(Major World Leaders) Anne M. Todd-Hamid Karzai (2003)

Modern World Leaders

Hamid Karzai


Tony BlairGeorge W. Bush

Hugo ChávezJacques ChiracHamid Karzai

Hosni MubarakPervez MusharrafPope Benedict XVIPope John Paul II

Vladimir PutinThe Saudi Royal Family

Ariel SharonViktor Yushchenko


Hamid KarzaiDennis Abrams

Hamid Karzai

Copyright ©2007 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea HouseAn imprint of Infobase Publishing132 West 31st StreetNew York, NY 10001

ISBN-10: 0-7910-9267-4ISBN-13: 978-0-7910-9267-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Abrams, Dennis, 1960- Hamid Karzai / Dennis Abrams. p. cm. — (Modern world leaders) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7910-9267-4 (hardcover) 1. Karzai, Hamid, 1957- 2. Afghanistan—Politics and government—2001- 3. Presidents—Afghanistan—Biography. I. Title. DS371.43.K37A47 2007 958.104’7092—dc22 [B] 2006032695

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Table of Contents

Foreword: On LeadershipArthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

6

A New Beginning

Roundabout of the Ancient World

A Battle for Influence

A Time of Turmoil

Resistance

Taliban Rule

9/11 Changes Everything

Rebuilding a Nation

12345678

12

18

30

45

62

80

89

100

Chronology

Bibliography

Further Reading

Index

115

119

121

123

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

On Leadership

6

Leadership, it may be said, is really what makes the world

go round. Love no doubt smoothes the passage; but love

is a private transaction between consenting adults. Lead-

ership is a public transaction with history. The idea of leader-

ship affirms the capacity of individuals to move, inspire, and

mobilize masses of people so that they act together in pursuit

of an end. Sometimes leadership serves good purposes, some-

times bad; but whether the end is benign or evil, great leaders

are those men and women who leave their personal stamp

on history.

Now, the very concept of leadership implies the proposition

that individuals can make a difference. This proposition has never

been universally accepted. From classical times to the present day,

eminent thinkers have regarded individuals as no more than the

agents and pawns of larger forces, whether the gods and goddesses

of the ancient world or, in the modern era, race, class, nation, the

dialectic, the will of the people, the spirit of the times, history itself.

Against such forces, the individual dwindles into insignificance.

So contends the thesis of historical determinism. Tolstoy’s

great novel War and Peace offers a famous statement of the case.

Why, Tolstoy asked, did millions of men in the Napoleonic Wars,

denying their human feelings and their common sense, move

back and forth across Europe slaughtering their fellows? “The

war,” Tolstoy answered, “was bound to happen simply because

it was bound to happen.” All prior history determined it. As for

leaders, they, Tolstoy said, “are but the labels that serve to give

a name to an end and, like labels, they have the least possible

“ON LEADERSHIP” 7

connection with the event.” The greater the leader, “the more

conspicuous the inevitability and the predestination of every act

he commits.” The leader, said Tolstoy, is “the slave of history.”

Determinism takes many forms. Marxism is the determin-

ism of class. Nazism the determinism of race. But the idea of

men and women as the slaves of history runs athwart the deep-

est human instincts. Rigid determinism abolishes the idea of

human freedom—the assumption of free choice that underlies

every move we make, every word we speak, every thought we

think. It abolishes the idea of human responsibility, since it is

manifestly unfair to reward or punish people for actions that are

by definition beyond their control. No one can live consistently

by any deterministic creed. The Marxist states prove this them-

selves by their extreme susceptibility to the cult of leadership.

More than that, history refutes the idea that individuals make

no difference. In December 1931, a British politician crossing Fifth

Avenue in New York City between 76th and 77th streets around

10:30 p.m. looked in the wrong direction and was knocked down

by an automobile—a moment, he later recalled, of a man aghast,

a world aglare: “I do not understand why I was not broken like an

eggshell or squashed like a gooseberry.” Fourteen months later an

American politician, sitting in an open car in Miami, Florida, was

fired on by an assassin; the man beside him was hit. Those who

believe that individuals make no difference to history might well

ponder whether the next two decades would have been the same

had Mario Constasino’s car killed Winston Churchill in 1931

and Giuseppe Zangara’s bullet killed Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.

Suppose, in addition, that Lenin had died of typhus in Siberia in

1895 and that Hitler had been killed on the western front in 1916.

What would the twentieth century have looked like now?

For better or for worse, individuals do make a difference.

“The notion that a people can run itself and its affairs anony-

mously,” wrote the philosopher William James, “is now well

known to be the silliest of absurdities. Mankind does nothing

save through initiatives on the part of inventors, great or small,

FOREWORD8

and imitation by the rest of us—these are the sole factors in

human progress. Individuals of genius show the way, and set the

patterns, which common people then adopt and follow.”

Leadership, James suggests, means leadership in thought as

well as in action. In the long run, leaders in thought may well make

the greater difference to the world. “The ideas of economists and

political philosophers, both when they are right and when they

are wrong,” wrote John Maynard Keynes, “are more powerful than

is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.

Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from

any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct

economist. . . . The power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated

compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas.”

But, as Woodrow Wilson once said, “Those only are lead-

ers of men, in the general eye, who lead in action. . . . It is at

their hands that new thought gets its translation into the crude

language of deeds.” Leaders in thought often invent in solitude

and obscurity, leaving to later generations the tasks of imitation.

Leaders in action—the leaders portrayed in this series—have to

be effective in their own time.

And they cannot be effective by themselves. They must act

in response to the rhythms of their age. Their genius must be

adapted, in a phrase from William James, “to the receptivities

of the moment.” Leaders are useless without followers. “There

goes the mob,” said the French politician, hearing a clamor in

the streets. “I am their leader. I must follow them.” Great lead-

ers turn the inchoate emotions of the mob to purposes of their

own. They seize on the opportunities of their time, the hopes,

fears, frustrations, crises, potentialities. They succeed when

events have prepared the way for them, when the community is

awaiting to be aroused, when they can provide the clarifying and

organizing ideas. Leadership completes the circuit between the

individual and the mass and thereby alters history.

It may alter history for better or for worse. Leaders have

been responsible for the most extravagant follies and most


monstrous crimes that have beset suffering humanity. They

have also been vital in such gains as humanity has made in indi-

vidual freedom, religious and racial tolerance, social justice, and

respect for human rights.

There is no sure way to tell in advance who is going to lead

for good and who for evil. But a glance at the gallery of men and

women in Modern World Leaders suggests some useful tests.

One test is this: Do leaders lead by force or by persuasion? By

command or by consent? Through most of history leadership was

exercised by the divine right of authority. The duty of followers

was to defer and to obey. “Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but

to do and die.” On occasion, as with the so-called enlightened

despots of the eighteenth century in Europe, absolutist leader-

ship was animated by humane purposes. More often, absolutism

nourished the passion for domination, land, gold, and conquest

and resulted in tyranny.

The great revolution of modern times has been the revolu-

tion of equality. “Perhaps no form of government,” wrote the

British historian James Bryce in his study of the United States,

The American Commonwealth, “needs great leaders so much as

democracy.” The idea that all people should be equal in their legal

condition has undermined the old structure of authority, hierar-

chy, and deference. The revolution of equality has had two con-

trary effects on the nature of leadership. For equality, as Alexis de

Tocqueville pointed out in his great study Democracy in America,

might mean equality in servitude as well as equality in freedom.

“I know of only two methods of establishing equality in

the political world,” Tocqueville wrote. “Rights must be given

to every citizen, or none at all to anyone . . . save one, who is

the master of all.” There was no middle ground “between the

sovereignty of all and the absolute power of one man.” In his

astonishing prediction of twentieth-century totalitarian dicta-

torship, Tocqueville explained how the revolution of equality

could lead to the Führerprinzip and more terrible absolutism

than the world had ever known.

FOREWORD10

But when rights are given to every citizen and the sover-

eignty of all is established, the problem of leadership takes a

new form, becomes more exacting than ever before. It is easy to

issue commands and enforce them by the rope and the stake,

the concentration camp and the gulag. It is much harder to use

argument and achievement to overcome opposition and win

consent. The Founding Fathers of the United States understood

the difficulty. They believed that history had given them the

opportunity to decide, as Alexander Hamilton wrote in the first

Federalist Paper, whether men are indeed capable of basing gov-

ernment on “reflection and choice, or whether they are forever

destined to depend . . . on accident and force.”

Government by reflection and choice called for a new style

of leadership and a new quality of followership. It required

leaders to be responsive to popular concerns, and it required

followers to be active and informed participants in the pro-

cess. Democracy does not eliminate emotion from politics;

sometimes it fosters demagoguery; but it is confident that, as

the greatest of democratic leaders put it, you cannot fool all of

the people all of the time. It measures leadership by results and

retires those who overreach or falter or fail.

It is true that in the long run despots are measured by results

too. But they can postpone the day of judgment, sometimes

indefinitely, and in the meantime they can do infinite harm. It

is also true that democracy is no guarantee of virtue and intel-

ligence in government, for the voice of the people is not neces-

sarily the voice of God. But democracy, by assuring the right

of opposition, offers built-in resistance to the evils inherent in

absolutism. As the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr summed it up,

“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s

inclination to justice makes democracy necessary.”

A second test for leadership is the end for which power

is sought. When leaders have as their goal the supremacy of a

master race or the promotion of totalitarian revolution or the

acquisition and exploitation of colonies or the protection of


•

greed and privilege or the preservation of personal power, it is

likely that their leadership will do little to advance the cause of

humanity. When their goal is the abolition of slavery, the libera-

tion of women, the enlargement of opportunity for the poor

and powerless, the extension of equal rights to racial minori-

ties, the defense of the freedoms of expression and opposition,

it is likely that their leadership will increase the sum of human

liberty and welfare.

Leaders have done great harm to the world. They have also

conferred great benefits. You will find both sorts in this series.

Even “good” leaders must be regarded with a certain wariness.

Leaders are not demigods; they put on their trousers one leg

after another just like ordinary mortals. No leader is infal-

lible, and every leader needs to be reminded of this at regular

intervals. Irreverence irritates leaders but is their salvation.

Unquestioning submission corrupts leaders and demeans fol-

lowers. Making a cult of a leader is always a mistake. Fortunately

hero worship generates its own antidote. “Every hero,” said

Emerson, “becomes a bore at last.”

The single benefit the great leaders confer is to embolden the

rest of us to live according to our own best selves, to be active,

insistent, and resolute in affirming our own sense of things.

For great leaders attest to the reality of human freedom against

the supposed inevitabilities of history. And they attest to the

wisdom and power that may lie within the most unlikely of us,

which is why Abraham Lincoln remains the supreme example

of great leadership. A great leader, said Emerson, exhibits new

possibilities to all humanity. “We feed on genius. . . . Great men

exist that there may be greater men.”

Great leaders, in short, justify themselves by emancipating

and empowering their followers. So humanity struggles to mas-

ter its destiny, remembering with Alexis de Tocqueville: “It is

true that around every man a fatal circle is traced beyond which

he cannot pass; but within the wide verge of that circle he is

powerful and free; as it is with man, so with communities.”

C H A P T E R

1

12

Tuesday, december 7, 2004, was a cold, overcasT morning in Kabul,

the capital city of Afghanistan. But for 46-year-old Hamid

Karzai and the people of Afghanistan, it was a day bright with

hope and promise. Karzai was about to be inaugurated as the

first democratically elected president in Afghanistan’s history.

It was a true milestone for the Afghan people.

As head of the powerful Popolzai subtribe, the group that

had provided most of Afghanistan’s leaders since the 1770s,

Karzai was born to be a leader, and actually had been serving

as the country’s leader since December of 2001. He first served

as chairman of the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) for a six-

month period. Then, he was elected president by a nationwide

loya jirga (a traditional meeting of Afghanistan’s tribal leaders,

representing every Afghan ethnic group). But today was differ-

ent. Previously, Karzai had been named or appointed president

A New Beginning

A NEW BEGINNING 13

On October 9, 2004, Hamid Karzai was elected president of Afghanistan, becoming the first-ever democratically elected Afghan leader. In December of that year, Karzai was officially sworn in as president, an event that indicated a new beginning for the once-unstable nation. Above, Karzai is photographed in the capital city of Kabul, as he casts his ballot in the presidential election.

HAMID KARZAI14

by a select group of people. This time, he’d been elected to the

presidency by the entire nation. All eyes were upon him. The

hopes and dreams of his exhausted and war-torn nation rested

on his shoulders.

The use of the clichéd phrase “war-torn” is, in fact, a bit

of an understatement. Hamid Karzai was about to be inaugu-

rated as the first elected president of a nation on the verge of

collapse. Years of misrule, war, and chaos had helped to make

Afghanistan one of the poorest nations on the planet, with up

to two-thirds of the population living on less than two dollars a

day. Millions of its citizens were living as refugees. Its cities had

been heavily bombed. In the countryside, landmines were an

ever-present danger. And all throughout the country, criminals

and warlords ruled.

“Chaotic” is a good word to describe Afghanistan’s recent

political history. Since 1973 alone, it had seen its national

leader deposed (1973), executed (1978), executed (1979),

removed (1987), overthrown (1992), overthrown (1996), and

finally, overthrown (2001).

Afghanistan had been invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979.

This brought about a 10-year revolt by the mujahideen (often

defined as “holy warriors”) and forced nearly 5 million Afghans

to flee their homes and become refugees in the neighboring

countries of Iran and Pakistan. Following the Soviet defeat and

withdrawal in 1999, six years of near-chaos followed, as various

mujahideen factions, tribal groups, and warlords all fought and

jockeyed for power. This turmoil led directly to the rise of the

infamous Taliban.

With its promises to bring order and stability to Afghanistan,

the Taliban seized power in 1996, eventually controlling up to

90 percent of the country. (The remaining 10 percent, mostly

the northeast section of the country, was largely controlled by

the Northern Alliance.) As soon as it took power though, the

Taliban imposed its strict interpretation of Islamic law on the

country, banning, among other things, television and music,

A NEW BEGINNING 15

children’s toys, kite flying, and the Internet. The Taliban also

made it illegal for women to go to school, to work, to show

their ankles, to wear makeup, or even to laugh in public. In

addition, the Taliban gave aid and refuge to numerous terror-

ist organizations, including Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

The terrorist attacks by al Qaeda against the World Trade

Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, spelled the

beginning of the end for the Taliban. U.S. and allied military

action, along with the opposition forces of the Northern

Alliance quickly drove the Taliban from power, leading ulti-

mately to Hamid Karzai winning Afghanistan’s first presiden-

tial elections, on October 9, 2004.

So it was that at 11:30 on the morning of December

7, 2004, Hamid Karzai entered the reception hall of the

presidential palace. There he received a tumultuous stand-

ing ovation from 600 invited guests. Government officials,

bearded tribal elders in traditional turbans, as well as foreign

guests cheered the man whom they saw as the best hope of

the Afghan nation. Karzai was accompanied into the hall

by Mohammed Zahir Shah, 90 years old, the former king of

Afghanistan whose ouster in 1973 had begun the nearly 30

years of unfortunate history that followed.

After placing his right hand on the holy Koran and taking

the oath of office, Karzai gave his 15-minute inaugural address.

Vowing to disarm regional militias, stomp out corruption, con-

duct fair parliamentary elections in 2005, and eliminate poppy

cultivation (poppy cultivation had made Afghanistan the

world’s leading opium producer), Karzai went on to acknowl-

edge the past, but also to look hopefully to the future:

Every vote that was cast in the elections was a vote for

Afghanistan whether I received it or another candidate. I

am confident and proud that this nation is determined to

rebuild Afghanistan and build it fast; to live in security, and

to stand on its own feet.

HAMID KARZAI16

As Merajuddin Patan, the governor of Khost province

said in an interview shortly before the ceremony, “This is the

birth of our nation. I believe the real history of Afghanistan—

modern history—will begin with this.”

On December 7, 2004, newly elected Afghan president Hamid Karzai (left), shakes hands with Afghan Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari (right) during his inauguration. Many public officials attended this memorable ceremony, includ-ing Afghanistan’s former king, Zahir Shah, and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

A NEW BEGINNING 17

Karzai’s election and inauguration may have spelled a new

beginning for Afghanistan, but a country can never completely

break away from its past. A nation, in effect, is its past. All its

history, the good as well as the bad, is what makes a nation what

it is. And, Afghanistan’s history has made Hamid Karzai who

he is. People are the products of their country: Its history and

culture help make them who they are. (Compare, for example,

George W. Bush of the United States and Vladimir Putin of

Russia. Each man is very much a product of his country’s his-

tory and culture.) So to explain and to hope to understand the

life of Hamid Karzai, we also have to learn about the history

and culture of Afghanistan. We have to try to understand how

it became the nation that gave rise to both the Taliban and

Hamid Karzai. To do that, we’ll have to go over several thou-

sand years of Afghan history and learn how geography helped

make Afghanistan the country it is today. We’ll have to start at

the beginning.

C H A P T E R

18

GeoGraphy is destiny. Where a country is located and Who its

neighbors are go a long way toward determining its history, cul-

ture, and, eventually, what a country ultimately becomes. Take

the United States, for example. It is blessed with long, navigable

rivers (the Mississippi for one) that provide easy transportation

of goods and people. With only one major mountain range (the

Rockies) it’s relatively easy to travel from one section of the

county to another. The nation’s relatively temperate climate,

rich soil, and abundant water make it an extraordinarily fertile

area for a wide range of agriculture. It is a land rich in natural

resources. Its Atlantic and Pacific coasts allow for easy shipping

with both Europe and Asia. Yet, until 9/11, those same oceans

and the nation’s distance from Europe and Asia also helped

keep the U.S. mainland safe from foreign threat. This rich and

Roundabout of the

Ancient World

2

RoundAbout of the Ancient WoRld 19

secure environment allowed the United States to develop into

a world superpower.

Now consider Afghanistan. Its rivers are considered mostly

unnavigable. The longest river is the Helmand, running south-

west across the country from the Hindu Kush to the Iranian

border. Its most famous river, the Kabul, runs along the capital

and leads through the Khyber Pass (the most famous pass in the

Hindu Kush mountain range), on to Pakistan and the Indian

subcontinent. The country is crisscrossed with mountains. In

fact, Afghanistan’s high mountain ranges have served through

the centuries to make transportation and communication dif-

ficult, cutting off one group from another. This in turn led to a

strong tribal culture, or tribalism. Tribalism means a sense of

loyalty or connection to one’s group or tribe, rather than to the

nation as a whole. This culture has made unifying and ruling

the country difficult at best. (It also has made it difficult for any

invaders to gain long-term control of the country.)

The country has a continental climate, meaning it has hot,

dry summers and cold winters. There are some fertile mountain

valleys in the eastern part of the country, as well as plains and

grasslands in the north. But deserts and semideserts abound in

the west and southwest. Despite the scarcity of fertile ground,

the majority of the population still earns its keep from the land,

by farming (mostly growing grains such as wheat, although

cotton, fruit, and poppies for opium are grown as well), or by

raising goats and sheep.

