The Pashtuns: A Contested History

by Tilak Devasher

The Pashtuns are perhaps the largest ethnic group in the world without a country of their own. They inhabit a continuous stretch of land from the Hindu Kush to the Indus, across Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan used the Pashtun-dominated areas in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as a launching pad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and later during the US-led War on Terror.

In the process FATA was kept in a constitutional and informational black hole. The discontent finally burst in 2018 when the extra-judicial killing of a Pashtun youth led to widespread protests.

This book by veteran analyst Tilak Devasher fulfils a gap in the geopolitical understanding of South Asia, given the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the shifting power equations in the region.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Pakistan, World History

711 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2022

Reviews

[Udit Nair · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a remarkable pattern seen during invasion or occupancy of Afghanistan throughout the history of its existence. The pattern starts with hubristic justification, initial success by opponent, gradually widening Afghan resistance, stalemate and finally withdrawal of opponent . Now whether the enemy is British or American or Soviet or for that matter internal tribe, that is immaterial to the final conclusion. There is a reason why Afghanistan is known as graveyard of big empires.

This book tries to explore the geopolitical significance of Pashtun community as a whole. It's the largest community in the world without a nation to call their own. The author is a security expert and hence the precision of the book is really commendable. It allows even a layman to understand the nuances and viewpoints emanating from various stakeholders involved in the landscape. The author has managed to lay out a riveting narrative based simply on facts.

The initial chapters are focussed on explaining the setting around the landscape. It deals with the land,origins, religion,nation and many other aspects which are essential to understand the conflict. In subsequent chapters the author tries to look at pashtuns vis a vis other stakeholders such as Pakistan, Great Britain,Afghanistan, Soviets etc.

A great deal of focus has been on trying to look at the origins of pashtuns and jihad. It also discusses about the Mujahideen , Taliban and other organisations which have been operating from Pakistan & Afghanistan. The clarity of thought by author is really appreciable and hence makes you see the issue from multiple lens rather than having a singular perspective.

There are many aspects discussed in the book which kind of stays with you. The Khudai Khidmatgars movement spearheaded by Ghaffar Khan was the most significant or probably the only way to long lasting peace for the pashtuns in the long run. Unfortunately because of varying interests and internal contradictions the very people for whom Ghaffar Khan fought betrayed him and his vision. Ghaffar Khan was disappointed not only by pashtuns but also to a larger extent by Pakistan & India.

Any long lasting solution would need considerable policy corrections from various stakeholders. So long as the pasthun stakeholders do not take ownership of all the pashtuns, the people of the war torn country and the region will continue to face foreign intervention, violence, terrorism and war. Pakistan needs to amend it's policy of sponsoring terrorism through its soil for its own strategic purposes. The fire lit by them has burnt others but more often than not has indeed hit them the hardest.

Either ways this book has been very critical for the understanding of South Asian politics vis a vis current changes. And the author does a great job in holding the attention of the reader. The book is a must read for all those interested in the affairs of our sub continent.

[Mohammad Shaheer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is noticeably biased in its portrayal of the Pashtuns. While it's essential to acknowledge the challenges and conflicts in the region, the one-sided perspective painted by Devasher detracts from the book's credibility. A more balanced and nuanced approach would have provided a fairer representation of the Pashtun people.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book: The Pashtuns: A Contested History
Author: Tilak Devasher
Publisher: ‎ HarperCollins India (15 September 2022)
Language: ‎ English
Hardcover: ‎ 304 pages
Item Weight: ‎ 716 g
Dimensions: ‎ 20.3 x 25.4 x 4.7 cm
Price: 519/-

“No area of comparable size has seen so much action, carnage, deception, courage, savagery, devotion, patience or sacrifice. Here, both virtues and vices have been bred on a heroic scale; and the centuries have passed without eroding them.’ Pashtunistan has seen great conquerors like Alexander the Great, Timur, Babur and Nadir Shah; in more modern times, soldiers, administrators and leaders like Pollock, Napier, Nicholson, Roberts, Churchill, Wavell, Lytton, Curzon, Gandhi, Nehru, Atlee, Jinnah and Mountbatten…”

The Pashtuns are Pakistan’s largest ethnic minority. They speak Pashto and live according to Pastunwali, a social code that values honor, hospitality and revenge.

