The history of Afghanistan economy is full of turmoil and bloodshed. The country hardly ever experienced a stable government and that really deteriorated its condition. What used to be a beautiful country once now only known for Militants and Taliban . If we look back the history then the country has never been conquered by any of the super power. Be it USSR or USA or the British Empire. Though USA and USSR have their respective saying in the economy from time to time but no one of them ever ruled the country. The geographical location of Afghanistan is such that no one ever conquer the country, and every strategy falls apart once comes to the terrain land full of barren land and mountain ranges. The super power has spent millions of dollar but they remain empty handed. The history and current situation of the country has worsened a lot for the economy. Let try to get deep dives in into the country history:
Turbulent Afghanistan:
Looking back in the year 1839, the Russian and British empire were increasing their influence over Afghanistan. Because the country location in South Asia is very important and strategic. The hassle of British and Russian Empire for Afghanistan was called as The Great Game. The situation got so high that the Britishers without thinking much and just to show off their influence sent an Army of 16500. But except of a few British soldiers, Afghanistan killed them all.
Kingdom of Zahir Shah
Moving ahead, in the year 1933, Zahir Shah becomes the last king of Afghanistan. And this was the only time when the country experienced a bit stable situation. Zahir shah started bringing in modernization in the country. When the neighboring counties started Democracy, the king of Afghanistan implemented the first constitution of the country in 1964. In which a parliament is built in Afghanistan and two houses. Zahir Shah has a cousin Daoud Khan on whom he had lots of trust. The king made him the Prime Minister. Implementing Constitution, making parliament houses , the work of the king Zahir shah started to be recognized among the citizen. However, he kept al the power with him. Only that happens which Zahir shah used to say. Which was not taken good in people eyes. They started to silently protest against the monopoly form of the government.
In the year 1973, Zahir Shah health suddenly takes a turn ugly. Until then there was not much development happened in the country. There was no good hospital for the king treatment. So, he had to go to Italy for his treatment. Sensing a chance, the trusted cousin of the king Daoud Khan toppled over the government. 17 July 1973 led a coup and over throw Zahir Shah regime. He took over the control in his own hand. In this betrayal, both the army and people supported Daoud khan. The common people of Afghanistan wanted the end of kingship and establishment of proper democracy in the country.
When Zahir Shah got to know of the coup in Italy, he took exile in Italy as he could be murdered if comes back hw died on 1992). After that Daoud Khan makes himself the President of the country and implemented democracy. But he made certain major mistakes. He puts out a condition that only his party will fight for the elections. The common people of Afghanistan again felt cheated. The democracy set up doesn’t went well and the inflation and poverty increases in the country. The common people of the country started getting more fed up. The other mistakes by Daoud khan was that he carry on the development work only in the big cities. The smaller town and districts were completely ignored.
This led the population of these smaller places to get angry with the government policies. They started thinking that the Zahir Shah regime was far better than the Daoud Khan rule.
People Democratic Party of Afghanistan [PDPA]
Seeing all the things and getting fed up with the Daoud Khan activities, many groups of the country started coming together to create their own party. And named it People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan - PDPA. This is a communist ideology party which was influenced greatly by the USSR. That time USSR supported communist party all over the world. So PDPA started getting all kind of support from USSR. As the country condition started to deteriorates with increasing unemployment, and inflation, the popularity of PDPA gaining momentum among the common people. Daoud khan too took note of this uprising. He tried to suppress PDPA . Even a big leader of PDPA Mir Akbar Khyber was murdered by him in 1978. The party members were sent to jails. This led to widespread protest all over the country. Everything stated to get out of control of Daoud Khan.
PDPA started getting support from big military officers of Daoud khan. This makes PDPA to establish a stronghold in Afghanistan. On 27 April 1978, Daoud Khan and his family were assassinated by PDPA. Again, toppling happens in the country and PDPA gains control in Afghanistan. PDPA leader Nur Mohammad Taraki becomes new Afghanistan President. The new president is very popular in USSR because he supported the communist ideology very much. As communist did not believe in God, so Nur Mohammad too propagated similar ideology.
Modernization in Afghanistan :
Soon the new government bringing about huge changes in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a Muslim country, and there, Nur Mohammad started Modernization & and Secularism. Few of the changes brought in by the government were :
- Females were allowed education,
- Females can roam openly on roads,
- They are open to do fashion,
- Females can drive a car or vehicle.
- Made education Compulsory
- Removed religious education from the syllabus
- Increases the minimum age of marriages.
- Banned forced marriages,
- Talked about improving women workforce and politics participation,
- Limited the influence of religious leader
- Removed public display of religion
Under the influence of USSR he brings Land reforms in the country. As per the reforms those having big and more land had to give to those who had less. To being equality he was ready to forgave all the agricultural debt.
Rise of Mujahideen
As in every democracy, no government function properly without the opposition party. The opposing party started to highlight that the government is directly challenging the traditional Afghanistan values. They also started saying that the government were spoon kernelling USSR. Seeing all the major changes in the country the big land owners, traditional Afghan people and religious people started opposing Government. The Nur Mohammad government tried to suppress them with their full powers. The fight broke out in many parts of Afghanistan. Even the common people come to violence against the Afghanistan Government. These fights started to be called as the fight to protect Islam. The small groups who were fighting against Government in their area, they were started to know as Mujahideen. By definition, Mujahideen are those who fight to defend Islam or their religion.
Mujahideen are not a single group, but they are the different groups in different areas who were fighting the holy war to protect Islam. These groups were led by Islamic Scholars, local leaders and some by Students. They were fighting against the Government. All these small groups were collectively called as Mujahideen. Later some tribal leaders and military people too joined. Their common aim is to topple the PDPA communist Government.
Will the Mujahideen succeed in overthrowing the PDPA government? How Taliban progress over Afghanistan? How Al-Qaeda formed? Mullah Omar, Osama Bin Laden and many more from one of the bloodiest country histories ever.
Each will be covered in the next part. Hope you enjoyed diving deep into the unconquered terrain of Afghanistan.
