Our Identity: Unmasking Afghanistan's Glorious History

Despite the growing optimism that Afghanistan's rebuilding has taken off and that life is coming to some form of normalcy in the war-ravaged country, we are continually bombarded with the negative stereotypes and narrow reflections of life in Afghanistan.

The international media, with very few exceptions, has failed to genuinely report on the realities of life in Afghanistan. This media bias coupled with the political and economic interests of many external states in promoting the "news that sells" has contributed to a potential decay of the global appreciation of Afghanistan's cultural heritage and proud history.

In other words, most of the attention is given to random acts of violence, military developments and policy developments that favour the donor countries. In all this, Afghanistan's genuine identity as a proud, resilient and courageous nation is buried under the dominating political and economic interests.

How often do we hear about the opening of a new school or the return of thousands of refugees to their homeland? But, take a moment and google today's news on Afghanistan and inevitably you will be bombarded with the military and war reporting.

How can we exclusively talk about the physical rebuilding, political changes, and economic progress while underestimating the historical roots of a nation? How can we appreciate the realities of today without looking into the past? How can we sensitize the international society towards the violent news about Afghanistan and reflect more on peace and prosperity?

Certainly, it is beyond the capacity of an individual, a group or even a nation to address these tremendous identity-seeking issues. Realizing this uphill task, nonetheless, the author is embarking on an individual initiative to tell the world more about Afghanistan's glorious past and deomonstrate how today's challenges could be addressed effectively through an in-depth understanding of the contextual, historical and cultural roots of each issue.

After all, to tackle an issue, you must know about the issue in its entirety.

The author's inspiration will come from the book entitled, "Afghanistan in the course of history, Vol 1 & Vol 2" written by Mir Ghulam Ghubar, undoubtedly the greatest Afghan historian and one of the greatest personalities Afghanistan has ever seen.

It is very unlikely that any research undertaken on any aspect of Afghanistan's history would not rely upon the most credible contribution of Ghubar. The book is commonly known as "Ghubar's history" amongst Afghans.

No such online resource is available, to the author's knowledge, that offers Ghubar's historical perspectives on Afghanistan. Yet, this is exactly what the world needs to know: credible, genuine and glorious understanding of the Afghan identity.

Please stay tuned for some scholarly, credible and important lessons drawn from the history pages of Afghanistan.

This may be the first among hopefull many other attempts to show a positive side of Afghanistan to the entire world.

To read more about Ghobar, please click here.