Twenty percent of Pashtuns live in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas -- a strategic area on the border with Afghanistan, known as ‘FATA’. Until 2020, FATA was left outside of the Pakistani constitution, and was governed by tribal laws.
In May 2020, FATA was merged into Pakistan and its residents became full citizens.

Called the most dangerous place in the world by America, and a lawless land by Pakistanis, FATA has been the target of many army operations.

The region's history and its geostrategic importance cannot be overstated. The mistreatment of tribal pashtuns goes back to the 19th century.
From British India onwards, tribal Pashtuns have been isolated from and dehumanized in mainstream society.

FATA was called the ‘excluded areas’ and was cut off from the rest of British India.

On the one hand state law did not relate to the region. On the other they were subject to a harsh set of special laws. Since 1876, these laws denied the tribe's legal rights and imposed collective punishment. This was all enforced by British appointed political agents with absolute power, who paid off tribal elders to control them.

A Supreme Court justice from Pakistan described the true purpose of these laws. The legal system imposed by the British was intended to rule the masses through a class of loyals from the area -- thus superficially depicting a policy of Non-interference in their centuries-old system.

Although in fact the object was to keep them away from a universally recognized judicial system and instead give them a sugar-coated legal device and these laws stayed in place after the British left.

During the Partition of 1947, Pakistan and India became separate countries and this region became known as FATA. Pakistan spent most of its time and resources towards the Indian border, and did not pay that much attention to the tribal areas.

Therefore FATA became the least developed area in Pakistan. To this day, it has a literacy rate of 33 percent and 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

In the words of Olaf Caroe, one of the extraordinary tragedies amongst the numerous tragedies of the Pashtuns is: “Although the Pathans have stood for centuries in the corridors between Khurasan and the Indian sub-continent just at the very point where great civilizations have met and contended; although their mountain homes have been swept by conquering armies again and again, to rise like a breakwater from the sea; although the conquerors have passed on to found great empires, yet the Pathans who hold the gate have never been given a vision of their own story in perspective. In the modem sense there is no connected history of the Pathans in their own land, whether written by themselves or by any of those through the ages who passed by…”

This book is not a rough reconsideration of all the versatile elements of Pashtun life. As an alternative, it tries to make available a bird’s-eye-view sketch of some prominent characteristics that could assist in understanding the major trends amongst the Pashtuns and their history.

The author has divided his book into seven sections and a conclusion. The first section is entitled ‘THE SETTING’ and has eight chapters:

1. The Land
2. Origins
3. Tribal Characteristics
4. Pashtunwali
5. Religion
6. Women
7. Language
8. History: From Antiquity to 1901

The opening section discusses the expansive attributes of the Pashtuns, which includes the topography of Pashtunistan, the sources and tribal mannerisms of the Pashtuns, the notion of Pashtunwali: the technique of the Pashtun, the importance of Islam, the position of women, and Pashto: the language of the Pashtuns.

Furthermore, it contains a one-off chapter on the history of the area from ancient times till 1901 that marked the end of the rule of the Iron Amir, Abdur Rahman Khan, and his passive end being a one-off in Pashtunistan.

The second section, entitled ‘PASHTUNS AND GREAT BRITAIN’ contains two chapters:

9. A Century of Contact
10. The Durand Line

This part perceptively observes the British interface with the Pashtuns in the century of their contact, approximately from 1849 when they took over the Sikh empire till 1947, when they left the subcontinent. Much of the narrative on the Pashtuns and the description of their persona has been determined by British writings.

This segment, in addition, discusses the Durand Line Agreement that the British entered into with the Afghan Amir in 1893 that tore Pashtunistan into two parts. Pakistan inherited the British portion of Pashtunistan in 1947, but no Afghan government has accepted this division leading to resistance between the two countries.

This section gains further weightage, as presently, there is a fascinating dynamic at play between the Taliban government and Pakistan on this matter.

