Anti-Persianism in a recent century in Afghanistan

The Persian language, which is called “Farsi” in Iran, “Dari” in Afghanistan, and “Tajiki” in Tajikistan, has been the official and court language of the land that is called Afghanistan today. This language has experienced a painful history since the formation of independent government in Afghanistan and changing the name of Khorasan to Afghanistan (1747 AD) until today. During this period, tribal and ethnic rulers have ruled the country with the approach of Pashtunism and each of them has adopted a specific orientation towards the Persian language. Since the beginning of the 20th century, they have tried to remove the Persian language from the official and national domain and replace it with other languages, including Pashto. While other common languages in Afghanistan never have had the background and the extent of Persian language in social, historical and cultural terms. The policy of marginalization of the Persian language, which started during the period of Amir Habibullah Khan (r. 1901-1919), has been followed with ups and downs in the following periods and until today - 18 months have passed since the second period of the Taliban rule. As it was removed from the administrative and educational system for a short period of time during the half-century rule of the Al Yahya dynasty (1308-1357), and then, in 1343, the name “Dari” was imposed on this language and it was included as one of the two official languages, along with Pashto, in the constitution of the Zaher Shah era. This position was also maintained during the communist regimes; but after the civil wars and the domination of the Taliban (1375-1380) it was treated more unkindly. With the establishment of democracy and the formation of the Islamic Republic (1380-1400), and in the constitution that was approved in 1382, Pashto and Persian were recognized as the two official languages in Afghanistan, with the difference that preference was given to Pashto and the national anthem of this country was also made in Pashto language. Also, academic, military and administrative terms were assigned to Pashto language only. Finally, with the fall of the republican system and the Taliban regaining control over Afghanistan, this group has tried to remove the Persian language and terms from government offices and signs.