As I have seen it over the last few years, elements of certain groups have been consistently vilifying Pashtuns. The motivations are quite different, but the techniques are quite similar. These are the main sources that have been in my view (again, not monolithic blocs, but rather elements of these):

1. Non-Pakhtun Pakistanis.
2. Urban and/or non-Pashtun Afghan(istanis).
3. The western political left.
4. The western political right.

I’m not going to go into the Pakistan element since I am no expert on Pakistan (beyond a New York Times level of “expertise”). But it does seem that there are some Punjabis and Mohajirs who have a habit of making denigrating comments about Pakhtuns. Consult a Pakistan expert on the varied reasons for this.

Painting of a Pashtun man via PRAP:

As far as within Afghanistan goes, you can find a multitude of examples of ethnic bigotry on the internet going in both direction among Afghans, from and against Pashtuns. But that’s just the internet, you can find racism like this among Western kids on the internet as well. It’s in the non-internet media where the ethnic bigotry is most disturbing. It’s nowhere near the level that Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collines was, but still disturbing nonetheless.

Small elements of the non-Pashtun educated elite engage in ethnic politics as “ethnic grievance entrepreneurs.” Their portrayal of Pashtuns is of oppressors, uneducated/uncivilized barbarians, religious extremists and tools of foreign powers. The attempt is to tie in all past grievances (of incidents carried out by a small fraction of Pashtuns) to contemporary grievances and political mobilization strategies. There are, of course, legitimate grievances from both the past and present (on both sides). However, the level of hyperbole and the resulting dangers of ethnicizing politics need to be taken into account. This ethnic bigotry is, as many of you now, enthusiastically returned by a certain Pashtun nationalist political group. So the battle here is between organizations and elites, not between entire ethnic blocs of people.

The point I want to make about this back-and-forth is that I believe it is mostly irrelevant to the vast majority of Afghans. Macro-Ethnic based grievances are likely very low on the list of their priorities. But ethnic politics at the elite level will eventually harm all Afghans whether they want to be involved or not.

And from some urban Afghans, Pashtuns among them, I have heard denigrating comments about their rural Pashtun/Pakhtun “cousins.” It sounds a lot like the ignorant comments that some urban/coastal Americans and Canadians make about rural folks (i.e., inbred, racist, uneducated, backwards, gun-nuts, etc…).

As far as the West is concerned, I divide its anti-Pashtun rhetoric into political spheres: right and left. Elements of the right predominantly portray Pashtuns as murderous religious zealots on one side of a Manichean struggle between the West and Islam. This is where the “kick their ass and win” perspective is most common. And a new factor in this equation is the people who believe leaving Iraq will be a massive mistake. They see Afghanistan as in a competition with Iraq for resources and feel the need to portray Afghanistan as beyond redemption and Iraq as the more worthy cause. Hence the denigration of Pashtuns.

As far as certain elements of the left are concerned, their priority is to end Western military involvement in Afghanistan. One of the strategies here is to vilify Pashtuns and make them appear to be “beyond reformation,” forever frozen in their pre-modern state. During their battle for public opinion in the West they match their counterparts on the right in the viciousness of their portrayals of Pashtuns. It’s so much easier to wash your hands of a place and people when you view them as less human.

Both sides of the political equation are using techniques of isolationism for their purposes in this regard.

Pashtuns are often pictured in the media with a weapon:

One of the favorite tools is usually a grossly ill-informed discussion of Pashtunwali. I’ll skip that since it was already analyzed at Afghanistanica.

The point I would like to end with is that I believe these views are of a vocal minority. Their are significant levels of sympathy and respect for all people of Afghanistan from all sides of the political spectrum, from all parts of Pakistani and Afghan society. But those hateful voices are able to make themselves heard, even if they are in the minority.

There are some “excellent” examples of the sort of rhetoric I have mentioned above. I didn’t link to or excerpt them for two reasons: one is that I don’t feel like starting an online fight with these people (who live to start fights) and the other is that what I have written is not terribly original. Many people that read this will automatically call to mind examples of this sort of rhetoric. They may identity it as ethnic bigotry, racism, orientalism, Islamophobia, a modern anti-war version of revolutionary defeatism, leftist racism or selective strategic racism, but it is obviously out there on a daily basis.

Old school 1921: “They make excellent soldiers” plus “virile and warlike”:

And I would also like to add that the vilification of Pashtuns is not always strategic. I’ve heard/read samples of NGO workers, journalists, soldiers and Afghans themselves making rude comments about Pashtuns in a manner that is not consistent with any coherent strategy. These remarks seem to be merely an exercise in venting or of self-esteem boosting by denigrating others.