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Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli Profile picture
Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli
@Alex_Khaleeli
@SWWDTP @AHRC PGR at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter | History of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
Sep 10, 2021 • 17 tweets • 11 min read
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:
Sep 10, 2021 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
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:
Aug 31, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
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?
Aug 31, 2021 • 9 tweets • 6 min read
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.
Aug 30, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
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
Aug 14, 2021 • 14 tweets • 9 min read
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/
Aug 13, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
As a historian of Afghanistan 🇦🇫 I really wish people would stop repeating this “graveyard of empires” fiction. Plenty of empires thrived there and they frequently fought *each other* to conquer it. There is nothing inevitable about the events unfolding today. See 🧵 ⬇️ Sadly we’re going to see a lot of these takes in coming days. The notion that Afghanistan is inherently ungovernable (since the dawn of history, in fact!) is a self-serving myth without any basis in reality. In fact it’s myths like this that led to the current catastrophe:
Aug 12, 2021 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Another day another trite “graveyard of empires” take on Afghanistan. Notice how after Alexander (4th C BC) we go straight to the British Empire (19th C AD) - a gap of 2300+ years! What happened in the intervening time? Glad you asked! 🧵 /1 Here’s a recent thread of mine showing that Afghanistan was both conquered and the cradle of several major world empires throughout its history 2/
Jul 16, 2021 • 12 tweets • 8 min read
Another example of lazy stereotypes informing policy discourse. Far from being the graveyard of empires, Afghanistan was both conquered by and made the capital of a number of important dynasties, a few examples:🧵 1/ Kushans (30-350 AD): a Buddhist Greek-influenced empire that ruled over parts of Afghanistan, Central Asia, and North India from its capital at Bagram (of airbase fame) before being conquered by the Sasanians. They traded with Rome, Persia, India, Ethiopia, and China. ImageImageImage
Jul 9, 2021 • 10 tweets • 7 min read
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