"Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History" - Thomas Barfield
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- Опубліковано 9 бер 2011
- Thomas Barfield introduced the audience to the bewildering diversity of tribal and ethnic groups in Afghanistan, explaining what unites them as Afghans despite the regional, cultural, and political differences that divide them. He showed how governing these peoples was relatively easy when power was concentrated in small dynastic elite, but how this delicate political order broke down in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when Afghanistan's rulers mobilized rural militias to expel first the British and later the Soviets. Armed insurgency proved remarkably successful against the foreign occupiers, but it also undermined the Afghan government's authority and rendered the country ever more difficult to govern as time passed. Barfield vividly described how Afghanistan's armed factions plunged the country into a civil war, giving rise to clerical rule by the Taliban and Afghanistan's isolation from the world. He examines why the American invasion in the wake of September 11 toppled the Taliban so quickly, and how this easy victory lulled the United States into falsely believing that a viable state could be built just as easily.
Thomas Barfield is professor of anthropology at Boston University. His books include The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757; The Central Asian Arabs of Afghanistan; and Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture.
48:26 "In Afghanistan, the perception of power is power itself... We do not perceive regimes rising and falling slowly, we see almost instantaneously; and also if we look at Afghan history, we never see a decisive battle. Why? Because the night before the decisive battle, people decide who is going to win and they sneak over to the winning side and in the morning the loser wakes up and he is the loser. He doesn't know how it happened but he knows how to read the tea leafs."
Wish someone at the WH has talked to Dr Barfield
I’ve seen so many documentaries about afghanistan, the Taliban, ISIS, the war with russia, the communist rebellion, and am currently reading a book called “The Taliban Reader, Islam and Politics in Their Own Words” and now I am watching this lecture. I’m starting to get a better understanding of the country now. I really like the mentality of the Afghan people, very God focused, Sufi influenced and the tribal legal system is so interesting and different the any other legal system that I’ve ever encountered.
Check out Rory Stewart on UA-cam
Thomas Barfield has amazing command on this subject and his humorous way of presentation keeps you enthralled.
I'm an Afghan but it seems like he knows more than me about Afghanistan. Awesome.
Don't believe him his a lier
Many people believe that because they are from a certain country, they know a lot about that country. My personal experience with people from many countries proves that they are mistaken.
@@mytorabora30 that was excellent proof of your claims that you listed off, with all of those different examples you gave of where he was wrong and why we're all convinced, I say sarcastically 😂💩🤡💩😂
@@mytorabora30
Explain? Don't just throw statement without supporting facts.
@@mytorabora30 why he would lie? It is tipicle ignorent afghan comment feer from changes specialy prograss
37.27 "It was more complicated than that." History in a nutshell.
Brilliant!! He said all this 12years ago, the country collapsed in 2021 exactly how he touched on issues!
Thank you, i learned a honest history of my County.
6:16 *Pufferfish of empires* “After 1840 […] the country gets a reputation as _the graveyard of empires_ you know which the Afghans polish up. Because the Afghans have used this _graveyard of empires_ trope in what I call a pufferfish strategy, it’s actually a poor weak nation, so how do you convince people to not attack you.”
🥴
Mark Hamil, Anthropologist.
Also, added his book to my queue.
I just said that to my husband this morning-“It’s Mark Hamill, if he were an anthropological expert on Afghanistan.”
There’s a touch of Cary Elwes there too.
I say Dave Rubin in 15 years.
48:15 This guy stood there 10 years ago and told what would happen today
yeah and I was learning this in school 5 years ago. We all knew but nobody did anything.
Wow. In this 10-year-old lecture are most of the cultural and historical insights required to understand the August 2021 collapse of the Afghan state and national armed forces. I will be plugging this to everyone I can reach.
Check out Rory Stewart on UA-cam.
Thank you 🙏 for your support Boston University
Thank you 🙏 for your support Thomas Barfield.
45:44 "How could America attack us; I dont even know where it is!...you can not fight a war w/some1 unless you are next to them"
When he speaks of development, much of what's happening now makes sense; it's like the Great Game, played out between India and Iran vs. China and Pakistan. 56:00
this explains a bit about the speed of recent events 48:27
It's amazing how he exactly described what happened.
