THROUGH DISCONNECTION AND REVIVAL: AFGHAN AMERICAN RELATIONS WITH AFGHANISTAN, 1890-2016 by JOHN K. BADEN Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY August, 2018 ii CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of John Baden candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Committee Chair John Grabowski Committee Member John Flores Committee Member Peter Shulman Committee Member Pete Moore Date of Defense April 23, 2018 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. iii Dedication ﺑ ﺮا ی فاﺳﺘﻔﺎی ، ﻫﻤ�م و ﻋﺸﻘﻢ. iv Contents Introduction…………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………..….1 Chapter I: The Pioneer Era (1890-1947)……………………………………………………………………….…………...49 Chapter II: The Post-Colonial Era (1947-1978) ............................................................................ 107 Chapter III: The PDPA Era (1978-1992) ........................................................................................ 125 Chapter IV: The Afghan Civil War (1992-2001) ............................................................................ 163 Chapter V: The Post-September 11th Era (2001-) ........................................................................ 195 Epilogue ....................................................................................................................................... 258 v List of Tables 1. Afghanistan Population in the United States since 1900 24 2. Occupations of census-reported Afghanistan-born individuals in 1910 65 3. Occupations of Afghanistan-born individuals in the United States 90 4. Occupations of census-reported Afghanistan-born individuals in 1940 101 5. College education levels among Afghan immigrants in 1980 145 6. College education levels among Afghan immigrants in 1990 145 7. Afghan and Total U.S. Immigrant Naturalization Rate Change by Year 176 8. Linear Regression of Relationship Between U.S. Overall Naturalizations and 177 Afghan Immigrant Naturalizations 9. Comparison of the Afghan immigrant median income statistics with U.S. 182 population at-large 10. Percent of Afghanistan-born Population by Immigration Cohort 244 11. Median Earned Income by Afghan Immigration Cohort, 2015 245 12. Percentages of education levels of Afghan Immigration Cohorts 249 vi List of Figures 1. Passenger manifest from Hong Kong to Honolulu shows a single Afghan 57 traveler among almost entirely Punjabi passengers 2. 1910 County-level concentration of Afghanistan-born population in the United States (2017 county boundaries) 3. Aberdeen, Washington circa 1915 62 4. Aberdeen-area workers next to a saw mill circa 1907 63 5. “The Yard Gang” 87 6. 1920 County-level concentration of Afghanistan-born population in the 91 United States (2017 county boundaries) 7. County-level concentration of Afghanistan-born population in 1940 101 8. Afghanistan-born population in the United States per state in 1980 143 vii Acknowledgements Completing ten years of graduate study, including four years of dissertation writing and research, has been the product of invaluable support and countless acts of generosity from innumerable sources. Foremost among these have been my family. My wife Stephanie was there with me through every moment, calming the anxiety, providing the resources to keep going, and keeping my world filled with love. This is your work too! My mother Cheryl taught me how to believe in myself, and to accept the importance of writing additional drafts. I thank you for both. My father Steve instilled a love of history in me at an early age, a gift that has outlasted anything in the material world. My grandparents, uncles, and aunts (living and passed on) including Stan, Aiko, Dorothy, and Joe have also provided counsel, humor, belonging, and security. My grandparents Jo Ann and Ken’s special generosity and foresight gave me the ability to continue to pursue my aspirations without being crushed by student debt. Dita, Angie, Pacer, and Baby have been friends through it all, and of irreplaceable company through the late nights. This work has also been the culmination of decades of mentoring and guidance of extraordinary educators. My advisor, Dr. John Grabowski, has been more than anyone could ask for in a mentor. His conspicuous love of history and unsurpassed concern for students was invaluable in keeping me going as well as finding joy in what I did through the countless drafts and long nights of writing. Special thanks to committee members Drs. Peter Shulman, John Flores, Pete Moore, and Ananya Dasgupta for their valued advice, critique, and time contributed to this dissertation. Dr. David Hammack viii and Dr. Rhonda Williams also played crucial roles in my development as a scholar. Dr. Solaiman Fazel of Indiana University Bloomington is not only an incredible language teacher, but planted the seeds of this project through his incredible interest in students’ development and enthusiasm for Afghanistan/Afghan American studies. I thank him also for reading a chapter of my dissertation and providing his critique. Preceding graduate study, Dr. Jeffrey Charles of California State University San Marcos, Jeff and Anne Green of Vista High School deserve special mention for their guidance and interest in me as a student and for my well-being. I am also especially grateful to all those who shared their experiences with me, both directly through interviews, or through the ink of past works. Your stories are truly inspirational and integral parts of our country’s history. Special thanks to Shahnaz Fard at San Diego State University, Negar at Language Door, and the countless librarians at Kelvin Smith, the country’s Presidential Libraries, the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection, and Vista Public Library for helping me access that history. A special thank you to Nelson Goins and Jennifer Sosa with the Democratic Party for putting professional trust in me and providing a flexibility that allowed me to complete my dissertation while getting the chance to work and help make history. Last but not least, Michael Metsner has been an incredible friend and colleague. What would I have done without your knowledge of deadlines, requirements, and general Wikipedia-like knowledge of the world? ix Through Disconnection and Revival: Afghan American Relations with Afghanistan, 1890-2016 Abstract by JOHN K. BADEN The following dissertation presents a narrative overview of Afghan immigration to the United States. It focuses on the manner in which political turmoil in Afghanistan influenced relations between the U.S. Afghan community and Afghanistan from 1890 to 2016. It also tests whether this relationship conforms to some of the most prominent scholarly models and theorizations of diasporas. In this study, the term “relations” encompasses individuals’ interactions and associations with Afghanistan’s society and government. This study finds a long history of diasporic relations between the United States and Afghanistan during this time-period. Historical events such as the British exit from South Asia in 1947, the 1978 coup in Afghanistan, and 2001 U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan have had profound effects on the U.S. Afghan community, influencing the feasibility of travel to Afghanistan, the nature of diasporic relations, and U.S policy toward Afghan immigration. As a result, U.S. Afghan diasporic relations can be broken x into generalizable eras between these critical historical events. Furthermore, the era’s politics influenced how the U.S. public perceived Afghans’ presence in the United States. This dissertation also examines how immigrants and ethnic communities such as Afghans in the United States have pursued activities they believed advanced the interests of both their country of origin and adopted country. 1 Introduction Americans have often interpreted Afghan immigrants’ presence in the United States in highly politicized terms. Indeed, Afghans in the country had hardly begun forming communities at the turn of the twentieth century before anti-“Hindoo” riots broke out targeting South Asian immigrants. Rather than understanding the U.S. Afghan community and its history in its own terms, Americans have frequently given meaning to the community’s experiences through its association with politically charged topics. Americans have associated Afghans in the United States with various hot-button subjects such as refugees, Asian immigration, diversity, low wages, terrorism, and anti- Communism. As the concerns and aspirations of the moment changed, so too did the U.S. public’s imaging of the Afghan community. On more than one occasion, this politicization reflected broader U.S. fears about the direction of the “nation,” and how well they believed it was maintaining its “traditions.” For example, the U.S. Congress enacted a so-called “Asiatic Barred zone” in 1917 that largely prohibited immigration from large sections of Asia. Congress then severely restricted immigration from much of the Eastern Hemisphere except for Northern Europe during the 1920s. These acts were in large part enacted to preserve the country’s supposed “values” and demographic “national origins.” Then, in 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made cutting refugee admissions and a “temporary” Muslim travel ban centerpieces of his campaign to “make America great again.” 2 Immigrants and refugees from Muslim-majority countries