It’s a difficult existence. Water, even in the greenest area,

is scarce, and severe droughts are frequent. In the center and

northeast sections of the country, famine caused by drought

has not been an uncommon occurrence. Even grazing land can

be so scarce that approximately 2.5 million people, known as

the Kuchis, live as nomads. They survive by moving themselves

and their flocks from the uplands to the plains in search of

vegetation. Most of the land is, in fact, so dry and barren that

Martin Ewans, in his book Afghanistan: A Short History of its

hAMid KARZAi20

People and Politics, described the landscape thusly: “From the

air it resembles a vast moonscape, with only the occasional

green of an oasis or a narrow patch of vegetation snaking along

a valley.”

Geographically, Afghanistan, roughly the size of Texas, is

a completely landlocked country, with no access to the sea.

It is bordered on the north by the former Soviet republics of

Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Along the far north-

east section of the country is a 50-mile (80-kilometer) border

with China. From there runs the Durand Line, the border that

divides Afghanistan from Pakistan. This border goes from

southwest to west, until it finally meets the Iranian border,

which is the western border of Afghanistan.

The historian Arnold Toynbee described the region where

Afghanistan is situated as “the roundabout of the ancient

world.” Over the centuries, waves of migrating people have

passed through the region, each of them leaving their ethnic

and cultural imprint. In more modern times, many of the

world’s great armies have passed through the area as well.

Sometimes these armies managed to gain temporary control.

But no nation has ever, for long, been able to control and sub-

due the fierce independence of the Afghan people.

the people of afGhanistanThe people themselves come from many different ethnic

groups, although there are only four major ones. The Pashtuns

are the majority, estimated to be approximately 50 percent of

the population. (Hamid Karzai himself is Pashtun.) Some

historians trace the origins of the Pashtuns to the Indo-Aryan

invasions of India. Others believe they are descendents of the

Hun invaders of the fifth century a.d.

The Pashtuns are divided into different tribes. The two

major tribes are the Durrani (who were formerly known as

the Abdalis) and the Ghilzai. Both of these tribes are further

subdivided into smaller subtribes, and then into even smaller


Afghan nomads called Kuchis travel toward lowgar, an eastern Afghan province, on March 26, 2002. the Kuchis are the nomadic sect of Pashtuns, an ethnic group that makes up approximately 50 percent of Afghanistan’s population. due to a history of war and ethnic conflict, approximately 200,000 Kuchis have been displaced, unable to continue their migratory lifestyle.

hAMid KARZAi22

clans. For example, the Durrani are divided into nine different

subtribes. The Popolzai subtribe, which Hamid Karzai and his

family are from, contains the Saddozai clan, from which came

Ahmad Shaw, the first ruler of the first dynasty of rulers of

modern Afghanistan. To illustrate how far back the ties between

the Popolzai and the rulers of Afghanistan go—consider this.

In 1761, King Ahmad Shaw Durrani received a gift of land

where he built the city of Kandahar. That gift of land came

from the Popolzai.

All Pashtuns refer to themselves as “Afghans” and their lan-

guage as “Afghan.” But the members of the other ethnic groups

refer to themselves by their group name first, and as Afghans

second, if at all. The Pashtuns live primarily in the south and

east of the country, while an equal number (if not actually

greater), live on the other side of the Durand Line, in the fron-

tier areas of Pakistan. (These are the very areas where Osama

bin Laden is purported to be hiding.)

The Pashtuns, like 99 percent of all Afghans, are Muslim.

They also hold to a strict tribal code of conduct, called the

Pushtoonwali. This code establishes tribal obligations for sanc-

tuary (nanawati), hospitality (melmastia), and revenge (badal).

The obligatory call for revenge, whether for matters of honor,

or personal or financial disputes, has meant that vendettas and

fighting have been a constant theme in Pashtun life.

After the Pashtuns, the next most numerous group is the

Tajiks, at approximately 20 percent of the population. They are

commonly believed to be of Persian origin and are scattered

throughout the country, but they tend to be concentrated in

the cities as traders and artisans.

In the northern part of the country are the Uzbeks. They

share similar ethnic origins with the peoples who live directly

across the northern border in the former Soviet states. The

Uzbeks are mainly farmers and breeders of horses and sheep.

Along with the Tajiks, they have a much weaker sense of tribal

identity than the Pashtuns.


The final major group is the Hazaras, who inhabit the

mountainous areas of central Afghanistan. It was commonly

believed that the Hazaras were descendants of Genghis Khan’s

soldiers. But some historians now believe that they are the

descendants of earlier migrations from central Asia. They are

often sheep breeders, although some have moved into the cit-

ies. And, unlike the vast majority of Afghanistan’s Muslims,

who are Sunni, the Hazaras are Shiite. (Sunnism and Shiism

are the two major branches of Islam; Sunni are in the majority

worldwide.)

early afGhan historyIn any case, archaeological evidence shows that the region

where modern-day Afghanistan now exists has been inhabited

since the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. Agriculture was prob-

ably practiced there as long as 10,000 years ago. Precious stones

like lapis lazuli and minerals like tin appear to have been traded

from Afghanistan through the ancient world. So, even from the

earliest times, the region’s commercial links spread both to the

west and east.

As Martin Ewans points out, however, due to its prime

location along the trade routes, it has long been a “highway of

conquest” between west, central, and southern Asia. The coun-

try itself has long been incorporated into numerous empires,

as streams of migrations and invasions have moved into and

through it.

Afghanistan first appears in recorded history in the sixth

century b.c. It was then that the Persian monarchs Cyrus the

Great and his son Darius conquered these areas at the begin-

ning of the century. Persian rule continued until Alexander of

[Afghanistan] has long been a “highway of conquest” between

west, central, and southern Asia.

hAMid KARZAi24

Macedonia, more commonly known as Alexander the Great,

conquered the region.

In 330 b.c., Alexander conquered the area on his march

of conquest toward India. As he advanced, he founded cities,

the first recorded rulers of Afghanistan were Persian monarchs cyrus the Great and his son darius i. in 331 b.c., Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, defeated darius iii and conquered the Persian empire in the battle of Guagamela. in the painting above, darius iii engages in battle.


including Alexandria Ariana near what is now Herat, and

what he considered his most remote city, Alexandria-Eschate

(“Alexandria at the end of the world”). After conquering the

area, Alexander moved toward, and then into what is now

India. Eventually though, tired of war, his troops rebelled.

Alexander was forced to return to Greece, but he died along the

way, in Babylon, in 323.

Following Alexander’s occupation, the Hellenic (Greek)

states of the Seleucids and then the Bactrians controlled the

area. At the same time, the Indian Marayan Empire, under

its great king Asoka, moved into the southern part of the

region, introducing Buddhism before being beaten back by the

Bactrians. The Bactrians, in turn, fell to the Parthians and vari-

ous rebellious tribes (primarily the Saka).

Up until this point, the migrations and invasions had

primarily been from the east to the west, but the area that

would become Afghanistan now saw the first great migrations

of people out of central Asia. Why did these people suddenly

begin migrating? Historians speculate that climate changes

may have caused their traditional pasturelands to dry up. Also,

with the recent construction of the Great Wall of China, they

were unable to move their flocks to the east.

So, during the first and second centuries of what is known

as the Christian era, the Yueh-chih, or the Kushans, as they

came to be known, extended their rule over a large part of

India, through Afghanistan, and north to the Caspian and Aral

seas. Their great king, Kanishki, built a northern capital of his

empire, near what is Peshawar. During this time, trade with the

Mideast revived, along with the Silk Route east to China.

In a largely forgotten part of the area’s history, Buddhism

was once the dominant religion of the region. Monasteries

flourished as sites of education. Beautiful statues were built

in a combination of Greek and Buddhist styles known as

Gandharan. Two of the most famous and spectacular examples

of this art were the sandstone images of Buddha at Bamiyan.

hAMid KARZAi26

Carved into the side of a cliff in the third century, the taller

statue stood 175 feet (53 meters) high, the second one 120 feet

(36.5 meters). These statues, which withstood nearly 2,000

years of wind, sand, and time, were destroyed by the Taliban in

March 2001.

The Kushan Empire lasted for nearly five centuries, until it

began to break up into smaller, arguing dynasties. This left them

fragmented and unable to resist the invasion of the White Huns

in the fifth century. Previous invaders had moved through the

country, adjusting themselves to what was already there. Not so

the Huns. They went on a war of destruction, decimating the

cities and killing everyone in their path. They also destroyed the

Buddhist culture, which never recovered.

The White Huns, also known as the Ephthalites, ruled for

almost 100 years. They in turn were defeated by a combined

army of the Sassanids and the Turkish people of central Asia.

That’s how things stood until the middle of the seventh cen-

tury. It was then that a major change was to take place in the

region. Arab armies were about to introduce Islam.

the introduction of islamThe first Arab forays into the country were rather tentative,

with important battles against the Sassanids in 637 and 642. By

the year 650, they were in control of the major cities of Herat

and Balkh. Their forward movement into Afghanistan was

slow. It wasn’t until the Ghaznavid Dynasty (962–1149) that

Islam was firmly established throughout the region.

The Ghaznavid Empire was founded by a local Turkic

ruler from Ghazni. His name was Yamin ul-Dawlah Mahmud,

and his empire ultimately expanded over a huge area from

Kurdistan to northern India. The empire weakened some-

what after the death of its greatest ruler, Mahmud (998–

1030), and was supplanted by the Ghorids, who sacked the

city of Ghazni in 1150 and moved their capital to Herat. This

empire, too, would not last. The years 1219–1221 saw the


invasion of the Mongol hordes under their ruthless leader,

Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan was one of the most brilliant military com-

manders the world has ever seen. At its peak, his empire ranged

from the China Sea all the way west to Hungary, and from

northern Siberia to the Indian subcontinent. What he brought

to Afghanistan was little short of absolute destruction.

Razing whole cities, massacring all of their inhabitants, he

left nothing but devastation in his path. As an example, he ini-

tially treated the city of Herat relatively well, when it first sur-

rendered to him. After a rebellion six months later, every one

of its inhabitants, man, woman and child, were executed—a

process that took seven days. Throughout the country he tore

down what were considered some of the world’s most beautiful

mosques. He also destroyed irrigation systems, turning once

fertile land into desert. He left in his wake an Afghanistan that

was heavily depopulated, physically devastated, and in eco-

nomic ruin.

Following the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, most of

Afghanistan came under the rule of his son, Jaghati, whose

descendents ruled from the cities of Kabul and Ghazni. By 1364

though, the western part of the region had fallen under the

control of the dreaded Turko-Mongul ruler Tamerlane.

Tamerlane’s name is a corruption of Timur-i-Leng, mean-

ing Timur the Lame. He claimed (apparently falsely) to be a

descendant of the great Genghis Khan himself. By 1400, he

had extended his empire throughout Afghanistan and on into

India. Although not an actual descendant, Tamerlane was

nearly as bloodthirsty as Genghis himself. He was known for

taking the heads of those he had massacred and piling them up

into pyramids.

His empire, too, began to collapse after his death in 1405.

By 1504, Uzbeki-born Babur had established a new empire

based in Kabul. Babur was a descendant of both Genghis Khan

and Tamerlane. His empire expanded into south Asia in 1525.

hAMid KARZAi28

This established what is known as the Mughal Empire through

what is now Pakistan and northern India by the year 1527. As

Babur’s empire moved to the east and south, the Safavids of

Persia moved in from the west, challenging Mughal rule. As

would occur again and again through its history, Afghanistan

found itself trapped between two rival superpowers. For the

next hundred years, the Persians and the Mughals fought over

Afghanistan, with the Persians finally gaining control by the

mid-seventeenth century.

Local Ghilzai Pashtun tribesmen, led by Khan Nashir, over-

threw Safavid rule. Under the Hotaki Dynasty, they briefly con-

trolled even Persia itself from 1722–1736. The Persians fought

back though, and control of the area reverted back to Persia

under the rule of Nadir Shah (1736–1747).

in 1219, mongol warrior Genghis Khan invaded and destroyed the buildings, mosques, resources, and people in Afghanistan. A detail of Genghis Khan and his sons is shown above.


In 1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated, quite possibly by one

of his military officers, Ahmad Shah Abdali, Pashtun of the

Abdali tribe. He called for a loya jirga to take place in Kandahar,

where in 1747, Ahmad Shah (who changed his last name to

Durrani, meaning “pearl of pearls”) was named the new ruler

by the assembled tribal leaders.

The Persian Empire was in disarray following the death of

Nadir Shah. The Mughal Empire was in a weakened state. This

gave Ahmed Shah all the opportunity he needed. The Durrani

Empire quickly expanded out of the traditional Pashtun territo-

ries and ultimately included all of what is today’s Afghanistan,

plus a portion of Persia (today’s Iran), and all of Pakistan and

Kashmir. With that, the modern nation-state of Afghanistan

was established.

C H A P T E R

30

At its peAk, the DurrAni empire wAs one of the lArgest islAmic

empires in the world. Perhaps most significant, Ahmed Shah

had been able to unite all the Afghan tribes into one nation.

This achievement though, was short lived.

After Ahmad Shah’s death in 1772, his descendants were

unable to hold his empire together. They ruled so ineptly, that

in only 50 years, much of the land that had been conquered

was lost to rival regional powers. The country itself was soon

wracked with civil war, as his son, Timur Shah, and then

Timur’s 20 sons, including Shah Shuja, fought each other for

control of the throne. From 1818 until 1826, Afghanistan splin-

tered into smaller and smaller pieces and finally ceased to exist

as a single unified nation.

The year 1826 saw the rise of Dost Mohammed, who

brought some semblance of order to the area. With him, the

Mohammedzai subtribe of the Pashtuns took control. But

A Battle for Influence

3

A BAttle for Influence 31

another period of foreign influence in Afghanistan was about

to begin. This period is known to Westerners as the Great

Game. To the Afghans though, it was anything but a game.

the greAt gAmeAt this time, Afghanistan’s internal affairs were slowly becoming

more and more influenced by the area’s two superpowers. These

were Czarist Russia to the north, and the British Empire to the

southeast in the Indian subcontinent. The British looked to the

Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan as a natural barrier to

any political invasion of India from the north.

For their part, the Russians were busily expanding their

empire to the south and east. They had absorbed several for-

merly independent states of central Asia into their empire.

Their main concern was about Britain gaining control in an

area they considered theirs to exploit.

Taking advantage of a seemingly weakened Afghanistan

(and convinced of Russian plans to do the same thing), British

armies in India actually invaded Afghanistan on two separate

occasions. The British hoped to install governments that

would be friendly to their interests, and not so friendly to

Russian interests. What would be best for Afghan interests was

not a topic of serious consideration.

The first attempt, now known as the First Anglo-Afghan

War, took place in 1839. Furious at the presence of a single

Russian diplomat in Kabul, the British used that as an excuse

to demand that Afghanistan end any and all contact with

either Russia or Persia. They also demanded that large areas of

Pashtun-controlled land (what is now northwest Pakistan) be

handed over to the British. Dost Mohammed agreed in prin-

ciple to these terms, but nothing was ever put in writing. At

that point, it really didn’t matter; the British were determined

to have their war.

The British goal was, as Lord Auckland, the governor-

general of India put it, “to raise up an insurmountable and, I

HAMID KArZAI32

hope, lasting barrier to all encroachments from the Westward,

and to establish the basis for the extension and maintenance

of British influence throughout Central Asia.” To do so, Dost

Mohammed would have to be deposed and the former ruler,

Shah Shuja, enthroned as a British puppet.

In 1838, British troops set out from India for Afghanistan.

By August of 1839, the British controlled most major cities.

They then installed Shah Shuja as emir in Kabul, some 30 years

after he had previously been deposed. Dost Mohammed was

exiled to India.

It quickly became clear to the British that Shah Shuja was

unable to earn popular support. He could only be kept in

power by the long-term presence of British troops. To help

keep up military morale, British soldiers were encouraged to

bring their wives and families to Afghanistan. This further

enraged the Afghans, now convinced that the British were plan-

ning to stay permanently.

As it turned out, even British troops couldn’t keep Shah

Shuja in power. By October of 1841, the tribes were unifying

in their support of Dost Mohammed’s son, Mohammed Akbar

Khan. British heavy-handed rule further unified the Afghan

people, and an angry mob in Kabul murdered a senior British

official and his aides. The British chief representative to Kabul

tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement, but he too was killed by

a mob, and his disemboweled body was then paraded through

the streets of Kabul.

British troops garrisoned in Kabul, along with other offi-

cials and their families, some 16,000 in all, began what was

to be a negotiated, safe retreat out of Afghanistan. But as the

British marched south through the snowy mountain passes,

they were attacked by Ghilzai warriors. Legend has it that only

one person, a Dr. Boyden, survived the onslaught. Everyone

else, men, women and children, were allegedly killed in bitterly

cold, rugged terrain.

The truth is nearly as bad. A few survived to be brought

back to Kabul as prisoners of war. A mere 100 British were


found the following year when the British Army of Retribution

reentered Kabul to rescue the prisoners. Along the way, the

Army of Retribution did find time to burn the Great Bazaar,

long considered one of the wonders of central Asia. They also

found the time to visit the village of Istalif, where they killed

all the adult males, raped and killed many of the women, and

destroyed buildings and trees.

following British invasion, Afghan ruler and founder of the Barakzai Dynasty, Dost Mahommad Khan, surrenders to Sir William Hay Macnaghten Bart, pic-tured above. Dost Mahommad Khan was held as a prisoner until 1843, when Afghanistan regained its independence.

HAMID KArZAI34

The destruction in Afghanistan caused by the war was

immense, as was the damage to the Afghan psyche. The Afghans

had always been considered to be a friendly and tolerant people.

But the First Anglo-Afghan War changed that. The British (as

well as other foreigners) were now distrusted and considered

potential aggressors, as well as infidels and immoral people.

Xenophobia (a fear or distrust of foreigners or strangers) had

become an important part of the Afghan state of mind.

In 1843, after the annihilation of the British troops,

Afghanistan was once again independent. The exiled emir, Dost

Mohammed, returned to reclaim his throne. He ruled peace-

fully until his death in 1863 and remains one of the very few

Afghan leaders to die of natural causes. He was succeeded by

his third son, Sher Ali.

Sher Ali was offered arms and money from the British, but

no other aid. Russia, in an agreement with Britain, had agreed

to honor Afghanistan’s northern borders. But Britain offered

Sher Ali no guarantees of assistance in case of attack. Fear and

distrust led to 10 years of deteriorating relations between the

two nations.

In the summer of 1878, an uninvited Russian diplomatic mis-

sion arrived in Kabul. Outraged, the British demanded that the

Afghans receive a British mission as well. The emir refused, but a

mission was sent anyway. The mission was turned back militar-

ily as it approached the Khyber Pass. This was just the excuse the

British needed to start the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

Forty thousand British troops entered Afghanistan at three

different points. Sher Ali attempted to plead in person to the

Russian czar for assistance but was unable to do so. He died in

the city of Mazar-e Sharif the following February.