The third section of this book entitled ‘PASHTUNS AND PAKISTAN’, contains three chapters:

11. Ghaffar Khan and the Partition of India
12. Post-Partition Pashtun Politics
13. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)

This part scrutinizes the Pashtuns in Pakistan after its conception in 1947 and begins the dialogue with Ghaffar Khan and his non-violence, something that many consider an idiosyncrasy given the conformist discernment of the Pashtuns.

It also looks at the eventual junctures of the Partition of India and how Ghaffar Khan felt deceived by the Indian National Congress at the dawn of Independence.

It goes on to talk about the Pashtun politics in the post-creation Pakistan and throws light on the former FATA, an area that has been called ‘the pivot that joins Pakistan and Afghanistan geographically and strategically.’

The fourth part of the book entitled ‘PASHTUNS AND AFGHANISTAN, 1901–2001’, has two chapters:

14. Monarchy and Republic, 1901–1978
15. Revolution and Beyond, 1978–1996

This part speaks of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan and traces the developments from 1901 till the Soviet invasion in 1979. This segment tracks the attempts of the Afghan rulers to modernize Afghan society and its consequences, the achievement of full independence in 1919 from the British after the third Afghan war, the longest period of peace that Afghanistan was to know, the intensification of Pashtun nationalism in addition to Islamic zeal, both of which found idiom in youth movements initially.

The period ends with the Communist Revolution and the conclusion of the Durrani preeminence that had begun in 1747.

By the fifth section, things begin heating up. Section five, entitled ‘PASHTUNS BETWEEN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN’, has three chapters:

16. Pakistan’s Policy towards Afghanistan—Strategic Depth
17. Blowback
18. Afghanistan’s Policy towards Pakistan—The Pashtunistan Issue

This segment debates the interesting dynamic between Pakistan’s policy towards Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s policy towards Pakistan. Pakistan’s policy was centred at seeking strategic depth and ensuring that Pashtun nationalism in Pakistan did not link up with Afghanistan’s irredentism. In following such a policy, Pakistan has had to face a severe blowback.

For its part, Afghanistan has played the Pashtunistan card, taking up cudgels on behalf the Pashtuns in Pakistan looking at three options—independent state, merger with Afghanistan or autonomy for Pashtuns in Pakistan and unifying all the Pashtun areas in Pakistan.

The third-last section of the book, entitled, ‘PASHTUNS AND JIHAD’ is divided into five chapters:

19. The Soviet Intervention
20. The Mujahideen
21. The United States 1.0, 1979–1996
22. The Taliban 1.0, 1994–2001
23. Pakistan and the Taliban 1.0

This segment begins with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and ends with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 1996. Included are chapters on the Soviet experience, the Mujahideen, the US role in the jihad, the rise of the Taliban and Pakistan’s role and relationship with the Taliban.

Perchance, the most interesting portion of the book is the penultimate one, entitled, ‘PASHTUNS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY’. This segment contains seven chapters:

24. Taliban Resurgence, 2001–21
25. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
26. Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM)
27. The US Intervention 2001–21
28. The Taliban 2.0, 2021 and Beyond
29. Pakistan and the Taliban 2.0
30. Al Qaeda and the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP)

This segment analyses Pashtuns in the twenty-first century. In Afghanistan the period was marked by the resurgence of the Taliban from 2001, the US intervention provoked by 9/11, the US exit in 2021 and the Taliban military takeover once again of most of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.

In Pakistan, the period saw the rise of the violent Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the non-violent Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, both in their own ways articulating Pashtun rights. The section also discusses the terrorist al Qaeda and the rise of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Afghanistan.

Finally, the conclusion tries to crystal-gaze the prospect of the Pashtuns and Pashtunistan. It draws attention to the strengths and weaknesses of the Pashtuns and the responsibility of the US and of Pakistan.

If the Pashtuns are ever to find composure and harmony that they long for, they will themselves have to find answers for their quandary and not depend on others.

Peach of a book……

[Vineeth Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Covers the history and culture of Pashtuns that defines Afghanistan as a country today. Dynamics of FATA has been covered very interestingly.

