Member-only story
Relocations and Religious Schools: Reading Unfolding Developments in Northern Afghanistan
In the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, significant developments have been unfolding in the country’s northern regions. This article highlights three specific developments — the relocation of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members, the Qushtapa water canal project, and the rapid establishment of religious schools by the Taliban. Reflecting a policy of demographic change and social influence, these developments carry implications for wider regional stability.
In 1998, a book titled, Second Saqawi was published by an author pseudonymized as Samsur Afghan, though it is widely believed it was a collective work by Pashtun nationalist intellectuals like Ismail Yun, Anwar-ul Haq, Suliaman Layeq, and others. The book outlines a scheme to create a buffer between the Central Asian nations, Iran, and the ethnic groups living on Afghanistan’s side of the border. It proposed the settlement of Pashtuns from the south and east, in the northern and western border regions to achieve this goal (p. 159). Many non-Pashtuns fear that the Taliban may be following this scheme laid out in the book. Historical instances of resettling Pashtuns from the south to the north further contribute to these concerns. Pashtun-dominated governments have historically resettled Pashtuns from the…