With British troops occupying much of the country, Sher

Ali’s son and chosen successor, Yaqub Khan, was forced to

sign the Treaty of Gandamak in May of 1879. Yaqub gave up

control of Afghanistan’s foreign affairs to the British. British

representatives were installed in Kabul and other cities. The


British gained control of the Khyber Pass. Afghanistan gave up

its long-disputed frontier areas to the British. In return, the

Afghans were given nothing but an annual financial subsidy

and vague promises of assistance in case of foreign invasion.

Once again, the tribes rebelled against the foreign occupa-

tion. And once again, the entire British garrison in Kabul was

annihilated. By 1881, the British had once again had enough

and left. This time, though, they gained some territory. Also,

they placed on the throne the grandson of Dost Mohammed,

Abdur Rahman Khan, a man of such flexible political loyalties

that he was acceptable to the British, the Russians, and even the

Afghan people.

Afghanistan would remain a British protectorate until

1918. Abdur Rahman himself ruled until 1901, and, in doing

so, helped create the modern state of Afghanistan. He beat back

several attempts at rebellion. He helped to temporarily break

the tribal stranglehold on power by forcibly moving tribes from

one area of the country to another. He also created provincial

governorships along boundaries that did not coincide with tra-

ditional tribal lines, further weakening the tribes’ power.

Abdur Rahman also made the first tentative steps towards

modernization. He brought foreign physicians, engineers, geol-

ogists, and printers to Afghanistan. He brought in European

machinery and encouraged the building of small factories. He

also built some of the first roads in Afghanistan, which also

contributed to unifying the country.

It was during his reign that the treaty creating the Durand

Line was signed. This treaty established once and for all the

boundary between Afghanistan and British India. The Durand

Line cut through Pashtun tribal areas, splitting the population

between Afghanistan and British India (the area would later

become Pakistan after the Partition of 1947, dividing British

India into two nations—India and Pakistan.)

This border has held long-term ramifications, leading to

constant strife between Afghanistan and British India, and

HAMID KArZAI36

later between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even American foreign

policy would become enmeshed in this rugged mountainous

region.

At Abdur Rahman’s death in 1901, there was a peaceful

succession of power to his son, Habibullah Khan. As Abdur

Rahman Khan’s eldest son, even as a child of a slave mother,

Habibullah had been groomed to power.

The power to run his country’s foreign affairs was still

out of his hands. In 1907, the last stage of the Great Game

ended without any Afghan participation. At the 1907 Anglo-

Russian Convention, Russia conceded that Afghanistan was

outside of its sphere of influence. It further agreed that Russia

would negotiate directly with Britain on all matters relat-

ing to Afghanistan. For its part, Britain agreed that it would

not occupy any Afghan territory or interfere in its internal

domestic affairs.

the reign of AmAnullAhHabibullah Khan was assassinated while on a hunting trip on

February 20, 1919. He had not named a successor. But he had

left his third son, Amanullah Khan, in charge of Kabul. Because

Amanullah controlled both the national treasury and the army,

within a few months he had gained the support of most tribal

leaders. With their backing, he was able to establish control in

cities throughout the country.

Amanullah’s 10-year reign was a period of dramatic change

in Afghanistan. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917,

This border has held long-term ramifications, leading to constant strife between

Afghanistan and British India, and later between Afghanistan

and Pakistan.


Amanullah signed an agreement of aid with Vladimir Lenin

in May of 1919. Amanullah then declared independence from

Britain, and his armies launched a surprise attack against

British troops.

After the bombing of Kabul by the Royal Air Force (the

first aerial bombing in Afghanistan’s history) and a period of

border skirmishes ended in stalemate, the British conceded

Afghanistan’s independence. The 1919 Rawalpindi Agreement,

a temporary armistice agreement, gave Afghanistan, somewhat

ambiguously, self-determination in its foreign affairs.

In 1921, Britain and Afghanistan signed a second treaty,

guaranteeing Afghan sovereignty. However, the British would

not give way to Afghanistan on the Pashtun question, refusing

to turn over to Afghanistan control of the tribes on the British

side of the line. Since that was a point the Afghans insisted

upon, they considered the 1921 agreement to be only informal,

and not a permanent agreement.

In May of 1921, Afghanistan signed the first agreement

with a foreign country: a true Treaty of Friendship with the

Soviet Union. The Soviets promised to provide the struggling

nation financial support, technology, and military equip-

ment. Amanullah was happy to receive the assistance. But he

quickly grew unhappy with the Soviet government’s suppres-

sion of Muslims in the Soviet states on Afghanistan’s north-

ern border.

Amanullah (who in 1926 gave up the title of emir for

that of king), soon embarked on an ambitious program of

modernization and Westernization. He established an air

force (equipped with Soviet-built planes and flown by Soviet

pilots). At the same time, he also managed to alienate many

in the army by taking away tribal control over who joined

the service. General Mohammad Nadir Khan, Amanullah’s

minister of war, opposed this affront to tribal sensitivities and

left the inner circle of government to become Afghanistan’s

ambassador to France.

HAMID KArZAI38

If Amanullah had achieved his goals, Afghanistan would

have become a very different country from what it is today.

Under Amanullah, for the first time, a constitution was writ-

ten, creating a secular, not a religious government. The new

constitution defined the relationship between religion and the

state. This meant that religion and Islamic law would be just

one aspect of the government, but not the foundation.

Amanullah also attempted to reform the legal system by

creating an independent judiciary to enforce secular (versus

tribal or Islamic) penal, civil, and commercial codes. He also

opened up secular education to both boys and girls and enacted

laws guaranteeing limited legal rights for women.

As might be expected in such a conservative country,

traditional Muslims were outraged at the proposed changes.

They felt that Islamic law, or sharia, should be the basis of all

law, and indeed of the Afghan government. They violently

opposed any attempts to create a “secular” government that

put the laws of man before what they considered to be the

laws of God. These reforms and others were imposed too

rapidly on a population not ready for such drastic changes.

Amanullah lost the support of the army as well as tribal and

religious leaders.

And, upon returning from a “grand tour” of the West,

Amanullah managed to further enrage tribal leaders at a loya

jirga in July 1928. He insisted that the thousand assembled

leaders wear their hair and beards neatly trimmed, not in the

long and bushy traditional style. He also ordered that instead

of traditional wear, they wear black coats, vests and pants, shirts

and ties, black boots, and even homburg hats. His days as king

were numbered.

In November 1928, Shinwari Pashtun tribesmen re-

volted in Jalalabad. When the tribal forces advanced on the

capital, many of the king’s troops fled. At the same time, an

army of Tajik tribesmen moved toward Kabul from the

north. In January 1929, Amanullah faced the inevitable and

abdicated the throne to his older brother, Inayatullah.


Inayatullah in turn ruled for only three days, before fleeing to

exile in India. Amanullah fled to India as well. He finally

settled in Zurich, Switzerland, where he died in 1960.

Amanullah Khan is photographed with his cabinet dressed in european cloth-ing. named ruler of Afghanistan in 1919, Amanullah Khan wanted to western-ize and modernize Afghanistan, but his eagerness for change was not well received by the conservative Muslims in the country. His program for modern-ization caused revolt within Afghanistan.

HAMID KArZAI40

It was a Tajik, Kala Khan, who seized the reins of power,

renaming himself Habibullah Khan. His rule, though, was

cut short: Just nine months later, Pashtun tribes, unhappy

about being ruled by a non-Pashtun, drove Habibullah from

power. They placed Nadir Shah, Amanullah’s former minis-

ter of war, on the throne as the new king. Habibullah fled

Kabul, but he was captured in Kohistan and executed on

November 3, 1929.

Mohammed Nadir Shah wasted no time in abolishing

many if not most of Amanullah’s reforms. He did attempt to

continue modernization, albeit at a somewhat slower pace,

with improved communications and road construction. In

1930, a loya jirga confirmed his ascension to the throne. A new

constitution was put forth. This version, while making ges-

tures toward democracy, made it clear that the king’s rule was

supreme. This constitution stayed in effect as the foundation of

Afghanistan’s government for the next 34 years. Nadir Shah’s

major accomplishment though, was something of which his

great-great-uncle Dost Mohammed would have very proud: He

reunited a fragmented Afghanistan.

It was simple personal vengeance and retribution that

led to the king’s downfall. In 1932, Nadir Shah had a meeting

with Ghulam Nabi Charki, in which he accused Ghulam of

involvement in an uprising in the east of the country. Ghulam

responded angrily and defiantly, and, in a fit of rage, Nadir

ordered Ghulam’s immediate execution. Exactly one year later,

Nadir himself was assassinated. It is still unclear whether the

assassin was Ghulam Nabi’s natural son, an adopted son, or

even a family retainer. At any rate, for the Nabi family, ven-

geance had been achieved.

king ZAhir shAh Nadir Shah’s son, Mohammed Zahir Shah, became Afghanistan’s

king. And, interestingly, it was Hamid Karzai’s grandfather,

Khair Mohamed Karzai, who was the chairman of the Wulfi


Jirga that authorized King Zahir Shah’s rule. At this time, the

country was an absolute monarchy, meaning that the king

alone had the final say on all decisions.

Zahir was only 19 years old when he ascended the throne.

During the early years of his reign, he relied heavily on the

advice of his older uncles who held important government

positions, including that of prime minister.

During the years 1939–1945, World War II involved and

engulfed most of the nations in the world, but not Afghanistan.

A loya jirga was called in 1939, and, on August 17, 1940, the king

proclaimed Afghan neutrality. This meant that Afghanistan

refused to take sides in the war. It decided to support neither

the United States, Britain, and the Allied powers nor the Axis

powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. This neutrality allowed

Afghanistan to emerge undamaged from the war. It also found

itself in a stronger position than before, supplying India with a

growing amount of agricultural exports.

During the post–WWII era, attempts at political liberaliza-

tion continued. In 1949, the prime minister allowed relatively

free elections to Parliament to be held for the first time. He also

accepted the activity of political groups opposing the policies

of the royal government, as well as the formation of student

unions.

The opposition movement spread more quickly than the

prime minister had intended or imagined. He quickly applied

the brakes to the movement. Newspapers that criticized the

government were shut down, the Kabul student union was

disbanded, and many opposition leaders were jailed. The new

parliament elected in 1952 was much more to the govern-

ment’s liking.

The government crackdown served to alienate an entire

generation of young reform-minded Afghans from their gov-

ernment. They were no longer able to believe that the monarchy

could reform itself. Reform would have to come from outside

the present government—by revolution if necessary.

HAMID KArZAI42

Still, modernization continued, if at a slower pace. The

1950s saw an end to the forced wearing of veils by women.

Islamic fundamentalists who believed that the Koran required

Muslim women to appear veiled in public responded by throw-

ing acid in the faces of non-veiled women, often scarring them

for life. But the fundamentalists lost the struggle, as more and

more women stopped wearing veils.

On the foreign policy front, there was also continuing

anguish over the Durand Line and the whole Pashtun ques-

tion. In 1947, India gained its independence from Britain and

was quickly portioned, or split, into two separate countries:

India, with a majority Hindu population, and Pakistan in the

northwest, on the Afghan border. Pakistan retained the Pashtun

areas that had been given to British India and finalized with the

Durand Line.

Afghanistan was unhappy with these arrangements. After

tribal rebellions in Pakistan forced the Pakistani air force to

bomb villages on the Afghan side of their shared border, a loya

jirga was called. The tribal elders declared that all agreements

in regard to the disputed areas were null and void. Continuing

border skirmishes led, in 1950, to Pakistan halting petroleum

shipments to Afghanistan for a period of three months. This

was a major factor in Afghanistan turning to the Soviet Union

for aid.

Close financial ties developed with the signing of a major

trade agreement, exchanging Soviet oil, textiles, and manu-

factured goods for Afghan wool and cotton. In addition, the

Soviets offered construction aid for roads, schools, and irriga-

tion systems, and gained the right to explore gas and oil reserves

in northern Afghanistan. The king was wary, about receiving so

much Soviet assistance. He was afraid that it would come with

a price—political and economic domination, and the ultimate

Communization of his country.

In 1953, the days of political influence of the king’s uncles

came to an end. The king’s cousin and brother-in-law, the


Western-educated Mohammed Daoud Khan became prime

minister. Daoud had no reluctance to receiving aid from the

Soviet Union, but he hoped to balance it off with financial aid

from the United States.

The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet

Union was at its peak, and both nations were looking to expand

King Mohammed Zahir of Afghanistan (right foreground) is photographed during a two-week visit to russia at the Kremlin, in Moscow, on July 19, 1957. In 1955, King Zahir signed an agreement with the Soviets, granting loans for construction projects in Afghanistan.

HAMID KArZAI44

their areas of influence. The Soviets hoped to move south

towards India, and the United States wanted to keep Soviet

influence out of Afghanistan. Daoud hoped to use this to his

advantage by obtaining as much assistance as possible from

both nations.

As part of this strategy, in 1955 he signed a new and

expanded agreement with the Soviets. The agreement once

again guaranteed crucial imports of petroleum and cement.

The agreement also provided loans for road construction

(including one from Kabul straight through the Hindu Kush all

the way to the Soviet border) and other construction projects.

Daoud’s strategy paid off when the United States, not

willing to allow the Soviets a free hand in Afghanistan, began

providing major amounts of aid as well. The United States

helped build the roads from Herat to the Iranian border, the

road between Kandahar and Kabul, among others. Teachers

were sent to Afghanistan, and Afghan students were brought to

study in U.S. colleges. The United States even helped start the

Afghan national airline, Airana.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Afghanistan

was in a period of flux. It was a traditional Islamic nation torn

between a desire to liberalize and modernize, yet it wanted to

retain its traditions and firm government control. It was inde-

pendent but dependent on foreign aid. No longer a part of the

Great Game struggle between Britain and Russia, it was now

playing both sides against each other in the ongoing Cold War

between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was at this

time, on December 24, 1957, that Hamid Karzai was born.

45

C H A P T E R

Hamid Karzai was born in tHe village of Karz, near tHe city of

Kandahar. Kandahar had been built on the very same land that

Karzai’s subtribe, the Popolzai, had given to Ahmad Shawn

Durrani, nearly 200 years earlier.

The Karzai family had long been involved in the nation’s

politics. They were even related to the royal Shah family. Both

families were from the same clan. Over the years, both fami-

lies had intermarried. Karzai’s grandfather, Khair Mohamed

Karzai, had served during Afghanistan’s war of independence.

Years later he was the deputy speaker of the Senate.

Karzai’s father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, was also a significant

political figure. He served as deputy of the Parliament during

the 1960s. Then, after the Soviet invasion, he was an important

figure in the Afghan resistance.

Abdul Ahad Karzai was a greatly respected and loved figure

among southern Pashtun tribes. Indeed, he was so admired

A Time of Turmoil

4

HAmid KArzAi46

that the Popolzai made Abdul their chief. He retained this

honor until his death in 1999.

Large families are common in Afghanistan, and Hamid

was the fifth of eight children. His siblings are Abdul Ahmad,

Qayum, Faozia Roya (his only sister), Mahmood, Shah Wali,

Ahmad Wali, and Abdul Wali. Several members of his family

have moved to the United States, where they have opened a

number of Afghan restaurants.

In the early 1960s, Kandahar was a fairly prosperous city. It

was here that Hamid Karzai lived and attended his first three

years of primary school. By Afghan standards, the Karzais were

well-to-do. As Karzai recalled in an interview, “By Afghan stan-

dards, we were a very well-off family. The kind of life we had

and also other Afghans had was really too good for the coun-

tries around us—big homes and lots of fun.”

For fun, young Hamid played sports, including baseball

and cricket. (Cricket is a sport involving a bat and ball played

by two teams of eleven players each. Originating in Britain, it

is extremely popular throughout areas formerly under British

rule, including India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It is especially

popular among the urban classes.) Karzai also enjoyed riding

his horse around the courtyard near his home.

When Hamid’s father became deputy of the Parliament, he

moved the family to Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. Kabul sits at

an elevation of about 5,900 feet (1,800 meters), which makes

it one of the highest capital cities in the world. An ancient city,

Kabul was known for its beautiful mosques and architecture, its

schools, and its markets.

Before the Soviets and then the Taliban took over, Kabul

was a city known for its extraordinary beauty. As Nicolas

Bouvier described it in his 1953 book, The Way of the World,

“When the traveler from the south beholds Kabul, its rings of

poplars, its mauve mountains where a fine layer of smoke is

smoking, and the kites that vibrate in the autumn sky above

A Time of Turmoil 47

This photograph of a crowded sidewalk was taken in November 1961 in Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul. during the 1960s, Kabul was becoming a bustling city with european shops and the opening of the Afghan zoo.

HAmid KArzAi48

the bazaar, he flatters himself that he has come to the end of

the world. On the contrary, he has just reached its center.”

Kabul in the 1960s was also becoming more cosmopolitan.

The first Marks and Spencer store (a popular British depart-

ment store) in central Asia was built there. Also, with the

help of German zoologists, the Afghan Zoo opened its gates

in 1967, focusing on Afghan fauna. It was an exciting time,

alive with a sense of possibilities and hope for the future. As

Karzai described it in an interview, “In Kabul of course, life

was very good. We had so much access to good music and

movies, which at that age most people really want—as any

kid would have in Europe or America, and a good education,

a fairly good life.”

Hamid Karzai’s early educationHamid was a hard-working student. His family honored

and respected education, and Hamid did his best to live

up to his family’s high expectations. After studying at the

Mahmood Hotaki Elementary School, Hamid attended the

Sayed Jamaluddin School, and then Habibia High School.

Habibia High School had opened in 1903 and was the oldest

and most-respected school in Kabul.

As Karzai grew up, like most young people anywhere in the

world, he was unsure exactly what he wanted to do with his

life. A serious and quiet student, his plans for the future were

continuously changing. But even at an early age, he’d inherited

his family’s interest in politics.

I think I partially wanted to do the kind of parliamentary

stuff that my father was doing. I was interested in the

University of Kabul, which at that time was a very pres-

tigious institution. The professors there were very well

respected and they had very nice lives. The environment


of the university was so enchanting. That was the kind of

life I wanted.

Science, though, also sparked his interest for a time.

At one stage within class nine and ten, I was very science

oriented. I was doing very good in chemistry, and I went

towards books about the evolution of mankind. Studies of

Darwin and what that theory was. I did too much of that.

Kept reading it, kept reading it. I got into trouble with my

professor of chemistry, because there were things that I

knew he didn’t know, and he really got mad at me one day

in the classroom.

Hamid’s interests went beyond science. He loved great lit-

erature and had a particular fondness for great Russian writers

like Anton Chekhov and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. He also admired

English writers like Charles Dickens. And he read a great deal

about Afghan history and culture.

He learned much from his father, who was a major influ-

ence on him. Abdul Ahad, somewhat unusual for an Afghan

of his time, was firmly against the use of guns and violence in

settling disagreements. His home was open to one and all, and,

as the head of the Popolzai, he used his influence to settle argu-

ments and disputes peacefully. Hamid respected this greatly.

