Afghanistan’s History and the Truth Behind the Blame

By Sheikh J. Hussain
London:Published by ANI
Jawadkhayal@icloud.com

There is a story that has been told again and again. It says Afghanistan has a glorious five thousand year history, and that every bit of destruction seen there today is the fault of Pakistan. It is a story repeated so often that many have come to believe it without question. But if we look at the facts and the actual history, we find a very different picture. Before we go further, we must ask those who blame Pakistan for all of Afghanistan’s ruin. Was Afghanistan ever New York or London before Pakistan came into existence? Which great universities stood on that land that Pakistan destroyed? Which oil fields and mines were flowing with wealth that were shut down because of Pakistan? What prosperity was lost that the whole world once admired? If we cannot answer these questions, then we must also question the story we have been told.

People speak proudly of five thousand years of history. But the truth is that across those five thousand years, no great city was built, no lasting road connected its regions, and no hospital stood that served generation after generation. For centuries the land was divided into small warring tribes and regions, never united under one stable rule. The Afghanistan we recognise today did not even exist in its present form until 1893. Before that, it was a collection of separate territories constantly fought over by empires from Persia, India, and beyond. The very borders that people call their country today were drawn by foreign powers, not by the people who live there. Under the treaty of 1819, the land that became Afghanistan was given as a gift, not earned through nation building. It was ruled by warlords who had always fought one another, often serving foreign masters. This was not a peaceful land waiting to be ruined by a neighbour.

If we look back to 1709, the area that is now Afghanistan was mostly under the control of Persia. The people living there were treated as subjects, not citizens. When Mirwais Hotak rebelled against Persian rule, he won a brief independence, but it did not last. Nadir Shah of Persia soon returned and crushed the rebellion. He used a commander named Ahmad Shah Abdali to defeat the Hotak tribes completely. Entire populations were wiped out, elders were killed, and families were destroyed. No Pakistan existed then to blame. All of this happened within the land itself, between its own people.

Years later in 1801, the Hotak people rose once more against the cruelty of the Durrani rulers. Shah Mahmud Durrani responded by tying Abdul Rahim Khan Hotak and his sons to the mouths of cannons and blowing them apart. The women of his family were taken as slaves, and the fighting men were killed. For three days violence and abuse were carried out against the people. Where was Pakistan then? Who could be blamed for that cruelty except those who carried it out?

From 1888 to 1893, Amir Abdul Rahman Khan launched campaigns against the Hazara communities that lived independently in the central highlands. Reports published later by the University of Texas Press state that more than eighty two thousand Hazara families were killed brutally. Women and children were not spared. Whole communities were wiped out in the name of power and control. This happened long before Pakistan was even imagined as a nation. There is no one to blame for these atrocities but those who committed them.

Moving into modern history, we must also ask who brought foreign powers into Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union invaded, it was not Pakistan that invited them. Yet Pakistan stood with the Afghan people in their hour of need. Pakistan opened its borders and welcomed millions of Afghans who fled the war, offering them safety, dignity, and respect. To this day, millions of Afghans live in Pakistan with honour. They are free to open their own businesses, raise their children, and build their lives wherever they choose. Many have built great business empires and contributed to both nations. Pakistan never treated them as enemies or outsiders. Instead it opened its arms and shared what it had. No other nation has done more to support the Afghan people in their time of suffering.

When the Soviets left and later when the United States and its allies arrived, these were decisions made by foreign powers far beyond Pakistan’s control. No one can seriously claim that Pakistan invited these invasions or caused the devastation that followed. Yet the narrative has been shaped in such a way that every hardship is blamed on Pakistan. This is not history. This is a false perception created by those who wish to keep both nations divided. It serves no one but the enemies of both peoples.

Since 1947, the history continued with its own patterns of conflict. Governments rose and fell, foreign powers came and went, and different groups fought for control. Every step of the way, the people of Afghanistan suffered. Yet instead of looking at these facts, the easy answer has always been to blame Pakistan. It is a convenient story. It allows people to avoid facing their own history and their own mistakes. No one denies that countries influence one another, or that neighbours have played roles in each other’s affairs. But it is neither honest nor fair to hold one nation responsible for every hardship that has fallen on another across centuries.

The truth is that Afghanistan’s struggles come from many sources. It has been fought over by great empires, divided by deep tribal differences, ruled by kings and commanders who crushed their own people, and occupied by foreign armies. To reduce all of this to the fault of one neighbour is not just inaccurate. It prevents real change from ever happening. If we cannot see our own history clearly, we cannot build a better future.

The message is simple and hard to accept. Stop blaming Pakistan for everything that has gone wrong. Look at the full history, not just the parts that suit one story. Fix what needs to be fixed within your own society. Unless this happens, the next hundred years may look very much like the past. The fire and bloodshed will continue, and every generation will keep carrying the burden without ever asking what truly caused it. A nation cannot move forward until it faces its own past with honesty. That is the first step toward real peace and real prosperity