American-Afghans

The unofficial involvement of America and Afghanistan goes back a long ways, to the 1830’s to be exact when an American (and it’s difficult to know what to call this guy) by the name of Josiah Harlan became the “Prince of Ghor” Province.  Really?

Harlan who was born into a Quaker family in Pennsylvania found himself in Calcutta, India in the 1820’s while representing his father’s import-export business.  He decided not to return to the U.S. for some reason, but instead presented himself to the British-Indian Army as a “surgeon” (he wasn’t) and served with the British Army in the colonial wars in Burma in the mid-1820’s.  Tiring of taking orders in the Army, which I empathize with completely, Harlan traveled to the Punjab and served in the Sikh imperial administration of Ranjit Singh as the Governor of Gujarat Province in the early 1830’s!  He somehow came to be acquainted with the Afghan King in exile Shah Shuja and found himself traveling to Afghanistan via Peshawar and Kabul to visit with the then ruling King, and rival of Shah Shuja, Dost Muhammad.

Now for the “Prince of Ghor” part of the story.  Dost Muhammad entrusted Harlan with the leadership of a military expedition to Ghor province where a slave trader was wreaking havoc on the local Hazara population and more importantly refusing to pay tribute to the King.  Haraln showed up at the mud fort of the slave trader with about two thousand troops and himself riding an elephant. Harlan’s guys turned the fort into rubble with their artillery and embarked on 10 days of feasting to celebrate their victory at the end of which, Harlan was named the “Prince of Ghor” in perpetuity.

Harlan returned to the U.S. circa 1840 and wrote a book (don’t we all.)  He later convinced the U.S. Army to create a “Camel Corps” and attempted to import camels from Southwest Afghanistan for the purpose.  The U.S. Camel Corps was later disbanded in 1863 and the camels released into the American southwestern desert. 

I am proud to follow in the “American-Afghan” tradition although I have only ridden a camel once and am no Prince, not even close.

I first became involved in Afghanistan in graduate school where I studied Islamic History and Persian, and did an obscure Master’ thesis on the “Baburnama”, the autobiography of a 16th century Afghan King who went on to become the first Mughal Emperor of what is today India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

By the grace of God I found employment with the U.S. State Department which was deeply involved in confronting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.  I found myself as a very Junior Political Officer who spoke halting Dari supporting the Afghan resistance fighters (Mujahedin) for most of the 1980’s until the Soviets gave up (but that’s another bizarre story even though I did not get to ride an elephant over the Hindu Khush mountains like Harlan, just a jeep in Peshawar.)

I have had the privilege of playing a small role in supporting the rebuilding of Afghanistan from 2003 until now working alongside my Afghan friends and colleagues, and the even greater honor of being referred to sometimes as an “American-Afghan.”  Thanks guys, but where’s my Elephant?