THE REBIRTH OF SCOUTING IN AFGHANISTAN
A History of the Afghan Scouts
The Rebirth of Scouting in Afghanistan is a story about Afghan people and their communities. It is the history of adult Afghan Scout leaders reclaiming their heritage and taking responsibility for developing Afghan youth consistent with the country’s cultural and Islamic values. The Afghan Scout movement also reflects the desire of Afghan citizens to reach out to and engage with other countries. Scouting facilitates this engagement through a relationship with leaders in the Asia Pacific region of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, a diverse 40 million strong body of Scout members of all religions and races.
Afghan Scouting was founded in October 1931 by King Nadir Shah as an association for Afghan boys; it was approved by the Afghan Ministry of Education. In 1933 this new Afghan Scouting Association was accepted into the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) as a member of the International Scout Conference. In subsequent years the Afghan Scout Movement continued to exist on a small scale, hampered by lack of funding and proper training. Things changed in 1957 when King Zaher Shah took a keen interest in Scouting and supported the expansion of the Afghan Scouting Movement; membership soared to 18,000 youth nationally.
In 1960 the first troops of girls joined the Afghan Scouting Society and in 1964 the Afghan Scout movement reregistered with WOSM, this time as a Scout youth organization supported by the Afghan government but with the independent governance of an association. By 1978, the time of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, the Afghan Scouting movement had grown to include over 36,000 registered youth located in troops all across Afghanistan.
During the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, which began in 1979, government leaders changed the mission of the Scout Association to a mission designed to serve government propaganda. Youth were indoctrinated into communist values. The government attempted to use Scout troops to control communities where they lived as an extension of the police force. Afghan Scout Masters during that time refused to participate. As the war continued, the Scouting Movement eventually died.
In 2002, after the fall of the Taliban and 33 years after the Russian invasion, the new transitional government of Afghanistan attempted to restart the Afghan Scout Movement through funding from the UN and through the Ministry of Education. Twenty thousand (20,000) youth were registered as Afghan Scouts, and leaders were recruited and paid through the ministry.
However, the reconstruction of the organization with leaders, Scouting materials, uniforms and programming was a challenge. The impetus of the original Afghan Scout movement came from the communities through volunteers and through the efforts of Afghan Scout Masters who formed the Afghan Scout Society in partnership with the Afghan government.