PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN AFGHANISTAN

Abstract

From a sociological point of view, national identity is defined as a kind of feeling and emotional belonging to a society that causes national unity and cohesion and has different material, cultural and psychological dimensions that cause societies to differ from each other. The phenomenon of Ethnicization and the formation of sub-national identities and subcultures have become doubly important in the contemporary period because factors such as territorial divisions based on national government, inequality, deprivation, ideology, and colonialism play an important role in ethnic nationalization in societies. The ethnicization of identity can be called a process in which the link between national values is weakened and the possibility of maintaining the convergence of a nation is endangered. What is true of national identity in Afghanistan is that no deep link has yet been established between nationalities and ethnicities with national territory, values, and culture. The identity crisis in Afghanistan has been more focused on the social segregation of groups and has not yet reached the stage of disintegration. Lack of national identity has left negative consequences in the development of concepts such as national unity, national participation, and social justice and has prevented the formation of civic nationalism.