the assimilationists design assumes that a state could not be stable unless it shares a common national culture. By this understanding, the state as a custodian of society has both the right and the duty to assimilate the minorities to the national culture. Minorities can enjoy the same rights as citizens on the condition that they assimilate with the mainstream (Parekh 2000). Finally, cultural discrimination is unequal treatment in the public sphere against minorities. The unequal treatment may take the form of unequal distribution of resources and opportunities for minorities or deprivation from one’s identity and culture. Cultural discrimination might be embedded in social norms, law, and policies of the state, or it might be evident in the forms that communities are represented and portrayed in a public sphere (Mahajan 2002). These three concepts are interconnected to each other through the discourses of nationalism, intercultural dialogue, and the politics of recognition.

On state mediation of cultural diversity

Despite the logic of political science and IR literature, which argues that the state protects and represents its citizens in an anarchical international system, the history of the international state system indicates the opposite. Forced assimilation, expulsion, ethnic cleansing, xenophobia, and genocide are the practices that states turned on their own citizens. One cannot explain these solely through the lens of nationalism, as the practices are deeply linked with the modern international state system and date back to the 15th and 16th centuries when early phases of statebuilding were ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Cultural diversity and the state
• 3 Afghan nationalism and its discontents
• 4 Modes of cultural integration and homogenisation in Afghanistan
• 5 The problematique of governance of cultural diversity
• 6 Intercultural dialogue in a fragile society
• 7 Role of external actors in Afghanistan (1992–2014)
• 8 Conclusion
• Index