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Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli Profile picture
@Alex_Khaleeli
Jul 9, 2021 • 10 tweets • 7 min read • Read on X
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Sadly stereotypes like this still persist. 15th century Afghanistan was a major centre of culture and learning - art, science, literature, and architecture flourished under the Timurids. The city of Herat was abuzz with artists, poets, scholars, and scientists. A few examples,🧵:
1/ PAINTING: Here is a beautiful miniature from an early 15th C Shahnameh. One of many great manuscripts from this period adorned with delicate illustrations.

davidmus.dk/en/collections… Image
2/ CERAMICS: This is a glazed ceramic tile c.1440

davidmus.dk/en/collections… Image
3/ WOODWORKING: Carved and painted wooden panel with calligraphy c.1450

davidmus.dk/en/collections… Image
4/ SCIENCE: A brass astrolabe, possibly commissioned by the Timurid ruler Shahrukh (r. 1407-1447)

davidmus.dk/en/collections… Image
5/ METALWORKING: A bronze candlestick with entwined dragons

davidmus.dk/en/collections… Image
6/ ARCHITECTURE: The great mosque of Herat (1498), which would have served as a hub for public urban life

davidmus.dk/en/collections… Image
7/ As you can see from the beautiful examples of material culture, 15th Century Afghanistan was pretty great! So maybe we need to stop using the pre-modern world as a byword for barbarism? /END
And now for some shameless self-promotion! @RachelSchine @katherineschof8 @J_mugs @khowaga @gypsy_heart6 @profdanhicks @EskandarSadeghi @FuchsiaHart @peterfrankopan @greenleejw @KrebsVerena @JonnyLawrence10 @miqdaad
P.S. And that’s not all!

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More from @Alex_Khaleeli

Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli Profile picture
Sep 10, 2021
1/ WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN: People often describe the Taliban as “medieval” because of (among other things) how they treat women, as they imagine this reflects the status of women in pre-modern Islamic society. History, however, tells a different story!🧵⬇️
2/ Contrary to the image often given of women being oppressed and secluded in “traditional” Muslim societies, many pre-modern Afghan women were well-educated and active participants in the cultural and intellectual life of cities. Here are some examples from 15th C Timurid Herat:
3/ Queen Gawharshad (d. 1457) was the wife of the Timurid ruler Shahrukh (d. 1447). She ruled the empire after his death and was a great patron of architectural projects, including the important al-Rida shrine at Mashhad (images):
Read 17 tweets
Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli Profile picture
Sep 10, 2021
1/ Pleased to see @throughlineNPR taking a new approach to presenting the history of Afghanistan, but also puzzled to see their Twitter (though not the episode itself, thankfully!) perpetuating the false narrative that “outsiders” “always failed” to invade it.
2/ Firstly, “Outsiders” suggests 🇦🇫 was historically isolated from the rest of the world, when the opposite was true. Owing to its strategic location between Iran, Central Asia, and India, it was a thriving nexus of trade and culture. Both conquered by and home to many empires:
3/ Secondly, “Always failed” - as you can see, they didn’t (even modern cases of Britain and Russia aren’t so straightforward). More than that though, this narrative is problematic because it leads to the conclusion that 🇦🇫 is innately ungovernable, see:
ajammc.com/2021/08/24/sto…
Read 5 tweets
Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli Profile picture
Aug 31, 2021
Love that @thetimes has bookended the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan with two sensationally misleading graphics:“Bin Laden’s Mountain Fortress” (2001) and “Taliban’s New Arsenal” (2021)

The story behind the 2001 graphic gets better! It used during Donald Rumsfeld's interview with @nbc's Meet the Press on 2nd December 2001, and he said: "This is serious business. And there's not one of those. There are many of those." Did we ever find one of these?
Apparently not! H/T @xiruxi pbs.org/wgbh/pages/fro…
Read 4 tweets
Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli Profile picture
Aug 31, 2021
1/ I’m genuinely surprised by some of the voices I see parroting offensive clichés portraying Afghanistan 🇦🇫 as innately and uniquely ungovernable (aka “the graveyard of empires”) as if they were bits of timeless wisdom. What’s wrong with them? Glad you asked! 🧵
2/ These stereotypes are problematic because they identify 🇦🇫 and its people as the source of the problem, rather than the powers that invaded it: That US-led efforts failed not because we supported a corrupt government or bombed civilians, but because of Afghanistan itself.
3/ This is because they imply that Afghanistan is *naturally* conflict-ridden and backwards. Therefore, the present outcome was unavoidable! Which, perversely, blames the Afghan people for their own misery while cynically eliding the role played by the US and allies.
Read 9 tweets
Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli Profile picture
Aug 30, 2021
1/ This op-ed by @RepAuchincloss offers a prime example of how the “graveyard of empires” cliché obscures analysis. It is presented as fact, w/out elaboration, to evade a question: “it was never going to be easy” to leave, so we don’t need to ask *why* it wasn’t easy! 🧵
2/ The root cause of our failure is identified not as any US actions or policies over the last 20 yrs but as an imagined innate character of Afghanistan 🇦🇫 and Afghans. Our only fault is failing to foresee “the speed of… the collapse of Afghan willpower.” Sound familiar? Image
3/ This cliché is so widespread because it is so useful. There’s nothing it can’t account for: From the chaos at Kabul Airport to the failure of a 20-yr occupation! However it’s also utterly *incorrect*, as this article I wrote for @AjamMC explains:

ajammc.com/2021/08/24/sto…
Read 4 tweets
Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli Profile picture
Aug 14, 2021
A GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES? With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan🇦🇫and the resurgence of the Taliban, analysts and journalists have been using this phrase to describe the country. But what does it mean, where did it come from, and why is it wrong? 🧵 1/
This phrase first appeared in relation to Afghanistan in a 2001 article in @ForeignAffairs by Milton Bearden titled 'Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires,' which cautioned against U.S. adventurism there based chiefly on the previous experience of the Soviets and the British 2/
but also of Alexander, Genghis Khan, and the Mughals, all of whom "eventually ran into trouble in their encounters with the unruly Afghan tribals." In short, Afghanistan was seen as innately unconquerable and ungovernable because of its "unruly" people and unforgiving terrain. 3/
Read 14 tweets

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