the immediate emergence of strife whenever there is a threat from the outside. Pazhwak tackles this theme in his famous poem Mardan-i Parupamizad (‘*’), which he had crafted in the early 1940s. The poem in which Pazhwak makes use of the artful, poetic language of the classical masnawi form, still feels fresh and accessible even though the conditions of its reception have changed. Superficially speaking the poem is about Afghan patriotism. But in reality, through the poem Pazhwak wants to make readers realize the different consequences that unity, and its opposite, divisiveness, will have in the case of a foreign threat to . The history of since classical antiquity has been indeed marked by invasions by foreign armies and judging by historical evidence the Afghans’ resistance has been fierce and frequently successful. However, unity has always been fragile even in times of war. A recent example of this is the resistance that took place in the decade of the Soviet occupation. Clear parallels to this recent example can be found in Afghans’ struggle against the invading army of Alexander the Great in fourth century B.C. Both invaders had not anticipated the scale of their losses and the amount of time they would spend in Afghanistan. Both had failed to consider the inhabitants’ strong desire for freedom and independence. In the poem Mardan-i Parupamizad, there first appears a description of the time that Alexander the Great spent in Ariana (the historical name of and parts of ) and the experiences he had with the people of the country. Alexander, who was only used to victory, saw the occupation of Afghanistan as the necessary step for the conquest of India. His prolonged stay and campaign in Afghanistan began to cause anxiety among his Greek followers and subordinates. His mother, wrote him a letter, pleading with him to explain to her what had caused the delay – even the famous Aristotle had failed to offer an explanation. In response, Alexander sends Afghan tribal leaders to in order to illustrate what kind of problems he faced in Afghanistan. As ordered by her son, receives the Afghan princes with much respect. But Alexander had also requested that during the princes’ audience with a small amount of soil from the Afghan homeland should be secretly placed under the carpets at the palace entrance. The Afghan princes arrived at the audience and inhaled the smell of the