New Controversy Over Anthem

Given the country’s turbulent history and ethnic tensions, it should come as no surprise that choosing a national anthem has posed a challenge. But even by Afghan standards, the current fracas over the selection of the right wording is extraordinary.

The lyrics to the new national anthem, selected from more than 100 entries after a competition lasting more than a year, have now been tossed aside.

The search is on for a new text, but Afghanistan’s poets are threatening to boycott the process because of the near-impossible task of incorporating all the required political messages into the verses.

The national anthem question caused acrimonious debate at last year’s Constitutional Loya Jirga. The most contentious issue at the time was the choice of language: Pashtuns insisted that the anthem be sung in Pashtu, which prompted a walkout by non-Pashtun delegates.

In the end, the constitution agreed by the Loya Jirga stipulated that the anthem should be in Pashtu.

A special council was then set up to consider submissions, and eventually chose one consisting of the first lines of an anthem that had been adopted in the Seventies, and new verses written by Habibullah Rafi, a political analyst and member of the Academy of Sciences.

The words went to President Hamed Karzai for his seal of approval, which he duly gave, and Afghans breathed a sigh of relief

A bit prematurely, it now seems.

In late March, President Karzai announced that the verse that he had only just approved was being scrapped, and that new entries were being sought.

This complete about-face was explained somewhat disingenuously by presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin, “The president approved the national anthem at first, but later on when he read it several times, he thought that the anthem should stir the emotions and express the history of Afghanistan.”

According to Ludin, some of Afghanistan’s ethnic groups complained that their names were not mentioned in the anthem.

Afghanistan is made up of Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara and assorted smaller groups. Ethnic tensions were fanned by the Soviet occupation, and further exacerbated by the factional wars that followed the collapse of the Najibullah regime, as ethnic and regional groups engaged in a vicious free-for-all to fill the vacuum.

The scars from those years have yet to heal. The anthem, which was supposed to cement the process of national reconciliation, has instead ripped open old wounds.

Habibullah Rafi, the author of the now-discredited anthem, said that he believes the reason Karzai rejected his poem was pressure from the mujahedin, the commanders who were seen as heroes when they fought against the Soviet invaders, but are widely reviled for their actions in the subsequent intra-Afghan conflict.

According to Rafi, the mujahedin want the national anthem of the Nineties to remain. These words were composed under the mujahedin-backed regime of Burnahuddin Rabbani, and are still sung at government ceremonies - in Afghanistan’s other national language, Dari.

“It is not an anthem, it is a sectarian song,” said Rafi, himself a Pashtun.

At the very least, added Rafi, the mujahedin want their contribution to be noted in the anthem.

Shah Zaman Wraiz Stanikzai, director of publications at the ministry of information and culture, and a member of the council responsible for picking an anthem, agreed that the present dispute stemmed from mujahedin objections.

According to Stanikzai, Rafi’s anthem was approved before Karzai had solicited the reaction of former warlords. Rabbani, in particular, was opposed to the poem, said Stanikzai.

“I think if the words ‘jihad’ and ‘resistance’ are included in the national anthem, it will elicit a serious negative reaction from the public,” he said. “People do not have good memories of the jihad or the resistance.”

Karzai may face problems getting another version of the anthem in the near future.

According to Rafi, no Pashtun will now agree to pen another anthem.

Stanikzai confirmed that he had made contact with several poets, but that none of them would take on the task.

Another member of the National Anthem Council, Rahnaward Zaryab, said that the numerous conditions surrounding the national anthem would make it difficult for poets to find inspiration.

“The constitution is binding the poets hand and foot,” he said.

According to the constitution, the anthem must be in Pashtu, has to contain the words “Allah hu Akbar” (God is Great), and it should include the names of all major Afghan ethnic groups.

Zaryab said that he had never been in favour of the chosen poem, but felt pressured by the rest of the 40-member anthem council, “I had to sign, because most of the members agreed, and we had spent so long trying to choose the lyrics.”

Regarding the inclusion of references to the jihad or resistance in the new version, Zaryab was sceptical, “I think we already have enough conditions in the constitution about the anthem.”

Rafi does not hide his pique at having his opus so summarily rejected. He insists that he complied with all the conditions set for him, and is bitter that Karzai has decided to call for more entries.

“Just because a person becomes president, it doesn’t mean he will also be able to make judgements about poetry,” he said.

Wahidullah Amani is a staff writer for IWPR in Kabul.