The Persian language is the most important cultural link between Persian speaking nations, who may have been separated by borders throughout history, but by relying on their common culture have been able to keep their ancestral connections. The Persian language is the most important and valuable link in this unbreakable chain; one of the bases of our cultural commonalities. Today, this important link which has been constantly under threat by anti-Iranians and anti-Persians in the region, is facing a new threat. The Taliban recently banned official Persian-language correspondence in Afghanistan and replaced it with Pashtu. This news has been reflected more in virtual networks than in official media. It is considered appropriate and important that this threat is addressed by cultural institutions, and a solution is ought to prevent the dangers of this threat.
In this regard, Khorasan newspaper has published a report with the heading “Taliban’s de-Persianization conspiracy” in an interview with cultural figures of Afghanistan and Iran such as Dr. Shams-ul-Haq Arianfar, Najib Barvar, Yaqub Yasna, and Mir Jalaluddin Kazazi (Khordad 4, 1401), are detailed here-below, for the information of our readers.
De-Persianization conspiracy
We are talking here about the danger that is threatening the Persian language, happening right in our neighborhood, Afghanistan. With the re-emergence of the Taliban after 20 years, the Persian language in Afghanistan is being restricted. The Taliban have banned official Persian-language correspondence in Afghanistan, and Persian-speaking professors and staff have been expelled from universities and departments. As a result, the intellectuals of Afghanistan have sounded the alarm and expressed concern about the situation of the Persian language in this country. About the Taliban’s ethnocentric and anti-Persian actions in Afghanistan and the capabilities of the Persian language in the face of these attacks, we talked with Dr Sham-ol-Haq Arianfar, professor of literature and the previous director of Afghanistan TV, Najib Barvar, Afghani poet and writer, Yaqub Yasna, previous professor of Persian literature in Kabul, and Dr Mir Jalaleddin Kazazi, professor of Persian literature and an outstanding figure in Iranian culture and literature.
The present mission of Persian speaking people
Dr. Shams-ul-Haq Arianfar, an Afghan professor of Persian literature, believes that the result of the Taliban’s hostility to the Persian language is the emigration of scholars from Afghanistan. “The Taliban do not consider Persian to be their advantage and consider Pashtu official,” he said. Accordingly, they have changed all the administrative and judicial correspondence into Pashtu, while in Afghanistan, the language of conversation and education is Persian. Another effect of these measures is that some Persian speakers have left the country due to pressure and repression. Several professors have left Balkh University or been fired for being Persian speakers. Accordingly, the situation of the Persian language in Afghanistan is deplorable. “Because Persian is the language of science and knowledge, and from now on, researchers and scholars in all scientific fields will be left without a source, and the society will go into retrograde.” “Unfortunately, nothing has been done inside the country due to the Taliban’s violent crackdown, but something can be done abroad,” said the Afghan cultural activist. Before the Taliban came to Afghanistan, we had several magazines in Tajikistan and programs on Tajik radio and television in Persian. Persian-speaking people outside Afghanistan can publish and program in Persian-language media. Universities in countries like Iran can also accept Afghan students and raise a generation in Persian. In that case, the language will survive among the Afghan people.”
The Taliban obstructs the dynamism of Persian literature.
Najib barvar, an Afghan poet and writer, is another figure we interviewed regarding taliban’s anti-Persian activities in Afghanistan. “In the first period of their presence in Afghanistan the Taliban took over power exactly when a Tajik-centric government was established in Afghanistan. At that time we sang the Afghanistan national anthem in Persian, but the Taliban, who were trained in Pakistani schools, were motivated to eliminate this approach. They had a problem with the prevailing culture in Afghanistan, Persian culture. Now that they are back after 20 years, their priority is ethnic issues, and they are completely against the culture of other ethnic groups. Afghanistan’s administrative correspondence has historically been in Persian. Persian is the language of most Afghans. A Pashtun speaks Persian with a Tajik. An Uzbek speaks Persian to a Pashtun.
