HOW RADICAL ISLAM IS EXPLOITING TRIBAL ETHICS IN THE KHYBER PASS

Pashtunwali is the code of ethics used by the Pashtuns – Afghan natives who have practiced Sunni Islam – over a thousand years in the isolated valleys of Hindu Kush mountains around the Khyber Pass. Today, Islam has become a convenient vehicle for tribal customs that predate the arrival of Mohammad and his message.

While all other religions follow the ’to forgive is divine’ principle, the Pashtunwali stresses revenge. Because it is not derived from a religious system the way Christianity, Sikhism and Judaism are, the emphasis on revenge persists from generation to generation. Hatred never ends. Another aspect of the Pashtunwali, the honor due to women, has resulted in overprotective policies that keeps them out of the educational system and workplace. See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

The geographical isolation of the Khyber Pass area has been responsible for an absence of new ideas in this traditional society. The Frontier province of the Pashtuns was renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the spring of 2010 to honor their aspirations, but it is still bypassed by the modern world.

When the Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the Americans protecting their Cold War stronghold in Central Asia, assisted the Pakistanis in ejecting the Russians. Radical Islam of Wahabism, was encouraged in the region both to woo the Pashtuns into fighting for the American/Pakistani alliance and to being Saudi money into the conflict. Once fundamentalist Wahabism took hold, this radical ideology was embraced by students from the Taliban. The Al Qaeda, which uses terrorist tactics to break the alleged Christian-Jewish conspiracy to destroy Islam, was founded in 1989. It’s also funded by the Saudis.

Once the Russians were thrown out, the Americans withdrew from Pakistan. In the three years before September 11, 2001 Pakistan received only $9 million in American military aid. In the subsequent three years after 2001, the aid increased to $4.2 billion. The terrorist measures of the Taliban and Al Qaeda have reinforced the ancient practices of Pashtunwali cruelty: holding grudges and physical violence.

For centuries, Muslim military success was aided by with great technical and scientific knowledge. The then Muslim armies had the most up-to-date weapons. But today Muslim activists in Pakistan do not have access to the latest weapons. They advance their political ideas with primitive methods like bombing and kidnapping, and used guns that are thirty years old. In my opinion, if there is any hope for Muslims of the world to regain their past glory by stepping into a modern frame of mind, it is necessary for them to interpret the Koran more pragmatically. Islamic scholarship, like their military technology, has also stagnated in recent centuries. A little pragmatism there might help radical Islam step out of the past into the present.

It’s not fair to blame Islam alone for the violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. On the contrary, Muslims like the Sufis, for instance, promote love through songs of devotion to God Almighty. This standard feature of major religions, from Judaism to Sikhism, is anathema to the Sunnis all over. Their stark religious practices and rigid fundamentalism undermine the honor of the traditional Pashtunwali way of life. Young Pashtun men are recruited by foreigners to fight for extreme religious ideals in the name of their traditional code of behavior. The traditional tribal society of the Pashtuns in the Khyber Pass is being exploited by hard-line Islam, which is not fair.