Of course, given his father’s involvement in Parliament and

Afghan national affairs, young Hamid had a ringside seat to his

country’s ongoing political evolution.

conflict witH PaKistanThroughout the late 1950s into the early 1960s, Prime Minister

Daoud continued to pressure Pakistan on the Pashtun ques-

tion. He made payments to tribesmen on both sides of

the border to encourage rebellion. He sponsored a brief,

HAmid KArzAi50

unsuccessful invasion of Pakistan in 1960. He maintained a

nonstop propaganda war, using the media to convince the

people of Afghanistan about the evils of Pakistan.

Things came to a head on September 6, 1961. On that

date, Afghanistan and Pakistan formally severed all relations.

Traffic between the two nations came to a halt. Afghanistan was

unable to ship goods to India, its primary trading partner and

major source of revenue.

The Soviet Union and the United States helped by air-

lifting Afghan goods, but exports and custom revenues fell

dramatically, and trade suffered. In addition, Ghilzai nomads

who normally spent winters in India and Pakistan before

returning home to Afghanistan were unable to cross the border.

Afghanistan’s economic situation rapidly deteriorated.

The king finally had enough. He realized that he’d been

too out of touch. He’d been relying too much on others and

decided to take greater control of his own government. In

March 1963, King Zahir Shah asked for and received the res-

ignation of Prime Minister Daoud. Within two months, a new

agreement was reached, reestablishing trade and diplomatic

relations with Pakistan.

The king’s next step was to revise the country’s constitu-

tion. Two weeks after the resignation of Daoud, a commission

was formed. In September 1964, a 452-member loya jirga

approved and signed the document. Ten days later, the king’s

signature made it into law.

The new constitution made major changes in Afghanistan.

It barred the royal family (with the sole exception of the king

himself) from participating in politics or government. (This

provision was thought to exist to keep Daoud out of poli-

tics.) Individual rights were championed. And, after much

debate, the term “Afghan” was applied to all Afghans, not just

to Pashtuns.

The constitution declared Islam as “the sacred religion

of Afghanistan,” and that no law could be enacted that was


former prime minister Sardar mohammed daoud is photographed during a meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, in march 1973. in July of that same year, Sardar mohammed daoud ousted his cousin, King mohammed zahir Shah, from the presidency. following a bloody coup in 1978, he was executed in the presidential palace.

HAmid KArzAi52

“repugnant to the basic principles” of Islam. However, an inde-

pendent judiciary (although with some religious judges) estab-

lished the supremacy of secular law. Although the constitution

did provide for a constitutional monarchy (a form of govern-

ment in which the monarch’s power is not unlimited but exists

within legal limits), and there was a bicameral (two chamber)

legislature. As always, most of the power still remained with

the king.

This careful balancing act between individual and reli-

gious rights, between the monarchy and democracy, got off to

a good start with the 1965 elections. Described as remarkably

fair by most impartial observers, the elections for the lower

house of Parliament, known as the Wolesi Jirga, brought into

office representatives from all parts of the political spectrum.

There were supporters of the king and antiroyalists. There

were liberals, leftists, and conservative Muslim leaders still

opposed to secularization.

A new prime minister, Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal,

was named. He quickly established friendly relations with

the generally rebellious students, while making it clear that he

was in charge. It was understood that there would be definite

limits to student political activity. There was an attempt at a

balance between monarchy and democracy. It was also clear

that the monarchy would have the final say on just how far

democratic movements would be allowed to go.

Also in 1965, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan

(PDPA) was founded. The PDPA was made up of a small

group of followers of Nur Mohammad Taraki and Babrak

Karmal. They were both Marxist-Leninists (otherwise known

as Communists) with a pro-Moscow orientation. Taraki, who

was one of four PDPA members elected to Parliament in the

1965 elections, also started the country’s first major leftist

paper. The paper lasted only a month. It was then banned by

the government.


By 1967, the PDPA had split into several factions. The

two most important were the Khalq (meaning “Masses” or

“People”), which was headed by Taraki, and the Parcham

(“Banner”) faction headed by Karmal. The split was largely due

to personal differences between the two men.

Karmal had friends and supporters who were among the

upper-middle class. He was in favor of working “within the

system” to bring about political change. Taraki came from a

lower-class, rural background and believed in the purity of

lower-class revolutionary struggle against the upper classes.

There was also a split along tribal lines. Karmal attracted

supporters from all groups, while Taraki’s group, Khalq,

became almost exclusively Pashtun. A third major player in

all this, Hafizullah Amin, was loyal to Taraki. All three men,

Karmal, Taraki, and Amin, would ultimately take turns becom-

ing president of Afghanistan.

New elections in 1969 moved the Parliament further

to the right, as conservative tribal and land-owning leaders

exerted their influence at the polls. This move to the right

slowed down the movement toward liberalization. This in

turn caused continued unrest at the University of Kabul.

Conflicts spread between religious and leftist groups. This

demonstrated a split in the country, but not just along reli-

gious and political lines. It also showed a split between the

urban, educated middle class, and those who felt alienated

because they couldn’t join their ranks. The split was also evi-

dent between the urban elite and the majority of the nation,

which was still trapped in rural poverty.

The economy, which had finally recovered from the break

in relations with Pakistan, began to falter again at this time as

well. Foreign aid began to dry up. The seasonal rains did not

fall from 1969–1972, causing widespread famine. An estimated

100,000 Afghans died.

HAmid KArzAi54

end of tHe monarcHyThe king was still personally popular, but widespread dis-

satisfaction spread with regard to his government, seemingly

unable to cope with the nation’s continuing difficulties. On

July 17, 1973, while the king was in Italy for medical treatment,

former prime minister Daoud reemerged from relative obscu-

rity. In a nearly bloodless coup, he took over the country.

With just a few hundred troops, the palace and key posi-

tions throughout Kabul were seized. The country, weary of

what it believed to be a weak and ineffective government,

initially welcomed Daoud back into power. People believed

that he was exactly the man who could bring order and get the

country moving again. Daoud assumed the offices of president,

prime minister, foreign minister, and minister of defense. The

days of the monarchy were over.

Soon the country’s prisons began to be filled with political

prisoners. Stories of torture and execution spread. Some execu-

tions were announced, notably that of former prime minister

Maiwandwal, who had been strangled during an interrogation.

Such reports spread shock and fear throughout the country.

Initially, Daoud was supported by the nation’s leftists. They

were happy to be finally rid of the monarchy. Initially, Daoud

also welcomed a close relationship with the Soviet Union and

had several of Karmal’s Parchams in his cabinet. Gradually,

however, Daoud moved to the right of the political spectrum.

Relations with the Soviets gradually deteriorated, and Parchams

were pushed out of the cabinet.

Despite the weakened state of relations between the Soviets

and the Afghans, the Soviets were still the biggest donors of

aid to the country. They used this influence to insist that no

Western activity be allowed in northern Afghanistan, along

the Soviet border. Daoud also accepted aid from other, oil-rich

Muslim nations.

It was during this period, in 1976, that Hamid Karzai

graduated from high school. He left Afghanistan to study in

India at a local college in Simla, and then at Himachal Pradesh


following the violent coup that left President Sardar mohammed daoud and others dead, tanks decorated with flowers stand in front of the Presidential Palace in Kabul. on April 27, 1978, the president and many of his family mem-ber were shot dead in their home.

HAmid KArzAi56

University. It was there that he studied international rela-

tions and political science. Karzai received his master’s degree

in 1982.

While in Simla, Karzai lived at the local YMCA. Being away

from his conservative family was a great shock for him. Living

away from home gives kids of college age an opportunity to

meet new and different kinds of people. This period also allows

them to learn more about themselves. Karzai was no exception.

As he remembered in a 2002 interview:

I recognized when I went to India, when I mixed up with

other students there, that I was very reserved, very very,

reserved, and that was a handicap. I could not associate easily

with people. But on the other hand, it had benefits of self-

restraint and, you know, a level of respect to other people,

trying to make sure that nobody was offended, and respect

to others.

Besides learning to be more open to others, Karzai changed

in other ways as well. He grew his hair long and wore bell-

bottom pants. He also learned to speak English. When he first

arrived in Simla, before moving to the YMCA, he boarded with

a local family. The family’s two daughters helped Karzai learn

to speak, read, and write English.

Hamid Karzai currently speaks six different languages:

Pushtu (the language that most Pashtuns speak), Dari (spoken

by Tajiks and some urban Pashtuns), Urdu (spoken by Hindu

merchants), French, Hindi, and English. His mastery of lan-

guage has helped him a great deal in his life and career, and in

his world travels in support of Afghanistan. He is often able to

speak to his audience in their own language.

It was also in India that Karzai learned great respect and

admiration for Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi, known as the

Mahatma (“great soul”), was instrumental in helping India

gain independence from Great Britain. Most important to

Karzai, Gandhi did this through nonviolent means.


Through Gandhi’s own writings, Karzai learned to value

Gandhi’s nonviolent ways of solving problems. Like Gandhi

(and like Karzai’s own father), he believed that guns and vio-

lence were not the answer to solving problems. There are many

men that Karzai respects as role models, but none more than

Gandhi. He explained in an interview:

When I became an adult and began to know the world

more, Gandhi was somebody that I admired very much, and

[South Africa’s Nelson] Mandela. He’s still around, a mag-

nificent man. Martin Luther King is somebody that came

very often to mind and was discussed in some circles.

But I’m most affected by Gandhi. The struggle for inde-

pendence of his country, and the way he did it through

non-violence, and the tolerance he preached, and the way

he respected mankind as a whole, and his self-restraint. A

wonderful human being.

Hamid Karzai’s dream of and belief in nonviolence would

be sorely tested in the years to come.

tHe saur revolutionBy 1978, despite good harvests from 1975 on, little economic

progress had occurred in Afghanistan. The Afghan standard

of living had not improved. Most ominous for Prime Minister

Daoud, most major political groups had been alienated from

him by his refusal to allow dissent or to share any of his power.

In addition, Pashtuns were unhappy with Daoud for mak-

ing peace with Pakistan. He was willing to accept Pakistani

rule over the disputed territories, something they would never

“When I became an adult and began to know the world more,

Gandhi was somebody that I admired very much.”

HAmid KArzAi58

accept. The Communists, although still split into Parcham and

Khalq factions, had reconciled. Although they still distrusted

each other, they were united in their dislike of Daoud.

Things began to fall apart on April 19, 1978. A funeral

for Mir Akbar Khyber, a prominent Parcham who had been

murdered, served as a rallying point for Afghan Communists;

10,000 to 30,000 people gathered to hear fiery speeches from

both Taraki and Karmal. Daoud, dismayed at this demon-

stration of Communist unity, ordered the arrest of all PDPA

leaders.

But he moved too slowly. It took a full week to have

Taraki arrested. Amin was merely placed under house arrest.

According to PDPA writings discovered later, Amin sent out

the order for a coup from his home, using family members

as messengers.

On April 27, 1978, a coup d’etat began with troop move-

ments at the military base at Kabul International Airport. Over

the next 24 hours, battles were fought against troops still loyal

to Daoud. On the next day, Daoud and most of his family were

shot in the presidential palace. The Saur (April) Revolution was

a success. The Communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

was born.

The Khalq faction emerged at the top of the new govern-

ment. Taraki assumed the roles of president, prime minister,

and general secretary of the PDPA. Taraki’s trusted second-in-

command, Hafizullah Amin, was named deputy prime minis-

ter, along with Babrak Karmal, the Parcham leader. In addition,

Khalq dominated the Revolutionary Council, which was the

actual ruling body of the new government.

In its effort to gain absolute control of the country, the

government had tribal elders and leaders imprisoned or

killed. Hamid Karzai’s own father was imprisoned for two

years in the infamous Pol-e-Charki prison near Kabul. At the

urging of his family, Karzai remained in India, continuing his

studies. His family felt that there, out of the country, he would

remain safe.


This photograph of President Hafizullah Amin was released by his regime in 1979. Hafizullah Amin held reign as president for just a few months before being assassinated by Soviet forces. Soviet-supported leader Babrak Karmal succeeded Hafizullah Amin as president of Afghanistan.

HAmid KArzAi60

It was not only tribal leaders who were at risk. The domi-

nant Khalq faction began purging, or removing, members of

the Parcham faction from positions of power. (Parcham leaders

later claimed that at least 11,000 of its members were executed

during this time.) Tens of thousands of other Afghans, includ-

ing many members of the traditional educated ruling class,

fled the country at this time. The loss of these people, educated

and politically moderate, largely left only Communists on the

left and Muslim fundamentalists on the right to fight over the

future of the country.

A power struggle also erupted within the government.

Taraki and Amin both fought for control of the Khalq fac-

tion. In September of 1979, Taraki’s followers made several

attempts on Amin’s life. It was Taraki who ended up dead,

smothered with a pillow over his face. Amin quickly moved

to seize power.

Things went from bad to worse. Amin had tens of thousands

of Afghans executed as resistance grew against the government.

Hundreds of thousands more fled the country. Most went to

Iran and Pakistan, where they began organizing resistance

movements. These groups, largely centered around Peshawar,

Pakistan, were loosely divided into two major groups, each of

which was broken up into numerous factions.

One of the groups was the fundamentalists. Burhanuddin

Rabbani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and Abdul Rabb Rasuul al-

Sayyaf (who would later invite Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan)

were among the fundamentalist leaders. They wanted to rede-

fine the role of Islam in Afghanistan.

Among the traditionalist leaders was Sibghatullah

Mojadeddi. The traditionalists focused on the use of sharia as

the source of law. Some of them were willing to bring back the

monarchy and return King Zahir Shah, still in exile in Italy, to

the throne. The resistance fighters, regardless of group, were

labeled the mujahideen, or “holy warriors.”


The armed resistance and internal chaos right on their

border was more than enough to make the Soviets nervous.

But there was one more thing. Amin tried to rule Afghanistan

independently, without Soviet domination. He also wanted

to establish diplomatic relations with Pakistan and China. All

these factors combined made the Soviets feel that Amin was

too rigid, too erratic, and unable to calm the situation within

Afghanistan.

This was unacceptable to the Soviets, who desired noth-

ing more than a stable ally on their southern border. On

December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

Within two days, they had taken Kabul. Amin was killed, and

Babrak Karmal, the exiled head of the Parchams, was named

the new president.

C H A P T E R

62

The SovieT invaSion of afghaniSTan SeT off Shock waveS ThroughouT

the world. The move was condemned by the foreign ministers

of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The United

Nations General Assembly passed resolutions opposing the

Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. (The United Nations Security

Council was powerless to take any action. The Soviet Union, as

one of the five permanent members of the Security Council,

has veto power over anything going through the council.)

In the United States, President Jimmy Carter gave his

annual State of the Union address on January 23, 1980. In it,

he called Afghanistan’s neighbor Pakistan a “front-line state”

in the worldwide battle against Communism. He offered

Pakistan a large package of military and economic aid, but

only if it would allow the United States to work through it to

get aid to the mujahideen. President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

turned down Carter’s offer, but he later accepted a larger aid

Resistance

5

Resistance 63

package from Ronald Reagan, who became the U.S. president

in 1981.

Also in response to the Soviet invasion, President Carter

reinstated draft registration. This meant that all U.S. males

between the ages of 18 and 25 had to register with Selective

Service in the event that a draft should ever become necessary.

President Carter did this in an attempt to show that the United

States took Soviet action seriously.

In addition, President Carter announced that the United

States would boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics, which were

being held that year in Moscow. That meant that no U.S. ath-

lete would be allowed to participate in the Games. Carter also

called for other countries to boycott. Nearly 60 other nations

refused to send their athletes to Moscow in protest of the

Soviet invasion.

In India, 22-year-old Hamid Karzai was shocked and dis-

mayed to hear of his country’s invasion.

In 1979, one morning when I was going to university—I was

studying in Northern India in Simla—I saw the newspapers in

the morning, and the newspapers said that the Soviet Union

had invaded Afghanistan. My feeling at that moment sud-

denly was of a loss. I felt smaller. Much, much smaller than I

felt before when I was walking to my college. I heard people

talk about this invasion and suddenly I felt a loss of identity.

Who am I? Do I have a country? Do I have a name? Do I have

an identity? I said, “No, I don’t. I don’t have a country. My

country is taken over. Let’s do something about it.”

Karzai’s immediate reaction was to do something.

Anything.

I took a bus as a student and went something like 3,000 kilo-

meters [nearly 2,000 miles] to the eastern border of Afghani-

stan and I saw the first batch of refugees there, refugees that

HaMiD KaRZai64

had left Afghanistan as a result of the Soviet invasion. The

situation they were in, but the pride they had! I was 18 or

17 when I left the country to study abroad, but the rest of

Asia doesn’t really know what the character of [Afghan]

society is, how its people are. I had some money with

me. It was my stipend money that my mother had sent

me. I handed out some of that money to one of my fel-

low Afghans who was a refugee. He was insulted. He said,

“What do you think of me?” I said, “I’m trying to help.”

He said, “No. Don’t help by handing me some money. If

you really want to help, you help the whole of Afghanistan.

Help me get back home.”

This was a remarkable thing to hear, “Help me go back

home.” I stayed a few days there. I came back to India. I had

a year and a half to complete my graduate years. I did that,

and the moment I finished that I remembered the words that

the man had told me. “Help me go home.”

There was more than that memory driving Karzai. He came

from one of the leading families in Afghanistan. With that came

responsibility. As Karzai told Robert Kaplan in an interview for

his book, Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan

and Pakistan, something occurred when he visited the refugee

camp, located near Quetta, Pakistan.

They thought that just because I was the khan’s son, I had the

power to help them. I felt ashamed, because I knew I was just

a naïve student who was spending his college years think-

ing only of himself and his ambition. I was not what they

thought I was. My goal from that moment on was to became

the man that those refugees thought I was. To become a man

like my father.

While Karzai was finishing his studies, the Soviets were

trying to solidify control of his country. It wasn’t easy. They

did have some supporters. Communism had become popular

Resistance 65

among some people in Afghanistan for economic reasons.

Warlords throughout Afghanistan owned large sections of

land. They protected this land by forming individual armies or

militias. They often fought among themselves and they were

constantly trying to gain even more power and land for them-

selves. Some were so powerful that they considered themselves

above the law. In fact, they often considered themselves to be

the law.

So although there was a small group of wealthy and pow-

erful landowners, by far the majority of the rural population

(which was and is the majority of the nation’s population)

were poor. They were sharecroppers. They didn’t own any

land themselves, but worked for the land-owning warlords.

The communists promised to break the economic strangle-

hold that the few had over the many. They promised to share

the wealth more evenly throughout the population. This was

an attractive idea to many people.

But, as attractive an idea as it was, many Afghans hated

even more a government imposed on them by foreign invad-

ers. Karmal’s government was weak, still torn between rival

Parchams and Khalqis. (Even though the Parchams were now

in charge, the Khalqis had killed so many of them when they

were in charge that it was necessary to rely on Khalqi officers to

rebuild the Afghan army.)

rebellion againST The SovieTSResistance against the Soviet invaders grew. The Soviet army

in Afghanistan, originally just 30,000 troops, grew to more

than 100,000 in an attempt to quash the rebellion. For the

next ten years, the Soviet military and their Afghan allies

fought the mujahideen for control of the country. The Soviets

primarily used helicopters as their air attack force, along

with fighter planes and bombers, special forces, and ground

troops. In some areas, the Soviets conducted what is called a

scorched-earth policy. This meant that in areas of suspected

mujahideen strength, the Soviet military would destroy entire

HaMiD KaRZai66

villages, houses, and crops. They left nothing standing but the

very earth itself.

