Historical background:

For centuries Pashtun dynasties ruled over extended territories within their homeland (Pukhtunkhwa in its largest conception or Afghanistan in its limited political acceptation), as well as outside their homeland, in the different areas of the Indian subcontinent.

Traditional power organization in the indo-Aryan space and most widely in the Islamic empire was not based on national identities or ethnicity. However, from the beginning of the 9th century CE (third century AH) the Islamic empire went through a movement that increasing led to autonomous rule of the local dynasties over large areas, even as these rulers admitted the authority of the Caliph from Damascus or Baghdad. Legitimacy of the power was based on de facto military might and on de jure recognition by the Caliph, called the Amir-ul-momenin which means ‘the commander of the believers’.

In the tenth century of the Common Era (CE) the first noticeable state structure appeared in the eastern part of the Islamic world and was established by Turks through their military. This is now referred to as the Ghazanvid Empire. The dynasties that preceded this one (those of the Saman family and the Safaris) while trying to promote the local culture and language (Farsi/Persian) continued to use the Arabic language as their official state language.

Mahmood of Ghazni was the first Muslim ruler who created favorable conditions for the development of the Farsi language and made it the language of State. Farsi was a natural candidate for this use because even though Arabic was accepted as the dominant language all over the Islamic empire, old Farsi (and Pahlawi ) was a language with a strong cultural heritage. Since the center of power was no more located in the Arabic-speaking world, it was quite natural to run the affairs of State in a language easily understood by the local population.

Small kingdoms and princely states existed within this empire. Proof of this comes from linguistic anthropology due to the discovery of some great poetry in the Pashto language in Ghor area of central Afghanistan which can be traced to the middle of the 11th century of the Common Era. But the main cultural works were still in Arabic (for science and judicial research) and Farsi (for literature). Linguistically, the Pashtun dynasties that ruled in India were in a similar situation. They ruled people without any ethnic or linguistic links to themselves; therefore they had no need to spend time and energy to change the language of state in those areas that they ruled.

The first conscious attempt to develop Pashto literature and Pashtun culture occurred in the 16th century of the Common Era (CE) when the Pashtun lost their empire to the Mughal invaders. One individual stands out in history for his efforts to promote Pashto. Pir Roshan wrote his “Khayr-ul-bayan” in Pashto and this book was largely taught in Pukhtunkhwa where Roshani leaders favored teaching Pashto and developed a very impressive school of Pashto literature. Pir Roshan's opponents led by Sayed Ali Termezi (Pir Baba) and his disciple Akhund Darweza countered Roshani teachings through their own Pashto writings and were obliged to use Pashto for their writings. Since both of these parties addressed their message to the local population they had to write in the language of the people whom they attempted to reach. Since then, Pashto literature started on quite a steady development but remained on private ground (the state apparatus continued to be run through Persian). Arabic and Persian remained the learning medium for higher education, while Pashto continued to be used as the medium for mass communication.

In 1707 CE Mirwais Hotak liberated Kandahar from the domination of Safawi Empire (Persia) and his son Mahmud extended his kingdom up to Isfahan the capital of the Safawi Empire. This newly created and rapidly expanding kingdom of the Hotak family suffered from a lack of administrative work force. Out of necessity they relied on the existing Persian apparatus. Predictably, this situation undermined the very basis of the kingdom in a very short time. Some 30 years later Shah Hosayn tried to create a real State structure in Kandahar with Pashto as a cultural language, alongside with Persian, but the error of Mahmud who relied on Persian state servants led to its downfall and Nader Shah Afshar replaced the Hotak Dynasty.

In 1747 CE Ahmad Shah Abdali created the Afghanistan as we know it today. Like the rulers preceding him, he also needed educated people to run his Administration. But there were few qualified Pashtuns to meet the demand so once again the rulers were obliged to rely on foreigners for these jobs and they imported large numbers of state officers from Persia (mainly the Qizelbash people). Ahmad Shah Baba tried to promote Pashto, to reinforce its position, to encourage writing and reading in Pashto. The Pashto grammar was first formalized and written during this period so that the princes could be taught the Pashto language. Ahmad Shah died soon after establishing the base of his new empire. His son Timur Shah felt so insecure among his potential Pashtun rivals that he displaced the capital from Kandahar to Kabul, a Farsi speaking city in the heart of Pashto speaking country. Timur relied exclusively on his Qizelbash administration staff in order to keep the Pashtuns at a distance from the center of power. Two centuries later we encounter the same behavior in Dr Najibullah, the last communist president.

