History
The organization was established during the reign of Mohammed Nadir Shah, with approximately 300 members. In 1947 the organization was forbidden by the government, which had accused the Scouts of being fire worshipers, as during a camp they had made music and sung around a campfire.
Scouting was reestablished in 1956, rebuilt in the context of the democratization efforts of Mohammed Zahir Shah, who had just become ruler in his own right after thirty years of ceding power to his paternal uncles, Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan and Sardar Shah Mahmud Khan.
The organization, named Da Afğānistān Zaranduy Tolanah (DAZT), was readmitted to the World Scout Conference on June 1, 1964, counting a membership of between 2,000 and 7,000 Scouts, both boys and girls and adult leaders.
The viewpoints of king Zahir Shah at that time were practiced by the organization. The administrators added further obligations to the general principles of the Scout movement, obligation to king, nation and country. Discipline and obligation were welcome educational goals for governing, and Scouting was organized very tautly and almost militarily compared with other nations. The government used this organization for the stability of the state; however the organization made a large contribution to youth work in Afghanistan, above all that of responsibility, self-reliance, sense of community and equal rights, as well as behavior toward girls and women.
The Federal Republic of Germany provided the uniforms for the Afghan Scout Association. Dr. Eberhard Krüger and Mrs. Rosemarie Jungermann came from Germany in order to train Afghan Scout instructors further.
The organization was attached by national authority to the Ministry of Education, under Minister of Education Dr. Omar Wardak and Dr. Ali Ahmad Popal, deputy Minister of Education. A school for the training of Scout group leaders was created in its office.
Starting in 1959, women played a large role within the structure of the organization. In the celebrations and independence ceremonies in the 1960s and 1970s, Afghan Scouts of both genders participated with the structure and the organization of cultural events. Mermon Parwin supported the organization, sang Scout songs and appeared several times in the pavilion of the Scout organization.
In 1961 a group of Scouts took part in the 11th World Scout Jamboree at Marathon, Greece, held concurrently with the 1963 19th World Scout Conference in Rhodes, Greece. Dr. Said Habib, a deputy president of the Afghan Scout Association, supported the establishment of musician Scout groups.
On January 6, 1964 the organization participated in the 4th Asia-Pacific Scout Conference in Malaysia and received the membership document of re-admittance to the World Scout Conference.
The youth and woman's work as well as the music, sport and play of Scouting constantly increased in the years from 1964 to 1973. The association, which now had local groups in different parts of the country, created further musician Scout groups, organized camps and accomplished other leisure and educational measures, in which children and young people learned handicrafts, painting and singing. However, most activities of the association were limited to Kabul.
With the 1973 overthrow by pro-Soviet Mohammed Daoud Khan, the Scout association became part of the Ministry of the Interior, took over police tasks and became a part of the Afghan police. Scouting went downhill, as during the years of unrest and war, approximately ten million left the country and looked for refuge abroad. At the beginning of the unrest, the privileged social classes left the country, so that such organizations could not exist anymore in the countryside.
The communist government banned the Afghanistan Scout Association in 1978, at that date with 11,212 members. By 1981, DAZT was no longer recognized by the 28th World Scout Conference, because of domestic disturbances that deprived Afghanistan of the democratic environment necessary for Scouting to continue.
Until the Soviet invasion, there were American Boy Scouts in Kabul, serving in Boy Scout Troop 1, linked to the Direct Service branch of the Boy Scouts of America, which supports units around the world.
Read more about this topic: Afghanistan Scout Association
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