Re: Culture versus Religion in Afghan Culture
As far as I know and from what I’ve read, a variety of religions were practiced by the Pashtun tribes prior to the arrival Islam and this varied from tribe to tribe. These religions were primarily monotheistic, with the exception of Buddhism, which from my understanding is neither monotheistic nor polytheistic. Buddhism was commonly practiced in the region prior to the arrival of Islam and loads of artifacts have been found which confirm this.
Buddhist relics have been found as recently as 2010 (in Logar I believe). The most well known evidence of Buddhism in the region was the two Buddhist statues in Bamiyan. These were carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan Valley and depicted a standing Buddha. Unfortunately, these were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 after declaring that they were “idols” and “un-Islamic.” (Interesting how the Taliban had the time to condemn two harmless statues, but never found the time to condemn many of the other blatantly un-Islamic practices in the region.) In addition to Buddhism, Zoroastrianism was also practiced in the region. Interestingly, the Zoroastrian influence, as well as Persian influence, of this is evident in certain practices still followed today, such as the burning of espand to cure and ward off the evil eye.
No, that isn’t the only word for sword. There are quite a few different words for sword in Pashto.
The concept of tor is definitely followed by both sides and applies to ALL women but, naturally, people tend to be more mindful of women in their own families. Interestingly, this aspect of Pashtunwali still influences Afghan people living abroad as people are still quite sensitive about this, particularly in regards to photographs. A source of drama in our community stems from the issue of taking pictures or video at events and then posting these online. Drama often ensues when someone takes photographs at some event and then proceeds to post them on their facebook. The issue is usually that there was another person(s) in the picture in addition to poster himself and said person(s) didn’t want their picture posted online or a brother/cousin/relative of the poster or one of the other people in the picture saw the pictures and has a problem with it. Surprise, surprise, this is most often an issue with women.
Oddly enough, a friend of mine recently had an issue with this when a guest at her mehndi posted some pictures she took of herself and a couple of friends on her facebook. The brother of one of the girls in the picture came across the pictures and had a problem with it despite the fact that there was nothing inappropriate in the pictures and the pictures simply showed the girls posing with the bride and each other at the mehndi. Apparently, the girl’s brother expected my friend to rectify the situation as it was her mehndi and her guest who had posted the photographs. Shakes my head. Seriously, do people not have more pressing concerns in life? 
While I’m not keen on posting one’s entire life on facebook and think that one should be cautious with what one choose to post online, I find it beyond irritating that people take this so seriously as if there were not more serious issues in the world (and in our own community) to worry about.