By Kartikeya Gupta
Abstract
This paper offers a critical analysis of the interlocking dynamics of masculinity, martyrdom, honor, and violence in framing Afghanistan’s political and social landscape from the Soviet jihad period to the post-9/11 period and the emergence of the new Taliban since 2021. Drawing on research and case material, the paper investigates how ideals and expectations of gender have been used to justify violence, recruit followers, and capture power amidst conflict. It analyzes how these constructs have been shaped against political contexts and their impact on Afghan society and culture. Through the deconstruction of the interlocking dynamics of gender, power, and violence, the paper describes how these accounts describe and reinforce patterns of resilience, resistance, and change in Afghanistan. This analysis contributes to the gendered dimensions of conflict and the deeply entrenched system of honor and martyrdom in Afghanistan history and culture.
Introduction
Afghanistan’s decades long conflict has been affected by more than just politics and religious extremism. It has also been impacted by powerful and evolving ideals of masculinity and what it means to be a man. From the Soviet invasion in 1979, post 9/11 occupation and the Taliban’s return to power, Afghan men’s masculinity has been linked to violence, martyrdom, and the control of others, especially women. This paper explores how these gendered constructs of masculinity not only perpetuate conflict but also evolve across time, shaping how men see war, power, and peace.
Body
The Afghan conflict is deeply gendered, it has been shaped by deep rooted ideals of masculinity and martyrdom. Throughout the modern history of Afghanistan; since the 1979 Soviet Invasion, the post 9/11 invasion by the USA and the current takeover by the Taliban in 2021 it is sufficient to argue that “masculinity” has been one of the most politicized tools that have been employed both for resistance and simultaneously oppression. The ideal Afghan man has been constructed depending on the period’s politics and situation; the Mujahideen warrior, the Taliban protector and even the Jihadist. These constructed masculine identities have been the way violence has continued and continues to this date in Afghanistan both against men and especially women. The center of Afghanistan’s prolonged conflicts is “militarized masculinity”. It is a hegemonic ideal that equates being a man with violence, sacrifice and a need for control. According to Henri Myrttinen, militarized masculinities are not biologically determined but are socially constructed performances of gender, deeply rooted in cultural, political, and religious norms (Myrttinen, 2018). And these performative ideals of gender continue to be reinforced by violent institutions such as jihadist groups, the military, tribal councils etc. Men are socially conditioned from their childhoods to believe that their worth and legitimacy is decided by how much they can dominate, protect, control and sacrifice for something. By looking at Afghan culture it is visible how these ideals took their inspiration. The Pashtunwali which is the code of honor for the Pashtun people valorizes male solidarity, honor and revenge. During the Soviet Invasion the concept of Shahadat or martyr took a strong foothold through propaganda in which the Mujahid was glorified as this protector of Afghan soil and Islam. Maleeha Aslam in her book Gender based – explosions argues that martyrdom not only became a religious virtue but also a gendered performance. In a way it offered marginalized men a way to reclaim honor and respect in Afghan society. (Aslam, 2012).
The post Mujahideen civil war in the 1990s and the rise of the Taliban as a major power in Afghanistan saw the deeper establishment of patriarchal masculinity. The Taliban’s extremely conservative thinking led to the reshaping of Islamic masculinity into something that demanded discipline, religious devotion and control over women. WILPF’s report shows how this version of masculinity became state policy with any defiance being met with violence and exclusion. Men who did not “fit” into this ideal of a man were feminized, mocked and lost respect in Afghan society. (WILPF, 2022).
The post 9/11 era with the invasion by the United States of America in the early 2000s added complexity to who a man should be in Afghanistan. The foreign intervention allowed for more liberal, urban and western forms of masculinity to interact with Afghan men. But this was often alien to many Afghan men, Henri Myrtinnen observes how it created a “masculinity crisis” in Afghanistan where men disempowered by war, political exclusion and unemployment turned back towards traditional narratives that placed an emphasis on being protectors and warriors. (Myrtinnen, 2018). This entire situation was exacerbated by the counterterrorism operations that targeted Muslim men indiscriminately which led to a heightened sense of humiliation and embarrassment (Aslam, 2012). With the withdrawal of the US and return of the Taliban in 2021, militarized masculinity made its return as state orthodoxy. Taliban rule is characterized by weaponized masculinity, it sees men as agents of violence, women as subhuman, and alternative masculinity as inferior. This new regime not only tolerates hyper masculine violence but also promotes it (WILPF, 2022).
The concept of martyrdom has a significant place in the performance of Afghan masculinity. It is not only seen as a religious act, but it is an act of social capital. Marco Nilsson describes it as “heroic jihadist masculinity” as the exaggeration of male behavior which includes violence, aggression and sacrifice and it is so deep rooted in the minds of these men that death by sacrifice becomes the most revered form of gender performance for Afghan men (Nilsson, 2024). Recruitment strategies for a lot of these jihadist groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan and even parts of Europe are based on exploiting the feeling of feeling inadequate. Men who feel they have failed in life by not being able to marry, earn or protect are sold promises of heaven, sexual rewards and honor through martyrdom. Many men turn to this to gain back their dignity because they feel they have lost it during their life (Aslam, 2012). This hypermasculine logic not only sustains conflict but changes it. Dying is not a tragic end but a celebrated achievement. The Taliban and other militant groups use martyrdom to solidify internal hierarchies and assert moral legitimacy. In these systems, to live as a man is to dominate and to die as a man is to be glorified (Nilsson, 2024). The performative nature of martyrdom, rooted in honor and the promise of heaven, is not confined to Afghan cultural or religious frameworks alone. Popular media, too, has explored similar mythologies. One such symbolic parallel appears in the film Mad Max: Fury Road, where masculinity and martyrdom are dramatized in a dystopian context. Though vastly removed from the socio-political realities of Afghanistan, the film offers a stylized reflection on how patriarchal systems glorify martyrdom as both a spectacle to be witnessed and submission to an authority (Hampshire, 2017).
A critique of the peacebuilding efforts in Afghanistan by international bodies is that though they focus a lot on women’s rights, they tend to ignore men and their vulnerabilities. Efforts that only focus on empowering women through education, employment etc. tend to risk suffering backlash from men who are threatened by women empowerment and see it as emasculating. Peacebuilding efforts in Afghanistan also need to focus on engaging with men or else these efforts would risk remaining as mere resistance to patriarchy rather than changing the entire social landscape. (Myrttinen, 2024). Furthermore, it is important to note how trauma of militarized masculinity is self-replicating which means many men who return to civilian life find it difficult to re-integrate in normal society due to a loss of “brotherhood, purpose and status” (Nilsson, 2024). This means that there remains a higher chance of re-radicalization as civilian life is not as fulfilling which leads to a need for violence to feel a sense of legitimacy.
Conclusion
The politics of masculinity and martyrdom in Afghanistan are central to understanding the continuity and transformation of Afghan conflict across history. These are not passive cultural inheritances but active frameworks that have been constructed, reinforced, and weaponized by actors such as The Mujahideen and Taliban to foreign occupiers. By glorifying violence and sacrifice as the essence of manhood, these gendered ideals have given conflict a deeply personal and moral dimension. They not only enable war but also make it emotionally and socially rewarding for many men. The entrenchment of militarized masculinity across Afghan history, from the Soviet invasion through post-9/11 intervention to the Taliban’s return illustrates how it is impossible to understand Afghanistan’s conflicts without considering the intersection of gender, masculinity, power, violence and legitimacy.
REFERENCES
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