The Amir of Bukhara found refuge in Afghanistan. Refugees came in droves to the small country of Afghanistan and they were welcomed. At the border make shift desks were set up to quickly give citizenship to the refugees. My great great grandmother came to Afghanistan this way. 1
Her husband was Russian. He was White Russian who had fled with her and they settled in Kabul. They worked as herbalists in the Old City. When he retired she became the sole breadwinner for the family. She was a well respected herbalist. 2
My paternal grandfather, from a landowning political family in Marghelan.m, fled at 17. He was contemporaries of the Uzbek jadidis. His family was massacred entirely. He rescued his infant brother and fled to Ila, China. Then Hong Kong - he went to dental school - then India. 3
He married my uyghur grandmother in India. They settled in Jalalabad as dentists. The Amir of Bukhara’s wazir of dist e chap and dist e rast resettled also in Jalalabad. This city was always cosmopolitan Afghan Sikhs, Hindus, & CenAsian refugees found peace here. 4
My uyghur maternal grandmother fled Khotan as a teen. Her father had been involved in a nationalist movement. This was not for fun or to have cool stickers. They risked their lives so their lands weren’t taken. It was for self preservation. In the end, they fled to India. 5
Jalabad is where I was born. In this city Sikhs and Hindus were respected. Laws protected families from discrimination. Vaisakhi was celebrated & visitors came form India to have mass marriages in sultanpour. My dad still speaks of his friends and searched for them in Diaspora. 6
The sons of the Amir of Bukhara grew up in Afg. One son became a dentist. The both served the Jalalabad community. There were happy tales of trips to nuristan to shinwar. This not unusual motley crew of Sikhs, Tajiks Uzbek Uyghurs, Pashtuns. 7
I will add more stories later. This is all to stop the hate. Afghanistan is a beautiful country. I love it bc every community I’ve joined that is Afghancentric calls for unity and for service. This is a beautiful reason to build identity and community around. 8
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