Refugees driven out of their homes in the countryside

then fled to the cities. Kabul’s population swelled to more

than 2 million people. (That is a rough estimate, as no official

census was done. The estimated population of Kabul in 1970,

just 10 years earlier, was 472,000 people.) Millions more fled

During the 1980 soviet invasion of afghanistan, villages were burned to the ground and families were run out of their homes. above, an afghan refugee is photographed with his child at a refugee camp in the Kunar Province near the Pakistan border.

Resistance 67

the country entirely. Some Afghan refugees left for the United

States, including Karzai’s siblings. Five of the six who moved to

the United States opened the Helmand chain of Afghan restau-

rants. (The name “Helmand” comes from the river near where

the family grew up in Kandahar.) Karzai’s youngest brother,

Abdul Wali, teaches biochemistry at the State University of

New York at Stony Brook and does medical research in antibi-

otics. For many years, his family urged Karzai to move to the

safety of America as well, but he refused to abandon his native

land. Karzai still stays in close contact with his family living in

America. They visit each other whenever they can.

The majority of the nation’s refugees, fled to Iran and

Pakistan. It’s estimated that nearly 5½ million Afghan men,

women, and children were refugees in those two countries

alone. That is an estimated one-third of the nation’s prewar

population. Now consider the estimated 2 million Afghans

who were forced out of their homes by the war but stayed in

Afghanistan. What you have is a country torn apart, a country

nearly destroyed by war.

The rest of Karzai’s own family fled Afghanistan in 1981,

immediately after Abdul Ahad Karzai’s release from prison.

They settled in Quetta, Pakistan, before many of them ultimately

moved to the United States. They wanted to demonstrate their

faith in their ultimate return to a liberated Afghanistan. To do

so, they never bought, but always rented, their homes while

in exile. It was in Quetta that Hamid rejoined his family after

graduating university and receiving his master’s degree.

Upon arriving in Pakistan, Karzai was delighted to be

reunited with his family. He also knew that the moment

had come for him to help in the fight against the Soviets.

He joined the Afghan Jihad wing of the Afghan National

Liberation Front (ANLF). The group, like many groups fight-

ing the Soviet occupation, was based in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Peshawar is less than 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) from

the Afghan/Pakistan border.

HaMiD KaRZai68

The ANLF was led by Sibghatullah Mojadeddi, one of the

traditionalist fighters against Soviet rule. Moderate groups like

the ANLF and NIFA (the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan),

wanted a return to Afghanistan as it was before the 1973 coup.

They hoped for a return to a traditional monarchy.

Mujahideen rebels, also known as holy warriors, rest in the mountains in afghanistan in May 1980. During the soviet invasion, mujahideen warriors fought soviet forces for control over their home country. in February 1989, after years of fighting, the last of the soviet troops departed afghanistan.

Resistance 69

Other opposition groups, such as Yunus Khalis’s Hizb-i-

Islami (Party of Islam), Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i-Islam

(again, Party of Islam, but a different, more radical organiza-

tion), and Burhanuddin Rabbani’s Jamiat-i-Islami (Islamic

Society), had a different dream for Afghanistan. Rejecting

both monarchy and Communism, they wanted to create a new

Islamic state.

All seven of the major opposition groups were loosely

united under the banner of the Islamic Unity of Afghan

Mujahideen. There was much infighting and distrust among

the seven groups, though. It was claimed that Gulbuddin

Hekmatyar’s group killed more fellow mujahideen than it did

actual Soviets.

karzai fighTS The SovieT occupaTionIn 1982, shortly after his arrival in Pakistan, Karzai became

director of operations for the ANLF. He did not fight directly

on the frontlines, but he was active in planning and strategizing

the organization’s efforts against the Soviets.

Although he was living in exile, he wasn’t living uncom-

fortably. He did, after all, come from a wealthy, powerful

family. Reporters often interviewed him at his family’s villa in

Peshawar. It is reported that he dressed well, and, as Robert

Kaplan described him, “He was tall and clean shaven, with a

long nose and big black eyes. His thin bald head gave him the

look of an eagle. Wearing a sparkling white shalwar kameez

(the traditional male Afghan costume of baggy cotton pants

and long shirt—although he often wore “Western” clothes

like blazers and slacks), he affected the dignity, courtly man-

ners, and high breeding for which the Popolzai are known

Even in exile, and as young as he was, Hamid Karzai had

a look of power.

HaMiD KaRZai70

throughout Afghanistan.” Even in exile, and as young as he was,

Hamid Karzai had a look of power.

In 1986, he was sent to Lille, France, to attend a three-

month journalism course. Upon his return to Peshawar, he was

named deputy director of the political office of the National

Rescue Front, also led by Professor Mojadeddi. In this role,

Karzai traveled the world. He spoke to world leaders and orga-

nizations, pleading for aid for the mujahideen. Karzai’s calm,

persuasive, diplomatic manner helped bring much-needed

assistance to the opposition.

The opposition was creating problems for the Afghan gov-

ernment. Deciding a new leader was needed, Babrak Karmal

was forced out as the head of the PDPA by the Soviets, although

he was allowed to remain as president. The new head of the

party was Mohammed Najibullah. He had been serving as the

head of the KHAD, the Afghan secret police. He was known for

his skills as a mediator between the various political factions.

But disunity still ruled the Afghan government, much to the

dismay of the Soviets.

The period of 1985 to 1986 saw some of the very worst

fighting of the war. Soviet forces launched the largest and

most effective attacks against mujahideen supply lines com-

ing out of Pakistan. Major campaigns were also launched near

Herat and Kandahar.

But at the same time, large amounts of military support

were reaching the mujahideen from the United States and

Saudi Arabia. The first FIM-92 Stinger ground-to-air missiles

arrived. These missiles denied the Soviets the air advantage

they’d enjoyed throughout the war, allowing the mujahideen to

fight the Soviets on a more even footing than ever before.

There were others besides Karzai, of course, who helped

convince the world to arm the mujahideen. In his book Soldiers

of God, Robert Kaplan recounted an incident that reminds us

that, in many ways, the Great Game of the nineteenth century

was still being played out. Abdul Haq, a Pashtun commander of

Resistance 71

On april 26, 1988, newly appointed afghan president Mohammed najibullah is photographed at a meeting of american and soviet scholars in Kabul. najibullah’s regime was extremely unstable due to disarray within the country. Four years after he assumed the leadership position of afghanistan, najibullah agreed to step down as president. in 1996, when taliban forces took overtook Kabul, najibullah was executed.

HaMiD KaRZai72

Yunus Khalis’s Hizb-i-Islami, had gone to Britain’s prime min-

ister Margaret Thatcher to plead for help. “I told Mrs. Thatcher,”

Haq said, “that my great-grandfather and his father before

him fought the British who invaded Afghanistan to keep the

Russians out. So I asked her: Now that the Russians have finally

come, as the British once feared, why are you so quiet? Why did

you send everything a hundred years ago and yet now you send

nothing?” The request worked. The Great Game continued.

Not only was there increased military opposition to the

Soviet military presence in Afghanistan, but also the Soviets

faced growing opposition at home to the war. Large numbers

of Russian soldiers were returning to Russia from Afghanistan.

They brought with them accounts of the war and of the large

number of Soviet casualties. The Soviet people finally learned

firsthand just how disastrous the invasion had been.

The end of The SovieT occupaTionIn early 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the Soviet leader-

ship position. He was young for a Soviet leader and not well

known. Because of that, he needed to prove his toughness to

the Soviet military. As much as he might have wanted to, he

couldn’t start pulling Soviet troops out of Afghanistan. If he

had, he wouldn’t have lasted long in office.

As a result, his first year in office saw some of the heaviest

fighting of the war. At the same time, Gorbachev was looking

for a way for his country to get out of Afghanistan. He knew

that the war could not be won. He knew that the mujahideen

would never surrender. He knew that the cost of the war was

causing a huge strain on the Soviet economy. There was one

more factor: Gorbachev was anxious to improve Soviet rela-

tions with the West. He knew that that would not happen until

Soviet troops had left Afghanistan.

In April of 1988, representatives of the United States,

the Soviet Union, Pakistan, and Afghanistan met in Geneva,

Switzerland, under the auspices of the United Nations. They

Resistance 73

searched for a way for the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops

honorably, without looking like it had lost the war or was

surrendering. An agreement was reached, and Soviet troops

began pulling out of Afghanistan. On February 15, 1989, right

on schedule, the last Soviet troops departed.

The costs of the war were enormous. More than one mil-

lion Afghans had been killed, mostly civilians. The Soviets lost

between 15,000 and 50,000 soldiers. The dead, the wounded,

the refugees, the destruction—it was like Genghis Khan and his

Mongols had come through Afghanistan all over again.

The deaths did not end with the Soviet withdrawal. The

Soviets had left a gruesome, unwelcome souvenir behind.

During the occupation, the Soviets had planted millions of

land mines across Afghanistan. The U.S. State Department

estimated a number between 10 and 30 million. According to

Robert Kaplan, that would be the equivalent of two mines for

every Afghan who survived the war. That works out to between

40 and 120 mines per square mile of Afghan territory. Most of

these mines are unmarked. Although efforts have been made

to remove the mines, tens of thousands of civilians, many of

them children, have been killed and maimed, and continue to

be killed and maimed by them.

But the Soviets left far more behind than land mines.

When they left, the soldiers took with them only their personal

weapons and vehicles. This left the country awash in arms and

equipment. And, although they were no longer supporting the

Afghan government with troops, Soviet financial aid contin-

ued. It is estimated that this support amounted to between 3

and 4 billion dollars a year.

The Soviets also left behind Mohammed Najibullah, still in

charge of the Afghan government. It was predicted that, with-

out the support of Soviet troops, his government would not last

for long. This proved not to be the case.

One reason was that 3 to 4 billion dollars in aid annually

can help a government buy a lot of support. Najibullah used a

HaMiD KaRZai74

large portion of the aid as payoffs to tribal and guerilla lead-

ers to get them to back his regime. In addition, he declared

a state of emergency and suspended civil rights through the

country. This gave him unlimited power to quash any poten-

tial rebellions. He also appointed a new Parcham-dominated

Supreme Council.

Another major factor in Najibullah’s ability to last was the

disarray of the resistance groups. Faced with a common enemy,

the mujahideen had been relatively united. Once the Soviets

left, they lost their common enemy. At that point, the usual

tribal and religious differences came out into the open again.

A shara was called in February of 1989 to elect an

interim government. (This was meant to be a temporary

government in exile. It would be the government of those

opposing the continuing Communist rule and would exist

only until Najibullah was defeated and a new government

could be established.) The shara was allegedly manipulated

by the Pakistani ISI as well as by Saudi Arabian money.

Sibghatullah Mojadeddi was elected president of the Afghan

Interim Government. Abdul-Rab al-Rasul Sayyaf was named

prime minister. In recognition of his efforts and achieve-

ments during the fight against the Soviet occupation, Hamid

Karzai was appointed director of the Foreign Relations Unit

in the office of the president of the interim government.

His job was to establish relations with foreign govern-

ments around the world and to help gain recognition of the

interim government.

This turned out to be a difficult assignment. The interim

government was a government in name only. Based in

Peshawar, it lacked any kind of base within Afghanistan itself.

The United States would not recognize the AIG until it con-

trolled a significant amount of territory within Afghanistan

and showed that it had popular support. Other countries

agreed. Although they sympathized with Karzai and the AIG,

they withheld recognition.

Resistance 75

Gradually, the mujahideen gained control of the rural

Afghan countryside. The Afghan government kept control of

the major cities. Opposition groups in the northern part of the

country were made up of Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras. They

were led militarily by Ahmed Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid

Dostum. Their political leader was Burhanuddin Rabbani.

They wanted to run the Afghan government without Pashtun

involvement. The largest Pashtun faction, based in the south,

was led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the same man who had

killed so many of his fellow mujahideen.

The struggle for power continued until 1992. That year,

the Soviets were trying to cope with the end of Communist

rule within Russia and the loss of their empire. Facing financial

hard times themselves, they cut off financial aid to the Afghan

government.

That was the beginning of the end for Najibullah. By

April of 1992, Massoud’s troops were parked on the northern

outskirts of Kabul. Hekmatyar’s troops were based on the

southern outskirts. Najibullah fled to the relative safety of a

United Nations compound in Kabul. Moving first, Massoud’s

troops took control of Kabul. The Communist government of

Afghanistan was no more.

The mujahideen, though, could not manage to work

together to form a government. As Martin Ewans described it

in his history of Afghanistan,

The first three years of mujahideen rule, if it could be called

that, were characterized by the total inability of its leaders

to agree among themselves on any lasting political settle-

ment and their readiness to fight one another at the slightest

provocation, or without any apparent provocation at all.

There were attempts made to form a viable government.

In June of 1992, Rabbani was named president. Fighting

promptly broke out between forces loyal to Rabbani and forces

HaMiD KaRZai76

loyal to Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar, who thought he should have

been named president, began a series of missile attacks against

Kabul. The city, which had made it through the Soviet occupa-

tion relatively unscathed, was soon in ruins.

coming homeIn 1992, Karzai returned to Afghanistan for the first time in many

years to work for the new government. He was named deputy

foreign minister. Again he traveled the world, struggling to gain

support for the new, fragile government. He was still optimistic

and hoped that the fighting would soon come to a stop.

Karzai often visited the United States on these foreign tours

and met with U.S. officials. His job was to let them know what

was going on in his country, while trying to get advice and

assistance. Karzai also took advantage of his time in the United

States to visit family. He often got the chance to stay at the

home of his brother Qayum and his wife, Pat. Karzai enjoyed

the opportunity to stay with his family and to unwind from his

stressful job in the beautiful Maryland countryside.

From 1992 to 1996, the struggles within Afghanistan con-

tinued nonstop. The fighting over Kabul was the most intense

militarily (30,000 Kabulians killed, 100,000 wounded), but

conditions in the countryside were difficult as well.

The government had little control outside the cities. The

country was splitting once again into different parts. Each part

of the country was under the control of a different warlord.

There was no central ruling authority. Power came to the group

with the most guns. Anarchy began to rule the country.

Karzai was disgusted by the continued fighting. He found

himself unable to work for a government without popular sup-

port. In 1994, he resigned his position as deputy foreign minis-

ter and returned to Pakistan. As the country spun further and

further out of control, a new political movement began. This

group promised to restore order and stability to Afghanistan.

They called themselves the Taliban.

Resistance 77

the last of the soviet troops leave afghanistan on February 13, 1989. although the departure of soviet forces marked the end to a decade of war, the fighting only continued in afghanistan. For the next four years, afghanistan engaged in a civil war, which resulted in the fall of the government.

HaMiD KaRZai78

Talib means “religious student.” At the heart of the

movement were Afghan refugee students from the madrassas

(religious schools) across the border in the Northwest

Frontier Province of Pakistan. This is the same area that the

Afghans had long been claiming as their own. Many of these

schools were funded in part by the United States to help

encourage Afghan refugees to drive the Russian “infidels,” or

nonbelievers, out of Afghanistan.

The Taliban tells the following story of their origins. In

July of 1994, a guerilla leader in Kandahar raped and killed

three women. A mullah for the area, Maulvi Mohammed

Omar, was asked by the locals if he could do something about

the killings. Omar recruited a group of religious students.

They then murdered the commander and disbanded his mili-

tia. After this initial success, they were asked to help others in

the growing chaos that was Afghanistan. The Taliban’s ability

to bring order allowed it to take the place of the real Afghan

government, which had proved itself unable to protect

its citizens.

Like Hamid Karzai, Mullah Mohammed Omar had grown

up in Kandahar. Unlike Karzai, Omar grew up poor and

uneducated. Omar is said to have left Kandahar on only a few

occasions in his life. Indeed, like Mullah Omar, most members

of the Taliban were relatively uneducated and unaware of the

world outside of Afghanistan.

The only education most of them had received was at the

madrassas. At these schools, students learned Islamic law and

only Islamic law. No other subjects were taught—all learning

was geared to the students’ understanding of fundamental-

ist Islam. The schools also served as military training camps.

For hundreds of thousands of Afghan males, who were poor,

homeless, or orphaned by the war, the madrassas and the

Taliban gave them a sense of belonging. They provided them

with a sense of purpose.

Resistance 79

That purpose was to free Afghanistan from Communist

tyranny and to stop the anarchy of warlord control. Omar’s

promise of safety and security sounded good to a people

exhausted from years of war and chaos. The Taliban quickly

gained control of Kandahar and used the city as their base of

operations. With financial support from Pakistan and Saudi

Arabia, the Taliban were able to gain control of larger and

larger parts of the country.

Hamid Karzai initially supported the Taliban. He felt that

they would be able to restore order and stability to his beloved

country. Karzai met with Mullah Omar on several occasions.

He also gave the Taliban $50,000, along with a large number

of weapons that had been acquired and stored away during the

war against the Soviet Union. It wasn’t long, though, before

Karzai regretted his support. He soon realized that things in the

country were about to go from bad to worse.

C H A P T E R

80

The Taliban rapidly expanded Their conTrol across The counTry. as

they did, it became clear that they had more in mind than sim-

ply bringing stability to the nation. Their ultimate goal was to

drive what they saw as “foreign influences” out of Afghanistan.

In doing so, they would turn Afghanistan into their extreme

vision of what an Islamic state should be. (Of course, the

Taliban didn’t realize that Islam itself was a “foreign influence”

in Afghanistan. They didn’t seem to understand that other reli-

gions, such as Buddhism, had been practiced there long before

the arrival of Islam.)

The Taliban are not the mainstream of Islamic thought. They

are not “typical” Muslims. They are the result of an extreme reac-

tion caused by centuries of war, poverty, and destruction. They

see “Western” values and ideas as destructive to Afghan society.

They reject secular values and embrace their own extreme

Taliban Rule

6

Taliban Rule 81

interpretation of Islamic law. This radical interpretation of

Islamic law, combined with rural, male-centered Pashtun mores

(most members of the Taliban are Pashtuns from the country-

side), proved to be a dangerous and deadly combination.

With power, the Taliban was able to impose and enforce

its rules across the country. In doing so, they committed a

huge number of violations against basic human rights—

largely against women and girls. Most women were barred

from working outside the home. They were not allowed to

get an education. Most were not even allowed to leave the

house except in the company of a male relative. Women were

forced to wear the traditional burka, a garment that covers a

woman’s body from top to bottom, and were not permitted to

wear shoes that made noise when they were walking. Women

were denied hospital treatment to prevent them from being

seen by male doctors and attendants.

The Taliban attempted to “cleanse” Afghanistan of what

they considered to be dangerous Western influences (danger-

ous because they were considered a threat, or distraction,

from Islam). To do so, the Taliban issued a long list of things

that Afghans could not do or have. There would be no enter-

tainment. Television, music, movies, and computers were

not allowed. There would be no newspapers or magazines.

