ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the efforts to construct a common national culture through both statebuilding measures and nationalism. First, it explores how modern Afghanistan was constructed through the process of establishment of an absolutist state and how this absolutist state attempted to homogenise the country. Second, it elaborates the role of the state in the creation of Afghan nation and examines the genesis, forms, and elements of Afghan nationalism particularly with reference to the construction of the past in ways that have proven to be exclusionary. This section flags four main factors, namely, modern education (Habibya College), Newspaper (Seraj ul Akhbar), the Literary Associations, and the Historical Society of Afghanistan, which influence the evolution of Afghan nationalism. It suggests three interrelated propositions. First, the Afghan nation is a political construct created by the ideology of Afghan nationalism. Second, Afghan nationalism is an ideology that is constructed based on a selective mode of narrating history and culture. The construction of the Afghan nation was to serve a certain political interest of the ruling group. Third, Afghan nationalism has pursued a systematic homogenisation policy which aimed at assimilation of all ethnic groups into Pashtun identity.
