Abstract
The issue of ethnicity is central in understating the authority patterns of Afghan society that has been ruled by the Pashtun for more than two centuries. The Pashtuns principally emerged as political elites who runn the major institutions of the country from military to bureaucracy. They, by the virtue of their long rule, don’t tolerance non-Pashtuns to rule over Kabul as in the case of short-lived Tajik regimes of Amir Habib Allah (r. 1929) and Burhanuddin Rabbani (r. 1992-1996). The monarch’s relations with the non-Pashtun ethnics are important to be analysed. Afghanistan shares many ethnic, cultural and linguistic ties with its neighbouring countries. The multiplicity of socio-ethnic values creates diversity and plurality, while under the project of nationalism, the ethnic and linguistic diversity particularly with conflicting loyalties becomes an obstacle in the way of nation-building. Moreover, the monarch did not create a space for non-Pashtuns where they could play their political role for nation-building. The democratic reforms of 1960s and socialist reforms brought the neglected and marginal powers on the political horizon. It was a significant change, where non-Pashtun attempted to assert their authority in all socio-political spheres of the country. The Parcham and Rabbani’s politics are considered a reflection of non-Pashtun’s attempt to rule over Kabul. Similarly, the role of religious class in politics is viewed secondary under the Pashtun monarchy. The present paper aims to analyse how the socialist reforms brought the religious class into power politics and how the anti-Socialist resistance movement resulted in the formation of religious Muslim elites in Afghan politics.