Afghan men are lions ruled by jackals,
says poet
A woman’s scorn has sparked a fire of revolt among Pathans (Pashtoons) writes Lucy Morgan Edwards in Jalalabad
A year after the United States bombing campaign that led to the overthrow of the Taliban, a young woman is gaining iconic status among the Pathan people of Jalalabad.
Mariam Nasseri’s poem, published last month in the Nangahar Daily, is earning the 25-year-old the accolade of Afghanistan’s new “Malalai”, the poetess who during the Second Afghan War in 1848 so strongly criticised Afghan men for their lack of bravery that they rose up against the British occupiers.
Malalai’s words, which had likened their behaviour to that of women “playing with bracelets in their homes” instead of fighting to oust the foreign presence, reputedly galvanised the men into defeating the British at the battle of Maiwand, outside Kandahar.
Nasseri’s 2002 poem, Strangers in our Land, echoes Malalai’s criticisms and likens the behaviour of this generation’s men to gooder, a local term used to describe the fetching of water by women with clay pots.
“Afghans,” she says, “now live with their eyes cast downwards - for, once lions in their heroism, they are now allowing themselves to be ruled by mere jackals” - a dismissive reference not just to the American forces but also to the regime in Kabul.
Those in Nasseri’s thrall include people who are increasingly unhappy with the presence of US forces searching for al-Qa’eda remnants in addition to those who feel disenfranchised by the Panjshiri-dominated regime in Kabul.
“Nasseri has started a revolution here,” said Sayead Poppal, who works for a non-governmental organisation in Jalalabad.
“We don’t need these guests in our country. The Panjshiris [the clique from the valley in the north who dominate the government] are like the KGB and America wants to keep Afghanistan as the second Israel in the region. We are not Taliban or al-Qa’eda; they are finished now.”
Others - and this is a sentiment that runs across the country - are simply fed up with the behaviour of a new generation of warlords who, many in the pay of the US, have found a new authority that locals would never have sanctioned.
One example of this breed is Hazrat Ali, once the cook of Jalalabad’s former governor and vice-president Abdul Haji Qadir, who has been assisting the Americans in clearing-up operations since the fall of the Taliban.
“He wants to be everything: religious leader, community elder and warlord, but he is not qualified for these positions. He is not educated and does not have the respect of the people,” said Mr Poppal.
Mr Ali, from a minority tribe known as the Peshayee rather than the Pathan tribe that predominates in Jalalabad, is bringing soldiers and members of his tribe into the city, where they are taking over land.
His picture plasters not only buildings but the vehicles that his men drive, filled with soldiers bearing rocket-propelled grenades and AK47s.
Locals, however, remain loyal to the memory of Mr Qadir, who was assassinated outside his office in Kabul during July, and drive vehicles with his picture on the windscreen.
Mr Qadir’s death, so soon after the Loya Jirga, the grand assembly that many Pathans had hoped would correct the uneven distribution of power in government, has led some to lose faith in Afghanistan’s future.
A family of Afghan refugees who returned to Kabul from Pakistan during the summer have decided to go back to Pakistan.
“Qadir’s murder was a turning point for us. Before that we had hope for the future of this country, but now we believe that things will get far less stable,” said Najibullah Hussein as he ate his last supper in Afghanistan before leaving for the border with his family.
His decision reflects the sombre mood in Afghanistan a year after the start of the US campaign. While the charismatic President Hamid Karzai has travelled the world trying to drum up support, back home he is struggling to keep the country unified.
The middle of Nasseri’s poem expresses the confusion felt by Afghans, particularly those in the Pathan areas of the south and eastern parts of the country, when she says: “No one is able to express what the truth is. And who brought this situation to the country.”
As Mr Poppal said: “The problem is that these days, we don’t know who the enemy is. At least during Russian times, when we were fighting the jihad, we knew who we had to fight.”