Karzai Renames a University after a Warlord

Students at the Kabul Education University-where I used to attend-are on a protest at governmental announcement renaming the university after a slain former warlord Burhanuddin Rabbani.

B. Rabbani was the former warlord who was assassinated last year. On his first assassination anniversary on Sept 20 2012, President Hamid Karzai has issued a decree renaming the Kabul Education University as University of Burhanuddin Rabbani.

It hasn’t been a week yet since the university is renamed, but the issue has already divided up the students into two groups having aggressive discriminatory arguments every day. Not only the students, but also some professors have started to have conflicts and arguments over the issue and a few have even agreed to submit their resignations.

The students of this university have eventually protested demanding the president to take the decree back and let the university have its original name instead a scary warrior’s portrait and name on the gate of an educational environment. 

The banner reads "We'll continue our classes under the name Education University 

The students said they respected Rabbani as whoever he was, but their university should not be turned into a political discrimination platform. One of the students said “We have suffered long enough when the country was at the hands of the warlords. We want education in peace and no Jihadi discussions in our educational environment”.                                                                                                                                    Holding banners the students warned the government that they will continue to protest until the decree is taken back.

On social networking sites like Facebook, some Afghans have amusingly shown the story in cartoons showing what will eventually happen if Kabul Education University permanently names B. Rabbani’s University.

If the university permanently renames, ...

I wish Karzai would happen to come across this post and answer my question.

Mr. President, what does a warlord’s scary name have to do in an educational environment? There might be sons whose fathers were killed by the person whose picture you have put on their university gate ...

Government Is To Remove 4 Decades from the History Books

     Has your government ever decided to get rid of four eventful decades from your history textbooks? Well, mine has. The Afghan government has decided to eliminate any post-1973 events from the school texts. That is, the country’s new school books simply leave out the last four decades of events: no Soviet involvement, no brutal years of civil war, no rise of the Taliban, no culture heritage destruction, no massacres, no U.S. involvement and no millions of people rescued from the sinking ship of the country in Taliban era and before that. The intention – the hope – is that this know-nothing “de-politicized” approach will lessen tensions by avoiding controversy and division in schools, which since the 1970s have been ideological battlefields. Farooq Wardak, Education Minister simply says ‘it is to encourage brotherhood and unity.’ But people disagree. The absence of modern history in the school books is more likely an indication of irreconcilable divisions in society rather than a portent of national reconciliation.

 Before naming the major events during the past four decades, if we look deeper into the history of Afghanistan that has been transferred from man-to-man-not by the books-a big part of this country’s history has been removed. For instance, unlike what I read few years ago in my school books, I found out that the King Abdul Rahman who is known for some Pashtuns to be the modernizer of Afghanistan,  is actually the killer of 60% of Hazara and Nuristan minorities and a slave dealer. This is removed from the book and forgotten, but just the saying goes ‘history sometimes repeats’, it actually did. One and half decades ago, the Taliban wanted to ‘modernize’ the country more, they massacred the minorities in Afshar, Mazar and …’unaware that history has witnessed that once’

Now, these are some of the major highlighted parts of our history that lie in the past four decades. Russian invasions and how it happened, ‘English invasion is also enlightened here’, the years of civil war that left millions dead and thrown out of the country, homeless, uneducated, disabled, drug addicts, jobless and family less. Warlords that the destroyed cultural heritages that Afghans were proud of, massacred minorities, and the reason why it all has happened and by whom.

Just by looking at every single event that left disasters, wouldn’t it be better to literally let the next generation know the real face of all this misfortunean that let the country up to this point, and learn lessons from it? Or it is just okay if they blindly ignore the facts and remove the history? ..so that the next generation will interpret the history differently as they hear from individuals, and repeat the history just like Taliban did many years after Abdul Rahman.

I like the idea of brining brotherhood. But I never agree that it can be brought the way the government has blindly chosen now. In fact, in this government, there is a scarcity of knowledge and education which is why disasters happen over and over again; criminals like King Adbul Rahman, Taliban and… are not held accountable for their crimes and yet their history removed. Now knowing the disasters left from the last four decades, especially from the Second King Abdul Rahman ‘Taliban’, if we let the history get removed again, there will be Third Abdul Rahmans ‘modernizing’ Afghanistan again just like the Second and First ones did. In other words, removing the history doesn’t change anything. Just like a donkey is still a donkey, no matter what color his saddle is, a criminal is a criminal through any sort of intention of purposely harming others. Instead, the government should literally use the history as a mirror of the past and a light for the future. Officially punishing the criminals and publicly apologizing the victims can lessen tension of hatred but not removal of the history.

