Mangal (tribe)

The Mangal are one of the largest and perhaps the most powerful and influential Pashtun tribes, residing in Southeastern Paktia and adjacent Khost provinces of Afghanistan The Mangals are known for their independent nature, and have a long history of resisting British forces, central and provincial governments, Soviet army, and even fellow Pashtun Taliban militia. The Mangals descent from Karlanri Pashtun lineage, which is much smaller compared to the two main Pashtun clans: Durrani and Ghilzai. The Mangal tribal militia was the main force that toppled the only non-Pashtun King in the history Afghanistan, Habibullah Kalakani, more widely known as Bach-e-Saqaow (son of water carrier). After Kalakani's defeat and overthrow by the tribes of Paktia, Mohammad Nadir Khan was installed as king, who ruled from October 17, 1929 to November 8, 1933. Because Nadir Khan owed much to the tribes of Paktia and even relied on their militias for security of his family, many tribal leaders were granted vast wealth and power by the new administration. In fact, the entire greater Loya Paktia region was exempt from mandatory military service, which the rest of the nation, regardless of ethnicity, region, or family endured.

The Mangal was deployed in Northern Afghanistan shortly before Nadir Khan's assassination to crush a rebellion by ethnic Tajik and Uzbek communities, supported by an Uzbek rebel, Ibrahimbeg Laqqai, who had crossed into Northern Afghanistan from neighboring Russia. Laqqai had been battling Russian troops, who had taken over his homeland of modern day Uzbekistan, in what is now known as the Basmachi Movement. During Kalakani's short rule as king, Laqqai was given a free hand in Northern Tajik and Uzbek communities. He recruited locals to fight across the river against the Russians, and most disturbing to the new Afghan government in Kabul after Kalakani's overthrow, Laqqai created a small fiefdom in Northern Afghanistan within the friendly communities. However, the Pashtun administration of Nadir Khan could not tolerate a renegade foreigner to carve out a piece of its land for his own use. This led to the Mangal tribe being dispatched to the north. Within a few weeks, the Mangals brutally crushed Laqqai's forces and drove him back across the Amu river, where he was subsequently captured and hanged by the Russians.
Mangal tribe is also found in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province mainly in area of Thall Vally and also in District Hangu and Orakzai Agency of FATA.

External links

• Mangal Tribal Tree, Center for Culture and Conflict Studies, US Naval Postgraduate School.

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Sources

• Henry Walter Bellew. An inquiry into the ethnography of Afghanistan

References