Persian is the academic and social language of Afghanistan. Even many Pashtuns in some parts of Afghanistan do not speak Pashtu and speak Persian. Inspired by Pan-Turkism in Turkey, and the Taliban took up the Pan-Pashtunism approach and made every effort to take away the Afghanistan identity. In Afghanistan, according to statistics, 36% are Tajiks, 31% are Pashtuns, and the rest are Hazaras and Uzbeks. Tajiks have the most social influence. The Pashtu language and the Pashtun people are a minority, and their language is not the language of the community. Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks have their own identities. Even the name of this country was bullied and threatened many years ago; “A name that does not reflect our national identity and is based on the identity of a particular nation.”
The Afghan poet and writer describd the impact of the Taliban attack on the Persian language and its resilience and capacity: “The Persian language has been attacked and challenged throughout history and has never been safe from enemies. Every culture that has values is attacked. When the Greeks destroyed Persepolis, they saw beauty in it. Persian is also a language with many values and has been envied throughout history. Some saviors like Ferdowsi revived it from ashes. But what makes us worry about the Persian language in Afghanistan is that the Taliban are depriving the Persian language of the dynamism and fertility that it produced in literary texts and poetry. With this situation, we as cultural forces cannot produce literature. Afghan poetry was just flourishing; various books were published daily, but with the rise of the Taliban, all of Afghanistan’s cultural and intellectual resources and capacities were displaced. We are not worried about Persian; Persian language has survived great enemies. What concerns us is that we have lost again the capacities and currents that were taking shape about culture, which is dangerous to us. “This takes us back from the caravan of educated and cultural currents.”
Failure awaits the Taliban
Meanwhile, Dr. Mir Jalaluddin Kazazi, a professor of Persian language and literature, believes the Taliban plans to destroy the Persian language to be hasty and thoughtless, and with non-cultural motives and says that Persian is a language that has emerged many times from complex historical tests. In many invasions that have taken place on Iranian lands, conspirators have tried to uproot the language, but have failed. The people of Afghan consider this language as their historic language and owe their identity to it. “I do not think that such plans can uproot the Persian language from a country like Afghanistan.” Do not be optimistic about the situation in Farsi in Afghanistan Yaqub Yasna was one of the professors of Persian language and literature at Kabul University, who was removed from the university along with a large number of Persian-speaking professors.
Remarking on the Taliban’s recent actions against the Persian language in Afghanistan, he said: “Taliban’s actions against the Persian language are cunning and dark in terms of ethnic and social relations. In Afghanistan majority of the population are Persian-speaking. All ethnic groups, such as Pashtuns, Uzbeks, and Persian, use Persian as their common language in everyday speech, business, politics, and academia. Unfortunately, the Taliban removed Persian from all official and government correspondence throughout Afghanistan and replaced it with Pashtu words. “Removing the Nowruz celebration from the Afghan calendar and setting aside the solar calendar are other actions of the Taliban in the battle against Persian culture and language.”
the researcher in Persian language and literature continued: “Another side of the war that Taliban is having with the Persian language was the expulsion of 50 Persian-speaking professors from Balkh University. This is being done directly or indirectly against Persian-speaking and Hazara employees in Afghan offices. This is while the Pashtuns are preserved in all departments. Although there are currently few Persian-language newspapers and magazines, we are not optimistic about their future. “The Taliban have become more pragmatic than in the past, and the removal of Persian-language correspondence from departments and the removal of Persian-speaking teachers is their first step and certainly not their last.” In response to the question of Persian speakers’ duty in the face of these attacks, Yasna said: “Naturally, Afghan Persian speakers, most of whom are ordinary people, cannot do anything. They can only keep the Persian language alive in their families.
Afghanistan’s independent media should pay more attention to these violations to draw the international community’s attention to these issues. Britain and Russia have desired to destroy the unity of the region and, to achieve this, have targeted the Persian language in the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia for the past hundred years. This danger has now reached Afghanistan. All Persian speakers must act against this Taliban policy. In the meantime, Iran can make critical decisions. Some of us Persian speakers have been silent with the optimism that the Persian language is solid and, like a slap in the face, removes the unkind and survives, but this is optimism; Because just as this language was eradicated from the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia, so it is being destroyed from Afghanistan. After this incident, the only Persian speaking left will be Iran, and then not much can be done. “It seems that organizations such as the Persian Language Development Council and other institutions present in Iran should take action to prevent this great danger, which targets the linguistic unity of Persian-speaking countries.”
