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Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics) |  | Author: Thomas Barfield
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 27556
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0691145687
Dewey Decimal Number: 958.1
EAN: 9780691145686
ASIN: 0691145687
Publication Date: April 18, 2010
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Product Description
Afghanistan traces the historic struggles and the changing nature of political authority in this volatile region of the world, from the Mughal Empire in the sixteenth century to the Taliban resurgence today. Thomas Barfield introduces readers to the bewildering diversity of tribal and ethnic groups in Afghanistan, explaining what unites them as Afghans despite the regional, cultural, and political differences that divide them. He shows how governing these peoples was relatively easy when power was concentrated in a small dynastic elite, but how this delicate political order broke down in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when Afghanistan's rulers mobilized rural militias to expel first the British and later the Soviets. Armed insurgency proved remarkably successful against the foreign occupiers, but it also undermined the Afghan government's authority and rendered the country ever more difficult to govern as time passed. Barfield vividly describes how Afghanistan's armed factions plunged the country into a civil war, giving rise to clerical rule by the Taliban and Afghanistan's isolation from the world. He examines why the American invasion in the wake of September 11 toppled the Taliban so quickly, and how this easy victory lulled the United States into falsely believing that a viable state could be built just as easily. Afghanistan is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how a land conquered and ruled by foreign dynasties for more than a thousand years became the "graveyard of empires" for the British and Soviets, and what the United States must do to avoid a similar fate.
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 The view from where the people live May 3, 2010
Harry Eagar (Maui)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
According to Thomas Barfield, the only way the Afghans could rid their country of the Russians was to make it ungovernable. Having gotten the Russians out, they have been unable to govern themselves, either.
However, based on this impressive review, Afghanistan was never really governed anyway, certainly not in a modern sense. This can be said of any Muslim majority state, with the difference that Afghanistan is, at least according to Barfield, a nation, unlike, say, Iraq or Turkey. It is not quite clear how the Afghans, who divide themselves ethnically, managed to reach and maintain a sense of nationhood, but evidently they have done so.
Barfield, an anthropologist at Boston University, did field work in Afghanistan as far back at the early 1970s and is one of few Americans to have lived in the country's rural villages. Since almost all Afghans, until recently, lived in the backwoods, this puts Barfield in a strong position to report.
A determinist, Barfield traces much of what Afghanistan is about to its geography and to developments from thousands of years ago, but he also asserts that the decade of Russian occupation changed Afghanistan permanently. Rural Afghans fled to cities, the economy was wrecked, but education was, briefly, expanded. These changes overlie, but they do not erase the ancient geographical, environmental, religious and social structure.
It is thus no surprise that President Hamid Karzai, put in power by outsiders because they thought that he was, to some degree, like them, should have lashed out at the powers that keep him in power, choosing deaths of civilians as an excuse. Many more civilians are killed by the Taliban, by tribal insurgents and by Muslim outsiders than by NATO, but a Karzai would never call them to book in the same way.
Barfield masterfully explains why: Until very recently, there was almost no mass politics in the country. The endless, violent disputes were between ethnic factions and among a ruling line (the Durrani Pashtuns). In the deeply divided nation, no faction could expect to be superior by itself, so no one could afford to permanently alienate any other faction. Political loyalty does not exist in Afghanistan, and it is not unusual for men who were being murdered (and raped, although Barfield does not mention this) by another clan one day to become allies of their enemies a few days later.
There are other points that have escaped those who would meddle in Afghanistan. The Pashtuns do not recognize the Durand Line that puts some in Afghanistan and some in Pakistan. Pakistan, like Germany in 1914, has to worry about a two-front war, so it is not in Pakistan's interest to see a strong, independent and democratic Afghanistan.
Although the scene was set even before Alexander's armies marched through, and Afghanistan was part of various Turko-Persian empires for a millenium, Barfield says Afghan politics effectively starts in the 1740s, when a Durrani dynasty was established that lasted until 1979.
Even non-Pashtuns have a strong sense that the country is made to be run by a Pashtun (Karzai is a Pashtun, as is Taliban leader Mullah Omar, though neither comes from the Durrani elite). Until recently, this deference to the Durranis was, more or less, an asset toward stability. It prevented all-out brawls when it came time for succession, since not every Afghan with a rifle and cousins with rifles was thought eligible to contend for the throne. This shortened the violent interregnums, but it did nothing to prevent them. For the past century, every leader was either murdered or exiled, until the re-election of Karzai.
