Afghanistan is a relatively small country. Its total land area may be approximately equal to that of the state of Texas.
However, it has been there in its present form for a long period of time. Its area is an extension of the Himalayas and is covered by small mountains. The rainfall is very low. The major land area is covered by mountains, the Sulaiman range, Hindu Kush range, etc. The capital of the country, Kabul, is located on the Kabul River, which is a tributary of the Indus River, which empties into the Arabian Sea.
Afghanistan was a neighbor to India during the rule of the British, as the British Empire extended from Afghanistan to the southern tip of India. It was quite common for Afghan people to cross the Khyber Pass when coming to Punjab, India. However, when the Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh came to power in Punjab, the flow of traffic through the Khyber Pass reversed itself. Maharaja Ranjit Singh fortified the Khyber Pass and had a sizable number of armed forces stationed there under the command of Gen. Hari Singh Nulwa, who launched several attacks on Afghanistan.
The Afghan population got tired and very scared of these repeated attacks on their county and agreed to pay remuneration to the Sikh ruler in return for co-existence. Hari Singh also recovered the Kohinoor diamond from the Afghans. This diamond was removed by the British from the Sikh treasury in 1847 and now decorates the British crown.
It was quite common (just like Mexicans are doing today) for Afghans to come to India in search of seasonal work in the mid-1930s. They used to come to my village too and got friendly with my grandfather. One day my grandfather asked them, “What do you teach your children?” The answer was, “We tell them how to kill a kafir” (non-Muslim). The major characteristic of an Afghan is that he is a great friend. He is always willing to die for you, but he can be a very dangerous enemy. He has to kill his enemy before he can live peacefully.
Afghans loved good horses, and so my grandfather used to buy horses from India and take them down to Afghanistan to sell at a profit.
Afghans, as mentioned earlier, would pass through the Khyber Pass and come to India criss-crossing the country in search of seasonal work. They would get friendly with little children. “The Kabilee Wala” is a story authored by Nobel-laureate Tagore. In it he describes the friendship an Afghan visitor and a young girl of probably about 10 years of age. He would buy her sweets and toys and would play with her.
During the Sikh wars, Afghan armies supported British efforts to defeat Sikh armies. Therefore, after the British established themselves as the rulers of Punjab, India, Afghans were free to cross the Khyber Pass and roam around the countryside. They would kidnap children and take them to Afghanistan, where they were sold or used as slaves. It was common for Punjabi women who knew that an Afghan was in the village to hide their children. A lawless tribal area of Pakistan running parallel to Afghanistan is named as a northwest frontier province. This area is primarily occupied by Taliban and al-Qaida, who occasionally attack large contingents of NATO and U.S. forces, which number 52,700 foreign troops from 40 nations and 35,500 U.S. troops. There are reportedly about 25,000 Taliban insurgents.
Afghans are very proud people. They have been fighting with one invader or another for a long time. So fighting with the West (the U.S., etc.) is nothing new for them, and I assure readers that they will continue to fight with their enemy until they win the war or all of them die fighting. Today Afghanistan is an Islamic country. However, prior to 900 A.D., it was Buddhist.
Afghanistan is a relatively poor country. It never had enough resources to feed its people. So the presence of western troops warring with the Taliban is a great boon for them, as now each Afghan has a job, gets paid and finds enough food for himself and his family. Now there are schools, and children are being educated.
Kabul, Qandahar and Baghalan are a few of the big cities. Alexander used Baghlan as his headquarters for launching attacks against Afghanistan and India.
It is well known that many Afghans are engaged in the trade of growing and selling poppy, marijuana, crack cocaine, opium, etc. In the 1930s, many Afghans crossed the Khyber Pass into India with these drugs, which were sold at a good profit.
NATO/U.S. soldiers are dying in Afghanistan. A look at the struggle clearly indicates that there is no end to the U.S. engagement in Afghanistan. It appears that it is a U.S. war against the Islamic world, which the U.S. is not likely to win.
Dr. Shingara S. Sandhu of Orangeburg is retired distinguished professor of chemistry at Claflin University. His honors include S.C. Governor’s Professor and White House Millennium Professor.