„Decentralization and Solving the Dilemma of Power in Afghanistan“

Anonymous Author

Abstract:

Afghanistan is an extreme example of divided societies. It is divided along ethnic, language, tribal, and religious lines. Ethnicity and language are the strongest dividing factors in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has many ethnicities, but the largest four have struggled to monopolize power: Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek and Hazarah. A population census was never attempted in Afghanistan so the exact percentage of each ethnic group remains unknown. Afghanistan has also experienced a long history of ethnic oppression and ethnic cleansing since Abd ul-Rahman Khan. Abd ul-Rahman Khan was the first Afghan ruler to establish a strong centralized government, and he used British money and artilleries against ethnic groups. He used a coercive ethnic manipulation policy and manipulated the ethnic structure of Afghanistan by moving Pashtuns from the south to the north and distributing the lands and properties of the indigenous inhabitants of the north and northwest (i.e., Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Hazarahs and Aimaqs) to the colonist Pashtuns.The indigenous people were forced to leave their land and properties and move to the foothills of Badghis, Ghur and the Tir Band-I Turkistan, the hinterland of Herat and the dasht around Balkh, Pul-i Khumri and Qataghan. Other tribes left the country altogether and fled to Russian territory, into Persian Khurasan or British India. Pashtun colonists were supported by the government and local people were forced to build homes for the colonists. Resistance against colonists were suppressed by the government.

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