The thing about how the West never really cared about how bad the Taliban were is also on the money. The Taliban tended to stay in afganistan and the analogy for Trotsky is Bin Laden and the Taliban are Stalin is interesting.
This also bring perspective into things. That basicly it wasn't just American contractors scamming America, it was also a scam to pay for an army, since that's historically how it operates as a patronage system.
The truth is, this moment was the only time it could happen, since 70% of America wanted to get out and both sides had a president that agreed. Trump made the withdrawal deal and Biden basically agreed to follow through. The plan was 90% the same across administrations, so apart from being trying to score points, what happened was always going to happen unless America wanted to send another generation in.
Lol yeah!
Explains why the former president Ghani fled the country, and how the Taliban seemingly advance so fast. It was simply because the local militias, police and the Western-trained Afghan army defected or deserted.
One of the best things that I have seen regarding Afghanistan. Ever. Its a pity that more decision makers haven't listened to Thomas, maybe things would have been very different.
Wonderful
An honest and sincere talk on Afghanistan.
Brilliant. Actually whole of central asia and stans are very specific and unique in tbeir perception.
"Side switch; the most radical Communists join forces with the most radical Islamists." This dude can tell the future!!! Said Ishmael Khan as he joined the Taliban in 2021.
watching this in September 2021 to better understand what the hell happened in Afghanistan after USA withdrawal. This video helps to explain it to some degree. 48:25
Well yeah of course, the problem is people don't understand history, that the main thing i notice with a lot of people
May the force be with you
Not enough people have watched this.
True
didn't know Luke Skywalker was an expert in Afghan affairs
I watched the whole vidoe. explained everything which was true I gotta buy his book.
Perception of war is war itself.
Yes it happened once again sir.
After us withdrawal kabul fell in a day because the night before.....
56:00 "Some international peace jirga between Hamid Karzai and Mullah Omar ... that's not how things get done in Afghanistan. There has never been a coalition, there are winners and losers in Afghanistan, not split the difference governments"
If I was in charge back in 2001 I would want this man at my side.
Supurb presentation about a very complex country and a complicated part of the world. Scattered throughout the region are strong pockets of Sufi Culture. Sufi, has a unique ability to bring various tribal groups together when they share a common purpose. The Northern Alliance vrs the Russians is a good recent example. Barfield is one of the few analysist to recognize the Sufi order influence spread across the region. Conservative Islam is only a part of the equation.
Love u afg
57:00 access to Afghn by sea
I think he meant reach the sea by a road.
@@andrewedris2800 it was to be through Iran. Or now through Baluchistan
Bad audio
😂 It's a live recording on a 10 year old cell phone filmed literally a decade ago, all things considered the quality of both the audio and video is excellent
@@xp8969 it's at least a decade old judging from the video, this was probably shot on a very tight budget
He knows too much he should get his Afghan citizenship
Check out Roty Stewart...
21:15 Yep
The Luke Skywalker of Afghanistan studies. He’s a great guy, but his dad is Mullah Omar
Karzai was himself an adviser for Taliban regime. USA invested in wrong people, specially pashtuns elies like Ghani, khlilzad osv
and oversimplified account that is only about 50% accurate.
1:08:50 well send in the anthropologists then! they cant be much worse than the other specialists, who have already failed, and some of them have even been to these places. give em a shot
Well now reports are out that the taliban did want to extradite obl to another Islamic country which would then hand him over to usa but usa rejected the offer. Pretty important info that he got wrong. Needed that boogie man to keep Iraq in play.
Thats a conspiracy theory and a half...
53:50 Oof
lov afgn
Why he keeps mentioning ibn Khaldun for reference, he is not a historian he was scholar of hadith
Hadith is nonesense multiplyed.
The sound quality is creepy
Mr. Barfield provides insight into the British historians' perspective on Afghans. Hostilities between the British and Afghans emerged from the moment the former set foot in Bengal, East India. The Afghans' Nawabs were perceived as obstacles by the British. Please don't take this the wrong way, but while I acknowledge that most of his knowledge about Afghanistan is accurate, I respectfully disagree with his insistence on portraying the British perspective.
