The Enlightenment Movement was one of the rare civil movements in the history of Afghanistan. Despite all the sabotage by powerful circles within and outside the Ashraf Ghani government, this movement bravely pursued its path of seeking justice, even at the cost of the blood of its members. The government of the time made significant efforts to use force against the people, trying to make them retreat from their demands. Enemies of democracy, relying on new methods and tactics, attempted to prevent the civil protests of the people. One of these methods was the creation of container barriers on the routes leading to the Presidential Palace, used during both the demonstrations on 17 May and 23 July 2016. However, the protesters proved time and again that no obstacle could deter them from achieving their goals. Initially, some could not imagine the continuation of the people’s resistance against Ghani’s government. They believed that eventually, people would tire and abandon their protests. However, the Enlightenment Movement, which was somewhat a continuation of the significant march on 11 November (known as the Tabasum Movement), demonstrated its commitment to fighting injustice.
As each day passed, the Enlightenment Movement increasingly surprised both its friends and foes and was on the path to becoming one of the most enduring civil movements in Afghanistan. However, as the justice movement expanded, so did the number of its enemies, especially when these enemies possessed considerable governmental power and resources and used every method to suppress the protesters. The movement’s march on 23 July 2016, turned bloody. In three consecutive explosions at the protest sit-in at Dehmazang, Kabul, 86 people were killed and 400 were injured. Although ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, fingers were pointed at the Ashraf Ghani government. Usually, the Taliban or ISIS claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks, but there were doubts about the involvement of governmental circles in some of these attacks. These suspicions were more evident in the 23 July terrorist attack, intensifying speculation on social media. Many users claimed that the attack was orchestrated by government circles to force the people to abandon their protests and return home. While these accusations have not been proven, no one can deny that Ghani’s government spared no effort to weaken the Enlightenment Movement and did not pay heed to its demands. Below, we briefly discuss the factors behind the formation and subsequent collapse of this justice-seeking movement.
TUTAP In The Trap Of Discrimination
The formation of the Enlightenment Movement stemmed from disagreements between the people and the government over the route for transmitting electricity lines from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan to Pakistan (TUTAP). The German company Fichtner, responsible for the TUTAP project, presented technical reasons advocating for the Samangan-Bamyan route as the better option. However, Breshna Company, responsible for electricity distribution in Afghanistan, preferred the Salang route and decided to implement the project through it, a move that faced severe opposition from the residents of Bamyan province. Some ethnic leaders also considered TUTAP a red line for the people and insisted on the implementation of Fichtner’s proposal. According to Breshna officials, the Salang route was shorter and less costly compared to the Samangan-Bamyan route. However, considering the natural difficulties due to the harsh geography of the Salang route, especially in winter, the Bamyan route was seen as safer, less risky, and more cost-effective in the long term.
Therefore, the reasons presented by the company responsible for the TUTAP project regarding the transmission of electricity lines through the Samangan-Bamyan route were more convincing both technically and economically compared to the reasons presented by the Breshna Company. Previously, for the CASA-1000 project, Breshna Company had also decided to transmit electricity lines through the Salang route, while the implementing companies considered the Bamyan route safer and less risky. The reasons Breshna presented at that time for choosing the Salang route were the same reasons repeated in the TUTAP project. What can be inferred from these two decisions is that the real reason for Breshna’s insistence on transmitting the electricity lines of CASA-1000 and TUTAP through the Salang route was not technical but political. Some individuals in the Presidential Palace were trying to follow the path of their predecessors: systematic economic and political discrimination.
Samangan and Bamyan are considered third-tier provinces in the administrative structure of Afghanistan. Despite all the populist slogans of previous statesmen about poverty eradication and balanced development, the residents of these provinces received a negligible share of the billions of dollars in foreign aid over the twenty years of the Western-backed government and continue to live in poverty and backwardness. Growth and development have never been balanced in Afghanistan, and politicians have always, during specific periods when they needed the votes and support of the people, made slogans about ensuring “balanced development” and freeing Central Afghanistan from the barriers of nature (Ashraf Ghani’s slogan during the presidential election campaigns). However, once they were in power, they immediately forgot these slogans and continued the discriminatory policies imposed on the downtrodden people of the central provinces since the formation of the current geography of Afghanistan.
The residents of the central provinces, despite being the most peaceful people in Afghanistan and their areas being the safest for investment, have always faced continuous economic and political discrimination. The enduring perception among the Kabul statesmen has always been that the simple people of these areas do not seriously threaten the totalitarian central government. This belief has been prevalent among superiority-seeking politicians for a long time for two reasons: first, the people of the central regions, due to the suppressions by Abdul Rahman Khan and thereafter, saw themselves besieged by nature and discriminatory politics. The continuation of impoverishment policies through the redistribution of poverty, discrimination, and suppression made them even more content with living in caves; an approach that kept the downtrodden of the central provinces away from political play and ultimately led to their oblivion.
Second, due to political unawareness, the people looked up to individuals as their leaders who occasionally sold the political rights of the people in exchange for a small share of power for themselves and their party members, sometimes to this politician and sometimes to that one. Others, however, were so lacking in authority and political courage that they disappointingly and hopelessly even wrote to Breshna from the position of the second vice president, requesting attention to the TUTAP project route. Politicians with weak spirits, representing people known for their peace-loving nature and contentment, provided the best grounds for a self-willed, superiority-seeking president who sought to control all of Afghanistan with an iron fist, allowing him to audaciously maneuver against the people and act as he pleased.
In conclusion, the Ashraf Ghani government did not respond positively to any of the legitimate and justice-seeking demands of the Enlightenment Movement protesters. On the contrary, it used all means to weaken the movement and tempt its leaders and organizers. The Enlightenment Movement, which fell into shock after the devastating 23 July blow, could not regroup and return to the streets as expected to resume its advocacy. While the Enlightenment Movement is now part of history and some may view it as a failed and unsuccessful endeavor, I believe that as a form of civil struggle practice in a war-torn and violence-prone Afghanistan that has rarely witnessed civil and peaceful movements, it holds a high place in the history of this land’s justice-seeking battles and will never be forgotten.
You can read the Persian version of this analysis here:
