Draft:Afghanistani

Afghanistani (Persian/Dari: افغانستانی) is an old term used as an identity marker for inhabitants of Afghanistan. The term "Afghanistani" refers to someone who identifies, or culturally relates to Afghanistan but not necessarily hold Afghanistan's citizenship. Until 1960s, Afghanistani was a popular identity marker for everyone from Afghanistan. For instance, the New York Times used "Afghanistani" for former King Amanullah Khan while living in exile in Italy. Recent anthropological work among immigrants from Afghanistan in Turkey shows that they have registered themselves as "Afghanistani." The term Afghanistani has commonly been used for and among refugees and diasporas who obtained citizenship of another country and and yet claim transnational identity. Recent scholarly work that deal with Afghanistani diaspora have also used the term "Afghanistani." Early U.S. official documents have also used "Afghansitani." Recently, Western newspapers have also been using Afghanistani in their titles and content. Online English dictionaries have also added it as a term in their lexicon.

History
Afghanistan has never been a nation-state or dawlat-e milli. Due to its tumultuous history, it has often defined as failed-state. The most recent efforts for nation-building was failed after the fall of the Afghanistan's republic. "The Taliban’s exclusionary Pashtun-centered rule has turned highly repressive toward all forms of opposition. At the national level, it provides few job opportunities, let alone decision-making roles, for minorities and those associated with the fallen Afghan Republic." The local groups and communities across Afghanistan have rather strong local and regional identification as a tribes or ethnic groups (Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek or others). For the past two centuries, Afghanistan rulers have tried to create a state that is represent Pashtuns. Early efforts were made to create a strong centralized government based on a national identity of "Afghan," which privileged Pashtuns beyond their ethnic boundaries at state level as a whole. In multiethnic Afghanistan, the term "Afghan" has traditionally been associated with Pashtun people. However, in the modern Afghanistan's constitution of 2004, it states that the word "Afghan" will be applied to all inhabitants of the country. Article 4 states, " The word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan."

National identity
Afghanistan's early efforts to create a sort of national identity began in 1919, after receiving its independence from the Great Britain. This was the time when Afghanistan completely regain control over its sovereignty. After the fall of monarchy in 1973, Mohammed Daoud Khan, a staunch partisan of Pashtunistan, who saw the country not as Afghanistan but a Pashtunistan, a land uniting Pashtuns from NWFP and FATA with Afghanistan. Despite implementing some social and educational progress, he failed to create a national identity. After the Saur Revolution, the central governments tried to advocate for a broader Afghan identity through the use of modern education, but their efforts met with limited success. One of the most common hurdles for fostering a common national identity was the fact they ethnic groups such as Hazara, Uzbeks, or Tajiks could not identify with elements of an identity that had strong base in Pashtun ethnicity that ruled the country.

External Link
Afghanistan-International: Afghanistani Poets Outside Afghanistan

Category:Afghanistan Category:National identity cards Category:Nationalism in Afghanistan