THE KIRGHIZ AND WAKHI OF AFGHANISTAN. Book Review: The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers and War

In the bailiwick of anthropology M. Nazif Mohib Shahrani‟s book, The Kirghiz and Wakhi \nof Afghaniistan: registration to Closed Frontiers and war is a all-embracing ethnography that \naptly explains some of the intricacies of the Afghan culture with an examination of \n ii ethnicities, namely, the Kirghiz and the Wakhi. This book refresh explains the essence of \nSharani‟s work and its greatness for the field of anthropology.\nSharani‟s book is a good entrée to anthropology for a soul who is new in this \nfield because of the pellucid manner the beginning treats the capacity. He does not assume that the \n commentator has any foregoing knowledge of the kingdom and hence introduces the subject with a \ncomprehensive, diffuse to understand diachronic overview and a geographic orientation in the beginning \ndelving into the socio-economic intricacies of the Wakhi and the Kirghiz tribes of Afghanistan. \nShahrani then describes the socio- paga n practices of twain the ethnicities in contingent following it \nup with an update concerning the delegacys the changed geo policy-making plenty impacted the \ntheir way of life and how they managed to dispense with the changes. The book was source published \nin 1979 focusing earlier on the cultural and ecological adjustment of the Kirghiz, a peregrine \ntribe and the Wakhi, agriculturalists in an field of honor know as the Wakhan Corridor, a parting that \nborders on Afghanistan, Pakistan, China. The high lift and cold climate of that arid region \nbecame a focal point during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that changed the political \ndynamics of the daub where the two tribes make up themselves forcing many of them to fly the coop \ninto Pakistan and Turkey. \nShahrani‟s geographical backdrop tells the ratifier of the importance of the Wakhan \nCorridor in the Afghan Pamir set range as an ancient consider route that served as a alley \nfor traders, political emissaries, invading armies, refugees, pilgrims, explorers, adventurers, \nmissionaries, and travelers long in front the Christian succession (Shahrani, 2002, p.19). The innate The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan 3\npeople of the Wakhan area known as the Wakhi lived in colonized villages on twain sides of the \nrivers Amu Darya and Sarhad speaking a unique Wakhi language, an Indo-Iranian parlance\nadhering to the Ismailia (Shia) sect of Islam. However, the around-the-clock strife, raids and conquests \nthrough the Wakhan Corridor decimated the indigenous population leave only around a 6000 \nWakhi animation in active 700 household units (Shahrani, p.46). This inconsiderable Shia \npopulation had of all time been under insistency to convert to the majoritarian Sunni beliefs of the ataraxis \nof Afghanistan and its authorities thereof increasing the breaker point of difficulty for the dinky sect to \n go along their identity.