In 1920s British conceperacy ousted the progressive king. Why didn't he mention that.
soo in 1970s you was technically working with Taliban?
The Taliban didn't exist in the 1970s. They were found in the 1990s.
1:02:00 heh, sit and do nothing
Ashraf Ghani woke up as a loser.
Very accurate analysis
The Taliban is probably the only group that can run a disaster like Afghanistan. Way? Because they are Afghans themselves, but more importantly they are able to use violence and the threat of violence to keep people in line. The governments we supported could not do that because we wouldn't have supported them if they did those things. So our involvement was just a giant waste of time, lives and money. There is one consolation, if an Afghan starts complaining about how we abandoned them after 1989, tell them because of what we did from 2001-2021 we are more than even on that score.
Man😂
Malcom X was asked just before his death about the causes of race prejudice in America and he said it was IGNORANCE and GREED and a skillfully designed system of education that keeps the cycle of exploration and oppression going.
And he said it takes education to address these issues AND just because you have COLLEGES and UNIVERSITIES that does not mean that you have education because the American system of education is designed to miseducate people.
Ouch... This fellow might be, and clearly *is*, an extremely knowledgable individual regarding Afghanistan, and nomadic people as a whole. But boy, when someone brings up the "Polish cavalry charged German tanks" bit, I'm not entirely sure of his general knowledge regarding history.
Why you don't mention persian rule of afghanistan, Persians ruled over Afghanistan more than anyone else.
Lol no
Well this didnt age Well..
Didn't age well? Go to minute 47 to a little past 48...sounds like that's exactly what happened last week...so much for our intel.
Actually if you listened closely he provides all the information needed to understand the collapse of the Afghan Government and Army.
he was pretty spot on 50:37
Literally 10 years later that's a pretty easy thing to say about almost anything, weird how out of the whole hour long lecture you didn't have even one specific point that you disagreed with or why 🤡
He is unashamedly anti Pakistani, he forgot to mention Afghanistan's offensive behaviour towards Pakistan from the moment Pakistan gained independence.
Afghanistan voted against admission of Pakistan to the UN,
It attacked across the border into Pakistan number of times in the late 50s and early 60s,
Afghanistan continuously created and supported terrorist groups in Pakistan, in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and from 2000 onwards, with the support of other countries, among them India.
There been endless acts of aggression by Afghanistan towards Pakistan, why didn't he mention those.
The endless acts of generosity by Pakistan, hosting between 3-5 million Afghan refugees continuously over 40 years and counting, free access to the sea, for their trade routes, contributing nearly a billion dollars in aid over the past 20 years, besides looking after Afghan refugees.
There are endless positives by Pakistan, but he continuously forgets them, that's highly unfair, and dishonest.
This guy is no expert on Afghanistan, he is just an orientalist, with scant knowledge about Afghanistan.
This is how bible was changed. People like this guy who just thaught the world was flat now he thinks he knows everything. Lololololohahahalolololo
What did he get wrong?
gah?
Kindly explain what he got wrong 10 years ago.
huh
Lmfao, he didn't mention that he "thought the earth was flat" at any point in this lecture, and you didn't mention even 1 single specific thing you disagreed with or give any reasons why you disagreed 💩🤡💩
Shameless lies from an intelligent man. The sad fact is they are so obviously naked.
India has not built a single 6 lane highway from chabahar to Afghan border. This lecture was given 10 years ago,
EVEN today chabahar is a town of just of 100 thousand, it's ridiculous to think anyone would build a 6 lane highway to serve a town of 100 thousand. 10 years ago chabahar wasn't fully operational, why would anyone build anything for a port that's not even operational. Even today, chabahar is not a fully functional port. It only has basic facilities.
And, Afghanistan has always had access to Iranian ports, via Bandar abbas, they've used Pakistani ports because they were easier and cheaper. Plus, Pakistan have given free access to Afghanistan, this professor continuously ignores the positive things done by Pakistan, that's intellect dishonesty. Such a shame.
This man is waffling so much , I'm not listening his nonsense
Ifyou stickwth it i/makes a lot o ence. Even the II could learn something...
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