It is instructive to consider the remaking of the Afghan polity in the 1890s, compared with what went on in the Ottoman Empire at the same time, although Barfield does not do this. Nevertheless, both traditionalist monarchies were revolutionized from the top, the Ottomans in an allegedly liberal manner with a constitution, the Afghans in a typically despotic manner by Abdur Rahman.
The result, though, in each case was a centralization and the destruction of the traditional peripheral restraints on the the power of the executive. In neither case was there modernization, and the brief effort of the king in the '20s in that direction resulted in deposition and civil war in Afghanistan. That assured that no subsequent executive would make even a gesture toward modernity.
As a result, Afghanistan stagnated at a time when even other Muslim countries were making some changes. Since the liberalizing king Amanullah fell on the issue of educating women, which horrified the community, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that Afghanistan's misery is its religion.
If there is a deficiency in this meaty book, it is the slight attention given Islam, which gets about two pages. About all Barfield has to say about it is that Afghans believe themselves to have the purest and oldest conception of the religion, an opinion not supported by history and bizarre because they do not know Arabic. This makes them even more resistant to reformation than other Muslims.
Barfield notes that earlier students also treated Islam as a given, like sunlight, not because it was not important but because it was central. Nothing in Afghanistan happens outside the context of religion.
It is is odd that Barfield should skimp this topic, especially since, he notes, Sufism is so strong there. Sufism is generally outside the torments of political Islam.
In a brief summation, Barfield says, "To change the status quo, there needs to be an end to violence within Afghanistan and threats from its neighbors." A tall order, and he does not believe Karzai is up to it. He has no other candidate to offer, though.
Afghanistan July 13, 2010
Michael J. Selby
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Excellent history and musings on the current situation. I llike the fact that Mr. Barfield clearly states that making decisions on present day information is hazardous--academic folks seldom mention that! For someone like me who was highly ignorant about Afghanistan this was a wonderful primer. Lots of foreign names and obscure locales to remember, but the central issues are clearly delineated. Would have liked to have seen maps that included province names and boundaries and more labeling of important locales and incidents that occurred there. All in all, thoroughly informative and enjoyable.
MUCH MORE THAN THE AVERAGE HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN August 7, 2010
WAYNE YUNGHANS (USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
THIS IS A THOUGHTFUL AND INFORMED LOOK AT AFGHANISTAN'S HISTORY OF CENTRAL "GOVERNMENT" - AS WELL AS THE STREET LEVEL CULTURE OF ITS PEOPLE. UNLIKE SEVERAL OTHER AFGHAN HISTORIES, THIS ONE IS FAR FROM A DETACHED POLITICAL OR ANTHROPOLOGICAL ACADEMIC MONOLOGUE. THE AUTHOR - AN ANTHROPOLOGIST WITH OVER 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE LIVING IN, VISITING, AND STUDYING AFGHANISTAN - LOOKS AT THAT COUNTRY'S HISTORY WITH AN EYE TOWARD PRESENT WESTERN POLICY THERE, AND THE PUZZLING PROBLEMS WE FACE. IN SO DOING, HE SEEKS SPECIFICALLY TO ANSWER THE RIDDLE OF HOW A FUNCTIONING CENTRAL GOVERNMENT CAN BE ESTABLISHED IN KABUL, CONSIDERING HOW IT HAS BEEN DONE (OR FAILED) IN THE PAST, AND THE REASONS FOR THOSE SUCCESSES OR FAILURES. GOING ONE STEP FURTHER, BARFIELD INCLUDES AFGHANISTAN'S PEOPLE IN THE EQUATION. THIS IS A DEPARTURE FROM THE COMMON CALCULUS IN THESE DISCUSSIONS THAT LIMITS ITSELF TO THAT THIN POOL OF AFGHAN ELITES FROM WHICH PAST RULERS HAVE BEEN DRAWN. BECAUSE HIS BOOK IS WRITTEN WITH THE PRESENT AFGHAN SITUATION IN FULL VIEW (THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 2010), ITS CONTENT IS UNUSUALLY APPLICABLE. THE AUTHOR PROVIDES AN INVALUABLE, AND MUCH NEEDED CONTEXTUAL BACKDROP TO THE ISSUES OF THE MOMENT - INCLUDING BOTH THE PERTINENT HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE COUNTRY WE AND OTHER WELL MEANING WESTERNERS SEEK TO AID. THOSE ARE CONSIDERATIONS THAT WERE (TO THE GREAT MISFORTUNE OF OURSELVES AND THE AFGHAN PEOPLE) PAINFULLY ABSENT FROM THE EQUATION AT THE ONSET OF OUR ACTIONS THERE. BARFIELD'S BOOK IS A WELCOME ADDITION TO MY LIBRARY - AND FAR MORE PERTINENT THAN OTHER SIMILAR, BUT THEORETICAL, WORKS THAT RESIDE THERE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT FOR THOSE SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING BEHIND THE CURRENT OBSTACLES WE FACE THERE - AND TRYING TO FORM SAVVY SOLUTIONS.
