Afghanistan is a relatively unknown country, it is mainly in the news because of the civil war and its aftermath. This article discusses all kinds of general issues that characterize life in Afghanistan.
Population
Afghanistan has a population of about 26 million people, of very different ethnicities. Most of the population lives in rural areas (85%), although migration to the cities is high. The birth rate is around 2.6%. Child mortality in Afghanistan is the highest in the world, 38% of children do not survive their first year of birth.
Towns
The capital of Afghanistan is Kabul, it is also by far the largest city in the country, with about one and a half million inhabitants. Until the 1970s it was a fairly modern city, but the civil war put an end to that. Although reconstruction has started, the situation is still far from rosy. In addition, there is Kandahar in the south, Kandahar is the center of the Pashtun. Herat in the west is mainly inhabited by Tajiks and Pashtuns. Mazar-e-Sharif in the north is also dominated by Pashtun and Tayiks. Jalalabad in the east is also dominated by the Pashtun. In the north dominated by Uzbeks there are the towns of Maimaneh and Andhkvoy. Kondoz, Faizabad and Baghlan are dominated by the Tajiks. A city with a more mixed population is Charikar.
Family life
Family is of paramount importance in Afghanistan and this includes the extended family, where a man lives together with his wife or wives, their children and grandchildren. The eldest man is the patriarch of the family and his word is law. Despite the different population groups in the country, this actually applies to all groups. Family honor, pride and respect towards family members are the pillars of family life. Both nomads and people in villages and towns prefer to live with the whole family together, with each family having its own room. In the case of nomads, each family has its own tent or part of a tent.
Villages
Many villages in Afghanistan are so small that they have no facilities whatsoever, no school, no shops. There is a ‘malik’, the head of the village, a ‘mirab’, the one who distributes the water and a ‘mullah’, the one who teaches Islamic law. There is often a ‘khan’, a large landowner who fulfills the role of both ‘malik’ and ‘mirab’. This person is supreme in such a settlement.
Clothing
In the villages people largely wear traditional clothing. For men this means wide trousers, a skullcap with a turban over it. Women wear long, wide dresses with wide trousers underneath and cover their heads with a scarf or other form of headscarf. The well-known ‘burqa’ is actually mainly found in the cities. Women in rural areas regularly help in the fields, where a burqa would make it impossible for them to work. In the Soviet period, many women, especially in the cities, took off the burqa and headscarf as an old-fashioned and backward custom. With the increasing Islamization that followed, women were often forced to wear a burqa again.
Nomads
Nomads make up a relatively large group in Afghan society. They often follow the same routes, using the agricultural land of their sedentarized compatriots. Their herds graze the harvested fields, which are fertilized by the animals in this way. The nomads buy tea, grain and gasoline from the farmers, who buy milk and wool from them in their neighborhood. The women of the nomads are a lot freer than their peers in the villages and towns.
Social problems
Partly as a result of the protracted war in the country, Afghanistan is struggling with numerous social problems. Poverty, inter-ethnic conflicts, extremely difficult position for women, theft and kidnapping. In addition, there is the age-old problem of honor killings, for cases that sometimes go back decades. The war has resulted in families being torn apart, people fleeing, making people disabled or causing them war trauma. ‘Ordinary things’ such as electricity, telephone and water are hardly available in large parts of the country and even in Kabul these things are a problem. Poverty has reached such proportions that the extended families, who used to care for widows and orphans and the sick and disabled, are no longer able to do so.
Religion
Most of the Afghan population is Muslim, with around 84% following the Sunni movement and around 15% following the Shi’ite movement. There are also small groups of Hindus and Sikhs in the country and until the 1960s also Jews, but the latter have largely emigrated to Israel.
Veneration of saints is an important part of Islam in Afghanistan, throughout the country there are tombs of ‘saints’, where people come with all kinds of questions and problems.
Mullah
An important figure in religious life is the ‘mullah’, a religious leader and teacher. Any man who can recite the Koran by heart can call himself a mullah and is therefore entitled to conduct weddings, funerals and prayers. Just because someone knows the Quran by heart does not mean that that person understands anything, many mullahs do not know Arabic and therefore do not understand what they recite. Mullahs are also the ones who solve problems in all kinds of areas and are called upon to help with feuds between families.
Education
Traditional education in Afghanistan was given by the mullah, he taught the children (especially boys) to read and write, some arithmetic and religion. In the nineteenth century, the first more Western-style schools were founded, especially in the cities. In the early twentieth century, secondary schools were added, founded by Habibullah Khan. During the time of King Amanullah Khan (1919-1929), primary education became compulsory, he also opened the first girls’ school. In 1935, education became compulsory and free for all children in Afghanistan. In 1932, Kabul University was founded. Until 1961, higher education was only available to men, but after that all education was opened to both sexes. The Taliban banned female education, but in 2002 women began studying again in Afghan universities.
National sport
The national sport of Afghanistan is ‘buzkashi’, where men on horseback try to push the decapitated carcass of a sheep or goat into the opposing team’s goal. It is a very wild and, for outsiders, rough affair.
Public holidays
The most important holidays are Eid-al-Fitr and the Feast of Sacrifice, just like for other Muslims. In addition, ‘Nowruz’ is very important, the Afghan New Year, which is celebrated on the first day of spring.