Children’s toys were banned, as was the flying of kites. Men

were not allowed to cut or trim their beards. (If they did, they

could be beaten or jailed.) Wearing white shoes (the color of

the Taliban flag) was forbidden.

Members of the Taliban’s General Department for the

Preservation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice rode the streets

in pickup trucks. They would search homes at random, looking

for forbidden items. If found, the items would be destroyed and

the owners would be severely punished.

The Taliban was ruthless in imposing its laws. Anyone who

defied the laws was tortured or jailed. Some were executed.

HaMiD KaRZai82

Punishments were harsh. Adulterers could be stoned to death.

Thieves would have one of their hands cut off. Minority groups

like the Hazara were brutally oppressed by the Taliban, and

many thousands of them were killed.

Why did Hamid Karzai initially support the Taliban? He

explained his reasons in a 2002 interview:

a burka, an outer garment that covers the entire body, was required dress for women during the Taliban rule of afghanistan. On april 21, 1996, widows dressed in burkas register for food aid at a Red Crescent center in Kabul.

Taliban Rule 83

When the country went to anarchy at the hands of various

warlords and commanders, one of these people [Taliban]

came to me and said, “Hamid, we were friends when we

were fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Look at this

country. What happened to this country? War everywhere,

anarchy, looting, insults to women, insults to the sovereignty

of this country. Can we do something about it?” I said, “Sure.

But how?” He said, “Let’s get together and get rid of these

commanders and make the country all right.” I said, “Fine.”

That is how the process of the Taliban began.

They were very fine people. The U.S. supported them.

The UN supported them. They were very good people. Very

soon, they were taken over by foreigners, by the Pakistanis,

by the Arab elements, by radical Muslims, radical extremist

elements from all over the world, And then terrorists mixed

up with them. So the movement was completely sabotaged.

The good ones in it were somehow sidelined or assassinated

or killed or made to sit at home, and the bad ones kept ris-

ing and rising and rising. That’s how this movement that

could have been a good one, that could have been one that

could bring peace, turned into a killing machine, turned into

an instrument of terror and torture for Afghans. I began to

sense that within eight months of them coming to Afghani-

stan, and I began to speak to people about that. Nobody

believed me.

osama bin laden in afghanisTanIn 1996, shortly after the Taliban took control of Kabul, they

asked Karzai to be their representative to the United Nations.

He refused, and when they asked why, he replied, “Because you

are giving sanctuary to terrorists.”

Indeed, the Taliban was giving sanctuary to terrorists. From

the mid 1990s on, Osama bin Laden and his terrorist organiza-

tion al Qaeda used Afghanistan as their base of operations. It

HaMiD KaRZai84

was an arrangement that worked well for both. Al Qaeda had

a haven in which to train terrorists and plan future terrorist

attacks. In return, the Taliban received financial and political

support from bin Laden.

After turning down the Taliban’s request to be ambassa-

dor, Karzai knew he was no longer safe in Afghanistan. Once

again, he was forced to leave the country. He rejoined his father

in Pakistan. They worked together to campaign against the

Taliban regime.

Karzai spent the next few years traveling the world. He

spoke to as many leaders as he could, explaining to them

exactly what was happening in Afghanistan. He tried to get the

world’s attention focused on the killings, the abuses, the ris-

ing terrorist threat, and the misery of the Afghan people. But

nobody believed him. As he recalled in his 2002 interview:

I began to travel to Europe to tell the Europeans and the

Americans that Afghanistan is going through very difficult

times; that there is a danger in Afghanistan for Afghans and

for the rest of the world. Very few people believed me. They

said, “This is not true. You are saying this because they are

not the type of people you are. They represent Afghanistan;

you represent another culture. You speak English, you are

educated, so you don’t represent Afghanistan. The Taliban

do represent Afghanistan.” We began in Afghanistan a cam-

paign against them, a campaign to dislodge them, without

help from the world.

Karzai never gave up. He kept trying, constantly traveling

and speaking everywhere he could, trying desperately to get the

world’s attention focused on Afghanistan.

an imporTanT year for KarzaiThe year 1999 was pivotal in Karzai’s life. In January of 1999,

he married his cousin, Zinat. He was 40 years old at the time

Taliban Rule 85

of his marriage. This is very old for an Afghan male, who tra-

ditionally marries while in his twenties. Afghan tradition also

holds that people do not choose their own spouses. Instead,

marriages are arranged by the parents. In Afghanistan, as in

many tribal societies, cousins are often selected as spouses.

Why did Karzai decide that now was the time to marry?

He’d always been too busy, too devoted to his country to allow

himself much of a personal life. But at this time, Karzai’s

mother became ill. She told her son that before she died, one

of her fondest wishes was to see him married. Karzai was only

too happy to oblige. So as arranged by his parents, he married

in a traditional Afghan ceremony.

Zinat Karzai was a doctor, specializing in gynecology. She

had often treated Afghan refugees. Since marrying Hamid, she no

longer practices medicine. She became a traditional Afghan wife.

In fact, for many years, Zinat never made a public appear-

ance or was photographed with her husband. This was partially

due to safety concerns. But there was another reason. In tradi-

tional Afghan society, it is considered appalling for a high-born

man to “share” his wife with the public in any way. And no

matter how “Western” he may appear, Hamid Karzai is still an

Afghan male. He was unwilling to cause any trouble by not fol-

lowing his people’s traditions.

Karzai’s life quickly moved from happiness to tragedy. Six

months after his wedding, on July 14, 1999, his father was shot

and killed, most probably by the Taliban. Despite years liv-

ing in exile, the Karzais were still considered a powerful and

influential family. As such, they were considered a potential

threat to the Taliban regime. And feeling threatened, they had

Abdul Ahad Karzai, the head of the Popolzai, murdered. Karzai

remembered the events in a 2002 interview:

My brother called me on the mobile phone, and said,

“Hamid, our father was assassinated.” Immediately, the

first question that came to me was if he saw the assassin

HaMiD KaRZai86

or saw the gun that was pointed at him. And … When I

came back to the hospital where my father was lying, I

asked my brother. I said, “Did our father see the assassin or

the gunman?”

in the photograph above, a Taliban soldier orders a bypasser to pray in a mosque in Kabul. The Taliban, islamic extremists, imposed strict regulations on afghans. all Western influences were banned from afghanistan, including music, television, and movies. anyone who disobeyed the Taliban’s rules was subjected to harsh punish-ment, or even death.

Taliban Rule 87

He said, ‘No, his back was to the gate. He was talking to

somebody and the assassin shot him from behind.” I was

relieved that he didn’t see the man, and he didn’t see the gun

that was pointed at him, because he hated it so much. So that

pain he did not suffer. He was just shot.

Karzai was devastated at the loss of his beloved father. His

father, who had hated guns and believed in nonviolence, had

been shot. Karzai knew what he needed to do. He had to bring

his father’s body out of Pakistan and home to Afghanistan.

He wanted him to be buried in the family burial ground.

It was an extraordinary act of bravery and defiance. A pro-

cession of more than 100 cars left Pakistan for the Afghan city

of Karz. Karz is near Kandahar, which remained the center of

Taliban strength.

The Taliban, knowing how much respect Abdul Ahad

and Hamid Karzai had in the country, did nothing. As Karzai

described it:

It was risky, exactly, so risky. We had no guns, we had no

arms, we had nothing. We just moved in. But of course, the

Taliban were frightened. They were so frightened that they

brought tanks all around the city. They took all the city cor-

ners and crossroads and protected them with tanks. We were

just civilians there.

Karzai’s bravery brought him new stature and promi-

nence as a leader of the resistance. His stature grew even

more on July 22, one week after his father’s assassination. On

that day, Hamid Karzai was named as the new leader of the

Popolzai, assuming the leadership left vacant by the death of

his father.

He also continued to travel extensively, trying to warn

the world about the Taliban and the rapidly growing terrorist

threat. While in Italy, Karzai met with former king Zahir Shah.

HaMiD KaRZai88

The deposed ruler backed a plan for a broad-based government

in Afghanistan that would represent all the people and factions

of the country. The former king gave Karzai a holy Koran as a

gift and symbol of friendship and respect, and the two shared

their hopes for a new Afghanistan.

89

C H A P T E R

AfghAnistAn wAs in A constAnt stAte of turmoil from 1999 to 2001.

Although the Taliban claimed control of 90 percent of the

country, resistance continued against their rule. The Northern

Alliance, headed by former president Burhanuddin Rabbani,

still fought against the Taliban from their bases in the north.

Most of the world still considered Rabbani to be the lawful

president of Afghanistan. Only three nations, Pakistan, Saudi

Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, officially recognized

the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of the country. Indeed,

Burhanuddin Rabbani still held Afghanistan’s official seat the

United Nations.

The world was also becoming more and more aware of

the growing danger that bin Laden and his terrorist network

presented. In October of 1999, the United Nations Security

Council demanded that bin Laden be turned over for trial. He

was wanted in connection with the bombing of U.S. embassies

9/11 Changes Everything

7

Hamid Karzai90

in Kenya and Tanzania. When the Taliban refused, the Security

Council imposed economic sanctions against Afghanistan.

This brought even greater hardship to the beleaguered nation.

The sanctions did nothing to soften the Taliban’s resolve

to protect bin Laden. Their reasons for giving him sanctuary

were threefold: he was a Muslim like them; he had fought with

them against the Russians; and to turn him over to outside legal

authorities would violate the Pashtun code of hospitality. In

addition, bin Laden’s followers were useful in the fight against

the Taliban’s opponents.

The world was further outraged by the Taliban in March of

2001. That was the month that the Taliban ordered the destruc-

tion of the two 2,000-year-old statues of the Buddha carved

into the cliffs at Banyan. Despite worldwide protests, the statues

were destroyed. To the Taliban, the statues violated Islamic laws

against the artistic representation of human form, and against

having false idols.

Throughout these years, Hamid Karzai tirelessly traveled

the world. He became a well-respected speaker and represen-

tative of the Afghan people. Handsome and stylishly dressed

in his lambs-wool hat (called a karakul), collarless tunic, and

trousers, with a sports coat draped over the tunic and a robe

draped over the overcoat, Hamid Karzai caught the eye. When

he spoke, his eloquence grabbed people’s attention.

Karzai knew, though, that speaking was no longer enough.

He was still a fervent believer in nonviolence. At the same

time he came to realize that the only way to defeat a power-

ful, violent group such as the Taliban was with force. So while

At the same time he came to realize that the only way

to defeat a powerful, violent group such as the Taliban

was with force.

9/11 CHangEs EvErytHing 91

continuing to speak out, Karzai also began making contact with

tribal warlords throughout Afghanistan. By doing so, he was

laying the groundwork for future military action.

the Buddhas of Bamyan were two ancient statues of Buddha that were carved on the side of a cliff in Bamiyan valley, located northwest of Kabul. in 2001, the taliban destroyed the statues because they were believed to be un-islamic. since the destruction of the statues, there has been worldwide support to have the structures rebuilt.

Hamid Karzai92

Everything changed for Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan, and

the world on September 11, 2001. On that date, under orders

from Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda terrorists attacked the United

States, using hijacked commercial airliners as weapons. Two

planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City early

that morning. A third plane flew into the Pentagon, near

Washington, D.C. A fourth plane, probably also headed toward

Washington, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after the

plane’s passengers fought back against the hijackers.

By the end of that day, more than 3,000 people were dead.

The twin towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed into

smoking ruins, and Afghanistan found itself at the center of the

world’s attention.

the united stAtes retAliAtesIt quickly became evident that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda

were responsible for the attacks. Bin Laden himself issued vid-

eotapes, claiming responsibility and promising future attacks.

The world also blamed the Taliban for continuing to protect

bin Laden. The United States and its allies made clear their

intention to capture bin Laden and to drive the Taliban from

power. The people of Afghanistan would no longer be fighting

the Taliban alone.

In October of 2001, the United States, along with Great

Britain and a coalition of other nations, began military action

against the Taliban. They began with air strikes against Taliban

strongholds, and in areas where it was thought that bin Laden

was hiding. This operation, known as Operation Enduring

Freedom, also included U.S. ground forces fighting alongside

the Northern Alliance.

Just days before the fighting began, Hamid Karzai reentered

Afghanistan. He knew that now was the time to pick up a gun

and fight. He also knew that he was one person the Taliban did

not want inside Afghanistan. If he was discovered entering the

country he would be killed. But he felt that now the real battle

was about to begin. As head of the Popolzai, he needed to be


with his people. He recounted those days in a 2002 interview

with the Academy of Achievement:

By the first of October of 2001, just a month and a few days

after 9/11, I was one day sitting with four of my colleagues

and I told them that Afghanistan cannot have any more of

this. Let’s move in and the world community might help

us. They said, “No, the world will not help us.” I said, “They

will.” They said, “You have been telling us this for five or six

years. Nobody has helped.” I said, “This is a different time.

Think of New York. Think of what happened there. The

world has woken up. Let’s move into Afghanistan. Let’s move

into the heart of the Taliban.

In the morning before we moved into Afghanistan, I told

my colleagues, I said, ‘Listen, friends, we are moving into

Afghanistan. It’s taken over by terrorists. It’s taken over by

Taliban. It’s taken over by all sorts of foreign people that

have come to Afghanistan that are ruining life for us and

for the rest of the world. We might be captured the moment

we enter Afghanistan and be killed. Are you willing to face

that?” I also said, “we have 60 percent chance of death and 40

percent chance to live and survive.” Winning was no consid-

eration. I mean we could not even think of that. They said,

“All right, let’s do it. We got on two motor-bikes. We drove

into Afghanistan, straight from the Pakistani border.

It was not an easy journey. They had four flat tires but

avoided capture by the Taliban. They arrived, tired and hun-

gry, in Kandahar City, the heartland of the Taliban. There they

spent the night in the house of a villager who offered his pro-

tection. The next morning the villager approached Karzai and

asked him what he planned to do. Karzai told the man that he

planned to get rid of the Taliban. Pointing out that Karzai had

only four supporters and two motorbikes, the villager told him

that if he stayed in Kandahar he was certain to be captured by

the Taliban. He urged Hamid to go to the mountainous central

Hamid Karzai94

On september 11, 2001, islamic extremists crashed two planes into the towers of the World trade Center in new york City, killing approximately 3,000 people. a third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, d.C., and a fourth plane that was headed for the White House crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. al Queda leader Osama bin Laden took responsibility for the terrorist attacks.


region of Afghanistan. There he would have a better chance to

hide from the Taliban and have time to organize a resistance.

That’s exactly what Hamid Karzai did. The next day,

the villager’s cousin, a taxi driver, drove them into central

Afghanistan. In a village near the regional capital of Uruzgan,

he met with local tribal leaders. They urged Karzai to contact

the United States and ask for weapons to fight the Taliban,

something that Karzai was reluctant to do. They also urged

him to ask the United States to bomb Taliban command cen-

ters. This second request surprised Karzai. He was shocked to

learn that the Afghan people hated the Taliban so much that

they were willing to have the country bombed—anything to

help get rid of them.

Karzai moved from village to village, speaking with and

attracting more and more people. He let them know that he

was back in the country and that he needed their help to fight

the Taliban. Unfortunately, the Taliban had also learned that he

was back in Afghanistan.

Fifteen hundred armed Taliban soldiers, including Arabs

and Pakistanis, were sent to attack Karzai and his supporters.

The villagers came to him and asked whether he wanted to face

the Taliban where he was or to go deeper into the mountains.

Unsure about what to do, Karzai asked one of the villagers what

he thought. He also asked him what he thought would happen

if he and his supporters remained where they were. As Karzai

told the Academy of Achievement:

He said, “Hamid, if you face them here, they will come with

their rocket launchers…with the RP-7s”—RP-7 is a rocket

thing—“And they will blow up our women and children and

their flesh would be hanging on trees.” When I heard this,

I was shaken, terrified. The imagination that the children

would be blown up and there would be these trees with—

their flesh would be spread on trees? I said, “No, no, no, of

course I don’t want to face them here. Then what should I

Hamid Karzai96

do? He said, “Go to the mountains.” I said, “All right, let’s go

to the mountains.” I asked people, “Who is willing to go with

me?” Fifty people said, “We’ll go with you.” And we began

with the journey. We went into the mountains.

It took Karzai and his followers 13 hours to arrive at their

new hideout in the middle of the mountains. There they found

On november 13, 2001, Kabul became free of taliban rule. in this photograph an afghan man celebrates the removal of the taliban by listening to music, an activity that was once banned.


one man, his wife, and their two children. On that first day, that

one man and his family fed 50 people. The second day there

were 90 people. The third day there were 120. The villager fed

them all.

Karzai’s supporters were concerned about their lack of

weapons. How could they fight the Taliban basically unarmed?

Several of the elders approached Karzai. Once again, they

asked him if he could call the United States and ask for weap-

ons. Karzai thought about it. He realized that without sufficient

weapons he and his supporters stood no chance against the

Taliban. He also knew that through years of travel to the United

States he had made many friends in high places. These friends

knew him and supported his struggle for Afghan freedom.

Karzai did call the United States. The Americans, knowing

who he was, did agree to send food, ammunition, and weap-

ons. How were they going to get the supplies to him? Karzai

and his people were in a hard-to-reach mountainous region of

Afghanistan. Even the local tribespeople couldn’t give him an

exact location of where he was. A solution was reached. Karzai

was able to give the United States a rough idea of his where-

abouts. The United States told Karzai to light four fires that

night so they could pinpoint his location. The fires worked, and

U.S. forces were able to drop him his badly needed supplies.

Karzai received his equipment not a moment too soon. The

very next day, 400 Taliban troops attacked Karzai’s position.

Karzai had fewer than 200 untrained soldiers, but, with their

newly acquired weapons, they were able to hold off the attack.

Communications between his forces was sketchy, though, and

Karzai was not sure if they’d won or lost the battle. Fearing the

worst, they began to scatter. They quickly learned though that

the Taliban themselves had fled, and the area was now free.

KAbul is recApturedOn November 13, 2001, the Northern Alliance recaptured

Kabul from the Taliban. The city overflowed with happiness.

Hamid Karzai98

People played long-banned music and threw flowers at the

allied troops. The Northern Alliance, with the assistance of the

U.S. military, had managed to recapture much of Afghanistan

from the Taliban. The city of Kandahar, though, was still in

Taliban hands.

Hamid Karzai meets with tribal leaders in a house once occupied by taliban leader mullah mohammed Omar in Kandahar, afghanistan, on december 10, 2001. Following the removal of the taliban, Karzai became the leader of the interim government until 2004, when he was elected president of afghanistan.


Karzai and his militia, which had grown to nearly 4,000

strong, began moving toward the city. The United States offered

him supplies and armed security. Karzai was at first reluctant

to accept more American aid. He was afraid that the Afghan

people were leery of foreign military aid and involvement. He

felt that the Afghans should fight their own battles. He was

finally convinced, though, that the Taliban were too well armed

and that it would be impossible to defeat the Taliban entirely

on his own.

With the help of the U.S. Army’s 5th Special Forces Group

and U.S. air strikes, Hamid Karzai’s militia was able to advance

to within 20 miles (32 km) of Kandahar. There, they received

word that Mullah Mohammed Omar agreed to surrender

Kandahar to Karzai. On December 5, 2001, the surrender

became official.

