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Inventory of the Afghan partisan serials collection
2016C32
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Title: Afghan partisan serials collection
Date (inclusive): 1968-2011
Collection Number: 2016C32
Contributing Institution:
Hoover Institution Archives
Language of Material:
In Dari, Pushto (Pashto), Arabic, and English.
Physical Description:
14 manuscript boxes, 24 oversize boxes
(53.8 linear feet)
Abstract: Consists of more than four thousand individual issues of twenty-nine newspapers, journals, and magazines published in Dari,
Pushto, Arabic, and English by various Afghan organizations (political and other) relating to political conditions and warfare
in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s social and intellectual landscape is represented by the Taliban and anti-Soviet Mujaheddin groups;
the communist People’s Democratic Party; exiled loyalists to the deposed Afghan monarchy; independent humanitarians and intellectuals;
and minority political parties that emerged following the post-2001 transition toward democracy. The digital collection is
accessible in the Archives' reading room or for Stanford affiliated users at
https://apshoover.eastview.com.
Originals closed; digital use copies available.
The digital collection is accessible in the Archives' reading room or for Stanford affiliated users at
https://apshoover.eastview.com.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Afghan partisan serials collection, [Persistent URL], Hoover Institution Archives
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 2016.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the catalog is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.
The collection of newspapers, journals, and magazines in Dari, Pushto, Arabic, and English represent the viewpoints of diverse
groups, including the leftist revolutionary People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah-loyalists, various factions
of Afghan Mujaheddin and foreign-backed jihadists, the Taliban-led government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as well
as the Karzai regime, during a tumultuous period in the nation's history in which successive waves of foreign influence and
invasion destabilized the region, resulting in more than three decades of armed struggle.
Print material in the collection covers events including the aftermath of the 1978 Saur revolution, the lives of political
exiles and refugees in Pakistan, the complex interactions of anti-Soviet insurgency groups and their foreign backers in the
U.S. and the Muslim world, the fall of Najibullah and civil war thereafter, the radicalization of foreign fighters in Kunar
and Tora Bora, the rise and fall of the Taliban, the events of September 11, 2001, "Operation Enduring Freedom," the establishment
of Hamid Karzai as president, and the continuing International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition occupation. Ranging
from radical Islamists in favor of global jihad to cautious social democrats in support of civil society, the collection demonstrates
the extraordinary range of ideologies and voices competing for mindshare in modern Afghanistan.
Many of the serials are vividly illustrated with reproductions of photographic portraits, battlefield scenes, cityscapes,
and martyrs fallen to various causes, while others, in accordance with strict interpretation of Sharia law, eschew visual
imagery altogether.
Scope and Contents of Collection
The Afghan partisan serials collection consists of serials issued by various Afghan organizations (political and other) relating
to political conditions and warfare in Afghanistan. The digital collection contains more than 4,000 individual issues of 29
newspapers, journals, and magazines published in Dari, Pushto, Arabic, and English and is accessible in the Archives' reading
room or for Stanford affiliated users at
https://apshoover.eastview.com.
In the digital collection, each publication contains an English-language translation, as well as vernacular text and transliterations
of all titles, subtitles and mastheads, and publishers. A holistic transliteration methodology was adopted which was informed
through recourse to WorldCat references and other digital holdings, linguistic preference for Dari and Pushto words of Arabic
origin (i.e. Hizb rather than Hezb, or Mujaheddin rather than Mojahedin), and finally, popular convention and deference to
spellings preferred by the publication itself (Hewad rather than Haywad, for instance). Lastly, true to the intent of the
media as a fluid medium that places a premium on communication and absorption of information, diacritical markings that are
a mainstay in scholarly publications are largely absent.
Discovery for newspapers is at the issue-page level; discovery for journals is at the article level (with a rich search discovery
possible for key words and names in journal article titles and article authors). Presentation is in the form of scanned images
in PDF format.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Afghanistan--History.