Tatar Girl Group Lost in Afghanistan
An early music video from the missing group, Superalisa
1. Svetlana Ivanova, Russia Today
2. Zhambyl Bashbug, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University
3.
Islamka Abramover, Centre for Eurasian Studies
Svetlana Ivanova:
Superalisa, a 4-piece pop act from Idel-Ural, disappeared after giving a concert in Mazar-i-Sharif, north Afghanistan - along with their manager Radia Saltykov. They were touring Muslim countries promoting a more nationalist and modern approach to Islam, typical of modern Central Asia, Idel-Ural, and the Caucasus. Today we will be discussing the possible causes of this disappearance and its implications. With me today are Zhambyl Bashbug, an expert on Pan-Turanism, and Islamka Abramover, an expert on Islam in Central Asia. Dr Bashbug, what are the working versions?
Zhambyl Bashbug: We believe it was a kidnapping. Hopefully not a murder, but no organisation contacted us, so it doesn't look like standard terrorism. Kidnappings are common in Afghanistan, but the political undertones are obvious in this case. There are three primary suspects: the anti-Turkic Pashto Pan-Aryan Front, the woman-hating sect of the Taliban called
Amra'a Haram, and Pan-Islamist sympathisers of the Caliphate.
Islamka Abramover: A fair guess would be to say that the women became disillusioned with the realities of the modern world and joined one of the local traditionalist societies.
: Perhaps you could elaborate on such an exotic version, Mr Abramover?
: Trans-Newtonian technologies mean an even more radical departure from traditional values than what we experienced in the 20th century. Population growth may be high, but that is solely due to low mortality rates; fertility rates keep falling. The woman is at a loss in this world, forced into forsaking her womanhood for self-denying "personal improvement", working at the self-perpetuating construction factories. We must build construction factories to build more construction factories, in order to build even more construction factories! A soulless, aimless, meaningless vicious circle. Why should women be forced by the society into this monastic sexless existence, stripped of the roles of the loving servant to her husband, of the mother and nurturer of man? This is especially hard for Muslim societies, even the more secular ones as in Tatarstan. I believe the women willingly left this society to seek an alternative in Afghanistan. They could have also fled to the Caliphate. In spite of being modern technologically, it still has some commendable spiritual validity. I deeply respect the Caliphate for this.
: I'm afraid we are short on time, Mr Abramover, not to mention that some of our viewers may find your reasoning offensive. Perhaps you could focus on the more practical versions, Dr Bashbug?
: I will try to be brief. As you know, the Turkic countries are currently separated from the Muslim world, being either independent or integrated into mostly European federations like Russia or the EU. Turkics are viewed with a degree of mistrust by the rest of the Muslims, who tend to be affiliated with the Arab-heavy Caliphate. Afghanistan is split between Aryan and Turkic peoples: Pashto, Baloch and Tajiks on the one hand, Uzbeks and Turkmens on the other. The Turkic ethnicities are our traditional allies in this case, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan being a part of our Turan-Iranic Republic (TIR). See the map on the screen:
: Indeed, Dr Bashbug, but could you get to the point?
:
Superalisa were clearly engaged in spreading Turkic nationalism - while retaining a properly Muslim spirit, of course. As you know, they started out as an off-beat avantgarde band, but have since then expanded their membership and became more serious about their mission. We think they might have upset both the traditional Islamic elements of the society and the more nationalist Pan-Aryan Front. The former are a natural proxy for the Caliphate, essentially traitors to Afghanistan as a sovereign state. The latter are in-between the Caliphate and the Russian Federation. On the one hand, their Iranian brethren are currently almost on par with the Arabs in the Caliphate; but at the same time the more closely related Tajiks have true national autonomy in the TIR.
: Speaking of Afghanistan's diversity and considering the current annexation trend, I think it would make a lot of sense to partition Afghanistan along ethnic lines: Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen parts go to the Russian Fed; Pashto, Balochi, Hazara go to the Caliphate. Sure, there can be generalisations like "Afghans dislike Russians after the Soviet-Afghan war", but there is no such thing as unified Afghans - Pashtuns may be upset, but Uzbeks aren't. Such a partition would satisfy both sides.
: Please, Mr Abramover, your jingoism is starting to remind me of the former LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. What of the
Amra'a Haram version?
: While today the US are peaceful and even isolationist, merely a decade ago they were storming the entire Muslim world. This radicalised the Afghan Muslim population, and the country is still reaping the consequences. One of them is this sect,
Amra'a Haram, literally meaning "the woman is forbidden". They ask for a return to the earlier days of Islam uncorrupted by Western presence, stressing the traditional Afghan practice of
bacha bazi, "playing with boys", as a truly Muslim form of sexuality. Women are regarded as unclean and unholy, a blight upon man to be subjugated for breeding. It is a fierce sect, formed along the lines of the pederastic Sacred Bands of Thebes.
Superalisa were thus targeted for spreading secularism and "liberating" women.
Amra'a Haram are technically leaning towards the Caliphate, but their relations are complicated.
: Here is a short video of
Amra'a Haram members engaging in
bacha bazi.
: A perverse sect, but a natural reaction against the libertine influences spread by the US.
: Thank you, Mr Abramover, Dr Bashbug. We hope you enjoyed the program. Our next discussion will be on the merits of socialism and the massive Duranium failure in South America.
. Sent my first instructions for the former superpower. If my predecessor made any public or not-so-public deals with any of you or was in talks regarding such, please send me a PM with the details, want to have a full picture before starting the posturing America has always taken as diplomacy.