[Uzair Qadri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars to this book, 'Pashtuns:A Contested History', by Tilak Devasher. I would have loved to give it a half-star more, but for the drags i encountered reading it.Though rich in detail for the first 10 chapters, the book follows run-of-the-mill commentary, often with a certain degree of pulpit involved, in large tracts of its course later on. More importantly, the book is very very dense, almost unreadable. On this count, it could have been made less boring. There are N number of good things, especially the chequered complex history of the imagined community of Pashtuns, but is there any way to stick to such details in the absence of any compelling reason. For me, it was hard to keep my attention on it. Being honest, there is nothing unique about the book, except what we usually get from any armchair theosophist's pennings.

[SUBRATA DATTA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if you do not read this book, just do yourself a little favour.

Take a look at the cover photograph. And look closely.

Taken from Getty Images this one photograph tells you a tale many a weighty tome cannot.

Framed by the harsh, unforgiving mountains those forlorn eyes tell you the story of anger, helplessness, and despondency. From Alexander, the Macedonian to George Walker Bush, the American, as the conquerors came thundering down the lofty passes, those eyes tell you the story of blood and resistance and revenge and the meaninglessness of it all.

And, in Tilak Devasher’s telling, they tell you the story of the Pashtuns. A story that has acquired an extra urgency in the last few decades.

After millennia of being governed by Pashtunwali (the code of the Pashtuns) they are slowly being weaned away by the lure of Sunni Wahabism. And, from 9/11 to the massacre of school children in Peshawar, we are witness to the effects of that shift – in this part of the world and elsewhere.

Arguably, one of the tallest Pathans in history is Abdul Gaffar Khan, who had the courage to teach his violent community that “unless we learn this lesson of nonviolence fully, we shall never do away with the deadly feuds which have been the curse of the people of the Frontier.” (p.112) But if nearly a century after the founding of his Khudai Khidmatgars (formed in 1929) his dreams lie buried in the violence let loose by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and others of its elk, history can only mourn.

How did this come about?

Looking back to the past and looking forward to the future, Shri Devasher tries to find the answer. In the last half century Afghanistan has been subjected to continuous warfare: “the Soviet invasion (1979-1989), the fratricidal civil war (1989-1996), the peace of the graveyard established by the Taliban; The US invasion (2001-2021) and now back to the Taliban". Because of the increasing radicalization of the Pashtuns on both side of the Durand Line, Afghanistan has suffered the most in the “globalization of jihad.” And in this internecine warfare Pashtuns are killing Pashtuns.

Will this ever change? Not very soon, Shri Devasher believes.

But, things are changing so rapidly in this part of the world that any prediction about the future is a risky business. Pakistan, in all appearance, is falling apart. And no one knows what the demise of this nuclear power rogue state will mean for the world. It will be interesting – and dangerous, too – to watch.

Because, the artificial construct called Pakistan will crumble, but “as the Pasto saying goes: Afghan Baqi, Kuhsar Baqi. Alhamdo-Lillah, Alhamdo-Lillah [Afghans and their mountains will keep standing, praise be to Allah, praise be to Allah].”

The Pashtuns: A Contested History is an important read to understand a crucial chapter of the contemporary history.

[Himanshu Manchanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers a lot of themes for Afghanistan and Pashtuns, ranging from tribal allegiances, ethnicities, medieval and modern history of Afghanistan to the culture, politics and behavioral tendencies of Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan. From a knowledge perspective, the content of the book will open new doors for people to explore as every new theme deals with just enough information to keep the reader informed leaving enough space for him/her to explore further. My only reservation is that there is a lot of repetition throughout the book. A good editor could have easily truncated the book size by about 100 pages, thus making it more crisp and appealing.

[Mohit Rathore · Rating 5 out of 5]

📍 The book's first section discusses the general characteristics of the Pashtun people, including the geography of Pashtunistan, the origins and tribal characteristics of the Pashtuns, the idea of Pashtunwali, or the Pashtun way, the significance of Islam, the status of women, and Pashto, the Pashtun language. It also includes a chapter on the history of the area from ancient times up until 1901, when the Iron Amir, Abdur Rahman Khan, came to an end peacefully, which was unusual in Pashtunistan.

📖 From around 1849, when the British acquired control of the Sikh kingdom, until 1947, when they left the subcontinent, Section II focuses on the British interactions with the Pashtuns throughout this century of relationship.

