Hello Tweeps, I am @IbrahimiNiamat and I am taking over this account for a day. I am a researcher based in Melbourne Australia. I would like to thank @mariamamini for creating the page and innovatively using it to generate debate and increase awareness of #Afghanistan history.
@IbrahimiNiamat @mariamamini Many thanks to @basirahang & @KadrieNama for their threads and to @NikValentini for starting this debate about the 1891-93 Hazara War. I will add a few remarks about the war and then focus on its consequences. Usual caveats apply, all views my own and my tweets r undersigned NI.
@IbrahimiNiamat @mariamamini @basirahang @KadrieNama @NikValentini 1.Short commentaries on complex events are always fraught with challenges. Twitter character limits make it even more difficult, so it will not be possible to unpack the full complexity of the Hazara Wars here but the goal is to generate critical debate and historiography. NI.
2. For those interested to read more details, please see a full chapter on the period of Abdur Rahman Khan’s rule in my 2017 book ‘The Hazaras and the Afghan State: Rebellion, Exclusion and Struggle for Recognition’. NI
3. Amir Abd Rahaman Khan is often recognised as the founder of modern Afghanistan for his role in imposing a centralised authority over the country’s present territories. He is one of the most contested figures in Afghanistan’s history. NI.
4. The Amir’s reign was a period of constant violence, much of which was directed towards various groups in Afghanistan. In his semi-autobiographical account, he claims he fought 40 separate rebellions (nearly 2 per year). He describes four of them as civil wars (p.249). NI.
5. Amir’s statebuilding strategy consisted of four elements: 1.British patronage in the forms of cash and military assistance, 2.instrumental use of Islam as a source of legitimacy, 3.extensive spy network, and 4. a policy of mobilising one group against the other. NI.
6. The Amir claimed he waged war against d Hazaras because they refused to pay tax & accept d authority of central gov. Nationalist/official historiography uncritically accept and repeat this narrative.
7.This claim is not born by historical evidence. From 1881, most Hazaras accepted the Amir’s authority & many of them fought in the Amir’s wars against other groups NI.
8.Amir’s control was weaker in Hazara areas (most of Uruzgan, parts of Zabul and north of Kandahar) that had become known as Yaghistan. The term Yaghistan was a social and political construct as there was no active rebellion against the gov in d region. NI.
9. Like other areas in 19th century, these communities were internally fragmented & could not mount a collective rebellion. They demanded to negotiate Amir’s excessive taxation. They were also concerned about abuses by gov soldiers, and manipulation of local divisions by gov. NI.
10. In 1887, the Amir began planning for a full attack on the Hazaras. The planning involved collection of detailed info & map by local officials, and appointment of new military and gov. officials in the region. NI.
11. In spring 1891, 10,000 troops led by Abd. Qudus Khan marched on Uruzgan. They faced no resistance, and took control of all the areas. The troops began looting the local population and mass arrest of local elites. An incident of rape led to rebellion across Uruzgan. NI.
12. The Amir declared a full jihad against the Hazaras, and tasked mullahs to proclaim the same in Friday prayers across the country. He also tasked each region in the country to provide specific numbers of fighters who would also receive a share of the booties of the war. NI
13. According to Kakar (1971, pp.165-166), the most extensive mobilisation in April 1892 involved about 100,000 fighters, including up to 40,000 tribal volunteers. The forces crashed local resistance one after the other. NI.
14. Heavy-handed suppression and looting led to another round of rebellion in the spring of 1893, which was put down by fresh deployment of forces by August-September that year. See thread by @KadrieNama. NI.
15. For d Hazaras & the country, in general, the war was catastrophic. The Hazara population shrank dramatically as a result of forced displacement, mass migration, slavery and deaths caused by war, subsequent famine & disease. See previous threads by @KadrieNama.
16. Several communities in Uruzgan, Zabul and north of Kandahar were entirely decimated or reduced to small numbers. Pashtun tribes from other places were settled. In Uruzgan 12,000 Durrani and 4,000 Ghilzai families moved to formerly Hazara lands (Kakar, 1971, p. 174). NI.
17. Hazaras were not the only group targeted. After defeating the Shinwaris and erecting two towers out of the heads of the tribesmen, he said: ‘You may try gently for hundreds of years to make friends
But it is impossible to make scorpions, snakes, and Shinwari, friends’. NI.
But it is impossible to make scorpions, snakes, and Shinwari, friends’. NI.
18. However, For reasons, including instrumental use of religious differences, the relatively large size of the Hazara population at that time, the Amir’s violence against Hazaras reached new heights and had particularly different aspects and consequences. NI.
19. In Amir's own viewss, the Hazara war had particularly important roles in consolidating his rule. See a quote from his semi autobiography in next tweet.
20. 'This [Hazara War] is the last of the four great civil wars that took place during my rule, and I consider that the prestige, the strength and power, as well as the peace and safety of my kingdom, have gained more by this war than perhaps any of the others’ (p.276). NI
21. Please read this thread in conjunction with previous threads this week. If interested, read some books about this period. In another thread tomorrow, I will make some points about what happened after the war and its implications for #Afghanistan historiography.
