Divided: The Pashtana

The Taliban "problem" is entirely and exclusively co-extensive with that of the Pashto language community. At least according to Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris Mason, in their article "No Sign until the Burst of Fire: Understanding the Paksitan-Afghanistan Frontier."1 2 There are other language groups in the area, they reject the Taliban. There are other groups in the region with the same cultural traditions and economic situations, and they do not support the Taliban.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan border, drawn up by the British with no consideration whatsoever for the people involved, divides the 25 million Pashtun community nearly in half. This makes the Pashto, or the Kurds , as the largest language group on Earth without its own country.

Within the Pashto community, it must be noted, there are two important aggregating forces, Pashto nationalism and conservative Islam. Back int he 1970s the Afghan Monarchy used Pashtun nationalism to start trouble in neighboring Pakistan, a rival. After the Soviet invasion Pakistan, especially its covert agency the ISI, began pushing Islamic identity politics through Pashtun lands. 3 "When I talk about hte Taliban I mean Pashtuns" Ahmed Rashid, talking about his book "Descent into Chaos" on June 5th, 2008, before the National Press Club. "The Durand Line divides the Upland Pashtun from the Pakistan Pashtun, and this is the problem."