‘God’ on the Afghan

Allah-u-Akbar. For 23 years of turmoil and tragedy, this phrase – “God is Great” – has both sustained and devastated Afghanistan. It was this Islamic holy war rallying cry, direct from Qoranic Arabic, which glued the Afghan Resistance together and defeated the Soviet Union. The same five syllables became a divisive, destructive mantra for all parties (whether Islamist or not) in the civil war that followed. Now – with weary and amazed gratitude – “Allah-u-Akbar” is on Afghan lips everywhere as the UN-sponsored Unity Conference concludes with great promise in Bonn, Germany. Afghanistan has experienced the worst last quarter century of any country on earth. If peace can return after such extended catastrophe, then (Afghans will nod and say) God is truly great indeed.

Afghans will also say – are already saying – another phrase: “Naam-i-Khoda” or “Name of God.” This formulation is Persian and more folkloric, more emblematic of Central Asian worldview.

“Name of God” is a verbal talisman, used by Afghans to safeguard any promising but still-problematic initiative. It’s like crossing one’s fingers in the US: “Please [addressed in Afghanistan to the Muslim God (Arabic Allah or Persian Khoda), in America to Diety or Alan Greenspan or Superstition Flavor of the Month] don’t let this go wrong.” In Afghan peasant society with low expectations and high envy levels, there’s a more concrete purpose: To ward off the Evil Eye, which is believed to seek and wreck hopeful situations.

Note this factor of envy. Peasant life, typically onerous, is more bearable if everyone’s place is equally lowly. If anyone gets too high, all others feel their own lowliness all the more miserably. Envy is the equalizer in its restraint on special success. (Note also that this dynamic is not limited to peasants. Look for it across the world in prisons, communes, monasteries, boarding schools, military bases or any confined residential community where one’s personal worth is measured in close, 24/7 comparison with other residents.)

Hence the finger-crossing expression, “Name of God.” And hence the suspicion – an assumption among Afghans – that there will be envy-driven efforts to wreck the still-embryonic success of what has been accomplished in Bonn. First, let’s take the accomplishments … and then consider likely, would-be wreckers.

Last Tuesday’s column led “two cheers for the Northern Alliance.” Time now to make it two and a half cheers, (perhaps even to call them what they want to be called: the United Front). These are the guys, remember, with the strongest on-the-ground bargaining position: control of the North, control of Kabul, potential for further military expansion, and a de facto alliance of convenience with the US-led coalition. Is the victor from the North prepared to be magnanimous in victory within Kabul and constructive in policy regarding the rest of Afghanistan?

The answer as of now – Name of God – is a cautious Yes. There’ve been mid-negotiation bumps in the road, but youthful energy seems to have overcome geriatric ambition and discredited ideology. Two young, dapper, pragmatic United Front politicians – Bonn delegation leader Yunus Qanooni and Kabul fence-mender Abdullah Abdullah – have shunted aside their erstwhile leader, 61-year-old President Burhanuddin Rabbani, rather than let him stall the talks to keep himself in power. Fazl-i-Khoda (“By the Grace of God”), all three men are Tajiks and members of the same core movement (Jamiat-i-Islami). Thus the fracas was intra-ethnic and easier to resolve.

For both good and ill, Rabbani deserves a side-bar. It was this mild-mannered Kabul University theology professor who, nearly 30 years ago, first engaged Afghan students and clergy with Islamist ideas imported from Egypt. These notions have, in the interim, done more much more harm than good. To be fair, however, Rabbani was never as extreme a religious ideologue as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or, later, Mullah Omar. (Soft of voice and handshake, he lulled me to sleep one evening with a lecture on the intricacies of Islamic inheritance.) It was Rabbani’s Resistance faction, led in war by the legendary Ahmad Shah Masood, which denied the Soviet army its vital north-south lifeline. And Rabbani has served adequately as token President of Afghanistan during recent years of Taliban non-recognition by the world community. But both Islamist ideology and Rabbani’s generation of leadership are now discredited in Afghanistan. Reason? Neither could ensure peace.

And yet now – Name of God – peace may finally, actually happen. A 29 person-council (including two women) has been named as interim government of post-Taliban Afghanistan, empowered with international recognition and the country’s UN seat. This new government – the most legitimate in Afghanistan since 1973 – is slated to assume power on Dec. 22. (Sooner the better – Name of God – lest forces of envy destroy the structure before it’s even in place.)

Step-by-step plans then call for a transition to something like what we would call democracy: 1) The forming of a special commission to organize a loya jirga, Afghanistan’s traditional constituent assembly of provincial leaders and notables. 2) The gathering of this loya jirga late this spring (with ex-king Mohammed Zahir as honorary first day chairman) to revise the new interim executive and make other provisions for a two year transitional government. 3) The drafting of a new constitution for ratification by another loya jirga. 4) Elections.

Does it seem complicated? Overly optimistic? Stay tuned for “Don’t Wait on the Big D” in the Bangor Daily News. The “Big D” stands for democracy; let’s not expect Afghanistan to adopt the American form, and let’s certainly not insist on it. But let’s also not underestimate the Afghans. Given the momentum of these past three months, they’re now capable – name of God – of doing great things.

Envy could still wreck it. Here Afghans would say “Khoda na-kona” – “God prevent it.” Prevention also requires clear human cognizance of who’s most apt to be enviously destructive.

Rabbani will probably be neutralized by his own former followers. But will these same young men from up North be accepted as key leaders by Pushtuns from down South? Never before have Northerners been in so strong and so legitimate a position. “Afghan” originally meant Pushtun, and Pushtuns have monopolized power for the past two centuries. The widely admired Hamid Karzai – ex-Resistance leader, ex-deputy minister, relative of Zahir Shah, and current Pushtun anti-Taliban chieftain on the ground – has been named to the top post, but three key ministries (Defense, Interior, and Foreign Affairs) will be in the hands of Northerners. All told, 17 of 29 portfolios have been allocated to United Front personnel.

Will this reduction of Pushtun hegemony translate into bitter envy? For that matter, will all the Northerners cooperate? What of the autonomy-minded Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum? What of the chronically underrepresented (but now well-armed) Hazaras?

And what of outside forces? Iran still hosts the vicious Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose capacity for envy and wreckage will survive until he’s locked up as a war criminal. Pakistan’s terrorism in Afghanistan – like that currently perpetrated by a certain US-backed nation in the Middle East – has been state-sponsored, easier to euphemize, and thus less liable to trial by Hague tribunal. Has Islamabad finally been disabused of its destructive ambitions in Afghanistan? Or will envy of an agreement brokered by others in Bonn lead Pakistan to interfere yet again?

And what of the United States of America? No part of the Bonn accord will work without a multi-national peace-keeping force. Such a force is specifically requested – by Afghans themselves – in the Bonn agreement. To be truly effective, it must extend beyond Kabul to population centers nation-wide. So far, only the US has asked for an exception to this necessary presence: We want Kandahar to ourselves pending unfinished business with Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

OK, I guess. But let’s get it done – sooner the better and with fewer stray bombs – so that Afghans can get on with recovering governance of their own country. “Inshallah” – “God willing” – it can now happen.

One more hope for this once and future dignified Muslim nation: May “God” stay on the Afghan tongue.

Dr. Whitney Azoy, a cultural anthropologist and former U.S. diplomat in Kabul, has worked for 30 years with Afghanistan and the Muslim world.