afghanistanIndeed, given the history of their country, the resilience of ordinary
Afghans is remarkable, even extraordinary. At grass-roots level there is a
far greater sense of cooperation than there is in the country’s dysfunctional
government. Afghans too have their own idea of what it means to be a
citizen of Afghanistan and most of the time they manage to negotiate their
way through life without interference by the state. Cooperation, after all, is
essential for both rural and urban communities, since individuals have to
work together and share the same resources as neighbours who may well
be from other ethnicities. Hamsayagi, neighbourliness, or literally ‘sharing
the same shade’, which goes hand-in-hand with Afghanistan’s deeply rooted
culture of hospitability, even to complete strangers and non-Muslims,
has been a significant cultural bond that has sustained communities and
created a sense of identity which runs much deeper that any state-imposed
nationalism.
Another glue that binds communities together is the village assem-
bly, or shura, and the tribal jirga, institutions rooted in practices that are
both ancient and well understood. These forums have been central to the
survival of civil society at the subnational level. Throughout the troubles
of the past decades they have continued to function in spite of the lack
of effective central government. While some community assemblies have
been hijacked by commanders and militia leaders – shuras set up by aid
agencies to manage development programmes are often a case in point –
the traditional assembly is a consensus-based system where neighbours
are allowed to vent their frustrations and grievances, debate important
local issues and negotiate compromise settlements or seek arbitration.
More often than not, the issues are resolved without recourse to provincial
government officials.
Broadcasts by the bbc World Service, Voice of America and other
foreign media have aided the development of a national consciousness far
more than any Afghan government. The bbc Persian Service is listened to
avidly even in the remotest corners of Afghanistan, places where Afghan
national radio, tv or newspapers cannot reach. Wider access to read-
ing material, modern education and more recently smartphones and the
internet have all contributed to a growing sense of national identity at
grass-roots level. Since the 1970s millions of Afghans have lived as exiles,
refugees or migrant labourers in Iran, Pakistan, the Gulf States, Western
Europe, North America and Australasia, an experience which has shat-
tered their cultural and ideological isolation. Today millions of expatriate
Afghans live cheek by jowl not just with Afghans of different ethni cities and
creeds, but Muslims from other countries and foreigners who are Christian,