📖 British publications have influenced a lot of the narrative about the Pashtuns and the portrayal of their character. The Durand Line Agreement, which divided Pashtunistan into two pieces and was negotiated by the British and the Afghan Amir in 1893, is also covered in this section. When the British section of Pashtunistan passed to Pakistan in 1947, no Afghan administration recognised the division, which caused tension between the two nations. The Taliban regime and Pakistan are currently engaged in an intriguing dynamic about this matter. Section III examines the Pashtuns in Pakistan after its inception in 1947 and starts out by talking about Ghaffar Khan and his nonviolence, which many people find surprising given the way the Pashtuns are typically viewed. It also examines the conclusion of India's Partition and Ghaffar Khan's feelings of betrayal by the Indian National Congress at the declaration of independence. It then discusses Pashtun politics in Pakistan after its formation and sheds light on the former.

📍 The geographical and geopolitical "hinge" connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan is the FATA region, according to The Economist. The Pashtuns in Afghanistan are discussed in Section IV, which recounts their history from 1901 to the Soviet invasion in 1979. The third Afghan war, which led to Afghanistan's full independence from the British in 1919, marked the beginning of the longest period of peace the country would ever experience. It also charts the rise of Pashtun nationalism and Islamic fervour, both of which initially found expression in youth movements. The Communist Revolution and the end of Durrani supremacy, which had begun in 1747, mark the end of the period.

📍 The relationship between Pakistan's policy toward Afghanistan and Afghanistan's policy against Pakistan is examined in Section V. The main goals of Pakistani policy were to achieve strategic depth and prevent a nexus between Pashtun nationalism in Pakistan and irredentism in Afghanistan. Pakistan has had significant fallout as a result of adopting such a policy. Afghanistan, on the other hand, has used the Pashtunistan card to its advantage, taking up the cause of the Pashtuns in Pakistan and examining three options: independence, merger with Afghanistan, or autonomy for the Pashtuns in Pakistan and unification of all the Pashtun territories in Pakistan. Section VI starts with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and ends in 1996, when the Taliban seized power there. The Soviet experience, the Mujahideen, the US role in the jihad, the rise of the Taliban, and Pakistan's role and relationship with the Taliban are all covered.

📍 The Pashtuns in the twenty-first century are the focus of Section VII. In Afghanistan, the period was marked by the Taliban's resurgence beginning in 2001, the US intervention precipitated by 9/11, the US withdrawal in 2021, and the Taliban military takeover of most of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021. In Pakistan, the period saw the rise of both the violent Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the nonviolent Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, both of which articulated Pashtun rights in their own ways. The section also discusses the terrorist organisation al Qaeda and the rise of Afghanistan's Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).

📖 Finally, the conclusion attempts to predict the Pashtuns' and Pashtunistan's future. It highlights the Pashtuns' strengths and weaknesses, as well as the roles of the US and Pakistan. If the Pashtuns are to find the tranquillity and peace that they seek, they must solve their own problems rather than rely on others.

[Varunkumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The word Pashtun is used synonymously with Afghan and their people inhabit vast and difficult to govern territories on both sides of Durand line. Their future will probably decide state of the world security for foreseeable future.

While bloodshed and anarchy without a central authority was never unknown to their territories, last century caused fundamental changes to their situation. There are four major changes responsible

1. Durand Line was only meant by British to delineate area of control, and not sovereignty, to protect their interests in the subcontinent. Politics of Cold War, however, caused them to change stance in favour of Pakistan by referring to it as border, something which no afghan government has ever accepted. It de facto divided a single nation into two without popular support.
2. ⁠Left movement in Afghanistan tried to modernise country which was not ready for it resulting into pushback from religious fundamentalists and social conservatives in tribal societies.
3. ⁠Half-hearted and blunderous intervention by USSR in Afghanistan in 1979, which got the first time in rich history of invasions into Afghanistan, globalised the conflict in context of the Cold War. Rooted in Islamic jihad, resistance to USSR attracted fundamentalists from across the world. Afghanistan, and Pakistan — which became epicentre of training and support — therefore became hotspots of global jihad.
4. ⁠Dictated by their misplaced pursuit of ‘strategic depth’, Pakistan kept working to establish a ‘friendly’ government at Kabul. It therefore even betrayed its ally, the US, to support Taliban, along with other groups like AQIS, ISKP etc. to hedge their bets, thereby allowing jihad to grow and flourish. In order to destroy Pashtun nationalism, and instead ensure that Pashtuns are motivated not by their tribal identity but by religion, Pakistan systematically destroyed traditional tribal leadership and control mechanisms and instead empowered religious fundamentalists to become movers and shakers in Pashtun society. This has given birth to millions of fundamentalists who have no skill but to fight a war, which they seek all the time.