Hamid Karzai, with the aid and assistance of the United

States and its allies, had put an end to Taliban rule. But,

although the Taliban no longer were in charge of the country,

they remained (and still remain) a serious problem to Afghan

stability. Many members of the Taliban (as well as al Qaeda)

refused to give up their weapons as promised in the agreements

of surrender. They simply fled to the mountains and country-

side to their homes. Mullah Mohammed Omar disappeared, as

did Osama bin Laden. To date, neither Omar nor bin Laden has

been found, but the search continues.

C H A P T E R

100

With the taliban defeated, afghanistan once again found itself at

a crossroads. Who was going to rule the country? What form

would the government take? Should Afghanistan return to

being a monarchy? Could it become a democratic society? Who

would determine what Afghanistan would become? The most

pressing need was to establish an interim government that

could work to resolve those questions.

U.S. officials’ first instinct was to ask former king Zahir Shah

to take the job. Although an elderly man of 87, he was still in good

health. It was thought that he could serve as a much-needed sym-

bol of unity for the nation. Another possibility was Burhanuddin

Rabbani, whom most of the world still considered Afghanistan’s

legitimate leader. Zahir Shah, though, thought it was time for a

new leader. Since Karzai had established excellent relations with

the United States, the former king thought that his old friend

should head Afghanistan’s interim government. Rabbani agreed.

Rebuilding a Nation

8

RebuildiNg a NatioN 101

The United Nations organized a conference. There the

four major Afghan factions would meet and discuss who

would lead the new government. One of those factions was

the Northern Alliance, which represented the ethnic Tajik,

Uzbek, and Hazara groups.

The other three factions represented the Pashtuns,

Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group. One of these factions repre-

sented Zahir Shah. A second faction, called Cyprus Process, was

made up of politicians from the western part of Afghanistan.

They had close relations with Iran. The last faction was made

up of Afghan exiles living in Pakistan.

The group met for nine days. On December 5, 2001, an

agreement was reached. Hamid Karzai would lead the new

Afghan interim government for a six-month period. Moments

before learning the news, Karzai was nearly killed when a U.S.

missile went off-course and slammed into a building that

Karzai was in. He was wounded, and eight others were killed. In

fact, the nurses were still cleaning the blood from his face when

he got the phone call telling him of his appointment.

Where was he to begin? The economy was in shambles.

Public education had virtually ended. Society was in disarray,

with millions of Afghans living in the country as refugees, or

outside the country in exile.

Most of all, people were afraid. Crime was rampant. People

didn’t feel safe in the street, or even in their own homes.

Bandits and warlords ruled vast sections of the country. One

prominent warlord was General Abdul Rashid Dostum. An

Uzbeki who had fought alongside both the Northern Alliance

and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, he announced he would not even

recognize the new government.

start of a PresidencyHamid Karzai took office on December 22, 2001. Despite the

enormity of the task ahead of him, Karzai set immediately to

work. Demonstrating to the world that Afghanistan could build

HaMid KaRZai102

on december 22, 2001, Hamid Karzai (right) takes the oath of office as the interim prime minister of afghanistan while former president burhanuddin Rabbani (left) looks on. Karzai’s inauguration as prime minister was a peaceful transfer of power, a great change from the tumultuous past two decades in afghanistan.

a stable government was one of his top priorities. To prove his

ability to rule, the leadership of the new government was made

up from a wide spectrum of Afghan society, including two

women. Sima Samar was named minister of women’s affairs,

and Suhaila Seddigi became minister of public health. This was


an important step for the government to take, demonstrating

to the world Karzai’s deep commitment to women’s rights.

Getting the world’s approval was essential. Afghanistan

was almost totally dependent on the world’s support. One

of the first things that Karzai did upon taking office was to

travel the world in search of financial support, as he had done

so many times. The world responded, anxious to rebuild an

Afghanistan that would no longer serve as a sanctuary for ter-

rorists. U.S. financial aid, Turkish peacekeeping troops, and

German vows to rebuild Afghanistan’s police force were some

of the results.

Karzai also began the slow process of reopening schools,

opening them to both boys and girls. He established a banking

system. He also made the first of many attempts to disarm the

warlords and their militias.

Millions of Afghan exiles responded to Karzai’s efforts to

rebuild the country. In the first few months of his chairman-

ship, more than 200,000 exiles returned to their homes. By

March of 2003, nearly one million refugees had returned from

camps in Pakistan and Iran.

Those that returned to Kabul found a city in ruins, with

little water, electricity, available housing, or other basic neces-

sities. They often found themselves living in conditions worse

than the refugee camps they’d been in. Those that returned to

the countryside found that four years of drought had left most

farmland parched and arid. Three-quarters of Afghanistan’s

livestock had died during the drought. Despite the hardships,

people still wanted to return to their country. They were anx-

ious to contribute to the nation’s reconstruction.

In April of 2002, the former king, Zahir Shah, returned

to the land he ruled for 40 years. It was his first time back

in Afghanistan since his overthrow in 1973. It was a time of

great celebration throughout the nation. By coming home, he

showed his hope for Afghanistan’s future and demonstrated

his belief in Karzai’s leadership. To this day, he lives in the

HaMid KaRZai104

presidential palace. He remains a symbol of the country’s past,

before the days of war and terrorism.

At the end of Karzai’s six-month term in office, the country

could see changes for the better, and hope was in the air. Because

of this, Hamid Karzai was easily reelected as head of the govern-

ment. This time, though, he was chosen by a nationwide loya

jirga. Close to 1,500 delegates, representing nearly every walk of

Afghan society, elected him as the nation’s president.

In name Karzai was president of all of Afghanistan. The

reality was something quite different. Warlords still con-

trolled much of the country. They ruled areas where the

central government still had little or no power or influence.

In an attempt to unify the nation, Karzai named some of the

best-known warlords to positions of prominence in the new

government.

By doing so, he hoped to have some measure of control

over them and to show them that a unified government was in

the best interests of the people as a whole. The appointments

angered others, however. They felt that the warlords were crim-

inals who should be brought to justice. Karzai knew that justice

was important, but he felt that rebuilding a stable country had

to take priority.

For the next year and a half, along with his other responsi-

bilities as president, Karzai oversaw the creation of Afghanistan’s

new constitution. After much debate, the new Afghan consti-

tution was approved in a loya jirga and signed by Karzai on

January 26, 2004.

Major changes in afghanistanThe new constitution calls for a strong presidency and a bicam-

eral (two chamber) parliament. Direct elections are to be held

for the presidency and the lower house, the Wolesi Jirga. The

upper house, the Meshramo Jirga, will consist of diplomats and

experts to be named by provincial councils, district councils,

and the president.


The constitution names Islam as Afghanistan’s sacred and

state religion and states that no laws may contradict the beliefs

and provisions of Islam. Followers of other religions are “free to

exercise their faith and perform their religions rites,” but only

within the limits of the law.

Citizens are guaranteed the right to liberty, privacy,

peaceful assembly, and expression, as well as freedom from

Former afghan king, Mohammed Zaher Shah (left) looks on as newly elected President Hamid Karzai (right) implements afghanistan’s first democratic con-stitution on January 26, 2004. the constitution called for a government with a presidency, and a two-chamber parliament.

HaMid KaRZai106

torture. Women are protected equally before the law; how-

ever, the tenets of Islam are given the most moral sig-

nificance. The new constitution was one more attempt to

carefully balance the demands of the reformists and those of

traditional Muslims.

In addition, the nation’s first presidential elections were set

for July 5 of that year. Due to ongoing security concerns and

the difficulty of registering millions of first-time voters, the

elections were postponed twice. Nationwide presidential elec-

tions finally took place on October 9, 2004.

That day was a milestone in Afghan history. Despite tra-

ditions and the threat of Taliban violence, more than three-

quarters of Afghanistan’s nearly 10 million registered voters

turned out to vote. Eighteen candidates were in the running,

including warlords, religious candidates, monarchist candi-

dates, and Northern Alliance candidates. Against them, Karzai

won a smashing victory. He garnered 55.4 percent of the total

votes and received three times more votes than any other candi-

date. Despite the country’s continuing problems, the majority

of voters still trusted President Karzai to lead them.

Parliamentary elections were held the following year, on

September 18, 2005. The process was marred by violence (19

polling places were attacked by the Taliban, and one dozen

people were killed) and a lower voter turnout than the presi-

dential elections of the previous year. But the overall success

of the elections proved that Afghanistan and its people are still

committed to democracy.

Having a democratic government is definitely a positive

step in Afghanistan’s development. The government, though, is

still not in control of large parts of the country. Because of this,

Karzai’s presidency is under constant threat.

Since 2002, Karzai, as well as other government officials,

has faced several assassination attempts. In late 2002, one of

Karzai’s three vice presidents, the warlord Haji Abdul Qadir,

was assassinated. He and his son-in-law were attacked by two


gunmen who fired 48 bullets into the car, killing them both.

Security forces were unable to protect them.

Qadir’s assassination caused many former warlords to ques-

tion their commitment to the new government. If government

security forces could not keep them safe, how could they help

keep the people of Afghanistan safe? Why should the warlords

risk their lives working for a unified government? If they were

home in their own territories, they’d be safely protected by their

own militia. Karzai quickly moved on this problem by asking

the United States to help provide more security. Although this

did help solve the initial problem, it created a new one. His

growing reliance on America made him look weaker and more

dependent on America then ever before.

atteMPts on Karzai’s lifeEven with U.S. assistance, the violence continued. The country

celebrated the eighty-third anniversary of its independence

from Great Britain in August of 2002. The next month, a bomb

exploded in a taxi in Kabul, killing 26 and injuring more than

150. It is believed to have been the work of al Qaeda, although

this has never been proven.

On the same day, Karzai was in Kandahar, attending the

wedding of his youngest brother, Abdul Wali. Four hours after

the bomb exploded in Kabul, a government security worker

named Abdul Rahman walked up to Karzai’s open car window

and fired four times. One of the bullets, it was later deter-

mined, missed Karzai by mere inches. Rahman was shoved to

the ground by a bystander, and U.S. Special Forces leapt out

of their car and into action. By the time the dust had settled,

Rahman, the bystander, and one U.S. bodyguard were dead.

Karzai remained calm and unruffled by the attack. He told

reporters, “I’ve been through this before. I’ve been hit three

times at summits. Did that stop us from fighting? My father

was assassinated by terrorists. Did that stop him from fighting

against them? I will not stop. I’ll continue.”

HaMid KaRZai108

Two months later, Karzai narrowly avoided assassination

once again. An Iraqi Kurd named Bokam Akram Khorani was

sent by the Taliban on a suicide mission. He was ordered to

kill Karzai when he returned to Afghanistan after a trip to the

United States.

Khorani arrived too late to kill Karzai. He changed his plans

and attempted to kill Defense Minister Mohammad Qassem

Fahim. Security forces captured him before he could act; he

had 18 pounds of explosives strapped to his body.

In addition to suicide bombers, Karzai was facing a nation

still ruled in large part by warlords and awash with weapons.

It is estimated that the warlords controlled more than 8 mil-

lion guns throughout the country. This has helped give them

control over the vast majority of the nation. International aid

workers have had difficulty working outside of Kabul due to

safety concerns. Dozens of relief workers have been assas-

sinated. Hamid Karzai has been called “the mayor of Kabul”

because his control barely exists beyond the Kabul city limits.

He realized that he must effectively disband and disarm the

warlord’s militias. This had to happen if he was to have any

hope of making the government the sole source of power and

security in Afghanistan.

Progress has been made in disarming the militias. In

2003, Karzai announced a plan called DDR (demilitarization,

demobilization, and reintegration). He promised that this

would demobilize the militias by mid-2004, just before the

presidential elections. Progress was slow, however, and, on

July 14, 2004, Karzai signed an additional decree threatening

the warlords.

The decree stated that if they failed to comply with DDR,

they “will be considered disloyal and rebellious.” This, along

with assistance from the United States, seems to have helped

turn the tide. By 2006, 63,000 (out of an estimated 100,000)

former rebels had been disarmed and demobilized, and 97 per-

cent of known heavy weapons were collected and secured.


Karzai has also reached out through the Taliban recon-

ciliation program. This offers amnesty and reintegration into

society for Taliban members who have not committed serious

crimes. Although these efforts have worked, the last months of

2005 and the first quarter of 2006 have seen a renewed upswing

in violence, with increased use of improvised explosive devices

and suicide bombs. In April of 2006, Mullah Omar was quoted

as saying, “We will intensify suicide attacks to the extent that

we will make the land beneath their feet like a flaming oven.”

Throughout 2006, the Taliban intensified its efforts to regain

control of Afghanistan. In November 2006, U.S. Central

Intelligence Director General Michael V. Hayden warned that

both the Taliban and al Qaeda were in a “bloody insurgency” in

the southern and eastern regions of the country.

The second major problem facing Karzai is Afghanistan’s

illicit narcotics trade. Afghanistan is the world’s largest single

producer of opium poppies, which are the raw ingredient used

to manufacture heroin. More than 90 percent of the heroin sold

in Europe comes from Afghanistan. Approximately 2.3 million

Afghans, 10 percent of Afghanistan’s population of approxi-

mately 29 million, are involved in the drug trade. Since 2001

and the fall of the Taliban, the poppy harvest has skyrocketed.

During their rule, the Taliban had banned all poppy

products throughout the country. But after the Taliban were

defeated, Afghan farmers quickly reverted to poppy farming.

Poppies bring in huge amounts of money, more than almost

any other crop. In addition, poppies are relatively easy to grow.

They require little labor and very little water, which is especially

valuable given Afghanistan’s arid and often drought-ridden

landscape.

Solving the opium problem is going to be difficult. For

one thing, the Taliban was able to arrest a poppy farmer and

release him with the understanding that he would immedi-

ately destroy his crop. Karzai is unable and unwilling to use

this tactic. Second, the sheer amount of profits that poppies

HaMid KaRZai110

provide makes farmers unwilling to turn to less profitable

crops. Finally, the huge amount of money that poppies bring

in allows the drug lords to bribe government officials to avoid

prosecution.

Attempts are being made to move Afghan farmers to other

crops, including wheat and almonds. The United States has

contributed $321 million to support programs that provide

long-term rural development. In addition, in 2005, 247 conver-

sion labs were shut down, and 42.9 metric tons of opium and

5.5 metric tons of heroin were seized. The United States is also

working on effective elimination and eradication programs,

seeking to reduce the level of poppy cultivation by convincing

farmers not to plant poppies and by eradicating crops that have

already been planted.

Despite the continuing difficulties and violence, many

aspects of life in Afghanistan have improved during Karzai’s

presidency. In 2005, nearly 5 million children, including nearly

2 million girls, were attending school. In 2001, only one mil-

lion students total were able to attend school. Many countries

from around the world have helped build new schools and

have donated textbooks and badly needed supplies. The United

States alone has distributed more than 48.5 million textbooks

throughout the countryside and has provided training for

75,000 new teachers.

Even this hasn’t always gone smoothly. The Taliban has

made continued attempts to disrupt the educational system

with attacks and bombings of girls’ schools. Karzai responded

to this by saying, “The people who destroyed and burned those

schools are our enemies. They want the nation to be poor and

needy.” Hamid Karzai continues his pleas for parents to send

their children to school, knowing that in Afghanistan’s public

education system lies the hope for the country’s future.

The rights of women have greatly improved. In an Islamic,

male-dominated society such as Afghanistan, women tradi-

tionally serve a subservient role as wife and mother. Their


sole purpose is to take care of the family. Under the Taliban,

the treatment of women was far worse than under tradi-

tional Islam.

Under Karzai, 4 million Afghan women are registered to

vote, and 3 of Karzai’s 32 cabinet ministers are women. In addi-

tion, at a recent ceremony in Kabul in honor of International

Women’s Day, Karzai’s wife, Zinat, made her first-ever public

appearance. This event had great symbolic meaning to millions

Following the end of taliban rule, the treatment of women in afghanistan has greatly improved. Women are now allowed to vote and to work outside of the home. in the photograph above, a female teacher holds a class in a partially damaged building in Kabul.

HaMid KaRZai112

of Afghan women. By attending this event with her husband,

they made public his commitment to equal rights for women.

Zinat Karzai also makes a political statement by choosing

not to wear a burka. Instead, she opts for a simple white scarf

wrapped around her head. She does not believe that other

women should wear burkas, either. She has also expressed an

interest in returning to work as a doctor. Although many tradi-

tionalists oppose this, many other people hope that she will be

able to do so. They would like to see her become a role model

for Afghan women.

Financial aid from around the globe, including pledges

totaling nearly $7 billion from the United States, has been

essential to Afghanistan’s growth. Because of this aid, the

Afghan army now stands at 26,500 troops and is an ethnically

balanced force from all areas of the country. It is beginning to

achieve great success in stopping factional fighting in the north

and west of Afghanistan.

Sixty thousand national, border, and highway police are

being trained, and more than 60,000 others have completed at

least basic training. These are the people who will provide day-

to-day security throughout the nation’s provinces and in Kabul

itself. As they step up, U.S. and other international troops will

be able to begin pulling out.

In addition, roads are being built, courthouses are under

construction, and health care coverage is rapidly expanding.

The economy grew at a healthy rate of 13.6 percent from 2005

to 2006. Some of the strongest growth has been in construc-

tion, telecommunications, hotels and services, and agriculture.

In March of 2003, Afghanistan even activated its first internet

domain—“.af.” The arts, too, are returning to the country. In

addition, an effort is being made to rebuild the historic build-

ings and sites destroyed by the long years of war.

Since childhood, Hamid Karzai dreamed of Afghanistan

becoming a free, independent, and successful nation. He

truly wants nothing but the best for his people. His life has


been devoted to his country, and, under his presidency, real

progress has been made. Under his leadership, and with assis-

tance from allies around the world, Afghanistan has a chance

to turn away from centuries of turmoil and civil war, and

become truly one nation.

President Hamid Karzai arrives at orly, France, in october 2005, to meet French president Jacques Chirac. a contributing factor to Karzai’s success is his skillful diplomacy.

HaMid KaRZai114

Hamid Karzai’s skills as diplomat and mediator have served

him well in his efforts to bring his nation together. But like

Shah Shuja in 1839, he relies on the presence of foreign troops

to help keep him in power. To achieve continued progress, he

will need to demonstrate stronger leadership and show his

people that he is able to lead his nation independent of

America’s help. He will need to beat back the growing resur-

gence of the Taliban and al Qaeda, and take a stronger stand

against warlords and narcotics dealers. He has the determina-

tion and intelligence to make that happen. His vision of prog-

ress for Afghanistan and its people can become a reality.

115

Chronology

330b.c. Alexander the Great conquers the territory that would

later become Afghanistan enroute to the Indian

subcontinent.

400 White Huns invade, destroying the Buddhist culture

and leaving most of the country in ruins.

652 Introduction of Islam.

962–1149 Ghaznavid Dynasty; Afghanistan becomes the center

of Islamic power and civilization.