 An unknown region explored and illuminated July 27, 2010
Amy E. Henry (Nipomo, CA United States)
Ever since The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and Three Cups of Tea, I've found Afghanistan to be a strangely compelling region. In those books, there was a different sense of the humanity of the people compared to what is seen on the nightly news, and it was difficult to align the two in my mind. Mention Afghanistan to someone and all they usually come up with is the notorious Taliban or the crumbling ruins that appear on the news. How accurate is that image?
When I first received Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History, I hoped to find that answer and at the same time, that the book wouldn't be too dry or heavy on political rhetoric. I was pleased to find that it's an incredibly readable history book that makes the subject understandable and reveals the complicated lives of the people of Afghanistan. The author manages to compile the history without a political agenda or motive.
First off is recognizing that culturally, Afghanistan is made up of both tribal and nontribal ethnic groups. These groups mean everything to the people, and unlike some cultures, "tribal and ethnic groups take primacy over the individual." In other words, "individuals support decisions made by their group even when such support has negative consequences for themselves." This is a somewhat unique trait, and contributes to the devotion many have for their leaders. They also have an intense oral history that is repeated through the ages that also creates a sense of cohesiveness between past and present. These people live in a land crisscrossed by history, from Genghis Khan to Alexander the Great (see the photo of his castle above right). It was conflict between tribal regions, a civil war, that made the ordinary Afghan people eager to have the US come in to intervene with the Taliban, as "a drowning person is not too picky about who throws him a line....Afghanistan had either been ignored or abused by the outside world as it descended into chaos."
The Taliban, known for their desire to spread extremely conservative Islam, had riddled the nation with violence towards women and other religions. They've managed to alienate even those countries that were providing needed humanitarian aid. They do not have the support of the `ordinary' citizen, as at times the Taliban members have numbered below 150 members. A good portion of the book deals with how and why the Taliban gained such power. Another portion discusses the occupation by Britain and Soviet Russia prior to more recent actions with the US.
The historical details are interesting, but it was the smaller things that were more revealing. For example, why is it that on the news you usually see only children or old people? Their hardscrabble lives, tending outdoors to agriculture and focused on manual labor, shows up on their faces and they appear prematurely aged. Are the devastated streets of broken concrete typical? Actually no, as the majority of citizens live in small villages far from urban areas such as Kabul. Is it just a land of dust and opium poppies? No again, as stone fruit, grapes, nuts, citrus fruits, melons, and rice are grown in different parts of the country, depending on what areas are irrigated. The famous mountainous region, known to have been a hiding place for bin Laden, is in the center of Afghanistan. Its steepness creates dynamic changes in climate in just a few hours of travel, and creates a diverse variety of crops.
The current situation in Afghanistan is covered in the sixth chapter, where Barfield addresses the complicated social concerns that continually plague the country. The resurgence of the Taliban and their religious ideology reverses social progress, while modern policies want to focus on reducing the religious power of clerics. Additional goals include establishing rights for women, tolerance of non-Muslim faiths, implementing educational policies, and modernizing archaic laws to better represent the desires of the majority.
Interesting read August 6, 2010
William H. Folk II (Racine, WI)
Fascinating read. Many times you wonder about the countries that we hear about in the news and to completely understand the back-story it is important to pick up a book like this one.
To call Afghanistan backward would be improper; to call them out of date would be accurate. The author takes is through the turmoil that the country has dealt with for nearly 3 centuries. The conquers and those that the people defeated.
In the end you come out with a deep respect for these people but wonder what is the best course of action to take. Should the US support this country with troops and financial aid or would it be best to back out and allow the country to do what it has always done.
The author makes the process much more convoluted when he clearly shows his bias against President Bush near the end of the book. He clearly does not appreciate the near complete withdrawal of troops after the defeat of the Taliban but then makes it clear that the problems that have arisen in the aftermath are issues that only Afghanistan can correct...so which is it?
The fact that this country has so much potential and growth makes it a country to continue to watch for years to come.
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