This book provides insights into history of Pashtuns along with their present. Any reader concerned about Afghanistan and the impact it can have on the world will learn how afghan thinks and works in this book. However, the uncertainty that the Afghan nation faces today is reflected in the fact that the book does very little in the way of forecasting where it goes from here. No country in the work has yet recognised Taliban government, which is not in control of the entire country as well. Pashtuns are seeking voice and redressal of their situation through various movements, peaceful and otherwise.

Book leaves the reader agitated and worried about the proud people who have been invaders and defenders of Indian subcontinent for millennia.

[Düsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 3.5. Had this book been written 20 years ago, this is the book Americans should've read before invading Afghanistan. For this is a great introduction to that society and it's peculiar nitty-grittiys. It's also a good historical summary of Afghan history.

However, there are a couple of issues with this book. Firstly, it fails to mention the history of the Hindu/Buddhist kings of Afghanistan. Hasn't even been a millennium since the Hindushahi kings were ruling over Kabul and to omit such important historical figures as Bhimdeva & Jayapala is a shame.

Secondly, the book tries to minimize the impact of Islam on the Afghan society, often presenting Islamism as being separate from Pashtunwali. Sure, while on the surface it might seem that they are two different things, in reality they are but two layers of an Afghan way of living. As can be seen by the social policies of the current Afghan rulers.

Notwithstanding these two shortcomings, this book is a good resource, especially for those who are equally interested in Northern Pakistani politics and while there is a dash of romanticism for the Afghans, the reader should stay weary and rely on current affairs to remind him/herself of the reality of that land and its people.

[Indranil Banerjie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pashtuns have been the subject of enquiry for many centuries now, chiefly on account of their warlike nature, refusal to accept foreign overlordship and incredible tenacity in the face of adversity. Starting from the Macedonian conqueror, Alexander, every invader has learnt the futility of any attempts to break the will of this fierce race. More recently, empires starting from that of the British in the 19th Century have been defeated by the warlike Pashtuns. In the 20th century, it was the turn of the Soviets to be humiliated by the defiant Pashtuns and in this century, it was the mighty United States that was humbled by these same people.

Not surprisingly, a mythology has been built up around the Pashtuns, a race that inhabits large parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have become famous as em-pire slayers and the Pashtun stands out as a poor but indomitable example of hu-manity. All this has naturally prompted an outpouring of literature on the Pashtuns, the people, their land and history.

Analyst and author Tilak Devasher is among the latest to wade into the subject of the Pashtuns. What makes his analysis and book different is his holistic approach to the Pashtun people. Previous writers, mostly Western ones, tended to make a dis-tinction between the Pashtuns living in Afghanistan and those living in Pakistan. Some authors, the British in particular, tried to make out that the Pashtun speaking people living in Pakistan were a race called Pathans while those living in Afghani-stan were Pashtun.

This was a completely artificial and specious distinctions that led to much error and a distorted view of Pashtun history and their contemporary political as well as geo-political problems. Devasher clears this false distinction right in the beginning of his book and thus sets the stage for a true understanding of the Pashtun people.

The book begins with the famous quote by Khushal Khan Khattak, the national poet of Afghanistan: “Pull out your swords and slay anyone that says Pashtun and Afghan are not one! Arabs know this and so do Romans: Afghans are Pashtuns, Pashtuns are Afghans.”