1219–1221 Genghis Khan invades Afghanistan, leaving the

country once again in ruins.

1364–1405 Tamerlane.

1747–1773 Rule of Ahmad Shah; the beginning of the Durrani

Dynasty.

1800s Persia, Great Britain, and Russia all vie for control

of Afghanistan.

1839–1842 First Anglo-Afghan War.

1878 Start of Second Anglo-Afghan War.

1893 The Durand Line establishes the border of

Afghanistan and British India.

The line divides Afghan tribal areas, causing long-

time hostilities between Afghanistan and what would

become Pakistan.

1921 Third Anglo-Afghan War. Once again, the British

are defeated.

Afghanistan gains independence and full control of its

foreign affairs.

116

1933 Zahir Shah ascends to throne. He will remain king

until 1973.

1957 Hamid Karzai is born on December 24.

1973 The government of King Zahir Shah is overthrown by

Mohammed Daoud.

The former king remains in exile in Rome, and Daoud

declares Afghanistan to be a republic.

1976–1982 Hamid Karzai attends college in Simla, India.

1978 The Communist PDPA, the People’s Democratic Party

of Afghanistan, overthrows Prime Minister Daoud in

the Saur (April) Revolution.

Daoud is executed and Afghanistan is declared the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

Late1970s The Afghan government, with assistance from the

Soviets, kills and imprisons many Afghan leaders.

Karzai’s father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, is imprisoned.

1979 On December 24, the Soviet army invades

Afghanistan. It will occupy the country for the next

10 years.

1981 Abdul Ahad Karzai is released from prison. He and his

family flee to safety in Quetta, Pakistan.

1982 After earning his master’s degree from Himachal

Pradesh University,

Karzai joins his family in Quetta. He joins the Afghan

National Liberation Front and quickly becomes its

director of operations.

Early1980s Karzai supports the Afghan resistance movement.

These fighters become known as the mujahideen or

“holy warriors.”

117

1988 Facing continuing mujahideen resistance, the Soviets

agree to a cease-fire and to withdraw their troops

from Afghanistan.

1989 The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan.

1992 Communist president Sayed Mohammed Najibullah

is overthrown by the mujahideen. Burhanuddin

Rabbani becomes president and declares Afghanistan

an Islamic state. Karzai returns to Afghanistan to serve

as deputy foreign minister.

1994 As rival warlords continue to fight against Rabbani’s

government, lawlessness and anarchy spread

throughout Afghanistan. Disgusted by the violence,

Karzai resigns as deputy foreign minister and returns

to Pakistan.

1996 Taliban influence spreads throughout Afghanistan.

By the end of the 1990s the Taliban will control nearly

90 percent of the country.

1999 In January, Hamid Karzai marries his cousin, Zinat.

1999 On July 14, Hamid Karzai’s father is assassinated

in Quetta, Pakistan, while leaving a mosque after

evening prayers. In a display of defiance against the

Taliban, Karzai returns his father’s remains home to

Afghanistan to be buried.

2001 On September 11, the World Trade Center and

Pentagon are attacked by al Qaeda terrorists. In

early October, Karzai crosses the border into

Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. Days later, U.S.

air strikes against Afghanistan begin in an effort to

remove the Taliban from power and to destroy

118

al Qaeda. On November 13, the Northern Alliance

recaptures Kabul from the Taliban. On December

5, remaining Taliban officials surrender to Hamid

Karzai at Kandahar. On December 22, Karzai takes

office as a leader of an appointed six-month interim

government.

2002 Hamid Karzai is reelected president for an

18-month term of office by a nationwide loya

jirga. Schools begin to reopen to both boys and girls.

There are continuing Taliban and warlord attacks

against the new government. One vice president is

killed, and several unsuccessful attempts are made on

Karzai’s life.

2003 Nearly 2 million refugees have returned to

Afghanistan, facing overcrowded cities unable to

provide basic services and a countryside ravaged by

years of drought.

2004 Hamid Karzai is elected president in Afghanistan’s

first free and democratic nationwide elections.

2005 Despite continuing Taliban resistance, education and

health care systems gradually improve. Nationwide

lections are successfully held to choose a new

Parliament.

2006 The Karzai government’s control barely extends

beyond Kabul, but the Afghan people remain

optimistic about their future. The Taliban vows to

continue the fight.

119

Bibliography

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Afghanistan.

Amanpour, Christiane, and Andrea Koppel. “Hamid Karzai

No Stranger to Leadership.” CNN. December 21, 2001.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/cen-

tral/12/21/ret.karzai.profile.

Anderson, Jon Lee. “The Man in the Palace.” The New Yorker

(June 6, 2005).

“Chronological History of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan Online.

http://www.afghan.web.com/history.

Ewans, Martin. Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and

Politics. New York: Perennial, 2002.

“Heir Apparent.” Al-Ahram Weekly Online. December 20–26

2001, Issue No. 565. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg./2001/565/

8war2.htm.

“Interview: His Excellency Hamid Karzai President of Afghan-

istan.” Academy of Achievement, June 7, 2002. http://www.

achievement.org/autdoc/printmember/kar0int-1.

Kaplan, Robert. Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors In

Afghanistan and Pakistan. New York: Vintage Books, 2001

Lancaster, John. “At Inauguration, Karzai Vows Action on

Tough Issues.” Washington Post.com. December 8, 2004.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42132-

2004/Dec7.html.

Onishi, Norimitsu. “For Afghan Clan, a Full Circle Back to

Power.” New York Times. December 9, 2001. http://www.

pulitzer.org/year/2002/public-service/works/story3/html.

120

Quinn, Maureen. “Statement of Ambassador Maureen Quinn

Coordinator for Afghanistan Before the U.S. House of

Representatives Committee on International Relations Sub-

Committees on Middle East and Central Asia and Oversight

and Investigations.” March 9, 2006. http://wwwc.house.gov/

international_relations/109/qui030906.pdf.

Todd, Anne M. Hamid Karzai. Philadelphia: Chelsea House

Publishers, 2004.

Tyson, Ann Scott. “Red Carpet Leads Back to a Nation in

Tatters.” Christian Science Monitor. January 31, 2002. http://

www.csmonitor.com/2002/0131/p03s01-usgn.htm.

Further Reading

121

Akbar, Said Hyder, and Susan Barton. Come Back to Afghani-

stan: A California Teenager’s Story. New York: Bloomsbury

USA, 2005.

Anderson, Jon Lee. “The Man in the Palace.” The New Yorker

(June 6, 2005).

Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA,

Afghanistan, and Bin Laden.

Ewans, Martin. Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and

Politics. New York: Harper Perennial: 2002.

From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. New York:

Penguin Press: 2004.

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead

Trade, 2004.

Lamb, Christine. The Sewing Circles of Heart: A Personal

Voyage Through Afghanistan. New York: Harper

Perennial, 2004.

Seirstad, Asne. The Bookseller of Kabul. New York: Back

Bay Books, 2004.

122

Photo Credits

page:

Cover: © Andreas Altwein/dpa/CORBIS

Frontis: ©JEAN-MARC LOOS 13: AP Photo/David

Guttenfelder 16: AP Photo/Ahmad

Masood, POOL 21: AP Photo/Suzanne

Plunkett 24: Erich Lessing/Art

Resource, NY 28: Art Resource, NY 33: Library of Congress 39: Library of Congress 43: AP Photo 47: AP Photo/Henery S.

Bradsher 51: AP Photo 55: ©Kapoor Baldev/Sygma/

Corbis 59: AP Photo 66: AP Photo

68: AP Photo 71: AP Photo/Liu Heung

Shing 77: AP Photo/Laurent

Rebours 82: AP Photo/Zahid 86: AP Photo/Dmitri

Messinis 91: Bromeo/Art Resource,

NY 94: AP Photo/Chao Soi

Cheong 96: AP Photo/Amir Shah 98: AP Photo/6076482 102: AP Photo/Marco

Di Lauro 105: AP Photo/Ed Wray 111: Melanie Frey/WpN 113: AFP/Getty Images

Index

Abdali, Ahmad Shah, 29Abdul Wali (brother), 46Abdur Rahman Khan, 35–36Afghan Interim Authority (AIA),

head of, 12Afghan jihads, 67–69Afghan languages, 22Afghan National Liberation Front

(ANLF), 67–68, 69–70Afghanistan

Amanullah and, 36–40Britain, Russia and, 31–36early history of, 23–26end of monarchy in, 54–57geography of, 18–20Hamid Karzai as leader of,

101–104invasion of, 14, 61, 62–63Islam introduction into, 26–29Mohammed Zahir Shah and,

40–44Osama bin Laden in, 83–84Pakistan and, 49–51people of, 20–23rebellion of against Soviet

Union, 65–72rebuilding of, 108–114recent changes in, 104–107

agriculture, 23, 110Ahmad Shah Abdali, 29Ahmad Shah Durrani, 22, 29, 30al Qaeda. See also bin Laden,

Osamacontinued efforts of, 109Kabul bombings and, 107September 11 attacks and,

92–97Taliban and, 15, 84

Alexander the Great, 24–25Alexandria-Eschate, 25

Amanullah Khan, 36–39Amin, Hafizullah, 53, 58, 59,

60, 61Army of Retribution, 33Asoka, 25assassinations, 29, 55, 58, 106–108

Babur, 27–28Bactrians, 25Bamiyan statues, 25–26, 90–91Bart, William Hay Mcnaghten, 33beards, Taliban and, 81bin Laden, Osama

in Afghanistan, 83–84embassy bombings and, 89–90in Pakistan, 22September 11 attacks and,

92–97birthday of Hamid Karzai, 44, 45Bouvier, Nicolas, 46–48boycotts, 63Britain, 31–36, 37, 42Buddhism, 25–26burkas, 82, 112–113

Carter, Jimmy, 62–63China, Great Wall of, 25Chirac, Jacques, 112cleansing, 81Cold War, 43–44Communist Party, 52, 58constitution, democratic, 104–106Cyprus Process, 101Cyrus the Great, 23, 24

Daoud Khan, Mohammedcoup by, 51, 54, 55execution of, 57–58financial aid and, 43–44Pakistan and, 49–50

123

124

Darius I, 23, 24DDR (demilitarization,

demobilization, and reintegration) program, 108–109

deposed leaders, 14Dost Mohammed Khan, 30–33,

34Dostum, Abdul Rashid, 75drugs, 109–110Durand Line, 20, 22, 35–36, 42Durrani, Ahmad Shah, 22, 29, 30Durrani Empire, 29Durrani Pashtuns, 20, 22

economic growth, 113education

of Hamid Karzai, 48–49, 54–56

recovery of Afghanistan and, 103, 110

Taliban and, 78, 81elections, 12–14, 106entertainment, Taliban and, 81,

86Ephthalites, 26Ewans, Martin, 23

Fahim, Mohammad Qassem, 108famines, 53farming, 19First Anglo-Afghan War, 31–34Foreign Relations Unit, 74, 76fundamentalists, 60

Gandaharan art, 25Gandamark, Treaty of, 34Gandhi, Mohandas “Mahatma”,

55–56Genghis Khan. See Khan,

Ghengisgeography, influence of, 18–20

Ghaznavid Dynasty, 26Ghazni, 26Ghengis Khan, 23, 27, 28Ghilzai Pashtuns, 20, 28, 32–33Ghorids, 26Ghulam Nabi Charki, 40Gorbachev, Mikhail, 72government, secular, 38Great Bazaar, 33Great Game, 31–36, 72Great Wall of China, 25Guagamela, Battle of, 24

Habiba High School, 48Habibullah Khan, 36, 40Haq, Abdul, 70–72Hayden, Michael V., 109Hazaras, 23, 82Hekmatyar, Gulbuddin, 60, 69,

75–76Helmand chain of restaurants, 67Helmand River, 19heroin, 109–110Himachal Pradesh University,

54–56Hindu Kush Mountains, 19,

31–36history, 17, 18–20hospitality, 22Hotaki Dynasty, 28human rights violations, 81Huns, 26

India, independence of, 42internet, 113invasions, 14, 23–25, 31–36,

61–65Islam

introduction of, 26–27as religion of Afghanistan,

51, 105Taliban and, 14–15, 78, 80–81

125

veils and, 42women and, 106, 110–111

Islamic Society, 69Islamic Unity of Afghan

Mujahideen, 69Istalif, 33

Jirga, 40–41

KabulAmanullah Khan and, 36–37bombings in, 107Great Game and, 32–33, 34–35Karzai family and, 46–48recapture of from Taliban,

97–99refugees in, 66–67

Kala Khan. See Habibullah KhanKandahar, recapture of from

Taliban, 99Kanishki, 25karakuls, 90Karmal, Babrak, 52–53, 59, 61, 70Karzai, Abdul Ahad (father),

45–46, 49, 85–87Karzai, Abdul Ahmad (brother),

46Karzai, Abdul Wali (brother), 46,

67, 107Karzai, Ahmad Wali (brother), 46Karzai, Faozia Roya (sister), 46Karzai, Mahmood (brother), 46Karzai, Qayum (brother), 46, 76Karzai, Shah Wali (brother), 46Karzai, Zinat (wife), 85, 111–113Karzai subtribe, 45KHAD, 70Khair Mohmed Karzai, 40–41, 45Khalis, Yunus, 69Khalq faction of PDPA, 53, 58, 60Khan Nashir, 28Khorani, Bokam Akram, 108

Khyber Pass, 19, 34–35kites, Taliban and, 81Kuchis, 19, 21Kushans, 25–26

land mines, 73languages, 22, 55legal system, Amanullah Khan

and, 38Lenin, Vladimir, 37loya jirga, defined, 12

Mahmood Hotaki Elementary School, 48

Mahmud. See Yamin ul-Dawlah Mahmud

Maiwandwal, Mohammad Hashim, 52

Marayan Empire, 25marriages, arranged, 85Massoud, Ahmed Shah, 75Meshramo Jirga, 104mines, 73Mir Akbar Khyber, 58modernization, 42Mohammad Nadir Khan, 28–29Mohammed Akbar Khan, 32Mohammedzai Pashtuns,

30–31Mojadeddi, Sibghatullah, 60–61,

68, 70, 74monarchy, end of, 54–57Mongols, 27mountains, 19Mughal Empire, 28mujahideen, 14, 60–61, 67–69, 75Muslims, 22, 23

Nadir Shah, Mohammed, 37, 40Najibullah, Mohammed, 70, 71,

73–75Nashir. See Khan Nashir

126

National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (NIFA), 68

National Rescue Front, 70nomads, 19, 21nonviolence, belief in, 55–56,

90–91, 108–109Northern Alliance, 97–99, 101,

106

Olympics, boycott of, 63Omar, Maulvi Mohammed,

78–79, 98, 99, 109opium, 109–110opposition groups, 60–61, 67–69Osama bin Laden. See bin Laden,

Osama

Pakistanaid to, 62–63conflict with, 49–51creation of, 35–36, 42resistance movements in,

60–61, 78Parcham faction of PDPA, 53, 60Partition of 1947, 35–36Party of Islam, 69Pashtuns, 20–22, 53, 101Patam Merajuddin, 16People’s Democratic Party of

Afghanistan (PDPA), 52–53Persians, 28Peshawar, Pakistan, 60–61, 67petroleum imports, 44Pol-e-Charki prison, 58police, training of, 113Popolzai subtribe, 12, 22, 87poppy plants, 109–110prisons, 58purges, 60Pushtoonwali, 22

Qadir, Haji Abdul, 106–107

Rabbani, Burhaduddin, 60, 69, 75–76, 89, 102

Rahman, Abdul, 107Rawalpindi Agreement, 37Reagan, Ronald, 63reconciliation program, 109refugees, 65–67resistance movements, 60–61,

67–69Retribution, Army of, 33revenge, 22rivers, 19Russia, Great Game and, 31–36Russian Revolution (1917), 36–37

Saddozai clan, 22Safavids, 28Samar, Sima, 102sanctuary, 22sandstone statues, 25–26, 90–91Sassanids, 26Saudi Arabia, aid from, 70, 74Sayed Jamaluddin School, 48Sayyaf, Abdul Rabb Rasuul al-,

60, 74scorched-earth policy, 65–66Second Anglo Afghan War, 34–35secret police, 70Seddigi, Suhaila, 102Seleucids, 25September 11 attacks, 15, 92–97sharas, 74sharecroppers, 65Sher Ali, 34Shiite Muslims, 23Shinwari, Fazl Hadi, 16Shinwari Pashtuns, 38–39shoes, Taliban and, 81Shuja Shah, 32Silk Route, 25Simla, college in, 54Soviet Union

127

aid from, 42–44, 54Amanullah Khan and, 36–37end of occupation by, 72–76invasion by, 14, 61, 62–65rebellion against, 65–72trade and, 50

suicide bombings, 108, 109Sunni Muslims, 23

Tajiks, 22, 38, 40Taliban

amnesty for, 109assassination attempts and,

108Bamiyan statues and, 26, 90–91continued efforts of, 109, 110creation of, 76–79defeat of, 97–99Osama bin Laden and, 89–90reasons for Karzai’s initial

support of, 83rise of, 14–15, 80–83, 89September 11 attacks and,

92–97terrorists and, 84women and, 111

Tamerlane, 27Taraki, Nur Mohammad, 52–53,

58, 60terrorism, Taliban and, 15, 84Thatcher, Margaret, 72Timur Shah, 30Toynbee, Arnold, 20toys, Taliban and, 81trade routes, 23–25, 50traditionalists, 60–61, 68Treaty of Friendship, 37tribalism, 19, 22, 95

United Statesaid from, 70, 97, 99, 107,

110, 113

Karzai family and, 46, 67, 76support of Karzai’s efforts

against Taliban by, 97trade and, 50

Uruzgan, 95Uzbeks, 22

veils, Islam and, 42vendettas, 22violence, disagreement with,

55–56, 90–91, 108–109voting, 111

warlords, 107, 108–109weapons left after wars, 73,

108–109White Huns, 26Wolesi Jirga, 52, 104women

improved rights of, 110–112Islam and, 106in new government, 102–103,

111protection of, 106Taliban and, 15, 81–82, 111

World War II, 41Wulfi, 40–41

Yamin ul-Dawlah Mahmud, 26Yaqub Khan, 34

Zahir Shah, Mohammedconstitution and, 50–51election of Hamid Karzai and,

15, 16friendship of with Hamid

Karzai, 88 rebuilding of Afghanistan

and, 100–101, 103–105 rule of, 40–44

zoos, 48

128

About the Authors

DEnnisAbrAms attended Antioch College, where he majored in

English and communications. A voracious reader since the age

of three, Dennis is a freelance writer who has written several

biographies for young adult readers. He lives in Houston,

Texas, with his partner of 19 years, along with their two dogs

and three cats.

ArTHUrm.sCHLEsinGEr, Jr. is the leading American historian of

our time. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his books The Age of

Jackson (1945) and A Thousand Days (1965), which also won

the National Book Award. Professor Schlesinger is the Albert

Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities at the City University

of New York and has been involved in several other Chelsea

House projects, including the series Revolutionary War Leaders,

Colonial Leaders, and Your Government.

(Major World Leaders) Anne M. Todd-Hamid Karzai (2003)

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