Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan

Afghanistan is generally thought of as a nation of two languages, Farsi and Pashto. In reality, 47 languages are spoken in Afghanistan. In 1924, the Norwegian linguist Georg Morgenstierne (1892-1978) undertook the first of his two major linguistic expeditions. He arrived in Kabul with a personal letter of introduction to the King of Afghanistan from the King of Norway. The importance of this letter cannot be underestimated. Afghans have long been paranoid, xenophobic and suspicious of outsiders. An adventurer who undertakes to travel into the remote tribal areas of Afghanistan has virtually guaranteed himself a short life. Morgenstierne's resulting work, Report on a Linguistic Mission to Afghanistan, remains the only study by a qualified linguist of that region. As it turns out, the area of the greatest linguistic study by Georg Morgenstierne is the exact area where the War is taking place now.