Timur Shah and his sons managed to destroy a great deal of the empire their grand father had built. One of the consequences of this political loss was that the Pashto language lost it's newly acquired position of eminence. And now at the beginning of the 19th century, the political power shifted to the Mohamadzai tribe.

Throughout this era, time and again, these different rulers tried to keep the crown on their heads while completely ignoring the culture, education and even the administration of the Pashtun people. Amir Sher Ali Khan and later Amir Abdorrahman Khan understood the need of a strong central government. Sayed Jamaludin Afghani was the one who advised Abdorrahman to make Pashto the official language of the country. In this move Pashto was made the language of command of the new army but even then the court was dominated by Farsi speaking members who managed to slow the Pashtunization of the State apparatus.

Abdorrahman Khan wanted to secure his throne, and he did this by keeping children of regional chiefs (mainly non-Pashtun) as hostages in the court in Kabul.

These children (called "gholaam bacha gaan") were brought up in the company of the princes and would later become the leading force of the central administration. They had little interest in Pashto and Pashtuns.

Afghanistan gained its complete independence in 1919 CE. King Amanollah, once again tried to promote the Pashto language with the desire to build a strong centralized structure. However, once again the unity of the country became endangered due to the political situation and so yet again the needs of the Pashto language were put on the back burner.

It was not until 1937 that Pashto was declared the “official” language of Afghanistan. There was an authoritative but ill-prepared attempt to make Pashto the only educational medium of the schools in the country but resistance from people who held the real power in the administration (descendants of the 18th-19th century elite) did not allow this effort to succeed.

The Afghan constitution of 1964 declared Pashto as the National and Official language but alongside with Farsi (Dari) and once again it was evident that the real power remained in the hands of non-Pashto speaking people.

After the communist coup of 1978, Pashto had a real opportunity of being promoted but very soon the communist authorities realized that a united Afghanistan was not easy to rule with recourse to a foreign army as the basis of power. The question of Nationalities arose which was the same technique as used by the Bolsheviks in central Asia to destroy Islamic identity of these countries along with the minorities. The Pashtun being the main force of the Resistance movements and also a major part of the national army the communist power considered it imprudent to rely on Pashtun officers and soldiers. So they created a homogenous non-Pashtun force.

The position of General Dostom was indicative of this mindset, and he was given a real autonomous army by President Najibullah to fight against the Pashtuns. The prominence of the Pashto language was slowly but surely reduced in the Afghan mass media.

In 1992 the anti-Pashtun warlords with the help of non-Pashtun pseudo-intellectual communist leaders seized power in Kabul and practically banished Pashto from the mass media and from the cultural arena. Hundreds of thousands of Pashto books were burnt during these years. This was a holocaust for the Pashto language.

From 1996 to 2001 the Taliban regime used Pashto more than Farsi but it was mainly because of their lack of knowledge of Farsi rather than a conscious political agenda.

 

A short conclusion:

The question of Nation Building is closely related to the question of the national language and to the status of other languages in the country.

In Afghanistan, although the Pashtuns are a majority the Farsi language has an important place in the culture.

In my opinion the best solution regarding the language issue is as follows:

1. Pashto must be declared the National language of Afghanistan.
   
2. Pashto and Dari must be both the “official” languages of Afghanistan.
   
3. Since government employees may serve anywhere in the country without any linguistic, religious or ethnic considerations these government employees must be able to speak and write in both Pashto and Dari (Farsi) in order to serve the people best. Knowledge of both official languages should be the sine qua non for holding public office.
   
4. Primary education should be conducted in the mother tongue of the children or in the main language of the surrounding area (Pashto, Dari, Uzbaki, Torkmani, Pashai, Balochi,...) provided the language is spoken by a significant number of people. Those languages that are spoken by significant minorities (e.g. the Pamirian languages) should be taught and studied in universities and must be preserved as a national and universal cultural asset.
   
5. The government ought to conduct Secondary and higher education in both Pashto and Dari in those Public schools where education is subsidized but the other languages should be allowed in private schools. Government must guarantee the quality of the curriculum of all schools, regardless of the medium of instruction.