Afghanistan in 210th Decade

[For the past two years or so that I’ve been meeting foreigners, especially Americans, the question they usually asked me was about the U.S troops in Afghanistan and basically what Afghans think of Americans being in the country. This is a short not that answers both the above and the question that what will happen when the foreign troops eventually leave Afghanistan.]

9/11 is a highlighted date throughout the world. Following it, the immediate action the U.S took ‘invasion of Afghanistan’ is also clear for many, but it’s interpreted differently across the countries. Unlike foreigners, Afghans have more positive interpretation of the presence of U.S and International Security Assistance Forces ‘ISAF’ in the country. People throughout the country-except some in the south and east- are happy with the current situation ‘invaded Afghanistan’ in contrast with Afghanistan before 2001. In central parts, in particular, having the international community on the ground, people are more optimistically working towards a better Afghanistan. And the voices that randomly rise up from here and there are only from the remaining of Taliban at certain areas and their in-the-government extremists who want the U.S troops to leave the country so that the Taliban can come back. They don’t happen as frequently, YET not to be underestimated while making decisions for the Afghanistan after 2014. 

     Despite their failures, Americans and ISAF have had their significant success in Afghanistan so far. For instance; the booming trend of education, security, agriculture, stability, women’s rights in particular, etc throughout the country in post-Taliban era by far are specifically worth to speak of, especially when it comes to central provinces. It doesn’t mean that the government pays more attention the central parts, but rather cooperativeness of the residents with the government and foreign donors matters. All has happened since 2001 invasion which to most foreigners seemed like the ones Russians and English did to Afghanistan decades ago.

     After the invasion, people have cooperated with the ISAF and government in bringing the long-lost peace and stability back in the country. For instance, for a female, being the governor of a province for the first time in the history of a men-oriented country is not an easy task, but with the cooperation of people, Dr. Habiba Sarabi has been able to govern Bamyan relatively better than her counterparts in other parts of the country. The head of Human Right Commission in Afghanistan-where human rights had never been observed before- is run successfully by a female. This might be shocking to some, but in pre-9/11, Afghan females were forbidden from going to school and they were forced to be head-to-toe covered up with Chadars that made them look like penguins, all in blue popping up in the streets trying to walk. But now, surprisingly, about 30% of the parliament seats are owned by female MPs. Under the possibilities provided, women are unquenchably encouraged to get good education and have part in the government. Thus, the number of female school and college goers has increased significantly since 2001. However, Schools are still functioning with the least facility they have due to lack of attention from the government. In spite of all those shortcomings, one can easily witness the very enthusiasm amongst the attendees of those least-facilitated schools that give out an ongoing sense of hope for the future of the country. It all has been happening since 2001 Invasion.

     Now the question to be answered is that why some of those in the south and south-west are not content with the presence of the U.S and other foreign donors in the country. Well, the fact that Afghanistan is a multi-ethnical country makes this question easier. The central part is home for the Hazaras, who as minorities have always been marginalized and massacred in silence ‘examples are; Afshar Operation or Afshar Massacre, Taliban Massacre in Mazar e Sharif’ are happy with the current situation, though they are still deprived of governmental development projects.  

     North is home for Tajiks, who unlike before, after the invasion haven’t really raised voice of violence and trouble, yet lost some of the men in the government; and Uzbeks, who are also ignored as minorities.

Remains the south, the longest border with Pakistan- where majority Pashtuns live, the largest ethnic group in the country. The Taliban were/are from this group and the reason why the government is stuck in these areas is because the remaining Taliban to be dealt with reside there. In other words, threats, explosions, suicide-attacks, extremism, strong ties with Pakistani militants, and so forth…All come from this area. And this is also where the voices rise wanting the U.S and ISAF troops to leave the country.

     Keeping in mind that the U.S. and ISAF have had their mentioned success, Afghan government in agreement with the U.S. have decided to let the foreign troops leave the country by 2014 and responsibilities to be handed over to the Afghan police. To prepare for that, a negotiation process is going on with the Taliban these days. But that is just woefully INADEQUATE! If they are to actually leave in 2014, their a-decade effort and success will add up to zero and the remaining Taliban with the support of Pakistan and their Arab fellows; sooner or later will drag the country back towards the Afghanistan before 2001.

     If the United States, ISAF and NATO have any hope of a successful outcome in Afghanistan, these shaky steps that are recently being taken to launch peace negotiations or whatsoever, must be reinforced by these few policy thrusts. First, they should reconsider; basically postpone the withdrawal date of their troops. Second, by the time they leave, there should be no more ties with the Pakistani militants and that the Terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan that interfere in Afghanistan must be dismantled. Third, they should make sure that the Afghan police are ready enough to undertake the security of their country.