The author goes on to point out that there “has been a fair amount of confusion about the terms Pashtun, Pakhtun, Pathan and Afghan…Until the Sikh conquests in the nineteenth century and then the British Raj, the Pashtuns were politically united and part of a Pashtun empire that stretched eastwards as far as the Indus River. The Sikh seizure of the Pashtun lands and the bulk of the population between the Indus and the Khyber Pass, and its formalisation by the Durand Line Agreement with the British in 1893 was a devastating blow to the Pashtuns. After having lost a large por-tion of the Pashtun population, Amir Abdul Rahman expanded his Empire north-wards, making large non-Pashtun territories part of his Empire. Thus, the nomencla-ture Afghan became a multi-ethnic identity rather than that of a single ethnic group. In the twentieth century, an Afghan law declared all citizens of Afghanistan as Af-ghan and so Pashtun came to be used more commonly describing the ethnic group instead of the earlier Afghan. In Pakistan, however, Pashtuns still refer to themselves as Afghans.”

Just as the British before them, the state of Pakistan has tried to justify the division of Pashtun lands and promote the fiction that Pashtuns living east of the Durand Line have a different history and ethnicity. The author argues that this has been the cause of lingering tensions. “A critical thread after the creation of Pakistan in 1947 has been the Pashtunistan issue”, he writes. “The newly created state of Pakistan inherited the British territories and with it the issue of Afghan irredentism. The efforts of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to unite the Pashtuns at the time of the partition of the subcon-tinent came to naught but it sowed the seeds of doubt amongst the Pakistani leader-ship about the loyalty of his followers. Post-Partition, several Pashtun-led Afghan governments, notably those of Mohammad Daoud Khan, intermittently raised the issue of Pashtunistan and about the validity of the Durand Line, and challenged Pa-kistan’s right to rule over its Pashtun areas.”

“For its part, Pakistan has worked systematically to overwhelm Pashtun impulses for Pashtunistan. This central thread has been one of the key drivers of Pakistan's policy towards the Pashtuns and its efforts to snuff out Pashtun nationalism and have a friendly government in Kabul has been mainly responsible for the current turmoil in Pashtunistan,” Devasher points out. Several chapters towards the end of this book detail how and why the effects of this impulse continue to cause unrest, violence and tragedy both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan.

The book is not a simple chronological narrative of Pashtun history. Rather it is an attempt to describe the various facets of the Pashtun character, life, tendencies, history and so on in order to explain why they remain a troubled people in a continually troubled part of the world. It also brings the reader up to date on the developments related to the Pashtuns both in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pertinently, the book discusses the two main contemporary Pashtun political movements: the Afghan Taliban and the Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Here too, by viewing the Pashtuns as one undifferentiated ethnic group straddling two nations, Devasher’s book provides compelling insights into the tumultuous and often violent politics of today’s Pashtun lands. No South Asia watcher can afford to ignore this book.

Indranil Banerjie
April 2023

[Lalit Singh Tomar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, as far as the factual information is concerned, is an excellent read. For readers like me, who don’t know much about the Pathans, it serves as a great introduction — very well-structured and organized, and a good starter on the subject.

However, when it comes to the author’s analysis, I may not fully agree with it. At times, it feels as though the author is biased on certain issues. In some instances, he seems to be presenting them through the lens of his own wishful thinking.

Overall, I would recommend this book primarily for its factual content about the Pashtuns.

[Shubhank Singh Chouhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wanted to know about the Pashtun problem and about thr Pashtuns as a people. This book really manages to do both. It is a book I needed and when I came to know of it it became a godsend. Read it if u like history, read it if u like anthropology, read it if u like geopolitics. Just pick it up and read.

[Haleema · Rating 3 out of 5]

undoubtedly, this book gives you a bunch of information. But, the biaseness of the author can't be undermined when it comes to blaming Pakistan literally for every problem in Pashtuns. the last lines, especially, leave an impression of the wish of the author to see Pakistan disintegrated under the label of 'pashtunistan'

[Gauri Parab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched, interesting and simple to read. This was a great crash course in Pashtun history and culture for people in a hurry.

[Sanjay Banerjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched book about the History and Politics of Pashtuns.

[Medhat ullah · Rating 4 out of 5]

biased

[Taimoor Khan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Comprehensive study book