Censoring culture through force

In a way, the emergence of the mujahideen, the Taleban and the increasingly fundamentalist iterations that followed them was a sign of modernity. This was a world in which global affairs and markets were so tightly bound together that external nations could contribute to the existence of controlling powers in Afghanistan when it suited their own political and economic agendas. Their spread was made a reality when technology evolved to a point when ideas and people could move closer together and at unprecedented speeds. Even their ideologies were only possible in modernity. Traditional Afghan culture was bound to many things – familial relationships, tribal affiliations, eldership, kinship – and was expressed through arts, creativity, song, dance, celebrations and hospitality. Religion served as just one part of the overall balance. But now a radicalised religious ideology, fomented in the absence of traditions – which had been erased by increasingly brutal and protracted war and against a global narrative of ‘us versus them’ – was threatening to drown out this complex and deeply historical Afghan identity.